“C’mon Scoots, wake up.” Inventor called to the pegasus who was still asleep on his chest. She groggily stirred in reply and Inventor smiled, with a couple nudges to her exposed sides she woke up with a look of impatience on her face. “It’s a school day Scoots, after all the days you missed while you were asleep, I think we should get there early to negotiate the make-up work with Cherilee. Don’t you?”
After a few minutes of preparation for both man and filly they eventually set out on their way towards the school. As they walked the streets the few ponies would look at the biped with looks of confusion and distrust. Inventor knew these looks, he had been receiving them since arriving in the small town, but he did as he always did and shrugged them off. Scootaloo, however, took notice and looked at each of the ponies in confusion.
“Why don’t they trust you dad? I know you look odd, but you saved me and they look at you like you might kill them on a whim if you felt like it.” said the orange pegasus with a confused look to Inventor. Inventor looked at the young filly with sad eyes and a half-hearted grin on his face, but didn’t answer her question. With only the mysterious ticking to follow them, father and daughter approached the school.
Upon entering Cherilee’s classroom the teacher herself was seated behind her class desk. With the sound of a door opening the instructor turned an expectant look to door only to have a look of disappointment at the human who stood in the doorway, when the orange filly came around him to enter the room Cherilee put on a fake smile and nodded to her.
“Sorry to interrupt your pre-class preparation Miss Cherilee, but me and my daughter wanted to talk about the make-up work that Scoots will have to do because of what she missed while she was at the hospital.” Inventor said evenly in an apathetic tone.
Cherilee’s fake smile briefly faltered at the tone of voice but the teacher hid it as she reached into a nearby desk with her mouth to pull out a packet of papers, she laid it on the desk in front of her before she spoke. “There it is Mr. Inventor,” Cherilee said. “Those are the assignments she missed, I will accept them anytime between now and next week.”
With a nod to the purple mare Inventor took the packet and dropped it into Scootaloo’s saddlebags. “Glad we took care of that, See ya after school to walk you home, okay Scoots?” With a nod from the orange filly Inventor left the room as his heavy footfalls echoed down the hallway and out the front door.
The school day was largely uneventful for Scootaloo. She tried to pay attention in class, but the snickers she was hearing from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon refused to let her pay attention to anything besides her turmoiling conscience. However, the meaning of the quite laughs weren’t revealed until the lunch break.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had just sat down at a table together for lunch when the mocking tones of the two bullies came within earshot. The pink and grey fillies approached the table with a sure stride as they talked between themselves. Upon arrival they began their usual torture of the three children.
“Hello Blank Flanks, what stupid idea did you have set to try and get your cutie marks today? Getting into the hospital again cutie marks?” Came the snide comment from the pink pony.
“Leave us alone Diamond Tiara, we’re just having lunch.” Scootaloo replied as she set her saddlebags on the table to see what Inventor had packed her to eat.
“Oh, the orphan is talking, tell me, has anyone taken any pity on the pegasus that can’t fly?” Diamond Tiara responded.
Scootaloo didn’t hear the insult as she dug through her saddlebags in vain looking for some kind of lunch. Inventor couldn’t have forgotten to pack her lunch could he have? Diamond Tiara was instead answered by Applebloom. “As a matter of fact she was adopted.” The yellow earth filly responded.
“Seems her parent forgot to pack her a lunch though, guess whoever it was doesn’t care after all huh?” Responded Silver Spoon with a smug grin as she noticed the increasingly frantic acts of the purple-maned pegasus as she dug through her saddlebags.
Before anything could be said or done in response a voice echoed over to the group from the fence that surrounded the outdoor playground. “Hey, Scoots!” The five fillies looked over to see Inventor easily step over the fence and approach the group with an odd circular plastic plate in his hand, the two bullies’ jaws dropped. Upon arrival he smiled at the Cutie Mark Crusaders before setting the plate on the table.
There was a heavy gasp as the three girls looked at the contents of the plate, sitting on it was a masterful arrangement of vegetables and fruit in a circle with a cup of dip sitting carefully in the middle. “I forgot about your lunch this morning so I decided to go out and buy something for ya. Didn’t know what you liked so I got a little of everything, I’m sure your friends will help you eat whatever you can’t.” Inventor smiled.
Inventor turned to leave and spoke. “Now I have to go, Twilight is helping me prepare for a seminar I’m going to be giving in Canterlot this weekend.” Inventor paused to look over his shoulder at the three fillies sitting at the table. “Oh that reminds me, do you want to come along Scoots? If you don’t I’m sure I can get someone to babysit.” Inventor said
The response was immediate as the orange filly managed to drag her attention away from the veritable gourmet course in front of her. “I would love to Dad.” the pegasus hesitated. “Is it okay if Sweetie and Applebloom come along?” She looked up to her adoptive father with a pleading look and he responded with an easy-going laugh.
“Of course they can come along, assuming of course that they ask their families and get their permission.” Inventor smiled at the eagerly nodding unicorn and earth pony. “Now I really must be going, Twilight will wonder what happened to me if I’m gone for too long.” As he left, the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to talk excitedly amongst themselves while munching on the wide variety of food that sat in front of them. Meanwhile Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon merely stood with dropped jaws for a few moments until they silently retreated to a table to eat until lunch ended.
The rest of the school day went by pretty uneventfully with the stunned silence of the bullies carrying back over into the classroom for the rest of the day Scootaloo was able to pay attention to the class and Ms. Cherilee’s lectures on the class work. The peace that the orange filly enjoyed couldn’t last for long though as the day ended and she was getting her stuff together to leave. As she went to leave she found her path was blocked off by the poison tongued torturers who had been silent for the past few hours of the latter end of class.
“So, your dad is an alien monster? I suppose that would explain why he decided to adopt a blank flank, flightless pegasus. He probably adopted you to try and make himself look more normal.” Diamond Tiara said with a voice that was dripping with undeserved hate.
“Yeah, it would take an outcast like your dad to adopt you.” Silver Spoon said with a mocking laugh. As several fillies slipped out of the class until the three of them were the only ponies remaining aside from the teacher. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle having left earlier in the excitement to ask their sister’s permission for the trip.
Scootaloo looked over helplessly at Cherilee who was conviently paying a large amount of attention to her desk. Scootaloo turned her head back to the bullies, “You can insult me all you like, but don’t you dare insult my dad, he’s braver and stronger and better than all of your -” Scootaloo was interrupted, something in the doorframe caught her eye.
Oblivious to the reason as to why Scootaloo had stopped mid sentence the two bullies continued on with their teasing, “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Better than all our what exactly?” Diamond Tiara teased with a laugh.
When no response came from the pegasus Silver Spoon spoke up, “I think we broke her, Come on Tiara let’s leave.” With an approving from the other filly they turned around and set to walk out the door with their heads held high and there eyes closed in fake superiority, only to run into something unyielding as stone.
Diamond Tiara was the first to recover from the unexpected obstruction, “Hey, who do you think you are, Standing in our wa-.” She was quieted when she saw what had blocked her dramatic exit, she slowly followed the unmoving body up with her eyes until she was looking a at face of a creature standing about four times her height when she was on all four hooves. The tall biped looked back down into the eyes of both fillies with something akin to a sad rage.
“Scoots,” The figure said, his dark gaze not leaving the two bullies who were now trying to make themselves as small as possible under his unyielding leer “let’s go.” The orange filly obeyed and exited the classroom somewhat hesitantly as an unnatural tension began to fill the room, Miss Cherilee turned to see the speaker and found herself looking into a similar gaze that had met the two fillies, albeit with more disappointment than anger. After a few seconds of looking into the teacher’s eyes Inventor left the doorway leaving the tension behind.
The man and the filly walked through town, Inventor’s steps unconsciously matching that of the clockwork beat that followed him around as he fell deep into thought, Scootaloo took notice and decided that she needed to say something to break her dad out of his silent reverie. A nearby ice cream shop caught the attention of the pegasus and she spoke up, “Hey dad, can we get some ice cream? The lunch you brought was nice, but I haven’t had ice cream in days.”
Inventor looked down at her with a smile, “Sure, let’s get some comfort food. I could certainly use some right now.” Scootaloo smiled in response as their path altered to go to the shop that the small pegasus had pointed out earlier. The little filly happily hopped behind the tall biped as she cheered with joy inside at the fact that she had achieved her goal of making her dad forget whatever was on his mind, if only for a moment.
Upon entering the store the owner turned his gaze from the ice cream bowl he was cleaning, a smile broke across his face as he saw the duo enter the shop to the sound of a small bell that hung above the door, “If it isn’t my favorite customer and her new dad, how ya doing Scoot?” he said cheerfully as he put the bowl away under the desk and walked over to the cash register, happy to have some customers in his currently empty shop.
“I’m doing great Lickety-Split, its been a good day.” Scootaloo said with a large smile. “Can I get the usual please, oh and one for my dad too, I’m sure he’ll love it.”
With a nod to Scootaloo, Lickety-Split turned his gaze to Inventor to make sure that he wasn’t going to object to the order. Inventor shook his head with a grin, turning his attention back to the ice cream pony, the human spoke up “I guess I’ll have what she just ordered me, my names Inventor by the way, It’s nice to meet you Lickety-Split.”
“Nice to meet you as well sir.” Lickety responded professionally with a polite nod as he turned away and began to fill two ice cream cones with a purple ice cream, while they waited the two customers approached a nearby table and settled down, after a few minutes Lickety-Split brought over the ice cream and laid it into front of the filly and the man before announcing he would be accepting the payment at the register when they were done.
The sound of a bell ringed announced the arrival of a new customer, turning to look Inventor saw a somewhat lanky creature that looked like a pony but was covered in stripes, “A zebra huh? That’s unique.” the man said out loud without realizing.
Scootaloo looked as well when her dad started talking about zebras, she happily waved a hoof to the new arrival. “Hey Zecora.” the pegasus said with a grin toward the odd inhabitant of the Everfree Forest.
Zecora returned the smile before speaking, “Hello again the young pegasus known as Scootaloo, one second before you tell me about the creature who sits with you.” With this line of rhyming dialogue the zebra walked over to the counter to order her ice cream, as she did so Inventor watched her with an amused smile.
After Zecora had finished her order she walked over to the duo and sat down, “So Scootaloo, tell me about your oddly shaped friend, if it’s against his rules to talk I’m sure that rule we can bend.”
Scootaloo was about to speak when she was interrupted by Inventor himself, “You seem to talk in rhyme, I find that very odd. But if you wish I could talk like it as well and, my own voice, mod.”
Zecora looked at the human as her smile widened, “Someone wishes to talk to me in a rhyme all their own, that’s something I have yet to have seen someone else shown.”
“I’m not normal, in fact I’m quite eccentric you see. As for my race I come from a group called humanity.”
“Humanity you say, that seems so weird. Nothing I’ve heard of suggest a group so mirror’d.”
“Well as you can see my flesh is near colored orange,” Inventor said but paused. A look of triumph flashed across the zebra’s face and Scootaloo quickly figured out what had just happened. Then Inventor clapped his hands in epiphany, “But I can assure you that I can operate a door hinge.”
Scootaloo sighed at the bad rhyme as the striped quadruped shook her head, with a look to her adoptive father Scootaloo spoke to the zebra. “He adopted me and saved me from diamond dogs, Zecora. We’re even going to Canterlot this weekend.” the pegasus said excitedly as she barely contained her happiness.
Zecora looked back at the human before standing from her seat, having finished her ice cream during the trade of rhymes, “It’s been nice to meet you, protector of fillies, but I really must go. We should talk again later when time is moving too slow.” she said as she stood from her laying position and stretched her muscles. Inventor noticed several strong muscles flex across the zebra but decided to ignore the fact that the rhymer apparently had enough muscle strength to rearrange his facial construction with one hoof.
“That’d be nice, I’ll ask around for where your house is so I can visit you, wouldn’t want to hold you up even more than I already have.” Inventor said as he dropped his rhyming pattern, with an agreeing nod from the zebra the talk had ended and Zecora walked up to the register, paid, and left the restaurant.
As soon as the zebra had left Scootaloo turned to Inventor, “Where did you learn to rhyme like that? You almost kept pace with Zecora, and she’s the best rhymer I know of.” the pegasus said with a smile.
“Being alone for years and years has a tendency to improve odd skills like rhyming in speech.” Inventor responded with a reminiscent look in his eyes as he finished his ice cream. Scootaloo looked at her father, realizing she didn’t really know anything about his past. Before any question could be asked Inventor stood from his sitting position and pulled out a stack of bits. “How about we head home Scoots, if I remember correctly you have quite a lot of homework to catch up on.” A depressed sigh accompanied this as Inventor paid for the ice cream and they went home.
The rest of the afternoon went without note as Scootaloo worked silently on her homework in her room, which had received a few additions while she had been gone to school for the day, including a small writing desk for her to do her homework on. Meanwhile Inventor toiled away rather noisily in the workshop, that had been converted from a room on the ground floor, after having told the pegasus to come knock on his door when she was going to sleep.
With a yawn Scootaloo laid her pencils to the side as she sidled off the chair to go set her papers inside her saddlebags for the next day. After that was done she drowsily made her way towards the door so she could go tell Inventor that she was going to be heading to bed now.
When she opened the door the orange filly found the man at the doorway and only then did Scootaloo realize the noise from his workshop had ended a while ago, “Sorry Scoots, I just couldn’t wait for you after I finished it.” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow but waited patiently as the human set down a light brown wooden box on the stand next to her bed, another addition to room since that morning. He opened it to reveal a small wooden disc, with a smile from Inventor he stuck a key into a hole at the back, twisting it a few times set the device in motion.
The noise that emanated from the wooden device told Scootaloo that it was a music box, “Is this for me?” Scootaloo asked looking curiously up at Inventor.
“Yup, it should help you get to sleep at night with having to fear about nightmares. Marvelous little device, a music box, it manages to contain enough gears and space in order to acoustically produce a series of sounds which play in the right rhythm for a piece of music, I always was did enjoy a well put together music box when I was your age.” the man said with a nod to the filly.
The young pegasus latched onto Inventor’s leg in a hug and looked up at her dad, “I love it, thank you.” With a smile from the man and a pat on the head Scootaloo climbed into her bed and brought her doll between her forehooves. With a smile to his adopted daughter Inventor made to leave the room when the pegasus called after him, “Hey, can you teach me how to do that stare you used on Diamond Tiara today. Ya know, so I can get her to leave me and my friends alone.”
The man paused in the doorway as the rhythmic ticking filled the void and forced silence away from the situation, “Nope,” came the eventual response of the human.
“Aw, why not?”
“It takes a long time to learn," Inventor paused for a moment before continuing "as well as a few specific circumstances that I would rather you never be exposed to.” With those words the techie turned off the light and went to his room, and, as promised, Scootaloo had only peaceful dreams that night as the music box turned away from the bedside table.
(Took me longer then I expected, I felt like I needed to reaffirm a few things with this chapter that I kinda just threw without thinking into my last chapter. This includes the fact that I needed to show that Scootaloo is still a tomboy as well as the fact that I gave the unintended impression of everyone just accepting Inventor on Twilight's word, Both were adressed in this chapter though perhaps not the extent I would have liked, I will continue to build on these and a few other things in the coming chapters, as always leave any critiques or comments you feel like, I promise I will read all of them.)