Chapter 21
“... and that’s how I met your grandmother.”
Scootaloo sat on her haunches as she listened to her grandfather’s past. She was in awe at his past accomplishments, with a broad smile forming on her muzzle. My family is so awesome!
“Wow!” Scootaloo finally spoke loudly as she got up from her sitting position. “So you were a gold medalist at the Equestrian Games?”
Spectrum shrugged as he smiled confidently. “It was only the Cloudsdale Equestrian Games, but yeah, I won about four gold medals in each of the four events I took part in,” he chuckled at Scootaloo’s sparkling eyes. Melody, she looks just like you...
“Scootaloo!”
Both grandfather and granddaughter turned to see a speeding white pegasus flying towards. “Scootaloo, we’re finishing up the slide at the clubhouse! We need your-” he stopped when he saw Spectrum’s intimidating eyes.
Spectrum lowered his head and gazed at Light for a moment before looking at Scootaloo. “Who’s your friend?” he asked curiously.
“This is Light,” she pointed out and went over to nuzzle Light. “My coltfriend,”
“Is that so?” Spectrum asked and gave Light another intimidating look that made the poor colt’s knees weak. “So Light...”
“Y-yes, sir?”
“You seem to have quite a knack at flying?” he asked, taking the colt’s speed into account.
“W-well, my brother is training me at the moment and-”
“What do you want to do with flying?”
Light and Scootaloo blinked, both tilting their heads to the side. “Excuse me?”
Spectrum cleared his throat. “What do you want to do with flying?” his voice strangely turned colder, scaring both foals a little. “What is your dream?”
“I-I,” Light uttered out before gulping down and looking into the stallion’s eyes with a spark of confidence. “I want to be the best Wonderbolt ever!” he shouted proudly, surprising Spectrum who took a step back.
“Heh... just like me at your age... you’re going to do just fine, kid.” He ruffled his mane affectionately.
“Th-thanks.”
“Eh, you both get on with the clubhouse. You only have about another day.”
“No problem!” they said happily, running off toward the treehouse with cries of goodbye.
He looked at them running off and thought a moment. Light had the spark needed, at least as far as he could see. He needed to build up that confidence. He had a cutie mark for flying so he had potential.
“Ya seem interested in somethin’,” Big Mac noted, walking up to the intrigued pegasus.
“That kid...” he said slowly, eyeing Light until he was gone. A smile presented itself on Spectrum’s muzzle. “I think I found the pony I’m going to train after Rainbow Dash.”
The large stallion looked at him, who had just made it to the treehouse and was getting boards and nails into his grip by Apple Bloom. “Him? I must admit, I’m a bit surprised.”
He looked at him with an arched eyebrow. “Why?”
“Well, not ta be insultin’, but he’s kinda a wimp. I can’t really blame him, since he’s been a prisoner his whole life...”
“Wait,” he said suddenly. “That’s the foal that Bloodwing was holding hostage?”
“Sure is,” he muttered. “He’s kinda cowardly. Th’ first few weeks, he was jumpin’ at every little thing. He’s gotten better since then, but he still seems a little jumpy.”
“He just needs a bit of confidence,” he said. “I think I can do that. Maybe.” He was quiet again. “I never had to build confidence in somepony with PTSD.”
“Th’ colt needs ta build up himself a bit,” Big Mac agreed. “His bro... sorry, his pa is doin’ a pretty good job.”
He nodded. “I think I want to talk to him... what’s his name?”
“Blaze.”
“Well, I’ll see if it’ll be alright with him if I taught him a few things.” Spectrum yawned, stretching his hooves. “Do you have any of that famous Apple Cider my daughter keeps talking about?”
Big Mac grinned and nodded. “Eeyup! Follow me.”
Apple Bloom wiped the sweat off of her forehead, taking a breather to admire the works she has done to the newly added construct. The slide was coming along nicely, though it lacked the paint and the added bolts to keep it in place. When she was done inspecting the slide, she saw Light and Scootaloo approaching.
“That looks awesome,” Scootaloo looked at the near completed slide when she stopped next to Apple Bloom.
“I’ll say,” Apple Bloom agreed, turning back to the uncompleted project. “It just needs a few things before it’s all good to go,” Just as she said the last words, the others heard whistling and saw Pip coming towards them with a saddlebag and a cart filled with buckets of paint. “Perfect timing!” Apple Bloom told him gladly with a broad smile.
Pip grinned and unhooked the cart from his back. “Good thing I kept these away from me mum’s place,” his smile turned sour when he furrowed his brow. “Otherwise, that fallen angel rabbit would have tossed them away... blooming tosser!”
“What’s it like living with Fluttershy?” Light asked with a degree of interest, ignoring his friend’s grief with a particular bunny.
The earth pony colt smiled broadly as he looked up to the sky. “It’s great. I don’t have to worry meself about a meal every time or freezing in my sleep every night now,” he said as he sighed. “To finally have a proper mum in my life is such joy...” had he looked to Apple Bloom, he would have seen the filly nearing a sob with how awful he had it before Fluttershy took him in.
Apple Bloom sniffed and quickly wiped the moisture from her eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking. “Well, now since y’all are here, we need to get this slide of ours painted over,” she told her friends, reaching out for a bucket from the cart. “Let’s all get to it!”
“Wait a tic!” Pip raised his hoof in protest. “Where’s Spike and Sweetie Belle?” he looked around but there was no sight of the two unicorns.
Light shrugged. “No idea.”
“Maybe they’re having a mushy moment?”
Scootaloo’s words were like a switch. As soon as they left her mouth, the pair burst out of the clubhouse, looking red-faced from both anger and embarrassment.
“We were not!”
“We’re just fixing things!”
“You shouldn’t be making fun of us!”
“Yeah, we see you get mushy all the time!”
Now Scootaloo was blushing. “We do not!”
“Oh yeah? I heard you call him...”
Scootaloo’s hoof filled Spike’s mouth, her words coming out through gritted teeth. “Don’t. You. Dare. Finish. That. Sentence!”
“Why?” Sweetie said, now highly interested.
“N-nothing,” Light said, looking completely red. “Shouldn’t we get back to...”
But Pip was never one to pass up a chance to rib his friends about their love lives. “Aw, what’s wrong, Light? You afraid that yer...”
Scootaloo’s hoof decked him across the cheek. “That’s enough!”
“We need to get you a fillyfriend,” Spike sighed.
“What! No way...”
“Hey! Maybe I could get mah cutie mark in datin’ services!”
“Wh-what?” Like just about everypony in town, he knew about the incident with Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee. “No way!”
“Hmm... maybe Mom still has that book around...” Spike mused.
“I... uh... hey, Apple Bloom, maybe we should get back to work,” Pip said quickly, grabbing his paint. “I think I’ll get started on that mural.”
With that, the small Earth Pony ran toward the wall and started painting furiously, as if it could drown out the gossip.
Apple Bloom giggled at Pip’s antics, but the giggling stopped when she saw all her friends eyeing her with glee. “W-wha’?”
“Maybe we found the right filly for Pip...” Spike said as his eyes shimmering mischievously to the yellow filly.
Apple Bloom panicked and gulped nervously. “A-Ah’m gonna go get more nails!” she dashed off to the farmhouse, leaving the other four friends behind laughing. When the mirth finally died down, Sweetie Belle was the first to clear her throat and look back to where Apple Bloom ran off to.
“You really think she is a good match for Pip, Spike?” she asked her coltfriend, who was recovering from his laughing fit.
“Yeah, I got a feeling that they are.”
“A feeling?”
Spike shrugged. “My mom told me to always trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me that those two are destined to be together.”
“Are you sure?” Light asked skeptically, looking back to the clubhouse where he heard Pip painting furiously. “What makes you think they’re compatible? They’re so different from each other.”
“Like you and your Scootie-Pootie?”
Scootaloo’s orange fur turned redder as she was filled to the brink with embarrassment and anger. “Spike!” she yelled out and charged to Spike, who decided to run for it. “Come back here!”
“In your dreams!”
Sweetie Belle sighed as she planted a hoof to her face, looking at Scootaloo hunting Spike down. She looked to Light who only smiled at the scene. “Aren’t you going to stopt her? He is kinda like your brother.”
“And ruin the comedy? No way. Besides, aren’t you going to stop Scoots?”
The unicorn shrugged. “Can’t stop that filly once she is fueled up.”
“Awww,” Light turned to Sweetie with a grin. “But you're his Sweetie Pie, surely you-” he stopped when he saw the withering glare from Sweetie Belle. “Uh... bye!” he flew off at the speed of his namesake, leaving the unicorn filly alone grinding her teeth.
“Must ‘ave been hard lookin’ after yerself,” Big Mac said sympathetically. “I can’t imagine how I’d react if I lost mah sisters.”
Spectrum was quiet for a minute. “How did your parents die?”
Big Mac was silent for a minute. “We were orphaned real young. I was only fifteen at the time. Mah pa died right after Ma got pregnant with Apple Bloom. Some dern filly ran into th’ Everfree Forest, an’ he chased after her. Some timberwolves got to ‘em. Ma was heartbroken, but she was happier when Apple Bloom was born. Then, a year later, she didn’t look at th’ weather schedule properly an’ was out when a thunderstorm was planned. Lightnin’ hit a tree, and...”
Spectrum nodded sadly. “I can imagine that was hard...”
“On all of us. It hurt Granny th’ most, I think. I hear it’s th’ worst thing imaginable to outlive yer foal...”
Spectrum shuttered at the thought of Rainbow Dash dying. “It is. Just losing her nearly killed me...”
“Granny loved her son, an’ she loved Ma like she was her own. She was mopey for a year, but she picked herself back up eventually.”
“I would never guess,” Spectrum said. “She sure seems happy enough.”
“At my age, youngin’, ya can’t afford ta be mopey,” Granny Smith cackled with a laugh, joining in. “I lost both mah foals, sure, but me bein’ mopey ain’t gonna bring ‘em back. ‘Sides, I only got another few years left, I figure I better enjoy ‘em.”
“Well... I guess that’s a good attitude,” Spectrum said smiling.
“Frankly, I figured you’d wanna be out there livin’ more. Ya pretty much wasted yer life after yer wife passed on, is what I hear.”
“Granny...” Big Mac said disapprovingly, but Spectrum waved him off.
“She’s right... if I hadn’t been moping around, Rainbow Dash might not have flown off.”
“Ya gotta be strong fer yer loved ones,” Granny said simply.
Spectrum gave off a laugh and nodded. “Yes, you’re right...” he took a sip of the apple cider. “I got to be strong for both my daughter and granddaughter.”
Granny Smith cackled another laugh. “To think yer a grampy already, yer as spry as fresh apples!”
“So they say.”
Just as Granny was about to speak again, Apple Bloom came running into the house with her face flustered and sweating profoundly. “G-Granny! Where are the nails?”
“Well, uh...” Granny tapped her chin, looking upwards in thought. “Ain’t they in the drawer?”
Apple Bloom scratched through the one drawer, until her face lit up as though she won the jackpot. “Gottit, thanks Granny!”
“Hold yer horses, Apple Bloom!”
The filly stopped in her tracks with Granny Smith’s authoritative voice. “Y-ye?”
“Why’re ye as red as Big Mac?”
Apple Bloom didn’t answer her, only shuffling her hooves nervously. “Granny, not now please...”
“Is It that there colt of young Fluttershy? He seems like a real catch th-” before Granny could finish, Apple Bloom dashed out of the house even quicker than when she came in. The old mare merely laughed again. “She got it bad, love finding her at such a youn’ age.”
Big Mac scrunched his lips as he looked out of the window. “If that colt tries something funny, he ain’t gonna-”
“Oh hush, ye!” Granny Smith interrupted Big Mac with a waving hoof. “Ye and Applejack need to find yerself ponies, Ah want to have great-grandkids before Ah go!” she told her eldest grandchild, who was now looking shyly away. “Didn’t ye say ye had a thing for that there primsy friend of Applejack? What’s her name, Rar-”
“Granny! Not now!”
“Rarity! That’s right! Ye always giving her a fine eye when she is with Applejack,” she remembered some occasions when Big Mac was near Applejack’s friends. “Perhaps Ah should ask that there Twi’ to make special brew of love cider just fer-”
“G-Granny!” Big Mac stuttered, causing her and Spectrum to laugh.
“And that, young ‘un, is th’ best part bout bein’ a parent,” she said sagely. She eyed Spectrum. “What ‘bout you? Any filly you thinkin’ ta get yer eye on?”
Spectrum shrugged. “I don’t know... I don’t think anypony could replace Melody. But...” he grinned a lecherous grin, one that wouldn’t be out of place on the old Spectrum. “That Fluttershy is pretty cute...”
He didn’t think it was possible, but Big Mac blushed even harder. “What? She’s young enough to be your daughter!”
“See, that’s the thing about being my age: you can date somepony that young and not break any laws. Besides, she has a cute flank.”
Granny howled with laughter while Big Mac blinked. “You're not serious, are you?”
“Of course not. My relationship with Dashie is bad enough without giving her a mother young enough to be her sister. Besides, I didn’t think I’d ever get to this point back when I was a teenager, but I think I’ll pass on getting another mare.”
“Too bad…” Granny started batting her lashes to Spectrum with a demure smile. “Yer such a spry thing.”
Now it was Spectrum’s turn to blush.
Night eventually fell on the farm. A large dinner that came with a lot of Apple Pie was served, and then they turned in, Spectrum taking the farmhouse’s guest room while the foals slept in sleeping bags in the clubhouse.
It had been late by their standards by the time they had actually fallen asleep. They all nodded off eventually, letting themselves enter Luna’s domain.
“Mmm... hmm...” Scootaloo began mumbling in her sleep. tossing and turning. “Mmm... no...”
Then she jerked awake, her heart pounding. She took a few deep breaths.
It was happening again. The nightmares had come back.
They had faded over the past few days, the excitement of life having got in the way. But here she was, away from her mother for the first time, and they had started up.
Scootaloo lifted her head and wiped her eyes away from the buildup of tears. When she removed her hooves from her eyes, she saw one of the sleeping bags empty. She looked around and finally saw the missing pony just outside the clubhouse.
Spike looked up to the stars and sighed. He didn’t feel tired anymore, thanks to the nightmare of his own. He slowly closed his eyes, but they quickly opened again when he heard hoofsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Scootaloo approaching.
“Can’t sleep?” Scootaloo asked casually, albeit softly to not wake the others.
“Yeah,” Spike replied dryly. “You too?”
Scootaloo nodded and took a seat next to Spike. “What’s your excuse?”
“A nightmare,” Spike said dismissively, looking up to the stars again. “Judging by the way you look, you also had one?”
“Yeah...” Scootaloo looked down and and shuffled her hooves. “I just can’t get that sicko out of my mind.”
“I know how you feel.”
Scootaloo bit her lower lip, looking to Spike. “It’s just... just when I thought my life would be perfect now, I still have all these nightmares...”
Spike titled his head, cocking his eyebrow. “Life’s not perfect,” he looked back to the sky again. “I should know that perfectly, having had to deal with lots of stuff in my life... and these nightmares aren’t really helping,”
“Yeah, finding out you're a creation for a failed experiment isn’t a confidence booster.”
“Neither is finding out you started existence as a doll.”
Both foals sighed and looked down to the floor. Spike was the first to speak. “Well, it’s also not the worst thing in the world...”
Scootaloo looked at him oddly, figuring out his words. “What?”
“I mean, at least we got family and friends to be there for us...”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo smiled softly, thinking back to all the happy moments she has had with her mother and her friends since the incident.
“You think Bloodwing really died?”
Spike’s voice was so low that Scootaloo could feel her ears straining to hear it, and yet at the same time it cut through the night air, being heard as clear as a bell. “You mean, do you think he’s still out there?”
“Yeah. What if there’s some clone out there or something? He wouldn’t even need any of his science, if he came across something like the Mirror Pool...”
“Please don’t talk like that,” Scootaloo said, pressing her hooves against her ears. “I don’t even want to think about it. It’s bad enough Black is still alive...”
“I wouldn’t worry. Every report my mom has gotten says that after being gentled, he’s been pretty unresponsive. The guards are having to force-feed him to even get him to eat.”
Scootaloo blinked, trying to picture the sadistic pony acting in such a way. “I wonder why.”
Now Spike was looking at her incredulously. “He was given the power to use magic and then lost it! I don’t know how you can handle it!” He reached up and prodded his horn. “I don’t think I could ever give this up.”
“I’m not an alicorn,” Scootaloo said quickly. “I don’t need a horn. Besides, I’m used to doing everything without hands, you aren’t.”
Spike grimaced at that. Then he realized he hadn’t missed having hands in a while.
“I guess... at the end of everything, it all worked out for us,” he said. “If Bloodwing hadn’t come around, I’d still be a dragon, you’d still be homeless, Light and Blaze would still be prisoners...”
“You’re acting like we should be thanking him,” Scootaloo commented dryly.
“No, not him,” Spike clarified. “Maybe the Creator...”
There was silence for a few minutes as both foals just sat, unsure of what to say.
“You think my mom will ever find somepony?” Scootaloo asked.
“Hm?”
“I mean... it would be kind of nice to have a dad...”
Spike bit his lower lip at Scootaloo’s moist eyes. He so wanted to tell her about how his mother and Blaze were planning a date for both Rainbow Dash and Soarin. But his mother made him Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony about it, even Scootaloo. Because breaking a Pinkie Promise is the fastest way to lose a friend.
“Well,” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sure Dash will find a proper stallion, sooner or later...” he said softly as he lowered his eyelids. “I mean, heck! She’s so popular, the other stallions are surely holding their eyes on her...”
“I suppose,” she turned her head to Spike’s. “Must be cool to have Blaze dating Twilight, he might as well be your father!”
Spike scrunched his lips. “It’s just so weird really, all this happening so fast... like we’re on a spinning plate and the whole world’s passing us by.”
“You sound like an old coot!” Scootaloo giggled, placing a hoof to her mouth.
“Am not!” Spike protested and yawned. “I’m off to bed, night night.” he bid Scootaloo goodnight and walked on inside, leaving Scootaloo alone with her thoughts.
Scootaloo looked up to the sky again, thinking back on her first camping trip how she had nightmares thanks to her mother’s story telling. I wish Luna was here to help us with these nightmares...
Your wish is my command.
Her eyes shot open as she lifted her head up sharply to the voice inside her head. She looked around, until she finally looked to the moon and saw the silhouette of an alicorn coming towards her. She gasped and beamed when she said alicorn landed outside the clubhouse, looking regal and yet friendly to anypony.
“Princess Luna!” Scootaloo came rushing down to greet the princess of the night. “What are you doing here?”
“We- I was flying over Ponyville when I heard the crying in you and your friends’ dreams and so it was my duty to see to it,” she lowered her muzzle down to the filly’s level and looked at her with caring eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“F-fine, I guess.”
“Young lady, it’s not very nice to lie...”
“W-well...” she trailed off, half out of embarrassment and half out of being unsure what to say.
“Are you afraid, my dear?” she asked. “Do you still live in nightmares about Bloodwing?”
“Well...” she gave a sigh. “I guess I still am. I don’t know why. I haven’t had a nightmare in weeks, and now this happens.”
“And why is that?” the Princess said kindly.
Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head in deep thought. “Well, I guess... I guess there was a lot going on.” Then she lit up. “I got my cutie mark! See, see!”
Luna smiled as the filly showed her the mark. Even thousands of years later, she remembered getting her own cutie mark, and excitedly showing it off.
“Yes, it’s very nice,” Luna said gently. “Do you suppose the reason you no longer had nightmares was because you simply moved forward with life?”
“Well... I guess that makes sense...”
“Indeed it does.” The alicorn pulled Scootaloo under her wing, putting her in a feathery embrace as she continued talking. “Scootaloo, I’ve had many horrible experiences in my life, before I ever became NightMare Moon. It was dwelling on these things that led to my fall. Ever since I returned, I’ve done my best to move on, and that is the advice I give to you. Fear will never bring you happiness.
“But... but it’s so hard...”
“Yes it is. Anything worth having is hard. Simply do your best, little one. Happiness will come with time.”
“You really think so?”
“I did not become co-ruler of Equestria for nothing,” the Princess said slyly, removing her wing. “If that is all, I must attend to Master Spike at the moment. He has similar fears I must alleviate.”
“Of course, Princess! And thank you again!”
With a wisp of smoke, Princess Luna vanished.
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Great work on the chapter, it was so cute!
I love this story. It's the best combo of d'awww, a'www and genuinely funny moments.
I forgot what chapter Scoots got her Cutie Mark in.
Nice chapter. Hopefully AB and Pips get together soon.
Another amazing chapter, congratulations
Seems a little sure, but it is sweet and funny... Big Mac and Rarity? ... No comments.
Once again another great update to this wonderful tale.
I truly did enjoy the foals teasing each other and seeing that they're new "relationships" are just starting to grow.
I also enjoyed the adults conversations as well, but I have to ask....are you not a fan of Big Mac and Fluttershy shipping ?
I mean it's your opinion and all on the subject.
Other than that this was a great read and a wonderful cameo by Princess Luna in this chapter as it was about time for her to interving and help out the foals in their time of needs.
Thanks for the read and keep up the good work upon such a great tale.
................ cool...................
Someone's been reading the wheel of time me thinks
Sort of OOC for Big Mack to talk that way about him. Sure, he's acknowledging the fact Light was traumatized, but to call him "wimpy" is rather insulting and dismissive of that trauma. Yes, there are those who might be able to shake off the jumpiness once they're free of such an abusive environment--but let us not forget that Light willingly ran back into that battle as an effort to help his brother fight Bloodwing. That takes some serious cajones, right there!
Most of those who would get free of that sort of abuse and not have bad dreams or be jumpy would happen because they'd never once think about going back into it to face it again.
Oh, and Princess Slacker finally makes an appearance
Where were you 22 chapters ago??
No... Spectrum... remember the rule...
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