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// One Little Mistake 
// Story: Scraps 
// by CDRW 
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My name is Scootaloo, and I've been caught in a conspiracy.

It all started with the math test this morning. We had been learning about decimals, and she wanted to give us a test because, umm, I dunno. That's just kind of what teachers do. 

Anyway, I kind of needed to get a good grade on that test because I wasn't doing so hot with math. I actually studied for it and everything. Don't tell anypony that though. I'm supposed to be Rainbow Dash's honorary little sister, not Rainbow Decimal's. I'm not an egghead.

That's not the point though. I could tell something was off when Miss Cheerilee gave me a hundred percent on the test. That's not a thing that happens. 

There was something off about her smile when she handed it back, too, like she knew something that I didn't. Her lips had this smug little quirk to them; she was daring me to figure out what was going on.

Of course, I figured it out right off the bat. Miss Cheerilee is a changeling. But I couldn't just go running to Princess Twilight. I needed evidence. I needed proof. And there was only one way to get it. 

I hated the idea. If anypony—especially Applebloom or Sweetie Belle—found out, I would be ruined. I wouldn't ever be able to show my face in Ponyville again. Not only that, I had other, more important stuff to do, like practicing scooter tricks, or getting my cutie mark in whitewater rafting, or convincing Rainbow Dash to give me an autographed copy of a picture of her saving the Wonderbolts at the Best Young Fliers Competition.

It was a hard choice, but I knew I had to do it, for the good of everypony. I was going to go and re-check my math test.

I told Sweetie Belle and Applebloom that I wasn't feeling good and was just going to go home after school so I could get out of crusading business. It almost didn't work. I should have known that they would want to come and try to make me feel better, but I managed to convince them to stay away by telling them I was just going to go to bed and it would be really boring to watch me sleep.

I took every precaution when I got home. I closed the windows and the curtains, locked the bedroom door, and even pushed my bed in front of it. Then I got my math book out and read it.

I stuck with it for the whole afternoon. I re-read the whole chapter. Then I went back to my test and did every single problem over again and then checking it against my first answer. I didn't find anything though, so I did it again, and again, and again. I did it until numbers started crawling out my ears and I cried (I don't actually cry) tears of plus signs.

I didn't think I'd ever find it, but I did. I've finally figured out where I went wrong. On problem sixteen, I drew the decimal point one place over to the right in the answer. 

Now I've got my proof. Cheerilee would have docked my grade for a mistake like that. But the changeling didn't. I know it didn't make a mistake. They're smarter than that. It knew I would know and knew I'd do anything to figure out what it was doing. But what it didn't know was that I'd figure out why it left that mistake in. When a filly locks herself in her room to do math problems, she's got a lot of time to think. I know the changeling's game. I know its nefarious plan.

My name is Scootaloo. I have been caught in a conspiracy. My teacher has been replaced by a changeling, and it is trying to trick me into understanding how math works.

It wants to turn me into an egghead.