Dear Rainbow Dash

by fluttershywriter

September 6

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I spent most of yesterday avoiding eye contact with everypony, being an obnoxious, stupid brat, and wishing that I was somewhere else. When I came home, I was expecting to be cared for, but apparently kindness and attention isn't something that my parents are into. Who'd have guessed, huh, Dash?

Anyway, when I went to school this morning, I was sullen and ready for another day of acting like an idiot. We have gym class every Tuesday and Thursday, which meant that we were going to have it today. I was considering just walking out of school again, but I didn't want to push my luck. Mrs. Glossy had looked at me strangely all day yesterday, and I figured that she had either figured out that I was a delinquent or heard all about my inability to fly. Either way, it only increased my irritation and sullenness.

I stomped through the hallways, glaring at anypony who dared to look in my direction. I kept my head low and my pose threatening, hoping that the combination of these two positions would ward off anypony who tried to talk to me. By the time I had entered the classroom, nopony had attempted to talk to me or laugh at me (that I knew of), boosting my mood considerably. I even forgot that the blue colt was sitting several seats down from me. Unfortunately, I was reminded of his existence when he cleared his throat. I reluctantly turned and gave him a long, hard glare. "Yeah? What?"

He shrank back, whimpering a tiny bit. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Scootaloo? I just had to ask you this question and I—"

Mrs. Glossy walked into the room at that moment. She had an expression of anticipation on her face, which could only mean trouble. I felt my heart start pounding just a bit faster than normal. Was she going to yell at me for skipping school? Was she going to laugh at me for being a flightless dodo? Was . . . I could go on and on.

It didn't turn out to be any one of these, shockingly. She rapped a ruler on her desk, causing everypony to jerk their heads up and rearrange themselves so that they were sitting up stiffly, the epitome of perfect students. "All right, students," she sang, practically skipping over to her desk. I'm not kidding. She pretty much sang it. It kind of freaked me out, if you want to know the truth. I mean, if Miss Cheerilee had done it, it would have been totally normal, because she pretty much sang everything that she said and pretty much skipped everywhere she went. Seeing an old lady do it, though? It scared me, almost, and it only increased my trepidation.

"Today," said Mrs. Glossy, rummaging in her desk drawers, "is a very special day. Any guesses why?"

Silence. A few trembling hooves were half-raised, but they were quickly lowered when Mrs. Glossy looked at them.

"Well," Mrs. Glossy continued, breaking the awkward silence, "today, we'll be doing something extremely special. Do you all want to know what it is?" Weak head-nodding. "Today is the day when we begin our first major project!"

I relaxed. When she had said "special," I got a little worried that it would have something to do with flying. I mean, a major project wasn't much better, but at least there was less chance of me humiliating myself in front of everypony.

"We're going to be studying the founding of Equestria," said Mrs. Glossy, her voice losing some of its musical quality and taking on a quality that told us that she had memorized whatever she was about to say. "Long ago, there were three tribes: earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, all of whom . . ."

I stopped listening. I already saw that pageant that you were in, and I didn't really want to hear the whole story again. The only reason I went was because you, Applejack, and Rarity were in it, and Big Macintosh could get us there for free. Momma was real mad when I got home, because I hadn't told her where I was going, but it was worth it. I didn't get any presents for Hearth's Warming Eve that year (except from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle), but the pageant was enough of a present.

I jerked out of my memories when I heard my name. "Yes?" I said, shaking my head and blinking a few times. Giggles rippled around the room, and Mrs. Glossy gave me an irritated look.

"I was simply pulling your name out of the basket to give you your partner," she grumbled. Looking at me suspiciously, she rifled around in the basket for another piece of paper. "Scootaloo aaaannnndd . . . Feather."

Feather? What kind of a name was that? I mean, obviously I had more pressing issues at hand, one of them being that I was doing some stupid group project, but for the moment, all I could do was wonder whose parents would name them Feather. It had to be some sort of idiot, and from the name, they sounded pretty quiet and weird. In fact, they were sounding a lot like . . .

Oh Celestia, NO, I thought desperately. If I am paired up with that shy, weird, skinny colt, I will go nuts and— Whipping my head around, my eyes fell upon the blue colt. His lank, navy blue mane was falling over his eyes, but I could tell that he was peering up at me. Lifting one hoof shyly, he gave me a nervous "hi-we're-partners-now" wave.

My heart froze before stuttering and pumping unnaturally fast. No. I was not going to be paired up with some weird pony who had his cutie mark and could fly a million times as well as I could! That was not an option! I'd rather be paired up with Dizzy—well, actually, no, I wouldn't, but still . . .

I glared my way through the rest of history class, and Feather shyly fidgeted through it. I don't actually remember if we actually got any work done, but I'm fairly certain that we didn't crack open a single book. I actually feel a little bad about it now, since I wasn't exactly mad at Feather. I was more agitated that we were going to have gym class again, that I was going to be laughed at, that I'd probably break down and start crying. The thing that really agitated me, though, was that I was working with somepony who could fly, who could probably fly for miles and miles without getting tired. It's depressing knowing that even the biggest wimp in Equestria can fly, and I still can't get my big head off of the ground. I wish that there was some kind of diet that would shrink my head . . .

Anyway, it's probably rather obvious that I wasn't in the greatest mood by the end of the class. When Mrs. Glossy told us that it was time for gym class, I wasn't exactly jumping up and down with excitement, either. Slowly, I gathered my books, considering faking a big fall. Sure, I'd look like an idiot (again), but I could say that I'd sprained my wing or something. Then who knew how many gym classes I'd get out of?

I was preparing to "trip" over a desk when Feather finally talked. And, for once, it wasn't to me. "M-Mrs. Glossy?" he whispered, raising a hoof. "I was wondering if Scootaloo and I could go to the library. You know, to work on our project more?"

She paused, pursing her lips. "Well, Feather," she said uncomfortably, "I'm pleased that you're taking an interest in schoolwork. I'm not sure if I can let you skip gym class, though . . ."

"Actually, you can," stated Feather. He opened a huge book on his desk to a bookmarked page and pointed to a paragraph. "Right here in the school rulebook, it says: 'Any child may miss an extracurricular class—e.g., music, gym class, or art—with a teacher's permission and a pass.' " He looked up at Mrs. Glossy, who was staring at him like she'd never seen a skinny blue foal before.

"Oh," she said, at a loss for words. I, too, was frozen—who in Equestria reads the school rulebook? "Well, Feather, I suppose that we could let you and Scootaloo study in the library . . . after all, it's a school project, and, well, it's more important than flying lessons, if you ask me."

"Absolutely!" said Feather, smiling and ducking his head. "Scootaloo and I are okay fliers anyway, so it's not like we really need to practice that much. We can do it on our own time."

Well, that was quite possibly the biggest lie that I had ever heard anypony say, right up there with "Sweetie Belle is just like her sister" and "Rainbow Dash isn't cool." I was totally fine with being called an okay flier, though, so I bobbed my head and gave Mrs. Glossy my best smile.

Mrs. Glossy sighed and shook her head, smiling. "Here," she said, scribbling out a quick hall pass. "Be sure to check in with me before lunch, just so I know that you two haven't run away." I felt my cheeks burn as she gave me a meaningful look, and I scampered out of the classroom as quickly as I possibly could.

We walked (well, Feather flew) to the library silently, Feather leading the way. He hovered a foot off the ground, which would have normally irritated me, but I was willing to let it go for the moment. After all, he had been the one that got me out of gym class.

Feather led me to a table in the back of the library, and we sat down, looking up at the bookshelves. Feather flew to the top shelf, grabbed a thick book, and flew back down, tossing the dusty book on the table. I glanced at the cover. "The Pony's Guide to Equestria," I read, stifling a yawn. "Sounds thrilling."

My sarcasm was lost on the foal. "Isn't it?" he sighed excitedly. "I love reading about our ancestors. Did you know that Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead got married a few years after Equestria was founded?"

My jaw dropped open. "You're joking, right?" There sure hadn't been anything about that in the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant!

"Nope. They started the whole theory of different-race marriage, which made things a whole lot easier for everypony. And Starswirl the Bearded . . . I could go on and on about him." He sighed, smiling fondly at the book. "This project is going to be so amazing."

I checked his flank, wondering if there was some sort of cutie mark for being a history geek. Nope. On his flank was a barely-there puffy gray cloud. (Does anypony in Cloudsdale have a non-cloud related cutie mark?)

Noticing my lack of speech, he blushed. "Sorry," he said. "Yeah, we'd, um, better start working. Do you have a pen or pencil?"

"Yeah," I said, uncapping the pen and holding it in my mouth. For a few moments, we were silent. The only sounds were the scratching of pen on paper and the turning of pages. Feather's shyness seemed to be back, and it was irritating me. Even if the colt managed to get me out of gym class, I didn't especially want to spend an hour with him.

Thinking of gym class reminded me that I should probably thank him. "Oh, by the way, thanks for getting us out of gym class and all." I said it in a somewhat bored tone, as if it was no big deal. He looked up from the tiny print, blinking a few times and giving me a shy smile.

"Well, I thought that you might want a break," he murmured. We made eye contact for a split second, but he blushed and looked away. "I could use a break, too—I don't really like flying in front of other ponies. I worry that they'll think that I'm showing off."

Oh, such a problem, I thought. If I could fly, I'd be spending all my time flying in front of other ponies! I didn't want to seem rude, though, so I pushed away my thoughts and spoke. "You flew in front of me," I pointed out.

He shrugged. "Well, you're different. You don't seem like you'll judge me like everypony else in this school does."

I snorted. "It's hard to judge flying skills when I can't even fly myself." Then, realizing what I'd said, I clammed up and stared at the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Feather shrug again.

"Well, not being able to fly is better than being an obnoxious featherbrain," he commented casually. He ducked his head. "Nopony in this school has half a brain. Nopony in this town has half a brain. All that they think about is flying and looking cool. I mean, I love flying, but there's more to life than that. Reading, making friends, just thinking for a moment . . ." He trailed off. "That's kind of why I wanted to talk to you. When I heard that you were from Ponyville, I got really interested. Lots of ponies think that Ponyville's full of hicks, but I've heard that everypony down there's caring. Even the pegasi are interested in making friends, not just flying."

I nodded like a bobblehead. "Yes! I have these two really good friends down there who . . ." I stopped. I didn't want to think about friends just yet. "I mean, there's this one super-cool pegasus called Rainbow Dash who loves flying, but she also has friends. She's the coolest pony ever, but she doesn't worry about that all the time."

"Exactly," sighed Feather. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. You seem cool, but you don't seem like you're trying too hard to be the fastest flier like Dizzy Breeze." He made an "I'm-about-to-vomit" face.

"I seem . . . cool?"

"Yeah," he said. "In a weird way. But, yes."

That's how most of our "study session" went. He'd say something, I'd say something, he'd say something, I'd say something stupid, and he'd ignore my stupid statement. When it was time for lunch, we sat together, and by the end of the day, it seemed like some of his shyness had gone away a bit.

For the first time in a while, Dash, I actually am looking forward to school tomorrow.

Bye,
Scootaloo

Comments

[Sarkastik Menace]

D'awwww! I want moar of this. bueno...

[DrakeDragon13]

Knowing her record everything is going collapse again almost immediately.

[Thunderchaser23]

Really really good so far. Reminds me a little of my own childhood to be honest, Favorited!

[FightingOreo]

Did Feather change his name to Whispercloud halfway through and then change it back? Or was there a 3rd pegasus who randomly decided to turn up and tag along with Scootaloo and Feather? In which case, why did Scootaloo give him/her/them/it all the credit for getting all of them out of gym class?

Also,

[fluttershywriter]

1666912 Oh dear god! See, Whispercloud was my working name for Feather when I first thought of him, but I changed it to Feather. Must have made a mistake. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for finding my mistake!!

[Isseus]

Do you keep unpublishing/republishing chapters? Or deleting and adding them? You don't have to do that to edit chapters or anything. I favorited your story and it keeps showing "new chapters" even though I have them all read. Last time this happened was today, and it's happened a few times earlier.

[fluttershywriter]

1668760 Oh, okay. Thanks. I was unpublishing/republishing chapters every time I made edits. Thanks!

[Charles Rocketboy]

What's that? What's that strange stirring sensation? Is it... hope? I think it is!

Loving this fic so far, very painful and sweet - though the longer it goes on, the more I'm wondering why Scootaloo doesn't send a letter just out of desperation