There's something about the way nature sounds after a storm. It's the purest sound of survival one could ever hope to hear. For ponies, a storm is but a fiercer bout of rain. For nature's most treasured animals, with the water flooding their homes, the lightning striking their trees, it's an apocalypse the likes of which they see all too often.
For the young filly just waking up before me, it's terrifying. It's almost humorous to see her looking around for the one responsible for helping her to settle in this makeshift camp. Such a sweet filly she is... though her table manners leave much to be desired. A bowl full of berries the size of plums and she's downed them in a matter of seconds, returning a satisfied burp. Still, food is food; It doesn't matter how it's eaten.
All I do is watch as the filly stands up, wrapping the cape around herself. She looks like a little countess, especially in the morning light. She walks around the still live fire and crouches down to look at me. By now my eyes are closed and I'm dead to the world. All I can do is hear her rummaging around in my clothes, looking for something. I don't mind of course. I've no use for the trivial. The sound ends and I crack an eye open to see her writing something down. She found a quill and the handkerchief. When she's finished, she places the quill back in my breast pocket and goes to leave the area.
I wait another minute after she's gone and begin to move again. I lean over to the handkerchief and pick it up.
To the pony who helped me out last night,
Thank you.
Scootaloo.
Well, she's thoughtful enough to leave a message. How could anypony want to hurt her? I think to myself, leaning back against my hiding space with the handkerchief pressed against my heart...place. Hmm. I hope there's still time to investigate. I think further, standing up and pocketing the handkerchief.
It doesn't take me much time to catch up to the filly. What is difficult to do however, is keep out of her sight. I'm afraid that on more than one occasion, I made her feel like she was being followed; though a true feeling. She leads me to the edge of the forest and I discover a wonderful little town with so many splendid looking ponies.
I'm filled with enthusiasm as I observe the liveliness of everypony. That alone doesn't bar me from my objective as I watch the young filly named Scootaloo walk into the town with uncertainty plastered on her features. She hides my cape behind a barrel on the side of a household and goes on with a well rehearsed smile. So this isn't her first fiasco. Fortunately, as it turns out she has friends who care about her, at least to a certain extent. Looking further, I see that their shared destination is a school. That makes sense, I guess.
I begin to think of a way for me to infiltrate the school without being overly obvious. Hmm.
So I manage to enter the classroom and the only effective disguise is that of a fake skeleton far from majestically propped up by a few metal rods in the back of the room. I hope this works. I grab the fake skeleton and place it in the storage room beside the stand and remove my clothes, tossing them in with the fake. I hear the door open after an ear-splitting ringing and I hurry to the stand, taking a dead stance against the metal rods. I look with squinted eyes as the colts and fillies enter the room, thankfully including the one I'm after. Then the teacher enters. A pretty mare, jolly too.
Scootaloo and her friends sit side by side, but her apparent tormentors are giggling behind her over something I've missed. The subject matter for the class is rather interesting. Something about the history of Starswirl the Bearded. I wonder if I know him?
"Hey Scootalooser, why are you taking down notes on a Unicorn's history? It's not as if you can use magic. You're a Pegasus... if even that." a powder pink filly with a rather rich looking tiara on her head says. I wonder if she's even royalty?
"Just looking for a spell to make you bearable, Diamond." Scootaloo replies in kind. I'd smile if I could. Scootaloo's friends giggle as if to back her up.
"Well it's clear what you consider to be unbearable, Little-Miss-Can't-Fly." Diamond argued. So Scootaloo is unable to fly. Something we have in common.
"You leave her alone!" one of Scootaloo's friends pipes up. A white unicorn with two-toned mane colours.
"Yeah! She'll fly some day! Rainbow Dash is teaching her." replied the other. A yellow Earth pony with a red mane and a very distinctive accent in her voice.
"Oh, sure. When she's dead and gone to heaven. Or maybe there'll be an ironic twist and she'll be a grounded angel. That would be hilarious!" Diamond countered. That statement alone made me dislike her. Unlike the teacher, I was able to play favourites.
"Diamond Tiara, would you like to answer this question on the board?" the teacher asked, drawing each pony to the offending filly.
"No, Miss Cheerilee." Diamond Tiara replied. This filly had the kind of name you couldn't make a silly nickname for like she had for Scootaloo. So that's out of the question.
Another of those ear-piercing rings sounded and everypony left for lunch. With the room empty, I took the opportunity to liberate myself from the stand. Diamond Tiara is mean and cruel to her, but the scars she inflicts are emotional, not physical. There's more to this than I thought.
I replace the skeleton from the storage and outfit myself with my clothes. It's a strange phenomenon to be naked, even though I'm just bones. I need some time to think. I head for the window and leap out, making a run for the forest.
The castle seems an appropriate shelter for the time being. Certainly a quiet place to think. So looking back, even a ruthless filly like Diamond Tiara isn't capable of creating scars like those on Scootaloo's body. So who did? A sibling of Diamond? An abusive parent? My thoughts are cut off as I find myself wandering into the music hall, or what remains of it. The instruments are surprisingly well preserved. Perhaps some music will help me to think things through. I grab a violin and the stick used to play it with and I play the first thing that comes to mind. Even with the hall as decayed as it was, the resonance from the instrument was beautiful. It helped to clear my mind of things that didn't relate to the dilemma I was trying to sort out.
Scootaloo's clearly a sweet girl, hiding in a somewhat gruff and tomboyish demeanour. She can't fly, but that's no big issue in the greater scheme of things. She has friends, so she's not entirely lonely. Whether or not she has parents is a whole other issue. She didn't go to see them when she returned to that town, which suggests that she prefers school over her current residence. Could it be? Has she been cursed with the misfortune of abusive family? Could she be seeking help without knowing how to ask for it? Perhaps I'm over thinking things a bit. I stop playing for a moment to consider what else I might have missed.
It's with the absence of the sound from the violin that I hear chatter in the distance. I wonder... I place my violin back down and head over to the sound of the voices. They're not far from the castle, just beyond the tree line. Further investigation was called for.
I was wrong, completely and utterly wrong. Diamond Tiara and another were responsible for Scootaloo's injuries. I hadn't factored in the addition of a dog leash, if used correctly could create deep gashes in the skin of just about any pony.
"Find any spells to make me bearable, loser?" Diamond Tiara teased. That's why she was striking a fellow student? Over that tiny little quip in class? I clench my fist as I hear the sound of metal striking flesh and Scootaloo's pained cry follows. This is beyond forgivable.
"Hard to utilise those spells when you can't defend yourself, huh?!" Diamond continues to pester the poor filly while the other just stands there, laughing. I have to do something. All that's available to me is what's around me. I find a pretty decent rock. It's not large enough to do any sustainable damage, but it would certainly make its pressence known, mine included.
Another cry from the better of the three makes up my mind for me. With astounding accuracy, I throw the stone. Against all odds, I hit the tiara, knocking it into the river behind Scootaloo.
"What the?!" Diamond demands, turning around to find her attacker.
"Tiara, your...tiara!' the other calls out and Diamond Tiara is forced to abandon her search for me and chase after her possession along the riverbed, leaving Scootaloo alone to clean up again.
I contemplate leaving Scootaloo to her devices, but something compels me to approach her. Against my better judgement, I leave the safety of my trees and enter plain view. Scootaloo still hasn't noticed me, she's too busy cupping her hands in the water. Her top is off again and the fresh scars are bleeding profusely. It's not healthy for such a young filly, nor any pony really, to lose so much blood. I'm little more than a few feet away from her and the crunching of the grass alerts her to my presence.
"Look, you didn't have to help me out. They would have stopped eventually. It was no big deal." she said, not turning around to face me. She was putting on a brave face.
I reach into my breast pocket and pull out the handkerchief she wrote on. I toss it beside her within her view and she gasps.
"You, you were the one that..." she says as she turns to look upon me. Clearly, she wasn't expecting the living dead to be looking back at her. She seems lost for words. I kneel down to pick up the handkerchief and she falls on her rump, crawling back to the edge of the riverbank.
I reach over and dip the handkerchief in water before wringing it out. I make a gesture to offer my aid and she just sits there. Taking her indecision as a yes, I reach my free hand out and go to cup her cheek, but she flinches. I pause to let her know I mean her no harm before slowly brushing my fingers along her unharmed cheek, then cupping her face. I then bring the cool handkerchief to her left cheek which has a cut from the dog leash, still bleeding slightly. I gently brush the edge of the cut, wiping away the dirt that had accumulated around it. She winces slightly before just looking at me.
This is what I wanted. I wanted to reach out to her and touch her, protect her... like a father. A father...Hmm. I reach down again and re-moisten the handkerchief. This time, instead of wringing it dry, I hold it over her wound and squeeze. The water held within falls onto her face and the dirt and blood washes away. These cuts aren't from a leash alone. Some are finer, some are more jagged. I notice. Not just the bully, but somepony else.
"What are you staring at?" I hear her ask worriedly. I draw my attention away from the wounds all over her body and stare into her eyes. I see into the reflection her eyes are giving off. If I try to frown, the green glowing orbs in my sockets form saddened shapes. "Yeah. Diamond Tiara did this to me." she mutters. I notice her school books strewn across the ground a few feet away. I place the handkerchief over her shoulder and reach over for one of her workbooks. Flipping the pages to the back of the book, I grab my quill and write down what I'm wanting to project.
Not just her.
I show her. She sighs in sadness I could never match.
"No, not just her. My uncle... he's been grounded since he had that accident and he drinks allot. Sometimes he breaks a bottle and nicks me, sometimes it's when I'm in the kitchen and he's holding a sharp knife." she replies. I give her a moment to breathe before writing something else down.
I saw you in class this morning.
I show her. She looks at it for a moment longer than necessary before chuckling.
"I thought they'd changed the species of that model for the sake of Starswirl's history. So that was you, huh?" she asked. I simply nodded. "Can't you speak?" she asks. I'm taken aback. Come to think of it, I never really tried. I figured that since I had no lungs or lips, I couldn't form sentences. Then again, I had no heart or muscles and I was still able to move.
I shrug at her. "Alright, well, try and repeat after me." she offers. I look intently at her lips as she speaks a random word. "Thanks." she recites. I'm not sure how I would be able to speak, but I give it a try.
"T...th~th...than~ks... Thanks." I manage. Scootaloo smiles at me as I manage the word. I still don't understand how.
"That's it. Wow, you got it on the first try. Can you try saying other things?" she challenges.
"I... Imagine I could say anything. I've never really tried talking before." I reply. She stares at me with wide-eyes. "What?"
"That's awesome. You picked it up like it was nothing." she says. I guess I did.
"I can do more than talk, you know." I reply. She's interested, that much is obvious in the way she's looking at me.
"Like what" she asks. With a chuckle, I stand to my full height and offer her my hand. To my delight, she takes it with a smile and I help her to her feet.