"Alright, class, settle down."
The colts and fillies of Ponyville Elementary were, as per usual, all loud and bouncing around prior to the arrival of Cheerilee. But with her calm and collected tone, their teacher brought them all to attention, leading to a sudden rush to get their flanks back into their seats before she reached her desk. Giggling, the mare looked over an open book upon her desk, her smile widening slightly as she finally glanced up to her eager young students.
"Okay, looks like we're going to be covering some history today, so I want you all to take out your textbooks and turn to chapter five."
Sure enough, there was a collective rustling of saddle-bags as all of the youngsters got out the requested books, setting them down on their respective desks and opening them up as Cheerilee had asked for.
"For this assignment, I'm going to have to ask you all to work in pairs. We're going to be working on team-building today, so these will be jointly-written and researched essays."
The thought of group assignments brought excited smiles to many of the faces here, with a buzz of chatter echoing through the classroom as many of them discussed who would be pairing with whom. Cheerilee, though glad to see such enthusiasm, soon brought everything down to a calmer level when she simply raised her hoof.
"I realise you're all keen to get together with friends for this, but I think team-building might be better served by having it be random groups. So..."
Reaching behind her desk, she pulled out what appeared to be a hat filled with tiny slips of paper.
"...I'm going to call out names from this hat, and you'll all be paired that way."
It was a slight disappointment, but not enough to completely ruin the mood. So, the youths all watched as their teacher called out name after name, setting up pairings as the moments rolled on by. Eventually, she came to Scootaloo, and there was only one name left that she could be paired with.
"Scootaloo? It appears Rumble will be your partner today."
It wasn't something the young pegasus was unhappy with exactly, but she and Rumble had experienced their fair share of differences, most notably during the whole cutie mark camp incident. Still, they had reconciled since that day, so she nevertheless smiled at her assigned partner. Looking over to the young colt, she gestured for him to join her, and he soon walked over, bringing his seat with him. This happened all over the class, with chairs being moved to ensure all the pairs were together. Before long, Rumble was with her, and she looked to him with a smile.
"Alright, let's get this going!"
The colt chuckled.
"Sure."
Looking down to her open book, Scootaloo pointed to one passage in particular.
"Let's start here. What do you think?"
Here, Rumble paused. He looked down at the book, same as her, and yet there appeared to be some kind of hesitancy going on with him. He frowned, his eyes darting from the book, to Scootaloo, and back and forth. In the end, he cleared his throat.
"Um...what do you think?"
Scootaloo blinked, confused about his response.
"Well...it's talking about the founding of Ponyville. Shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, Apple Bloom's Granny pretty much told us about it a while ago, remember?"
Rumble sighed, relieved.
"Oh, that, yeah. We can do that."
Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically.
"Great. So, we should probably start by talking about Granny Smith's family when they first came here. They were given the land by Princess Celestia, I think. Let's see...ah! This here. Does this sound like the story Granny Smith told us?"
Again, Scootaloo pointed to the book, and again, Rumble seemed nervous about reading it. His eyes drifted over the words, but there was something in his expression. Something almost akin to fear. Scootaloo noticed it immediately, and she looked to her partner with worry.
"...Rumble?"
Folding his hooves, the colt looked away from her, grumbling.
"Can...can we just do something else with this assignment? Something that doesn't involve that book?"
Scootaloo didn't really understand what was going on with him, but she DID know that his suggestion wasn't an option.
"But...we need this book. It's kind of the whole point of this essay. We can't finish our work without it!"
Rumble's frown deepened.
"I just...don't want to read it."
Scootaloo tilted her head.
"But...why?"
Here, it was not anger, nor irritation, nor nervousness that plagued Rumble. No, this was shame, clear as day. What he was ashamed of, Scootaloo had no idea, but she soon heard her classmate mutter something under his breath.
"I.....I can't."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
"...What?"
To that, Rumble let out a monumentally long sigh, then looked to her, his face far softer than it had been before.
"I said...I can't."
Scootaloo blinked.
"What...what do you mean you can't?"
The colt looked away again.
"It's like I said, I...I can't. I look at the words, and....I can't do it. Not like you or Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom or any of you. It just...doesn't come to me like that. I need...other things."
Confusion returned to Scootaloo's face.
"What other things?"
Rumble gave a shrug.
"I dunno...I need to talk it out, I need to look it over a few times more than you, I need to sometimes write it out myself before I get it. Just...lots of little things. Things my Mom and Dad and big brother taught me to help me with this...problem."
A silence passed between them, and thankfully, the chatter in the rest of the classroom had been so great with all the other assignments that nobody else had heard them. But Scootaloo, now having been confronted with this unexpected truth about her partner, couldn't help but think of one thing in particular.
"Does...does Miss Cheerilee know?"
Rumble's shame returned, and he shook his head.
"No. Most of our work is stuff we can do at home, or by ourselves, so I've been able to do it without anyone noticing. But..."
He sighed again.
"...I guess I can't hide it here. Not with you."
Scootaloo, having learned all that about him, reached forward, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder.
"Hey, there's...there's no problem, Rumble."
To that, he frowned at her.
"There is a problem, Scootaloo! I don't like not being able to read as well as the rest of you! I don't like having to hide it from all my friends! I don't like that there's...there's..."
Slowly, he clamed down, staring down at the desk, to the open book he had such trouble with.
"...there's something wrong with me."
As before, things were quiet between them, or at least as quiet as they could be with all the other noise going on in the classroom right now. But after a time, Scootaloo gave her partner a small smile.
"You know...I actually know what it feels like...not being as good as others."
Rumble narrowed his eyes at her.
"How could you?"
Scootaloo chuckled, the looked over her shoulder, to her back, wherein she stretched out her small wings.
"Believe me...I do."
Immediately, Rumble's anger cooled, and he once more looked ashamed. But Scootaloo did not seem to harbour him any ill will, and instead just kept on smiling to him.
"I know how easy it is to just not talk about this stuff. I know we think others will treat us bad, or look down on us, or all that other stuff. But if we don't talk about it..."
A saddened look came to her.
"...all we do is make things worse for us."
Slowly, Rumble looked back to her.
"But...if everyone else finds out..."
Scootaloo's smile returned.
"They might have made fun in the past..."
She turned, looking over to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who were both with their own separate partners for the assignment.
"...but those days are behind us now, Rumble."
She looked back to him.
"There's no shame in needing help...and there's no shame in asking for it."
Rumble looked to her, utterly silent, yet seeing the sheer desire to help him in her expression. She wanted to be able to help him get through this, and she didn't look down on him for this trouble that had been plaguing him for who knew how long. She was simply a friend, offering a hoof. So, after a great deal of reluctance, Rumble gradually glanced over to Cheerilee. Fear and hesitation took hold of him again, and he gulped loudly. Still smiling, Scootaloo gave him a playful nudge, and as the colt looked to her, she whispered.
"Don't worry...I'll help you too."
That seemed to do the trick, and Rumble gained a small smile of his own. He turned, looking again to Cheerilee, before raising his hoof. Within moments, the teacher noticed, and she spoke out to him.
"Yes, Rumble? Is there something you need?"
Rumble took a deep breath, then gave a nod.
"Miss Cheerilee, I...I think I need some help."
