//------------------------------//
// The Essay 
// Story: Finding a Voice 
// by AmpUpHeart 
//------------------------------//

"Okay," Cheerilee said that afternoon, "For your homework, I want you all to write a page-long essay about what you think a friend should be."

As the ponies rushed out of the building for the day, Streax walked with her dad, thinking of what to say.

'Why do I have to be so bad at writing?' She thought.
.................

By the time she got home, she hadn't spoken a word to either of her parents.

"So, Streax," Plasma said, "How was school?"

"There's a new pony named Fluttershy," Streax said.

"Well, she sounds nice," Plasma said.

"She was," Streax said, "Very shy, but very nice."

"Did anything else happen?" Wire said.

"Not really," Streax said, "But I have a bit of homework to do." She then rushed up to her room.

Hours later, she was just staring at a blank piece of paper and a pencil in her hooves.

'I know what I want to say, but how do I say it?' Streax thought. She looked at the clock. 11:30.

'Oh, Celestia help me,' she thought. She began to feel a stinging in her eyes.

'No,' she said to herself, 'You won't get anything done if you cry.' She began to write a few words. Then she hit another block at the end of the paragraph. The cycle continued. A few tears splashed onto the paper. By 1:30, she was only about halfway done.

She began to argue with herself.

'Stop. You're pushing yourself too hard.'

'You have to keep going. You don't want to fail your first English grade.'

'You've lost so much sleep already. Do you want to stay up all night?'

'Do you want to be the only pony with an incomplete essay?'

These thoughts cycled through her mind over and over, as the clock ticked, and she shed tears.
...................

That morning, the essay was still unfinished, but Streax just stuffed it into her saddlebags and rushed out the door, with Plasma trailing behind.

Streax was fighting back tears as she approached the school.

"Is something wrong, Streax?" Plasma asked.

"No," Streax said. She was not going to cry in public.

"All right," Plasma said, dropping Streax off at school. 

Immediately, Streax saw Split trying to encourage Fluttershy to talk to her.

"Hey, Streax!" Split said, "How are you doing?"

"I've seen better days," Streax said.

Fluttershy, noticing something wrong, cautiously approached Streax.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Not really," Streax sighed, "I think that I'm going to fail my essay. I was up until past 2am and I never finished it." A tear began to run down her face. Fluttershy wiped it off.

"It'll be okay," she said, "I may have not been around Ponyville for very long, but I think that Cheerilee will do something about it if you tell her. Believe me. In Cloudsdale, we had to take flight school. I'm not a very strong flyer. I ended up dropping out, and after being repeatedly bullied, my mom decided that it would be best if we moved here."

Then, the bell rang, meaning that class was starting.

As Cheerilee walked around the room, collecting the papers, Streax trembled. She kept trying to calm herself, but it wasn't working. When Cheerilee finally reached her, she felt ready to cry again.

"Streax, is something wrong?" Cheerilee asked.

Streax just nodded, handing her paper over to her teacher. Cheerilee immediately noticed water marks on the page, and immediately had an idea of what happened. This wasn't the first assignment she'd gotten like this.

"I couldn't think of anything else to write," Streax whispered, "I knew what I wanted to say, but I didn't have the words to say it. I was up very late, so I couldn't finish it. I'm sorry."

Cheerilee looked at the paper, and then at Streax.

"Actually," she said, "What you wrote here is very impressive. I already had a brief conversation with your mother, but it would probably be best if I spoke to both of your parents in a meeting. Ask them if they are available tomorrow after school."

Streax nodded, stunned.

"See?" Fluttershy whispered from a nearby desk, "I told you that everything would be okay."