The school bell has finally rung and Scootaloo and I look over at it as if it doesn’t hold much importance. Then we look at each other. I cough conspicuously.
“Oh dear, Scootaloo. I believe it is time to go back to school.” I cough again. “Scootaloo, do you feel okay? I mean, I am sick, and I was sitting pretty close to you…”
Scootaloo gets it. “Oh, Thorn, you’re right. I guess I shouldn’t have been breathing so much of your air.” We both look up at the schoolhouse. Then back at each other.
“You want to go somewhere fun?” I ask. Scootaloo looks slowly away from the school bell as it stops clanging. Her confidence and determination are finally back.
“Yes.” She says deliberately. “Anywhere but here.” With all thoughts of my previous excursion gone, Scootaloo and I run like earth ponies back to the center of Ponyville. Everypony there is an adult. Of course it’s obvious that we’re skipping school now.
“Hey Scootaloo, why have I never seen your parents? I mean, I’ve seen Apple Bloom’s sister and Sweetie Belle’s at least talked about her family. But I’ve never seen anypony in Ponyville who looks remotely like you, pegasus or otherwise.”
“Oh, well that’s because my parents are back at home.”
“Home?”
“Baltimare. It’s really far from here, so my parents couldn’t come. There’s too much for them to take care of at home.” Scootaloo sounds so calm it’s unnerving.
“What brings you here to Ponyville, then?”
“I heard that one of the best flyers in all of Equestira was here in Ponyville. If anypony could teach me to fly, it was Rainbow Dash!” Suddenly Scootaloo is no longer talking to me at all. She’s seeing her idol, Rainbow Dash. Of course that makes sense. But if Rainbow Dash has already given Scootaloo lessons and if what Scootaloo has said about her flying ability is to be believed then…
She has absolutely no chance of ever flying.
“Then, where are you staying here in Ponyville?” I ask slowly.
“That’s a complicated question, actually.” Scootaloo comes back from her reverie. “I told my parents I’m staying with Rainbow Dash as an apprentice so I could learn to fly. That’s not exactly true. I mean, I asked Rainbow if she could be my mentor and teach me and she said that’d be great and I could live with her and we could do everything together just like sisters and everything would be super perfect and really really fun!”
Scootaloo takes a breath before continuing after her long run-on. “But when I showed her how I couldn’t fly at all she said it’d be dangerous for me to live on a cloud because if I fell off I couldn’t save myself. So she said she’d have to teach me to fly some other way. She hasn’t gotten back to me on it yet.” Scootaloo sighs again.
“I just want to be able to fly and then I’ll never ask for anything again.” Scootaloo looks up at the sky longingly where a few pegasi are hovering, chatting in a comfortable, everyday fashion.
For the first time that day, I look over at her wings. Then I look at the other pegasi. Even for a foal, her wings look really small. There’s no way they could lift her off the ground, pegasus magic or not. But Scootaloo hasn’t given up yet. She still dreams of flying despite all these factors against her.
How can anypony doubt her ability when she’s still standing here defying us all?
Even though I know that it’s logically impossible for her dream to come true, I find myself feeling hopeful with her. I know somewhere in my hopelessness that I truly believe Scootaloo is going to fly someday. And not just in a balloon, or with some pegasus who pities her. No. She’s going to fly with her own wings.
I just know it.
“Don’t give up, Scootaloo. Just like someday you’ll get your cutie mark, someday you’ll fly up there with all the other pegasus ponies. I believe in you!”
“Thanks Thorn. That means a lot.”
“Now come on. Let’s go to that café over there and I’ll treat you to lunch.”
“That sounds like fun.” Scootaloo says, cheering up again. “Race you!” She breaks into a run and I stumble a bit but manage to keep up.
“You’re pretty fast, Thorn.”
“Fast enough to beat you!” I put on a burst of speed.
And somehow, we both end up at the café at the same time.
“Who won?” I pant. Scootaloo shakes her head.
“I think we tied.” She looks over at the tables outside. “It’s a really nice day. Let’s sit outside.” I nod in agreement and we trot over to the tables. The chairs are comfortable piles of hay. Not the pointy kind, but the soft kind that you line foals' beds with.
Simultaneously, I hear our stomachs growl. We look at each other sheepishly and wait for our waiter to take our order. While we wait, we talk animatedly about all kinds of things. Those things that just pop up in conversations when you’re really comfortable with somepony.
“Hey Thorn, I’ve told you about me. How about you tell me about you?” Scootaloo says. At that moment my horn sparks again and Scootaloo, knowing me, dodges the energy as it crackles in her direction.
“I’m so sorry! Nice dodge, though.” I say. Scootaloo looks proud of herself.
“I’ve learned from watching Rainbow Dash dodge clouds.” She says. “Now go ahead with your story.”
I take a deep breath and tell myself firmly that this will ultimately be good for me, even though it hurts.
“It all started back in magic kindergarten--”
“Magic kindergarten? Isn’t that reserved for especially gifted foals? Wow, that’s so cool, Thorn!”
I laugh shakily. “Yeah, gifted. Dad noticed my talent as a small foal, he says. Apparently I passed their test with flying colors, whatever that meant, and I got into this special school or whatever. But it’s not wonderful unless you’re the best in the class. If you’re anything less than the best, the most talented unicorns use their wicked magic to boss you around.”
“Let me guess; you weren’t the best in the class?”
“How could I even try? I don’t remember anything before my first day of magic kindergarten, but that first day is one of those things I can never erase from my mind. As soon as I walked in the door this prissy little filly--no offense but it’s always a filly--came up to me and said “My name is Fancy Glimmer and I challenge you to a Magic Battle.” Here, Scootaloo interrupts me with a loud guffaw.
“I’m sorry, Thorn, but Fancy Glimmer? That’s priceless!” And then Scootaloo is overtaken by her laughter. Hearing her laugh at the unicorn that has haunted me all these years, I feel just a little better. A little.
“So anyways, I said something stupid and pathetic like ‘But my mommy doesn’t let me get into fights.” Mother never told me not to get in fights. Do I look like I’d ever get into a fight? I don’t know what made me say that, but I said a bunch of other pathetic things I’d rather forget too. Anyway, Fancy Glimmer--she called herself Fancy and she talked to herself in third person—started doing this amazing unicorn magic for her age and she was just clumsily controlling it and was about to hit me with it when the teacher put up a shield around me. Then she told off Fancy and she and her gang walked away, glaring at me the whole time. After that, Fancy started some rumor about me being the teacher’s pet and in those days that was detrimental to any social life because nopony wants to be the teacher’s pet. Needless to say, I didn’t make any friends at magic kindergarten and I never really learned how to use my magic or talk to others. I finally got withdrawn from the school one day when Dad picked me up from school after he saw me being bullied by Fancy for the last time. It was really cool what he did, actually. He’s a painter, and he does this cool thing where he can make a paint-like essence in the air and he covered Fancy in paint. He’s so immature. He cleaned her off again, though, and then we all left Canterlot that afternoon.” I sigh.
“So that’s why you were so afraid of all the ponies here.” Scootaloo says, understanding running through her face thankfully. I feel a little bit of pressure I hadn’t been aware of lift from me then.
“So you came here from Canterlot; was it a major change?” Scootaloo continued.
“Actually, we went to Trottingham after Canterlot, so it wasn’t that big of a change. There is, however, a completely different dialect here.”
“Yeah, I thought there was something foreign about you.”
“I’m told I use big words; do I?”
“Now that you mention it, I guess you do kinda. But I’m usually able to figure out what you’re saying. So, two high class places, huh? And then Ponyville. What brought along that change?”
“Well, it wasn’t my doing. It wasn’t anypony in my family’s doing at all. I’m not exactly sure, but I think my teacher in Trottingham sent some sort of letter to Miss Cheerilee requesting I be transferred here. I bet it was because of the things that were happening in school there.”
“Like what?”
At that moment, my horn sparked some more. “Do I really need to explain? The other ponies were all afraid of me. How could I possibly try to fit in?” I realize my tone has grown bitter. Just like the good old days…
Scootaloo notices it too. “Well I’m glad you came to Ponyville. It’s a lot friendlier here.”
“You mean it’s more phony.” I mutter. Then I realize what I’ve just said. “I’m sorry! I just got really depressed there for a second!” I want to just forget that. I want to forget it!
But Scootaloo looks more concerned than I want her to be.
“Thorn, when I first saw you, I knew you needed a friend. I just didn’t realize how badly.”