Heaven is a Place on Earth
Story by Fallen Astral
Assisted by Galatais
Late...
It was mid-November, so Scootaloo already had three full months of 12-grade science with Miss Cheerilee. She could almost believe that time would stop every day in Miss Cheerilee’s class - or at least slowed down so much that every millisecond crawled by at a turtle’s pace. She repeated each concept about five more times than she needed to.
“Gravity,” she’d say, each syllable coming out slowly and distinctly. “Do any of you remember what it is? It's a vital idea to grasp. It's important. You have to know what it is. It holds us on the ground. It keeps us in place. It prevents us from flying off into the atmosphere. It…”
Scootaloo couldn’t force herself to listen to more than two or three seconds of Miss Cheerilee’s explanations at a time. She spent most of her time in sciene class staring at the clock on the wall. It didn’t help that science was her last class before lunch, either.
The day started out fine, but seemed to start dragging on, slowing down with every passing minute. It was only half way through fourth period, and it felt like an eternity waiting for the bell to ring for lunch. Scootaloo watched the clock intently, waiting for the minutes to pass by.
11:43...11:43...11:43. When is it gonna be 11:44!? Why won’t the bell just ring already!? She thought to herself, her stomach growling. Shouldn’t it be 11:44 already? How long can a single minute last?
Scootaloo shook her head in despair, shifting her gaze just enough to look down at her notebook. Her notes were filled only with doodles and other small drawings at this point. You wouldn’t even be able to tell what was notes and what was a drawing.
“It was a few years before Newton had come up with…”
Scootaloo’s head slumped down onto the desk, and she could feel the heaviness of sleep begin to creep in on her. As Cheerilee’s lectures droned on more and more, Scootaloo could feel the call for sleep being more melodious and tempting.
One minute of sleep couldn’t hurt, could it? She asked herself. She let her eyelids droop farther and farther down, until blackness enveloped her, and she began to snore.
- BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP -
Scootaloo awoke suddenly to the obnoxious blare of an alarm clock. Her eyes fluttered open, her vision foggy and blurred for a few seconds. As her vision cleared, she realized she was staring at the blank white ceiling of her room. Groaning, she pulled a fleece blanket over her head, hoping to dim the blinding light of morning.
- BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEP -
That had definitely woken her up. Shaking her head, Scootaloo looked over to her alarm clock, which was becoming more pissed off than alarm clock should. She reached her arm over, ready to hit the snooze button, until she remembered what day it was.
She rolled back onto the bed and let out a long sigh. Today was a Monday. Everyone knew it as the day all students dreaded, the first day of school. Lucky for her, it was the first day of Scootaloo’s last year in high school. After this year, she and her friends would be free.
Not moving from her spot in bed, Scootaloo stretched what parts of her body she could, eliminating a few knots in her back and neck. Right after, she moved to the floor to finish her stretches. After stretching, she looked to the wall that sat behind her bed. Several pictures adorned the walls, each one being of someone else. Not a single one had Scootaloo in it.
Of course, there were the typical pictures of her family, which only consisted of her mom and baby brother. A few others had photos of her closest friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Three more had pictures of a few new friends. One with Apple Bloom’s cousin, Babs Seed, and the other two being pictures of Sweetie Belle and her new boyfriend, Button Mash.
She had no more time to think about the pictures as Scootaloo heard her mother’s voice coming from downstairs. “Honey! Time to get up! I don’t want you being late to school again!”
Scootaloo groaned, knowing that she was right. With a small amount of mental motivation, she finally mustered the courage to get out of bed and shut the alarm clock off, formally starting what Scootaloo knew would become a terrible day.
Having sat up to turn the clock off, the beautiful sensation that was sleepiness was immediately taken away from her, and was replaced by the inevitable feeling of drowsiness. Her eyes felt thick and heavy as she sat up, but she knew that falling asleep wouldn’t be an option, at least until tonight.
With the thought in mind, Scootaloo slowly forced herself to trudge out of her plain, square room. All over the house were boxes which were scattered, left behind since the first day that she had moved in. Outside the bedroom door was a long hallway which lead to more doors, and a tall stairway which lead downstairs.
Scootaloo took an immediate left and dragged herself over to the bathroom, which was two doors down from her bedroom. There was a single door sat just past the bathroom, which was a simple closet. The stairway was just past that.
The bathroom door was opened wide, and the lights turned off. Satisfied that she’d have the bathroom before her mom and baby brother, Scootaloo gave a little fist bump to the air. A good start to the day like this was rare occurrence for her.
Scootaloo stepped into the bathroom and turned the lights on. The bathroom was a simple, small square room with a mirror to the right of the door and a shower to the left. Past the sink and mirror to the right was the toilet. Scootaloo gave the shower a quick glance before looking into the mirror to look herself over.
She stood over the sink and grabbed her toothbrush and the toothpaste off the counter. She began to pour the toothpaste over the toothbrush, but had poured just a bit too much, and now it was all over her hands.
Damnit...She thought to herself.
She cleaned the toothpaste off her hands, and picked the toothbrush back up to continue with the morning ritual of brushing her teeth. Just as she was turning the knob to turn the water on, the knob broke off, and water began to spurt everywhere.
“Damnit!” She yelled as quietly as she could, and turned to the hallway. “Mom! We’re gonna need the knob on the sink to be fixed!”
After her mom yelled ‘Okay’, Scootaloo continued to brush her teeth with a dry toothbrush. Once she was finished, she spit out what paste she could, and wiped the rest away with a towel. With her morning cleaning finished, she walked back to her room and put on the typical outfit of green shorts, white shirt, and black leather jacket.
Scootaloo then grabbed her cell phone off of her bed, and stuck it in her pocket, making sure that it was on silent. She walked out of her room and headed downstairs. Arriving downstairs, she saw that her mother had left her a simple breakfast. A bowl of dry cereal. A note laid next to it.
'Dear Scootaloo,
Wake up when you’re supposed to and maybe you’ll get breakfast next time.
- Mom'
“What? But it isn’t-” Scootaloo shut her mouth and ceased all thoughts when she saw the clock. 7:45...classes start at eight...Scootaloo lives three miles from the school. She had fifteen minutes to run three miles. She stared at the clock in silence for a few seconds, before taking her bag and bolting for the door.
Bursting out the door, Scootaloo’s face and arms were met with the bone-chilling cold of the late fall air. She threw her bag on and increased her speed to a full sprint. Hopping the fence that reached around her house, she kept the same speed, and bolted off towards the school.
She kept her current pace, which was about as fast as her legs would carry her. She continued running as she passed joggers and twisted around other people on the sidewalk. As she came closer to the school, she noticed an increasing amount of people walking or jogging on the sidewalk. They all looked to be her age or younger.
Why would everybody be this late? She asked herself.
Ignoring them, she pushed further forward, weaving through the increasing crowd of people. She would get the occasional negative comment when she brushed close to someone, while others seemed to be shocked that she was going this fast.
The school was finally coming into sight. The three miles had felt like nothing to her with the pace that she had been keeping. Scootaloo was hardly winded.
Scootaloo panted as she arrived at the school. Keeping a slowed pace, she approached the main entrance to the school. Between her and the school sat a large statue and tons of students. She stopped, still panting heavily, and stared for a second, confused at the current situation.
Why is everyone outside? She thought. Isn’t school about to start?
She let out a deep sigh, and let her hands rest on her knees, all while trying to find answers to the problem. Then, a realization dawned on her, and she gave herself a facepalm. She wasn’t too late, she was too early.
“HEADS UP!!!”
“Huh?” Scootaloo looked towards the sound of the voice, only to see a soccer ball flying in the air...and it was headed right for her face.
Scootaloo hadn’t had any time to react to the ball as it struck her in the face. She was stunned and immediately knocked to the ground. The world began to fade to blackness as Scootaloo struggled to keep her consciousness.
“Hey...you okay?” Scootaloo blacked out after the last comment.
“SCOOTALOO!!!”
“What!?” She yelled, waking up suddenly. Feeling a dribble of drool on her left cheek, she immediately wiped it away. Her ears were overtaken by laughter which seemed to be coming from around her. A quick look around told her that her classmates were laughing at her. She huffed, and looked up towards the towering shadow that stood over her. Cheerilee.
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked in a dead tone.
Cheerilee held an angry expression on her face. “Do my lectures bore you?”
Scootaloo took no time to think of an answer. Or, well, her brain actually came up with one that she regretted saying afterwards. “Yes.”
“Well, I’m glad that history bores you. Why don’t you go and tell Principal Celestia about it!?” She yelled suddenly, pointing a meter stick towards the classroom door.
Mumbling to herself, Scootaloo put her notebook and pencil into her bag, and stood, walking towards the door. Students continued to laugh the entire time, only diminishing her already poor mood. It was clear when she slammed the door rather loudly as she walked out.
“Alright, students. Turn to page 14…”
<<<>>>
Scootaloo slammed the door much louder than intended. Her mumbling continued as she walked through the corridors of Canterlot High, towards the ever-intimidating door to Principal Celestia’s office. Sighing, she pushed the door open, its creaking echoing down the hall for any passerby to hear.
Celestia sighed as Scootaloo walked in. “Hm, in trouble again?” Scootaloo didn’t reply. She could only nod as she sat in a chair that sat at the foot of the desk. “What is it this time? Yelling?” Scootaloo shook her head. “Hm. Throwing things?” Another head shake. “Well, what did you do? Fall asleep in class?”
Silence. Celestia nodded, and tapped a few papers on her desk, making the stack of paper neat and clean. “Well, there’s not much I can do about that. The most I could do is give you two options.”
Scootaloo leaned forward intently, awaiting the announcement of the choices. “One, you could receive detention as always, or two, you could spend all day tomorrow showing a new student around the school.” Celestia concluded. “So, which is it?”
Scootaloo thought for a second. Now, she’s seen what it’s like to show a student around, and to tell the truth, detention sounded better. But if showing someone around the school meant that she didn’t need to sit in class, writing “I will not fall asleep in class” over and over on paper or the chalkboard, then she would definitely choose the latter.
“I think I’ll go with option two.”
Celestia gave another nod in approval. “Alright, then. Tomorrow, you’ll arrive at the main entrance at eight o’clock sharp to begin showing the new student around.”
Scootaloo nodded, and stood, grabbing her bag in her hands. She started walking towards the door, but before she could step outside the door, Principal Celestia interrupted her. “Oh, and Scootaloo?” She turned her head. “Please don’t cause anymore problems, okay? Don’t want you ending up doing something you’ll regret.”
She nodded once more, and exited the office just as the bell rang. “Enjoy lunch, Scootaloo!” Celestia yelled.
“I will!” Scootaloo responded.
