//------------------------------// // Meeting the Parents // Story: Family 101 // by Kail //------------------------------// Cloud Jumper wasn’t a mare that spooked easily, doing the work she did she couldn’t afford to be, but the two changelings sitting across from her were making her nervous in a few different ways. The biggest reason for Jumper’s unease was that she was in the presence of her daughter’s adoptive parents and she had no idea what to say. Beyond introducing themselves, Lightning and Quicksilver hadn’t said one word. So for the last ten minutes after being let in the pegasus and changelings had sat in silence. What could I possibly say? Hi, I’m the mare that abandoned Scootaloo for twelve years and decided now was a good time to see how she was doing. Cloud Jumper did a mental facehoof. Even if I did say something that’s probably how it’d sound to them. What have I gotten myself into? Cloud Jumper turned her attention to her hosts and found them giving her the same passive stare that they’d given her since she’d shown up at the house. The lack of any conversation or even expression from either Lightning or Quicksilver was just adding to Jumper’s anxiety. Thankfully before Cloud Jumper could work herself up anymore than she already was Lightning caught the pegasus's attention by shaking her head and sighing. “Could you calm down please? The guilt and anxiety coming off you is leaving a sour taste in my mouth.” Cloud Jumper was caught off guard by the abrupt request and before she could collect her thoughts enough to respond, Quicksilver gave Lightning’s side a light shove. “That was kind of rude you know. You could’ve just said something to calm her down.” Lightning scoffed and pointed a hoof at Cloud Jumper. “She’s the one getting worked up over nothing.” The two went back and forth for a while before Cloud Jumper cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. “Are you two about done talking as if I’m not sitting right here?” The pair of changelings paused in their banter before looking down sheepishly and apologizing. After the exchange, Cloud Jumpers nerves had relaxed enough for her to try talking to the pair. “So you two know who I am?” The pegasus asked, getting an affirmative nod from both changelings. “Gene told us about you when he came back.” Cloud Jumper’s ears dropped down a bit. “Does Scootaloo know?” Quicksilver shook her head. “No, we decided that she didn’t need to. We’ve only just told her that she actually had a problem with her wings.” Lightning smiled slightly, picking up where her partner stopped. “She was worried at first but once we told her it was treatable she nearly hit the roof. That filly loves to fly and the doctors say that her condition was caught early enough that it won’t interfere with her flying in the future.” Cloud Jumper mirrored Lightning’s smile and sighed wistfully. “At least I helped in that regard then. She’ll never have to know what it’s like to be grounded.” This comment caused Lightning and Quicksilver’s smiles to drop and focus their attention on Cloud Jumper’s wings. Seeing where the two were looking, Cloud Jumper spread out her wings to their full span and the changelings were surprised at the size. They were easily as large as Celestia’s and looked rather well taken care of. Cloud Jumper chuckled at the looks and pointed to one of her wings. “Impressive right? I was proud of these babies for a long while but then….” Cloud Jumper shook her head while folding her wings and leaning back into her chair, her voice taking on a melancholic tone. “Then one day when I was a teenager I started feeling a weird pain in my wings when I flew. I didn’t think much of it at the time since it would only last for a second or two and I was starting training for the royal guard. I thought I might have just over exerted myself.” Cloud Jumper’s eyes glazed slightly as she seemed to get lost in a memory. “Boy was I wrong on that one.” Lightning exchanged a glance with Quicksilver before turning back to the pegasus. “What happened?” Cloud Jumper started slightly, coming out of her daze. “Oh, well about a year later I’d graduated and was on patrol with my sister when my wings seized up and Mayfly had to catch me. The pain in my wings had never been this bad before so she rushed me to a doctor in Canterlot and that’s when I learned about SWA. The worst part was that if I’d gotten my wings checked a few months earlier I might still be able to fly, or at least hover.” The three remained silent after Cloud Jumper had finished. One reflecting back on what she’d lost and two wondering what they could say after hearing the story. Cloud Jumper was the first to find her voice and grinned. “But that didn’t stop me from working as hard as I could at my job. I could still use my wings to glide and I was pretty good at investigating things so after a few years I was put into a team in Solaris and the rest is history.” Lightning shared a look with Quicksilver, both deciding that now was as good a time as any to ask a question that was on their minds.. “But what about Scootaloo?” Cloud Jumper tilted her head as Lightning went on. “Well you never mentioned how she came into the mix.” Cloud Jumper’s eyes turned to the floor again as she worried her front hooves together. “The short answer is that she was an accident.” The changelings both gave frustrated sounds at the answer but before either of them could say anything Cloud Jumper continued. “I’d been assigned to Ponyville because we’d heard rumors that some anti monarchy cell was hiding here and planning to cause trouble. It only took us a month or so to find them and after that my team was given a two week recovery period. I’d decided to go celebrate closing the case by getting a few drinks. A few drinks became a lot and , sparing a bunch of embarrassing details, I found out I was pregnant.” Quicksilver stared wide eyed at the pegasus while Lightning pointed a hoof at Cloud Jumper. “Really? What… And you…….Really?” Cloud Jumper nodded in a somber fashion. “Yeah, it threw me for a loop when I found out. I wasn’t ready to have a foal, and with what my work has me doing I knew that even if I was ready that the foal wouldn’t be safe.” “What about your sister Mayfly?” Quicksilver chimed in only for Cloud Jumper to shake her head. “She was focused on her career and she’s a few years younger then me so she was even less prepared than I was. I decided the best thing for everyone would be if I put her up for adoption.” Lightning’s eyes narrowed at this. “You left her on the steps of the orphanage. In a basket. With no note.” Cloud Jumper winced and her shoulders slumped in shame. “I didn’t want anyone to be able to link her to me. I did it to protect her.” Lightning was about to say something when Quicksilver put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her head. “Let it go Lightning. We can’t do anything about what she did.” Quicksilver turned her attention back to Cloud Jumper. “What we can do is decide if we should let her see Scootaloo.” Cloud Jumper’s ears wilted and she shrank in on herself a bit. “That seems fair.” Lightning caught the feelings of remorse coing from Cloud Jumper and after taking a few moments to think about it turned to Quicksilver. “I think that it’s really Scootaloo’s decision to make.” Quicksilver nodded as she left her seat on the couch and headed for the door. “I can agree with that. I’ll go get her from the clubhouse then, see you in a bit.” As Quicksilver left, Cloud Jumper gave Lightning a surprised look. “You’re ok with me talking to her?” Lightning shrugged and got up as well. “Like I said, it’s Scootaloo’s decision. I’m still not sure about the whole thing but Quicksilver and I know that this is something that still bugs Scootaloo.” Lightning opened her door and looked over her shoulder at Cloud Jumper. “When she gets here it’ll just be the two of you so you might want to think about what you’re going to say.” With that Lightning stepped out and shut the door leaving cloud Jumper alone with her thoughts. ================================================= Scootaloo trotted alongside Quicksilver as the went through Ponyville and the filly was just as confused as when she’d been picked up by the changeling. Only being told that she needed to come home for something important. Despite all her questioning, and several uses of Sweetie Belle’s patented sad eyes technique, Scootaloo hadn't gotten anything out of Quicksilver. Deciding that she’d be patient, Scootaloo followed Quicksilver home wondering what could be so important that her “Dad” couldn’t tell her anything about it. Her thoughts about the “important thing”, which had been getting more and more grandiose by the minute, were derailed when she and Quicksilver came to their home and found Lightning standing by the door. Scootaloo ran ahead of Quicksilver and called out to Lightning. “Hey mom, why’re you outside?” Lightning turned to Scootaloo and smiled a bit. “Waiting for you kiddo.” Lightning’s smile dropped as she turned to look at the door to her home before looking back to her daughter. Quicksilver went to stand by Lightning, putting a reassuring hoof on her wither, and motioned to the door with her head. “Someone’s inside to see you Scoots.” Scootaloo tilted her head in confusion. “Ok but why’s mom outside?” “Because we wanted to give you two some privacy. The mare inside….” Lightning paused to take a breath, holding it for a second before exhaling. “She’s your mother.” Scootaloo first looked confused and her parents could almost hear the gears working in the filly’s head as her expression went from confusion to realization and then to shock as Scootaloo turned to look in the direction of her homes door.Scootaloo just stood, rooted to the ground it seemed as her eyes went from the door to her parents several times before she shook her head hard enough to make her ears whip the sides of her face and focus on the door again. Scootaloo ran a hoof through her mane a few times before speaking in a small voice. ‘What….What should I do?” Lightning put a foreleg around Scootaloo and brought the filly against her side. “I think you should go in and talk to her. Just see what she has to say and then after that you can decide what you want to do.” Scootaloo looked up at Lightning as her brows knit together. “You’re not coming in with me?” Quicksilver went around and sat on the other side of Scootaloo. “We’ll be out here the whole time but we think that you need to talk to her on your own. This is something only you can make a decision on Scoots.” Scootaloo nodded and gave a shuddering sigh. “I’m scared though. What am I supposed to say?” Lightning stood and smiled at Scootaloo while nudging her forward a bit. “Just ask her all the questions you ever wanted to ask her. All she wants is a chance to talk.” Scootaloo gulped as she put a hoof on the doorknob, turning to look at her parents. “You’ll be right outside?” Lightning and Quicksilver smiled while nodding. “Right outside.” Scootaloo returned the smile and turned the pushed the door open. =========================================================== Cloud Jumper heard the door open and froze in her seat. Meeting the adoptive parents of Scootaloo had made her jittery but hearing the hoof falls of the filly she’d let go of coming closer and closer had her downright terrified! Cloud Jumper’s wings were twitching and she was doing her best not to visibly shake as she waited for Scootaloo to sit down.When Scootaloo actually came into her field of view Cloud Jumper’s breath caught in her throat. The little bundle of orange and purple she’d last seen had grown into a very healthy, athletic looking filly. As Scootaloo took a seat across from Cloud Jumper the first thought that came to her mind was, She’s got my eyes. Cloud Jumper and Scootaloo sat across from one another silently, neither one ever really making eye contact. Cloud Jumper wasn’t sure how but she found the nerve to speak first and was proud of herself for keeping the tremor out of her voice. “Hi Scootaloo. I’m Cloud Jumper I uh….Well I’m your birth mom.” “.......” Cloud Jumper wilted slightly at the silence. “You look healthy. And I hear that you’re quite the flyer. Have you learned any good tricks yet?” Again Scootaloo stayed silent only giving a nod to Cloud Jumper’s question. Cloud Jumper appeared to deflate after another non response from Scootaloo and sighed sadly. “I….That’s good. You..um, that’s…….” Cloud Jumper shook her head and got out of her chair, moving to sit right in front of Scootaloo. Cloud Jumper looked up at the filly from her new seat on the floor before resting her forehead on the cushion Scootaloo was perched on. “I”m sorry.” Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “You’re sorry? Why?” “I abandoned you. I had all these reasons I was going to tell you for why I did it. I wasn’t ready, I wanted to protect you, I wanted you to have a normal life. But….” Cloud Jumper’s voice hitched and she started trembling. “But when it comes right down to it I abandoned you and I…..” Cloud Jumper looked up at Scootaloo, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I know it doesn't make up for anything but I am so, so sorry.” Cloud Jumper bowed her head and for a long while the only sound in the room was her quiet sobbing. All this time Scootaloo had wondered what her birth mother would be like and what she’d say once she met the mare that had given her up. What she’d do when she was face to face with the pony that had left her at the orphanage. Scootaloo knew what she was going to do now, what she was going to say. Scootaloo hopped off the couch and stood on her hind legs, wrapping her forelegs around Cloud Jumper’s shoulders she nuzzled the crying mare and said only five words. “Just don’t abandon me again.” Cloud Jumper’s eyes widened in surprise before she smiled softly and returned the hug, her tears now flowing because of the second chance she’d been given. “Thank you.”