//------------------------------// // The News // Story: Unexpected // by RuinQueenofOblivion //------------------------------// Scootaloo stared at the test results that she had gotten after her recent trip to Ponyville General. She hadn't been feeling very well in the past few days and the matron at Ponyville Orphanage had sent her to see the Doctor at the Hospital to see if everything was okay. She had been living at the orphanage since she was just a filly, now she was 15 and getting used to life in high school with her friends. She had even found a coltfriend that was pretty nice at least, but she was more nervous than anything else right now with everything that had been going on. "Scootaloo, are you okay?" A kind motherly voice asked her and she looked up to see a light blue Earth Pony mare with a short yellow mane looking at her worriedly. "You've been quiet ever since that arrived, is something wrong?" "I, honestly don't know," the teenage Pegasus said as she just stared at the test results for a few more minutes before she gave it to the matron who's eyes went wide. "Is it possible that they're wrong somehow?" "I don't know, these tests are pretty accurate Scootaloo," the matron said with a sigh as she looked at the paper and back at the girl. Scootaloo was a good filly, she had always wondered why nopony had ever adopted her, but it had worried her a bit because she was afraid that it would push her towards something more drastic, this may be exactly what she was afraid of. "Scootaloo... I, don't really know what to say... did you and Cirrus, you know..." "Yes, we did it, okay?" Scootaloo finally said out loud as tears started to pour down her face. "We did it just... oh dear Celestia... what am I going to do?" The Matron looked at her for a long moment, she honestly had no idea what to say, she hadn't ever really run into this kind of situation before with orphans. This was something that should be handled by a pony with a family, but Scootaloo just had her friends and Rainbow Dash, what was she going to do? "Scootaloo I..." The matron started to say as Scootaloo hugged her tightly and buried her muzzle in the mare's chest, crying even more as she did. "What am I going to do?" She asked softly as she just looked up at the mare. "I'm not ready for this kind of thing..." "Scootaloo, you're going to be just fine, we're going to get through this together," the Matron said with a sigh, she just shook her head. She wanted to chastise the teenager but she knew that it wouldn't do her any good. "Talk to your friends and Rainbow Dash, maybe they'll be able to help you figure it out." "Okay, if you think it'll help," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she shook her head. "What do I tell Cirrus? What will he say? What will everypony think..." "Scootaloo, don't worry about that right now," the matron said as she released the hug. "Just promise me you won't do anything rash yet, okay?" Scootaloo sniffed a little and brushed the tears out of her eyes. She was still trying to process what she had learned and honestly she had no idea what she was going to do. She took a deep breath and slowly headed out of the orphanage, she needed to talk to somepony about this, maybe her friends, they should be at the clubhouse right now, it was worth a try at least. 00000 "Hey Scootaloo, how are yah feelin'?" Apple Bloom asked as Scootaloo headed into the old Crusader Clubhouse, they had spent the last few years helping ponies in here and doing their best to help them as they needed, and now Scootaloo felt like she was the one who needed help. "I'm..." Scootaloo said as she shook her head, she had no idea how she was going to say this, especially to her friends. "I'm feeling okay I guess... I just, its complicated." "Scoots, what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked as she tilted her head a little and looked at Scootaloo. "You know you can talk to us about anything, right?" "I know, its just... its hard to explain," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "You know how me and Cirrus have been really close lately?" "Yeah, its all yah can talk about when yer not goin' on about Rainbow Dash," Apple Bloom said with a light chuckle. "Ah mean ya'll have been datin' fer a few months now." "He didn't do something to hurt you did he?" Sweetie asked, she had a look of determination in her eyes that showed that if he had laid one hoof on Scootaloo he would have to deal with her for it. "No, no, nothing like that at all, I promise," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked down at her hooves, how was she going to tell her best friends in Equestria this? "He and I, last spring we got, a little closer than before, okay a lot closer... if you know what I mean." "What do you... oh," Sweetie said as her eyes went wide as she realized just what Scootaloo meant. "You two, you, you know, had sex?" "Yeah," Scootaloo said softly as she rubbed her foreleg. "I haven't really been feeling well lately so Pearl, the matron at the Orphanage, she had me go to the Doctor and..." She couldn't say it, saying it made it feel even more real than it already did. She reached into the saddlebags she had with her and took out the paper with the test results, barely looking up from her hooves as she did. The other two crusaders looked at the paper and their eyes went wider as they read what it said. They just sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes as they tried to process what their friend was telling them. "Please tell me this is some kind of joke..." Sweetie said softly as she looked at her Pegasus who just shrunk away a little. "Did they run the tests again? This has to be a mistake." "I don't think its a mistake..." Scootaloo said softly as she started to cry again. "I don't know what to do... what if its true, what if I'm really pregnant? What am I going to do?" The three friends let the question hang over them for a few minutes, none of them really knew what to say or what to do. Sweetie and Apple Bloom cared about what happened to Scootaloo, and this was going to take a lot of getting used to, what about Cirrus? Were they going to be able to break the news to him? What was going to happen when they did? None of them really knew what to think about this, Sweetie and Apple Bloom didn't even know that Scootaloo was that close to Cirrus until now. A lot of things were going through Sweetie's mind, the most obvious one being a bit of frustration over the whole thing. Scootaloo was her best friend, she had no idea what to think about what was going to happen or what this might mean for the future. "Scootaloo, we're not mad," She finally said with a smile as she leaned in and hugged Scootaloo gently. "I promise, your friends are going to be here for you every step of the way, no matter what you decide to do." "Yeah, Cutie Mark Crusaders forever, no matter what," Apple Bloom added as she joined the hug. "And hey, maybe in a few months we'll have a new little crusader, that wouldn't be too bad." Scootaloo paused a moment, she hadn't thought about that. What was she going to do with the filly or colt? At first she actually considered the option of giving the foal up for adoption, but she had been in that same boat since she was little and she didn't want the same thing to happen to them. She of course could find a couple that wanted a foal, but that had its own problems. She honestly wasn't sure what she wanted to do, and then there was still the matter of Cirrus, what was he going to say? What was he going to do? She sighed and hugged her two friends more, this was going to be a challenge to get through, but she had the two best friends she could ask for, now she just had to decide what to do. "Thanks you two," she finally said with a smile, at least she had her friends to back her up. "I guess all that's left is to tell Rainbow Dash and Cirrus... I don't know how that's going to go." "Well, if yah tell Rainbow Dash first yah might not have ta worry about tellin' Cirrus," Apple Bloom said with a chuckle. "Oh dear Celestia, lets try not to go there yet..." Scootaloo said with a groan, the last thing she wanted to worry about right now was Rainbow Dash doing something to Cirrus. "Do you think I should tell him sooner or later? I'm still kind of processing this whole thing to be honest... what should I do?" "Eh, give it a few days, maybe it'll still turn out that it was a mistake, I'd suggest talking to Rainbow still, maybe she can help," Sweetie said and Scootaloo nodded in agreement. "I know, I just hope she'll be able to help a little," Scootaloo said with a sigh before she perked up a little. "So, what's on the schedule for today?" Her friends smiled, even though Scootaloo still had a lot on her mind she wanted to still do her part to help ponies. They gave her a nod and started to talk about what the plan was for the day to help ponies. 00000 Scootaloo paused for a moment as she reached to knock on the door to Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbow Dash was at the cottage today to help Fluttershy out with the animals (though she thought it may be more to spend time with Fluttershy). She still wasn't sure exactly what she was going to tell Rainbow Dash, she had been thinking about it on and off while she had been hanging out with the Crusaders and the other ponies. Maybe this was a bad idea, she still didn't know if she was even pregnant, what if it was all just a false alarm and she got Rainbow worried over nothing? She didn't want to do that, maybe she should wait until she knew for sure, she'd probably know in a few... "Oh hey Scootaloo," Fluttershy said from behind her, which made her jump, she turned to see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash standing there looking at her. "Can we help you with anything?" "Well, umm... maybe," Scootaloo said softly as she tried not to look either of the older mares in the eye. "Can I come inside?" "Sure, come on in," Fluttershy said with a smile as she moved past Scootaloo to open the door. "Hey squirt, is everything okay?" Rainbow asked as she looked at her little sister curiously, Scootaloo was acting different than she was used to, a lot more nervous and a bit more unsure of herself. "Its, complicated," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked down at her hooves again. "Its what I'd like to talk with you two about inside, okay?" "Alright, whatever it is, we're here for you," Rainbow said and gave Scootaloo a light hug. "Anything for my little sister, right Flutters?" Fluttershy nodded as she opened the door and they headed inside. There were a few animals around, a few of them looked at the three ponies curiously, but didn't pay them much attention. Angel shot Rainbow Dash a glare but the prismatic maned mare didn't seem to notice or at least not care. "So, what do you want to talk about Scoots?" Rainbow asked as she looked at Scootaloo. "Something seems to be bothering you." "Its, complicated," Scootaloo said as she rubbed her foreleg again, this was going to be tricky to tell Rainbow, especially with Fluttershy here. "You see, I had to go to the doctor the other day..." "Oh dear, are you going to be okay?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, I'm not sick or anything," Scootaloo said as she sighed a little, she might as well just say it at this point. "I, may be pregnant." There was a long pause as she looked at the two older mares, she wasn't sure what to expect them to say. Were they going to be mad? Disappointed in her? She wouldn't blame them if they felt that way, she had acted pretty irresponsibly and was now having to live with the consequences. Rainbow Dash just stood there blinking for a long moment, she didn't quite register what Scootaloo was telling her right away because it sounded so unbelievable. Scootaloo was still only in her teens, why would she have done this? What was she going to do if it was the case? She had no idea what had to be going through Scootaloo's mind right now, but she knew what she had to do if she needed to do it. "Where's that coltfriend of yours, I'm gonna have a word with him about this..." Rainbow said with a growl as her eyes narrowed. She looked like she was about to dash off and do exactly what she said she was going to do before she was stopped by the feeling of a hoof on her shoulder. "Rainbow, don't do anything rash," Fluttershy said softly as she turned and looked at Scootaloo again. "What are you going to do Scootaloo?" "Honestly, I don't know, check to make sure if its true first probably before I go and tell Cirrus," Scootaloo said as she played with her mane a little. "Maybe its just a mistake at the Hospital... I hope it is, I really don't know what I'm going to do to be honest." "Well Scootaloo, if I can't beat up your coltfriend, I'll at least be here for you," Rainbow said with a smile as she hugged Scootaloo. "What are you going to do with the foal if its true?" "Honestly? I don't know yet," Scootaloo admitted with a sigh. "I'm not ready to be a mother... what am I supposed to do about this?" "Do what you feel is right, that's the best you can do, and we'll be here for you every step of the way," Fluttershy said with a nod. "Thanks," Scootaloo said with a nod, she gave the two a light smile. "So, how long have you two been a thing?" Rainbow and Fluttershy blushed at that and Rainbow laughed. "Just a few weeks now, we were going to tell you soon, but you've been busy." Scootaloo just smiled and hugged the two of them, it was nice to know that she had family to count on that cared for her. There was still a long way to go before she was sure that she was going to be okay, but for now, she felt like she belonged somewhere at least, and that's all she needed. 00000 "Oh there you are Scootaloo, did you see your friends?" The Matron asked as Scootaloo came into the orphanage once more. "Yeah, and Rainbow Dash," she said with a shrug. "They said they'd be there for me if, you know, this turned out to not be a mistake or an accident or whatever." The matron paused for a long moment as she looked at Scootaloo. She was trying to figure out how to put this into words and honestly she didn't know how to break it to the filly. "Scootaloo... I ran by the hospital while you were out and had a word with the Doctor there who had the tests performed," the Matron said softly. "You did? What did they say?" Scootaloo asked as her ears perked up curiously, maybe this was good news, but then why was she being so nervous about it? Maybe she was trying to mess with her, that made sense right? No, this was too serious to mess with a pony about. "Scootaloo, they said they ran the tests several times to make sure that they didn't get the wrong results," the Matron said sadly as she pulled Scootaloo in close, she started to cry a little. "I'm sorry Scootaloo, there's no doubt about the results..." Scootaloo froze as tears started to stream down her face, that had been her last hope, that maybe the results had gotten mixed up with that of another pony's. There was no denying it at this point, what the test results said were true. She was pregnant.