Terrible Three's
One of Princess Twilight's biggest rules for friendship is that fighting back against a bully is wrong.
Scootaloo had always hated that particular rule. She had no trouble with it when she was younger, when Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara and Babs had all reformed, and had proven to be good friends to her and the other crusaders.
But then Sweetie gave birth to triplets, and it was then that Scootaloo realized how toxic that lesson could be.
Ace, Tempo Breeze and Magical Melody were all prime targets for a bully, both because of having two moms, being triplets, and their own separate issues. If Scootaloo had been in their hooves, and she had been, she would of have just tried to ignore it, or keep telling on the bullies.
But the three are smarter than she ever was. If something fails, they won't rush right back in. Instead, they'll change their approach, and tackle it from a new angle. And when going to authority figures only ends up with the bully getting a stern letter home on a good day, they know they have to try something different.
Being triplets, ponies talk about how they have been lumped together all their lives, and, Scootaloo knows that that when her girls hear this, they rub their hooves together, and use it to their advantage.
Ace is the leader of the Crusaders and she took after her mama with her light orange body, and pink and purple mane. Like Scootaloo, she is an athlete at heart, snarky and always up for anything. She's the sane one out of the group, stopping the others from doing something ridiculously stupid.
She is also hot tempered, argumentative and has a nasty habit of breaking her game controllers.
However, Ace, once again like her mom, was born unable to fly. Instead, she had very powerful earth pony magic, and could often channel it when helping out on Aunt Applebloom's farm.
A Pegasus with earth pony magic was a strange concept, which, added in with her inability to fly, made her a very good target for bullies.
Ace is vindictive though. She gets angry, gets physical, but when that gets her in trouble, she just ignores them, hoping they'll stop. Until, at last, Ace has no choice but to retaliate.
Ace is terrifying when pushed too far. If you need any evidence, Scootaloo can point you in the direction of Lemon Square. After pushing her too far, she had successfully convinced the entire Apple Family to cut his family off from any cider or Zapp Apple Jam sales. His notebook was slashed, his homework went missing, and a hundred other things that got him in trouble.
Ace can be very vindictive when pushed too far, and honestly? Scootaloo is very proud of her.
But then she and Sweetie are called into class by Cheerilee.
Tempo Breeze is different.
The little white Pegasus was born with the unique ability to manipulate air particles. This meant she was one of, if not the fastest Pegasi alive, and even now she had yet to reach her true potential.
That fact alone stirred up feelings of jealousy and rage from other Pegasi fillies and colts, but Tempo is also a mute, which honestly, paints an even bigger target on her, as most ponies assume she won't be able to tell on them.
Of course, Scootaloo could tell them about the wonders of Equestrian Sign Language, but where's the fun in that?
Tempo is the adventurer, the extrovert, the daredevil, the one who does ridiculously stupid things once Scootaloo's turned her back. She takes karate, and, like Ace, is completely unafraid of throwing the first punch if the situation calls for it.
But while Ace has a take no prisoners attitude, Tempo is very rarely truely enraged. If she ever has to fight someone, you know it's for a good reason.
So when the day comes that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle get a call from Cheerilee asking to see them so they can talk about their daughters "troubling behavior" she's not surprised. Disappointed in the way the situation was dealt in yes, but not surprise.
They burst into the classroom, which is empty save for Cheerilee and Tempo Breeze. Scootaloo gives their daughter a quick once over. There's blood on her hoof, and her pale coat is dirty, but that's about it.
While Scootaloo looks over Tempo, Cheerilee finds herself muzzle to infuriated muzzle with a very beautiful and very mad white unicorn.
"What is the meaning of this?" She asked, and even though she didn't scream or shout, both Scootaloo and Tempo could tell she was inwardly seething. "You hauled us in to complain about her finally snapping at her tormentor?"
"She broke Heavyweights nose" Cheerilee explained, and the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Cheerilee gulped.
Sweetie jabbed a hoof into the earth ponies chest. "She told you what was happening, but whatever pitiful method you did clearly didn't work! And you're blaming her for your negligence?" Sweetie's voice rose,and it echoed against the walls of the classroom ominously.
Cheerilee aimed a desperate glance at Scootaloo, who made a point of turning to Tempo, and asking "did you win?" The filly brightened, and nodded vigorously.
"In that case, we must be going now" Scootaloo started walking towards the door, with Sweetie and Tempo falling in behind her. Just before she left, Scootaloo turned to face her former teacher, eyes cold.
"She defended herself and her sisters. Don't you ever punish her for that."
Magical Melody worries her the most.
Even from a young age, the unicorn was shy and quiet, and, okay, yeah a bit of a crybaby. She had magical talent, but seemed more interested in playing with Fluttershy's many animals. She carried around a notebook, which was packed to the brim of stories, ideas and songs.
She's the sensitive one, the one who takes after Sweetie, with her big heart and empathy. She's the bullies main target, for her ability to burst into tears at the drop of a hat. Usually her sisters looks after her, but they're not always there.
Melody seems to be under the impression that being nice to her bullies is the way to go, that trying to befriend them will solve all her problems. But the world isn't like that, not for lack of trying on her part.
Tempo and Ace encourage her to use her magic against them, but Mel has always refused. She is an avid believer in Twilight's friendship lessons, and no bullying bullies is a big one of hers.
But as Mel keeps trying to alert authority figures to the issue, and they do nothing, the more aware she becomes.
Mel is crazy smart. She can make up poems and stories and songs on a dime, and they can move ponies to tears. She's going to be the worlds greatest songwriter one day, Scootaloo is sure. She just needs to come out of her shell a little.
So, Melody starts weaving her stories. She talks of how her Aunt's are Equestria's Defenders, how her family is on speaking terms with Princess Twilight, how her mom is a famous pop singer, and her other mom is a stuntspony.
And sure, it was wrong of her to use her connections to get bullies to back off, but it was effective, and nopony got hurt, so Scootaloo wasn't going to stop her.
The bullies are disbelieving at first, at least of the Princess Twilight thing, but when Twilight asks Mel to help her with some magical studies, their doubt is proven to be ineffective.
And, yeah, Scootaloo may casually drop in the fact that Mel can always get front row tickets to any Wonderbolt shows thanks to her Aunt Rainbow Dash, but hey, if fillies and colts chose to take it in a threatening way, well, that's their problem.
There are sometimes when Scootaloo worries for the fate of Equestria when bullies are in every class.
But then she remembers that scattered in their victim pool are ponies like Melody, Tempo and Ace, and she's reassured.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Comrade Bagel Muffin · 1.1k words · 33 2 · 1.5k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.088 seconds
Total duration
665 users online
743,186 hits today, 2,156,967 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.®
Hmm, that's actually an interesting idea, nice short fic.
8957107
Thank you!
8957131 I am always in support of ScootaBelle and I've made some family for them too... though I'll admit triplets never crossed my mind, still, very cute, saw all their pictures.
Actually, that should be "your."
Also, the narration randomly switches between past- and present-tense. I'm sorry if I'm coming across as overly critical, but one of the most important lessons a writer has to learn is the importance of constructive criticism. Too many people have made the mistake of refusing to listen to what others have to say.
I'm sorry if I come across as a lecturing jerk@$$, but, well, I... I don't have a lot of social skills, so a lot of conversations I have turn out like this.
Grammatical issues aside, this is an excellent story with a very interesting premise; I haven't really shipped ScootaBelle in the past, but now I 100% do. And I like the kids as well - they're so cute and I just want to hug them all!
8957956
Why thank you! This is part of a series, all my other stories are in the same universe in fact!
Spot-on. A realistic portrayal of the bullying issue that a lot of media seems to deny.
As stated before, you really need to work on your grammar, though, there are several errors like the confusion of "your" and "you're" and issues with sentence structure.
The narrative needs improvement, too, it's not clear if the story is meant to be narrated by Scootaloo or not which makes the speaking manner look odd. This would have probably worked better in first person. If you're telling a story in third person, a more formal style is more fitting.
8958419
Thanks, both for the praise and criticism :D
Yeah, I always found the whole 'ignore bullies and they'll leave you alone' thing to be stupid. If their hits don't work, they won't walk off, they'll just hit harder. And the 'tell somebody' is based around the idea that authority figures will step in, which they rarely do.
Sorry, ranting there. But I will try to make it clearer, uh, hang on.
8958419
Okay, I fixed the your and you're thing, but I'm unsure as to how to make it clear it's from Scootaloo's perspective. I have to explain the main reason they're being picked on, and how they deal with it, but I try to make it seem as if it's Scootaloo noting all these things. If you could point me in the way of a specific line or two, I could see what I could do.
8959158
The overall informal and personal speech manner, most notably these moments, make it look like it's Scootaloo who's talking, yet the story is told in third person which makes it look strange.
Third person narration usually implies some abstract narrator who is not a part of the story and is usually done in a fairly formal manner.
As I said, I believe the story would have better matched your intentions if it was told in first person from Scootaloo's perspective.
8959203
Right, thank you. I might need to think for a bit, but I will fix this.
Nice. Also, I can totally understand Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's frustration with that rule, as I too share a similar frustration with "zero tolerance on fighting policy" in most schools
8960863
It is such a stupid rule! I'm honestly annoyed at how badly MLP screwed up on episodes surrounding bullies.
8960872
Not just that, schools in general. They always tell you that you should tell a teacher, but just like in the story, they just get sent home and a slap on the wrist
8960873
If I'm ever a parent, and my kid gets in trouble for beating their bully, I'm not going to punish them. I'm not going to allow the teacher to punish them either, because they had to have known.
8962285
Same. I'm going to make sure they learn how to defend themselves. No child of mine is going to be a victim
If Scootaloo's daughters were voiced, what would they sound like?
8967130
Well, one of them is mute, so she's out.
Ace- She spends a lot of time around the Apples, and somtimes borrows their prases. She also has a habit of lowering her voice. So, kind of deep, I guess? It's hard to explain
Melody- Kind of like Starfire from Teen Titans? It's not that squeaky, but can reach squeak level if properly excited
8967154
Why do you think Starfire's voice is squeaky?
8960863
I did 2 days in detention for getting my ankle broken. I didn't even participate in the fight. What I learned was to not get caught.
9067892
If my kid gets detention for a fight that they didn't start, I am storming the school, I don't give two shits about any kind of false moral highground they'll try to pull, I won't allow it
9068374
Didn't start nothing. I didn't hardly participate. And yes, my parents were furious. But since the douchenozzle who did it got expelled literally the next day for an unrelated event of offensive behavior, there wasn't really anthing they could do. And the next guy who tried found that the 6'2" scarecrow can, in fact, punch through a cinderblock when I 'accidentally' missed his face.
9068544
Good on you, Scarecrow!
9068892
Yeah, down side was that I split my knuckles open back halfway to my wrist, and cracked 3 bones. Worth every second of the healing process to make the bullying finally stop though.
9069216
Well, no pain no gain?
9069870
That's true.