“There!” I jumped in the puddle and dug.
“It should be right about—” I dunked my horn in the mud and shoved it through “—here!” I dropped to my side and hoofed at the wall of the ditch with all four legs. A shadow slid across the ground, and I stood up to investigate. A burst of wind forced me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw a winged silhouette floating above me in front of the sun. “Rainbow Dash!”
“Whatcha doing?” She asked, landing a few leaps from the puddle.
I jumped out of the mud and shook my body to get the wetness out.
She covered her head with a wing and took a step back.
“I’m hunting for gems!” I proudly announced.
“You are?” Raising her eyebrows, she stared at my horn.
“I’m using my horn to find them with a technique that I invented myself.” I wiped a mud clod from my horn and threw it on the ground. “Want to see how I’ll find them when Rarity teaches me the gem-finding spell?”
She took another step back. “Oh, I’d love to see it, but I’m afraid I’d just get, um—jealous.”
“Jealous?” I had no idea why Rainbow Dash would get jealous of me. She was the most awesome pony out there. I didn’t think so myself, but I knew it for a fact because Scootaloo had told me so. I trusted my friend, which meant her view of Rainbow Dash was undoubtedly the correct one.
“Um, I would get jealous because, em”—she put a hoof under her chin—“Because you have a horn, and I don’t. Yes, that could work…”
“Wait, you’re jealous of my horn? You, the Rainbow Dash?”
“Right—I am so—jealous of your horn because…” She looked up. “I never got to cast a spell in my life. Not even a spark. Without a horn, I never stood a chance at getting a space-themed cutie mark. And then Twilight went all out with her magic and turned herself into an awesome, immortal Alicorn Princess. I can’t do anything like that!”
I had no idea horns were that important. Not knowing what else to do, I stood there and watched her, mouth agape.
She looked back at me and pressed her lips together. Sips of air escaped her muzzle.
Rainbow Dash must have really struggled inside. It was obvious that she had a hard time holding herself back. “So, hehe”—she covered her mouth with a hoof—“I’ll just weather this one out, okay?”
With a squeak, she launched herself into the nearby cloud, and all I heard was a distant whine. If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn it sounded like laughter. Her envy of my horn must have really gotten to her.
She rolled on her back. Her hooves and wings twitched over the edge of the cloud. She was, clearly, losing the fight with her depression.
I decided that it would be better if I left before she saw my super-awesome horn again. School was probably going to start soon, anyway. I trotted on toward the main road. The gems would have to stay put a bit longer. I made a mental note to myself to watch for Pegasi after finding a buried treasure. As I had just based from one of them, they obviously struggled in coming to terms with their disability.
Realizing she didn’t have a horn devastated Rainbow Dash. I felt really sorry for her. She seemed so disappointed with not having a magic cutie mark. I could relate to that because I was still a blank flank. Yet, unlike me, she already had her cutie mark. She should just be chillaxing and enjoying being a non-blankflank, not despairing like she did. It all seemed like a bad joke. Why would she want to have a cutie mark if she earned one already?
And did Rainbow dash think Alicorns were better than she was? No Pegasus, beside her; or Alicorn, for that matter, could perform a sonic rainboom. Or maybe it was the draggy life of Alicorns that she was jelly of?
Why was she going on about immortality anyway? Was she afraid she’d die without it? Sure, she was old. That was obvious because she was a grown-up. But she wasn’t that old...
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice myself walking into the classroom.
A sigh emanated from in front of me as I bumped into three smiling flowers. They laughed at me!
No... It wasn’t the flowers on Cheerilee’s cutie mark that were laughing. The sounds weren’t actually coming from the furry faces before my muzzle. It was my classmates who laughed. Their hooves were pointed at me. I didn’t know what was so funny. The joke must have flown over me. Or maybe I was the joke? I scoured the body and legs to make sure I didn’t accidentally come dressed to school like in one of my recurring nightmares where I’m the only pony wearing clothes in front of a crowd of ponies. Obviously, I was properly naked, but they could still be imagining me under many layers of clothing; perhaps even the tight kind. I blushed at the embarrassing thought.
“Sweetie Belle!” Cheerilee narrowed eyes pierced me with a judging gaze. “Why are you late again?”
“Rarity told me not to rush,” I said in response, shrugging my shoulders as I cocked my head and squinted while I looked at her. It wasn’t my concern because I was just doing what an adult told me to do. Anything goes when you’re doing somepony’s bidding, especially if you’re directed to do the stuff by a grown-up.
“And why are you covered in mud?” She cleaned her cutie mark with a hoof. “I do hope that it’s merely mud this time around.”
“I found a puddle,” I explained.
“And you had to jump in it?” Cheerilee’s eyes rolled around.
“Mhm.” I nodded, and the class burst into laughter again.
They didn’t have a clue what had gone down before I came to school. If they could only have been there, then they would have seen how awesome I was with my horn and pretend magic. I even made Rainbow Dash jealous of me! My classmates should be envying my awesomeness; not laughing at me.
“Just—” Cheerilee sighed “—take a seat…” She groaned and turned to the chalkboard.
I walked toward my chair, but suddenly a gray leg appeared between my forehooves. It tripped me, and the weight of my big brain shifted over my forelegs. Even though I jerked my dock as hard as I could, I couldn’t regain my balance anymore. I was at the point of no-return. Closing my eyes was the most I could do while I plunged snout-first at the floor. There was a violet tail with white stripes before my face, but it didn’t help much with softening my crash. “Ouch!”
“Hey!” Diamond Tiara screamed. “Watch it, foal! Keep your filthy filth away from me.”
I picked myself up on all four legs again. My muzzle hurt a little, but I couldn’t see any blood. It seemed I was getting better at falling over. With so much life experience, I was bound to become a master faller.
On the tail before me, I noticed a muddy face-print where my head had landed. “But it’s already dirty...” I pointed a hoof at it.
Tiara gasped, “How dare you!” She waved a foreleg in the air. “Miss Cheerilee! May I be excused” She lifted her stained tail in the air with the other hoof. “It’s an emergency!”
Comment section minigames for the Long Way to School chapter of the story Sweetie Belle Gains a Soul (anypony can play them in the comment section of this story).
GAME 1
Does this story remind you of a song that you know? If yes, post it in the comments in the following format:
- Chapter of the story that this song is relevant to.
- A link or embedded Youtube video of it.
- Percentage of correlation (0% being an unrelated song, 100% being a song written exactly for this story).
- A reason why this song reminded you of this story or the excerpt of the lyrics.
GAME 2
Record yourself reading this story aloud. Upload your mp3 to MLP: Audiobooks, for instance, and paste the link to your audio or video in the comments.
Reward: A spot in the author’s note of this chapter.
Edit: The winner is Deity of a Shadow with his Dramatic Youtube reading.
Ok, I really want to keep reading this for the promised plot, and I feel like it could eventually get there. Its just really hard going through the perspective of a mentally handicapped person. Is it because she got a concussion in the fall that hasn't been treated? The writing for everything else is good, great even, so it makes me think its intentional.
As for everything else, its pretty good, scootaloo seems like a much more angsty and rude version of herself than normal considering this is after friendship castle, so I'm going to say its because this is an alternate universe and run with it. Rarity too now that I think of it. It would make more sense if it took place before the lot of canon character evolution that had to happen before the castle showed up.
Alternate universe FTW!
9547944
You know those stories that read like history books? They can get quite boring, even if there's action. Lord of the Rings, for instance, is a very hard book to read. Everything is just so factual. With this story, I wanted to make it more fun to read because the PoV is always a bit skewed.
Indeed, a concussion is hinted at. So too is autism and a general mental disorder.
The thing is, the story isn't meant to be an alternate universe. It's meant to be compliant with the character. However, the PoV of Sweetie Belle is an unreliable narrator. Characters are portrayed how Sweetie Belle sees them and how she remembers them. And as you know, memories are unreliable.
The story is attempting to show the world as a person stuck in her own world sees it.
derpicdn.net/img/2013/11/9/467966/full.gif
Also, through the narration, you're supposed to notice character development. It's written as if the world is changing, but in reality, it's the main character that is changing.
Try not to read it as a hero against the world. Try reading it as the hero against herself. It's not about changing the world. It's about finding one's place in the world.
I used to wonder, why can't mentally ill people just pretend they are normal. This novel is an exploration of that question. If the world you see is messed up, can you really pretend you're living in a normal world? Can you really pretend that everything is all right if you have to struggle with the perceived world on every step?
Perhaps I tried to do too much with this story.