//------------------------------// // Introductions // Story: Sticks and Stones // by Raymanguy //------------------------------// ~Two days before incident~ Scootaloo stood on her hindlegs and peered over the window sil into the one room schoolhouse. Her curiousity peeked when she overheard Cheerilee asking the new colt to stay behind. Scootaloo scaned the room until she spotted them, Cheerilee sat behind her desk looking down at the colt. He arrived a week ago looking the same way he did today. He had a short chestnut mane and amber eyes, that went strangely well with his light grey coat. He also had on a black and white checkered shirt that covered down to right before his flank, which is what drew Scootaloo's attention in the first place was the fact that he had no cutie mark. Before Scootaloo could continue her train of thought, the last student left the classroom and he began to speak. "Miss Cheerilee, please listen," He pleaded taking a step toward her desk, "You can't send home that letter." "I'm sorry, but you know that I have to notify your parents. Your performence this past week hasn't been the best." He sighed, "Please, I'm begging you," He closed the remaining gap between him an the desk, placing his forelegs atop it to look at Cheerilee eye to eye, "I beg you on my life, do not send that letter." Cheerilee stood up from behind her desk and trotted around it and toward the window, at which Scootaloo quickly slid down to the ground in a futile attempt at stealth. All Cheerilee had to do was peek out and down to see the orange filly in the short green grass, but all she did was close the window to halfway before returning her attention to the amber eyed colt. "Why don't you tell me your name and we'll see about the letter," Cheerilee began trotting around the room picking up trash left behind from today's activities. "I don't know what your talking about," the colt quickly spoke, as though that would stop Cheerilee from going on with the topic. "You have been here for over a week," Cheerilee stated with an added stomp for good measure, "and nopony knows who you are. You don't even write your name on your papers, and when somepony asks you, you say it's 'Bucky Magee'." He snickered, "It's not funny. This is serious," Cheerilee calmly stated. "Why had he said that was his name?" Scootaloo thought. "Why would anypony not want to use their name?" Cheerilee continued, "Now I understand, you're new and mysterious and want to keep it that way, but you can't just refuse to tell ponies your name, and you especially have to tell your teacher." The colt stared at the floor, not looking around to avoid eye contact, not deep in his own thoughts, just staring blankly at the floor as though what Cheerilee is saying is going in one ear and out the other. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the mare with years of experince teaching foals. Silence fell between them as Cheerilee waited for a response the colt clearly wasn't going to give. Scootaloo's eyes looked at Cheerilee, then the colt, then back again darting between the two. Cheerilee broke the silence, "I can't help you if you won't help yourself." "I understand," He sighed and slowly turned toward the door. Scootaloo slid back down the wall, contemplating what she just heard. Scootaloo was conflicted, she had been hoping that maybe he'd be willing to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but from what Cheerilee said meant that that probably wasn't going to happen. On the other hoof, that also meant that he didn't have any friends and could use one. "Why not me?" Scootaloo asked herself. "I'm cool. I'm nice. Maybe he'll join if we're friends." She knew it sounded selfish, but she really wanted somepony new to join. Besides that, she was also really interested in this new colt. So, she quickly crafted a plan and put it into action. "Step 1," Scootaloo thought, "Make contact." Scootaloo trotted to the front of the schoolhouse to see him slowly making his way down the path. She took a step forward before stopping. Her mind went blank, became flustered, unable to come up with a good way to start a conversation. Scootaloo sat back on her haunches and merely stared at the colt, hoping that inspiration would come. "Think, Scootaloo, think!" She mentally shouted. Nothing came to mind. Scootaloo groaned, deciding that by the time she caught up to him, she'd have something to say other than 'What is your NAME!?! TELL ME!' which crossed her mind more than once. Scootaloo stood up for a moment, mentally preparing herself, and then began to trot towards him at a leisurly pace. With each passing second, she could feel her heart starting to race, but couldn't tell if it was real or just her anxious mind combined with her imagination. Scootaloo quickly closed the gap between them (much faster than she had anticipated), slowing down enough to walk casually beside the colt. He didn't seem to notice her, his head hung low, still staring down the same way he had been back at the schoolhouse, giving Scootaloo a little bit of time to think. "Ok Scoots, think about this. You gotta make a good first impression." At that, she shook out her mane and began. "Hello," Scootaloo said, hoping that he wouldn't instantly reject her. His eyes widened, he then looked up and over to see the purple maned orange coated filly smiling at him. He returned the gesture. "Hello," He said sounding more like a question while turning his gaze to the path in front of them instead of the ground. "My name's Scootaloo," "Wow, that's a pretty cool name," He said not looking back. Scootaloo felt her cheeks warm at 'pretty' unable to tell if it was genuine or not, but kept the conversation going, "Uh...thanks. So, your the new colt, huh?" "It would seem so." She once again drew a mental blank, so they traveled in silence. Not an awkward one, but a relaxing one, which Scootaloo thought was weird considering she knew nothing about this pony. She took this time to look back over her shoulder to see that the schoolhouse was more than a short ways away, and that at some point, they had made a left going away from Ponyville. She shrugged it off since she lived out this way. Her mind finally cooperating with her, she spoke. "So, where're ya from?" "From Ponyville," He stated matter of fact like. "Really? How come I haven't seen you around before?" "Probably 'cause I live more than a little ways from the town. I rarely came to town anyway." "Why's that?" "I don't know," He slightly stretched those words and seemed to ponder that for a moment, though to Scootaloo, the whole thing reeked of sarcasm. They continued on the path for a little while in silence. The only sound between them was the soft clop of their hooves against dirt. Scootaloo hung slightly back, getting a closer look at him. "He really does look exactly the same as he did a week ago." Scootaloo thought still examining him. His coat was matted in around his neck and right at the bottom edge of his shirt, his mane was short and tangled in the back, making it seem more curly than it is. His tail was much like his mane only it the entire thing that looked curly. Scootaloo's gaze went back to the edge of his shirt, where she saw something unusual. What she saw was a spot, black and misshappen and easily visable on his light grey coat. Not just that, but only half of it could be seen, the neatly hidden under his checkered shirt. "Could be some sort of birthmark," Scootaloo reasoned, but was yanked out of her thoughts as the colt said her name. "Hey, Scootaloo," She shook her head, "Huh?" "Not to be rude but, any particular reason your walking with me?" He calmly inquired. "I'm not sure I understand." "It's just...nopony has ever walked with me without some reason in mind. Just curious to why you would is all." "Well, uh..." Scootaloo struggled to come up with something, so she said, "I live this way anyway, and I hadn't introduced myself. Besides, thought you could use the company." It wasn't a lie, so why did she still feel bad. "That does make sense, right?" she asked herself. "Hmmm, makes sense. Introductions on the way home," The statement understandably startled her, causing her to slightly trip before catching herself, she then carried on and tried to pretend that hadn't just happened. The colt didn't seem to notice, she let out a small sigh of relief and trotted to catch up. The comfortable silence returned as they slowly trotted along. After a time, they began to approach a fork in the road, one on the left leading toward Sweet Apple Acres and the other lead to the far outskirts of Ponyville. Directly ahead was a small but dense forest. Scootaloo knew it wasn't the Everfree forest, that was on the far side of this one, seperated by a path similar to the one they were on. When the two of them reached the fork, they stopped. The colt held up a hoof to stop as he walked toward the forest. Scootaloo sat down at the edge of the path. The colt walked to the first tree and hit it three times with his forehoof, at which the leaves rustled for a moment before a basket fell from the tree and onto his back. He winced for a split second, hardly noticable to anypony. Anypony other than Scootaloo perhaps. He trotted back to her and placed the basket between them. Scootaloo's mind summoned many questions, so she went with the first one. "Uh...Where'd the basket come from?" "Up in the tree," He said while digging in the basket for something, Scootaloo just glared. "I mean, how did it get up there?" "I put it there this morning," the colt chuckled, "I usually get hungry on the walk home, so I occasionally put a basket up in the tree filled with...Ah ha!" He shouted, holding an bright red apple on his hoof. He tossed it to Scootaloo who promtly caught it in her hoof and took a bite. He brought out another one and chomped the thing down in a single bite. "He must be really hungry," Scootaloo thought still chewing after her first bite. In the short time they sat there, he had eaten nine apples while Scootaloo had a whomping two. She had never been that much of an eater, especially where apples were involved. She wasn't the biggest fan, but the occasional apple was always good in her opinion. Scootaloo realized that she was pondering her own opinion of apples and decided that now would be the best time for a conversion with somepony other than herself. "Those apples were delicious!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Ah, they were indeed," He said now resting on his back, forelegs behind his head. "I think i have a couple more in the basket, if you want some more." "Thanks, but I think I'm good," She said now attempting to lay in the same manner. It took her a bit, but after spending five minutes adjusting to the ground, she finally felt relaxed. Of course, as if irony itself chose that moment perfectly, he too chose that moment to roll back over and get up. Scootaloo didn't feel like getting up just yet, so she closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. She heard him grasp the basket in his teeth and trot away from her, his hoofsteps barely audible in the soft grass. Soon, the rustle of leaves greeted her ears and the soft clop of hooves toward her followed shortly thereafter. She felt something softly poke her belly, she opened her eyes to see him smiling down, his hoof outstretched to help her up. Scootaloo sighed, not wanting to get up, but took his hoof and did it anyway. "That was...fun," He said as he pulled her up with an unsure smile pastored on his face. "Yeah...it was," Scootaloo agreed. At that, his smile corrected itself into something of a more genuine nature. He looked away from her as unaware of how to proceed. Scootaloo lifted her hoof and moved it toward his shoulder, she understood that this was probably something he wasn't used to and just wanted to show him that he was doing fine. As her hoof advanced, however, he turned his gaze back to see her hoof approaching him and he fliched back and crouched down to the ground. At this display, Scootaloo withdrew her hoof and let it hang in mid air while she raised an eyebrow. The colt eyes were shut tight as he lay in the grass, shaking slightly, like he had tensed up his body as though he were about to be punched. "Are you okay?" Scootaloo asked, worry very evident in her voice. The colt stand up and the shaking stopped, but his eyes remained closed, "Yeah, I'm good." He said putting a hoof to the side of his head, after which his eyes slowly revealed themshelves, "Just a headache, that's all." Scootaloo gave him a warm smile, she knew he was hiding something, but she also knew that interrogation wouldn't lead to friendship. So she'd let it slide. For now. "Well," The colt began, "I had better get going." "Yeah, okay." The colt turned to leave but stopped and without turning back said, "We should do this again." Scootaloo couldn't help smile at that statement. "Yeah, we should!" She practically shouted. The colt chuckled and started trotting away. Once he was out of sight, Scootaloo facehoofed. She let her mind mull over what had just happened while turned down the path toward Sweet Apple Acres and her home, the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. Despite feeling that she had made a foal of herself with her over abundant enthusiasm, she felt that all had gone far better than expected. She really hadn't found out anything about him but she felt that she had at least laid the foundation for may or may not one day become a friendship of some sort. By the time Scootaloo made it to the clearing that held the clubhouse, it was still pretty early in the evening. So she thought to do something productive when she went in. Those thoughts vanished the moment she opened the door and instant realized how tired she actually was, so sleeping become the most productive thing that came to mind. At that, Scootaloo laid down in the make shift bed of three pillows sowed together and blanket bearing the insignia of the CMCs. As she lay there, her mind wandered back to him and what tomorrow would bring.