Why? Why did Miss Cheerilee have to make me sit in the front of the class? Scootaloo thought with an embarrassed blush. She couldn’t help but feel her classmates, all of which was at least ten years younger than her, were laughing behind her back. Here, a grown mare without a cutie mark, was sitting in their classroom, learning History with them.
“Yo, Billboard, didn’t that mare clean up your puke at the supermarket last week?” she heard one of her classmates whisper. She chanced a glance behind, and indeed found that the two colts were the cause of last weeks puke clean up.
Note to self: beat them up at recess, she thought as she turned away.
“Dude, I think she recognizes us,” the colt snickered. “Hey, since she’s such a loser, ya think she’ll let us bang her?” he asked his friend, earning a gasp.
“Dude, that would be awesome!”
“Billboard!” Cheerilee yelled as she glared at his student. “Mass genocide of the gryphon race is most certainly not awesome!” Cheerilee glared at her student, who sank into his desk.
“S-sorry, ma’am.”
“I’m not the one you should be sorry to,” Cheerilee said as she pointed at the Gryphon exchange student, Raphael.
“No, Miz Cheerilee, it is quite alright,” Raphael said calmly. “I’m sure Billboard does not comprehend what genocide means. After all, he iz failing Equestian, no?” Raphael said with a glare, causing the entire class to laugh.
“That’s very mature of you, Raphael,” Miss Cheerilee said with a smile. “But ignorance does not equal innocence, so Billboard will apologize, now!”
“S-sorry, Raphael,” Billboard muttered.
“S’alright.” Raphael said with a nod.
“Good, now, let’s get back to studying, shall we?” Cheerilee asked rhetorically. Soon after the class ended, and everybody began packing up and leaving as fast as possible.
“Finally! Now to go out and get something to eat,” Scootaloo muttered to herself. She thought of anypony who wasn’t busy she could hang out with. Apple Bloom was working at the bar, and since it was school hours she couldn’t go there. Sweetie was on the road, heading towards Las Pegasus. Babs was in another state. And...then there was…
I just realized I only have three friends… Scootaloo thought with a pause. Sure, there was Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but they felt more like parents than anything else. Incredibly embarrassing parents. The kind of parents that would embarrass you in front of others by treating you as if you were twelve. Needless to say they were out of the question.
The point is, Scootaloo realized, she needs more friends. But who? She couldn’t ask to be friends with her classmates. They were all ten years younger than her! They wouldn’t want to hang out with an old fogey like her, right?
Am I old? Scootaloo asked herself. Reaching into her bag she grabbed a small mirror Rarity gave her (which was the worse birthday gift ever) and stared at her reflection. Bags under her eyes, along with wrinkles. She found the tell tale signs of crows feet beside her eyes. She could even have sworn she saw a gray hair or two in her mane.
“Scootaloo, are you alright?” Cheerilee asked, nudging Scootaloo who had yet to leave the classroom. Scootaloo slowly turned towards her teacher, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
“I’m old,” she mumbled.
“...No,” Cheerilee said with a glare. “No. You are too young for a midlife crisis! You’re twenty-five for Celestia’s sake!” Cheerilee yelled as she grabbed Scootaloo’s mirror and threw it out the window. “Now unless you have a real problem, get out of my classroom, now!” Cheerilee yelled as she pointed at her door.
“...Okay,” Scootaloo mumbled as she slowly left the room, hearing Cheerilee slamming the door behind her. ...Now what? Scootaloo thought. She had no friends to hang out with. She was feeling old. She got kicked out of the classroom. There was just nothing to-
“H-hello.”
“Huh?” Scootaloo asked intelligently as she turned towards the voice. “Oh, hey Pumpkin. What’s up?” Scootaloo asked with a smile.
“Oh, um… Nothing,” Pumpkin replied with a shy smile. Pumpkin looked away from Scootaloo, letting her eyes wander around the school. After a minute or two of this going on, Pumpkin finally turned back to Scootaloo with a smile. “H-hello,” she managed to squeak out.
“...You’re weird,” Scootaloo chuckled as she ruffled Pumpkin’s mane affectionately. “So, wanna get something to eat?” Scootaloo asked, causing Pumpkin to gasp softly.
“Uh...eh...gah…” Pumpkin muttered, constantly looking away from Scootaloo. After another minute, she turned towards Scootaloo with determination, and slowly nodded her head with a barely audible “Ugaaa”.
“...I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Scootaloo said as she shook her head. Turning around she began making her way out of the school, followed closely by a blushing Pumpkin Cake.
Little did they know, not to far off two figures were watching them closely.
“Yo, Pounder, ain’t dat yo’ sista?” a tall, purple figure asked as he nudged his associate. Pounder snorted angrily at the scene.
“Yeah. Looks like dat failure be messin’ with my family,” Pounder said as he began to tail Scootaloo and Pumpkin. “Maybe we oughta show her what happens when you mess with the family of-” he crouched down low as the purple figure jumped on his back, striking a ridiculous pose.
“THE FLAMING BIRDS OF DOOM!” the two shouted in unison. Several seconds passed as they stayed in that pose, when a couple of mares began laughing at them.
“Hey, Tavi! Isn’t that the librarian’s pet dragon?”
“She’s not her pet, Vinyl. I’m pretty sure the poor thing is her slave.” The two gossipped, earning a growl from the librarian’s pet/slave. Finally he turned around, blowing fire into the air.
“I AM TWILIGHT’S ASSISTANT!!!” he roared. The two mares looked unimpressed by the display however, only staring at him in bewilderment.
“You know, I just realized this little dude’s stalking a pair of mares,” Vinyl said as she turned to her companion. “Think we should call the guards?”
“That is hardly necessary Vinyl,” Octavia scolded. “He’s harmless, and his friend looks no more threatening. I say we simply ignore them,” Octavia said with a shrug and began walking away. Vinyl took one more glance at Spike and Pounder, before shrugging and following after Octavia.
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, how threatening could they be if they call themselves the 'Flaming birds of Doom', right?!” Vinyl asked, chuckling at the ridiculous name.
“...Owch,” Pounder muttered to himself.
“Grr. Whatever! Come on, Pounder!” Spike called out as he turned around. “Let’s go and… Uh…” Spike trailed off as he began scratching his chin. “...What were we doing again?”
“Dunno,” Pounder said with a shrug. After a second or two, Pounder’s eyes lit up as realization hit him like a sack of potatoes. “Hey, didn’t Princess Twilight ask you to pay the water bill?”
“No, that was yesterday… I think,” Spike dismissed with a wave of his claw.
“Don’t know what to tell ya then,” Pounder said with a shrug. “Anyways, I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat already.”
“Alright, geez. Don’t have to be so whiny about it,” Spike growled as the two of them began making a trek to Sugar Cube Corner.