A unicorn with wings.

They were staring at him. They were staring over his blue coat, right into his big emerald eyes and at his smooth aquamarine mane with the little ponytail. The lucky ponytail from daddy Gentle Light. He had done it to bring him good luck for his first day of school.

The little colt sighed nervously and pranced on the spot. He put on a smile, as he was supposed too. But as he saw, what the other pupils did, his smile faded away. One part of them were smirking, the other part were looking confused and the last part were simply whispering to each other. Even Ms. Cheerilee was just staring at him. Was it so wrong, what he had said?

He pressed the wings firmly against himself in a failed attempt to feel comfortable again. But it simply couldn't comfort him, his ears drooped against his head first and flapped nervously then .

Two fillies in the first row were putting their heads together and one of them, an orange pegasus pointed at him with one hoof. Cheerilee was finally able to put herself together and cleared her throat as loud as she could to silence the class again. She laid her hoof on the little foals side and smiled strangely.

“Alright, Slight Hope. I think it's enough to introduce yourself, don't you think?

Please sit down in the first row beside Sweetie Belle, do you?”

She pointed out the next free desk aside the white unicorn. He nodded slowly and hesitantly and sneaked out to the place. All foals were still staring at him and he could feel every eye of the room on his back, as he sat down. So he ducked down on the desk and laid his face behind his fore hooves.

What was so wrong with it?

He looked down at the desk, until the white unicorn got his attention with a gentle poke. Her smile was almost a smirk, but as she cocked her head, she put on a real one.

“If you want to you can stay with me and my friends during recess.”

He nodded as fast as he could and the filly grinned gently, as she turned over to the starring pegasus. First she tried to get her attention with another poke, but she didn't respond. Finally she stretched her neck to her and whispered directly into her ear. This grabbed Ms. Cheerilees attention easily .

“Sweetie Belle, come to the board please and solve this problem, would you?”

The unicorn sighed, but followed the order. Her pegasus friend snapped back and looked to the board. Slight eavesdropped many other whispering behind him and the eyes on his back hadn't moved away. He wanted to be invisible, he wanted it very badly and. A ball of paper hit his back head and he turned over with a small shriek.

“Slight pay attention please.”

He blushed and faced Cheerilee again. She looked over him and smiled. Her eyes were wandering over the ground behind him, facing every whispering foal and ending finally on the loudest two.

“Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon are you listening?”

Both fillies fell silence and faced the teacher. But both glanced shortly to Slight and smirked again. He looked back to the board and put a pen in his mouth. The rest of the lesson went fast, but the eyes in his back didn't move away and a few crumbled balls of paper hit him now an then, but he tried to ignore them. He had to pay attention, if he want to catch up.The bell rung at least and the colt stood up. He searched for his lunch box in the deeps of the saddle bags. Somepony bumped into him and he almost felt over, but he was able to make way for the other pony. It didn't passed him, it tried to push him again, but a hissed sentence sounded behind him.

“Hey, Diamond Tiara stop it!”

It finally stopped the pushing back and forth and he was able to lift his head out from under the desk with his lunch box in his mouth. A small lump stuck in his throat and he had to snuffle to fight back a few tears. He wiped them away with a stroke of his wings and somepony laid a hoof around him.

“Are you alright?

Don't bother 'bout it, okay?”

This was a very gentle voice and he tried to nod again. The hoof lifted his head and he looked into big gamboge eyes in a yellow face. They were shining so gentle and friendly. He closed his eyes shut and felt an encouraging thump on his side.

“You know, Slight. I don't believe you. It sounds too silly for me.”

The colt opened his mouth and eyes surprised , but the orange pegasusfilly grinned at him.

“Scootaloo this isn't very nice.

He is...”

The filly rolled her eyes a little bit bugged and turned to the source of the third voice. The white unicorn, Sweetie Belle was her name, right? Slight tried to take a step closer, but the hoof of the earthpony filly hold him in place. He mumbled something incomprehensible thanks to the box in his mouth.

“Don't worry, she doesn't mean it, Slight.”

Her whisper drowned the arguing of the other two.

“I just wanted to say...”

“Besides Scootaloo, you can't say such a thing, if you want to...”

The earthpony guided him gently away from the squabblers and slowly out of the room.

“These two just needed this, you know. Scootaloo is sometimes just a little bit insensitive.”

Before the earthpony was leaving the room she added this sentences loud enough, to stop the arguing. The pegasus snapped back:

“Hey, I've heard this.”

Sweetie Belle snickered and Slight joined in too. The smiling earthpony guided him out of the room and both were facing a crowd of staring fillies and colts. Two earthponies were standing in front of the stairs and smirked.

“Hey Slight, where is your horn?

You're a unicorn, right, so...”

Her voice sounded harsh and the little colt drooped his head, but before the pink earthpony was able to finish her sentence at all, the orange pegasus jumped out of the door and rushed down the stairs. She built up herself in front of the earthpony and stretched out her wings as far as she could.

“Just shut up, Diamond!”

The filly flinched first, but focussed quickly against her new enemy.

“What do you want, Blank Flank?”

The pegasus cracked her tail once in front of the fillys face. It squeaked and jumped back.

“Come on, Slight, we should go.”

Sweetie Belles voice on his left side sounded real calm and together with the earthpony she guided him through the starring foals. A little bit of whisper accompanied them, but Apple Bloom cleared her throat and the foals felt silence again.

“So you are a unicorn, aren't you?”

The orange pegasus filly stood in front of him and stared at him with big eye. He was sitting on a bench and had put his lunch box on the table behind him. The eyes of the other foals were still staring at him, but the three fillies here didn't look such disturbed or smirking. No, the pegasusfilly in front of him was smirking, but in another way as the other foals.

“Uhm, yes.”

His voice sounded so soft and uncertain, that the filly cocked her head and was taking a step closer. She nuzzled him with her nose and tried to put on an encouraging smile, but a brief smirk flickered over her face for a little moment, before she was able to recover the smile. Slights ears drooped again and he snuffled once.

“Hey, I just want to understand. Really.”

Her wings buzzed once and she drew an apologetic circle on the ground. Slight closed his eyes, sighed and nodded. He wiped over his eyes with a wing and swallowed a sob down his throat. He thought a while and his hooves stroked meanwhile over the bench and over themselves.

“I wanted to ask this Dad and Daddy a while ago. Because I'm a Pegasus.

But this could mean, that I wouldn't be their colt.”

All three fillies stared at him. His voice faded away and he finally became silent. He blushed and wiped over his mane with one hoof, he touched his ponytail and closed his eyes for a second.

“You do have two Daddies?

This is...”

The white little unicorn was the first who recovers and her confusion pitched her voice higher and higher, right into a squeak. She stopped and took a deep breath as she saw, that the little colt kept himself down and drooped his head. She smiled gently.

“...so cool!”

Did she mean it? Slight lifted his head again and searched for her eyes. He saw a real smile and even the shimmering lights of friendly thoughts and real interest. He smiled back and nodded. This time the pegasus filly swarmed before him and a grin laid on her face. She buzzed her wings in excitement and even bounced once.

“And you're really a unicorn with wings?”

The smile faded away and the ears drooped again. He answered in a hesitant tone, but with a sure nod.

“Yes, Dad Shinning Star has always said, that we are a family

and I'm their colt and they're both my Daddies.

But a few ponies were saying, that a unicorn could never have a pegasus as a foal and first of all two stallions simply couldn't.”

The filly cocked her head and stared at him very confused. He blushed more and drooped his head. The unicorn and the pegasus put their heads together and whispered.

“Do you really think...He doesn't have a Cutie Mark, right?...are you sure?”

A hoof turned him around and he faced his small Wonderbolt lunch box. On his left side sat the yellow earthpony and smiled at him. But he just looked down on his lunch box, pulled it nearer with a shaky hoof and opened it. A daisy sandwich, an apple and a small Muffin stayed in it and put a smile on his face. He sobbed once and tried to take the sandwich, as another question interrupted him.

“Now you're a pegasus, don't you? Why are you sayin', that you are a unicorn?”

The yellow earthpony beside him looked very confused and Slight Hope sighed. He had asked himself the same question again and again when he had been staying in Canterlot. As they were mocking him, as they were...He shook the bad memories away and swallowed another sob down his throat.

“Because...because I won't, that...I won't say, that...”

He stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked down at the small muffin in front of him. Chocolate his favourite taste with sprinkles.

He smiled wide, as Daddy Gentle cuddled him for the last time and whispered something in his flapping ears.

“I've put a little surprise in your lunch box today.”

He almost burst in curiosity, but Daddy Gentle whispered to him.

“Don't tell it Dad Star, alright?”

Both smiled whimsically to each other and nodded once. Dad Star fondled him over his mane and nuzzled Daddy Gentle as a goodbye. He guided Slight Hope out of the house and through Ponyville to the school.

“I have to speak with Miss Cheerilee, alright?

Don't worry. I'm sure, you'll find some friends here, Slight.

I promise.”

“Hey, hello. Ponies to Slight. Are you there?”

The yellow earthpony waved in front of his face with one hoof and he flinched away. His smile faded away once more and he sighed droopy.

“I...I just wanted to say.”

All three fillies sat down before him and stared at him. They were listening and smiling. He blushed more and mumbled the rest of his sentence. The pegasusfilly grinned wider and stood up. She looked everywhere and seemed to make sure, that nopony could eavesdrop. Finally she took a step closer and lowered her head to his eye level. She whispered something into his flapping ear.

“Do you know, I can't fly and a few ponies had said, that I'm never be able to.

But one pony had told me, that I'm kind of awesome anyway.

It simply doesn't matter what others had said.”

Slight hadn't expected this and looked surprised in her face. She grinned back and nodded. She looked around again and quickly nuzzled him with her cheek. She blushed a little bit, as the white unicorn said in a calm matter.

“Oh, you're so cute...”

The pegasus flinched away and glared at the the smiling unicorn. She opened her mouth, but Slight interrupted her.

“I'm the colt from two unicorn daddies and...”

He was very loud at first, but his voice faded away and he was interrupted by a quick hiccup. He bit his lips and stayed silence, because he didn't know what else to say. Now the yellow earthpony stood up and cuddled up to him. She put a hoof around him and whispered in his ear like the pegasus before.

“My mummy and my daddy are gone.

And sometimes I miss them so much.

But my big sister is always there, when I need her and is helping my out of it.

And my brother is always there for me, too.

I love them a lot.”

Slight hugged her kindly with both hooves and stammered a:

“I'm so sorry for you.”

The earthpony replied the hug even more gentler and nuzzled him with her nose. He felt two tears on his coat, as she dried her eyes on it.

“Thank you.”

Her voice sounded silently in his ear and the earthpony filly let him go. He didn't quite know, why the fillies did tell him that, but he was feeling more safe and secure because of it. The yellow filly cocked her head and smiled encouraging. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“I had said, that I'm a unicorn, because.

My daddies are unicorns, and I'm their foal.”

A hissed sentence behind him interrupted his statement.

“But they aren't your real daddies.”

He turned over. The pink earthpony sat on the bench in front of him and played with the lid from his lunch box. She smirked and glared at him. He blushed even more, tried to catch the lid, but the filly didn't let it loose, so he sighed and stayed silence. But it was even worse then that. She had led all the other foals with her and they were staring at him. He drooped his head and closed his eyes. They were staring, they were whispering, they...

“This is just Slight Hope and he is new here. You all know this, right?”

He felt a hoof on his shoulder and opened his eyes again. The unicorn stood beside him and smiled.

“Lilly here is incredible strong.”

She pointed with the hoof to a pony in the crowd with an hedgehog as a Cutie Mark.

“She had mane extensions...”

Now she pointed to a pony, which obviously had one, but blushed either way.

“..and I squeak and my voice will pitch high, when I'm excited.”

As a proof she squeaked right now and grinned to the crowd of foals.

“And this is Slight Hope. He has two daddies and is a unicorn with wings, okay?”

Slight drooped his head again and closed his eyes, but as a gentle hoof laid down on his shoulder, he lifted his head and looked into two arctic blue eyes. They were shimmering more friendly, than confused and he saw a small smile on her face.

“H..hello Slight.

'm Lilly. Nice to meet you.”

The strong pony?

The two magenta pigtails reminded him on his own lucky ponytail and he smiled back. More and more ponies gathered around him, welcomed him and asked many questions. If he was able to fly, if he was a fan of the Wonderbolts. Who had put a muffin into his lunch box. And if he wanted to play catch with a few of them.

The three Cutie Mark Crusaders looked to Diamond Tiara and shared a smile. The pink pony bit her lips and pushed the lid away. She mumbled something and disappeared from the crowd, accompanied by her only friend. Slight Hope looked to the three fillies and smiled thankfully. Then he turned over to the crowd and answered the questions from the two flying pegasi in front of him.

A very special family.

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A very special family.

Gentle Light strolled over the market very slowly and smiled friendly to everypony in his way. A few ponies were smiling back, a few other were glancing at him with a neutral expression and the rest, well the rest were confused at best. He hold his head up and smiled anyway. His long sapphire ponytail waved around his face and his prancing followed the music in his twitching ears. The reason why the ponies gave him a strange look could be the earring in his left ear, or his whistling. He couldn't decide, what was stranger for them. Either way he didn't care. His short horn sparkled then and there in the time of the music and created glittering music notes here and then, which were bursting as they were raising higher. His bright, even pearly and so on strangely iridescent, coat glimmered in the light of the sun, as he walked cheerful through the crowd and waved his braided tail.

He didn't stop the dancing until he stood in front of the booth with the vegetables and levitated with a pale blue shine the headphones out of his ears. He put down the music player and smiled to the owner, a mare with yellow coat. She smiled back, with an expression of confusion, but Gentle didn't mentioned it. She didn't mean to be rude, he guessed.

“Well good morning, my dear.

I would like to buy a few necess...woah...”

A quick pink hoof grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. He saw two great cerulean blue eyes gleaming with joy and a face with a so friendly smile, that his own smile was just a small grin in comparison to. He tried to greet the mare in front of him, but she was much faster than him.

“Hello there.

You''re new in Ponyville, aren't you?

Well I've seen you never before and so on you're new, right?

Besides I had seen the pegasus-removalists, funny word, right?

Alright, the pegamovalists, but I didn't know where from they are and they were empty at the time,

so I had to look for the new settled house.

But it got way too late for a welcome party and...”

A gentle snicker interrupted the mare and she looked very confused.

“You are Pinkie Pie, right?”

This sentence put a surprised expression on the face of the pink live wire and she inhaled very long. She tried to look inquiring, but the astonishment in her face prevailed.

“Are you psychic?

Uh, do you have a... What's your name again?”

The stallion shook his long ponytail and grinned waggish, what looked quite strange in his young face and gave him the attention and an amorous glance from a young unicorn mare. He shook his head again and tried to answer.

“Well no, I have heard many stories about you...”

Pinkie Pie stared much confuser as before and raised a hoof. She touched the stallions chest and tried to verify something. She even fondled over his coat and Gentle flinched one step back.

“Aha. So you are a pony, who bought into the wildest rumours about somepony else, right?”

This question sounded almost agitated and Gentle raised a hoof quickly and drew apologetic circles with the other.

“No, no. I just have heard a few stories from a friend in Canterlot.

Simply the best about your uhm, antics. She had told me about your ways.

And I really have looked forward to meet you in person.”

Pinkie cocked her head and her expression get more serious. Gentle sighed softly and tried to explain further.

“I'm sorry, but we wanted to move in here at all costs.

I don't mean to...”

The pink earthpüony took one step back and her hooves drew observant circles on the ground.

“Which friend of yours had told you this rumours?”

Her voice sounded silently and snatchy, like she wanted to hide something. Gentle stroke the ground more nervously and cleared his throat.

“Minuette had told that you...”

“Ho-hum, so Minutte. I should tell her, that she better not dare to put away my favourite surprise and warn newcomers from me!”

The tone in the voice changed and sounded cold and surprisingly scary, so the smile from Gentle Lights faded and he lifted his right hoof again.

“No, no. She had only said, that you...”

A suppressed snicker escaped the mares mouth and she put a hoof around Gentle to control her snickering. But she failed miserable. She snorted and the stallion looked really confused.

“Gotcha. You should see your face right now.”

She was finally able to speak again, as her snickering faded a little bit and a wild grin stayed on her face instead.

Gentle couldn't reply anything, so he stayed silent.

“Well, where was I?

Alright. We have to throw a welcome party immediately, don't you think?

I will prepare everything for today and you and your family could sit back and enjoy the party in Sugarcube Corner.

We make simply the best welcome party you've ever seen.”

Gentle sighed and opened his mouth in an attempt to stop the cheerful pony, but Pinkie hadn't finished yet. She laid her hoof on the stallions chest again.

“Uh and I need the names form your very special somepony and your foal.

After all your banner should be very nice and

Hello you there and Welcome ponies

doesn't sound very special or funny, don't you think?”

Her grin widened and cocked her head, as Gentle sighed again.

“Actually Shining wanted to make it a little bit quieter as you suppose to.

And I can really understand him. He...”

Gentle bit his lips and fell silence, as he saw Pinkies inquiring glance. He stroke the ground once with his left hoof and took a deep breath. Finally he cocked his head too and smiled apologetic.

“You know what Pinkie, eventually we should make a smaller Welcome party.

Just you and me and two or three other ponies, shouldn't we?”

Pinkie Pie inhaled and opened her mouth, but he hesitant look on Gentles face stopped her.

“Please, Shining isn't a party pony at all and he doesn't like to interact with too many ponies at once.

He just doesn't like parties, you know.”

Pinkie looked at him with wide opened eyes and an expression so shocked, that everypony else would guess, that Gentle had tell something so horrible, that they would run far away. She even raised both front hooves in the air. She put both hooves around him and took a deep breath.

She stopped, before she spoke up loudly. She stood back on her own four legs and spoke really normal. Though she drew circles on the ground with one hoof.

“If your foal doesn't like it, I really understood him.

But eventually we could distract him with a sleepover

and we grown ups can throw a really nice party.”

Gentle cleared his throat and shook his head with an warm smile. He even stopped her hoof with his own and nuzzled her gently.

“No, Slight would love the idea and the party.

Shining is my very special somepony and he...”

Pinkies expression changed from confused to more puzzled and she couldn't avoid the question much longer.

“You have a stallion as your really special somepony?”

Gentle saw many different glances from many ponies after this interjection, but he held his head high though. He even stroke his mane in the right way and his smile widened.

“Yes, Pinkie. I love a stallion!”

He spoke up and thumped once on the ground.

Pinkie looked at him with a very calm smile and cocked her head. Other ponies were staring at him, but a few other had an approving smiles on the face. He glanced to everyone of them and smiled back. Then he turned over to Pinkie Pie again. The pink mare nodded slowly and stared at the smiling yellow mare behind the booth.

“Of course, I will then...uhm.

Why do you have a stallion as your very special somepony in the first place?”

Gentle tried a friendly smile and sighed to himself. He laid a hoof around her and replied gently.

“You know, Pinkie. I love him, because he is really a very special pony.

He is friendly, kind and simply told the best bedtime stories for our foal.

He is sometimes very cuddly and can be really soft.”

Gentle blushed and looked away, as his voice became more lyrical as he wanted to. The mare put a hoof around him by herself and responded with an understanding grin.

“I see, uhm...

What's your name again?”

The stallion let her loose and smiled back at her. Pinkies own expression changed into a more inquiring one and she faced the other staring ponies around them. She inhaled a lungful of breath, but before she was able to talk, or cry out loud for that matter, the staring ponies were clearing their throats and moved away. The stallion stomped on the ground and got the attention of her.

“I'm Gentle Light.

Uhm, nice to meet ya.

My very special somepony is called Shining Star and our little colts name is Slight Hope.

If you like to we could simply...”

Pinkies smile widened and she waved a hoof for a fast Goodbye. She disappeared in a puff of smoke afterwards and Gentle could just follow her disappearing with amazement. The stories didn't match up with the pony in the slightest. Her answer sounded over the market and didn't faded away as usual.

“Now, I'm able to make a banner and...”

Pinkie fell silent and even returned. She was drawing circles on the ground with one hoof and drooped her head.

“I won't invite too many ponies, okay?

But your foal should have a very special

Sleepover-and-very-very-very-warm-welcome-welcome-party, don't you think?”

She gave him her very best puppy eyes, she could muster. Gentle knew this look very well from both his colt and his stallion, but couldn't resist any of them. So he managed to put a warm smile on his face and nodded simply. Pinkie got back her usual grin instantly and rushed away.

“Yippie. Now I have to gallop to the school and ask him, who his friends are right now.

I'm sure he is bouncing around in excitement, when he hears...”

Pinkies blabbering sound faded more and more away, as farer away she got and Gentle smiled after her. Finally, as she wasn't in sight any more, he turned over to the mare behind the booth. She was still smiling, a little bit more confused of course, but at least smiling. She stared at him with wide eyes, not in shock, but in astonishment. He raised his head higher, stroke his mane gently and guided his ponytail back to his shoulder. Then he cocked his head, smiled gently and started again.

“Well, my dear. It seems, I need much more necessaries, as I thought.”

A very typical move between homes.

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A very typical move between homes.

Shinning Star hummed a gentle melody, as he walked into the kitchen. His aquamarine hooves were guiding him through a bunch of boxes and he sighed heavily as he finally arrived at the fridge. It was empty, he already knew it, even without opening it. They had emptied it in the morning. His own empty bowl of oatmeal were levitating in front of him, stayed in the air with his orange coloured magic. He put it into the sink finally. His smile went more gentle, as his gamboge eyes spotted Slights favourite bowl on the colander. Shining sighed and levitated it very carefully in the cupboard beside the sink. This was Slight's own cupboard at least. He sighed heavily again and monologized a little bit.

"I hope the other foals aren't like the ones in Canterlot."

He shook away the thoughts and for a short amount of time the smile faded away and his faces even frowned. He had to wipe away the frown with one hoof and stroke over his plaited mane gently. The little skeins were braided into each other and followed his fickle coloured mane from bright over sated to dark green. His tail swung around nervously and the orange ribbon on the head of it held it just smoothly in shape. Contrary to his mane the tail wasn't braided at all, but showed his changeable colours without any intermissions or rough changes. The stallion sighed once and returned to the chaotic place full of toys, pictures and other apparently misplaced belongings for a living room. But it was indeed their living room, just noticeable from the half way free bordeaux couch, the small table in front of it and the five big shelves around the walls. He frowned in a very bugged expression and another sigh escaped him. Shining looked down on the checklist on the table, where even the topmost note wasn't checked up. He was usually so organized, but nothing matched the plan right now.

“Where's my teddy?”

This innocent question started it all. Slight lay in his bed already and Shinning tried to tuck him in, as the colt asked with a trembling voice and big even a little bit scared eyes. He drew circles on the sheet under him with one hoof. The little colt avoided his puzzled look and looked on his own hooves instead. He was trembling and snuggled then deeper into the pillow. Shining put on a gentle smile stopped the blanket midway and was looking around in the almost dark room. The bed was the only thing, which stayed right there, where it supposed to be and the dark blue curtains were the only thing, which he had found in one box, who was actual in the right place. The pegasus removalists hadn't placed another one box right, or did they? He was looking over twenty other boxes on the wall and sighed, as he managed to read the inscriptions on them in the light of his magic. Kitchen, living room, parent's bedroom. But not one had the inscription of the place it stayed currently in, the colt's bedroom.

“Do you want to sleep in our bed instead?”

Shining's question seemed to have nothing in common with Slight's, but the stallion assumed, that he hadn't ask only for his stuffed animal just to get it. In fact he thought, that Slight maybe felt a little bit scared in the new place and needed something familiar to feel safe again. Slight answered with a quick shake of his head and an unclear:

“Uh hum.”

This sound wasn't quite so obscure for Shining, he knew it means usually no, when Slight wasn't able to muster himself to speak. So he smiled gently an encouraging. Slight nuzzled deeper into his pillow and tried to calm himself down with the soft feeling of it on his face. He rubbed it with his cheek a little bit Shining raised a hoof and wiped gently over the mane and the back of the kid.

“It would be an exceptional case, you know?

Nothing had worked out today, like we planned and

Daddy Gentle didn't mean to be, uhm...”

The colt sobbed once, shut his eyes close and trembled more.

“..to be so angry with me.

I just wanted to help.”

Shining Star fondled gently over Slight and sighed.

“He doesn't mean it, I know this for certain.

I'm really sure he will apologise tomorrow, or even immediately, if you want to sleep in our bed.”

The little pegasus shook his head and rubbed his nose on the greater one of his Daddy.

“No, I'm a big colt and big colts don't...”

Shining blew a comforting warm flaw out of his nose. The little colt snickered and rubbed his cheek, where the warm air had hit him. He leaned back then and smiled.

“Alright I will see, where's your teddy. Do you want to come along?”

Before Slight was even able to answer, Shining put him on his back and sneaked out of his room. Gentle stood still in the living room and stared at the pieces of Slight's favourite drinking glass. He sighed silently, as he swept it away with a shimmering dustpan and a swab. Then he turned his side to Shining, as he had finally cleaned everything up. He levitated it in the kitchen and sighed again.

“I think we have enough trouble and he shouldn't...”

Shining interrupted him with a very worried expression and a hist. Gentle looked at him and spotted easily the small figure of the foal on his back. Slight huddled up to the stallion's mane and his wings trembled slightly. Gentle breathed in heavily and put down the dusk pan somewhere in the kitchen. He sneaked closer to the other stallion and sighed again. His voice whispered directly in the unicorn's ears and tried to sound not so harsh. But he failed and the anger were still audible in his statement.

“I thought he should go to bed!

Why did you bring him with you?”

Shining smiled apologetic and tried to nuzzle his coltfriend's face, but he flinched away and stared rather angry at him.

“Slight only wanted...”

“My teddy.”

The trembling voice sounded silently over both stallions and Gentle's ears quivered. He took a deep breath and focussed the foal. He opened his mouth to answer, but Shining raised a hoof and laid it on Gentle's chest. He shook his head silently and faced the moving boxes in the room. Gentle sighed silently and started to move closer the boxes with the right inscription and opened it.

It took them an hour to find the teddy. By that time Slight had already fallen asleep on Shining's back. They brought the sleeping little foal back to his bed and decided to go to bed on their own. But that decision caused to let the chaos stayed in the living room and the next morning was getting very hectic. Shining had to bring Slight to school, so he could talk to Miss Cheerilee about his grades and his unusual family. So he simply couldn't clean up early. Gentle had to buy everything and so refill their stocks. So he couldn't clean up either. As recently as Shining had returned and had eaten his breakfast, he started to clean up and sort the boxes. But without any order was it a very difficult task at hoof.

The stallion sighed bugged, as he levitated the tenth box in front of himself and saw the inscription colt's bedroom, again.

“Why, by Celestia, have we given five bits tip for this again?”

A sharp tone sounded over him and snapped him out of his soliloquy. He jumped back on the hooves and looked around. What was that? It ringed again and now he realised what it was. The door bell. He added another point on his mental checklist with a loud sigh. To buy a new door bell. He galloped through the more chaotic living room and arrived at the front door. He opened it with his magic and stared out, without any greeting word on his lips. Shining faced a mare with purple coat and an very distinguished manestyle. Two very different stripes on a blue ground. A very long horn parted the mane on her forehead and her dark eyes were wandering over his own horn. He sighed quietly, but the mare didn't catch it and smiled friendly.

“Well good morning.

I'm sorry to interrupt.

My name is...”

Shining's eyes went wide, as he spotted something on the mare's back. She pranced on the spot and two wings folded themselves tighter on her back in the process. He lowered his head, laid both front hooves on the ground and bowed deeply.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle.

It's an honour to meet you, your highness.”

The mare blushed and pulled him back on his hooves. She cleared her throat and smiled very awkward.

“Just Twilight, please.

You don't need to bow.

I'm not into this right now and wanted to come along.

I just wanted to see, if I know you or your marefriend from Canterlot.”

Shining sighed quietly and wiped his mane. Like always, everpony assumed that. He smiled so gently as he could muster.

“My coltfriend.”

Twilight looked at him very puzzled and cocked her head. She stared at him for a long time and couldn't find any kind of reply. Shining smiled wider and stepped out of the way.

“If you like, come in. I will explain it.

If you want to, I can give you...”

He paused, as he remembered, that their stocks were cut off and nothing had stayed left in the fridge, or somewhere else. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat then.

“ I have only a glass of water. I'm so sorry.

We didn't have anything left.”

The mare nodded and followed the stallion into the chaos. Shining led his guest into the living room and started to levitate the toys, the pictures and a few hasty folded Wonderbolts poster out off the couch and back into the boxes. He tried to clean up a little bit, cleared his throat and smiled apologetic.

“We had a small problem with our foal yesterday.

He had missed his teddy and we had tried to find it.

Hence it is a little bit messy here right now.”

Twilight looked around very interested and shook her head. She even started to help with her own magic and levitated a few things back in the boxes. So together they cleaned up very fast. Shining tried to say something, but the smile on Twilight's face was so friendly, that he simply couldn't. Finally they finished and Twilight sat down on the couch. Meanwhile Shining was going into the kitchen to gather the glasses of water for them. The mare looked to the empty shelves around her and waited for the stallion's return. She looked finally down at the table and a smile grew on her face, as she founded the checklists.

“You know, I could bring a few friends with me and we're helping you out.”

Shining levitated the two glasses of water and stepped into the living room. He heard what Twilight suggested and his own smile faded away a little bit. He faced the mare and started to draw lines on the floor.

“Please don't.

I don't like it, when too many ponies are around me.”

He shied away from her look and put the glass in front of her. The stallion took a sip from his own glass and cleared his throat. Twilight lifted her own glass and gazed for a long time at the stallion over the edge of the glass. She nodded finally and smiled gently.

“So, you are in love with a stallion?”

The question sounded as half confused as Shining had assumed and he smiled surprised. His hooves wiped over his mane and he nodded finally. Twilight cocked her head again and opened her mouth. But Shining spoke first.

“Yes, I know it sounds rather strange,

but I really love Gentle and I think...”

Twilight raised a hoof, but the stallion didn't stop and spoke faster and faster.

“...whatever other unicorns are thinking or saying,

that for example it isn't love at all, when we are just two stallions and nopony...nopony...”

The unicorn sounded so offended, that he stopped right now. He even wiped over his face with one hoof. Twilight laid down a hoof on his flank and tried to speak. But the stallion found his voice in the meantime and the mare couldn't speak again.

“Nopony has the right to say, that we can't take care of a foal.

We are just a family and we wanted just to...”

A fast sob flew out of his mouth and he put a hoof on it. He awkwardly felt silence and looked down on his hooves. Twilight cleared her throat and spoke.

“I won't say anything like that, uhm...

I know for fact, that love isn't happening only between stallions and mares.

Mares can love mares and stallions can love stallions too.

Cadence always said: love doesn't care for any boundaries or limitations.

As long as nopony gets hurt.”

She tried to smile encouraging and her eyes wandered over the stallion. He tried to fight his feelings and fought them for a long while.

Shining raised his eyes finally, stared to the Alicorn and breathed out in relief. He drank another sip and drew circles on the floor.

“And you two have already a foal?

You're lucky.

This kind of responsibility is, for your young age, really unorthodox, but also really impressive.”

Shining sighed silently and smiled wistful. He stared at the checklist on the table and nodded finally. His hoof trembled shortly and he stroke over his mane again .

“I love our foal, really I do.

He is the nicest little colt I've ever seen.”

He couldn't find any other sentences and smiled very gently. He even blushed a little bit. Twilight smiled gently too and nodded again.

“You know,

What's your name?”

This question put a grin back on Shining's face.

“I'm Shining Star.”

Twilight nodded again and took a sip of water.

“You know, Shining.”

She stopped and cocked her head. Her smile turned into a smaller grin and she sighed.

“A foal is something wonderful.

And I can only imagine, that...”

She paused again, as she realised something. She blushed, as she emphasised it.

“You've adopted a foal, haven't you?”

Shining sighed and nodded finally.

His smile faded for a short amount of time, but he put it back very fast.

“Yes a small pegasus.”

Twilight stared at him really confused right now and tried to put the information in any logical sense or context. She cocked her head more and more and gave up with a bugged sigh.

“A pegasus?

Why a pegasus?”

My new friends. (Psychological)

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My new friends.

Slight was running as fast as he could. But he wasn't able to catch up with the other foals. They were way to fast. The small orange pegasusfilly was in sole lead, thanks to the scooter. Even the little cart attached to the scooter with two other fillies inside didn't slow her down a bit. Sweetie Belle and uhm, the yellow earthpony had to held on to each other and were squeaking now and than, but this didn't slow the filly down. The other three foals were rushing way to fast to Ponyville too. A joyful outcry caught Slight's attention and he looked up in the sky. A fast flying grey colt was looping a loop and couldn't suppress his joy much longer. Slight felt a sharp burst gliding over his mane as the colt made a close turnover ahead, followed by a very fast climb with another outburst of joy. Slight's little wings were flapping wildly and he tried to lift off with a few bouncing jumps, but whatever he tried and how hard he wished for, it was futile. He didn't lift off and the bouncing were slowing him down. The other fillies were extending the distance between them meanwhile.

Lilly, her name stayed inside of his memory very easily, was galloping with a wildly waving mane and tail in the second position. A little bit behind her the last of his new friends a small pink unicorn was running. She was much slower and breathed heavily. But despite her quick breathing she was way too fast for Slight. Her red mane were waving around, as she turned over, grinned provoking and speeded up her pace. The colt tried to catch up with her, but his smaller legs were burning and he had to slow down.

“W...w...wait.”

He stopped and took deep breaths to calm down, finally he was able to cry out for them, but only the unicorn had heard him and stopped. Her voice sounded equally affected and she was breathing heavily too, as she called out for the rest.

“S...Slight couldn't catch up.”

Lilly and the grey pegasus stopped, either standing on the ground or hovering in mid air right now. The colt looked down on him, nodded with a warm smile on his face and flew down to the other three fillies much closer to Ponyville.

“You're quite a strange little pony, Slight.

I thought you were way more athletic.”

They had put Slight into the cart and pulled, or pushed it slowly across the streets. The colt breathed in heavily and forced more and more air in his burning lungs. He felt a short glance from the orange pegasus and tried to stand up. But his hooves were trembling to heavily and he sighed bugged. A gentle hoof placed itself on his side and the calm voice of Lilly asked:

“W...why didn't you say anything?”

She pulled her hoof back, as she saw, that Slight blushed heavily and avoided her smiling gaze. She stroke gently over her mane totally lost in thought and played with her pigtails as long as Slight hadn't answer. But she stopped as he did.

“I...I just won't, that you're thinking, that I'm not be as strong as you are and can't keep up with you.

I simply couldn't imagine how fast all of you are!”

The other foals started to snicker and finally laughed out loudly. Slight drooped his head and blushed a little bit in embarrassment. But an encouraging thump stopped it. The grey pegasus were hovering in front of his face and grinned friendly. He fondled of Slight's wings and it tickled over his feathers.

“Relax, Slight.

We aren't so stuck up, you know.”

He sounded very calming and sensitive, that the younger colt closed his eyes or a moment and tried to calm his breathing down a little bit. Four little ponies were staring at him very pensive and Scootaloo cleared her throat finally.

“We've arrived Sugarcube Corner, Slight.

Where should we go from here?”

Slight sighed and raised his head again. He searched for the right way and tried to remember, but before he was able to recognise anything, he felt, that somepony lifted him out of the cart and inspected him very closely with two big blue eyes.

“Finally I gotcha...Ouch.”

He cried out, struggled within the grip, hit somepony with all four hooves and was drop down with a cry of pain. He landed on his back and put both front hooves around his head in an attempt to protect himself. He shied a little bit away and ducked in the same time. He even turned his head away from the great pony in front of him. A guarded hoof touched his mane and the calm voice of a mare sounded in his trembling ears.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Slight bashed the hoof away and pulled himself back on the hooves. He shied even more away from the mare and turned away from her. But before he was able to flee, somepony in his size cuddled up to him and held him on the place with a gently hug. A silent voice whispered.

“Don't worry. Pinkie wouldn't harm anypony.”

Lily's voice and her warm hug calmed Slight down very quickly. He raised his head and saw a group of confused staring foals and a calmly smiling mare around him. The colt wiped away a few tears, wiped them of on his side and took a deep breath. His eyes were wandering over the fillies, but just one of them had another expression on her face, than the lack of understanding. The orange pegasus had an unreadable expression on her face, but in her eyes were shimmering tears for a moment and she copied Slight's movement, unnoticed by all the other ponies. Finally he looked to the pink mare in front of him. She cocked her head, as she noticed his look and stroke gently over the four hoofmarks on her chest. Slight opened the mouth and whispered a quiet apology. He drooped his head and drew circles on the ground.

“I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to...”

The mare smiled gently and shook her head really fast. She leaned closer to Slight and he tried to flinch away, but Lily held him in place.

“Never mind, Slight.

I shouldn't sneak up to you, like I do.

Really I'm sorry.”

The mare raised her head a little bit and stroke her mane with one hoof. She looked over the other foals and finally back to Slight again, who stared at her with big eyes.

“How did you... know my name?”

He tried to push Lilly away, but she was way to strong for that, so his tries were for nothing. He sighed quietly, but the earthpony didn't noticed him and held him in place instead. Slight blushed even more as he whispered.

“Please, Lilly would you let me go?”

She heard his whispers right now, fondled him with her own face and let him go with a blush. Pinkie cocked her head with a smile and kneeled down in front of Slight. She twirled her head around in hundred-eighty degree and grinned widely.

“Your Daddy Gentle Light had told me your name.

You know, I wanted to meet you at school,

but you and your friends were way to fast.

I'm following you, but Applejack had distracted me and I had to help her.

We took a few apples to Sugarcube Corner and then we even had baked a few apple pies.

Finally I have spotted you here and wanted to ask you, if you're in the mood for...”

The mare breathed in deeply, bounced around the fillies very excited. She was bouncing closer and away and started to become more and more excited. With her last hop she bounced closer to Slight and almost screamed at him.

“a sleepover as a welcome-party?

You have made so many friends right now and I think they'd be excited too.”

Slight opened his mouth, but didn't find any words in it. His face were displaying two conflicting feelings and were changing vividly. A muted joy visible as he smiled, and confusion when he lost it. A hoof hugged him and a familiar voice sounded clearly, the orange pegasus had taken the opportunity to speak.

“We should wait with that, Pinkie Pie.

Our...parents wouldn't allow that willy nilly in the middle of the week.”

The pause between the words was so odd, that Slight turned over to the filly. She put a smirk on her face for moment, but softened it into a smile, as she saw, that the colt looked at her. Pinkie raised her hoof, opened her mouth, sighed heavily and her mane lost a little it of her usual fluffiness. She frowned and snorted through her nostril.

“You...are probably right, Scootaloo.”

Slight mumbled the name and cuddled up to her, as the mare spoke again. He even trembled a little bit and shut his eyes.

“I should prepare the invitations first and for that I should ask your parents,

if they are okay with so many foals as your guests.

Uh, and I have to make a pie for you and...”

Slight put a hoof around Scootaloos neck and stretched his head to her ears. He whispered.

“I think, I have to go home now, but...”

His stomach growled to support him and he blushed heavily, as the babbling mare stopped finally. Pinkie chocked her head and grinned. She turned halfway around to Sugarcube Corner.

“Do you like some...”

Scootaloo sighed and shook her head. She pulled Slight to the cart and smiled apologetic. In the meantime she waved to the other foals.

“We had promised to see him home, Pinkie.

And we shouldn't dawdle much more, don't you think?”

The rest of the foals were shaking off their confusion finally and started to move again.

Pinkie bounced beside the cart, but as the foals were turning around the next corner and Scootaloo faced the bundle of energy with a frown, she stopped. The pegasus shook her head and looked down to Slight, which was shambling beside her.

“So, where should we go?”

Pinkie sighed again, waved to the foals and turned over.

“I'll prepare the invitations, okay?”

Her call sounded over the fillies and everpony sighed. Scootaloo even rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

They were going slowly cross the streets of Ponyville. Lilly and Scootaloo flanked Slight and were watching him with curious and even valuing looks, but the colt ignored it and guided them in the right direction. The closer he got to his new home, the faster and faster he became and as he turned into the right street and saw the house finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and started to gallop. The other foals followed him and arrived the great wooden door as he pushed it open with one hoof. He heard the six other foals behind him and turned nearly appalled over.

“Oh...thank...”

Before he was able to finish the sentence, a gentle hoof laid down on his head and tousled his mane.

“Hello Slight, welcome home.”

Daddy Gentle greeted him with a gentle nuzzle and smiled to the other six foals behind him. His eyes were gleaming with joy and a proud expression took over.

“You have found so many friends in one day, Slight?

I'm very proud of you, but unfortunately not everypony could come inside.

You know, Dad Star isn't so happy with so many visitors at once.”

Six puppy eyed foals stopped Gentle and he cleared his throat. But he shook his head with a sigh nevertheless. Slight turned around and faced his friends. He drew circles on the stairs and looked each of them in the eyes. He spotted one different expression on one face. Scootaloo looked over his daddy with a guarded look and the corner of her mouth trembled shortly. She noticed his approaching not until Slight touched her chest with a gentle hoof. She shook away her thoughts and clinched her teeth. Slight smiled gently and she responded with a smile of her own. She leaned over to him and opened her mouth. Before she was able to speak, a deep voice let the fillies winced.

“We can invite three of you, I think.”

Scootaloo's eyes were raising again and she focused herself strongly on the other stallion. She even raised a trembling hoof and wanted to lay it down on Slight, but he was bouncing closer to the stallion and hugged his hooves.

“Really, Dad Star.

You would allow that?”

The other stallion nuzzled him too and fondled him with his face for a long time. Scootaloo frowned a little bit, but only Gentle was able to spot it, before it vanished. He cocked his head, as he looked at the orange filly and for a short time he put a very worried expression on his face. The filly trembled shortly, but was able to fight it back.

“Just, when it is okay for their parents, of course.”

Gentle smiled and whispered. Four foals were startling, as he mentioned their parents and were looking around almost in panic. They tried to spot the clock tower, but it wasn't visible from this angle, so they looked up in the sky instead, to see where the sun was and to assess which time was it now. Apple Bloom sighed heavily, as she saw how long it had take.

“I must go home now.

Granny had said, that I have to learn how to make applesauce in the Apple kind of way.”

Sweetie Belle, the grey pegasus and the pink unicorn had to say goodbye too and so only Lilly and Scootaloo were staying behind. Lillys answer was a calm sigh and a shook of her head. She mumbled a few words through her pigtails.

“Mummy isn't at home right now.

She returns very late and I think she wouldn't bother, if I stay here.

So I can eventually spare a few bits for us.”

Gentle looked at her with a gentle smile on his face and she blushed. She played with one of her pigtails and looked away. Scootaloo snorted silently and looked to her galloping friends. She turned halfway over and tried to run on her own, but a small hug stopped her.

“Please, would you stay here for a while, Scootaloo?”

Slight's request sounded gently and Scootaloo shivered shortly. First she flinched one step away, but she sighed and nodded finally.

“What is with your parents?

Wouldn't they be worried about you?”

Gentle's question let her snort again. Scootaloo shook her head and mumbled an answer.

“Nopony will care whether I stay or not”

This sounded equally harsh and hurt at the same time and Scootaloo tried to put on a wide smile. But it disappeared as fast as it raised. Instead she put on a very controlled expression. Gentle shared a worried look with his coltfriend and nodded.

“Alright, come all in.

I hope you all like peanut butter and daisy sandwiches.”

He guided the fillies through the mess of boxes and in the kitchen full of shopping bags. There he levitated a bunch of bags from the chairs and smiled to the three foals. Shining followed the group and saw, that one of the fillies, the orange pegasus was looking around very carefully and even seemed to appreciate him with shyly glances. Her wings were trembling at the same time and the stallion looked at her very confused. The earthpony filly was curious too, but not quite as nervous as the other filly. Slight smiled to both of his dads and to his friends, as he sat down.

“Daddy, Dad, these are Lilly and Scootaloo.

They are my new friends.”

All three foals blushed a little bit on his outcry, but the stallions shrugged it of with a smile. Slight took a deep breath. He jumped of his chair and rushed to the pearly stallion in front of the stove.

“This is my Daddy Gentle Light.”

He snuggled his face into his hooves shortly and bounced then to the other stallion, who stayed in the door and glanced to the orange filly with a more hesitant smile.

“And this is my Dad Shining Star.”

He snuggled into his hooves too. Lilly smiled at both stallions and played gain with her pigtails for a while, before she let them go and greeted the stallions with a whisper. Scootaloo on the other hoof didn't smile and stared at both stallions with an assessing expression. She stayed even silence, as one of them, Gentle was starting to speak.

“Nice to meet you.”

Scootaloo drooped her head and her shoulder at the same time, as she heard this calm voice. Shinning cleared his throat and freed himself from the nuzzling colt on his hooves.

“I think, I have to move a few boxes in your room, Slight.

Please enjoy your time with your friends.”

The colt laid his ears against his head and sighed quietly, but the stallion tousled his mane and turned around. He glanced shortly back to Scootaloo and both were sharing a very concern or assessing look.

“Now, would you please tell me, how did you meet so many friendly foals in one day at school?”

The voice of Daddy Gentle let the colt trembled shortly, but he smiled quickly after it.

“Well...I...”

My new friends. (Adoption)

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My new friends.

Slight was running as fast as he could. But he wasn't able to catch up with the other foals. They were way to fast. The small orange pegasusfilly was in sole lead, thanks to the scooter. Even the little cart attached to the scooter with two other fillies inside didn't slow her down a bit. Sweetie Belle and uhm, the yellow earthpony had to held on to each other and were squeaking now and than, but this didn't slow the filly down. The other three foals were rushing way to fast to Ponyville too. A joyful outcry caught Slight's attention and he looked up in the sky. A fast flying grey colt was looping a loop and couldn't suppress his joy much longer. Slight felt a sharp burst gliding over his mane as the colt made a close turnover ahead, followed by a very fast climb with another outburst of joy. Slight's little wings were flapping wildly and he tried to lift off with a few bouncing jumps, but whatever he tried and how hard he wished for it was futile. He didn't lift off and the bouncing were slowing him down. The other fillies were extending the distance between them meanwhile.

“W...w...wait.”

“S...Slight couldn't catch up.”

“You're quite a strange little pony, Slight.

I thought you were way more athletic.”

“W...why didn't you say anything?”

“I...I just won't, that you're thinking, that I'm not be as strong as you re and can't keep up with you.

I simply couldn't imagine how fast all of you are!”

“Relax, Slight.

We aren't so stuck up, you know.”

“We've arrived Sugarcube Corner, Slight.

Where should we go from here?”

“Finally I gotcha...Ouch.”

He cried out, struggled within the grip, hit somepony with all four hooves and was drop down with a cry of pain. He landed on his back and squeaked. He looked surprised into a pink confused face. He put both front legs for his face, as he saw the four hoofmarks on her chest,

“I...I...I didn't mean to...”

He stammered and turned his head away from her. A guarded hoof touched his mane and the calm voice of a mare sounded in his trembling ears.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Slight flinched back a little bit and pulled himself back on the hooves. He drew circles on the ground and drooped his head. But before he was able to murmur more apologies, somepony in his size cuddled up to him and put a warm face on his. A silent voice whispered.

“Don't worry. Pinkie wouldn't harm anypony.”

Lily's voice and her warm hug calmed Slight down very quickly. He raised his head and saw a group of confused staring foals and a calmly smiling mare around him. The colt wiped awaythe fer in his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes were wandering over the fillies, but none of them had another expression on the face, than the lack of understanding. He shut his eyes close and sighed. Finally he looked to the pink mare in front of him. She cocked her head, as she noticed his look and stroke gently over the four hoofmarks on her chest. She released a quiet sigh as she did. Slight opened the mouth and whispered a quiet apology. He drooped his head even more and drew circles on the ground.

“I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to...”

The mare smiled gently and shook her head really fast. She came closer so fast, that Slight tried to flinch away, but Lily held him in place. So the mare could reach him and nuzzled him apologetic.

“Never mind, Slight.

I shouldn't sneak up to you, like I do.

Really I'm sorry.”

The mare raised her head a little bit and stroke her mane with one hoof. She looked over the other foals and finally back to Slight again, who stared at her with big eyes.

“How did you know...my name?”

“Please, Lilly would you let me go?”

“Your Daddy Gentle Light had told me your name.

You know, I wanted to meet you at school,

but you and your friends were way to fast.

I'm following you, but Applejack had distracted me and I had to help her.

We took a few apples to Sugarcube Corner and then we even had baked a few apple pies.

Finally I have spotted you here and wanted to ask you, if you're in the mood for...”

“a sleepover as a welcome-party?”

You have made so many friends right now and I think they'd be excited too.”

“We should wait with that, Pinkie Pie.

Our...parents wouldn't allow that willy nilly in the middle of the week.”

“You...are probably right, Scootaloo.”

Slight mumbled the name and cuddled up to her, as the mare spoke again. He even trembled a little bit and shut his eyes.

“I should prepare the invitations first and for that I should ask your parents,

if they are okay with so many foals as your guests.

Uh, and I have to make a pie for you and...”

Slight put a hoof around Scootaloos neck and stretched his head to her ears. He whispered.

“I think, I have to go home now, but...”

His stomach growled to support him and he blushed heavily, as the babbling mare stopped finally. Pinkie chocked her head and grinned. She turned halfway around to Sugarcube Corner.

“Do you like some...”

Scootaloo sighed and shook her head. She pulled Slight to the cart and smiled apologetic. In the meantime she waved to the other foals.

“We had promised to see him home, Pinkie.

And we shouldn't dawdle much more, don't you think?”

The rest of the foals were shaking off their confusion finally and started to move again. Pinkie bounced beside the cart, but as the foals were turning around the next corner and Scootaloo faced the bundle of energy with a frown, she stopped. The pegasus shook her head and looked down to Slight, which was shambling beside her.

“So, where should we go?”

Pinkie sighed again, waved to the foals and turned over.

“I'll prepare the invitations, okay?”

Her call sounded over the fillies and everpony sighed. Scootaloo even rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Slight chuckled as he saw the irritated expression and Scootaloo couldn't stop the grin on her face.

They were going slowly cross the streets of Ponyville. Lilly and Scootaloo flanked Slight and were watching him with curious and even valuing looks, but the colt ignored it and guided them in the right direction. The closer he get to his new home, the faster and faster he became and as he turned into the right street and saw the house finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and started to gallop. The other foals followed him and arrived the great wooden door as pushed it open with one hoof. He heard the six other foals behind him and turned nearly appalled over.

“Oh...thank...”

Before he was able to finish the sentence, a gentle hoof laid down on his head and tousled his mane.

“Hello Slight, welcome home.”

Daddy Gentle greeted him with a gentle nuzzle and smiled to the other six foals behind him. His eyes were gleaming with joy and a proud expression took over.

“You have found so many friends in one day, Slight?

I'm very proud of you, but unfortunately not everpony could come inside.

You know, Dad Star isn't so happy with so many visitors at once.”

She noticed his approaching not until Slight touched her chest with a gentle hoof. She shook away her thoughts and clinched her teeth. She closed her eyes shortly and sighed. Slight smiled gently and she responded with a smile of her own. She leaned over to him and opened her mouth. Before she was able to speak, a deep voice let the fillies winced.

“We can invite three of you, I think.”

Scootaloo's eyes were raising again and she focused herself with an oddly inquiring expression on the other stallion. She even raised a trembling hoof and stroke her mane in a failed attempt to look cool. She leaned again down to...

The empty place Slight had stand before. But he was bouncing closer to the stallion and hugged his hooves right now.

“Really, Dad Star.

You would allow that?”

“Just, when it is okay for their parents, of course.”

“I must go home now.

Granny had said, that I have to learn how to make applesauce in the Apple kind of way.”

“Mummy isn't at home right now.

She returns very late and I think she wouldn't bother, if I stay here.

So I can eventually spare a few bits for us.”

“Please, would you stay here for a while, Scootaloo?”

Slight's request sounded gently and Scootaloo shivered shortly. First she flinched one step away, but she sighed and nodded finally.

“What is with your parents?

Wouldn't they be worried about you?”

Gentle's question let her snort again.

Scootaloo glanced only shortly to the stallion and stayed than with her eyes on Slight again.

“Nopony will care whether I stay or not.”

“Alright, come all in.

I hope you all like peanut butter and daisy sandwiches.”

“Daddy, Dad, these are Lilly and Scootaloo.

They are my new friends.”

All three fillies blushed a little bit on his outcry, but the stallions shrugged it of with a smile. Slight took a deep breath. He jumped of his chair and rushed to the pearly stallion in front of the stove.

“This is my Daddy Gentle Light.”

He snuggled his face into his hooves shortly and bounced then to the other stallion, who stayed in the door and glanced to the orange filly with a more hesitant smile.

“And this is my Dad Shining Star.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Scootaloo drooped her head and her shoulder at the same time, as she heard this calm voice. Shinning cleared his throat and freed himself from the nuzzling colt on his hooves.

“I think, I have to move a few boxes in your room, Slight.

Please enjoy your time with your friends.”

The colt laid his ears against his head and sighed quietly, but the stallion tousled his mane and turned around. He glanced shortly back to Scootaloo and both were sharing a very assessing look. The filly closed her eyes shut after that look and turned her head away.

“Now, would you please tell me, how did you meet so many friendly foals in one day at school?”

The voice of Daddy Gentle let the colt trembled shortly, but he smiled quickly after it.

“Well...I...”

Revelations

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Revelations.

The foals ravened through the dinner and sighed very relieved, as Gentle levitated their plates with just left over crumbles from the table.

“I hope you liked the meal.

If you want to, please go to Slights room

and I'll bring you juice or lemonade in a little while.”

Gentle faced every foal once, Scootaloo looked back with an illegible expression on her face, Lilly smiled back with a subtle blush on her face and started to twist her pigtails as she noticed the look and finally Slight cocked his head inquiring. Gentle smiled back to Lilly and stepped closer to the table. He turned over to Scootaloo and smiled gently, but the filly didn't notice and pushed a crumb with her hooves back and fourth. As Slight bumped against the table, she snapped out of her thoughts and startled up with a suppressed yelp.

“I should help you, shouldn't I?

That's my chores this week, isn't...”

The colt looked to the sink, but Daddy Gentle smiled and shook his head. He laid a hoof around his neck, nuzzled his face gently and whispered to the squeaking foal.

“Just go with your friends. I'll handle this.

Show your friends your room and play a game as long as they want to stay.”

The colt pushed himself away from the tickling nose, giggled and turned over to the other fillies. Lilly smiled gently and stood up. Scootaloo on the other hoof appeared to be distracted or better irritated and was looking around in kitchen.

“I...I should go...”

Before Scootaloo was able to say something else, Slight had pulled her on the hooves and out of the kitchen with a wide smile. Lilly was helping him with one hoof and snickered a little, so Scootaloo simply couldn't resist both foals and sighed bugged. Gentle looked after the two giggling and one sighing foals and saw a real strange expression on the face of the last one. Scootaloo looked to the stallion and bit her lips, as she had to suppress a question and looked away quickly after their eyes met. Slight didn't catch it, because he pulled her with the unnoticed help of Lilly further out of the kitchen. His excitement grew more and more and he even danced on the spot as he arrived his door.

The foals entered and ran almost into Dad Star. The stallion just levitated the last toys out of the last box and turned over to the foals. He smiled to Slight, looked then to Scootaloo, who faced him with a mixed expression, halfway irritated and halfway guarded. The stallion cocked her head and smiled gently to her, but Scootaloo turned her head away and drew nervously circles on the ground with one hoof. Shining faced Lilly at last, nodded and put the toys away in the closest closet. The closet wasn't completely filled with toys, the three highest shelves were full with books instead. This was very practical for a unicorn, because of the easy access for the books, but for a pegasus, who couldn't fly just now, was it a rather silly arrangement in the first place. The other closets in the room were arranged in the same manner and on all three shelves were books over the closed doors. The solution for this kind of problem stood on the last closet, a wheeled ladder. Shining closed the door, came closer to the fillies and raised a hoof to lay it down on Scootaloos side.

The filly ducked and jumped away, bumped into the closet so hard, that she lost her breath and the books on the shelves slipped and started to fall down on the foals. Scootaloo tried to jump out of the way of the bookslide, but wasn't fast enough to avoid it totally. Slight stood still very afraid and couldn't react in time, but Lilly could and did indeed. She jumped to both, pulled Scootaloo at her side, knocked Sllight over and shielded both smaller foals with her own body. She was even able to protect her head with the hooves, so no book would hit it. But not one book actually hit her, because Shining was almost as fast as her. He caught the whole bookslide with his magic, levitated it over the foals and let the books hit the floor with a bang, struggling with the weight of them.

“What do you do in the name of Celestia.”

He breathed heavily and sounded very angrily. He glared at the half shielded pegasusfilly and stamped his hoof on the ground once. Scootaloo ducked her head, tried to get out of Lillys protecting body to flee, but couldn't move the earthpony with ease, so she just laid under her very stranded. Shining took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead with one hoof. He stroke drops of sweat away and helped then to untie the struggling foals. He put a hoof gently on Lillys side and the cowering filly blushed a little bit. She let loose of both foals and crawled slowly and gently away from them.

At this time they all heard four galloping hooves and Gentle rushed into the room. He looked at Shining, who put Lilly on her hooves with his magic right now, then to the shivering ball of fear, who was his own colt. Slight cuddled against the next filly, who tried to push him away and at the same time tried to put on an apologetic expression. But she couldn't do either the one, nor the other. Slight pressed himself so close to her, that she sighed finally and laid a gentle hoof on his mane. She opened her mouth, but as Slight gripped her tighter, he accidentally touched the spot she had hit the closet with and Scootaloo squeaked and flinched away. This suppressed scream snapped Slight back into reality and he opened his eyes again. He felt a big hoof on his side and saw Daddy Gentle on his side and a giant mess of books behind him. Scootaloo jumped on her hooves and tried to gallop out of the room quickly, but Gentle caught her with his magic on the threshold of the room.

“Wait, please.”

“Let me go...I...it...”

The filly screamed and struggled in the magic, fought it and tried to get away. Shining sighed and looked to a confused looking Gentle. The other foals were even more confused and Slight opened his mouth to whisper a question, but Gentles calm voice sounded first.

“Hey, we mean no harm.

We just want to see if you are hurt.”

Scootaloo stopped struggling against the magic and gave the stallion a wide eyed look of shock or surprise. She chewed on her lips and turned her head away from him, struggling for words but finally just nodded after a few incomprehensible mutters. She took a deep breath and tried to speak again.

“I'm fine, okay. Let me go!”

This sounded a little bit harsh, but Gentle smiled any way and nodded too.

“Alright, I will.

But don't run away. Please.

I must make sure your injuries aren't worse than you think.”

Scootaloo pouted and sighed, but nodded again. Gentle levitated her slowly to Slight's bed and laid her gently dowen on it. As he let the magic fade away, the filly trembled a little bit, but stayed there. Slight snapped out of his confusion, stepped hesitantly or snoopy closer and laid a hoof on Scootaloos trembling ones. His eyes stared into hers and he nuzzled her encouraging with his nose. Scootaloo tried to turn away her head first, but as she saw his worried face, she stopped and closed her eyes as he nuzzled her. Lilly twisted her pigtails again and mumbled a quick thank you in Shinings direction. The stallion responded with a friendly smile and levitated the books back to the shelves one by one. Gentle approached the bed slowly and let his eye wander over the little filly. Before he was able to raise a hoof to touch her, Shining laid a hoof on his shoulder and stopped him. He whispered, but everpony reacted.

“She doesn't like, to be...”

Gentle nodded, Scootaloo buried her blushing face in the pillow, Lilly turned her head away with a light blush too and Slight looked confused from one pony to another to understand what just happened. Gentle thought about it and nodded again. He smiled and cleared his throat.

“Alright, it doesn't look like, that you are severely injured.

Do you want to stand up and show me if you can walk without any problems and who you are...

What did you do in the first place?”

Scootaloo raised her head and stared confused to the smiling stallion beside the bed.

As he ended his speech, she blushed again and turned her head away. Shining took a deep breath and pulled Gentle a little bit closer to him. He drooped his head and sighed.

“It was...”

Scootaloo started slowly, but was soon interrupted by a male voice.

“It was my fault actually.

I didn't watch out and have frightened her.

I'm sorry.”

The drawing of the circles and the avoiding look were so sudden, that Scootaloo blushed even further and started to draw circles on her own and made a mess of the blanket under her. Slight wanted to disagree with it, first, but Dad Star shook his head and he closed his mouth again. Gentle looked over every foal and shooed Shining out of the room. The stallion smiled around and went out. As the stallion had finally left, Scootaloo crawled from the bed and stood up. Gentle beheld her walking and jumping around in the room and smiled, as she become more confident and grinned at him. It was a pretended grin, but after all a nice step into the right direction. Before the filly was too confident and hurt herself in the process, Gentle stopped her with one sentence.

“Wait you're getting a real big bruise there.”

Scootaloo followed his pointing and spotted the bruise. She even sensed the pain as she eyed it up. The filly strengthened herself, put on a smile and waved aside the concerns.

“Pf, that's nothing. I get worse bruises every time I ouch...”

Slight had approached her unnoticed, laid a hoof carefully on the bruise and was jerking away, as Scootaloo jumped away from him. The filly jumped against Gentles legs, tried to flinch away, but couldn't find another spot, so she ducked down besides the stallion. Gentle looked over her darting eyes and her nervous prancing with a worried expression on his face and sighed finally. He took a few steps back and laid down on the floor, as far away from her as possible. The filly eased off a little bit, but stayed in an alarming pose, ready to flee if needed.

“Slight you shouldn't do such a thing.

And you know this.”

His rebuke was only whispered, but the colt blushed any way and drooped his head. He drew circles on the ground and mumbled an apology.

“I'm sorry, Scootaloo.

I mean no harm.

But I can't believe, that this doesn't hurt.

And I just wanted to help.”

Scootaloo sighed and looked to the only other filly in the room, who stayed silence and wrinkled her pigtails. Lillys look back wasn't quite as confused, but equally guarded instead. As Scootaloo looked at her, she smiled gently and twisted a pigtail in her hoof. She looked to Gentle and was able to ask a question finally .

“Are you...a doctor?”

The stallion looked at her just now and smiled friendly. He glanced shortly to his Cutie Mark, a smiling foal under a great yellow sun and nodded.

”Well, yes. I've been a filliatrist, a foal doctor in Canterlot.”

He frowned for a moment, but a smile returned quickly as he faced Scootaloo again. The filly sighed, looked to the other foals and stepped slowly closer to the lying stallion. She turned sideways and showed him the bruise. As the stallion leaned in and she felt his breath on her flank, she closed her eyes, as like as she had to prepare herself to being touched by him. A few moments later she felt his warm breath on her side, blushed and shivered. He didn't touched her, so she looked away and put on an other pretended grin.

“I think you're needing just an ice pack.”

Slight breathed out very relieved and ran out of the room with a loud cry.

“I'll get one Daddy Gentle.

Would you pleas help me, Lilly. I'm too small to reach the medicine chest on my own.”

Before the other filly was able to answer, the colt pulled her out of the room.

Gentle examined pensively the filly in front of him. Something was off with her and this started an alarm in his head. He had been a filliartrist way too long to not see this kind of warning signs. This kind of “on guard pose” from the filly was way to obviously a try to protect herself, that he could ignore it without any worrying. Her hooves on his side were tightened and shivered a little bit. The filly tried to suppress it indeed, but simply couldn't stop it. This couldn't be just a coincidence. These sort of hints weren't often seen in Canterlot and he could misinterpret them, but the filly was way to be anxious to not let a stallion touch her, that it...

Before he was able to ask the question, who lingered in his mind, he felt something around his neck. Scootaloo had laid both hooves around him and hugged him, This action let forgot him all his presumptions for a moment, since the filly wouldn't do such a thing if they were correct. Even the question vanished from his mind for a moment. Another feeling took over, a worried feeling. The filly trembled and looked at him with a strange expression. It was a halfway smile, mixed up with an odd kind of hope? A plea?

Gentle answered the hug only half hearted and laid his head nearby the twitching ears.

“Why are you so nervous, Scootaloo?”

The filly let him loose, flinched a few hooves away and stared at him very scared. Her eyes wandered away from his face, over the bed, over the ceiling and found finally the floor as the most interesting place in this room. She breathed in faster and faster and wiped over her body with both hooves in an attempt to calm herself down.

“Me and nervous, pff.

I'm just...uhm...”

Thankfully Lilly and Slight returned right now and the filly could easily avoid every question from the stallion, simply by staying by the foals. Gentle stayed for a while and watched her carefully, he took every little action, cool or not, every word and anything else in account. Scootaloo tried to compensate her earlier mistakes in this way, but the stallion didn't buy any of her diversions.

“No. No I just wanted to...uhm I thought, you know...”

She looked around, hounded and a little bit scared and looked finally back to him. The stallion smiled gently and nodded. He interrupted the stammering filly and stood up.

“Well.

Just pick up your game.

I'll get some lemonade and cookies and will return soon, okay?”

Slight cheered, as he heard, that Daddy Gentle wanted to bring some cookies and pulled both friends closer to the closets. He opened the first door and giggled. There were the games. Daddy Gentle stood up and left slowly the room meanwhile. He looked to Scootaloo as he closed the door, but the filly avoided his look. He left the door ajar and went into the kitchen. Slight put the first box in his hooves and read the title.

“Well, what do you want to play?

Uh, Maneopoly eventually?”

Lilly stammered an answer, but Scootaloos mind was way too far away to answer. She stared to the door instead. She snapped back to reality not till Slight put a hoof on her side. Scootaloo stammered an apology and put on a pretended smile again.

Daddies are embarrassing.

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Daddies are embarrassing.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly. Well as smoothly as it could go with a nervous Scootaloo and a shyly Lilly. Every times Slights dads were coming in the room, Scootaloo startled up and checked after them, as long as they stayed in the room. Slight didn't questioned it jet, but Lilly noticed it and looked at Scootaloo every time it happened. However the filly didn't provide any kind of answer, but became more and more nervous instead. She tried to win the games as quick as possible to distract everypony from her. It worked, Slight was a easily to distract and Lilly was driven in with his excitement and forget the question after a while.

Slight played with the friends till it was suppertime and despite the invitation from Daddy Gentle, both fillies were persisting to go home. Of course he suggested to walk both home, but Scootaloo denied it persistently and said goodbye to him.

“No, no you haven't to go with me.

I know the way and nothing could happen to me on this short track, you know?
I mean Ponyville is a safe place and...”

She laughed with a strange undertone and glanced to the stallion behind Slight, who're surveying her very carefully. Gentle cleared his throat and nodded.

“Very well then. We could, uhm. How does it sound to you, when we accompany you, till we're arriving Sugarcube Corner.
There you say goodbye and if you want to, you can make an appointment with Slight for tomorrow
and we can walk Lilly home afterwards, what do you think?”

Lilly blushed and nodded quickly. Shining smiled at her and opened the door with his magic. Scootaloo didn't answered properly, but rather galloped out of the house, grabbed the scooter and roared off so fast as she was fleeing from a pack of Timberwolves. Slight looked and called after her trail of dust.

“Please wait for us, Scootaloo.

I thought...”

However the filly didn't stop, rushed around the next corner and was quickly out of sight. Slight drooped his ears and sighed.

“Did I do something wrong? Maybe I have won too often and...”

Gentle nuzzled him encouraging and the low spirited colt cheered a little bit up. The stallion smiled and looked after the disappeared filly

“Don't bother, I think she just needs to go home as fast as she could.

You know, her parents could be worrying sick when she isn't home before sunset.”

The stallion looked to Lilly, who nodded and blushed. She wrinkled her pigtails once and looked down to the ground, to avoid eye contact.

“Do you actually know, where she lives, Lilly?”

The filly drew pensively circles on the ground and shook her head after a while. She mumbled an answer.

“I don't. Eventually Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would know that.”

Gentle nodded and smiled absent minded. He closed the door behind him and all four began to walk.

The way back to Lilly's home was easy going for the foals, because they chatted about many things, first about an other play date after school and then if they want to do their homework together. Gentle and Shining were following the two chatting and giggling foals. As they did so, Slight was glancing back at them time and again to make sure they were still there. After this affirmation he turned ever since back to Lilly, who listened more, then to say things on her own, but she liked the colt anyway. She smiled gently, giggled when he said something funny and whispered an answer here and then.

“Here is something fishy about this, Gentle.”

Shining whispered very silently and bowed his head closely to the smaller stallion. He nuzzled him with his nose and tried to calm him down a little bit. Gentle sighed and nodded. He cuddled up at him as an answer.

“I know, I noticed it too.”

The stallions shared a moment of concern and sighed together. Their attention were quickly drawn back to Slight, as he looked at them and had a wide smile on his face. The two stallions smiled calmly back and the silence became quickly weird. Slight sighed and asked again the same question.

“Could we make pizza tomorrow, please?”

Shining smiled, as he as he stared using the great puppy eyes whom Gentle was unable to resist. Had Gentle had any misgivings about pizza to begin with, they would have been shattered by the look of those eyes. He agreed with a slight chuckle.

“Alright alright, we'll make pizza tomorrow.

But you have to help with the clean up.”

Slight nodded and mumbled an approving uh hum. Gentle smiled and ruffled over his mane with one hoof.

“Well we'll do it that way.

I prepare the dough...”

“Could we do it together?”

The sudden question didn't throw Gentle off his guard, but for a moment there was a distinct flicker of the lack of enthusiasm he felt, remember the foals last attempt at making pizza dough. He was white, pearly even, but he preferred everything else was not, apart from a few other ponies. But Slight managed to colour his mane, his coat and every other spot in the kitchen with so much flour, that Gentle could easily play hide and seek in the kitchen and would surely win.

“I think we'll make a dough with yeast and it must stay a few hours to be perfect.”

Slight pouted a little bit, but Gentle stroke over his mane gently and brought back a smile on his face.

“This tastes much better, you know?”

This vanquished the last lingering protest in Slight's eyes and he nodded. Then he turned back to Lilly. Shining leant to Gentle and whispered with a snicker.

“Phew, thankfully you won't be ending up with cleaning up the whole house, again.”

Gentle glazed at Shining with a no nonsense look, grinned shortly after that and kissed his coltfriend on the cheek.

“We Shining. We should be thankful, that we won't be ending up with cleaning up the whole house.”

The other stallion rolled his eyes and nuzzled his face on Gentles.

“You're right.”

Lilly looked back at the time both stallions kissed and blushed heavily. She turned over quickly and tried to ignore the looks from the other ponies around them. Slight saw her red cheeks and cocked his head. He glanced over the other ponies around. They're whispering, staring at them with curious expressions and one or two were even pointing at his daddies. A few of them were smiling encouraging and friendly, as they noticed his look.

“"Isn't it... err... unpleasant if they are all giving odd looks?"

Lilly whispered this question finally and looked back to the ground again. She tried to look nopony in the face and stroke nervously over her mane, wrinkled her pigtails and tried even to hide behind them. Slight stepped closer to her, cuddled up against her and blushed. So he was able to give an answer, who nopony would hear.

“You know, first it was.

But they weren't only looking so when my daddies do that,

but also when other parents do this. In Canterlot.

And what they dio is really Eewww, don't you think?”

Slight giggled as he whispered his answer and looked back to the both love-horns, which were nuzzling their noses together and kissed then. He rolled his eyes in a little bit disgust and called.

“Couldn't you do this at home.

You're so embarrassing.”

The stallions smirked to the blushing colt and kissed once more to let him blush even more and of course to confuse the other ponies too. Slight ducked his head and pulled Lilly along with him.

“This, this is so embarrassing when they do it even more.”

Lilly grinned and nodded with a huge blush.

The next few steps were very amusing for the stallions. Slight blushed even more and tried to speed up and get out of sight, but couldn't because everywhere were other ponies. Finally they're leaving the market place and turning into the street to Lilly's home. Slight raised his head again and glanced bugged to the two stallions. They're smiling apologetic and nuzzled their faces for the last time. Slight sighed irritated and smiled too.

“You're so embarrassing!”

Before he could complain more, Dad Star caught him with his magic and pulled him closer to the two stallions. They started to tickle him and nuzzled him with their noses. The colt giggled, hugged and cuddled up to both of them, as they returned the hug. Lilly looked at this group hug with a nearly envious expression and smiled to Slight, as he was put back beside her with a wide grin.

“We know this, Slight.

But this is our task as daddies, right?”

Slight breathed out very bugged and sighed. He pouted a little bit first, but grinned then. Finally he nodded and rolled her eyes at them. Lilly giggled too and led them closer to her home.

Her home, well it was different, than Slight had imagined it. It was a small house, with just a few decorations and just three flower boxes with roses on the small veranda. Much more wasn't there, on the first far away look. Slight looked at Lilly with an almost pitiful expression, but as they stepped closer, and the light get up the view changed.

Everywhere were flowers, Slight smiled and sniffed . He smelled a sweet light smell of butterfly bushes and his smile widened.
He loved this smell. Slight followed sniffling the smell on the veranda, but couldn't spot the source of it. There were living garlands of climbers with many small white flowers, small flower boxes everywhere on the walls with many other flowers and their smell mixed in with the smell of the butterfly bushes, but didn't drown it down. He turned to Lilly and gazed at her with an open mouth.

“That's...”

Slight stopped, as he saw the expression on Lillys face. She wasn't happy. Lilly sighed, as she saw, that nopony was there and played with her pigtails again.

“Mum will be back later. I am not supposed to let anypony in while she isn't here.

Sorry.”

Gentle nodded and sighed. He cocked his head and levitated a letter out of his saddle bags. He levitated it to Lilly and smiled friendly.

“It's okay, Lilly.

Would you please give her this letter, then?”

She nodded very eager, hugged the blushing Slight and said goodbye to the stallions.

“Thank you very much, for the lunch.

See you tomorrow, Slight.

Uh, uhm, would you like to go to school with me?”

Slight smiled gently, nodded and agreed to meet at Sugarcube Corner.

The little family went to the Ponyville cafe for dinner, before they returned home. Slight ate hay-fries, a carrot-dog and a small bowl of ice and he couldn't be happier.

At the way home he became more and more tired and stumbled around, till Dad Star took him on his back. First he didn't want to, but as he almost tripped over his own hooves and Daddy Gentle was just able to safe him, he agreed and snuggled against the neck of Dad Star. He felt asleep shortly after that.

“We had to look out for the clock more, Gentle.

It's way past Slight's bedtime and...”

Gentle sighed and nodded. He caressed gently over Slights back. The colt sighed relieved and snuggled closer at his Dad. The stallions smiled gently and sneaked slowly back home.

As they arrived, Shining tried to wake up Slight so far, that he could brushed his teeth, but the colt was way too tired for that, so he did it instead. The good-night story had to be droop out, because Slight slept already and didn't need a story to get sleepy. Shining watched over his sleeping foal for a while and sighed, as Slight turned over, grabbed his pillow and snuggled his head deeper into it. The stallion smiled gently, fondled over the sleeping foal for the last time and sneaked out of his room.

Gentle sat at his desk, a few quills were dancing in his magic and were writing more then one letter or notice at the same time. As the first quill finished and stayed in his magic, he put the notice and stuck it in a pin board ahead. He looked at the first line and on the name of it: Scootaloo. He sighed, as Shining entered the bedroom and yawned. The stallion seemed to guess his thoughts and nodded.

“Slight's is sleeping.

And I think he is right.

Do you think...”

Shining cleared his throat and drew a line on the ground.

“Do you think, that we can do this here?

I mean, you know how they're in Canterlot and how they reacted to us. Here they aren't much different. Didn't you hear their whispers today?”

Shining looked out of the window and drooped his head. Gentle breathed out very bugged and put down all quills. He looked to his coltfriend and scrolled the papers. He put away the quills and closed the curtains with his magic.

“Shining Star. The princess had visited us this morning and didn't seem to be concern about it, as you have told. Besides I just don't want to hide any more.

I love you!”

The smaller stallion stood up, snuggled up to his coltfriend and closed his eyes, as he nuzzled him with his face. The stallions laid down on the bed and cuddled up there for a while.

“I love you too,

but what if...”

Gentle raised his head, kissed the other stallion gently on his cheek and shook his head. Shining fell silent and smiled. After a few silent moments of cuddling, he started to speak again. He sounded much more reserved than before and avoided every eye contact with Gentle, as he whispered.

“Do you really think, that the filly, uhm, Scootaloo is hiding something?”

Gentle scrunched his face and cleared his throat. He snuggled closer to the bigger stallion and shot his eyes closed.

“This would spot a blind horse, Shining.

Even aside her fear of touches.

Her pose, as I wanted to check her up, was so clearly a try to protect herself, that I'm sure about her.”

The stallion talked himself into a rage and was searching more and more the security that his coltfriend might offer to calm down again. He pressed finally his face into the mane of the bigger stallion and fell silence. Shining nodded and sighed then. He looked to the trembling stallion beside him, laid his head on the side and whispered.

“Hey, Gentle, we can do this.

We will find a way.”

He started to hum a song, went on to sing it actually and sang a lullaby for the younger stallion. He sighed relieved, as he felt the warmth of his coltfriend and closed his eyes. He breathed in through his nostrils, nuzzled slowly over the mane of his friend and calmed more and more down. He felt asleep slowly, but surely. Shining watched him falling asleep and sighed, as he saw, that he trembled. He hugged his sleeping little stallion and tried to hold him tight in his embrace.

“I'll protect you, Gentle.

Nopony will ever harm you again.

I promise.”

After his promise, he laid his head over Gentle's and fell asleep quickly.

One straying foal, or two?

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One straying foal, or two?

Slight walked through Ponyville and a long yawn escaped him. His hooves scuffled over the ground, as he turned around the next corner and trudged slowly through mist and tried to orient himself. Was he on the right way at all?

“Do you want, that we go along with you to Sugarcube Corner?”

Dad Star's question floated in his head again and he sighed. He should have listened to him and nothing of this would have happened. He would be with Lily right now and wouldn't wander through mist and...

“Hey short stuff, are you lost?”

The raspy voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked out for the source. A shadow whooshed over him, blew away the mist around him and cleared the whole alley with a few flaps. A hoof tried to touch his mane, but Slight flinched away quickly and bumped into a wall with his backside.

“Ow...”, was all what he could say. A pale blue mare with a rainbow coloured mane...the colt stared at the hovering mare with really huge eyes. This was Rainbow Dash. He knew her of course, she was the one who had made a Sonic Rainboom and... he didn't know much more about her actually. He marvelled at her anyway and stayed where he had bumped into the wall. The mare stared back with a grin and waved at him.

“Say, do you want to stay there the whole time and gape at me, or would you like to say something, kid?”

Rainbow glanced over him and smirked a little, but flew closer anyway. She cocked her head with an inquiring expression on her face.

“Hey, aren't you the latest friend of Scootaloo?”

The colt opened his mouth, but just stammered around. Finally he was able to speak.

“Uhm. I...”

He drew circles on the ground and blushed a little bit, as the grin of the mares face widened. She landed, bent over and whispered to him.

“Spill it...”

Far away a school bell rang and Slight got frightened. He looked up, scurried and tried to push his way through the mare, but she didn't move and didn't let him escape. She looked down the alley and her smile widened.

“You're a little late, aren't you?

Maybe I could bring you...”

“Slight, there you are. I...have looked out for you everywhere!”

The voice of another filly stopped the mare, first almost as loud as a scream, than she softened. The filly lifted the mare out of the way with her small hooves and set her aside in a second. The grown up mare babbled, but Slight didn't listen after her first question.

“What...how did you?”

The colt stared into a friendly smile, that was broken by a sorrowful glimmer in the blue eyes. The two pigtails on both sides of the smile made it easy to recognise the filly.

“L...Lily?”

He questioned with a calm voice and Lily blushed a little bit. She started to twist her pigtails again, but as the school bell rang again the filly turned and put a hoof around Slight. She pulled the blushing colt with her and passed the blabbering mare.

“Come on, Slight. We're...”

“You're late.”

Cheerilee stood in the school door and looked out for the running foals. They panted heavily, as they ran into the classroom and headed at their desks. They were sitting down and blushed under the whispering sound of the other foals. Slight pulled out his books from his saddle bag and tried to miss out every comment or snickering of them.

Cheerilee stayed in the door for a few moments and looked outside.

“Have you seen, Scootaloo?”

Slight raised his head, tried to calm down his heavy breathing, but failed and looked to Miss Cheerilee. He turned his head again and faced the fillies on his left side, but there was only Sweetie Belle. Scootaloos desk was empty.

“W...We haven't seen her Miss Cheerilee.”

Lily replied very low and the mare closed the door with a sigh. She walked slowly through the classroom and faced every whispering pony as crossed the classroom. Every single one fell silent and their eyes were following her. Finally she stood in front of Slights desk, the colt hadn't recover from his sprint and still tried to calm down his breath. She smiled gently and looked at him.

“Well, after all it's your second day at school, so...”

Somepony pushed the door open and galloped into the room. Every foal turned around and heard a hasty apology.

“I'm sorry, Miss Cheerilee.

I...”

It was Scootaloo and before she was able to explain, why she was late, she was overwhelmed by a very long yawn. Slight was astonished how...different the filly looked in comparison to yesterday. Scootaloo had formidable dark circles around her eyes and her mane, well it was a total mess of knots and ruffled streaks. She appeared to be very precariously and even began to stumble over her tiredly hooves on her way to the desk. As she arrived it finally, she rubbed her eyes multiple times to get the sleep out of it and yawned again. Slight copied her yawn instantly and peeked apologetic to Cheerilee. The mare rolled her eyes and looked to each of the three tardy foals.

“Very well then.

We should start with...”

A hoof was raised behind Slight and somepony snorted clearly. Slight recognized the voice and drooped his ears, as Diamond Tiara spoke tartly, or more precisely snippy.

“But Miss Cheerilee, they were late and...”

The mare sighed and took a deep breath.

“Alright.

Scootaloo you're way too late, so you will stay in detention for an hour and you do blackboard duty today, you understand?”

Scootaloo raised her head and tried to open her mouth for an explanation, but just a yawn escaped her and she put a hoof on her mouth.

Cheerilee carried on.

“Lily and Slight, you're both late and I want an explanation, why you're late.”

Slight took a deep breath and stood up. He drew circles on the ground and answered with a low tone.

“I'm really sorry. I couldn't find the way to school today and I've become even lost. I had wanted to meet Lily at Sugarcube Corner, so we could go to school together, but I couldn't find it and she started to get worried about me and looked out for me.”

Slight dropped his head quickly and closed his eyes.

“I think, that I'm the only one to blame, so please don't be mad at Lily. She had only tried to...”

The colt stepped forwards and stroked gently over his left hoof with his right one. His speech became more and more hasty and he blushed deeply, as he finished. Finally he ducked his head and squinted his eyes to make sure, that he could stand the expected yelling. Cheerilee raised her hoof and stepped closer to the colt, who ducked even more and looked out for a firmer stand. The mare cocked her head with an inquiring expression and put her hoof down again. She glanced over the colt and cleared her throat.

“Very well then.

Please write me an essay, how you become lost in the first place, and please meet Lily at your place tomorrow, will you. I think this will prevent more delay, don't you think?”

Slight raised his head and opened his eyes, as he heard the low tone of the mare.

“But I...”

The mare smiled gently and pointed to his desk. She turned his side to him and took a deep breath.

“Please sit down. You know, it isn't necessary to stand up, when I call you. Just when I say stand up, you should do it.”

Slight nodded confused, smiled and turned around. He faced a very confused staring crowd of foals and blushed heavily. The colt went slowly back to the desk and sat down with ears flat on his ducked head. They were staring at him and a few were even laughing and whispering about him. He had made a fool out of himself again. Slight sighed and preferred to hide behind a book for the rest of the lesson and just listen to Miss Cheerilee.

“Well, today's lesson is...”

“Scootaloo are you listening?”

The seat in the first row wasn't any kind of favour for her right now. Slight looked to the filly and saw, that she had fallen asleep again. A few ponies laughed behind him and he looked back to Miss Cheerilee. As the laughter continued, he ducked down. He was used to be a laughing stock way too much, that this kind of laughter couldn't affect him. Slight sighed and listened closely.

“If you continue to fall asleep during my lesson, I surely have to speak with...”

Cheerilee stopped and sighed on her own. Scootaloo startled and hit her own face with one hoof to wake up and to stay awake this time. At the same time she faced Cheerilee with an entreating expression and the shook her head vividly. The mare shook her head and returned to her lesson.

Soon after this the bell rang for the morning break. This time Slight wasn't the centre of everyponys attention, or for the whispering schoolyard. No, Scootaloo was it today, she left her closest friends as she galloped out of the classroom and ran to the wash room alone. There she stayed for the rest of the break. Slight looked after her, but was distracted by Lily and the rest of his new friends. They were eating breakfast together, were playing the rest of the break and returned to the classroom, as the break was over. Scootaloo looked a little bit better, but was still fighting against her tiredness. The next lessons were over very quickly and so the school was over by no time.

Most of the foals were rushing so fast out of the classroom as the bell rang, that it even caused a trail of dust on the outside. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Slight and Lily stayed back with Scootaloo, even if the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't have to. Scootaloo had laid his head on the desk and sighed to the table. She yawned again and muttered something to her friends.

“I'm sorry.

I can't come with you for the Cutie Mark gaining session today.

I'm way too wiped out.

I'll join in tomorrow, alright?”

Slight put his last book back into the saddle bag and overheard, what Scootaloo whispered. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle frowned a little bit, but nodded finally.

“I see, but tell us what have you done yesterday?

You stayed at Slight's place, didn't you?

Did it become so late?

I thought they were strict at your place with the bed...”

Before Sweetie was able to finish, Scootaloo almost yelled at her.

“Yeah...yeah, I have, uhm...read you know...Daring Do and...”

The unicorn flinched one step away and raised both hooves in an appeasing way. She smiled gently.

“All right, all right. I didn't mean to...”

Scootaloo sighed quietly and rubbed her neck. Another yawn escaped her and she laid a hoof on her mouth.

“I'm sorry Sweetie.

I didn't mean to yell at you either, but I'm so tired...”

Cheerilee thumped on her desk once and Scootaloo stood up slowly.

“That's enough my little ponies. Scootaloo has blackboard duties to fulfil. As you see, I haven't used the blackboard at all, so you're done! You can go now and you should go home. Go to sleep a little bit earlier today and get to school on time tomorrow, do you understand?”

Scootaloo looked at the mare with a gratefully and pulled herself on the hooves finally.

“I...thanks, Miss Cheerilee.

I do.”

Her murmur brought a gentle smile back onto the mare's face and she made a discarding wave.

“Don't tell anypony, would you. Especially not Miss Rich. All of you should go now, school is over. See you tomorrow.”

All foals were following her last order quickly and stepped outside into the bright sunlight.

Before Slight knew what happened, a hoof patted over his head and a gentle voice asked him:

“How was school today, Slight?”

Daddy Gentle? Slight cheered and hugged him quickly. The stallion answered with a nuzzle over Slight's side and hugged him too. He looked over the other fillys and glanced finally at Scootaloo. The filly turned her head away and stammered something inaudible.

“I came to check on you. But it seemed, that you aren't hurt Scootaloo, or are you?”

The filly sighed with a little bugged undertone and shook herself shortly. She jumped down the stairs and started to run off. Gentle looked after the filly, who started to pat and became much slower lately. As she was out of sight he sighed and turned to the foals. He put on a friendly smile and stopped the hug..

“So, would you like some pizza?”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to ask their families, but both Granny Smith and Rarity didn't have any objections.

The matriarch of the Apple family looked over Gentle very estimating and he smiled back reluctant.

“Uhm nice to meet you.”

The elderly mare snorted and took a deep breath. Apple Bloom glanced at her very worried, but started to loose her worries, as Granny herself smiled.

“I think, I have heard from you and your family.

You're the ones who moved in at Sweet Lips old place, don't ya?”

Gentle thought for a while and nodded finally. Now a real smile returned on the mare's face and she pushed herself back onto the hooves slowly .

“Just wait here, will ya'?”

She left and puttered around in the next room. The four foals were now intent upon a discussion of pizza toppings and everyone tried to persuade the other for his, or her favourite one. But one filly didn't, Lily didn't speak up for her favourite, but smiled and listened instead.

“I tell you, nothing compares to pineapple.”

Sweetie Belle squeaked almost, but Apple Bloom drowned her out easily..

“Yuck, a real pizza had only tomatoes and cheese, you know.”

Slight grinned and tried to speak up for his topping of choice.

“Mushrooms...mushrooms I tell you...”

“Hey, that's enough seedlings.”

Granny Smith returned with a basket full of goodies. She pushed it slowly to Gentle and smiled friendly.

“Very welcome for you, your stallion.”

Granny stopped right now and her smile become more knowingly then before. The surprised stallion opened his mouth, but found nothing to say. Granny raised her hoof and fondled over Slight's head. The colt looked to the mare with huge eyes and dropped his head shyly. He blushed a little bit and tried to suppress a shiver. Gentle smiled too and laid a hoof on his side.

“And for your colt. He is a real handsome one by the way.”

Slight blushed more and rubbed over his nose with a hoof. Granny smiled gently and looked back to Gentle, who fondled further over the blushing colts head.

“I hope you'll become comfortable here and will make many friends.

You're good ponies.

I can sense you truly are. So this is my welcome present for you.”

Never mind how hard Gentle tried to refuse it, Granny insisted upon that he took the basket and put it finally on Gentle's back with a bidding expression on her face.

“I insist, Gentle Light!”

Gentle sighed, nodded and followed the foals back to Ponyville.

Rarity was insisting on her gifts as well. She insisted on a whole collection of matching clothes for the family and even started to levitate fabrics, tapes and other things for the creation of it. Gentle smiled, but Slight flinched back behind his front hooves and peeked out to Rarity from under him. The mare chocked her head and smiled as friendly as she could, but the colt just didn't leave the security of his daddy. Even as Rarity knelt down in front of the stallion and tried to lure him out with a gentle smile and her best expression, Slight stayed behind daddy's hooves. Rarity sighed finally and stood up.

“Fine, I'll try it later, when you are feeling more comfortable.”

Gentle nodded and tried to leave the boutique with a tripping Slight under him, but they weren't half way out of the boutique, as Rarity released an almost miffed comment and looked so huffish to the colt, that he hid even more under his fathers belly.

“Very well, uhm Slight. I wouldn't bite you, you know.”

A whispered answer from Sweetie Belle stopped her and the sisters started to whisper for a few minutes, only interrupted by astonished exhalation and a few louder words from Rarity, like:

“No...that couldn't be real...Oh dear...”

Gentle led Slight out of the boutique slowly and sighed gently as he closed the door behind him.

“Slight, would you please come out?

She didn't mean to be...”

The colt crawled slowly out from the security of his belly and tried to look in his eyes. Gentle saw a glimpse of fear and a notion of a memory in his eyes and he took a deep breath. Slight nestled up against him and sniffed very wary. Gentle sighed, turned his head to him and nuzzled him encouraging. Finally he whispered.

“She didn't mean to scare you, you know?

Not every mare is like...”

The stallion stopped, as the other three fillies went out of the boutique. He nudged him encouraging and smiled. Sweetie Belle carried a small package on her back and looked worried to Slight. The blushing colt jumped away from his daddy and drew circles on the ground.

“Rarity is very sorry about that. So, if you want to, we can make a sleepover at her place whenever we want. Oh and she had made this for you.”

Slight blushed even more and nodded. Sweetie Belle squeaked and hugged the colt. Slight was deep red right now and squeaked almost like her. Gentle smiled at him and cocked his head. He turned away and spotted an orange head with a cerise mane on top, but it drew back quickly around the next corner. Gentle pretended to act, as he hadn't seen it and looked to Lily instead.

“Did your mother read the letter, I gave you?”

The filly sighed and shook her head.

“If she had, she hadn't mentioned it. She didn't forbid me to go with you either, so...”

Gentle nodded and went off. He led the foals back home and noticed, that they were followed by an orange filly, but he didn't want to show that he had spotted her. Instead he waited in front of the house, as the foals had entered and thought what he should do. Finally he left the door ajar and called to nopony in particular on the alley.

“If you want to, we're making pizza. Come on in.”

Seek and found.

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Seek and found.

Nopony stepped in for the next hours. Gentle had left the door ajar just in case of course, but either did hear hooves, or did Scootaloo appear in the door of the kitchen. Honestly he had too much to do with the other foals in the kitchen, to worry about an additional one. Whereupon this would be unfair for the foal's.

Lily hadn't done anything bad, in contrary she just whispered with Slight or told, what she liked most as a pizza topping. Apart from that she answered in monosyllables and spoke just as she was asked point-blank. She enjoyed the time with the other foals, she smiled and tried to help everpony by their homework, as they needed help, but when it came to actually hold a conversation she was totally helpless and rather twisted her pigtails, than to start a talk.

Quite different to the other fillies.

Sweetie Belle spoke quite much. She was pestering Slight for answers while the colt did his best to dodge them. The filly was sensitive enough not to insist on answer the colt clearly didn't want to give.

Apple Bloom on the other hoof was chatty too, but focused on her own story, rather to ask many questions about Slight. She told quite so much about her family.

These talks were full of laughter and way too loud. Gentle didn't intervene to stop them, just calmed the foals down from time to time. He was way too happy to stop the happy foals and the damping spell he had put on the room had prevented, that Shining was disturbed by the loud foals. The stallion had welcomed the fillies, but had walked into his room shortly after that and had closed his door. Gentle knew, that three almost strange fillies were way to much to handle for him. So he had looked at him apologetic, but the other stallion just shrugged it of and smiled.

Gentle watched from time to time out of the kitchen window and saw Scootaloo on the alley. She started to approach the veranda with a trembling step, frowned in a matter of seconds and stopped, while she was drawing circles on the ground with her hoof. She pondered and rolled her head from one side to another. Then she scurried around like she was trying to take another steps forwards, but simply couldn't just do it. She rolled her eyes very bugged and turned around finally. She shrank away and drooped her head. She turned around immediately and looked entreating to the door, as she would plead for somepony to step out and met her halfway to bring her in.

Gentle didn't want to be that pony, he wouldn't dare to make a decision for her. This was something she had to do on her own, just she herself had to make this decision. No matter how sorry he felt for her, as she saw her pacing around, muttering to herself and finally standing still directly in front of the veranda. He sighed again, like every time she couldn't get herself to take the last step and turned around quickly instead. As she tried it for the last time, she was able to put her trembling hoof down on the first wooden stair. But before she took the next step, she spotted Gentle in the window and pouted. She turned around again and ran off.

As the smell of fresh baked pizza filled the neighbourhood, Scootaloo hadn't appeared after a short time of waiting at the door and wasn't visible in the alley at all, Gentle gave in and closed the door with a sigh. He returned to the kitchen and smiled.

“So, who wants pizza?”

The rest of the day passed by very quickly. The foals made their homework after lunch, talked a little bit and then it was time to go home already. Slight wanted to walk home all three of them, but Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle just shook their heads and ran off in two different directions. Lily on the other hoof was thankful for the company and spoke more on the way home, as she had in the hours before. She suggested among other things to pick Slight up from home, so he didn't get lost again. Gentle listened attentively and gave Slight an encouraging nod, so that he told the whole story. The stallion smiled finally and shook his head.

“You should pay more attention to where you're going, Slight.

I think it would be best, when you pick him up, Lily.

And if you want to, you can walk him home and stay with us anytime. “

Slight tried to reply something, but his friend just nodded, hugged him for a quick goodbye and closed the door quickly. A low squeak and another sound behind the door let the colt blush deeply. Gentle smiled and nuzzled him encouraging.

“You know, I do like Lily too.

She is a very nice filly.”

Slight looked down on his hooves and blushed even more. He skulked voiceless beside the smiling stallion back home.

Dad Star waited there with the supper. His daddies wanted to hear every little detail about him getting lost, about Rainbow Dash in particular, about Lily's rescue. As he told about his apology in front of the whole class and Cheerilee, they were smiling and nuzzling him, so he would forget this embarrassing event soon. He finished his story with Scootaloos arrival and yawned, as the filly in his memory was yawing too.

Dad Star fondled over mane, put him on his back and carried him in his room, as he had brushed his teeth.

“Who wants a bedtime story?”

Slight made a stretched out yawn and snuggled against his daddy's neck. The stallion took another step closer to the bed, but stopped quickly. Slight looked to his bed too and cocked his head confused. There was a bulge in the covers.

“What's that...”

Shining lightened up his horn and lifted the blanket with magic.

Gentle stayed back in the kitchen and waved his tail in an unheard rhythm. He was wearing headphones and listened to his favourite music, as he did the dishes. He loved Shinings singing and swayed in the rhythm of his music a soft smile on his face. He watched over the dishes with one eye, but wanted to abandon himself totally into the music... A hoof touched his shoulders and he turned his head to it very quickly. His coltfriend said something, but the smaller stallion couldn't understand anything and smiled clearly in love. Shining shook his head and took of the headphones with his own magic. He took a deep breath. Gentle spotted a strange expression on his face, as he started to speak. Confused and almost a little bit scared.

“You should follow me quickly, Gentle.

We've got a huge problem.”

Slight stood in his room and stared at the bed. Dad Star had said, that he should look out. That he should look out for her. He had sneaked away then and ran, as he had left the room. He had left him in his room alone with her. He fought back a yawn and stretched himself. This small sound let the small orange filly-ears tremble and Slight put both hooves over his mouth to cover every remaining sound. The filly on his bed smacked silently, snuggled herself closer into the pillow and nuzzled it with her nose. She nuzzled his pillow with her nose! In his bed! The colt thought about that for a while and pouted finally. He approached the bed and lifted a hoof. He wanted to touch her, wanted to push her away.

Away from his pillow.

He yawned again and rubbed his eyes. Instead of using the hoof to touch her, he used it to climb on the bed. Or so he tried it at least. Orange light were catching him, before he was able to snuggle against the filly and he was lay down on someponys back. Dad Star turned his head and frowned at him.

“This is my bed, Dad Star, so why?”

A hoof fondled gently over his mane and Daddy Gentle whispered.

“You're right, Slight.

But how would you feel, if you wake up and somepony else...”

The filly in the bed frowned and her ears flapped once. She grabbed the pillow, to Slights growing irritation and covered her ears with it so she wouldn't have to hear any more words She sniffed under the pillow and it seemed, that she noticed the different smell just right now. Her back legs twitched and she brushed the pillow away. Her right eye opened slowly, but her left eye stayed closed and she looked around slowly. She made a long lasting yawn and raised her head away from the pillow. She stared to Shining, rubbed her eyes and looked then to Gentle. her eyes stayed at him for a while, as she needed a moment to understand where she was and what the other stallions did in her assumed bedroom. She stared confused into the stallions face. Gentle smiled slowly and cocked his head then. Shining next to him licked his lips and had to bit them in an effort to silence any bad word.

“Hello there, Scootaloo.”

Gentle couldn't say much more, as the filly leaped up, poked around and noticed, that it had became night already. She tried to jump of the bed and do a runner, but Gentle shook his head slowly. He blocked her path out of the room and spoke up a little bit.

“Don't run away!”

He stopped her with a gentle hoof on her shoulder. The filly froze indeed and trembled a little bit, but stood submissively still in front of the stallion. She drooped her ears and looked down on her circle drawing hooves.

“I...I...I..”

Much more didn't come over her lips. She dropped her head too and closed her eyes.

“What are you doing here, by Celestia ?”

Shining's loud voice let the filly squint her eyes and she ducked her head even more. Gentle sighed and turned to his coltfriend. The stallion stared to the filly and stamped demanding with his right hoof on the ground. This thud opened the fillys eyes again and she flinched away.

“Answer me...”

“Shining, that enough, don't you think?”

Gentle interrupted his friend with a really low whisper, as he saw the expression in Scootaloo's face. The filly stared at him, suppliant and with tears in the corner of her weary eyes. Gentle took a deep breath and turned his head around to the stallion.

“Maybe you should bring Slight in our bed, since...”

Scootaloo made a sudden yelp and pranced aside. She looked to the colt, who had snuggled deeply into the neck of Shining and had almost fallen asleep. She tried to whisper an apology.

“I didn't want to...”

Shining snorted, but Gentle shook simply his head. He pointed at the door behind him.

“We could go in the living room, if you promise me, not to run away, until we have spoken, do you promise me that?”

Shining snorted again and the filly shied away a step more. Gentle glanced at his friend and the older stallion sighed. He took a deep breath and put on a fake smile. Scootaloo avoided his glance and shied back against the bed.

She stammered something.

“I just wanted to...wanted to..”

The filly yawned and she rubbed her eyes again. She nodded slowly and staggered to the door. She walked as far away from Shining as possible and stared firmly at her unstable hooves. Gentle nodded too and led the filly slowly out of the room.

“Just put Slight to bed and...uhm...”

He couldn't speak more words, since now a little filly cuddled up to him. Scootaloo laid her trembling head on his side. Gentle shared a quick puzzled glance with Shining, who looked back with a more irritated expression. Finally he nodded and winked encouraging to the younger stallion. Gentle entered the living room hesitantly, a trembling filly snuggled deeply into him and with thousand thoughts in his mind.

Why does she cuddle up to him? Why has she hide herself in Slight's bed?

Why...why...

He shook away the thoughts and led the filly to the chair. As they finally arrived he pushed her gently on it and sat down on the couch in the opposite of it. The filly sighed and laid her head on her folded front legs. She looked over her hooftips to the stallion and opened her mouth. Before she was able to speak, her stomach growled and she blushed.

“Well, you should eat first, then we will talk.”

Scootaloo nodded and Gentle stood up. He left the room and opened the kitchen door. Before he went in, he turned his head around and locked the front door with his magic. Gentle sighed, as he levitated the key out of the lock and took it with him into the kitchen. Just in case.

He prepared a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, levitated an apple from the basket of Granny Smith and took finally a package of juice out of the fridge. As he did the sandwiches, he tried to mumble around the right questions, but every one seemed to become harsher and harsher, so he shook his head finally.

“Why are you...what did you want to...have you any idea how dif...”

The stallion sighed and levitated two glasses on the tray. He took another deep breath and returned to the living room with the food .

Scootaloo stood in front of the window, with a raised hoof and froze in motion, or had she been standing there the whole time since he had left? She didn't made the impression of having been caught doing something wrong, but rather of being uncertain about what she should do. As she saw Gentle, she turned her head away from him and snuffled. One of her hooves rubbed over her eyes,took something with it and a sob escaped her throat finally.

“I just don't know, why I came back here.

I...I've been...”

Gentle put the tray on the table and laid down beside the couch. He looked to the filly, cocked his head and smiled gently.

“I mean...I...you...This...”

Gentle's look stayed on the stammering filly. The stallion didn't say anything, but laid his head down on his hooves. The filly paced around in the room, approached, flinched away again. She sought out some safety in the corners of the room, approached, flinched away again. Mumbled inaudible words, approached, flinched away again. She trembled on the way closer, sobbed as she flinched away, like she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do right now. She rubbed away tears from her eyes time and again and seemed lost herself in the conflicting emotions, as she pranced back and fourth.

“I...c...c...can't...”

Gentle sighed, as her voice died off finally. He looked away, turned his head and laid it down on his neck, he even closed his eyes. Now he just could hear the pacing of the filly in front of him. She mumbled and her sobs became louder and louder. She argued with herself.

“That's just silly.

I c...c...can't...I...”

Her hooves ended their pacing right in front of him and the voice sounded so thready and almost broken, that he had to cock his ears to understand her.

“I..I'm afraid.

And I want you to...l...hug me!”

The filly jumped forwards into a trembling hug, she put her hooves tight around his neck and buried her face deep into his coat. She sobbed and had to sit on her back legs to stay where she was. They were hitting the ground like they had a mind on their own and were trying to flee. Gentle took a deep breath, opened his eyes and raised his head. He tried to free his hooves, but the filly was anxious to hold them down, that he simply couldn't move them.

“I...please hold me.

Don't hurt me please...”

The last sentence painfully tone let the filly tremble even more.

He laid his head on the sobbing filly and nudged her gently. His back legs stood up and he lifted the filly slowly with his magic, so his fore legs were able to stand up too. The filly didn't notice it, she was just sobbing into his chest. Gentle watched over the filly for a long time, she trembled very hard and snuggled herself almost entreating into his coat.

“Please...please...”

She sounded so desperate, that he couldn't continue to do nothing. He raised slowly and hesitantly both fore hooves and hugged the filly.

“Sch...everything is going to be fine.

I'm here.”

Now the filly sobbed even louder and snuggled closer into his chest.

“I...I don't know why I...”

She wailed much louder than before and Gentle sighed heavily. He whispered and fondled over her head.

“There is no reason why, you know.

Sometimes all what we want is somepony to look after you.”

Scootaloo raised her head and sobbed. She dried her eyes on Gentle's coat and tried to suppress more tears.

“I don't want to.

I don't want to be so weak.

That's...that's so em...”

Gentle smiled, as the filly sobbed again and wasn't able to speak more.

“I won't tell anypony, I promise.”

He pushed her head gently back on his chest and she wept against it, snuggled closer and sobbed for a few minutes. Gentle tried to brush her gently aside, as her breath calmed down, but the filly mumbled a few words and snuggled closer. She had fallen asleep again and Gentle sighed. The filly was easy to wake up again, but her state of mind wouldn't change so easily and she was surely exhausted from all of this. He took a deep breath, tried to levitate her away from his neck, but she didn't let go. So he had to lay down on the couch and just stick with her. He levitated a blanket over her and tugged her gently in. He shook his head and turned of the light. He wanted to watch over her sleep and stay awake for her, so he cast a spell to do so. Anyway she clutched herself so firmly at him that he wouldn't fall asleep so easily, but better prepared, than sorry..

Shining had tucked Slight in, had told him an extra long bedtime story, had changed the covers of his pillow and had done everything, that he would feel comfortable in his bed.

“I wouldn't mind, if she had asked me.”

Shining smiled, as he heard Slights mumbling and nodded.

“Of course, Slight.

Lovely dreams and sleep tight.”

He kissed the colt on the forehead and re-tucked his blanket again. Finally he sneaked out of the room. He sought for his friend and found him on the couch in the living room. The sleeping little filly snuggled closely to him and the older stallion sighed. He whispered so low, that only Gentle would hear him.

“Well, that's escalated quickly, Gentle Light.

You know how to leave a mark on a foal.”

He sighed again and Gentle glared at him. He sighed too and whispered an answer.

“She was seeking desperately for somepony like me, Shining.”

The other stallion snorted and cracked his tail once. This had an immediately effect on the filly, she snuggled closer into Gentle embrace and released a slightly suppressed sob.

“I...we shall talk about it tomorrow, Gentle.

I should...look out for her...uhm.

Parents I guess?”

Gentle sighed and shook his head. He examined the little filly for a long time and finally raised a hoof. He laid it gently around her shoulder and pulled her closer into his embrace.

“Nopony will care whether I stay or not.

Could it be that she meant more than just... you know... her staying yesterday?”

Both stallions fell silent and looked at the filly. She trembled shortly and cuddled closer to the stallion.

The morning after.

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The morning after.

Slight listened to the sound of his own breathing and snuffled on the pillow, as his dad had left the room finally. It smelled fresh washed and there was a light hint of smell from daddy Gentle as well. He sighed eased, nuzzled the covers with his nose and sniffed again. He turned to the door and looked to it.

“Why had she slept in my bed after all?”

He mumbled with a low voice and yawned. He glanced to the door and snuggled closer into the covers. He fell asleep finally and dreamed.

Shining laid alone in the huge bed and tossed and turned around from one side to another. He tried to feel around for the pillow from Gentle, wanted to catch the odour of the younger stallion, but the pillow wasn't quite as cuddly, as a warm body would be. He snorted and tuned around again.

“I thought, we had passed this, Gentle Light.

I mean, Slight don't have any more nightmares and slept in his own bed.”

He sighed again and drew the blanket over his head with a glim of his horn. It took a few minutes of tossing and turning, but he fell asleep too. He clutched deeply into the pillow of his coltfriend and nuzzled it over and over.

Gentle didn't be as lucky as the sleeping stallion. He laid aside a steady breathing filly, who didn't let him go and nuzzled him, as he was a warm extra huge stuffed animal. The stallion gazed at the filly,cocked his head and smiled at her attempts to cuddle closer at him, but appeared to be worried at the same time. The filly grappled his embracing hoof so hard and pressed it so closely at herself to make sure, that he couldn't lay a hoof on her, while she was sleeping.

Then she pulled it away and approached closely to the stallion and tried to clutch herself firmer into his embrace. She did both without waking up and her trembling self seemed to need protection in her dreams for somebody, or something. Gentle tried to look her over to see if she had new bruises or other injuries, beside the one he already knew, but he couldn't spot any new ones. He couldn't lean over her otherwise, because she ducked herself closer under him, as she felt his warm breath on the coat. He stopped and sighed finally. This should wait till morning, when the filly would wake up.

The night passed by for the four ponies in a different way.

Shining's night was over very quickly as the alarm rang and woke him up.

Slights waking call was way gentler. A hoof fondled away the last dream and Dad Stars voice woke him.

“Slight, please wake up.

You should get up.”

They were trying to check on the ponies in the living room, but Scootaloo slept still and Gentle shook his head slowly, so Shining closed the door again. He cast a damping spell ion the door and prepared the breakfast for Slight. They were leaving the house after breakfast and Shining accompanied the fillies on the way to school.

Gentle didn't wake up, but startled out of his thoughts, as Scootaloo woke up. The filly snapped her eyes open and raised her head quickly, as she woke up. She felt the hoof around her shoulders and scooted away from Gentle with a surprised yelp. She looked at him with wide eyes. The filly raised a trembling hoof and rubbed away the sleep in her eyes, one after the other. She didn't let slip the the open eye from Gentle. The stallion smiled hesitantly and laid still on place.

Scootaloo looked around and spotted finally the trail with the food. She looked very famished to it and her stomach growled, but she didn't move forward. She just stared at the sandwiches with a watered mouth. Gentle smiled and levitated the apple to her, but she shied away from the hovering fruit and tried to jump on her hooves.

“It won't bite you, you know.”

Gentle laid the apple slowly on the couch and cocked his head. Scootaloo needed a little while to leave the corner of the couch. She examined the lying apple very carefully, but finally her hunger took over her and she grabbed it. She raved it down with seeds and stem in a matter of seconds and Gentle cocked his head further with a gentle smile on it. The filly leaned over to the sandwiches and tried to pull one off the plate with her mouth, but she couldn't reach one. She wanted to stand up, but Gentle levitated one in front of her. This time she grabbed it quickly and raved it even faster than the apple.

“If you want to I can make you a few new sandwiches.

They're laying here since yesterday. Surely they are....”

Scootaloo shook her head and said something throughout her munching mouth.

“No, they're enough for me.

Really.

They're great.”

As she swallowed the last bit of it, she looked to the plate again and trembled a little bit. Gentle sighed and levitated another one, but Scootaloo didn't take it. She crawled closer to the stallion and looked to the glass and the juice on the trail. She licked her lips and the stallion nodded. First he wanted to pour in a sip, but he waited for something.

“May I get some juice, please.”

She whispered and drew circles on the sofa with one hoof. Gentle nodded and poured one glass for himself too. Both drank a sip and breathed relived out in unison. A muted sound from the door woke both ponies from this moment of peace and Scootaloo jumped onto her hooves. She mumbled a few words and avoided Gentle's eyes as she did.

“I...I should go home right now...”

Gentle raised a hoof and laid it gently on Scootaloo's shoulder. The filly shut her eyes close and trembled, but crawled back on the couch.

“We shall talk before you leave, as you have promised, don't you think?”

Gentle's words had an unwanted effect on the filly. She sobbed quickly and ducked her head. The stallion cleared his throat and hugged her with one hoof. He leaned his head forward and nuzzled her once. She froze in place first and cringed then. She struggled under his hoof and banged her head against his nose finally. She broke free and jumped quickly back on the hooves. Gentle drew back and squealed upset. Scootaloo jumped from the sofa, and ran towards the door where she was greeted by somepony stepping into her way. A tall stallion stormed into the room calling out loudly.

“What's happening here?

Why are you screaming, Gentle.

Whoa, just hold your horseshoes, short stuff.”

Scootaloo tried to gallop through his legs, but Shining was way to fast for her. He crossed his front legs and blocked her way out. First she tried to break through, tried to push past on the sides, finally she had to give up, panted heavily and shied away from the stallion. Gentle stood up slowly and looked to the both ponies on the door. He rubbed his nose, saw that he bled, the hit was so strong? He levitated a tissue and placed it on the nose. Finally he approached the door.

“What's just happening here, Gentle?”

Shining's voice sounded so harsh, that the smaller stallion dropped his head and his ears went flat. The effect on Scootaloo was way worse, she ducked down, raised both front hooves and tried to protect her face with them. Gentle sighed and lifted the trembling filly with his magic. He levitated the scared little filly back to the couch, in fact he was so gentle, that she didn't even notice it, until she was lay down again. She looked around very confused and sought for the smaller stallion. Both were standing at the door and the Gentle whispered to Shining.

“I think, I have frightened her.

I'm sorry, Shining, but...”

“Are you serious, Gentle?

You have no reason to ask for my forgiveness.

The filly...”

Again Shining wasn't aware, how much his angry tone would hurt and frightened Scootaloo, but his friend knew and stopped him with one hoof. He turned around and faced Scootaloo, who ducked down behind her hooftipps and trembled again.

“This isn't helping, Shining.”

The other stallion snorted and took a deep breath. He stamped his hoof on the ground and glanced firmly at the filly. She shied away more and sighed.

“We put her in, let her sleep here and you were even here for her the whole damn night.

So...”

“Thanks...”

The voice sounded low and Shining's face softened instantly. He smiled to the filly on the couch, who had raised her head and looked to them with wide eyes. He spotted a few tears in the corners of her eyes, nodded finally and turned halfway around.

“There we go.

I will go and won't disturb you any more.

Cheerilee has told me, where your...foster...”

Scootaloo sighed again and dropped her head slowly. She sobbed again and rubbed her eyes with one hoof. The stallions looked at each other for a few seconds and Shining cleared his throat.

“I don't want to embarrass you, short stuff.

But we have to tell them, where you are and that you're okay, you know?”

“They don't care!”

This cry echoed through the house and startled the birds outside, it was so loud. Gentle looked to Scootaloo, who was chewing on her lips and then to Shining, who just shrugged his shoulders and turned around totally.

“Anyhow, I will tell them and you two...do, whatever you had planned, Gentle.”

Gentle sighed and closed the door, as his coltfriend had left. He returned slowly to the couch and looked directly into Scootaloo's frowning face, who turned her head away and shut her eyes closed, as he stood directly in front of the couch. He laid down on the couch as far as possible and poured more juice in his glass. The sound of this woke Scootaloo again and she looked to the glass.

“Could I please...”

Scootaloo's low voice sounded friendlier and more vulnerable than before. So he levitated the glass to Scootaloo and she caught it with both hooves, but she didn't drink. Instead she looked to the stallion's nose and sighed.

“I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you.

But...”

She turned the glass in her hooves, examined the juice for a while and seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

“Are you alright, Scootaloo?”

This question brought her back and she just shook her head. Again tears were gathering in her eyes and the first fell down into her juice.

“No.”

She shivered and sobbed. Gentle crawled closer and raised a hoof. He laid it around the shoulder of the sobbing filly and pulled her gently closer. She leaned her head on his side and squeaked.

“I...I just want...”

“Somepony, who looks out for you and cares about you?”

The filly nodded and took a deep breath. She clenched her teeth, but spoke along and snuggled reserved against the stallion.

“They offer a place where I can stay.

They leave something to eat for me and even buy everything I need,

but... when I need them they are never around.

They... don't care when I don't get home at night.

They have never given me a hug.”

Her lament went lower and painfuller, as longer she complained and as she came to the last sentence, she pressed her sobbing head firmly into the stallion's coat. Gentle took a deep breath, pulled the filly closer with both hooves and hugged her. The filly sighed relieved and lifted her own trembling hooves, to return the hug.

“Maybe they are afraid to hurt you.”

His explanation was interrupted by another sob and the filly even wailed. As she did, she rubbed her face on Gentle's chest and it looked like she shook her head.

“They...they don't ask me once in whole time, how I feel.

They don't care!”

Gentle held her for while and stroke her mane gently. He looked her over and tried to estimate, what she had encountered, to be that hurt, bt it was confusing at best.

“Why do you need foster parents in the first place?”

He whispered the question, but Scootaloo raised her head in shock and stared at him red eyed. She opened her mouth and rubbed more gathering tears away. She chewed on her lips, as it would help to avoid the answer. Gentle looked directly in her eyes and stayed that way, as long, as she waited. Finally Scootaloo sobbed and gave up. She shut her eyes close and answered.

“Father was...a dickhead.”

Scootaloo's home.

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Scootaloo's home.

Shining walked slowly on the streets of Ponyville. His face was expressionless and he ignored everypony else who crossed his path. After they greeted him and asked a few unanswered questions, they shrugged and didn't try to talk more with him. Shining's eyes were scanning every house he passed by, compared they with each other and shook his head finally.

“Two pillars and a bunch of flowers on a balcony.”

He recalled the description of the house, who Cheerilee had given and sighed. Shining looked around and shook his head again. Neither of the houses looked like it in the slightest.

“What are you looking for?”

A raspy voice let him winch and he looked around. Down on the ground was nopony, so he looked up into the sky. There hovered head first and grinning a blue mare. He recognised her of course, Rainbow Dash. He just didn't know her because of the afore mention by Slight, or from the stories about her Sonic Rainboom. He had met her actually in Canterlot. He shook away the memory of her first encounter and a hint of a smile returned to his face again.

“I'm looking for Scootaloos ho...”

The mare stopped him mid sentence and flew quickly direct for his face. Shining flinched a few steps away and his smile faded quickly.

“Why?

What's up with her?

Have you got a problem with her?”

Rainbow spoke up first, but as she came to the last sentence, she changed her tone into a much cooler one. Shining raised both front hooves very appeasing and shied one step more away.

“No, really I don't. It's just...what have you to do with her?

I thought her foster parents are...”

The mare landed in front of him and blocked his way with her body. The stallion shied away again and stayed away from her. Rainbow cracked her tail once and frowned. But this didn't change the stone expression on Shining's face in the slightest.

“I'm her honorary sister.”

She almost whispered the word honorary, as she saw the inquiring look on Shining's face. But it changed quickly into another expression. The stallion approached her and a hint of anger appeared on his face.

“Do you know thereof?”

Rainbow stood still in front of Shining, cocked her head and squinted her eyes to slits. She raised a hoof and wanted to lay it against the stallions chest, but he flinched away one step more.

“Thereof? Whereof exactly?”

Shining looked directly in her eyes and tried to rumble her and after a few moments of voiceless starring he sighed. He stepped aside and walked pass her.

“When she didn't tell you already, I have no rights to tell you otherwise.

Uhm actually, I can tell you one thing. The short stuff had gone through a very tough time and it effected her even now.”

Rainbow took a hissing breath between her compressed lips and blocked his path again. She snapped at him and put a hoof on his chest.

“What do you mean?

That she can't fly?

What do you care?”

Shining laid his own hoof on Rainbow's and tried to push it down. But she didn't let him and opened her mouth again.

“Why should a unicorn, I don't know, be so...”

Shining snapped back and flinched one step away. He rubbed slowly over his chest and kept back from the mare.

“I would prefer, if you...”

Rainbow leaped after him and came way to close for his taste. She raised her hoof again and spat at him.

“You know it's funny.

A strange stallion tells me such crap and...”

She prodded him with the hoof and opened her wings halfway to cow him, but the stallion stood his ground this time. Shining slapped her hoof away and gave her a glance, that could easily describe as angry, but there was a hint of fear in his voice, as he answered.

“I would prefer, if you don't touch me like you did.”

There was a squeak in his voice, who sounded nearly panic fuelled and Rainbow cocked her head. The stallion breathed in and out very stressed and shied away one more step. This time Rainbow stayed where she was and looked at the stallion very carefully.

“I...I...okay...”

Finally he was easing up so he could speak.

“I just know, that the filly had slept in our home this night.

And I have to tell her foster...”

Rainbow raised her hoof and cleared her throat. She took a deep breath and tried to speak, without to shout.

“What do you mean foster parents?”

She sounded much calmer and seemed to pick up her courage again. Shining on the other hoof get louder after her question and glanced at her.

“She hadn't told you?”

“I've never asked. The squirt is a little bit well quiet about her family, you know?”

The mare avoided his glance and her hooves drew lines on the ground. This calmed down the stallion and he sighed. He nodded and a guarded smile returned on his face again.

Shining stepped aside the mare and whispered.

“Maybe we can lift the fog a little bit more.”

Rainbow grimaced and looked surprised to Shining. She didn't seem to expect a weather allegory from him. She took a smile back on her face, but it faded away quickly.

“I think it would be...not a bad idea, but her uhm foster parents didn't know me.”

The mare sighed and turned around. She jogged slowly and musing on the way and mumbled inaudible word scraps now and then. Shining nodded and followed her lead. His gaze stayed on the mare and he spotted her shivering wings. This was something he know from Slight, it was a sign for fear, or other suppressed feelings.

“Do you think, I should have seen it?”

This question was finally able to leave Rainbow's mouth and the stallion caught up with her quickly. He thought for a while and saw, the longer he thought it threw, the more Rainbow dropped her head and slowed down.

“I don't think so. She seemed to look out for somepony and my coltfriend is what she found as a pony she trusts. How long are you her honorary sister?”

Rainbow sighed and pondered. She stopped walking and lifted a wing.

“It's six weeks ago, since we were on a field trip to Winsome Falls. There I had told here, that I will take her under my wing. Right after that, I uhm, well...”

She cleared her throat and turned her head away. She sighed and grinned weakly.

“I was accepted b the Wonderbolts and had to train in the academy and was way too...

Let's put it that way, I have asked her just three weeks ago, what she would like to do with me.”

Shining nodded and cleared his throat too. He just whispered.

“And she hadn't told you, because she didn't want to be the party pooper, I think.”

The mare looked at him and nodded. She looked away again and pointed to a house in front of them. It matched the description from Cheerilee and Shining nodded.

“I was here once, but her foster parents weren't and I had no clue.”

As she spoke the word foster, she almost sounded angry. Her anger didn't stay for long, but was replaced by a very long sigh.

“It's not your fault, okay? Fillies could be very good in hiding something, especially when they love or admire the pony they hide it for. I dare say, that Scootaloo didn't want, that you find out what she has to deal with.”

The mare snorted and flapped her wings twice to take off. But she stopped mid air and flew back to him.

“What should I do now?

I mean, you have heard from Scootaloo's problems, but...”

The stallion shook his head very quickly and looked directly in Rainbow's eyes. He sounded way lower then before and a very hesitant smile returned on his face.

“You know her. What would she expect you to do?”

Rainbow hovered in the air for while and thought. Shining saw in her face, that she pondered many options, one after the other and became more and more displeased in the process.

“Ugh, I'm not an egghead! I don't know what she wants. She wanted, that I took her under my wing, but didn't tell me that she has foster parents?

That's confusing. Dammit. I...should ask Twilight, what to do, eventually she...”

She flew away right now, without even bother to say goodbye and the stallion sighed. Now another pony would be pulled into this affair and it was a princess of all ponies. But he simply couldn't call the mare off it, or could he?

He shook his head and approached the house. He glanced over the clean windows, the well groomed flower boxes and to the curtains, who were blocking every insight of the house, before he knocked on the door. First nopony answered, but as he knocked for the second time, he heard noises behind the door and at first a low, but becoming quickly louder voice answered.

“Yes...yes...I'm coming.”

Hooves galloped to the door and opened it quickly. Shining stood face to face with an earthpony mare, who either woke up right now, or had the messiest and stringiest mane he had ever seen. The mint green tips stood in the air like a hedgehog. Her orange coat wasn't in its best shape either, partly messed up with milk and other things he didn't want to know more about. A pacifier firmly tucked behind his ears and her green eyes looked like she hadn't slept in days, or just for a few minutes every night. Multiple dark circles around the eyes were greeting him, but her smile was almost a genuine.

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

Shining listened and caught a quiet laughter from the back of the mare. A dark red baby foal crawled around on her back and looked shyly to him, but shied away, as he spotted her. He smiled and waved friendly at her and get a shyly wave as an answer. His smile softened and he bowed his head.

“I'm Shining Star.”

He stopped after this introduction and grinned again, as the foal babbled and the mare gently fondled over her mane.

“Sch...Red Beet, we want to chat a little bit.

So, my name is Tangleweed and what can I do for you?”

The foal answered with more babbling and giggled again, as the mare fondled over her head and put the pacifier in her mouth. The foal smacked pleased and Shining couldn't stop smiling. He took a deep breath and focused on the mare again.

“I have to talk about Scootaloo.”

The mention of the filly put back a serious expression on the face of the mare and she sighed. Her voice sounded very bugged and she frowned.

“What had she done?

I swear she is making...”

Shining stopped her and shook his head. He spoke low and calm.

“Actually I wanted to tell you, that she had stayed the night in our home and, well.

She had told us, that she had nopony who cares about her.”

The mare breathed in disgusted and stomped her hoof on the ground. Her voice fastened up and the foal on her back startled. Tears were gathering in her great eyes and she tried to nestle against the neck of her mum to calm herself down.

“So, filly-close-lip and pout-never-tell has told you this?”

The stallion raised both hooves and tried to be pacifying, but the mare shook her head and started to sob. Tears were gathering in her eyes and she galloped into the house. The baby foal sensed her discomposure and joined into the crying too. Shining looked after the mare and followed her, as she didn't close the door. He closed it by himself and looked around. The corridor was a little bit messy, but not quite as much, as he would feel uncomfortable about it. Yes the many diaper packages and a few dirty towels were odd, but he could easily step over them. He walked closer into the house and tried to hear, where the mare had run. He heard her loud yelling coming out of one room and he winced slightly.

“This filly is just...just a hoofful. She hadn't told us anything about her problems in the whole time she stayed here. We have tried to speak with her, before Red was born and assure her, that she would stay anyway...but she...”

A sob stopped her stammering and the baby foal cried even louder. Shining followed the louder and than lower crying of the foal into a kitchen who had seen better days. Everywhere were dirty plates, at the table in the centre stood dirty bowls, bottles of milk and juice, bred and a plate with tanned apple slices. The smaller chair in front of it was Scootaloos ones and the breakfast didn't look cheap. A bottle full of orange juice, the apples and a bowl of cereals were standing there. But with the mess on the table it didn't look like it was very homelike and one thing made it even worse.

A wall of diaper packages and baby food looked like a border in the middle of the table and separated a group of two grown up and one baby chair from Scootaloo's seat. Whether aware or unaware, this set a harsh statement. Shining looked to the sink, full with dirty dishes and spotted a dozen empty delivering boxes of pizza on the stove. Considering one thing was clear. The mare had problems. The stallion sighed and opened his mouth, but Tangleweed hadn't finished. She rocked her baby in her hooves very carefully.

“And the filly didn't do anything...anything to thank our efforts.

Well she didn't mess up her own room, so...”

Her voice died away, as she made just more accusations. The mare leaned her sobbing face against her filly and took a deep breath. The foal laid her tiny hooves around her head and nestled closely into her cheek. Both calmed down slowly, while Shining looked around in the kitchen again. He approached the mare and smiled understanding. This calmed the mare finally down completely and she raised her head.

“I'm sorry. I haven't slept well for days.

I...”

Shining nodded and laid gently a hoof on her side. He pushed her gently to a chair and she sighed as she sat down.

“I can understand.

Just why did you house Scootaloo in the first place, when it looks like that?”

The mare looked to the stallion and rubbed away tears from her face. She whispered and rocked the babbling foal in her hooves again.

“We wanted a foal, badly, but it never worked.

So we tried to adopt one, but we have to take her in as foster parents first, to see, if we are able to handle one.

Scootaloo was our first foster child ever, but my stallion had thought it would be easier. So he worked overtime now to avoid her. And after Red was born and surprised us all, well. She wasn't home quite often and we hadn't...asked her about... But I couldn't say her, that she should leave and send her back where she had come from. She isn't a pet!”

The mare sounded harried and sobbed at her last sentence. She shut her eyes closed and fondled over the giggling foal.

“I really wanted to take care of her. Really!”

She averred the last word and sighed. She glanced over the mess in the kitchen and looked than back to the foal.

“But Red needed me more and...I...”

She sat the foal into the baby chair aside her and looked to Scootaloo's chair. Shining nodded and looked around again. He glanced over the mess of plates, over the not eaten breakfast and saw a brown paper back beside it. He nodded again and his eyes softened. Shining took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“Maybe...it would be the best, when Scootaloo stayed at our place for a while.”

The mare raised her head and for a short moment was a thankful expression on her face, but it changed quickly into a worried one.

“But I didn't know you. I'm responsible for her and who says, that you and your mare would be able...”

Shining took a deep breath and sighed again.

“My coltfriend.”

Tangleweed took a deep breath and her frowned for a second. But as she spoke again, she sounded quite normal.

“This isn't much better, you know. Scootaloo isn't here quite often, but one thing I do know about her.

She is afraid of stallions and this tend to make Thornapple uhm...He is disappointed, because he couldn't bring Scootaloo...”

The mare stopped and looked to Scootaloo's seat again. In her face were shortly a pitying expression and had to close her eyes to suppress more tears.

“Well who can blame him, when she didn't do anything to thank us. First we thought it would become better soon. But as she didn't come out of her shell and she even didn't return for nights and didn't say where she was. Well first he yelled at her, then he grounded her, but this made it worse. She became just more contumaciously and she get way more quieter...”

She mare spoke faster and harsher, but as the foal started to wail again, she put both hoof in front of her mouth and nuzzled the foal to calm her down. Shining nodded and smiled apologetic. He stroke his mane with one hoof and cleared his throat. Again he looked around in the room and sighed.

“How about, we speak with her and try to...”

Tnagleweed frowned and forced a smile back on her face. Her voice sounded much more harsher than before and stomped her hoof on the ground again.

“Of course she wanted to be with Rainbow Dash instead!

But this mare has just air between her ears.”

The voice sounded angrier and Shining his head inquiring. The mare didn't disappoint him.

“She is just a bad influence, you know.

She had encourage her to do dangerous tricks on her scooter.”

There was worry, who made her voice very thin. Shining smiled gently, as the mare looked again to the small chair and the worry glimmered shortly in her eyes. He nodded and licked his lips.

“Alright, I get it. You don't think, that Rainbow Dash would be a good foster parent.

But how about, when we take care of her in a daily bases and you can come visit us anytime you want. You're responsible for her, as long as you want to but you get some time to pick up your courage and we could see, if Scootaloo wants to stay with us instead. She doesn't move in totally now, we are just...”

“A lifeline for a mare, who couldn't handle the simple task of getting her home clean?”

She snorted, but Shinings disarming smile, calmed her angry tone. He shook his head.

“No way. We're just friends, who are willing to help, when we see, that a mare would need some rest.”

The mare opened her mouth, but closed it again. She nodded and answered much more friendly, than ever before and even smiled.

“Well, okay. But we have to speak with her officer, so...”

Shining nodded, smiled and chocked his head. The mare sighed relieved and galloped out of the room. She seemed to search for something in another room and made such noises. Shining looked to the baby foal, who gazed at him for a long time and started to babble. The stallion smiled gently and cooed to her.

“You're keeping your Mummy very busy, don't you?

Well we'll relive a little burden from her...”

He stopped and looked to Scootaloo's chair again. He frowned a little bit and sighed.

“Slight, well he might be displeased with this.

Now he has to share Gentle with another filly...”

He stopped again, as the mare returned with a baby sling in front of her chest and smiled shyly to the stallion.

“Now, we should go.”

Shining sighed and raised his shoulders. He cleared his throat and took on a firm expression.

“We should pick up my coltfriend and Scootaloo as well.

It would be unfair, if she just has to deal with our decision and can't say what she wants to do.”

The mare looked to Scootaloo's seat one last time, grappled the paper back with her mouth and nodded.

School, Questions and Spies.

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School, Questions and Spies.

Slight focussed on the book on his desk and tried to listen to the low voice behind him. Lilly read a chapter from the Little Lord Sorrel and he listened to her low or even whispered voice and tried to understand in which sentence she was. But Sweetie Belle didn't let him and leaned over to him.

“Do you know, what's wrong with Scootaloo?”

She whispered her question direct into his twitching ears and Miss Cheerilee cleared her throat. She glanced over the whole class and looked finally to Slight and Sweetie Belle. The filly ducked her head quickly back behind her book and blushed. Slight ducked her head too and pressed his ears against his head. The mare smiled gently and nodded.

First he looked puzzled, but as Lilly had already stopped her reading and he understand, He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. He slid down of his seat and closed the eyes shortly. But the first sentence of the next chapter appeared in his mind and he started to read. First he was very low, but raised his voice quickly. As he came to the first dialogue between the characters, he sounded clearly and calm, very well audible in the whole classroom. He read the words slowly and very well emphasised. As he spoke the old Earl of Studdincourt he changed his voice into a grand, old tone with a clear old accent. As he answered as his grandfoal, he changed into a way more usual and gentle voice. Finally he raised his tone, as the pegasus colt tried to...

A little bounce stopped the reading and he turned quickly over to the source with a surprised yelp. Diamond Tiara had pushed her book from her desk and glared at him with a grumpy expression on her face, but the other foals in the class gaped with wide eyes. He rubbed his nose astonished and shook his head.

Cheerilee cleared her throat to get his attention. So he quickly turned around and looked back to her. She smiled gently and he blushed.

“You knew the story already, didn't you Slight?”

He bit his lips and nodded quickly. Cheerilee stood up and smiled friendly. She approached his desk and glanced over the gaping school foal behind him.

“You're very good in reading.

Perhaps you should think about a reading hour with your favourite stories. This could be a nice class project, don't you think?”

The colt blushed more and squeaked an incomprehensible answer. The mare sighed again and pointed at his seat. He sat down quite quickly, hid his head behind his book and tried just to listen. A whisper behind him let him blush even more and he turned around.

“That was great, Slight.”

Lilly whispered and had stretched her neck wide to reach his ears. She smiled gently and the colt blushed deep red right now. Sweetie Belle started to read very slowly and tried to follow his lead, but she wasn't quite as god as him. Slight sensed a few glances on his back and tried to look at the staring foals, but as he did, they looked away and hid behind their books. Three fillies stared at him in the end.

Lilly, who glanced at him time and again. As she saw, that he looked at her, she hid herself behind her book and started to twist her pigtails. Next to her were sitting two earthponies, everony of them had a strange grin on the face. Slight stroked his mane nervously and opened his mouth.

“Slight!”

Cheerilee whispered admonition stopped Slight and he turned around quickly. Diamond Tiara's snicker made him duck down. The last hours went quickly and the school turned into a mess of running foals, as the bell rang. Slight ran out of the schoolhouse too, but he couldn't run away, as two fillies caught him and stopped him downstairs.

They stared at him. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at him and expected an answer from him.

“Lilly had heard, that your Dad wanted to talk about her with Cheerilee.

So do you know what happens to Scootaloo?”

Their question sounded again in his head and he sighed. Their eyes didn't soften, but were more pestering. He started to drew lines on the ground to gain some time, but it was futile. They wouldn't let him go, nor would they take any kind of excuse.

“I...well, she...”

Sweetie Belle raised her hoof and tried to put it gently around Slight's shoulders, but he flinched away quickly and stammered.

“I don't know, if I'm allowed to tell you.”

Sweetie's hoof stopped midway in the air and she stared confused to the smaller pegasus. Apple Bloom seemed to be confused too, but was able to say something.

“What do you mean?

Is she hurt or somethin'?

Do you mean that?”

Somepony cleared her throat behind the small group and all four foals squalled taken aback. They were quickly turning around and looked to the mare, who caused all of this. Miss Cheerilee stood right in front of the foals and glanced firmly at them.

“What are you doing here? School is out!

Besides, I have already told you that she's alright and just excused from school today.”

“But Miss Cheerilee, we're just worried sick. And we wanted to know...”

The mare rolled her eyes as Sweetie Belle started to squeak and smiled gently. She approached the group and Slight flinched away one more step in response. She glanced over the elder fillies and looked than back to the colt.

“This isn't an excuse to pester a classmate, don't you think?”

Both fillies drooped their heads and whispered simultaneously.

“No it isn't, Miss Cheerilee.”

They were drawing apologetic circles on the ground with their fore hooves. Cheerilee smiled softly and nodded. She looked to Slight and then back to the door as if to signal to him to accompany her to the classroom. He followed her lead slowly and almost hesitantly, but he searched for her friend and as he had found her, his eyes were begging for help. She even didn't noticed it, but laughed. Cheerilee looked back, as she reached the door. She saw, that Slight had stopped and thumped once on the stair. Her voice sounded encouraging and friendly.

“Relax, Slight. I just want to talk with you.”

She entered the classroom and waited for him right behind the doorstep. The colt sighed and looked to Lilly again. The filly was lost in a talk with her friends and didn't see his pleading look. His eyes were wandering over the other fillies and remained on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle for a moment, but he didn't want them to accompany him. So he drooped his head, walked slowly to the door and entered the classroom once more. Cheerilee led him to her desk and sat down behind it. She had pulled another seat in front of the desk, but Slight would stay rather than sit, until...

“Come on Slight, sit down, please.

You don't have to wait for my permission, when a seat is already there.”

The colt crawled on the seat and mumbled an apology. Cheerilee's smile faded for a short moment and he could spot a mixed expression between confusion and worry, but as she spoke it disappeared.

“Well first of all, you're a really good reader. I can't believe, what you have done with the story. You filled it with so much life and passion, you're...”

“Dad Star told me stories the same way and I do like Little Lord Sorrel so much.”

Cheerilee smiled, as Slight interrupted her full of joy and as his eyes started to gleam she nodded . She cocked her head and started to speak, as the colt stopped and put both front hooves for his mouth. He mumbled another apology and looked down on the desk. He even pressed his ears back on his head and slouched his shoulders. Cheerilee knitted her brows and cleared her throat. Slight looked quickly in her face again, as he heard her gentle voice.

“Don't worry, I get that.

I think it's important to have a favourite book. Anypony should have one. I want to hear more from you, to get to know you more.

You see, that's my job as a teacher, I should be able to know my pupils. So, what do you like?”

The colt thaught about it for a long time, blushed and wiped with his hooves over the other. Cheerilee nodded finally asked another question.

“Who are your friends in class?”

This wasn't a good question, she saw this, as Slight blushed even more and tried to mumble an answer. The colt choked on the first name and cleared his throat with a deep red blush. Cheerilee sighed and smiled gently. The colt needed more encouragement.

“I know, that you walk to school with Lilly and that she eats lunch with you at your place.

Do you like her?”

Again the colt couldn't answer straight and blushed with a squeak.

“Your Dad has also told me, that Scootaloo has stayed at your place this night, what...”

Somepony knocked at the door and interrupted Cheerilee's last question. She sighed and jumped back to her hooves. Slight wanted to follow her quickly, but Cheerilee shook her head and he remained seated. The mare opened the door and Slight heard Lillys whispered question.

“Miss Cheerilee, I look for Slight. We wanted to walk home together and Apple Bloom has told me, that she had seen him here for the last time.”

Cheerilee sighed again and cleared her throat. She turned her head and smiled to the colt in front of her desk. As she started to speak, she turned around completely and returned to it slowly.

“Very well then. Slight Hope I want to get to know you a little bit better. So could you please stay with me a little while, when the school is out. Just for half an hour or so. Lilly can wait on the school yard if she want to.”

The colt drooped his head and sighed in a low tone. Cheerilee cocked her head ad smiled gently. She cleared her throat once more and spoke lower then before.

“You aren't in detention, I just really want to know you better and talk with you. Perhaps we should do it in Sugarcube Corner instead and...”

Slight jumped on his hooves quickly and shook his head. He sounded exhilarated and shouted loudly in the classroom.

“Please don't. I...I'm sorry.”

The mare looked to him very surprised, but smiled again quickly. She pushed the papers on her desk together and nodded finally.

“You shouldn't worry, Slight. Well, you can go now.

I don't want, that your friend has to wait much longer for you.”

The colt blushed and put his saddle bags into his mouth very quickly. He mumbled a Goodbye and ran to the door. He rushed by Lilly and galloped down the road. Lilly followed the deep blushed colt back to Ponyville.

But the two foals weren't alone on the road, unnoticed from them, first two, and also unnoticed by the other ponies, another two ponies followed the colt. The first pair of ponies behind them did make a great effort to sneak up at him and looked suspicious after Lilly. The fillies were whispering to each other and the white unicorn shook her head, as her earthpony friend asked a question.

“ No Apple Bloom, we have to do it right. Or...”

She looked around and spotted the other fillies behind them. They stopped and whispered to each other. The pink earthpony with the tiara pushed her grey friend forwards and wrinkled her nose.

“Do come, Silver Spoon, the blank flanks here are...”

The two pairs of fillies threw an angry look at each other and the Cutie Mark Crusaders galloped away.

Slight didn't see this, he slowed down just now, as he started to breath heavily. Lilly slowed down too and started to play her pigtails again.

The colt licked his lips and opened his mouth.

“Say, Lilly. What shall we do when we're done eating?”

He was speaking ever faster towards the end of the question and had to clear his throat. His cheeks blushed more and he stroke his mane nervously. Lilly didn't seem to notice it and smiled gently. She whispered and twisted her pigtails much more.

“Could you...read a little bit for me from Little Lord Sorrel. Please.”

She blushed a little bit too and Slight squeaked surprised. He fell back a step from Lily, blushed deeply and looked down. But he nodded and mumbled just an

“Uh Hm.”

His friend smiled gently and played more with one pigtail in her hooves. She turned it, twisted it and eyed it up, as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Both little ponies walked on with a deep respectively slight blush on their faces. Both tried to appear calm and stayed silent.

Just for a few days.

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Just for a few days.

Gentle looked from one pony to another and tried to decide what to do. Scootaloo stared slack jawed to the mare beside Shining and turned her head away with a miffed pout. She scooted away from Gentle with a determined expression on her face and stood up finally. The mare answered with a knitting of her eyebrows and a slightly suppressed snort. Her voice sounded almost angry in Gentle's ears, she was definitely loaded.
“Good morning, Scootaloo.”

The filly snorted back and drew lines on the floor. Gentle looked to his coltfriend and cocked his head. Shining cleared her throat and put on a forced smile.
“I have thought it would be a good idea, when Scootaloo could decide...”
“Okay, okay, I'll come with you, Tangleweed. I didn't want you to be worried about me and I'm sorry, okay?”
Scootaloo's voice sounded neither sincere nor low for that matter, as she stopped Shining and cracked her tail with another bugged pout on her face. She bit her lips and walked slowly to the mare.

She hold her head up boldly, but had her ears pressed against it. Gentle stood up too and glared at the mare. He put on an involuntary smile for one second as he spotted the foal in the baby sling. But it disappeared again, as he saw the expression in the face of the mare.
“Scootaloo you knew already...Never mind.”
The filly rolled her eyes, as she had heard this speech many times before and her snort supported this estimation. The mare thumped her hoof on the floor and Scootaloo winced. The foal in the sling looked scared up and started to bawl. This tone let Scootaloo flinch even more, she ducked her head and shut her eyes closed.
“I really didn't mean to make you trouble, Tangleweed.”

This apology sounded lower and more honest. Gentle smiled, as he saw, that the filly seemed to be despondent. She drew circles on the floor and looked out for some certitude to look the mare directly in the eyes. Her apology didn't seem to reach the mare, she was rather distracted by the bawling foal and tried to comfort her. But she did hear it. She caressed the foal gentle over the head and smiled to the prancing filly.
She didn't speak and just sighed. Scootaloo drooped her head lower and closed her eyes again. Gentle cleared her throat and stepped aside her. He put a hoof around her side and hugged her encouraging.

Scootaloo sighed relieved and leaned slightly against him. The mare stared at him with a small mouth and even an angry spark in her eyes. The stallion answered with a confused smile, but this let the mane frown even more. Scootaloo found her voice first.
“I'm really sorry, Tangleweed.
I didn't mean to make you angry and Red Beet.”
The mare sighed again, but this time different than before. Gentle saw her expression soften. The mare raised her shivering hoof away from her chuckling foal. She touched Scootaloo's mane and wiped gently over it.
“You know Scootaloo...”
She fell silent again and thought for a good answer. She looked helpless to Gentle, who smiled in response and let loose of Scootaloo then. The filly stood still and looked like she didn't know what to answer, too. She stood so stiff on the place, that it looked like the mare would caress over a puppet. The smaller stallion looked into the eyes of his coltfriend and put on an inquiring expression, before he looked back to the mare.

Shining cleared his throat and Scootaloo and Tangleweed startled up simultaneously. Scootaloo flinched away and tried to avoid eye contact with the mare. She focussed on the ground in front of her hooves. Gentle took another step away from her and she had to bear this insecurity solely on her own. The mare flinched away from her too and turned over to the huger stallion. Her look seemed to beg him for any kind of help and he sighed heavily. His voice sounded low first, but became louder quickly.
“Well, alright.
Scootaloo, Gentle, I have thought about the situation at hoof. I think it would be the best, when you...”
The stallion stopped and pointed to the filly. She shied away and ducked a little bit. She even trembled a little bit. Gentle sighed and looked to Shining. The stallion rolled his eyes and sighed again.
“I want to say, we have thought, that...well how should I put it?”

The stallion stopped again and looked to the mare. She smiled and ran her hoof over the mouth. The foal grasped it quickly and chewed on the hoof. Tangleweed smiled gently to the foal and puffed up her cheeks. The foal imitated her action and giggled. Scootaloo smiled and puffed her cheeks too and blew out the air with a loud “Pfrt.” This caused a louder giggle from the foal and she reached out for Scootaloo with both hooves. The filly came closer slowly and let the small hooves pet over her face. She tickled the foal with her nose and blew warm air onto the fillies face. The small filly cheered and she wiped quickly over her tickling nose. She babbled happily and tried to blow warm air back to Scootaloo. Her strained expression didn't changed till she managed to do it.
But not quite as good as the filly, she stuck her tongue out with a “Brr” and hit Scootaloo with a lot of slobber and even slime. Scootaloo took her head back with an “Ick”. She brushed over her nose and frowned in disgust. But the foal just giggled and babbled.
Scootaloo cleaned her face with both hooves and wiped away the snot. She stepped a few steps away and shook herself with a disgustedly expression. The foal opened her mouth, babbled, wailed and reached out for Scootaloo. The mare put gently a hoof back on her head and the foal caught it with a joyful cry. Again she chewed on the big hoof and drooled on it.

Gentle approached meanwhile his coltfriend and looked to Scootaloo with a gentle smile on his face. He leaned against the bigger stallion and let out a relieved sigh.
“At least she likes the foal.
And the mare isn't quite as bad as I had expected.”
Shining cleared his throat and drew Gentle's attention back to Scootaloo. The filly flashed him strange glances. He could spot tears in the corner of her eyes, she bit her lips constantly and looked to the mare, as if she considered what to do next. Gentle cocked his head and smiled gently.
“You know, Scootaloo...”
The filly stopped him and mumbled with very bugged expression on her face. She almost screamed.
“I know, I know! I was unfair and mean to her.
And I should try to live with her one more time.
But...”
The filly stopped appalled, as the foal cried out and clutched at the hoof of her mummy. Scootaloo shut her eyes closed and bit her lips harshly to prevent more screams of her. She galloped to the door, tried to flee from the bawling foal in this way.

But Shining didn't let her, he blocked the doorstep and laid a hoof on the filly's shoulder. She froze, but before she was able to turn around again, the huge stallion mumbled something.
“No, Scootaloo, this isn't what we have in mind.
I want to suggest another solution for your problems. You could live with us for a while,
so Tangleweed would be less stressed out and...”
The filly woke finally as he mentioned the mare and she shied away from the stallion. She looked back Tangleweed, who tried to calm down the foal again and glanced at her shortly. But Scootaloo ignored her apologetic smile and looked out for another way out.

Gentle guessed her next action right and caught her with his magic, before she was able to open the window. She struggled in his magic, tried to free herself, but failed. Her wings buzzed wildly, but Gentle didn't let her go. Scootaloo didn't scream, but struggled with all her might. For Gentle this silent fight against his magic was way harder, than the emotional scenes before. This desperation these hurtful expressions and the tense fighting against his magic to get to the window moved him more as he had guessed.
He approached quickly and levitated Scootaloo against his chest. There he let the spell fade away and she landed softly on the ground. First she raised a hoof, laid it almost around Gentle's shoulder and hugged him, but as she looked back to the mare she stopped. She drew back her hoof, put it on the floor and stared down to it. She chewed on her lips and turned her head slowly away from Gentle..
“So, when should I come and gather my things, Tangle...”

She managed to say this low sounding question at last, but couldn't finish it. She sobbed and pressed her eyes together. She stood rooted to the ground and seemed to be lost in thoughts directly in front of Gentle. She trembled slightly and drooped her head. The stallion shook himself and pulled her into a hug. Before he was able to speak, the mare whispered a few words and stepped closer.
“You can leave them, where they are, Scootaloo.
I don't want to give you away.
I just need a little bit time to take better care of Red Beet.”
Tangleweed laid a hoof on Scootaloos side and fondled her gently. The filly pressed herself closer to Gentle and sobbed an answer.
“I...I'm sorry, Tangleweed. I...I...”

The filly needed a while and many encouraging words and explanations from Gentle, Tangleweed and even Shining, to agree with this.
“I just want, that you're feeling better soon, Tangleweed.
And I can visit you whenever I want?”
The mare just nodded and smiled gently. She looked down to her babbling foal and nuzzled Scootaloo's face.
“Who else could play so nicely with Red Beet?”
Scootaloo sighed relieved and responded the encouraging nuzzle with one of her own. The two nuzzling ponies calmed down more and more d, as they nestled to each other. Gentle had nestled closer to Shining too and looked to the mare and the filly with a cocked head.
“She is a really nice mare, don't you think?”
A smirk answered his whispered question. Shining leaned his head closer to his ears and whispered too.
“She is just really stressed out.
It is a good idea, to take care of Scootaloo for a while, really it is!
We just have to make room for her right now and...”

Tangleweed cleared her throat and stepped away from Scootaloo. She looked around, searched for a clock and spotted one finally. She started to prance on the spot and walked quickly to the stallions.
“I should hurry. Red Beet is suppose to get her next bottle soon and we have to go to town-hall together.”
Shining sighed and nodded. Scootaloo stepped up to them too, sneaked hesitantly to Gentle and leaned herself against him. She trembled a little bit and the stallion hugged her gently.
“Do I...have to come along? Maybe I could better go to Tangleweed's...”
The mare sighed at this and Scootaloo drooped her ears.
“I mean home...home, I want to pack some of my things.”
She improved her sentence quickly and drew apologetic circles on the ground. The mare cleared her throat and turned halfway around.
“Very well then.
I will go to town-hall with Shining and tell the case officer, what we have planned.
You can go home and pack whatever you need to,
stay here for a few days, right?”
The mare sounded almost emotionless and tried to leave the room quickly. She paused on the doorstep like she was fighting with herself. Finally she turned around, forced a smile on her face and spoke gentler.
“Say Goodbye, Red Beet.”
“Bllbl.”
The foal couldn't emphasise more, but her hooves were waving friendly to the filly. Scootaloo answered with a smile and a wave too. The mare sighed again and swallowed a lump.
“Goodbye, Scootaloo.”

After this low tone sentence, she turned around and went off quickly. Shining looked to the filly and cocked his head, as he saw, that she had to fight down her tears again. He approached her slowly and knelt down in front of her. She shied away of course, but as he started to speak, she stopped midway.
“We will bring you back to her, whenever you want to.
I will not expect from you, that you like, or even love me, like Thornapple did, you understand?
But I do want, that you promise me one thing...”
Before he was able to finish his sentence, he heard a low whisper. Scootaloo drew multiple lines on the floor and tried to look into the stallion's eyes. But she simply couldn't and drooped her head again.
“Thanks, that I can stay here.
I promise, that I will behave myself and will try not to be afraid of you and...”
The stallion raised his head and smiled gently. He cleared his throat and stopped the stammering filly.
“I don't need this kind of promise.
I already knew, that you are a well behaved filly.”
These sentences were almost too loud and the filly shied trembling away. She shut her eyes closed and drooped her head much more.
Shining stopped her head with one hoof. Scootaloo jumped away with a yelp.
“You don't have to promise, that you won't be afraid of me, or to hug me.
Sweet Celestia, you don't have to like me neither.
But promise me, that you will listen and do, what I ask for.”
Scootaloo raised her eyes, trembled and gazed to the stallion agape.
“I...I will. I promise and thanks.”
The filly nuzzled his hoof quickly, before she jumped away with a frightened cry.
Shining smiled gently and stood up. He went back to Gentle, nuzzled his side and whispered.
“We have to explain this to Slight.
Especially, why she will live with us.
Think about it, will you?
And I will buy a spare bed for her.”
Gentle responded his nuzzling with a nestling of his own and kissed him on the cheek.
“Don't worry. He will understand it.
You should go. Tangleweed is always out of the door.”

Shining nodded and galloped out of the room. Scootaloo had returned to draw circles and lines on the ground and avoided eye contact with the remaining stallion. Gentle smiled gently and approached her carefully. He raised a hoof and touched her side slowly. Scootaloo shut her eyes closed and fought down a shiver.
“Why is he so nice to me?”
She asked quickly and looked into the stallions eyes finally. She appeared to be confused and in her eyes were gathering few tears.
“I mean, I have...”
Gentle laid a hoof around her shoulder, pulled her closer and hugged her. He even nuzzled her face softly. First Scootaloo froze and pressed her eyes fearfully together, but as she felt his nose on hers, she sighed, nuzzled him back slightly and snuffled.
“Because, he wants to help you. We both do!
And he well, may appear a little bit rough and ready.
But when he wants to protect you, nopony and no other creature will stop him.”
Gentles voice trembled slightly and Scootaloo drew guarded her head away. A single tear rolled down his face and the stallion cleared his throat. Scootaloo bit her lip, shut her eyes closed and turned her head away quickly. Gentle smiled and hugged her closer.
“I don't mean to make you sad. Please, I don't...”
She sounded so worried and frightened. She even tried to push Gentle away. The stallion sighed and nodded, but hugged her again.
“Don't worry. It's alright.
Should we go ho...get your stuff and cook something?
Slight and Lilly will come soon. School is already out.”
Scootaloo cocked her head, as Gentle mentioned Lilly and put on an inquiring expression. She sniffed once, as it would be bad, if somepony knew about her problems. Gentle smiled and pushed her farther on the way. Scootaloo just startled shortly and fought back a yelp.
“Don't worry. When we tell her, that she shouldn't tell anypony...”
Scootaloo took a deep breath and completed the sentence with a long sigh.
“...then she wouldn't tell anypony.
Lilly is... so nice.”
Scootaloo smiled gently and followed Gentle out of the room.

They packed Scootaloo's stuff very quickly. She first just wanted a few toys, her scooter and the school stuff, but Gentle thought for much more important things, her toothbrush, a brush, her pillow, her teddy bear, the helmet and even a few pyjamas. He put it in a huge saddlebag and led the filly back home over the market. After all they would need much more food then before, when Scootaloo would stay by them. First he tried to ask Scootaloo, what she liked most to eat. But the filly didn't answer and jogged aside him with a ducking head. She tried to avoid the glances from the mares around them. Glances who were showing just one thing:
“You're strange. You're different.”
Was it so wrong to kiss? Gentle looked around and sighed. He could hear the whispering and saw even hooves pointing at them. He looked to the mares, who were pointing at him, but as they saw, what he did, they turned around and pretend that they didn't do anything wrong.
Fortunately the vendors were so friendly not to stare at him, when he stood in front of them, but as he had left, they looked after him. They didn't stumble about him, at least.

Gentle sighed, as he finally closed the door behind them. Scootaloo stroke her mane and sighed too.
“I'm sorry. I...”
The filly drew circles on the ground again and avoided eye contact. She wanted to stammer an apology, but Gentle stopped her.
“It's not your fault, Scootaloo.
Come on, let us bring your stuff to your room and then you can help me cook a meal, would you?”
Scootaloo raised her head and nodded slowly.

Three friends.

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Three friends.

Slight followed Lilly slowly through the village and tried to avoid everypony on the way home. Fortunately the filly didn't lead him to the market, but to empty streets instead. The few ponies on the streets watched after them with a smile on the face and tried to speak with them, but he didn't answer and even looked down to his hooves. Slight sighed relived as they finally entered the nearest street to his home and he spotted the small house just a few moments away.

Only two more mares stood on the street and were looking to them. They were smiling and approached the foals quickly. Slight cuddled up to Lilly and ducked his head behind her, as the mares came closer. Both stopped a few steps away and cocked their heads, as they spotted the smaller colt behind Lilly.
The mares started to whisper to each other and their smile became much gentler than before. They stepped one step closer and the one cream coloured earthpony opened her mouth. Before she was able to speak, Lilly tried to put a hoof around Slights shoulders, but the colt squeaked. He flinched away with a jump and blushed.
He looked down to his hooves again, as a small gesture caught his attention. Both mares were waving to him and smiled gently. Slight glanced to them head down and looked back to the filly. Lilly answered his insecure look with a smile and raised her hoof slowly.
“These are friends of my Mum.
They are really nice, you know and I think they just want to say hello.”

She waved to them and approached closer. Slight held his horses quite a lot and watched to the mares. He remained directly behind Lilly, but as she looked back and smiled, he took a shivering step further. But as he did, he bit his lips quite nervously and it got even worse, as the unicorn eyed him up. He knew her from somewhere. He recognised her aquamarine coat and her two coloured mane, but from where?
Her smile wasn't just gentle, but seemed to be strangely inquiring at the same time. He didn't dare to step closer and remained aloof from her. The greeting of the other mare was short, she spoke up very quickly and looked at Slight in an inquisitorial manner. Her hooves thumped loud on the ground and the whole body was getting more and more rigid.
“Say Lilly.
Who is this little friend of yours?”
Her voice sounded almost harsh and really raspy, so Slight shied away with a sudden yelp. The mare cocked her head again and the small colt ducked down very quickly. His tremble intensified and his wings rustled on his back. He fluffed them up involuntary, like he was trying to make himself bigger with it.
“That's Slight Hope, Bonbon.
He is a good friend and lives with his daddies in this house.”
Lilly pointed to he little house and the earthpony turned around. Her eyes softened a lot and she stroke gently over her two coloured mane.

The unicorn stepped closer in the meantime, a gentle smile on the face. She raised her hoof, but Slight shied one more step away and ducked lower on the ground.
“Hello there.
I'm...”
Her look stayed on his scared face for a while and she cried out then. Her eyes went wider and she flinched away from him. Her look went quickly over the shivering colt and she pressed her ears down on the head. The mare jumped back to her friend and cuddled up to her. She nuzzled her side and tried to wipe away something. Finally her face rested aside her friends face and her flank snuggled against the bigger mare. She whispered something in her ear.
But the mare didn't listen and spoke with Lilly instead. The harsh tone made Slight shy away one step again. So he bumped into a wall and squeaked surprised.
“He appears to be a little...well.
scared and doesn't seem to be settle in right now.
Do you think...”
Lilly answered with a low tone and stopped the mare nevertheless.
“I think we should give him...”
The filly tried to hug him, but noticed quickly, that Slight wasn't beside her any more. She turned around and smiled encouraging. But the little colt just couldn't move. Well he trembled and stared to the two mares, but didn't go closer, so he didn't move in the usual manner. Lilly looked in his wide eyes and took a deep breath. She turned completely to him and said one sentence to the mares.
“Please, You've scared him and...maybe you should...”

Somepony pushed her gently to him and Lilly squeaked surprised. She looked back to the mares and saw a gentle smile on the earthpony's face. The unicorn stayed deeply snuggled into the mares embrace and nuzzled her chest.
Lilly took another deep breath, approached the colt slowly and smiled. She glanced over his shivering wings, over his wide eyes and looked finally to his shivering and bouncing hooves. He didn't seem to notice her, instead he stared blank to the unicorn.
“H...Hey Slight.
Are you...”
He yelped surprised and jumped into a shivering hug, as Lilly touched his shoulders. She absorbed the hit quite easily and just squeaked, as Slight pressed his face deeply into her pigtails.
“I...I..want go home, Lilly.
Please...I...”
The bigger filly nodded and returned the hug. She caressed over his head and pushed him slowly further. The colt shivered and tried to cover his eyes desperately with the mane of his friend. The mares let the foal pass and without any word and Lilly was able to give both mares an apologetic smile.

She stared to their destination, as she was able to ask a question finally.
“Say, Slight, why do you fear mares and especially unicorns?”
A surprised sigh escaped her little friend and she stopped. The colt raised his head and gazed at his friend.
“You...you have noticed?
But I...I...”
Lilly nodded and nuzzled his face. She and the colt blushed very quickly and she wanted to let him loose, but Slight still clung to her. So she wasn't able to do, what she did before and couldn't start twisting her pigtails again. She just squeaked a little bit.
“May I...Could I please tell you this some place else?
I...I...d....didn't want to...”
The colt sounded almost sobbing, so Lilly, however deeply she was blushing, couldn't stand it and began to nuzzle his face agaion. She had to shut her eyes close and breathed in an out very deeply to stay calm. But she was able to calm him down a little bit.
“Well of course, Slight.”

She almost stumbled over a step and squeaked again. Slight turned around, flinched a few steps away from her and stared to his home a long time. He brushed over his face multiple times and took a few deep breaths. He tried to smile again, licked his lips till he approached her again and hugged her quickly.
“Th...thanks Lilly.
I was feeling so..”
Lilly's eyes softened and she twisted her pigtails with one hoof. Both foal blushed deeply once more and looked away. Slight drew circles on the ground with one hoof and looked down to it, before he cleared his throat and started to whisper again.
So, I will tell you, why I'm afraid of mares, when you are telling me, why...you are trying to protect me?”
Lilly turned around quickly, as she blushed even more and raised both hooves to play with her pigtails. She shied one step away and looked down to the ground, but nodded finally.
Her stomach began to grumble and she blushed a little bit more. Slight giggled and took a deep breath. He raised his hoof and opened the door carefully. A strange smell drifted out of the door and he frowned in disgust.
“Daddy Gentle, I'm...back...”
The rest of the sentence faded away, as he saw, that his daddy came out of the kitchen in company with a foal. Gentle smiled gently, but Scootaloo had a worried expression in her face. She wore an apron, her hooves were strangely discoloured and one of them drew circles or more precisely, tried to dig something out of the ground. At least it appeared so. Slight's eyes wandered over her and she blushed a little bit. Gentle began to talk and smiled.
“Hello Slight, welcome home.”

“Welcome...uhm...”
Scootaloo whispered along the last sentence, but the colt jumped forward and hugged her. The filly yelped only as an answer. Slight took both hooves around her neck and snuggled closely to her.
“Hello Scootaloo.
I'm so happy, that you're here.
I...you know...
Uhm...”
The colt blushed deeply, as he looked back to Lilly, who had a really disappointed expression on her face. She sniffled once and tried to turn around on the doorstep, but Slight stopped her with one sentence.
“I...I really don't mean to...”
But he stayed close to Scootaloo and still hugged her. Lilly sighed and raised a hoof, but Gentle tried to help Slight and stopped her with a gentle hoof on her shoulder. She sobbed quickly and wanted to brush his hoof away with a trembling hoof, but his gentle voice stopped her.
“He does like Scootaloo.
But I'm sure he likes her in an other way than you!”
Gentle whispered into her ears and Slight rushed to them. He nuzzled her very gently and snuggled with his nose over her face.
“Lilly please.
I do like you a lot...”
He stopped and played with his hoof for a while. He looked down to the ground and blushed, but he didn't care and continued.
“...and I want to tell you, why I...you know.”
Lilly sighed relieved and snuggled quickly into his hug. Both foal blushed more, but stayed in the warm embrace. Both were nuzzling each other shyly. Gentle pushed them quickly into the house and closed the door.
“Well, this is getting complicated.”
He mumbled as low as he could, but Slight's ears twitched and he raised to head to look at him He blushed even more and bit his lips.
Scootaloo cocked her head and stared confused from both foals to Gentle and back again. She spun the hoof on the ground and pressed her ears against the head. Gentle smiled gently and guided all three foals into the kitchen.

The lunch was a challenge. Not just because Scootaloo wasn't hungry, or that the stomachs of the other two foals weren't empty at all. But all three pecked at the noodles with the spoons and remained silent. Gentle stood nearby the stove and tried to start a conversation somehow, or that they just ate at least.
But rather could he do the one, nor the other. Scootaloo looked from Lilly to Slight and tried to say something, anything, but closed her mouth always shortly after she opened it and pecked at her food again.
Lilly stared to the noodles and either twisted her pigtails, or played with her spoon, or picked at her noodles in a vain attempt to stay calm. Now an then she glanced to Slight, but looked down deeply blushing on her noodles again, as the colt looked to her.
Slight was caught between the fillies and looked from one to the other. He surly didn't know what to do or to say. On the one hoof he wanted to say something to Lilly and even tried to find a good start, but the sentences knotted themselves in his head with the ones, who he wanted to say to Scootaloo as he turned his head to her.
Then his stomach growled and he turned to the noodles, but just couldn't pick up the spoon and took the first bite of it.
This lasted for a while and the three foals couldn't start with anything. Even Gentle's tries were ineffective at best.

Finally a loud knock on the front door startled all of them and the three foals called out at the same time.
“I just wanted...”
“I didn't mean to...”
I'm sorry...”
The foals felt silent quickly and their stomachs grumbled at the same time. Finally they took the spoons and started with the meal for real. They gorged the noodles and chewed relieved. Gentle smiled and walked out of the room. Lilly started to speak, as he had left.
“I didn't mean to bicker with you, Slight. Please, I'm sorry.”
She wiped away a few droplets of sauce from her mouth and sighed. Lilly looked down to her plate and picked at her noodles again.
Slight looked to her, opened his mouth, but Scootaloo was way much faster.
“I don't want to be the cause of your fight.
I like...”

Slight cleared his throat and stopped Scootaloo's apology. He whispered lower than Lilly, but both fillies piped down and listened to understand him half decent at least.
“I do like both of you, I think even a lot. I'm sorry.
But I want to be a friend of both of you.
Please...”
He stopped and started to tremble. He even sobbed once and wiped away a few tears. Scootaloo and Lilly looked at each other with a appalled expression and stood up very quickly.
They were galloping to Slight's side in a rush and hugged him from both sides. They were snuggling into him and Slight sighed relieved. Both fillies mumbled apologies and nuzzled him gently.
“We're sorry, Slight.”
The colt blushed and squeaked. He wanted to scoot away and ducked his head, but both fillies didn't let him go. He sighed again and cuddled up to the hugging fillies.

“Slight, you know.
I will stay here for a while, till...”
Scootaloo stopped and looked down. Slight hugged her and snuggled up to her closely. He laid his nose directly on her ear and whispered.
“Would you like to...would you be like a sister then?
Scootaloo felt silent again, shied a step away and opened the mouth. She stared to the colt and remained silent for a long time.
Lilly on the other hoof nuzzled Slight again, took her hooves away, but still cuddled against him.
“I...I..I don't know.”
Scootaloo mumbled and looked away, before Lilly could say something.
“You know...”
A shout from the corridor stopped Scootaloo's explanation and all three foals jumped back on the hooves.

“You should really take better care of what you do.
We here in Ponyville aren't eager for your kind, especially when you're together with foals.
You truly understand, that...”
A nagging voice sounded through the kitchen and Slight ducked his head, but continued to run out of the room at the same time. Scootaloo and Lilly followed him immediately.
The foals ran to the front door and spotted there a trembling stallion. Gentle took a deep breath and tried to answer the bigger mare on the doorstep. But the pink mare breathed in heavily and glared at the three foals behind him.
“Why are three of you here?”
Her voice sounded even colder and she eyed up every foal. Scootaloo and Lilly stared confused back, but Slight looked down and slouched his shoulders.
“The nerve, to just take two fillies from my school..."
Somepony cleared his throat behind the angry mare and stopped her accusations.

“Miss Rich, I suppose!”
The clear voice of Shining Star sounded over them and Slight brought himself to smile. He looked to his daddy Gentle, but he trembled harder. The stallion shied away from the mare and shut his eyes close.
The mare in the doorstep turned around to the other stallion and opened her mouth, but Shining continued much faster.
“I would like to talk about your demeanour here, Miss Rich.”
Shining's magic closed the door and silenced the answer of the mare. Gentle took hasty breaths and tried to calm himself down. Slight cocked his head and approached him slowly.
“Daddy Gentle, is everything okay?”
The stallion turned around with a surprised yelp, wiped over his face with one hoof and smiled. His smile looked so odd and he even drew circles on the ground nervously .
“Y...yes, everything is fine, Slight.
I...just have to...”

The colt jumped into a hug and nuzzled him closely. Gentle sighed relieved and laid both hooves around the colt. He buried his face in the mane of the little colt and nuzzled him. Lilly smiled to both of them and looked then to Scootaloo. The filly trembled and looked down into a corner. She snivelled once and wiped over her eyes nervously. Lilly tried to hug her, but she shied away and grinned.
As she did, she looked again to the snuggling ponies and sighed deeply. She buried her head deeply between her shoulders and drew lines on the ground with a shivering hoof.
Lilly opened the mouth, but a bubble of magic surrounded Scootaloo quickly and pulled her forwards. She was pulled into a group hug with the two other ponies of her household and tried to struggle against it.
But as she was hugged by two warm hooves, she just closed her eyes and snuggled against them. She even hugged them back and nuzzled the stallion with a deep sigh. Lilly smiled a little bit enviously and started to twist her pigtails again.

I uhm like you.

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Gentle headed with the foals back into the kitchen and closed the window, before they would hear the arguing outside. He even casted a dumping spell, as he heard Shining's yelling, so they were able to eat in peace. Scootaloo as well as Slight stared at him quite shocked, but Lilly took her spoon and started to eat. As the other two ponies heard her smacking, they realised with a growling inside, how hungry they were and grabbed the spoon hastily.

The silence in the kitchen was only disturbed by Gentle's low magic sound, the sighing and smacking of silenced hunger. The stallion used the foals distraction and eating to calm himself down. He looked to the foals from time to time, but Slight was way too distracted by his task at hoof, namely to smear as much tomato sauce around his face as possible. He didn't stopped halfway down the road, but continued to gobble every little bit of noodles up and licked his lips his hunger contended finally. So he couldn't catch the glances from his daddy. Lilly didn't too, she was also distracted by her meal.

Scootaloo on the other hoof looked back to Gentle, every time he looked to her. She sensed it almost immediately, when he eyed her up and was strangely nervous about it too. He continued to look at her every now and than, so she stopped halfway through her meal, pushed the half emptied bowl away and tried to clean her face from the sauce with one hoof. After she did it, she looked down to her red spotted hoof, frowned and tried to look out for something.

She sighed finally and looked down her side, obviously she wanted to brush it simply away on her side. Gentle shook his head, returned to the table and levitated a towel onto the height of her face. Scootaloo sighed again and opened her mouth.
“Thanks...uhm D...Gentle...”
She just whispered the D and spoke out the Gentle very raspy. Scootaloo brushed quickly over her face and hid the blushing cheeks in them. She slouched her shoulders, muffled something through the towel. She sighed again and opened her mouth.
“I...uhm...I'm sorry!”
Gentle sighed gently and shook his head.
“You can call me just Gentle, if you want to.”
Scootaloo pressed her face deeper into the towel and nodded finally. The smiling stallion levitated more towels to Slight and Lilly, who had different states of spilled sauce on their faces and were whispering to each other.

Lily just had a few drips of sauce on her cheeks and lips and Slight looked quite the opposite of it. His mouth was thickly covered with sauce like usual, when he ate tomato sauce. Luckily he managed to just cover his face instead of the whole tablecloth.
“I don't know, do you think, Scootaloo wouldn't mind?”
He sounded very insecure and wiped over his mouth, but just smeared more over his face. Lilly twisted her pigtails again, sighed and smiled hesitantly. She tried t put the hooves down, but they stayed on the table. She whispered her answer even lower, than Slight.
“I think she would like it.”
Gentle didn't know, what that fuss was all about, but he smiled anyway.

Slight answered Lilly with a grin, raised his head and spotted Daddy Gentle's smile quickly. He looked away, smeared more sauce deeper into his fur and looked down to his dirty hooves finally. He saw the stain of sauce everywhere on his coat, squealed low, blushed heavily and buried his face deeply into the towel. Gentle's smile wandered to Lilly, who blushed too and started to brush away the spilled sauce with her own towel. She mumbled a thank you and began to twist her pigtails again.
Scootaloo put down the towel finally and laid it aside her bowl. Gentle lifted it with his magic and levitated it with the other two into the sink, before she was able to pick it up herself. He looked into Scootaloo's bowl and glanced over the rest of noodles and cocked his head.
“Was it too much for you, Scootaloo?”
He spoke low and in a non accusingly tone, but Scootaloo sighed anyway and looked away. The filly bit her lips and shook her head quickly. She rethought it and nodded in contrary.
“I...I'm sorry.”

A hoof pushed the door open and the loud bang let the three foals turning their heads in shock. They looked to the door and Scootaloo jumped up quickly. She flinched a few steps closer to Gentle, but stopped and eased a little bit up, as she saw who entered. Shining walked slowly in, took a deep breath and forced a smile back on his face.
“Hello there.”
He nodded to Lilly, nuzzled Slight with his tickling nose and the colt answered with a giggle. Finally he looked to Scootaloo, she answered with an unsecure look and drew lines on the ground hesitantly. First the stallion just waved at her, but she jumped closer and stood shivering directly in front of him. She ducked down and shut her eyes, tried to raise her hooves and hug him, but Shining stopped her.
“It's okay. You don't have to hug me, when you feel uncomfortable about it.
Don't force yourself so quickly, when you're afraid of me.”
The voice sounded surprisingly gentle for Scootaloo and her slapping ears stopped. She sighed relieved, as the stallion took a few steps back and gave her space. The filly raised her head a little bit and looked into his face, with a insecure grin on her face. Shining smiled half-way honest, but he was distracted somehow. The filly licked her lips, sighed and snivelled once, but Gentle laid a hoof around her shoulder and hugged her gently. She leaned against his chest and calmed down with a long breathing out.

“Alright, you should go to Slight's room and...”
Scootaloo cocked her head, looked from the stallion's chest to his face and drew circles on the ground. She glanced to Lily and back to Gentle. The stallion looked into her eyes, saw her hesitant expression, noticed quickly what she wanted and smiled gently.
“We will talk with her, when we take Lily back home, okay?”
Scootaloo sighed once more and nodded finally. Gentle hugged her once and let her go. The filly looked to Slight, who slid down his seat slowly and carefully. He smiled to Lily and pulled Scootaloo with him out of the room. The filly didn't fight him, but rather leaned gentle against him. Slight nuzzled her cheek gently and whispered into her ear.
“Do you like the Little Lord Sorrel?”
Gentle could hear this question, before Slight and Scootaloo left the room. He smiled as he saw the expression of Scootaloo's face, a little bit worried, but genuine and relaxed. His look felt on Lilly, who had stood up, but just stopped and twisted her pigtails and avoided his look. The filly found finally the courage to speak and smiled hesitantly.

“I'd talked with Mummy.
She wouldn't mind, when I'll eat lunch here. She wants...”
Lily stopped and sighed. She glanced over both stallions, blushed and twisted her pigtails again.
She looked to Shining, who cleared his throat, approached her and kneeled down in front of her. He cocked his head and smiled. Lily grinned back and nodded slowly.
“Well she wants to get to know you and invites you...”
She stopped again, twisted her pigtails for a while. Shining smiled and waited patiently for her to continue, but she didn't. Instead she bit her lips and wiped over her mane with both hooves. She turned her head completely away, drew circles on the ground and searched for words.
Both stallions exchanged a glimpse and Gentle sighed. Something was bothering her and he just wanted to help, but he saw, that she didn't know how to start.
He stayed silent a little bit longer, to prevent Lily just became more nervously.

She opened his mouth finally, but Slight came back into the kitchen, bounced closer to Lilly and nudged her with his nose.
“Come on, Lily. We're waiting for you.
We can ask Scootaloo and...”
Lily responded with a sigh and cuddled closer to him. Slight froze on place first and blushed, as she snuggled her face against his. He nuzzled her back and smiled finally. Lily closed her eyes and breathed out heavily. Both stand in the room silently and nuzzled slowly and inexperienced. Gentle smiled, even cooed and winked to Shining. The other stallion smiled too, stood up and cuddled against Gentle's side. Slight opened his eyes finally, saw the smiles from his daddies and blushed heavily. He shied away from them and bounced away from Lily too. The filly cocked her head, followed him and nuzzled his cheek shortly. He blushed even more, stopped and started to strike the ground with his hooves. His eyes stayed locked on the ground and even bit his lips. Shining sighed again and shook his head. He cocked his head, approached the colt, laid a hoof around his shoulder and pushed him back on Lily's side. He nudged him encouraging and whispered.

“Come on, Slight.”
The colt squeaked loudly, looked to Lilly and nodded. He ran out of the room, deeply blushing and Lilly followed him slightly lesser blushing.
Gentle looked after the foals and smiled. He focused back to Shining and snuggled closer to the bigger stallion. He nuzzled his face and whispered.
“They're really cute, aren't they?”
Shining sighed and nuzzled Gentle's cheek. He closed the door with a little glimmer of his horn and casted another dumbling spell. The smile on Shining's face faded away and made way far a more serious or even worried expression. The stallion took a deep breath and started in a very low and gentle tone.
“They are. Very much.”
He didn't remain in this tone, but frowned and his voice hardened, He snapped his tail once and snorted.
“I've talked with Miss Rich.
Well, that's one way to put it.
This mare is...”
He couldn't continue and clenched his teeth. Gentle hugged him quickly with one hoof, nuzzled his face and tried to calm him down that way.
But Shining was way too upset to settle down and yelled even louder.
“Like those stuck ups in Canterlot.
By Celestia, they're a pain in the flank. These snobs and their dumb opinions.”
The anger in his voice was like a dam breaker for Gentle and brought him easily back to his own feelings as he had to face the mare. Her words echoed in his head again and he tried to shake them off, but couldn't. He simply couldn't. So he shut his eyes and sobbed.
“I wanted...”
His face faded away and he just shivered. Shining turned his head, hugged him and pulled the sobbing stallion closer onto his chest. He petted over his mane and tried to calm himself down. But he couldn't and frowned in anger, as he heard the low blabbering from his coltfriend.
“I didn't want, that Slight had to hear all of this.
I didn't want, that she was here in the first place.
I didn't like her saying those...”
The stallion paused in the middle of the sentence and just sobbed. Shining snorted and pressed the shivering stallion closer in his embrace. He laid his head on his friend's one and nuzzled him.
“Everything is going to be fine, Gentle.”

Scootaloo entered Slight's room and looked around. The huge bed, the closets and everything in between was getting familiar very quickly and she smiled gently. She walked deeper into the room and sniffed air through her nostrils. Her smile softened even more, as a little bit of Gentle's taste floated her nose. It was mixed up with wood and lilac, but it was there and she liked it. That was strange. Scootaloo blushed a little and frowned. It was so stupid. She spotted something, it stood aside the huge bed and caught her look. She could just stand in the middle of the room. She gaped wildly and her eyes widened. They had bought a bed for her, already?
This was so...Scootaloo took another deep breath and grinned.
She cocked her head and looked over the bed. A few hooves pawed into the room behind her and Slight followed her in the room finally. He looked to the bed too and cocked his head to the other side.
“So you'll sleep here, too?”
Scootaloo nodded absent minded and stared simply to the bed. She licked her lips and wanted to ask a question, but the colt had left the room already.
He called out, before he left.
“Lilly is still missing.
I'll go and get her...”

This distraction gave Scootaloo the much needed time to clear her mind. First of all this was really sweet and nice of them. Scootaloo approached the bed slowly and stroke the blanket, her new blanket, very carefully. She leaned down and pressed her face into the pillow. She sniffed and smelled again Gentle's taste. This time it's blended into a nice odour of fresh hay. She smiled and raised her head away from the pillow, after a few moments. She looked to the bigger bed on the other side of the room and the smile faded away quickly. She realised just now, what she had to do to stay here. She had to sleep in the same room with a another foal, a colt actually, hadn't she?
Scootaloo frowned in disgust and sighed. She considered her options and passed back and forth meanwhile. Well Slight was a very nice colt and she had already slept in his bed. Scootaloo blushed and looked away from the bed quickly. She glanced over the living closets, the books on the tops and to a few toys on the floor. Well it was a bit messier, than she was used to, but at the same time much better. It was cosier and nicer. Her smile widened and she snivelled to get Gentle's taste again. Finally she looked back to the bed and sighed. It could work, even if it made the whole room smaller. Her smile faded away, as she realised, that she had to bring in her other stuff and needed a living closet on her own. This would change everything and would make the room unbearable tinier and...

Slight and Lilly returned right now and Scootaloo shook her thoughts away. She looked to them, but they looked strangely different than before. Both were blushing, the colt way more, than the filly and he avoided her smiling glance completely. He looked into one corner of the room, missed the whole change of scenery and drew circles on the ground. Scootaloo cocked her head and approached both friends slowly. As he noticed her look, the colt blushed even more and ducked down.
Lilly looked don to Scootaloo's hooves and avoided her look in that way.
Scootaloo glanced to both of them for a long time and opened her mouth finally.
“Say, are you two in...”
Both foals squeaked in unison and turned away even deeper blushing. Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes. She knew, what the fuzz was all about. This was so...
“So you like each other very much, right?”
She sounded almost bugged and both foals squeaked even louder. Lily covered her face with her pigtails and pranced on the spot. Slight on the other hoof stumbled closer to one closet and turned his shivering flank to Scootaloo. He brushed his mane over his eyes, so that the filly couldn't look directly into them. He couldn't answer, he simply couldn't.
“Alright, I understand.
Slight you wanted to ask me something?”
The colt could simply yelped again and Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Lilly was really shy, but Slight was even shier. It was cute of course, Scootaloo had to agree with that, but it was really annoying right now too. She rolled her eyes once more and pointed with a hoof at him, but Slight was way faster.
“I...I do like you, Lily. A lot!”
Scootaloo cocked her head surprised, as the colt whispered. He was deeply blushing, drew lines on the ground and avoided any glance, but he spoke freely, louder and didn't squeak at all.
“You're a really nice filly and...and...I like you and...and...”
He didn't know, how to continue and felt silent. Scootaloo wiped over her mane and sighed very long. The colt got so close, but now he didn't know what to say? To be honest, Scootaloo didn't know it either, but something else should be said and eventually Lily would know what. Scootaloo looked to her, but realised, that she wasn't helpful right about now. She just blushed and twisted her pigtails. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and opened her mouth again.
“I do like you too Slight.”
Now everything felt off from Scootaloo's face. Lily sounded calm and clearly like Slight, approached him and nuzzled gently over his cheek. Slight squeaked, covered his mouth with both hooves and blushed even more. Scootaloo shook her head and turned her flank to the foals.

“You two are really a pain in the flank, you know?
What's so difficult for you?
Just tell what you're feeling already.”
She passed through the room and tried to understand, what was so difficult.
But she had to admit, she was never in such a situation and didn't know how to handle it properly. She turned her her head around and frowned in disgust, as she imagined to tell a friend, that she liked him. Not just like, but actually love him. This would be strange. Her expression became more disgusting, as she imagined, that the other colt would like to nuzzle her, or to hold her hooves. She grimaced, stuck her tongue out and shivered. Slight laid a shivering hoof on her side and mumbled and answer.
“N...nothing...but...but I...”
Scootaloo turned to them again, cocked her head and smiled gently. She drew lines on the ground, smiled apologetic and tried to sound honest.
“I like it.
I think you are cute and.
Really I...”
She paused and turned her blushing face away. She heard a bugged undertone in her voice and didn't like it. She didn't want to upset Slight, or Lily. She cleared her throat, shook her head and sped up.
“Ugh okay, do you want to play, or do you want to do anything else?”
Slight startled and looked from Scootaloo to Lily and back. He didn't know, how to feel confused or happy and changed her expression quickly. Also he didn't know what he wanted to do first, playing or the other thing.
“Uhm...I thought.”
Lily came to his aid and nuzzled his blushing face. She smiled and whispered barely audible.
“Alright, let's play first.
But after that, you'll read one chapter, okay?”
Slight screamed with joy and the foals turned to the closets.

Cutie Mark Crusader Promise.

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The rest of the day passed without any further troubles. They'd played a game, which Scootaloo won of course and after that Scootaloo and Lilly snuggled into a few pillows on the ground and listened to a blushing Slight. He read the introduction and two chapters from the Little Lord Sorrel to them and Scootaloo understand directly as he started, why Lilly liked it so much.

The colt was really good with that, she closed the eyes, let his calm voice create the pictures of the scenes in her mind and followed them into a time, as somepony else read out for her. All three foals startled up, as somepony knocked at the door and Gentle's voice woke them out of their imagination or reading. He sounded low through the wood.
“I've got juice and cake for you, if you would like.”
He opened the door carefully with a small lit of his horn and entered the room. The stallion looked in the room and saw, that Scootaloo jumped quickly back on her hooves and tried to put her expression back to order. But a small trail of tears stayed on her cheeks, before she could brush it off and put on a fake smile.
Lilly just stayed laying down, held her eyes closed and seemed to be far away.
Slight raised his head out of the book and simply grinned to Gentle.

“I didn't want to interrupt, but you were very silent and stayed in the room for a long time.
So I've to check up on you, you know?”
Slight jumped off his bed, trotted to Daddy Gentle and stroke a pose. He spoke full of pride and grinned happily.
“I...I've read a little bit from the Little Lord Sorrel, Daddy. Lilly has said, she does really like that and Scootaloo...”
He looked from one filly to the other, but fell silent, as he saw Scootaloo's forced smile and continued to stammer almost incomprehensible words.
“But...didn't you like it too, Scootaloo?”
The filly frowned appalled, as she saw the disappointment of the colt and approached him slowly. At the same time she tried to find a good answer and just nuzzled him.
“I...I really do!
You're really good. And...well...”
She looked almost begging to Gentle and the stallion nodded quickly. He laid one hoof on both foals and pulled them closer quickly.

He snuggled both on different sides and nuzzled Slight first. Gentle whispered something to him.
“Eventually this reminded her on something.”
The colt opened his mouth in a well understanding way, bit his lips and nodded. Gentle turned his head after that and nudged Scootaloo encouraging. The filly nestled her cheek closely on his side and closed the eyes.
“If you want to, I can tell them, that I want to ask you something and we will go into the living room.”
The gentle voice whispered so quietly, that Scootaloo was sure, that she was the only one, who could hear the words. She shook her head quickly, rubbed over her eyes with one hoof and jumped away from the stallion.
She smiled confident and her eyes were darting through the room. Her answer was loud, but got faster and faster.
“No...no...I do like it, but I've thought, that we could eventually, uhm...”

Somepony knocked on the main door and Scootaloo took this for her own sake. She raised one hoof and pointed out of the window.
“Go outside and play?”
Gentle smiled, levitated three glasses and the plates with the cake slices to the ground and turned to the main door. He mumbled an answer.
“Well it's a little too late for that and we have to walk Lilly home a little bit earlier.
So we can talk with you two, before you're going to bed. So...”
He walked to the door, opened it with his magic and faced two nervously smiling fillies on the doorstep.

Sweetie Belle licked her lips and started to speak first.
“We...we want to ask, if Slight would come outside to play?
And if you know what happens to Scootaloo?”
Gentle smiled to the filly and turned his head. He looked directly to Scootaloo, who answered with a sudden gasp and a surprised blush.
“I think Slight simply can't right now.
It's a little too late, you know?
But if you want to please come in.”
A small sigh stopped Gentle's friendly suggestion and Scootaloo came slowly closer. She left the room and tried to consider, what she should say.
Slight smiled and wanted to follow her, but Lilly stopped him. First she drew circles on the ground, but hugged Slight finally. She squeaked loud, as the colt blushed deeply, but didn't let him loose.

The colt turned very confused to her, but her worried expression was enough to let him stay. Gentle shied away from the door and looked to the skulking filly in the corridor. He smiled and both fillies entered quickly. The stallion raised a hoof, but put it back on the ground and closed the door with a quick flash of his magic. He turned finally to the kitchen and mumbled something.
“I'll bring more juice shortly.
Uh and I hope you two like marble cake. I've got a few slices left somewhere...”
The closing kitchen door cut off his voice and so the three Cutie Mark Crusaders just stayed alone in the corridor. Sweetie Belle closed the distance to Scootaloo quickly, hugged her and nestled closely to her. Apple Bloom was a little bit subtler, but she was snuggling her cheek on Scootaloo's and nuzzled her gently.
“What did happen to you, Scootaloo?
Why didn't you be in school today?”
We were worried sick, you know?”
Sweetie squeaked the worried sick and had to fight down a shiver. Scootaloo sighed and hugged the smaller unicorn tighter. She looked quickly to the only open door and sighed louder. Her eyes stayed locked on Lilly and seemed to plea her for a little bit alone time. The other filly nodded, smiled and approached the door. She raised a hoof and closed it quickly.

Lilly turned around to a confused Slight again and smiled gently.
“We should let Scootaloo talk to them alone, right?”
The colt nodded and pondered on his own. He approached Lilly slowly, sighed and chewed on his lips. He looked back to the door, opened his mouth, but just another sigh escaped his throat. The colt fought for while, he even started to tremble, but was finally able to speak again.
“May I...well do I have to tell you the whole story, why I'm afraid of mares?”
There was so much fear in his voice, that Lilly flinched one step away and shook her head quickly. She played with her pigtails shortly and stammered an answer.
“Just if you really, really want to, Slight.
I...I don't want to push you, or...”
The colt took a deep breath, sniffed for once and took another deep breath. He approached Lilly again, pulled her with her to his bed and laid there down nestling into his pillow. She thought for a moment, but stayed beside him, as the small colt nuzzled his pillow closer and dried the forming tears on it. He whispered so silently, that Lilly had to lean forward her head and her ears to understand him properly.
“I...I'm from Canterlot, you know.
And my Mummy was...”

Scootaloo just stayed silently in the hug to consider what to say next. Both friends just hugged her and waited, till Scootaloo would continue to talk. They hugged her tightly for a few minutes, but finally Scootaloo was able to move on and whispered.
“I just live here for a few days.
Tangleweed doesn't feel so good.
And D...uhm Gentle wanted to see, if she get better much faster, when she has only take care for Red Beet.”
Sweetie raised her head and looked into Scootaloo's eyes for minutes. She almost rayed her head, examined her feelings and thoughts, as she always did. Sweetie's expression changed finally from inquiring to confused.
“Why didn't you stay with Rainbow Dash than?”
Scootaloo shivered and sighed, as she heard this whispered question. She sounded very hounded and pushed her friends away.
“I can't fly to her Cloudhouse, remember?
And...”
She turned away, drew nervously lines on the ground and looked imploring to the kitchen door, but Gentle didn't come back. Sweetie flashed a glance to Apple Bloom, who just nodded and stepped one step closer to Scootaloo. First the filly wanted to shy away to keep the distance, but the elder earthpony didn't let her and caught her with one strong hoof.
“You could sleep in my room, Scootaloo.
I know Applejack wouldn't mind.”
Scootaloo squirmed out off the hug and flinched one step away from Apple Bloom. She felt the door of Slight's room behind her waving tail and stopped. She looked into the soft smiling faces of her oldest friends and sighed. She took one step, stamped her hoof on the ground and looked around hastily. Almost as she wanted to be sure, that no other pony would hear her next words.

“Promise, that you won't tell anypony!”
Both fillies looked at each other, nodded and approached her. Apple Bloom cocked her head first, but Sweetie Belle squeaked and smiled seriously. Both fillies sighed and raise a hoof, as Scootaloo put on her best bidding face. They took a deep breath and pondered for the right thing to say. Finally Sweetie Belle's expression softened and she started to speak. Apple Bloom joined in quickly.

“Cross my heart, hop to fly,
stick a cupcake in my eye.”

They started to giggle, but Scootaloo didn't join them, but drew circles on the ground instead. She leaned her head closer to the friends and whispered:

“Cutie Mark Crusader Promise?”

Apple Bloom looked to her, as she had say something wrong or even stupid and cocked her head. She snorted and answered very irritated.
“You know, what this is, don't you, Scootaloo?
We have made a Pinkie Promise and that's..”
Sweetie Belle nudged her with one hoof and nodded. She sounded more patient and calmer than Apple Bloom. But in her answer was also a little bit of denial. Scootaloo bit her lips and pressed her ears against the head.
“Alright, Cutie Mark Crusader Promise. We wouldn't tell anypony.
Spit it out, Scootaloo.”
The filly chewed on her lips for a while, fought back a shiver and looked again to the kitchen door for a few minuets. But the door didn't open and Gentle didn't saved her.

So she had to talk on her own and finally she did.
“Do you remember, as I came to Sweet Apple Acres and saw Big Mac for the first time .
As I ran away and you two have to search for me?”
Both friends thought shortly, nodded and just said:
“Uh Hm.”
Scootaloo sighed, as both fillies looked confused to her, but continued.
“I'd told you, that I had a nightmare about a great scary stallion and he reminded me of that.”
Both friends just stared more confused to her as she continued with her story. They gazed to each other and Sweetie Belle interrupted Scootaloo with one sentence.
“But this is more than two years ago and you're way laid back with Big Mac nowadays.”
She wanted to say more words, but Scootaloo started to tremble and pressed her ears firmer against her head. So Sweetie Belle stopped and smiled just encouraging.
“I'm just getting better to hide my fear!”
Apple Bloom stopped her right now and sounded almost angry. She even thumped once on the ground.
“Just hold on to your hooves. You are afraid of Big Mac?
But why? He is a very shy and friendly stallion.
Heck you have helped to make him Miss Cheerilee's very special somepony.”
Scootaloo sniffed once and had to shut her eyes close. She felt her wing shot open and started to tremble. She fought for her self composure, but it was an impossible fight. She took a deep breath and almost yelled.
“I'm afraid, that he will hurt me.
Like father did!”
Now it was out off her mouth and the filly trembled harder. Her wings unfolded completely and her hooves tried to gallop away, but she pressed her belly down on them to stay on place.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked confused to each other and the smaller unicorn raised one hoof very slowly.
She hugged the shivering filly and squeaked, as the Scootaloo hugged back her tightly. The bigger pegasus filly sobbed and stammered low tuned apologies.
“I wanted to tell you long time ago.
But...but I was afraid, that you...”
Sweetie stroke her mane gently and tried to calm her down with that, but Scootaloo didn't have it right now. Her sobs just intensified and she nestled closer into her friends hug. Sweetie turned her head to Apple Bloom and whispered one question.
“Do you know what's wrong with her?”
The earthpony looked confused from one friend to the other and shook her head. She took a deep breath, put a hoof on Scootaloo's side and hugged her too. She whispered an answer.
“Nope.
But I don't care, you know?”
Both nodded and hugged Scootaloo as long as she wanted. The filly sobbed almost relieved and hugged her friends very tightly.

A loving Family

by Lethrael

A unicorn with wings.

A very special family.

A very typical move between homes.

My new friends. (Psychological)

My new friends. (Adoption)

Revelations

Daddies are embarrassing.

One straying foal, or two?

Seek and found.

The morning after.

Scootaloo's home.

School, Questions and Spies.

Just for a few days.

Three friends.

I uhm like you.

Cutie Mark Crusader Promise.