"The truth about yourself is always the hardest to accept."

Too Different

"Good morning, class!"

"Good morning, Miss Viola!" the class responded.

"Now younglings, here at your first day at Emperor Penguin Elementary, you will learn the most important lesson that you will ever learn in your life. Can anyone guess to what that is? Anyone? Someone?"

Back on form, Seymour raised his flipper.

"Yes, Seymour?"

"Fishing?" he tried.

"No, dear, that's not it," Miss Viola kindly told him.

"Belly-Sliding?" Cliff tried.

"Anyone else want to try?"

"Swimming?" asked Mumble.

"Good guess dear, but no."

Despite their strong rivalry, Mumble and Seymour share an astonished glance. What could be more important than swimming and catching food?

Ella whispered to Gloria.

"Try heartsongs, kid."

"Someone want to try one more time?"

Gloria raised her dainty little flipper.

"It's our heartsongs, Miss," she chirped.

"Thank you, Gloria! Excellent! That's the way to go," complimented Miss Viola, "Without our heartsongs, we can't be truly Emperor Penguins, can we?"

"No-o-o-o," the chicks hooted, shaking their little heads side to side in unison.

"But, children, it is not something I can actually teach you. Does anyone know why?" Miss Viola inquired.

Ella spoke up.

"You can't teach it to us ma'am, because we have to find our heartsongs all by ourselves," she stated proudly and knowingly.

"Well done you," replied Miss Viola.

"It's the voice you hear inside yourself," continued Ella.

"Our heartsongs show us who we truly are," finished Gloria.

"Yes! Thank you Ella and Gloria! You're both excellent and lovely!" Miss Viola congratulated. Ella beamed and Gloria blushed shyly.

"So children, let us all be very still now. Take a moment… and let it come to you," instructed Miss Viola.

After a moment, all of the flippers in the class shot up.

"I got one!"

"Over here!"

"Ready for action!"

"Pick me! Pick me!"

"One at a time, younglings," laughed Viola, "Let's hear yours Seymour."

Seymour strutted up to the front, trying (and failing) to look impressive.

Seymour: Don't push me
'Cause I am close to the edge.
I am trying not to
Lose my head.

"Good tune dear. I could really get jiggly with that one," smiled Viola.

"I'm ready! I got one!" squeaked Gloria, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"I thought you might have, Gloria," chuckled Viola.

All of the class (bar Mumble, Ella and Cliff) fell silent in shock. Why send the youngest chick up for a serious task?

"Amateur," snorted Seymour. It was quiet enough that Miss Viola wouldn't hear, but loud enough that Gloria heard. She started to cry. Mumble glared at Seymour.

"Shut up," he snapped, and returned his attention to Gloria. Tears were leaking from her eyes and she was sniffling.

"Don't cry, Gloria," he encouraged, "Don't ever listen to what that stuck-up Seymour tells you. Whatever you sing, it will stay in my heart."

Gloria hugged Mumble.

"Thank you, Mumble," she quickly whispered, before skittering to the front of the class.

Then, she began to sing her heartsong.

Gloria: Midnight creeps so slowly
Into hearts of those
Who need more than they get.
Daylight deals a bad hand
To a penguin
Who has laid too many bets.

Gloria sang the final word so beautifully. Drawing the word out, she raised her voice to so high a pitch that she sounded like an angel.

The class gasped in awe. They weren't expecting this from the youngest chick of their generation. To be honest, none of them felt that they could do better than Gloria.

"That's as far as I've got, so far," she smiled shyly at the chicks.

"Ya see! Didn't I say she could do it?!" boasted Seymour. Mumble was about to rebuke him, but he thought better of it.

The chicks weren't the only ones who had listened to sweet little Gloria. Some of the other teachers, classes, and some adults who were passing by heard the voice of a little angel singing her heart out.

"That was top-notch wonderful, my dear," smiled Miss Viola. Gloria blushed, swinging her dainty flippers slowly from side to side. She then scampered back to Mumble, who felt that it was his turn to do the hug.

"I knew you could do it!" he congratulated, pulling in Gloria for a tight hug, "That was beautiful!"

"Well Mumble," Miss Viola interjected, "Let's hear yours, since you seem so keen to share."

Mumble strutted up to the front.

"Well, mine is sort of a boom, a biff, a bash, a buzz," he said, adding in some snorts for emphasis on the buzz part. A few of the class snickered quietly to themselves.

"And finally, another boom," he declared, concluding his so-called heartsong.

"You heard that inside of you?" inquired Miss Viola. She was confused and perplexed. Normally, Mumble would have been observant enough to pick up on the concern in his teacher's voice. But right now he was too cheerful to notice.

"Do you like it?" he asked proudly.

"Dear, I'm afraid that's not even a tune."

"It's not?"

"No, dear. A tune is like… la, la, la, la, la, la, la."

Miss Viola sang a simple scale, hoping with all her soul that Mumble would pick up the tune.

But he didn't.

"Oh, okay then."

Mumble: La, la, laa, laaa, la-a-a-a-a-a!

All that came from Mumble's beak was a deafening screeching sound.

"Now who is that?" Noah questioned, looking for the source of the sound which had shattered the serenity of the peaceful morning.

One of his closest advisors, Eggbert reported back first.

"That is the offspring of Memphis and Norma Jean," he replied.

Noah was not amused.

"You mean the wee hippity-hopper?"

Although any other penguin chick would have thought Mumble dismal at singing, Gloria wasn't just any other penguin chick. She was his best friend. While the others were trying to block out the screeching with their stubby flippers, she was still beaming and smiling, innocently and honestly impressed with Mumble, rather than the other way round. But, at last, the class didn't have to endure the torture any longer, when an icicle hanging from the roof broke and bashed Mumble in the head.

Or to be more precise, Mumble's head bashed it to pieces.

"I didn't even know that was possible," he gasped, having felt no pain on his skull.

But then he turned around and noticed most of the class rolling along with laughter. Except Gloria, Cliff and Ella.

"I guess ice isn't as strong as the Snow Queen used to make it, eh fellas?" he laughed heartily.

But unbeknownst to Mumble, the chicks weren't laughing at the broken icicle, but rather at his failed attempt to sing even a simple tune.

"So Mumble does have a dark and icy secret in his heart," Cliff murmured fearfully to himself, inching away from Mumble.

"Something strange is up with Mumble," muttered Ella, backing away from Mumble. She remembered what her father had said to her – about how Mumble was strange in some way. She hadn't believed it back then of course, but right here, right now – like hell did she believe it.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" screamed an enraged Gloria. Her soft yellow eyes flashed with an anger that she should never have experienced at her young age. But she couldn't take the mocking of Mumble any longer.

"Gloria's right, class," said Miss Viola solemnly.

The laughter finally started to die down.

"What? What's so funny? My joke was too dry to be that funny, guys," inquired Mumble.

"This matter is of utmost importance, children," Miss Viola continued seriously, "For an Emperor Penguin without a Heartsong – they are hardly an Emperor Penguin at all."

"So that's the problem? That can be fixed in a jiff," thought Mumble, with a bit too much obliviousness.

Then the realization struck him hard.

"Oh…" he gasped, horror sinking in.