Don't Call me Cute!

by Viking Hoof

Scribble2: This is School...

I take a moment to actually look the school over as I follow Ms. Cheriliee. It was a large single building, with a large porch in the front. The porch had four doors, two of them were marked as bathrooms, and the other two appeared to be the classrooms. Almost everything was made of wood, but there was some concrete showing right at ground level, and I even spotted what might have been windows. On top of all of this was a skinny belltower, It stood mostly over the porch roof, and I could see the end of a large heavy rope hanging down to the porch floor. There was a ladder leading up directly below it, but it looked too steep to climb, and the tower looked too skinny for a pony to fit in. Maybe this tower was like doorknobs and scissors, utterly inexplicable.

Miss Cherilee stopped on the porch, and I was able to look up the ladder and into the tower. The space looked even more claustrophobic from the inside, and I shudder as I imagine somepony trying that ladder. This was a scissor and doorknob set up for sure.

As I waited with Miss Cheerilee on the porch some of the younger students were playing about, but more and more were going back to their abandoned school bags. Some appeared to be rapidly stashing away work of some kind. Some looked panicked as they noticed others putting away homework. I didn't even need the bell to tell me that class was about to begin, but I smiled as ms. Cherilee confirmed my suspicions by taking the bell rope in her mouth and giving it a good pull.

"DING ding ding ding ding dinnng dinnnng dinnnng...." The bell sounded lonely as it rang out, but it carried a celebratory tone. Must be second hoof, probably from some sort of cathedral rather than a town hall.

students trot slowly to get to classes. In passing, several fillies and colts my age waved to me. Those ponies and younger all went in the class room on the left. Most of the older ponies went straight for the right classroom. It took a while, but eventually all the students had entered one class or the other. Me and Miss Cheerilee went to the classroom on the right. She peeked in and called out for somepony, but her exact words were muffled by the door. Moments later a rather scrawny unicorn stallion stepped out. His mane was graying, his hooves looked worn, but he had a rather young smile. I had never seen dark black brown tea before, so I really hoped the stain on his coat was coffee. Overall, he looked like a hard worked middle aged unicorn, who probably had weak magic. Strong magic users don't wear down their hooves nearly as much as he had. His cutie mark appeared to be a pony butt made or iron. Was that flankception? I hoped that didnt mean he was a hard-ass.

Facing me she said, "Miss Scribble, this is your new teacher, Mister Iron Bottom." Turning to who I now knew was Mr Iron Bottom she said "Mister Iron Bottom, This is your new student 'Cute Scribble'." Mr Iron Bottom offered his hoof for me to shake. I glanced at it for a second. The bottom of his hooves had ink on them.

All he said in greeting was "Nice to meet you". I took his hoof and decided to pull out my card. The card might not fit properly into the conversation, but Mom wasn't here to explain. He looked a tad surprised when I pulled out on of the cards from my pack, but he didn't waste time levitating it out of my mouth. While he read the card I watched him closely. He, unlike Miss Twilight, did not read out loud. Though his lips moved. Annoyingly, he, just as Miss Twilight had, looked to the other adult for confirmation. What would happen if there were no adults who could confirm I what the card said? Would he not believe me?

It would be best to avoid that.

I did, and still do, realize that the birth of a honest to Fantasi mute hadn't happened in centuries before I came along, at least not incurable muteness. Nearly all ponies who were born mute had damaged vocal cords, or some other fixable issue. But do ponies really have so much trouble accepting that there are those out there who are different. Every time I met somepony for the first time, they acted like I was lying about being mute? It was as if they just couldn't believe that I could exist. Was I so much weirder than a griffon or dragon, or did someponies find the fallibility of magic to be inconcievable?

A nudge from miss Cherilee brings me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, my highly anticipated honor student. Now would you like me to tell the class your name, or do you have some way of announcing it yourself?" I was taken aback slightly by how quickly he went from disbelief at my existence to adapting to my needs. Maybe not everypony was all that bad. I retrieved the note from Mr Iron Bottom, and grabbed a pencil from my pack. Quickly, and in my best hoofscript, I asked 'do you have a blackboard?'.

"I'm afraid not. We do have a whiteboard though." Even better! I HATED the texture of chalk. I wrote again 'I would like to write my name out for the class'. He nodded. "That would be just fine, and it's nice to see somepony who still writes cursive." I gave him a big thankful smile. I was glad that somepony appreciated the work I put into my writing, but for the most part it was just a necessity. It was literally my only means of communication, and legibility was paramount.

Mr. Ironborrom opened the door for me, and I stepped into the classroom. There were... two Earthpony colts, one Unicorn colt and one Pegasus colt... and there were two Earthpony fillies, one Unicorn filly, and wow, FOUR Pegasi fillies. What a strange amount of female Pegasi for such a land based farming town. All of them were taller than me, and older than me. The white board was up at the front of the classroom. Mr Iron Bottom stepped in front of the whiteboard, and almost immediately, all of the other students' eyes were on him.

"Hello class! Today we are getting a new student. As is usual, the standard rules of be respectful and be courteous apply." He smiled back at me. "Now go ahead and introduce yourself." That was my cue. I stepped up the writing board, and in big letters wrote 'Hello my name is Scribble'. When I turned back the brown Earthpony colt had his hoof up. nodding towards him the teacher called out. "Yes skater, what is it?"

"Why didn't she just say her name?" hmm... Strange. most ponies were curios about my age first. I nodded to Mr Iron Bottom as if to say 'you can tell him'.

"Well, Miss Scribble has something we call muteness. Does anyone here know what 'mute' means?" A blue Pegasus filly with white mane and the orange Unicorn with black mane colt raised their hooves. Mr Iron Bottom pointed to the Pegasus, "Yes Cloudchaser?"

"Doesn't it mean to be quiet or silent like on the stereo or Ppod?" Iron Bottom smiled.

"Very good Cloudchaser. Now who can tell me what vocal chords are?" I frowned with a inward sigh. I didn't like to be an anatomy lesson about the pony linguistic organs, but better this then a discussion of my age, or even worse, my size.

This question was answered by a grey coated Pegasus filly. She had a blonde mane and the weirdest golden eyes. Her eyes didn't seem to face the same way, but you could tell quite easily what she was looking at... Not that I had any right to call others weird. "It is what we use for speaking."

"Excellent Ditzy! now the vocal chords are two folds in the trachea. They close when you hold your breath, open when you breath, and vibrate the air as you talk." Mr Iron Bottom had an ever growing grin. He obviously enjoyed teaching a great deal. The filly known as Cloudchaser had her hoof up again.

"So what is wrong with Scribble? I thought doctors could fix stuff like that!" I raised my hoof. Having yet to be seated I was still up by the white board. Taking the opportunity I wrote 'Can I answer this?'. I didn't actually want to answer this, but it would remind them that I am a pony, not a text book example. Mr Iron Bottom nodded in assent.

I got to writing, 'I was born with no vocal chords at all. Thus nothing to repair." Several "Ohhh's" of realization emerged from my fellow students, and question hoof rose up from the Orange Unicorn colt from before.

"If you can't hold your breath, how do you drink water or swim?" Wow he was the first pony to notice that little problem so quickly. I give him a encouraging smile and write 'there are back up systems that fill in for when I drink water, but I cannot swim.' I loved swimming some times, but the foal pools were never fun, and deep water could be deadly with just a splash. I guess I grimaced at the thought, as Ditzy gave me a sympathetic smile. I return the smile with a cheerful one of my own.

Mr. Iron Bottom pointed to another pony while I was looking at the pony named Ditzy, but before that pony could answer, another one interjected itself.

"Isn't she like, wayyyy to young for this class?" I had another grimace as I turned around to see who had rudely interjected that last question. It came from the overly dressed Earthpony filly. She bore a snide little smile that only bullies wore. A little picture of a fancy dress was emblazoned across the flank of her dress. was that dressception? She seemed like the kind of pony I did my best to avoid. Her coat was pink, but her heart looked to be as black as her mane. Or at least as evil as her glare. I looked to Mr Iron Bottom. Seeing as how the question was asked as if I was not in the room, I thought it best if it was answered the same.

"Miss Dress. What have I told you about the number of y's in the word 'way'" It was her turn to grimace as what appeared to be a old nag caught up to her. "What would Mr. Fil-ahem-Mr. Rich say if I told him his daughter couldn't even pronounce the word 'way'?" I gave her a defiant, rather then snide, smile and wrote on the board, ' may I take my seat now Mr. Iron Bottom?'.

"Yes of course Miss Scribble. Take a the empty desk next to Miss Ditzy." Yes! It was across the room from the annoying dress pony. Mr Iron Bottom was one who cared. This was just another reason to like my new home. If I just had apples, friends, and a fresh snowfall, this would be the very best day ever! It would be like, PERFECT! If only there was snow...

I smiled at Ditzy as I took my seat. I would really like to be friends with her. She seemed nice. And honestly? Her eyes might make her easier to befriend. Ponies who were unusual like me made better friends as well. After all, ponies who were teased weren't embarrassed to be friends with ponies who are teased. At least, that was the case in Highschool. In Elementary a different, much harsher, set of rules applied for friendmaking.

The rest of the prelunch class was a continuation of the anatomy lesson my arrival started. I took lots of notes... and doodled all over those notes, and doodled all over the other blankpages. I didn't actually take that many notes having learned most of it from past doctors. A lot of my doodles were of Ditzy's face. Her super focused study face was lots of fun to draw, and she didn't mind me drawing her.

When it was time for lunch, we were all sent outside. Lunch was held right next to the elementary playground. I stop for a quick bathroom break. By the time I come out all of the Pegasi, including Ditzy, were eating lunch up on a cloud. Everypony else was clustered around snide overdressed Earthpony filly from before. Without much choice, I headed for the deserted playground. In the middle of it was a cozy little play castle. It looked like a perfect place to eat.

After raising the little drawbridge; I sequestered myself in one corner of the tiny little tower. After laying out and laying on a sitting quilt I opened my pack. To my delight I discovered two apples, a carton of milk, and a PB&B. Nothing better then apples with a mother's loving magic to keep them cool and fresh. Nothing at all. Thanks Mom!

I really like apples, I really like apples. When I eat them alone I tend to have a big grin across my face, or at least that's what mom says. If that is true then I probably had one while I devoured the apples from my pack.

"Hey why don't you join us on the cloud?" Wahh! How had Ditzy snuck up on me?! I stumbled back from the grey ninja as fast as I could. She just hovered there quieter than a- I looked at her cutie mark again-oooohhhh... That made so much sense now!

To answer her question I stretched out my wings."Wow those are so cute!" I flinch as she uses The Word. "How can you fly with such small wiiii... Oh." She looked apologetic as she finally noticed the second thing that made me "special". grabbing my doodling paper up I wrote.'yes, my wings are too small to fly'. She looked quite crestfallen. Most Pegasi who found out this last bit looked that way, if they were nice ponies that is. I spotted movement behind her. Wait what was... what's her face doing here! The dress pony.

"ohh look what we have here. A 'erd and a 'erp, that almost rhymes." An evil grin spread across her face, and thus began the siege of Fort Scribble...

...The siege of Fort Scribble ended two minutes later. Miss Dress something or another failed to get in before we were saved by the bell. Me and Derpy, she asked me to call her that, had many great huzzahs over our victory. She asked if I would like to eat lunch again tomorrow. I said yes.

Does that make Derpy a friend? I sure hope it does! Besides her eyes are actually really pretty. You can just stare at them all day a- Wait what?... I'm gonna try to not think about what I just thought.

The second half of school was much shorter, and me and Derpy didn't get to talk much. It was kind of boring and I couldn't wait to get home. Mom was there right when it was all over.

She was with Miss Sparkle. I smiled.

Author's Note:

Edited by the ever wonderful F4D3!

Comments

[kamachakta]

Hmm, the re-write looks like it's going to be less disjointed than the first write. Also, I would suggest against renaming this, mostly due to personal preference.
Also, also, expect an edited chapter in the near future.

[Viking Hoof]

3426470 that was my intention, and THANK YOU FOR THE FEEDBACK! *kisses you on the cheek* it's really nice to get feedback

[kamachakta]

3426616 I just have one question. Are you a guy?
I ask this because my inner, nonexistent, homophobe is raging at the possibility that I was kissed on the face by a dude through cyber-space.

[Viking Hoof]

3426695 *points to my name* guess

[kamachakta]

3426719 What is female?

[Viking Hoof]

3426731 dottir means daughter...

[kamachakta]

Yes, I totally knew that before just now, that's why I typed female and not, say, because of pure dumb luck. Also, my inner, nonexistent homophobe is calm now.

[Viking Hoof]

3426776 that sounds serious... you should see a doctor about that.

[kamachakta]

Already have, there's nothing to be done about him. Though he's harmless literally all of the time, his anti-gay rants get really old really fast.

[kamachakta]

3426791 Please refer to the comment above that I forgot to push the reply button on.

[Viking Hoof]

3426871

[-Brutus]

Excellent rewriting thus far!

[Viking Hoof]

3426945 thanks.

[kamachakta]

3426900 Is that you passively aggressively voicing your disapproval through the lack of typing?

[Viking Hoof]

3426987 no, you made a reply with no link, I made a link with no reply. Simple joke

[kamachakta]

3427004 Ah... It flew right over my head. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't earn your passive aggressive ire.

[Midnight Words]

I love the rewrite! I would offer to be an editor but I'm currently writing my story and NaNoWriMo(National Novel Writing Month) this month.

Also I can't find the mistake I mentioned earlier.

Edit:

"Yes skater, what is it?"

Skater should start with a capital letter, right?

[Viking Hoof]

3427894 yes.

[Wrabbit]

So far, so good. Still needs a good once-over by an editor, though. You seem to have real trouble remembering to capitalize, and other grammar errors abound. Also, what's a PB&B? Peanut butter and bread? I'm at a loss here. As for your question about what to rename the story, I vote for "Don't Call Me Cute" It's a cute title, and very attention-getting.

[Viking Hoof]

3428221 peanut butter and banana sandvich.

[Viking Hoof]

3428221 the fact you read my story makes me squee like a little school filly.

[Viking Hoof]

3428159 you talk funny.

[Wrabbit]

Ah, peanut butter and banana. I've heard good things about it, but never tried it. I'd like to see you squee like a school filly. And yes, I do talk funny. I like the way it makes me feel.

[Viking Hoof]

3428255. Here's how me squeeing looks like.

iambrony.dget.cc/mlp/gif/gVTJs.gif

[Wrabbit]

3428263
Damn, that's cute...
3429532
Heh heh. Never seen it, but I will now.

[Ukaih]

Well Vikinga, I couldn't edit but I could proofread because I spotted a good amount of spelling and grammar errors. I don't feel like showing them all. Nor be that person but I still want to say that.

[keam]

Wow, this is SO good! I usually don't like OC back stories that much, but with this one iris barely that I take my self time to leave a comment before reading the next chapter!

[Twilight Best Pony]

huh this is different, but i like.

[Siras-chi]

students trot slowly to get to classes

That S in students should be capitalized.

[Siras-chi]

Mr. Ironborrom

This should be Iron Bottom

[Xhoral1865]

Good chapter, will keep reading.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Dress Rich: discount Diamond Tiara. :P