Chapter 6: Scootaloo's Past Problems
Fluttershy calmly rocked her daughter back and forth, while waiting for her filly to speak. She wasn't sure what she was going to hear, but whatever it was she would need to be a pillar of support for Scootaloo.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning," Scootaloo finally spoke up, relieved that her throat wasn't sore from all of the crying she had done. "I don't really remember much about my mother. They say she died giving birth to me. I only remember a pair of rose colored eyes, and that's it."
"What about your father?" Fluttershy asked. "Or didn't you have one?"
"I had a father," Scootaloo replied in a somber tone. She then added. "But he only really took care of me for about a year, then one day he just disappeared and never came back. They don't know what happened to him, but they think he was either killed in a storm or eaten by a timberwolf. For a little while I was tossed from relative to relative, but they eventually decided it was best to just send me to the Sunny Skies Orphanage in Ponyville, and to be honest that's where I have most of my foalhood memories. What few I can remember."
Fluttershy continued to rock Scootaloo, even though she wanted to embrace her daughter in a hug. She knew that there was still more to come, more that Scootaloo wanted to say. The body language coming from the tomboyish filly indicated that she was carrying a lot of emotional baggage and she wasn't going to able to fall back asleep until she unpacked it all. "Why didn't you ever tell anypony you were living in an orphanage, Scootaloo?" Fluttershy asked her daughter. "I'm sure one of my friends would've adopted you had they known."
But Scootaloo only angrily replied. "They wouldn't have cared, nopony ever wanted to adopt me. I only truly had one or two foster families, and even then they only lasted for a month or two. One was on my first Hearth's Warming since coming to the orphanage, and the other was shortly before the orphanage closed down. In a way, that orphanage was kind of my real home. The caretakers really loved me, and they did more to raise me than anypony else ever did. Unfortunately, their love only went so far, they told me they didn't have the resources to take care of a filly when the orphanage closed."
"You poor thing," Fluttershy commented, lightly stroking her daughter's mane a little. Then she remembered what Scootaloo had told her just a few minutes ago. "You mentioned that you largely potty trained yourself, even though the orphanage had a potty training program, and that you only stopped having daytime accidents a year before you met Sweetie Belle. Was that true?"
Scootaloo reluctantly nodded, blushing a little. Those were memories she really didn't like remembering, remembering how she had even briefly resorted to stealing diapers when forced to live on her own. "Yeah, it was really hard. The caretakers tried their hardest to teach me how to use a toilet, but they had lots of other colts and fillies to teach as well, and they sort of ended up considering me a late bloomer. So I borrowed books from the library and tried to teach myself based on what those books suggested. I tried training myself to do it at night, but I kept not making it in time and I just gave up and focused on training myself to go during the daytime."
"And what about when you were living on your own?" Fluttershy asked Scootaloo.
Still blushing Scootaloo confessed. "I tried to 'borrow' diapers from other ponies, I was too embarrassed to ask for them myself, especially since I didn't have any money to pay for them. But after this one time Big Mac caught me stealing some of Apple Bloom's old foal supplies, I stopped doing it. I couldn't risk somepony else finding out," Reluctantly, she then added. "After that, whenever I... well.. you know.... I'd clean myself up as best I could in a river or occasionally sneak onto Sweet Apple Acres and hose off. And I still did that with my nighttime accidents, even after I met Sweetie Belle."
"But why didn't you tell her you were homeless? I'm sure her parents would've gladly adopted you in a heartbeat if they knew a filly like you was living on the streets." Fluttershy pondered.
"Her parents are weird and way too affectionate, plus I didn't want them to pity me," Scootaloo answered. "I thought I didn't need anypony's pity. I thought 'If I'm going to live on the streets, I'm going to make the most of it and prove to everypony that I don't need their help OR their pity!'. I got a job working for a delivery company, largely thanks to Sweetie Belle's sister agreeing to put in a good word for me."
"Is that where your scooter comes from?" Fluttershy asked Scootaloo. Truth be told, she had never really considered the origins of her daughter's preferred method of transportation (she made a mental note to try and schedule an appointment with a doctor to determine if there was anything wrong with Scootaloo's wings, and if so what could be done).
Surprisingly, Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, they hired me on my birthday and as a present they let me keep the scooter! The only catch was that I had to maintain and fix it myself, and I wiped out quite a lot. The job payed well though, at least now I could afford to pay for meals at Sugarcube Corner, instead of going without food for days or relying on the market stands," Then she sighed. "If only I hadn't kept showing up late all the time."
"Oh I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Fluttershy kindly replied. "I'm sure you had a good reason for always being late."
But Scootaloo shook her head. "No, it was my own fault. They kept warning me about my tardiness, and they cut me a lot of slack. But they warned me that they could only go so far before they started giving me special treatment, and that I had to prioritize my job's timetable if it was really so important to me. Sadly, just a few days ago was the last straw for them. I overslept and missed the start of my shift, when I came in my boss spoke to me and said 'If you're not going to bother showing up on time and committing to this job, then we're not going to bother keeping you on the payroll. You were warned, and you chose not to listen. I'm sorry, but you're fired.'. And that was that, I got one last paycheck and then I was back to square one."
"But why did the Sunny Skies Orphanage close?" Fluttershy asked her daughter, that was the one thing she was still curious about. "You'd think something like that would've been major news in Ponyville."
"It was probably before you moved here," Scootaloo concluded. "I don't remember the exact date. All I know is that, one day the caretakers announced the orphanage had fallen behind on its payments, and the bank did something. They fo-fo.... I don't remember the exact word but it started with an f."
"Foreclosed?" Fluttershy guessed.
"Yeah, that's it!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "And the caretakers said they couldn't buy it back from the bank, and the orphanage building was falling apart. So they were going to close and the building would be demolished, it got replaced with the clock tower. And that's pretty much it, you already know about my parents, and my job. I'm actually surprised Miss. Cheerilee hasn't called my bluff when I keep making up excuses not to bring anypony in for Family Appreciation Day, but the only family I still have all live in Cloudsdale, or cities far away from Ponyville, and they have lives too. They occasionally send me something, but I don't expect them to care for me when they already chose to put me in that orphanage. That's why I haven't really been minding all of this treatment, why I haven't really been bothered by the fact that I'm wearing diapers. I never truly got a proper foalhood, it was mostly just bouncing from one bad situation to another. I thought it didn't matter what anypony else thought, I thought I could live on my own. I guess it was just another mistake in my life."
Fluttershy could see tears forming in her daughter's eyes, and knew she had to work fast to keep her filly from crying. But aside from continuing to rock her daughter and hum softly to her, she couldn't think of what to say or do. Then, at last, inspiration struck her! Fluttershy wrapped a wing around her daughter, and in as sweet a tone of voice she could muster she said to her filly. "It's alright, we all make mistakes. I'm very glad you told me all this though."
"You are?" Scootaloo asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "Don't you feel better now that you've gotten all that off your chest? Doesn't it feel good to come clean and not keep secrets?"
"I guess." Scootaloo replied, still uncertain how exactly to feel. A part of her still felt like this was all wrong and she shouldn't be enjoying it.
Fluttershy smiled happily, giving her daughter a wing hug. "I know it can't have been easy for you to tell me all this stuff about your past, you're a very brave filly to try and face all of that by yourself. But it's even braver that you came to me and allowed me to help. Sometimes, the bravest thing anypony can do, is admit they need help," When the wing hug ended, Fluttershy noticed Scootaloo was starting to get a little bit sleepy again. "Ready for beddy-bye, my little Scootaloo?" She asked.
"Yep." Scootaloo yawned, as she found herself struggling to stay awake. But somehow, she managed, while Fluttershy gently lowered her into the crib once again.
As Fluttershy was pulling the covers up to Scootaloo's head, she whispered to her. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet before my parents get here. Somepony who's going to be a very big part of Mama's life from now on."
"Who is it?" Scootaloo asked, shuddering slightly. "Are they gonna see me in diapers?"
"Only if you want them to, Scootaloo," Fluttershy replied, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "If all goes as planned you'll meet them tomorrow."
Scootaloo wanted to ask more about who Fluttershy was speaking of, but before she could get a single word out she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Fluttershy smiled, as she observed how peaceful her sleeping little filly looked. "I just hope Scootaloo won't be too alarmed by who I bring over tomorrow," She thought. "But I've been putting off this meeting for long enough, it has to happen, for both their sakes!"
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What time-line of the season was this story posted in? Scootaloo sure had a lot to say about her origins and lone life, along with a certain connection with Sweetie Belle. But it's odd that she never mentioned anything about a certain idol she has who even showed up during a play. (Show Stoppers) Then again, besides that, I'm not sure when was the earliest time Scootaloo was really idolizing her, but that meeting couldn't have been nothing, right? Just wondering what season this story was in.
Anyway, I found an error.
I think that's supposed to be you're.
Loving this so far! (Even though I completely forget what happened in previous chapters.)
7696459 This is taking place about Season 2 maybe early Season 3 in terms of the timeline. It's an alternative universe as a result since it contradicts the information we know about Fluttershy's family, so if this ever gets a sequel that will be tagged AU.
7697126 Yeah, I already figured this would only take information that was present back in an earlier season. Season 2's still my overall favorite season.
7697222 Yeah, this fic was originally published under a different author three years ago, after Season 3 had wrapped up. But the timeline was never made clear. That being said, I am considering an AU sequel where Zephyr Breeze shows up and babies Scootaloo, much to her displeasure.
7697234 Oh... Not really a fan of Zephyr, so sadly, I wouldn't be looking forward to that.
Oh well.
7698177 No he didn't, and that's part of the reason why I didn't go that route when I took it over. Rainbow Dash wouldn't just abandon her foal, even if she couldn't take care of it.
7698177 Doesn't sound like something RD would do, unless this is the RD before she learned her lessons, like before she met Lightning Dust, Lightning Dust actually helped her learn a few things...
7699010 The adoption isn't official yet, Fluttershy still has yet to go through the legal process.
7700398 Remember this story is going through very old material until chapters 5+ where the new author has taken over.
7700592 aaahhh okay.
hhhmmm maybe he still should rewrite it a little, that is if he is allowed too.
While I like Flutterdash from time to time, I still hope it is done right. I mean till now she wasn't even there.
7700752 Well, I added a few details to the first four chapters, including reworking some of Scootaloo's dialogue to reflect the new vision for her backstory here. And as for the FlutterDash stuff, just wait and see.
This is adorable
So, will RD still be Scoot''s birth mom? Cause I love me some FlutterDash
how interesting
Poor Scootaloo can't catch a break. She seems very young in this. 7 or 8 at the most.