Sometimes, the most unlikely ponies can change your life. I never looked twice at Rumble until now...
It's hard being a filly. Always underestimated by everyone, that awful absence of a cutie mark, and living in an impossibly tiny world. In case you haven't caught on, it's the definition of booringgggg. But the worst thing is that I know my wings don't--and won't--ever get me anywhere. Not like Rainbow Dash. Only on my dreams. No one understands me. Except, maybe, one pony, the only other Pegasus pony without a cutie mark in class... **************************** Everypony is always telling me I should make friends. In my calm, objective opinion, I think that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Like I've told everypony, I'm better at school than with ponies. Unless they're good friends. Or if they're the right kind of friends. Scootaloo. Why can't I stop looking at her? Why can't she fly? Maybe i can help.
Another day of sitting at the back of that confining little classroom in that confining little desk,with no room to stretch or do anything fun at all.But hey, that's school. All there is to it. Still, the whole small thing is a little offensive. Everything for us fillies is small. Irritatingly small. Like everyone wants to make our world as tiny as possible so we don't know how much cooler everything else is compared to being trapped in a room with 20 other fillies and a pony scrawling words on the blackboard while rambling about something completely unnecessary. Take today, for instance. Synonyms? What pony would really need to know what synonyms were?
Synonyms are words that mean the same thing. Sound easy enough. What would be a synonym for Scootaloo? Probably blank-flank, uncool, or something else completely non-awesome. Yep, that's me. I begin to think about the pony that is the complete opposite of that description. Yeah, its Rainbow Dash. Not only is she the best flyer in all of Equestria, she is an amazing friend and the best mentor anypony could hope for. I want to be just like her. Sometimes, it seems like RD is the only pony that understands me. But sometimes not even she, or the Cutie Mark Crusaders, do.
Instead of lingering onto my pathetic little sob story, I decide to focus. Focus. Focus. Why is it called focusing anyways? Who would have come up with a dumb word like "focus?" Maybe there was a pony named "focus" way back that was really concentrated, and everypony...
No Scootaloo.I tell myself. Focus.
I decide to concentrate on the ponies around me first. Just, ya know, to warm up for the real thing. Next to me is one of my two best friends, Sweetie Belle. Her green eyes were fixated on Ms. Cheerilee, like she was really interested in this waste of time. Sweetie Belle had a way of being nice to everyone, it was uncanny. Her pastel-colored mane is curled to perfection, perfectly contrasting her white fur. Sure, she looks cute and all, but that must have taken hours. Probably Rarity's doing. On my other side is my other BFF, Apple Bloom. Almost the complete opposite of Sweetie, her bright reddish mane was combed casually her fur is rich and cream-colored, and her pinkish-orange eyes wander the classroom aimlessly. The similarity between us three is the absence of, well, anyhting on our flanks. And all of us want it. Bad. That's how the Cutie Mark Crusaders was formed. Not much success so far, but I wouldn't call it a complete failure.
I turn again. All around the classroom are the ponies I grew up knowing: Snips and Snails, up to their usual antics, Twist and Alula, looking indifferent, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, giggling, as always, and...Rumble... For some reason, I look at Rumble for a moment longer. His grey mane looks windswept and untidy, and he is paying attention to Miss Cheerily. He always did. I sigh. I am no good at anything.
Then, everyone turns. They're looking at me expectantly, little eyes boring into my skin as though waiting for me to say or do something wrong. Oh no, What did I miss?
"Um, Hello, everypony..." I say uncertainly. A little giggle erupts from behind me, quickly followed by another. I don't even have to look to know exactly the source of the obnoxious laughter. As Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon continue to snicker, I take a deep breath. Fillies could be so judgmental. Especially fillies who are trying to be teenagers, as in giggling-all-the-time, dating-colts, making-fun-of-classmates, too-cool-for-school teenagers. "Um, could you repeat the question?"
Ms Cheerilee sighs. "Girls, please," she silences the two giggling fillies before they can burst out into wholehearted laughter. "Scootaloo, can you tell me what an antonym is?" Technically, I was listening. Well, I was hearing, not really listening...
"Um... well, its a...well, it's sorta a cross between a..."
Suddenly, a loud noise rescued me. As soon as the recess bell began ringing, all the fillies jumped to their hooves and began filing out of the classroom.
"Scootaloo, could you stay with me for a moment?" The Earth pony teacher had that serious look in her green eyes. I swallow and walk up to her desk slowly. This cannot be good.
"See you.. umm.. afterwards, Scoots." Says Sweetie Belle awkwardly before following Apple Bloom and the rest out to the recess playground.
A nervous silence fills the air with tension as Ms Cheerilee set down the last of her graded papers, lining the dges up neatly and finally looking up at me in a businesslike manner. "Scootaloo, we need to talk about your grades." Said Ms Cheerilee, her kind voice peircing to my ears. I swallow. This really cannot be good.
"What do I have, Ms Cheerilee?" I brace myself. Last semester was a 70%, so hopefully I didn't get a lot lower than that.
"You currently have a 60% in this class, Scootaloo." Eek. Now that was an all-time low. Sky Rider and Storm Sleeper had not been overly excited the last time their daughter had brought home a nearly failing report card. But at least that was a C. I was always able to at least get a passing grade, even if I wasn't the ideal student. This is...a D!? That means that--
"Unless you can somehow get that grade up in the next few weeks, you won't have a passing grade in this class, Scootaloo. I would recommend... I would recommend looking into getting a tutor." A tutor!? No way, is she serious? Tutors are for dumb ponies who don't know the first thing about the world. Sound like you, huh, Scootaloo? My brain says to me. My brain tends to be mean like that. I don't think it likes me very much.
"Ummm... Okay?" I say, just to be polite, ready to bolt out the door and be done with this whole thing.
"Maybe you could have Sweetie Belle help you," Ms Cheerilee suggests. Now there's an idea... But no, that would mean admitting to Sweetie that I have a 60%. Sure, honesty is great and all, but some things a pony just didn't want her friends to know. Plus, that would still be a tutor.A friend, but still a tutor. Meh. I'm way too awesome for that.
"Okay, sure, Ms Cheerilee, its just--"
Abruptly, the door flew open and a little grey colt walked in, carrying a book in his saddlebag. His tiny wings were folded to his back, and he looks surprised to see me there, even though he must have heard Ms Cheerilee tell me to stay in with her. Every filly in Equestria probably heard that.Look away, Scootaloo I think to myself as Rumble stands awkwardly at the doorway.and don't blush, oh please, oh please, don't blush, Scootaloo
"Well, you should be getting back to your friends now, Scootaloo," Ms Cheerilee dismisses, looking at Rumble.
"Okay." I make a relieved dash toward the doorway. "Thanks Ms Cheerilee!" I say, pushing past Rumble while my face grows hotter and hotter. If I had darker fur, would they be able to notice how red I am right now?
I am halfway down the stairs leading out into the schoolyard when I skidded to a halt. What was rumble doing there? I wonder. It was kind of weird for a pony to come in during recess without detention. I mean, colts are weird and all, but Rumble is, well, different. Why do you care so much? My brain seemed to be at conflict with itself, until my curiosity gets the best of me and I rush back to the doorway, using my wings to make my footsetps quieter. Pressing my ear to the door, I hear Rumble's voice complaining.
"Why can't I stay in here and read?" He whines
"Because, Rumble, you need to start facing your classmates." Replies the steady tone of Ms Cheerilee's voice.
"But, I don't need to, Ms Cheerilee." Rumble continues to complain.
"Rumble, you know that that's not true. Don't you feel lonely when all the other fillies are with their friends?"
"But, I don't want to have friends!" He protests. "Besides, they don't like me anyway. Who cares about a dumb blank-flank who just likes to read?"
"Rumble, I don't want to hear you say the word 'dumb' in my classroom. Especially about yourself. You are special in many ways, they just don't realise it. Maybe they would if you tried being friendly to them. Maybe you need to realise that too."
"I doubt it." He says sadly.
"You know, you aren't the only one in the class who hasn't gotten a cutie mark yet." My ears perk up. She must be talking about the cutie mark crusaders. "You could talk to Scootaloo, Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle. I'm sure they would be delighted to have a colt like you as their friend." Blushing. A lot. She said my name first! My brain screams. Who cares? the other side of my brain retorts.
"I'm just... a lot better with school than with ponies, that's all."
"Why don't you just give it a shot?"
"If you say so." The young colts footsteps were halfway to the door when I realized that he was about to come back outside. I run down the stairs and join Sweetie and Bloom at the playground. But there's something wrong with my stomach, something between nervous and elated. Like floating.
"Now who are we?" Called a thickly accented voice from across the schoolyard. I look up to see the cream colored pony named Apple Bloom hollering at her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" The duo replies enthusiastically. I can't really fathom why those three fillies are so proud about not having their cutie marks yet, something about 'potential.' Well, if not being special means having potential, I am set up to be very successful. But so far, I'm still just that Blank-Flank smart kid who sits around and reads books and doesn't really have any friends. What they don't know is that I don't want friends. Having friends is likely to lead to having friend problems, which leads to big fights and major drama. Okay, drama is fun to watch, but not to experience.
"And what are gonna do?" Apple Bloom's voice seemingly shatters my eardrums again with its high pitched enthusiasm.
"We're gonna get our cutie marks in pie-eating!" The two recited in unison before breaking out into a cheer of glee and excitement. A little odd for me, but I kept watching them. Beats watching Twist and Alula baking again or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon painting their hooves matching colors again and again and again. Plus, it would be interesting to see where they get all the pies from. Probably Apple Bloom. Being part of the Apple family, pies probably wouldn't be too hard to come across.
Sure enough, Apple Bloom began pouring pies out of her bulging knapsack. There were way too many pies in there to be natural. She probably got the bag from Time Turner. Bigger-on-the-inside was his area of expertise. That and Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey type situations.
"Ready girls?" I turned to see that each of the three ponies had a surprisingly large stack of pies in front of them. That wouldn't be all too bad a cutie mark to have. It would just mean one heck of a stomachache afterwards.
"Go!" By now, many ponies around the schoolyard were watching the trio attempt yet another scheme to gain their cutie marks. The fillies dove into their pies vigorously, eating through their stacks at an alarming rate. Apple Bloom was the first to finish five pies, then Scootaloo, a close second, while Sweetie Belle was a distant, distant third, eating in the proper and sufficiently snobbish way she had been taught how by Rarity.
I had always thought of her as sort of a snob, or maybe just the Silver Spoon of the group, following the other two in whatever they did. Apple Bloom was the source of the ideas, and from what he had gathered, Scootaloo was the guts of the trio. Together they were a somewhat charming and somewhat obnoxious group of fillies to be around. I also suspeced that the purpose of their club anymore was less for crusading and more for their own entertainment.
A round of cheers and hoof-stomping broke out as Apple Bloom reached the last pie in her stack. Shoving her muzzle into the tin, she licked out the apple filling and chewed the crust off in a very gross way. Then she let out a tremendous belch of victory.
A few seconds later, Scootaloo finished off the bottom of her pile and threw herself playfully into the empty tins of her previous pies, giggling like a maniac on sugar high.
Sweetie Belle obviously wasn't too focused on finishing anytime soon, so she simply stopped, laughed, and joined her two friends in laughter.
"Well, well, well," A voice, sharp as a razor blade, cut through the air and penetrated the feeling of happiness. Diamond Tiara had arrived. "Isn't it cute, Silver Spoon?" DT surveyed the mess on the schoolyard. "The Cutie Mark Crybabies are at it again!" The two cackled maniacally. "Isn't it a good thing we don't have to resort to such drastic measures just to look less pathetic!"
"At least we don't have to be snobs just to feel better about ourselves!" Scootaloo retorted strongly, narrowing her eyes defiantly.
Diamond Tiara looked shocked, but recovered quickly. "At least we aren's stuck as pathetic blank-flanks!"
"At least our special talent isn't making other ponies feel bad about themselves just to make everypony like us!" Scootaloo dashed forward, tackling Diamond into the dirt.
"Let go of me you... you pathetic little blank-flank!" She got to her hooves, regained her posture, and checked her hoof painting. She screamed.
"What's wrong, looked in the mirror?" Scootaloo smirked.
"You made me chip my hoof polish!"
You were asking for it!"
"Girls!" Yelled the voice of the recess supervisor. "What's going on? Diamond, what happened?"
"Scootaloo just tackled me into the icky mud for no reason!" She whined
"Scoots, is this true?" Scootaloo didn't answer. She looked winded, completely out of air, for some reason. "I'm disappointed in you." Said the supervisor. "But you may head in for lunch now. We'll deal with this later."
"Can I sit here?" The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them. I was standing in front of a half empty lunch table, its only residents being Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
"Um, Okay, Ah guess." answered Apple Bloom uncertainy. Silence gripped the three as I sat down, wishing my fur were a darker shade of gray so they couldn't see the color I was turning.
"I saw what you did back there." I said, looking at Scootaloo. She looked at me oddly, like she didn't really want to talk to me that much, or maybe she was just afraid to.
"What, eat a lot of pies?" Giggled Sweetie Belle. I thought this was a little bit stupid seeing as she had eaten the least and the slowest of all of them.
"That's not exactly what I meant, no." I replied, trying to stay calm.
"Hey, that filly had it coming to her." Scootaloo stated honestly, shrugging her shoulders and stretching her wings a little. I wondered breifly whether she could fly or not. I had never seen her fly, but that didn't really prove anything.
"I still don't think you should have done it, Scoots," Sweetie Belle said, her cute little green eyes sparkling with worry. "You could have gotten in a lot of trouble."
Scootaloo just shrugged. "I bet Rainbow got in plenty a trouble when she was our age. Maybe you've just gotta lighten up a little, ya know, let loose."
"Oh, well, If Rainbow Dash can do it, you can, Scoots," Apple Bloom joked, punching her friend playfully on the shoulder.
"Yeah," She muttered, looking at her wings again. They were small. Maybe even smaller than mine. But mine could fly, and pretty darn well, so there was still a chance that she could fly after all.
"You don't have your cutie mark yet, do you?" Apple Bloom asked
I stood up to reveal a blank flank. "Still blank." I said sadly.
There was an awkward pause.
"Rumble, right?" The cream colored filly asked.
"Um, yeah."
"Nice to--"
"Can I join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" I blurted.
The three looked at each other, then began whispering amongst themselves. Then, finally, the decision was agreed on. Their answer was one word...
Rumble wanted to be in the Cutie Mark Crusaders? I mean, anypony could see the way he watches us three, but I had always thought of the Crusaders as a sort of non-colt thing. But Rumble... why not? I felt a hoof on each shoulder and realized that I was being pulled into a group huddle.
"So, whad'ya think, girls?" Apple Bloom addressed me and Sweetie in a sullen tone, glancing up awkwardly as the little grey colt stared at his book blankly, intent on eavesdropping.
Sweetie Belle, dropping her tone to be even quieter than Bloom, whispered "I don't know, a colt?
"So what if he's a colt?" I objected, louder than I intended. "He doesn't have a cutie mark, does he?" my voice returned to a whisper.
"I don't know, girls." Bloom said, her pink-orange eyes traveling back and forth between her two friends. "How comfortable would it be to have him on our tails while we're crusadin'?"
"Maybe we could just make him an honorary member!" Sweetie suggested timidly, eyes like green orbs.
"Maybe," I replied thoughtfully, "Or maybe, we could test him." My two friends looked at me uncertainly."
"Think about it," I persisted. "He passes, we'll consider it. He fails, he's out of the running for good."
"Ya just might be onto somthin' there, Scoots..." Bloom looked at me pensively.
Silence gripped us three for a few seconds.
"So, what should I tell him?" I asked, filling my voice with innocent curiosity, while secretly, subliminally volunteering myself for the job of announcing our decision to the anxious Rumble.
"Tell him," Bloom replied, being the natural leader of the group, "That our answer is maybe." At least "Maybe" was a chance. I turned around to face Rumble, who saw me, jumped and hastily opened his book, reclining and acting as though he had been reasding the whole time. colts.
"The answer is maybe." I told him confidently. His purple eyes, I noticed, were perfectly identical to my own, minus the eyelash thing. "But don't get too excited. You have to pass the entrance test first." He looked surprised and curious, but not afraid.
"What's the entrance test?" He asked.
"That's umm... That's a good question." I said, shifting awkwardly. "We'll need to get back to you on that one. You see, um, there a, um, different entrance test for every pony, yeah, we change it every time so that, um , you know, its...fair?" I looked back at my friends for support.
"Yeah, we'll need to, um, yeah." Bloom said nervously.
"Yeah." Sweetie Belle agreed.
Rumble nodded. "Okay." It was somewhat amusing to see his face grow vibrantly pink from his cheeks to the tips of his pointed ears.
"Meet us at the clubhouse, tomorrow at 6:00. We'll have made up, errr, decided by then," Bloom offered.
The next night, as soon as the sun began to melt into the horizon, three young fillies were congregated at the foot of a particular tree in Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I were awaiting the presence of the possible fourth (fifth, counting Babs) member of the Crusaders.
"What time is it?" I whined in impatience, poking at the nailed-in bars that functioned as a ladder to the clubhouse.
"It's still 6:09." Sweetie replied, levitating a digital wristwatch with her light purple beam of magic.
"Where is he already?" I moaned. I woudn't have admitted it, but I was chilled to the bone and ready to get this test over with.
It had taken the entirety of yesterday afternoon, a sleepover last night, and today after school to prepare the perfect test of friendship. To see if this Rumble guy was really all that. If he was crusader material. I picked up a little golden horseshoe with one hoof and smiled. If he could pull off this stunt, or at least attempt to, he was definitely the newest member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle Scootaloo!" A voice with a southern-sounding accent called to the three anxious fillies. Applejack was leaning out the back door, hollering. "Someone's here to see you!" The door opened and a familiar grey form emerged, making his way rather quickly over to us.
"Hey," He said quietly. He glanced briefly and somewhat disapprovingly at the treehouse.
"What took you so long?" I asked accusingly. Play it cool, Scoots!My brain urged me. Since when did my brain call me 'Scoots?'
"You could have told me the treehouse was in Sweet Apple Acres." He said in his usual quiet calm tone.
"Oh right." I could feel my cheeks burning and turned around, acting like I was getting supplies, even though I already had the horseshoe.
"So, ya wanna be a crusader, huh?" Apple Bloom said in her demanding, I'm-gonna-break-you voice. "Well, you're gonna have to prove you're Crusader material! Now I don't wanna see any cracking under pressure." I suppressed giggle, thinking of how she says the exact same thing to jars of apple cider during zap apple season.
"Okay." Rumble was looking at the ground.
Bloom narrowed her eyes. "Follow me if you think you're ready." With that, she turned sharply and set off.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" For the first time tonight, the little grey Pegasus sounded nervous. And for good reason. He and the other three crusaders were standing at the precipice of a small cliff, around four or five mare's-height deep. A rocky ledge descended into the depths of soft darkness. Not that falling would be a problem for a Pegasus like Rumble. Unless he was like me.
"Oh, relax, I've done this thousands of time." I bumped into his shoulder playfully and then tossed the horseshoe into the miniature ditch.
A rustle broke the natural silence of the Everfree forest.
"W-w-what was that?" Stuttered Rumble and Sweetie Belle in unison.
"Calm down, you two. Its the Everfree forest, of course there's gonna be a monster or two." Apple Bloom 'reassured' them, smiling wickedly. "So, ya ready?"
"Um..." Another rustle caused the fillies to jump again. "I guess...?" Rumble stood at the ledge, backing up and spreading his tiny wings. He ran forward a few steps before flapping his wings and taking off the ground. He was a brilliant flyer, especially for his age. But only for a moment. For the next moment, he nearly fell out of the air as a crazed cry cut through the tense silence with a single word:
"Aha!" We turned to see a little earth pony filly looking quite out of her ordinary appearance. It was Diamond Tiara. Her purple mane streaked with white was disheveled beyond repair. Her pupils had shrunk so that they consumed by ocean-blue and a demented smile was plastered onto her face.
"I found you and your pathetic little- you know- thingy!" She stammered, cackling in an insane trance. Next to her stood Silver Spoon, her eyes shooting off in random directions so she rather reminded me of Derpy.
"Yeah, pathetic!" She repeated. I bit my lip. This was too good.
But to my surprise, it was Rumble who spoke up. "Oh no, how did you possibly find us?" He said in a flat, un-amused tone, dripping with sarcasm.
Diamond Tiara let out another demented little giggle. "Maybe you didn't notice us following us you Cutie Mark Crybabies!" She and Silver Spoon recited the last 3 words together.
"You know, you can't just win at everything because you have a lot of money. There are more important things in life than acting like you're better than everyone and trying to grow up too fast. But don't think I'm gonna curl up in my teeny tiny house and cry with my life savings of $1 just 'cause of your pathetic little filly teasing!" Rumble spat, still hovering in the air with ease. Diamond Tiara stood like a statue unable to move, trapped with a stupefied expression etched across her manicured featured.
"Let's get out of her, Silver." Diamond demanded, expecting no objection, when she regained her posture. "These ponies think their better than us because of their pathetic, um, you know, thingies!" She exclaimed in exasperation.
Silence. Rumble returned slowly to the ground. Then he looked down at the small glint of gold in the ditch. "Do you still want me to..." he gestured at the horseshoe.
"Rumble," Apple Bloom walked up to the colt and put her hoof on his shoulder. "Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
