//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Coming Clean 
// Story: The Secret Heir 
// by RuinQueenofOblivion 
//------------------------------//

Scootaloo's POV.

"Your real name is Sunbeam, you are a Princess," Celestia had said, honestly I wasn't sure what to make of that at all.

"Scootaloo, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, I shook my head to clear my mind.

"I, don't know what to say," I admitted and looked at Celestia, trying to wrap my mind around this. "You're, really my mom? And you two knew about this?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said, suddenly looking a little nervous. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, I'm Private Rainbow Dash, I joined the Royal Guard after Flight School, and Celestia asked me to watch over you."

"You're really..." Twilight said, I could practically hear the gears grinding in her head as she tried to figure it out, at least I wasn't the only one who was confused by this. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Twilight, I have had many children over the centuries," Celestia said sadly. "Scootaloo... Sunbeam is just the most recent. If I had a choice, I'd have gladly raised her myself, but she was in danger because of members of the nobility that wanted to remove me from power and would use her to their advantage."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, my mother was Princess Celestia? That alone was going to take a lot of getting used to, and honestly I didn't know what to expect anymore. That basically meant my whole life was a lie.

What was going to happen now?

"I'm sorry... I can't talk about this right now..." I said and galloped up the stairs, heading for my room.

Right now I just wanted to bury my face in my pillow and pretend nothing had changed. But I knew that everything was going to change now that I knew who my mother really was.

I had no idea what to do.


00000


Rainbow Dash's POV.

I frowned sadly as I watched Scootaloo run up the stairs. I had no idea what to do to be honest, I had just been sent here as a guard, but Scootaloo had become so much more since then.

How was I going to do this? She had become like a little sister to me, but now she knew that I had just been a guard to protect her, what was she going to think of me?

"Rainbow Dash, you should go talk to her," Celestia said, I looked at her for a long moment.

"Me? What about Dizzy?" I asked, I wasn't sure what I should do honestly. "I mean we're close, but she raised her."

"Rainbow, you're the one she's bonded with the most," Celestia said. "You should be the one to talk to her."

I looked at Dizzy and Twilight, they just nodded in agreement, that figured really. Of course they were right, but honestly I was nervous about how she'd react more than anything else.

"Its okay Rainbow, you can talk to her," Dizzy said with a reassuring smile. "Just do your best."

I nodded and trotted upstairs, I stopped in front of Scootaloo's door, pausing for a long moment. I had to do this, they were right, my bond with her was going to be what helped her the most, so I knocked on the door with my hoof.

"Go away..." Scootaloo said from inside. "I don't want to talk to anypony right now."

"Scootaloo, its me," I said. "Please, let me in, I just want to talk with you."

"Why, so you can lie to me some more?" Scootaloo asked, that stung at my heart. "Go away, I don't want to see you right now."

"Scootaloo, I'm sorry," I said. "It was hard to lie to you all these years, I wanted to tell you the truth so many times but I couldn't because I had orders. But what we had together, that wasn't a lie, I came to care about you like a little sister and that was the truth, I swear. That wasn't part of my mission, you have to believe me."

There was a long moment of silence, Scootaloo didn't say anything it was like she was trying to decide what to do next.

"Scootaloo?" I asked, I was worried about her sudden silence.

That's when the door slid open, she looked like she had been crying as she looked up at me sadly but with a weak smile on her face.

"Do you really mean that?" She asked. "Do you really still think of me like a sister even though you were sent to protect me?"

"I do," I said with a smile and hugged her gently. "That's something that won't ever change, I care about you more than anything in Equestria. So does Dizzy and Celestia, we all did this to make sure you were safe."

"Why didn't Celestia tell me though?" Scootaloo asked. "I could've kept it a secret if I had to."

"I know you could," I said, ruffling her mane. "You're a good kid, but Celestia didn't think we should until you were grown. I'm sorry that we didn't trust you with this before, but now you have to keep it secret until we're ready to reveal it to Equestria, can you handle that?"

Scootaloo paused for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I can do it... I just, don't know what to do."

"You're going to be just fine," I said. "Don't worry, we're all going to be here for you and you won't have to keep it secret for too much longer I'm sure. I promise that I'll be here for you, we all will be."

Scootaloo smiled and let go of the hug. "Okay Rainbow Dash, I trust you, if you say that you're going to help, I'm sure you will. Just promise me that I won't have to lie to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, they're my best friends and I don't want to lie to them."

"You'd have to ask your mom... err, I mean Celestia about that," I said, that was going to take some getting used to. "But I'm sure she'll understand since they are your friends."

"Well, okay, I'll ask her," Scootaloo said. "This is weird... I can't believe I'm really a Princess..."

"Don't worry Scootaloo, you're a great filly, that's not going to change just because you found out you're a princess," I said with a smile.

Scootaloo smiled and hugged me again, somehow I felt like that had helped her a lot.


00000


Twilight Sparkle's POV.

I watched Rainbow Dash head upstairs to talk with Scootaloo, honestly my mind was still reeling over this. I had known Scootaloo since not long after I had arrived in Ponyville, and I hadn't known much about Dizzy Twister, but this isn't what I expected at all.

I looked at Celestia for a long moment, it was starting to dawn on me what was going on. While it wasn't a huge surprise that she had children, it was inevitable really, but that one of them was Scootaloo?

That's when I realized what this meant and looked at Celestia.

"That envelope Rainbow showed me, that was from the nobles wasn't it?" I asked, Dizzy and Celestia exchanged glances. "Why would they reveal their existence now?"

"The Order of the Black Phoenix," Celestia said. "There have been rumors of its existence for years, but they didn't really make their existence known until after Luna returned. They've occasionally petitioned for her to take over rulership of the country from me."

"Why would they do that? You've been doing a good job for centuries," I said, I couldn't believe that anypony would want something like that.

"They believe that I should be removed for their own purposes, but what they are is beyond me," Celestia admitted. "They haven't actually committed any crimes so we can't arrest them."

I nodded in understanding, if she did that then she would be no better than they were. I had to hope that they wouldn't do anything to threaten Scootaloo, but I had a bad feeling about all of this.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked.

"I am going to have to come clean about all of this," Celestia said. "Luna already knows and she told me this morning that an unknown Unicorn Stallion approached her that seemed to know about it as well."

"I'm not sure we should," Dizzy said. "If you tell everypony about Scootaloo, then she'll become a target. Not only the Order, but also Nobles and the fact is that many Ponies might lose their trust in you as a leader."

I nodded, Dizzy was right of course, but I wasn't sure exactly how we were going to control the situation.

"There is another option," Celestia said as she looked thoughtfully for a long moment. "It will be tricky, but it may be her best option."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but if she had an idea maybe it would work. I just had to hope that whatever it was it would be able to keep Scootaloo safe.

There was the sound of hooves coming downstairs and we turned to see Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash coming downstairs.


00000


Celestia's POV.

"Princess Celestia... mom," Scootaloo said as she looked up at me, she looked like she was unsure of what to say. "There's, something I want to say."

"Yes Sunbeam?" I asked.

"Please, call me Scootaloo, that's my name as far as I'm concerned," she said, I smiled a little at that and nodded in agreement.

"Okay Scootaloo, what can I do for you?" I asked with a smile.

"I, don't really know about all of this," she said, rubbing her foreleg. "I understand why you kept it from me, but... I'm not sure what to do now that you've told me."

"Scootaloo, we're going to have to tell others," Dizzy said. "Things are about to change a lot for you, but we're all here for you."

I smiled a little down at my daughter who nodded in understanding.

"There is one thing," Scootaloo said, I looked at her for a moment. "I want to tell Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom myself before anypony else. They're my best friends and they deserve to know."

"Okay Scootaloo, you can tell them," I said. "Just as long as they don't tell anypony until the time is right."

"Okay," Scootaloo said. "Can I go see them?"

I looked at Dizzy who nodded, and Scootaloo headed out the door to go find her friends. I sighed a little, I had to admit that I wasn't sure what to do now, but I at least had an idea that would hopefully keep her safe.

I just had to hope she was up for it.