Cicely
The angry shout was the first thing to wake up Rainbow Dash. The next was a second shout, this time clearly identified as coming from her younger sister. That was more than enough to get the normally-lazy teen out of bed. Looking at the room that she never cleaned, the walls covered with Discord, Tuff Gong, and Evil Centaurs Inc. posters and the sun poking through the blinds by the window, indicating that she’d slept through breakfast again, all seemed pretty normal with the world. But unlike her usual alarm clock – consisting of her mother poking her head in to tell Rainbow she was running late for school once again – it was unusual for Scootaloo to be shouting this early in the morning.
Afternoon, Rainbow corrected herself, as she looked at the clock.
“No! I’m not going back!” the younger voice cried, reverberating through the walls.
“Sweetie, no one says you have to! Scoots, please, calm down!” The voice of their mother, Firefly, trying to reason with her younger daughter, though apparently to no avail. That in and of itself made Rainbow rush out of her room; her sister was usually one of the most behaved girls Rainbow knew – and that included herself when she was Scootaloo’s age.
“Hey, squirt, listen to Mom, okay?” Rainbow said, coming out of the room.
The look on her sister’s face was one of absolute terror. “I’m not going back!” she cried, her eyes reflecting the horror on her visage. “Please, don’t send me back!”
Rainbow immediately looked at her mother. “Mom?”
“We got a letter from the Cloudsdale County District Attorney’s office,” Firefly said, brushing her shaggy blue hair out of her eyes. “Scootaloo’s biological mother just got out of prison and wants to meet her.” She handed over the letter so Rainbow could read it.
Rainbow devoured the contents like it was a Daring Do novel, the only things she read on a regular basis. “Oh, fuck no!”
“Language, Rainbow.”
“Sorry, Mom. But – we’re not going to let this happen, are we?”
“Of course not. For starters, both your father and I have to agree to it – and as far as I’m concerned, Scoots is old enough to make up her own mind on this as well.” Firefly’s eyes then crept up to the clock on the wall. “Look, Rainbow, I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to let you handle this until your father comes home. I’m already late for my shift at the station. I’ll see if I can get off early so that we can talk about this tonight.” Firefly then went over to Scootaloo and hugged her. “You’re not going anywhere, Scoots,” she promised. “You’re my little girl, and nothing’s ever going to change that.”
“I’m scared,” Scootaloo said.
“You don’t have to be, squirt,” Rainbow said, plopping down on the couch next to her sister and putting her arm around her. “We’re a family – and nobody gets to mess with family.” Firefly gave her older daughter an appreciative look, then scampered off to her bedroom to change, confident that Rainbow had it under control.
“Okay,” the cerise-haired girl said in a quiet, choked voice that Rainbow never associated with her kid sister.
A second later, Firefly emerged from her bedroom in her uniform, that of an Equestria County Fire Department assistant fire captain. “Like I said, I’ll try to get off early tonight, if Capt. Foam Tender can cut me loose. Anyway, take care, girls.” She went over and kissed them both on the forehead, then added, “I love you both.”
“Bye Mom,” Scootaloo said, lacking the enthusiasm she usually felt.
“Seeya, Mom! Kick some ass!” Rainbow said, then grinned as Firefly shook her head about her daughter’s foul mouth.
Finally, the two were left in the house together.
“So, do you want to talk about it?” Rainbow asked gently.
“No…I just…I don’t want to go back! It’s bad enough that I’m not really fami—”
“Stop right there,” Rainbow gently admonished. “You are real family. You’re my sister, and Mom and Dad’s younger kid – until Mom gets a bun in the oven or something. We have a piece of paper that says so. And no, the fact that you’re not related by blood doesn’t mean shit, so don’t even think that.”
“But Rainbow, what if she tries to take me?”
“It won’t happen. I wouldn’t let it happen, and you know Mom and Dad wouldn’t let it happen. You are my sister, Scoots. No way in hell is some woman who abandoned you getting her mitts on my kid sister!”
Scootaloo hugged her sister. “Thanks, Rainbow.”
“Hey, anything for you, Scoots.” She then said, “Hey, I’m hungry. Should I make something for us?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
Dinner that night was a subdued affair. Rainbow Blitz had made dinner that night, tacos, mainly because they were Scootaloo’s favorite. Firefly had left work early that night; thankfully it was a slow day at the fire station. But the two girls were quiet, waiting for either of their parents to stop talking about Firefly’s day at the station, or Blitz’ day as a regional manager for all the MainSix Sporting Goods stores in the Canterlot Metro Area.
Finally, Blitz held up the letter that they received. “Scootaloo,” he asked, “have you read this?”
She nodded. “One, I’m not going back; and two, my name isn’t Sweet Cicely!”
Rainbow looked at her sister, then her parents. “Sweet…Cicely?”
“That’s Scootaloo’s birth name,” Firefly clarified. “We gave Scoots her name when we found her. You don’t realize how traumatized she was when we first found her, Rainbow. She was five years old, but like a newborn: still in diapers, couldn’t speak, an—”
“Mom!” Scoots cried out, blushing furiously.
“Scoots, she’s not trying to embarrass you; everything’s true,” Blitz replied. “You were neglected: there’s no nice way to put it. As it was, we were lucky that I was able to do part of my job from home, because I had to teach you everything you should’ve known at that age. It was fortunate enough that we were able to get you up to speed in time to put you in kindergarten with people your own age, Scoots.”
“And I love you both for that!” Scootaloo replied. “But you’re not going to send me back, are you?”
Blitz shook his head. “It doesn’t even say that, kiddo. The letter says that Golden Brown wants to meet you, and meet you only. That’s all she can legally do in any case. If she wants you back, she’s going to have to sue here in California, and the laws here are very different from Nevada’s. Besides, don’t you think we’d do everything in our power to make sure you stayed with us?”
“She may have given birth to you, Scoots,” Firefly interjected, “but we gave you a life. And if that woman thinks she’s taking my little girl away from me, there’s no way that’s going to happen.”
“You mean it?”
Rainbow grinned. “Scoots, they’re more likely to get rid of me than they are you.”
The following morning, Rainbow got up to go jogging. The night before she read that jogging in the snow helped with toning muscle because of the added strain, and whether it was true or not, it was more than enough for her to get out of the house for a few hours. Throwing on a hoodie, sweatpants and longjohns, she laced up her jogging sneakers and headed out the door.
It turned out to be quite the workout. About three inches had fallen the night prior, and the snowplows had pushed everything to the sides, making it hard as hell to run on the sidewalks, making it a challenge, one she was more than willing to take. Even though she only jogged for two miles in total that morning – which would’ve been a light workout by her standards – the extra struggle made it feel like she was really pushing herself, and by the time she returned home, she was sweating up a small storm despite the cold and the light flurries that had started falling.
Opening the door, she was surprised to hear her mother on the phone.
“No, I do not agree to this, JP! For one, I’ll have to speak to my husband about it, plus, I feel my daughter has a right to her own opinion in this…No. I don’t give a crap what she has to say. That’s our decision an—…Okay, fine. Yeah, I know you’re just doing your job, but seriously, JP, I just….No, fine. I’ll talk to the family sometime today and we’ll give you our decision tomorrow. Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” Firefly put down the phone, the look on her face one of anger.
“Mom, everything okay?”
“Rainbow? Sorry, didn’t hear you come in. I was just about to make breakfast for everyone. Go ahead and shower and then you can help me, okay?”
“Mom, what was the phone call about?”
“Rainbow, I don’t want to talk about it rig—”
“Mom, this is about my little sister. I think I have some right to know!”
Firefly gave her daughter an awkward smile. “I just got a call from our lawyer, Jurisprudence. He’s said that Ms. Brown is willing to fly out here to Canterlot to meet us after the Christmas holiday. JP took the opportunity to arrange for a meeting at the Renaissance Retreat Inn downtown.”
“Really?” The hotel in question was the most expensive hotel in the city and definitely a place to be seen if you were well-to-do.
“Yes. But there’s something else that I do not want you to tell Scoots until your father and I have talked and then talked to her directly, understood?”
The look on Rainbow’s face was pensive; they were asking her to hold something from her sister, something that she’d never in a million years do of her own volition. Still, it was more than enough to get the athletic teen to agree; if her parents needed to discuss it first, the fact alone that her mother was willing to tell her was of vital importance. “Okay. I don’t like it, but…okay, I promise.”
“Thank you, Rainbow. I know this isn’t easy for you – this isn’t easy for any of us.” Firefly looked into her daughter’s deep-rose eyes and said, “There’s two other people who will be coming to this meeting: a girl named Melancholy Rose, and a man named Spruce Branch. The girl…is Ms. Brown’s daughter. The man was her husband. I don’t think I need to tell you what that means.” Seeing Rainbow’s jaw drop, Firefly nodded sadly. “Now you know how I feel.”
“But Mom….”
“No, we’re not letting her go, and that is final, Rainbow. We are a family – and family doesn’t run out on each other.” She went over and patted her daughter on the shoulder, only to retract her hand from her daughter’s hoodie. “Now go shower before you track snow all over the kitchen.”
“Merry Christmas, Rainbow.” Soarin’ gave his girlfriend her gift while the two met at Sugarcube Corner Café. Sunset was working today, but the place was so busy that she didn’t have time to say more than a hello to her friends, and because Pinkie was visiting her relatives in Nebraska or wherever the hell she was from originally – Rainbow could never really remember where – it left the café very short-handed.
“Thanks,” she said, handing Soarin’ his gift. She got him a limited-edition basketball that was one of the spares from the Basketball World Cup; since he was a hoopster, he really went for that kind of stuff, and thankfully her father had the connections to get her a couple. “So, what’re you planning to do for Christmas?”
He groaned. “We’re flying off to Colorado to spend New Year’s at my aunt’s place. Denver really has this overdone New Year’s thing that Pop likes, so we try to go whenever we can. What about you?” Rainbow turned away from him and he reached out to gently turn her face back to him. “Rainbow?”
“It’s…nothing,” she told him.
“Rainbow….”
“Fine.” She then explained everything she could, though she felt deeply ashamed about it. Why couldn’t she help her sister through the problem she was going through? Scootaloo was her sister and she wanted to do everything she could to protect her. But she was completely and utterly helpless in this matter. It tore her apart, and she found herself fighting back tears.
“Rainbow…everything’s going to turn out fine, I’m sure,” Soarin’ said gently, taking her hands in his. “You’re a strong girl and you love your sister. And I’m sure so do you your Mom and Dad. Everything’s going to turn out fine, I’m sure of it.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked. Though she hadn’t noticed it, from behind her, Sunset stopped briefly as to give Soarin’ a look; he returned to look with the indicator that he would take care of it.
“Because your family is happy. From what you told me, your parents saved Scootaloo from what was probably going to be complete and utter hell, right? And you love your sister to the point that you would throw yourself to the lions to save her, right? I wish I had that kind of relationship with my sister; believe me, Vape’s a ditz.”
Rainbow couldn’t argue with that; Soarin’s sister Vapor Trail was a ditz whose name probably explained her brain content. “I don’t envy you that, Soarin’.”
“And I envy you your relationship with your sister. But the point I’m trying to make is that your family is together, through thick and thin. That’s something to envy, Rainbow. You know my family isn’t particularly close to one another, but yours is. And during the holidays or not, that’s the best damn thing anyone could ever have.”
Christmas came, and today was a beautiful day. The snow was fresh and pristine white, the fireplace in their house crackling with the blaze of logs in the fire. The family had just opened their presents, and now Rainbow and Scootaloo were playing outside in the snow, kicking a soccer ball around.
Inside, Blitz put his arm around his wife. “They look absolutely perfect together,” he told her, giving her a smile.
She leaned on his shoulder. “Rainbow loves her so much. To her, it doesn’t matter that Scootaloo isn’t related by blood, only that they’re sisters.”
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Blitz answered.
Firefly watched as her daughters laughed and played in the snow happily, carefree and without a single concern for the moment. It reminded her a lot of her life with her own sister, Junebug, and the life that the two shared together growing up in the Cloudsdale area. As she saw the two continue to punt the ball around, she wished that for them, it would be a moment that would never end.
“What do you think will happen, Blitz?” she asked him.
“Nothing. She’s our daughter and I’m willing to go through hell itself to ensure that,” he told her.
Meanwhile, outside, the two sisters were having a fun time just kicking the ball around. While Rainbow, being older, was the better athlete, Scootaloo was able to keep up with her slightly taller sister with little effort. “So, you ready for Saturday?”
“Not even trying to think about it, Rainbow,” Scootaloo said, kicking the ball past her sister. “Especially the part where she’s going to try to call me ‘Sweet Cicely’ or something like that.” The younger teen punted the ball up, then with an acrobatic flip that Rainbow herself would’ve been proud to do, sent the ball flying back towards Rainbow.
Rainbow hit it with her head, controlling the trajectory so she could take control of it easily. “Good one, sis!” she said. “But getting back to what you said, don’t worry about it. ‘Sweet Cicely’ is a dumb name, anyways – Scootaloo is much better, if you ask me.” She punted the ball back to Scootaloo, who then kicked it back. “So you really want to tell me how you feel?”
“I don’t know what to feel. I mean, all my life – well, the part that counts, anyway – I’ve had just you, Mom and Dad. And now out of the blue, I have another sister, a guy who might be my father…and that bitch who seems to think I want her back in my life? I don’t even remember her, and she somehow thinks I’ve been missing her?”
“You should talk to my friend Sunset Shimmer someday,” Rainbow said. “She’s my age and going through roughly the same things you are right now. Believe it or not, she could probably use the advice.” Scootaloo paused and looked at Rainbow oddly. “No, seriously,” Rainbow replied. “Sunny’s been going through a bit of a rough time since she changed her ways, since she lives with a foster family now. She probably could stand to hear some advice from someone in your shoes.”
“Really?” Scootaloo asked. She was far more used to seeking advice than dispensing it, so the change in situation was unusual for her.
In response, Rainbow grabbed her sister and, removing Scootaloo’s knit cap, mussed her hair. “Of course I’m serious! I mean, she’ll be getting her advice from you, so I can guarantee it’ll be at least twenty percent cooler than anyone else who talked to her!”
The day no one wanted came far sooner than anyone had expected, and the four of them were ready for it. Rainbow and Scootaloo wore new skirts and blouses, courtesy of Rarity, who had heard by way of Sweetie Belle when she and Scootaloo had talked; as expected, neither Rainbow nor Scootaloo were comfortable in the “frou-frou” attire. As for Blitz, he had worn his finest suit and Firefly had gone further, wearing her ECFD dress uniform. The four of them were taking zero chances as they walked into the posh demesnes of the hotel.
They were met there by their attorney, Jurisprudence. “Hello, Firefly, Blitz. I wish I could’ve seen you two under better circumstances.”
“Hello, JP,” Blitz said, coolly. “What’s the situation?”
“Spruce Branch, his daughter, and their attorney are upstairs in one of the penthouse suites.”
“Penthouse?” Firefly asked.
Jurisprudence nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not going to get into that right now. Anyway, Testament – that’s their attorney – and I are having coffee together in the bar in five minutes to hammer out a plan; seems that Mr. Branch and his daughter want nothing to do with her either. Anyway, they’re in the Shasta Executive Suite.” The attorney handed Blitz a card. “Just press the top button and use the card against the digital reader; it should take you the rest of the way up.”
“Thanks, JP,” Firefly said, reaching over to kiss him on the cheek.
“Yeah, sure, remind me that I’m the guy who didn’t win you in the end,” he said with a melancholy grin. He then clapped his hand on Blitz’ shoulder. “And this guy did, Firefly. Still, hey, no regrets, right? Anyway, get going.”
The four, card in hand, walked over to the elevator and got in. Through the ride up the tower, though the family was quiet, they were all united in purpose. Firefly took her husband’s hand and held it, sure in his strength. Blitz looked at his wife and whispered an I love you. In front of them, Rainbow took Scootaloo’s hand and squeezed. “You’re not going anywhere,” Rainbow said. “They can’t make you and they’re going to have to go through us to do it!”
“Thanks, sis,” Scootaloo said with a strength she really didn’t feel at the moment, as the elevator came to a stop, then opened to reveal a large foyer, with its centerpiece two ornately-carved oak doors, trimmed with gold leaf. The left one had an ornate horse, rearing towards sky, while the other one had a pegasus, its wings mighty in flight, soaring towards the earth.
“Wow….” was all that Rainbow could say.
“Burns like anything else,” Firefly said matter-of-factly as she knocked on the door.
An elderly gentleman opened the door and nodded. “Ah, you must be Mr. Rainbow Blitz and family. Please, this way; Mr. Branch and Ms. Rose are waiting.” The man, who the four guessed was a butler, led them to the kitchen, where a casually-dressed pair sat.
Spruce Branch looked tanned and bronzed, with short, dark-brown hair and wheat-hued eyes behind expensive glasses; he was currently wearing a black polo and ecru slacks. Melancholy Rose, on the other hand, wore a loose-turtleneck sweater and pricey jeans; her midnight-blue hair and pink eyes didn’t seem to say much…but the fact that she had a face that was like a slightly older version of Scootaloo’s said it all.
“Hello,” Spruce said, introducing himself to the family. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Likewise,” Blitz said, shaking the other man’s hand. “I just wish it could’ve been under better circumstances.”
“As do I. Anyway, this is my beautiful daughter, Melancholy Rose.”
“A pleasure,” she said, introducing herself to the family.
“I think we’d best talk while the kids let themselves get accustomed to one another,” Spruce offered. “I have my wife talking to your attorney. Together, they’ll come up with something to counter my ex-wife’s schemes.”
“Ex-wife?” both Firefly and Blitz said at the same time, and Spruce nodded. With that, they followed Spruce into the living room, leaving the three girls alone.
Rose sighed. “Wish Dad would keep me in the loop about all these things; this is my problem, too!” she muttered, then turned to Scootaloo. “So…you’re my kid sister. Wish we could be meeting under better circumstances, but it is what it is, I guess.”
“My sister,” Rainbow snarled.
“Hey, easy, easy, I mean only in a biological sense,” Rose replied, “though I would like to get to know you better, Scootaloo, if that’s okay with you.” She then looked at Rainbow. “For the record, we believe my dad’s her biological father…but he has no intention of contesting the adoption. We can see that she’s with a family that loves her, and saved her from the hell my mother put her through.”
Slightly relieved, Rainbow asked, “Can I ask a question?”
“Yeah – I’ll bet it’s the same one your parents are asking my dad right now,” Rose said. Looking at Scootaloo, then at Rainbow, she said, “Dad and I are from LA. He met my mom there; she was a struggling actress, and Dad’s a movie producer. He met her on the set of a film where she played ‘Topless Actress #6’ or something, I guess.” They looked at her oddly and said, “Look, I’m not going to lie or sugarcoat this or anything: I want nothing to do with my mother – like you, she played jack shit in my life. Plus, if anything, Dad fully agrees that he thinks Scootaloo should be kept as far away from her as possible.
“Anyway, it started when Dad had two kids: my older brother Camera Angle, and me. Cam’s attending USC; he’s studying cinematography since he wants to go into the family business. But Dad told me that it was a few years after I was born that his wife – our biological mother – started acting…weird. She started flying to and from Lake Tahoe, where she and Dad had a summer home. She was also getting very amorous with Dad; at the time, I thought that she simply wanted another kid. Well, it turned out to be a lot more than that. Mainly due to drugs; it seems that she was fucking anything that would supply her with drugs, and Dad just happened to be a bonus.
“The day she left us broke Dad’s and Cam’s hearts. Said she was running off with the guy who took care of the cars we had there; she really didn’t even tell us, just called the house from the Tahoe place. From that house, she stole a lot of shit and went off-the-grid. It took a long time for Dad to recover, but recover, he did: two years later, more worried about us than for his former love’s situation, he finally got a divorce in absentia. Turned out that was a bonus: the attorney that represented Dad eventually got together with him. Since then, as far as I’m concerned, Testament is the one I call ‘Mom’; she’s been more of a mother to me than my real mom ever was, and I would pick her over the druggie-slut in a heartbeat. Yeah, I said that.
“The next thing we’d heard about you-know-who was her stint in prison; apparently she’d been thrown in for child abandonment, but there was a lot more to that. Dad spent forever trying to track you down, Scootaloo, but by the time we did, we found out that you’d just been adopted by the family that lived next door to where Mom was using as a crash pad. We spoke to the adoption agency and they said that your family took you in, took the time to make sure you were fed, sheltered and educated, and even gave you a name when nobody even knew what yours was.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “And personally? Sweet Cicely sucks.”
“That’s what she picked for a name?” Rose scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t blame you for keeping your current name at all.”
“So where’s your brother?” Scootaloo asked.
“Cam…didn’t want to come. He used to love her and consider that bitch his mother, and leaving him just ripped his heart out. When he heard about all this, he told Dad that he was legally an adult and he wasn’t going to do shit to do with her. Like me, he considers Mom to be our real mother now.”
Rainbow was about to say something else, when the door to the living room opened, and the adults came in. “She’s here, girls,” Firefly said to the three. “It’s showtime.”
“What do you mean we’re not allowed in?!” Firefly shouted at Golden Brown’s lawyer.
“Exactly as was said, Mrs. Firefly,” the lawyer, Contempt O’Court, replied. “Ms. Brown wants to speak to her daughters in private, and that means you, your husband, or Mr. Branch are not allowed in. Neither, for that matter, are either of your attorneys, especially Mrs. Testament, given her conflict of interest.”
“I am not letting my daughter in with that woman alone,” Firefly shouted again, getting right in the man’s face.
“I’m afraid we didn’t agree to that deal.” Testament, with her fiery red hair and gray eyes, looked like a vision of legal loveliness as she stared at O’Court. “Nor would we ever.”
“But you did,” the man said, a vicious grin on his face. “I take it you did not read the fine print, which specified that the moment you stepped onto the grounds of the hotel it constituted an agreement of all conditions?” When all of them looked at him in surprise, O’Court smiled, a shit-eating grin if there ever was one. “Learned that trick while developing EULAs for a client. Comes in handy.”
“We can challenge that in court,” Jurisprudence interjected.
“Not in time, I’m afraid – and you all also agreed to the legal terms set by both the State of California and Equestria County, so backing out now exposes you all to potential lawsuits on my client’s behalf,” O’Court said, brushing his fingers against his suit as if it were nothing. “But…if you all are that concerned, I will discuss an intermediary with my client. However, the main conditions will stand: the three of you are not allowed in.”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Firefly,” Rose insisted. “I’ll make sure that nothing happens to Scootaloo. I promise.”
“Rose, no offense – but she’s my sister,” Rainbow said. She then looked to the lawyer. “You didn’t say anything about me.”
“Fine, we’ll let the kid in,” O’Court reluctantly grunted.
“‘We’ll?’” Testament scoffed. “Sounds like someone slept through class the day they were teaching the dirty hands doctrine.”
“Maybe,” O’Court said, “but let’s just say that apparently sleeping and dirty hands is something you’re more than aware of, Counselor.” Testament’s eyebrows narrowed and the man knew he won that session.
Before anyone else could say anything, Blitz said, “I trust my older daughter to be a good enough intermediary. Spruce?” The other man nodded.
“Well, now that that’s done, let’s get this little show on the road, shall we?” O’Court said, opening the doors to the conference room to usher the three girls in.
“Be careful, Rainbow,” Firefly said.
“Don’t worry, Mom – I got it covered,” the teen athlete insisted.
The trio walked in, to see an elegantly-dressed woman seated at the other end of the table. To Rainbow’s eyes, she hardly looked like the druggie type: the woman looked clean, and dressed in attire that would make Rarity proud. She had short-bobbed golden and pale-gold hair and with brown eyes. The look on her face was clear and composed and it reminded Rainbow a little too much of how Sunset Shimmer used to be; as a result, it put her on guard.
Golden looked at O’Court. “I thought I specified I wanted to see my children only,” she told him.
“They insisted on having a neutral party. The family Cicely’s been living with brought their daughter, so I thought it would be harmless enough.”
“You guessed wrong, dear,” she said sweetly, even though it didn’t reflect in her eyes. She then turned to Rainbow. “I don’t know what they told you, but this is a private conversation with my daughters. You may stay, but…this is frankly none of your business.” Turning back to O’Court, she said, “Now go set up our flight for Cloudsdale, and make sure we have an option for extra seats.” The man nodded, then departed the room.
Meanwhile, Rainbow was about to respond to Golden’s statement, when Scootaloo placed her hand on her sister’s. “It’ll be okay, sis. I know you’re here.”
“She’ll be fine, Rainbow. I’ll look after her,” Rose agreed. With that, both stepped forward to sit near the woman that had birthed them both.
“So, my sweet girls,” Golden began. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really think either of us believes that?”
Scootaloo, for her part, laughed, the contempt in her tones as clear as a bell. “You know what? I was five when you abandoned me. And what did you teach me? Nothing. Not a damn thing. I couldn’t even speak. I didn’t know my name. And you want to claim that you missed us?”
The look on Golden’s face was one of shock; if it was genuine, it was a surprise to Rainbow. “But girls! I-I made a mistake! And I paid for it – in prison. A day doesn’t go by where I haven’t relieved my mistakes!”
“Too bad I don’t believe that,” Rose said, reaching for her phone as it beeped. “Too bad Cam doesn’t believe it either.”
“Where is your brother?” Golden asked.
“Oh, he didn’t bother coming: he doesn’t trust you, and I don’t blame him. Instead, he’s with his girlfriend right now – who programs computers. She also does white-hat hacking on the side, I should add. And oh, what a bonus she found!” Rose placed the phone in front of Golden, smiling. “Really? How much did your parents give you when you told them that you were going to be raising us?”
“What?” Scootaloo cried.
Golden looked at the phone and blanched: there, on screen, was a Google document detailing all of her conversations with her parents.
Rose, watching Golden’s response, grinned in triumph. “Yup – scammed our biological grandparents, who she probably convinced that she needed the money so she could win us over, to the tune of about $600K, give or take some change.” The girl then retrieved her phone and said, “You’re just the same as you were when you abandoned both of us: a sad, pathetic failure of a scam artist. The only difference is you at least tried to look better on the outside for us this time.” Rose got out of her chair, headed over to Scootaloo’s side in case something happened; she promised her parents and Scootaloo’s, and she would keep that promise. “C’mon, Scoots – you have your mother to return to,” and then she said to Golden, “and so do I.”
“How dare you even insist that I would scam my own parents?” Golden snarled, virtually launching herself out of her chair. “And frankly, you two should listen to me! I am your mother, for God’s sa—”
“My mother?” Scootaloo got right in Golden’s face. “You don’t know shit about being a mother! My mother was the one who found me, cleaned me up, and took me in when you abandoned me! My parents taught me how to read, write, speak and say the name they gave me! My dad was there for all my sports games! My mom spent hours making sure that I wouldn’t fall behind in my classes! My sister—” she said, pointing a finger at Rainbow, “—has been there in a way that no one else has been!
“Yes, you are my biological mother, I’m not going to deny that. But you robbed me of a chance to know my biological family, all because you wanted dick and blow! You even lost your own children to another woman, and they’re proud to know that woman as their mother. So yes, you may have birthed us all, but that’s all you did!”
“You smart-mouthed little brat!” Golden snarled, rearing her hand back to slap Scootaloo.
It never happened.
With a speed that surprised everyone in the room – with the exception of Scootaloo – Rainbow rushed from her side of the table to catch Golden’s hand fractions of an inch from Scootaloo’s wincing face. Rainbow, her eyes rose-colored discs of rage, got right into Golden’s face. “You lay one finger on my sister, or my friend Rose, and I swear as God’s witness I will fucking rip off your head and shit down your neck, got that?”
The woman, surprised by the blindingly-fast burst of speed Rainbow had put on, said nothing.
“Now, my sister and our friend are getting the fuck out of here,” Rainbow said in a calm voice that seemed all the more threatening, “and if you ever try to interfere in our lives, you better pray to God that my mom doesn’t find out about it.”
“What, do you think I’m afraid of a threat like that?” Golden said, having recovered slightly and trying desperately to regain ground on the metaphorical empire now slipping through her grasp.
“You’d better be: Mom’s a firefighter. Means she works out a lot and is built – and if that’s not enough for you, she also runs into burning buildings for a living. I’m an athlete, but I can’t hold a candle to the weights she can lift.” Rainbow gave the woman before her a wolfish grin. “I can merely hurt you.” She then put an arm around Scootaloo and then said, “Our mom? She will break you. And then she’ll get angry.”
Golden gulped.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Rainbow said. “Don’t ever bother mine or Rose’s families ever again. You want to be a mom? Fine – start over and learn. Rose and her brother have a mother, and it’s not you.” She then pulled Scootaloo close to her and said, “And we have ours.”
Dinner that night was at La Fantasie, courtesy of one very grateful Spruce and his family.
“Thank you, Rainbow,” Testament said, “for sticking up for my little girl here.” She put her arm around Rose. “I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
“Mom….” Rose said, blushing slightly from the embarrassment, but otherwise happy as a clam.
“No, seriously, Testy’s right,” Spruce said. “It could’ve gone very bad for both Rose and Scootaloo if you weren’t there, Rainbow, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.”
Rainbow grinned. “Hey, I only did what I had to do to protect my sister,” the spectrum-haired girl replied. “Just a simple recognition that I am the greatest is more than enough.”
Though she tried to be nonchalant about the whole thing, Rainbow felt as high as a kite at the moment. She was getting along great with Rose, who studied archery and a lot of other interesting sports at her own school; the latter promised the former that she would teach her the sport when they next saw each other. Meanwhile, Spruce and his wife were becoming friends with Blitz and Firefly and the two couples agreed to keep in touch once the others returned to Los Angeles. Friendships were the order of the evening, and to Rainbow, that was never a bad thing.
But for Scootaloo, something happened that she never realized she even needed: a hole in her heart was being filled. She was getting to know her biological father, as well as her biological sister, and the two agreed to keep in touch, as well as to introduce Camera when it was possible. The history of her biological family was being explained to her, and she was briefly stunned to know that her family had been in show business since show business existed. Still, it wasn’t her life: She had a different direction she was going, and that was very much due to the family she had: a father and mother she loved, and a sister she idolized.
Scootaloo reached over and hugged Rainbow. “Y’know, now that I have more siblings? I still think you’re the best, Rainbow.”
Rainbow hugged her sister back. “Yeah, I love you too, Scoots.”
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Yeah, family is more than just blood ties. So, that's Scootaloo's birth name. The more I find out about Scootaloo's biological mom, the more I hate her. People like you are the reason everyone thinks lawyers are evil O’Court! Some people never change. Go Scootaloo! Go Rainbow! First comment!
great story , how many songs left
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Yes, there are songs left.
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happy new year you blue bastard
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Happy new year to you, RMWP
Ahhh so that's it. I figured it probably wasn't a mane 6 joke, but didn't know what else it might reference since I've never come across the store before.
Another great chapter, and I LOVED that twist with the dug up dirt. I saw that coming the instant a 'white hat hacker' was mentioned and boy was it sweet coming from them in that scene.
Too bad the biggest threat to Miss Golden if she steps out of line is one she can't mention. That being once Firefly is done with the witch, then Sunny would likely pop in for a 'chat.'
This chapter... This chapter hit a little close to home in more ways than one.
Well written, and, relatively realistic given the situations present, and even the stuff that wouldn't have happened, works prefectly in that "Tv drama" way.
Again, you have hit a home run with this.
so much yes in this chapter
It makes me sick to know there's people like Contempt in real life, the manipate the system for their or their clients underhanded goals, and there just doesn't seem to be enough lawyers that use their evil powers for good to counteract them.