//------------------------------// // 2- Belay That! I'll Do It Myself // Story: To Echo A Mimic // by Flutters Is Shy //------------------------------// "Why you wearing boots, dweeb?" Echo took a long, hard look at the pony perched on the edge of his desk. A slim, red coated unicorn with blasts of red going through his dark red mane and tail. Ali O. C. Alihondro, O'Cloud. In other words, one of the biggest morons in the whole of class C, if not the entire school. "I asked you a question, Pecko." It was Ali's chosen insult for Echo. It didn't even make sense! All he did was change it slightly by adding a 'p' on the front, and he used it ALL the time. As if it was actually insulting him. "Forgot how to say my name again, Ali? It's Echo, no 'p' sound included. Just try saying it to yourself a few times, maybe you'll actually remember it this time. And the boots? Mom said they might be making it rain earlier than expected, so I should at the very least take my booties," he lied, shaking his head as if to untangle some sort of mental cobweb. "Ha! Little mama's colt, can't even go to school without dragging along on her apron strings." Ali goaded. "First off, my mom NEVER wears an apron, so that kinda fell flat. Secondly, I know for a FACT the first thing you said when you fell off the dumpster last week trying to impress those seniors was 'Mama'. So you aren't exactly in a position to use that kind of ammo." A resounding chorus of laughter struck up from the watchers of this little spat, causing Ali to stalk off to his own seat with a barely controlled anger. Echo adjusted another pencil on his desk, raising his head as a familiar face came through the classroom door. "Oy! Crest. I found your book hidden under the bushes in the garden." A single look towards Ail was enough to confirm his barely contained mirth, "Can't imagine how it ended up there." "Yeah," Rising Crest started, igniting his horn and causing a cover of sleet to form on Ali's suddenly cold head, "Can't imagine how that happened. Not in the slightest." "Ms. Tack!" Ali belted out, drawing the tired looking mares attention. "Rising Crest just attacked me!" A bored look at the frost camped out on Ali's head, and Ms. Tack turned towards Rising Crest with a scowl. "Detention, Mr. Crest. Fighting is not allowed on school property." "Yes Ms. Tack," Rising Crest sullenly replied. "Come now students, calm yourselves, everypony settle down!" Ms. Tack called out. Once everypony had taken their seats, she started class and everything proceeded as normal. Until the test. Echo was prepared for something as simple as a math test, but he could definitely see some of his classmates looking a bit worried. Ali looked particularly peeved, it was obvious he hadn't done ANY studying. five minutes in, and he hadn't even written his name down yet. That dumbass Pecko thinks he's so smart? Echo heard Ali say. Wait... how come Ms. Tack didn't call him on that? It wasn't like he was being quiet... Who in Tartarus would even NEED this in real life? Maybe a dweeb like Pecko would use it in his dweeb life, but someone as awesome as me shouldn't have to deal with this bull manure! Echo stared at the back of Ali's head, wondering how no one else heard his antagonistic rambling. He had even ended on an expletive, there's no way Ms. Tack wouldn't have said something about that. X divided by five under seven? It's not even numbers anymore, buck this garbage! Yeah, there was no way she didn't hear that. What the hay was going on? I wonder is Basketcase is gonna be free later to play some hoofball? Echo realized with a start, Ali wasn't saying anything outloud. He was hearing his thoughts! How? Echo couldn't fathom how this came to pass. There was no way this should have been possible, but regardless that didn't stop Ali from mindlessly rambling on and on and on in his idiotic way. Echo covered his ears, but it did nothing to help. It didn't deafen it at all, and he NEVER. SHUT. UP. "Something the matter?" Ms. Tack asked, peering over the edge of her hornrim glasses. "I..." Echo tried desperately to think up an excuse. "I have a bit of a headache, I've finished my test, can I go to the nurses office?" She gave a slow nod, and returned her attention to her papers. Echo wandered the halls, heading for the nurses office. His head didn't really hurt, but it was swimming. He didn't really know of any mind reading spells, but what else could this be? You didn't just wake up one morning with the mutant ability of telepathy, life wasn't like a comic book. "Something wrong, deary?" The nurse asked as Echo entered the room. "I... just had a bit of a headache," Echo lied. Probably lying, but the poor dear does look rather ashen, Echo heard her 'say'. "Well, just take a short rest on one of the beds, and I hope you feel better soon." Echo lay down, trying to collect his thoughts. Seventeen down... another word for a bale of hay... I'll come back to that later. Fourteen across, Princess Celestia's favorite flavor of cake... crabapples, I know this one! Meringue? No, that's too long... She continued on and on like this incessantly, not even pausing to take a breath. Seeing as Echo was apparently hearing her internal thoughts, it wasn't that big of a surprise. Echo tried to 'turn off' the mind read-yness, to no avail. He shut his eyes in concentration, he tried to think of something else, ANYTHING else, unsuccessfully. Not even a mantra of 'my mind is my own, my mind is my own, my mind is my own,' did anything of note. Echo finally fell into a restless sleep, the nurses ramblings continuing on into obscurity. I wonder if raspberry would fit there?