Another Like Me

"Oh man what a crazy dream!" Shingo thought with a chuckle, "fighting wooden wolves and a talking horse, man if Kensou or Benimaru hear about this I'll never live it down!" He then gave out a rather large yawn and decided to get up. "Hm...the ground seems strangely...grassy...did I start sleep walking again?" He thought in confusion, cringing as he remembered that the last time he slept walk he had ended up outside on his lawn face first in a bowl of cereal. This embarrassing fact was augmented only by the sole fact that he extremely disliked milk, and guess what that bowl was filled with? Let's just say his neighbors got a rude awakening that day.

"Well even if I am on the lawn again at least no breakfast related food substances are involved." He thought optimistically as he then rubbed his eyes to get them at least a little more awake, but when he did so he gave a cry of shock. "What the?!? Oh no I'm still in that forest!" He then paused and looked a little bit contemplative, "so then that dream was real...so then that means..." he paused and looked down, confirming that the little orange horse he had seen before was indeed still there. "Huh...I guess I'll wait until she wakes up to ask her about this place..."

He decided to begin climbing a tree to get a lay of the land, he figured out that they were pretty deep into the forest that they were currently in, and it was morning, about breakfast time Shingo figured. With that, he began to carefully climb back down, but unfortunately a piece of bark gave way and made him lose his footing, making him fall a moderate height and landing in a heap. "Ow, now I know why I'm not cut out for rock climbing class..." he groaned, which managed to make Scootaloo wake up.

With a yawn, she got up and stretched her wings, and seemed a bit confused, but that faded as she recalled the events of the previous night. Looking around she found the creature she had met the night before lying in a heap as she figured out that he had fallen after climbing at the tree and began to stifle a laugh at the sight. "Hey c'mon it's not that funny!" Shingo said as he glared slightly at the filly.

"Hehe, sorry you just looked funny like that!" She said after calming her giggles.

"Hey!" Shingo cried with indignation, "You know I'm pretty sure things here would look pretty weird back where I come from! Especially talking horses like you!"

"Hey I'm a pony, and a pegasus I might add!" Scootaloo countered with a bit of offense in her voice. Shingo noticed he had hit a nerve and tried to apologize.

"Sorry sorry! It's just that where I'm from there's really not much of a difference to either term."

"That reminds me," Scootaloo said in realization, "what exactly are you, and where are you from? I mean, I've never heard of a creature like you in the Everfree Forest!"

"Everfree Forest eh? Is that where we are?" Shingo asked her, to which she nodded in confirmation. "Well, I'm what's called a human, think of a monkey, but bigger and smarter...and less hair!" He explained as Scootaloo listened with curiosity, "as to where I'm from, I'm from Osaka!" He said proudly, remembering his home along with his many friends and family he had made there.

"Oo-sock-uh? Where's that?" Scootaloo asked, not knowing where in Equestria that could be.

"Oh, Osaka? It's in Japan!" Shingo clarified, with not much result as the little orange pony was still as baffled as ever. "You've never heard of it? Hm...oh man..." Shingo paused, but then gave shocked look as he realized an important fact, "GAH! That means I must have been transported to an entirely different world!!!" He cried out loud, to which Scootaloo went wide-eyed.

"You're from a different world???" She said giving a look of wonder and amazement.

"Yeah, I think so anyways...hey mind telling me where this forest is in though? Nation-wise I mean."

"Well, we're in Equestria if that's what you mean..."

"Equestria? Hm...punny if I do say so myself..." Shingo said chuckling at his small joke. His humor was lost on Scootaloo though as she simply raised an eyebrow at his statement. Shingo then coughed nervously as he then shifted to another topic. "Ahem, well anyways I completely forgot! My name is Shingo Yabuki! Nice to meet you little pony!" He greeted with a smile as he held out his hand for a shake.

"Shingo? Heh that's a funny name!" Scootaloo said with a bit of a giggle.

"Hey!" Shingo cried out in protest, "I bet my name's way better than yours!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Well then Shingo," she said with a smirk, "my awesome name is Scootaloo!" She then stuck her tongue out, daring him to top, in her opinion, perfectly good name. However, she saw that Shingo was struggling to hold back his laughter as she glared angrily at him, but it was too much as he burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"Scootaloo?!?" He yelled out in between fits of laughter, "your name is Scootaloo??? That's hilarious!" He declared as he went on laughing. At this, Scootaloo remembered the way that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had laughed at her the day before, and began to tear up a bit while sniffling at the emotional wound that she had reopened. Shingo had heard this and went quiet.

"Oh nice going Shingo!" He thought to himself sarcastically, "Not even one day here and you've already made the pony equivalent of a little girl cry!" He sighed guiltily as he went over to the little pegasus filly.

"Scootaloo?" He inquired softly as the violet-maned pony turned to face him with tears in her eyes.

"What?" She asked, obviously wondering what he was up to.

"Listen, I'm sorry for laughing at you. I had no right to do that." He then held his hands up in a non-threatening manner, "In both of our defenses though, I think for both our worlds we have pretty weird names."

"Heh...yeah I guess so." The filly said as she gave a short laugh, "thanks for the apology, but it wasn't really your fault that I'm crying."

"Oh?" Shingo said raising an eyebrow, "then what was it?"

"Well...you seem pretty nice I guess, so I guess I'll tell you..." Scootaloo took a deep breath as she began to tell her tale. "It's just that, everyday at school there are these two other fillies in the class that are always making fun of my friends and I."

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, mostly because we don't have our cutie marks."

"Cutie marks?" Shingo said confused at the new term.

"Yeah, Cutie Marks are special markings that go on our flanks," she then gestured to hers, "after somepony finds their special talent."

"Ah, so sort of like finding your purpose I suppose..." Shingo said nodding his head in understanding.

"Yeah, but everypony else in our class has theirs except for my friends and I, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and so everyday those two bullies would come up and keep calling us 'blank flanks' just because of that."

"Well, that doesn't seem so bad, you still had your friends so you didn't have to listen to them right?" Shingo asked trying to cheer her up.

"For a while I did ignore them, " Scootaloo said confirming, "but then..." she paused, gaining a depressed look, "then they started going after me specifically. They still mocked us as a group, but they always did it to me the most..."

"..." Shingo went silent, waiting for her to continue.

"They would always come up to me and make fun of my wings and how I can't fly," she emphasized this point by fluttering her wings a few times while hovering above the ground for a few seconds before falling down. "See? They'd always say I'd be a useless loser who shouldn't have even been a pegasus. They never got caught by Ms. Cheerilee either, because they knew they'd get in trouble, and so they'd always get me when she wasn't around or had her back turned."

Her voice broke as she began to sob, "the worst part is. They're right! I'll never be able to do anything worthwhile. I really am just a loser!" She cried out, "heck even pound cake, a foal only a few months old can already fly better than I can! If that doesn't scream failure I don't know what does!" Her sobs then turned to quiet sniffles, "I don't know why I ever thought I could be as awesome as Rainbow Dash one day..."

Throughout all of this, Shingo looked on in sadness. He felt a great sense of empathy for the little filly, though she didn't know it. However, he couldn't bear to see a person, or pony in this case, cry like this. "You know, I know how you feel." He said simply, getting Scootaloo to stop crying for a minute and look at him hesitantly.

"R-really?"

"Yeah, in fact, why don't I tell you a story of my own?" He said motioning for her to sit down by him, which she obliged. "Alright, it began a couple years ago, I was watching the King of Fighters tournament an-"

"King of Fighters tournament? What's that?"

"King of Fighters???" Shingo said getting a big grin on his face, "It's only the coolest thing ever! You get fighters from around the world getting together and making the most formidable teams there are to-"

"Wait fighting?" Scootaloo said with a bit of shock, "Isn't that a bit dangerous to do?"

"Well yeah...I suppose it is," Shingo said after giving it some thought, "however, when I first saw it I had been watching one fighter in particular! Kyo Kusanagi!" He said dramatically as Scootaloo noticed his shenanigans and giggled slightly. "Anyways, after that summer was over, I went back to school, and guess what? I figured out that Mr. Kusanagi and I went to the same school, and were even in some of the same classes together!"

"Oh wow!"

"Yup, and after seeing him I decided immediately to go up and ask him if he could train me. He was a bit surprised at first, but after asking him a couple more times I managed to get him to show me some of his moves!" Shingo said looking fondly on the day he had met his hero.

"Really? That's so cool that you got to do that!" Scootaloo said with awe.

"I know! Imagine! My hero! Showing me his own moves for me to train with! Eventually, he went on to accept me as his true student, giving me these gloves," he said showing Scootaloo the blue gloves he had on, "and training with me more and more often. We even won a tournament one year a little while ago!" He said proudly.

"So...seems like you had it made huh..." Scootaloo said feeling down on herself once again. Shingo stopped and noticed this before continuing on, but in a much more quite manner.

"Yeah...but it wasn't always like that..." he almost whispered, causing the filly to look up at him again. "In fact..." he continued, "that first year was especially hard for me. People would always come up to me and tell me I was wasting my time, that I'd never make it anywhere..." he paused, looking a bit crestfallen, "even my parents said that I should pick up something else to do..."

"..." Scootaloo looked at him in understanding, realizing what he had felt was very similar to her predicament.

"A lot of the fighters would pick on me too, calling me 'kid', 'runt', 'brat', all manner of names, some I can't and won't repeat ever..." he said bitterly at the memory, "for a while even Mr. Kusanagi, my own teacher said that maybe I should lay off the training for a while, but I didn't listen to them. Despite all their mocking manners and insults, I continued practicing as hard as I could to be the best I could possibly be! I'd never back down from a challenge, no matter how bad the odds were, and eventually, slowly I began to gain respect among the people I knew, if not for my skills as a fighter, then for my determination. No matter how hard they'd hit me I'd always try to hit them harder, even when I had barely any fight left in me, and eventually it was that determination that won us that final fight in the tournament that we won." He smiled once again as he remembered the medley of feelings he had had that day, of the celebrations that had occurred. However, much to Scootaloo's surprise, he then gave her a serious look. "Scootaloo, promise me something."

"Um...sure. What is it?" The little pegasus asked in surprise.

"Promise me that you won't give up, that you won't throw in the towel because of what others may say." He then went on, "I know it'll be tough at times, believe me I know, but even when it seems like the whole world is against you, you just gotta' keep at it and head towards your goals with your head held high. I've done it before, so I know!"

"But what makes you think I can do it?" Scootaloo asked skeptically, "I don't think I'd have the will or the strength to go on like you."

"You're wrong."

"Huh?" The filly was taken aback by this sudden refusal.

"I know you can do it. I know because I've found another like me, oppressed by people's judgements and opinions, scorned and ridiculed because they want to be something great and just because our dreams may seem out of our reach. Scootaloo, I've done this before...I've fulfilled my dream..." he paused, giving a warm smile as he held out his hand to her, "now it's your turn to do the same."

"..." Scootaloo was speechless at this. She had finally found somepony who understood how she had felt, somepony willing to work along with her to help her achieve her hopes and dreams, but most of all, somepony who truly believed in her. Feeling a couple tears of happiness come from her eyes, she pushed aside the hand and dove onto Shingo, giving her new friend a joyful hug, to which he returned warmly. "I promise Shingo, I won't let what other ponies say stop me!" she said softly to him. He smiled as the two shared a tender moment of companionship and somewhat of a sibling bond as well. However, something happened to bring the moment that the two shared to an abrupt halt.

"Hey guys! I think it came from this direction!" Scootaloo's eyes opened in surprise at the familiar voice that cried out. Shingo however, kept a hold on her protectively as he turned to face what was coming, in fear that it may have been some other foul creature of sorts. Much to his relief, it was only a group of six ponies that emerged from the bushes in front of them.

"Oh wow they have unicorns too?" Shingo thought in surprise as the group turned to stare at him. All was silent for a second as the group stared each other down.

"Git yer hands offa' her ya varmint!" The light orange mare with the stetson hat said as she narrowed her eyes at the perceived threat.

"Careful girls we don't know what this creature is capable of!" The lavender unicorn called out to the group.

"Step away from the squirt you monster!" The light blue pegasus called out angrily as she flew in towards Shingo at a blazing fast speed.

"Wait what no you've got it all wro- GAH!" He scrambled to dodge the hoof that came flying at him, dodging it by mere centimeters. "Aw man! I just can't get a break from the fighting huh?" He muttered as he readied himself for the impending fight...