On A Good Day
Scootaloo rubbed her jaw tenderly as she lay on the floor of the library, an impressive distance from the door she had been forcibly thrown through by the surprisingly powerful headbutts from Apple Bloom. She lifted herself slowly to all four hooves, noticing how smooth the wooden floor was – no doubt the handiwork of Spike, Princess Twilight’s number one assistant, whom just happened to be a dragon.
“Ah didn’t hit you too hard, did Ah?” Apple Bloom asked as she sauntered up behind Scootaloo, patting her on the back as the door quietly shut behind her and Sweetie Belle.
“N-No,” Scootaloo cleared her throat, jaw still smarting from when she hit the floor. “I’m oka-”
“SPIKE!” Erupted a shout from upstairs, the voice of Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. “How many times have I told you NOT to stack books like a house of cards?” She inquired.
“Oops!” Sweetie Belle whispered, a wide, embarrassed grin on her face. “She must have thought you hitting the floor was Spike roughhousing again.” She inhaled deeply, her head raised to announce their presence when Spike’s head appeared from behind a desk. From the groggy look in his eyes, and the confusion on his face, Twilight and the Crusaders interrupted one of his many afternoon naps. Sweetie Belle ceased her announcement, opting to giggle at the bleary eyed dragon instead. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom followed suit, as quietly as possible. Spike returned with a mock angry glare, before smiling himself.
“Tha- thaaa” Spike yawned loudly. “That wasn’t me, Twilight; the Crusaders are here again!” He called upstairs, eliciting a shuffling of hooves and flapping of wings from the cracked door above.
“Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are here again? But it’s still during school hours, and there’s a field trip-” came a muffled self-diagnosis from behind the door, which came to a halt when it finally opened. Princess Twilight’s look of confusion quickly changed to one of excitement when she saw her visitors, which finally included-
“-Scootaloo!” She exclaimed, gliding down the stairs. Scootaloo’s newly acquired reflex kicked in, and she stared at the aforementioned smooth and shiny floor. Simply being addressed with such enthusiasm made Scootaloo very uncomfortable, and her deflated posture couldn’t have made it more obvious.
“Is something the matter?” Twilight asked with concern, noticing now the purple shiner on Scootaloo’s forehead. “Scootaloo? Are you hurt? What happened?”
Scootaloo’s mouth had gone completely dry. She simply stared at the floor in front of her, Twilight’s shadow falling into her line of sight. First her horn, her head, her neck, and next, flared out from her small flight downstairs, her wings. The same piercing ache that had stung her before found its mark again in Scootaloo’s chest, so much so that it made her wince. The voice that she lost found itself once more, just enough to sputter an incoherent whine.
“Girls?” Twilight turned to the other Crusaders behind the orange Pegasus, her eyes quickly darting back and forth between them, desperately trying to read their faces for an answer. Sweetie Belle, sympathetic as ever, started to tear up at the sight of her zestfully strong-willed friend behaving in such a small and frightened manner. Apple Bloom did her best to look stoic, but glimmers of unease were making themselves more and more apparent. Twilight addressed them again, more firmly. “Girls, what’s going on here?” Spike peered from above the desk at the four ponies in front of him, frowning as he too tried to work out the events that lead to the normally boisterous trio suddenly falling silent.
“There- there was sort of a um… a fight at school today,” Apple Bloom finally spoke up. She had hoped that Twilight discovering the cause of the conundrum would calm things down, but it didn’t. Far from it.
A fight, Scootaloo thought. There wasn’t a fight, it was just me beating up another filly. Miss Cheerilee is right, it was an attack. How can I even try to justify it?
“A fight!?” Twilight exclaimed, frantically examining the orange filly. Scootaloo was still looking down, and was now shaking violently. “Who did this to her?” The princess demanded.
“There’s this filly at school, Diamond Tiara,” Sweetie Belle answered. “She and her friend have been bullying us for a while now, especially Scootaloo…”
I wouldn’t even call it bullying. They were just telling the truth. I AM flightless, I AM a flunkout, and I AM a failure of a Pegasus.
“Bullying? Oh, Sweetie, you should know that you need to tell an adult if someone is picking on you or somepony else! So this Diamond Tiara beat up Scootaloo?”
I deserve to have my wings ripped from my back…
“Well, not exactly.”
I don’t deserve to be called a Pegasus…
“Not exactly?”
…
“Scootaloo kind of… beat her up.”
It’s no wonder my parents gave me up.
Scootaloo burst into tears, wailing in such a way that none of the others in the room had ever heard from her before. Tears streamed down her face, the ones that could. The Pegasus’ eyes were clasped shut so tightly that the salty excretion that couldn’t escape stung her eyes, causing her to cry even harder. Scootaloo began to choke again, just like in the classroom. She could feel mucus from her nostrils sliding down towards her lips. Without warning, she collapsed to the ground, her face buried in her forelegs, stifling her sobs, but ultimately doing little to muffle her powerful, uncontrollable cries.
Twilight, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle all bore faces of shock and fear. This explosion caught all of them off-guard. Twilight, prepared to scold Scootaloo for her misbehavior, suddenly found herself utterly unprepared and without a plan of action. What was she supposed to do to calm down the hysterical Pegasus filly? As rarely as Twilight had actually spoken to Scootaloo, the only thing she actually knew about her was from what Rainbow Dash had told her less than a week ago during their flight training. Then she remembered.
Twilight unfurled her left wing, and slowly cantered beside the bedraggled filly still violently jerking on the ground, her young voice growing hoarse. As gently as she could muster, she stretched her purple feathered appendage across the filly’s back, wrapping it around Scootaloo as best she could. She knelt beside Scootaloo, and gently whispered into her twitching ear. “It’s okay.”
It seemed to work. Scootaloo’s shrieks abruptly ceased, morphing into a few sporadic sniffles. Behind them, Apple Bloom and a tearful Sweetie Belle offered a sigh of relief. Scootaloo, for the first time since Princess Twilight had made herself known in the library raised her head. She turned to her left, her mane shifting some of the feathers from Twilight’s wing, and tickling her nostrils. All the room was silent, save for Scootaloo’s heavy breathing returning to normal.
And then something happened that Twilight didn’t expect. Scootaloo started to quiver again. “It’s alright,” Twilight offered again. “Go ahead and let it out, I’m right here for you.”
And then, something happened again.
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Scootaloo screamed. The Pegasus sprang up from her feathered blanket, rolling away from it with a look of absolute disgust in her eyes as she glared at the bewildered Alicorn before her.
“Scootaloo, calm down!” Sweetie Belle coaxed through her own shaking voice.
“NO!” Scootaloo spat. “She doesn’t get to do that!” She told Sweetie Belle as if it was just so, as if it were the most obvious of unspoken rules. Her eyes flashed angrily again at Twilight, the princess looking like Fluttershy under a spotlight. “Just-Just because you have wings! You don’t – you can’t…” Scootaloo stammered angrily, her tongue apparently vexed as it tried to formulate every ultimatum it could at once.
“YOU’LL NEVER BE LIKE HER!” Scootaloo expelled at long last.
“W-Wait,” Twilight stammered, quickly folding her wings to her sides, wishing she could make them disappear for a moment. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you, I just wanted to help-”
“Of course you did!” Scootaloo snarled, not caring that she was addressing royalty with an incredible amount of disrespect. “Princess Twilight, she’s so special! She’s so nice!” Scootaloo’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “She’s the best friend anypony could ask for, the best unicorn in the history of Equestria, and now she can – she can fly like a Wonderbolt!” Scootaloo faltered on her last line, tearing up once more, and started to back up into the open doorway leading to the kitchen. “Why don’t you – why- why don’t you let others have a chance?” With that, Scootaloo scrambled on her hooves, scrabbling rapidly against the floor, and she disappeared into the kitchen away from the main room of the library, leaving Twilight, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike in petrified silence.
“What just happened?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, her green eyes shimmering. “What’s gotten into her? What happened to our Scootaloo?”
Apple Bloom reached her hoof around Sweetie Belle’s shoulders, pulling her tear-dampened Unicorn friend closer to her. “Ah wish Ah knew, Sweetie Belle. Ah wish Ah knew…”
Twilight stood up, her legs shaking slightly. The two fillies looked up at the Alicorn sorrowfully, and offered their condolences.
“Ah’m so, so sorry, Princess Twilight. It’s been a really rough time for Scoots lately, ‘specially today. She didn’t mean it,” Apple Bloom excused.
“Yeah,” sniffed Sweetie Belle. “She snapped at us today too, and we’re her best friends!”
Twilight nodded her head at the duo. “I understand, girls. While I don’t know Scootaloo as well you two, I know you wouldn’t call her your best friend if she behaved like that all of the time.”
“Mhm,” the Crusaders mumbled together.
“So I guess… while we’re on the topic, what happened today?” Princess Twilight inquired.
“It’s all in here,” Apple Bloom answered, pulling the envelope from her saddlebag. “But the short story is, Scootaloo was humiliated today because she couldn’t fly, and she attacked the pony that made fun of her.”
“Couldn’t fly…” echoed Twilight. She stretched her wings, examining them while she pieced together the puzzle inside her head. “Of course,” she said sadly. “It’s no wonder she hasn’t been around to see me recently.”
“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle piped up, the envelope levitating through the air in a fuchsia aura, sailing past Twilight’s glowing horn and onto the desk that Spike was currently hiding under.
“Think about it,” Twilight explained. “She’s a young Pegasus who can’t fly, wanting more than anything to be just like her idol who is arguably the best flier in Equestria. I was a Unicorn by birth, and then I got these wings and can already fly after only a few weeks of having them, being personally trained BY arguably the best flier in Equestria.”
“So… she’s jealous of you?” Apple Bloom guessed.
“I think so. Scootaloo doesn’t think I deserve to be able to fly while she can’t. She probably doesn’t think it’s fair… and I can’t say I disagree with her,” Twilight frowned.
“She told us… she told us she wasn’t ready!” Sweetie Belle choked. “We should have listened to her!”
“Yer probably right, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom nodded unhappily. “But that’s no excuse for her speakin' to a princess like that!” Twilight shook her head and audibly objected.
“Please, Apple Bloom… It’s not a big deal. Everypony loses their temper sometimes, and they say things they don’t mean to. I’ve done it before, and I’m certain that both of you have too,” Twilight admonished. “It’s like you said, she’s had a rough time lately.”
Apple Bloom blushed deeply. “Oh… well, I just meant… But why did she get so upset when you tried to comfort her?”
Twilight inhaled deeply. “I think it was because… that’s what Rainbow Dash did for her.”
The two Crusaders stared at the princess, then at each other, then back to the princess.
“Come again?” Apple Bloom queried.
“Did Scootaloo ever tell you about what happened to her on that trip to Winsome Falls?” Twilight inquired.
“Yes!” Sweetie Belle chirped. “Scootaloo went for a nighttime scooter ride, slipped and fell in a river, and then Rainbow Dash swooped in and saved her. And then, they agreed to become sisters!”
“Something like that.” Twilight cracked a smile. “I don’t know much about Scootaloo, but I know that above all else, she worships Rainbow Dash. She wants so much to be like her more than anything, wouldn’t you say?” Twilight encouraged.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both emitted a lighthearted chuckle and nodded their heads in agreement, their minds swimming with the often humorous instances where Scootaloo would compare herself to the rainbow colored Pegasus.
“I think when I wrapped my wing around her, I surmise that she thought I was trying to replace or become Rainbow Dash. That’s her dream, right – to basically become Rainbow Dash?” Twilight hypothesized to the raptured nodding from the two Crusaders. “So?”
“Sooo…” Apple Bloom started. “She thought you were tryin’ to take her dream from her?”
Sweetie Belle gave a loud gasp. “So THAT’S what she meant when she told you to let others have a chance!”
Twilight nodded solemnly. “Exactly. I stole her wings, stole her idol, and now I’m stealing her dream. It’s no wonder she wanted to avoid me. I’m taking everything that matters to her.” Twilight felt pangs of guilt stabbing her. Logically, she knew that Scootaloo was being unreasonable, but it didn’t help the awful feelings washing over her.
“But…” Apple Bloom pondered aloud. “Why does she think you took Rainbow Dash from her? She’s been busy these past two weeks getting flight lessons from her.”
Twilight raised her eyebrow at the farm filly. “What?”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom continued. “She wasn’t able to work on this school project-” Apple Bloom withdrew the Holidays of Equestria sign-up sheet from her saddlebag, and laid it on the floor in front of the princess. “-because she was so busy learnin’ to fly.”
Twilight used her magic to lift the roster in front of her. Next to Scootaloo’s name was a blank space. She hadn’t even picked a holiday to present. Twilight wasn’t about to tell her friends, but Scootaloo had been lying to them both about what had been happening. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been giving Scootaloo flight lessons, because Rainbow Dash had been giving HER flight lessons. On top of that, Rainbow Dash had remarked that she hadn’t seen “Squirt” in a while, leading to their discussion of the camping trip and of Scootaloo in general.
Hiding behind that sign-up sheet, Twilight quickly decided that if Scootaloo wanted to keep her activities a secret, she wasn’t going to betray her. It would just be another reason for the filly to loath the princess even more. One thing that Princess Celestia had told her was that it was important to at least be on speaking terms with your subjects, and already Twilight was failing that. As it were, it wasn’t her place to speak about Scootaloo’s business anyways.
“…so, we were wondering if maybe we could do some more research with your Holidays: Past & Present book and help Scootaloo out with her project?” Sweetie Belle finished, Twilight was too absorbed in her thoughts to hear how Sweetie’s dialogue had even started. She lowered the paper, and saw four of the biggest, pleading eyes she had ever seen. Twilight, however, had another idea.
“Actually, girls… if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to personally help Scootaloo out on this project, alone.” Twilight announced.
“What?” the Crusaders chorused.
“Just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean I’m above helping out a student with some schoolwork, does it?” Twilight asked brightly.
“Well… you helped us,” Apple Bloom observed, head cocked to the side.
“I guess not…” Sweetie Belle conceded.
“But, alone?” Apple Bloom questioned. “Without us?”
“We can’t leave a fellow Crusader behind!” Sweetie Belle added.
“Mainly, I’d really like to also take this chance to make it up to her…” Twilight admitted. “You know, the whole dream trampling thing.”
“Oh!” A light went off in their heads. “I guess that makes sense,” Sweetie Belle agreed, the reluctance all too apparent in her voice.
Twilight nodded curtly, using her magic to place the sheet on the desk next to the unopened envelope. “You girls go on home. You’ve been working non-stop on these for the last two weeks, and I think it’s high time you both took a break,” she suggested.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes shifted towards the open doorway to the kitchen. “Are you sure? What if she needs our help?”
“From what you’ve told me, and from what I’ve heard from Rainbow, she’ll be just fine – she’s got spirit.” Twilight answered. “And surely you didn’t want to spend another weekend cooped up in a library again?”
“Well, no… but if it meant helpin’ Scootaloo, we’d be glad to do it,” Apple Bloom replied sincerely.
Twilight looked proudly at the two fillies before her. She had always admired their sense of camaraderie, and this just further solidified it. “Scootaloo is lucky to have you two,” she whispered, flicking her ears at the sounds of Scootaloo’s distant sobs from the kitchen. “I’ll do my best to help her with her project, and... I’ll see about talking with her for the other things.”
Sweetie Belle charged Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight’s shoulders, embracing the Alicorn in a soft hug. “Thank you!” Twilight’s cheeks warmed up, and she could tell from the smirk on Spike’s face that she was blushing. Sweetie Belle slipped away, her wide smile shrinking as she looked Twilight in the eyes. “Just making sure… You aren’t going to banish Scootaloo from Ponyville, right?”
Everyone in the room giggled quietly, and Twilight answered. “Of course not, Sweetie Belle.”
Apple Bloom prodded Sweetie Belle on the shoulder, the white Unicorn turning to face her with a questioning look on her face. “Should we tell her that we’re leavin’? I don’t want her to think that we’ve abandoned her…” Apple Bloom asked in a low voice.
This time, it was Twilight who put her hoof on another ponies shoulder. “I’ll tell her. I’ll make sure that she knows you two fought tooth and hoof to stay here to help,” she assured the farm pony, her hoof sliding to the floor.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a glance with one another, a communication method they had both grown to understand quite well in the past month. Most of the time, it was a way to wordlessly express how uneasy or nervous they felt. But this occasion was markedly different, and they both knew it.
“Thank you so much, Princess Twilight,” Apple Bloom told her, Sweetie Belle nodding her head in agreement. “It’s no wonder you’re a princess-”
“-Please,” Twilight interrupted. “It-it’s nothing to do with being a princess. It’s the least I can do…” The Alicorn, now deemed royalty, was being thoroughly embarrassed by a couple of school age fillies. Sensing her discomfort, both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom quickly turned and walked towards the door. Apple Bloom pressed the door open, cringing as the bell rang. Sweetie Belle however, had turned around again.
The Unicorn drew an invisible circle on the floor, her well maintained hoof only barely touching the wooden surface that shone brightly in the sun soaked rays from the open door. “Can we – can we ask you a favor, Princess Twilight?” She asked timidly.
Twilight recovered from her abashed posture, and looked at Sweetie with a stifled laugh, who appeared shocked at her own audacity to ask a princess for a personal request. “Of course you may.” She answered calmly.
“Can you help us to… to get our friend back?”
The princess adored the sheer simplicity of the request, so much so that she answered instantly. “I promise I’ll do everything that I can to help her.”
For the second time since they entered the library, the two wingless Crusaders exchanged a split second stare with each other. The markedly different occasion from before was not so markedly different now. It wasn’t unease, discomfort, or nervousness that was portrayed through their gazes – it was relief.
“Thank you,” was all that Sweetie Belle said to her before following an infectiously smiling Apple Bloom out the door, the door quietly shutting on its own behind them.
Twilight took a deep breath, facing the doorway to the kitchen that had now grown silent in the absence of Scootaloo’s crying.
Time to make good on that promise, Twilight thought.
“Scootaloo?” She called out, cautiously walking towards the opening. Twilight stopped just shy of it and waited with bated breath for a reply. “Scootaloo?” She tried again, trying her best to be as calm and inviting with her tone as possible. “Do you want talk about what happened? I’m not upset – I promise.”
Twilight perked her ears again. Still nothing.
“I just want to talk, and make sure you’re alright,” she whispered. Twilight didn’t wish to risk upsetting Scootaloo if she didn’t want to speak with her just yet, but her natural inquisitiveness still wanted to get to the root of the problem, to discover what had happened today. Then she remembered the letter that Apple Bloom had brought.
With a flash, Twilight teleported to the desk where Spike was sitting, who wasn’t fazed by the now common mode of transportation that took place within the library. The dragon was resting his head in his claws propped upon the desk, a frown adorning his countenance.
“Poor kid,” he said, voice muffled as his bottom jaw pressed against his palms holding him up. “It’s really nice of you to help her, Twilight.”
The envelope floated in the air, the purple aura from Twilight’s horn neatly tearing it open from the top crease. “It’s the least I can do, Spike,” she said absentmindedly, removing the mass of folded papers from their manila cocoon. Before she unfolded the forms, her eyes widened as
an idea formulated within her head.
“Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you maybe…”
“You want me to make sure she’s alright?”
“…If you wouldn’t mind.”
“She’s not gonna… you know, right?”
“You don’t have wings, Spike. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
Spike leapt from his chair, his legs slowly making their way to the kitchen.
“And Spike?” The mare’s voice came from behind him.
“Can you make her something to eat? Something sweet,” Twilight requested.
“Something sweet, huh?” Spike chuckled. “Always cheers me up too.”
As the dragon exited the main chamber of the library, Twilight arranged the numerous papers before her on the desk, and began to read.
Incident Report dated: November 27, 10C14
Incident Type: Assault, Altercation between two or more pupils.
The student, Scootaloo, was witnessed viciously and willfully attacking another classmate, Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara suffered many injuries to her face, requiring immediate removal from the school house and treatment in the hospital.
Twilight’s eyes immediately widened. “Hospitalization?” she murmured worriedly before resuming her perusal.
Additionally, another student, Silver Spoon, a friend of Diamond Tiara’s, was witnessed striking Scootaloo in an effort to break up the fight. Scootaloo did not appear to sustain substantial injury.
The following action will be taken: Due to the severity of the offense, Scootaloo is to be suspended from school grounds for a minimum of two weeks unless exception is granted by the undersigned or a higher authority. Silver Spoon is to be suspended for a minimum of two days, with the same circumstances. An inquiry will be made to discover the cause of the incident, and the findings will be annotated in the remarks column on the following page.
The point(s) of contact for this incident report are as followed.
Primary: Cheerilee (Dep. Of Ed, Ponyville Elementary School)
Secondary: None
Twilight bit her lip, and hastily placed the second sheet on top of the other, and noticed that the sheet was almost entirely filled with red ink letters. Her eyes made her way to the top of the page, and she continued.
Incident Report dated: November 27, 10C14
Remarks:
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle have divulged a pattern of bullying and harassing behavior stemming from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The first instance noted from the two stems from their lack of cutie marks. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have repeatedly teased the Cutie Mark Crusaders (A club in which Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom are members) by referring to them as “blank flanks” in a manner that is meant to be degrading.
Apple Bloom has expressed that her family customs and occupation has also been the subject of ridicule. She has noted that last year’s Family Appreciation Day was a particularly painful experience for her. The Zap Apple Jam harvesting procedure was a sore subject, thanks to the costumes involved. Additionally, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon repeatedly speak with derogatory tones about Sweet Apple Acres
and the Apple Family, referring to them as “hick”, “filthy cowpokes”, among other insults.
During their short tenure under Diamond Tiara at the Foal Free Press newspaper, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were blackmailed under threat of photographical humiliation to continue writing slanderous articles. This incident has been dealt with already (see IR filed under March 31, 10C12) but is included for anecdotal reasons.
During a summer visit, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon convinced Apple Bloom’s cousin to engage in bullying behavior against the Cutie Mark Crusaders, including denying access to their tree house, and forcing Apple Bloom from her own bed to sleep in. While Babs Seed is not one of my students, Apple Bloom is convinced that she would not have done so if not for the suggestion and manipulation from Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon.
(next page)
During the process of rehearsal and selection for the prestigious honor of carrying the flag for the Equestria Games, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon repeatedly harassed Scootaloo for her inability to fly, to the point where Scootaloo was affected enough to drop out of the event altogether. Scootaloo returned and helped the Crusaders to win, but the following month until today’s incident has been very difficult for her. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were described as “relentless” in their teasing of Scootaloo’s current inability to fly.
Today, Diamond Tiara presented a holiday celebrating a figurehead on the study of Pegasi magic. During her presentation, Silver Spoon admitted to leaving the classroom to tamper with the school bell to lure myself out of the classroom. During my absence, Silver Spoon had dressed as Scootaloo, and mockingly imitated her attempts to fly. For her presentation, Diamond Tiara used Silver Spoon’s imitation of Scootaloo as an example to showcase ancient and barbaric customs for study of Pegasi magic by ripping the makeshift wings off of her back, in what is regarded as an attempt to further make fun of her inability to fly by implying that she might as well not have wings. Scootaloo was severely distraught, and upon leaving the classroom to gather her thoughts, was reportedly tripped and taunted by Diamond Tiara. At this point, Scootaloo lost her temper and began the altercation as detailed on the first page.
-Cheerilee
End Remarks
Twilight read over the last couple of sentences again, struggling to absorb what it was saying. The fact that two fillies roughly the same age as Scootaloo would work so hard to craft such an elaborate method of humiliation astonished her. Twilight shook her head sadly and lifted the last page before her. Unlike the previous pages, this one was a simple piece of stationary, and not a report. From the header, it was addressed directly to her.
Dear Princess Twilight,
I’m certain you are just as unsettled as I am by this chain of events that occurred today. While I am not by any means advocating or condoning Scootaloo’s behavior, I can certainly see how the culmination of events led to the reaction it did. For as long as there have been young mares and colts that were different, there has inevitably been teasing about those differences. While learning to deal with light-hearted jokes about yourself is an invaluable asset, there is a fine line between comical and cruel that I fear is being crossed too often. With your permission, I would like to take an afternoon from normal curriculum to speak to the class about bullying and the effects it can have on classroom cohesion
and a young pony’s self-esteem.
With respect,
Cheerilee.
Twilight wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to approve of Cheerilee’s suggestion. Her mouth opened as she prepared to ask Spike to write a letter for her, when she remembered that Spike was busy tending to a very distraught orange filly in the room next to her. From the smell of it, Spike had crafted some chocolate chip cookies, using a recipe he no doubt borrowed from Pinkie Pie. Though Twilight was not very hungry herself, it smelled positively tantalizing, and the mere thought of tasting it was enough to put a smile on her face. As Twilight’s hooves crossed the threshold into the kitchen, she hoped that Scootaloo would be in good enough spirits to speak to her. At this point, she hoped that Scootaloo would even look at her. She had a promise to keep, after all.
Here goes nothing, she thought.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,081 users online
2,010,059 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This, is really god. I mean really really good. I still think Cheerilee is a low grade moron for not stopping things before they got to this point, but at least she's taking action now.
4371203 Thank you very much for your kind words!
I was also not fond of how Cheerilee did that. I want to think it's more to do with her underestimating just how much prolonged exposure to teasing can cause these kinds of issues than anything else.
Very interesting fic, though I want to hear what punishment DT will be getting. I am a little disappointed in Silver Spoon, for a moment I thought she was having a guilty concience and would breakout from DT's shadow. Hopefully Twilight can foster a better relationship with Scootaloo and work on helping her each her dreams.
I find this chapter over all interesting, but particularly when it came to Cheerilee's letter. Good job capturing the professionalism she'd need to have in that situation.
I also do love your detail and the amount of effort you put into this. It definitely feels unique.
¡The parents of Scootaloo truly abandoned her!
Aw I thot it was 2 weeks ( booo)
While Twilight has just been forced to confront the fact she has both wings and magic while some ponies don't have either (insert Earth pony joke here), the rabbit hole goes a little bit deeper even than that. Since there's some concept of 'destiny' in the series, depending on how far you like to believe in fated actions within the series then Twilight was pretty much destined to be given Alicornhood, after a childhood as the student of the most important leader in the land to boot, with a foalsitter who was also an Alicorn (and this was even before Twilight got her Cutie Mark), and a big brother who became Captain of the Royal Guard and later a Prince to boot.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle may be truly good friends, but I'm beginning to suspect Scootaloo has been lying her plot off about her past, given she's been implied so far to be an orphan living on her own and making ends meet in her spare time.
Considering Scootaloo's reaction to Twilight being able to fly, I shudder to think about what her reaction to Molt Down would be. She'd probably have a melt down (if you'll pardon the pun). Seriously though, Spike getting wings in the context of this story so far would probably make Scootaloo suicidal.
I don't think jealousy is the correct word for what Scootaloo is feeling. Resentment fits far better.
10428960
Well, it could be argued that she referred to it as jealousy because children that age may not understand the difference between jealousy and resentment. Then again, Sweetie Belle takes pride in knowing words that the others don't. At the very least, it could be resentment born from jealousy.