Spellbound Fireflies by bats

getting stuff finished before it was due, but now I can get through all of it.”
    Twilight set a hoof on her shoulder.  “We’ll keep working on reading speed.  In the meantime what’s important is that you’re not struggling to get through your subjects.  Are there any times in class it’s a struggle?”
    Scootaloo shook her head, but didn’t meet Twilight’s eyes.  Cheerilee grinned in satisfaction, but as she went to stand Twilight raised a hoof.  She frowned in concern and leaned in close to the filly, her voice low.  “You sure?”
    Raising her head, she searched Twilight’s face and took a steadying breath.  “Well…It’s not really the work.”  She glanced nervously at Cheerilee, then back at Twilight.  “I get everything early and have extra time now and…and everypony looks at me funny.  Like I’m cheating, or…”  Ears falling as low on her head as they could and gaze drifting downward, Scootaloo sighed slowly and ran her hooves sheepishly over her desk.  “…Or like I’m stupid.”
    Twilight frowned, exchanging a worried look with Cheerilee.  She opened her mouth, but Scootaloo continued before she could say anything.
    “I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it.  I’ve talked to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle about all this and they understand, I think…but I don’t wanna announce it to everypony.  It’s bad enough that I still haven’t got my cutie mark.”  She looked up from her desk, meeting Twilight’s eyes.  Twilight saw a deep vein of frustration tunneling into the little filly in her features.
    Scootaloo shook her head forcefully, glaring balefully at her desk.  “It’s just like everything.  Everything’s harder than it should be.  I can’t do math without rewriting every question, I can’t read a page without going over it three or four times, I can’t learn to fly without making up for years of lost time, and I can’t find my special talent.”  She stamped her hoof on the wooden surface.
    Twilight and Cheerilee looked to each other, jaws slack.  Twilight turned to her student and placed her hoof back on the pegasus’ shoulder.  Scootaloo shrugged it off and then flinched.  She grimaced, meeting the unicorn’s face with a pleading expression of apology.  Twilight gave her a sad smile and Scootaloo hung her head in defeat.  “…I…I’m sorry, Twilight.”
    “Hey…”  She lifted Scootaloo’s chin.  “It’s okay.  You have every reason to feel frustrated and angry.  We’re all here to help you, though.  Rainbow Dash, Ms. Cheerilee, and I are all rooting for you.  We want you to succeed and we’ll do whatever we can to get you there.”
    A half-hearted smile on her muzzle, Scootaloo nodded weakly.  The classroom door banged open, startling the three ponies.  Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom bounded in, both with an ice cream cone to their muzzles and a third floating in a small field of magic in front of the unicorn filly.  Scootaloo’s face lit up and she jumped from the desk.  Smirking, she asked Twilight, “What’s with you and ice cream?”
    “What?  Everypony likes ice cream.”
    Scootaloo giggled and raced to join her friends, heading out into the early afternoon.  Twilight’s call of, “See you at the park!” barely reaching the trio as they rounded the corner towards the pegasus’ scooter.
    “Alright!” Scootaloo chimed, chomping into her cone, “We’ve got about an hour before I’m s’posed to meet Rainbow Dash for my lessons, let’s get some crusadin’ in!”
    Their cheer was cut short by Rumble tentatively peeking around the corner of the schoolhouse.  When he saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, a shiver ran up his spine and for a second Scootaloo thought he was going to run for it.  The colt shook his head and stepped slowly to the group.  He cleared his throat and quietly asked, “Apple Bloom?”
    Pink coloring her cheeks, Apple Bloom trotted