//------------------------------// // Ch. 11 All In Time (Part I) // Story: Scootaloo's Dreams // by Broneyofnoel //------------------------------// As we walked away from the orphanage, an idea hit me, I knew a pony who wanted a little colt, I just had to find a time to talk to her first. “Hey Fluttershy?” I asked, and then looked up at her. “Yes Scootaloo?” she stopped walking and looked at me. “Didn’t Derpy want a little colt to be a brother to Dinky?” “Well yes, but she can’t find a stallion to be with right now so I don’t see that...” she paused when I brought a huge smile on my face. “Scootaloo?” she questioned. “I need to talk to Derpy!” I said excitedly, the thought of Star living in Ponyville was awesome! “We’ll see her when she delivers the mail tomorrow, but we have to get home first, the train back leaves in thirty minutes!” Fluttershy said happily. “Are we taking the underground first?” I asked. “Yes, come on, we need to find A3....” Fluttershy looked around the station as she said that. She and I walked around the crowded station until we found an information map, we looked for the Trottingham Main Station, once we did, we looked what train we had to take, it was B9, not A3. “Fluttershy! Over there!” I yelled, pointing to an incoming train, it had its number and letter painted in green on its side. We hurriedly made our way over to and then inside the train. Inside our car, there were a lot of ponies dressed in suits. An intercom sounded throughout the entire train, “Next stop, 5th and Mane.” I looked over at Fluttershy; she seemed so relieved, as if she were relaxed that she adopted me. I was so happy that I finally had a mother who cared about me, and she seemed happy to have a daughter. The train slowed down and then finally stopped; the suited ponies, or at least most of them, left. I noticed a very familiar colt from earlier get on again with his family. I decided to walk over and talk to him. “Hi!” I said. The colt turned to me; his eyes seemed really...deep “Hey...” The colt said cautiously. Why was he so nervous, didn’t anypony ever say hi to him? “I saw you on the train earlier, what’s your name?” I asked, this colt seemed to pop up everywhere around Trottingham. “Red Tear....yours?” he asked, he seemed sweet. “Scootaloo!” I said happily. The train started to move again, and the intercom buzzed, “Next stop, Trottingham Mane Train Station.” I looked back at Fluttershy, who was eyeing the colt nervously. “Who’s that?” he asked. “That’s Flutt...my mom.” I said, I think she heard me say that, because she seemed to warm up quite a bit. “Cool, my mom’s at home.” he said, he looked out the window as we traveled above ground. “Where?” I pushed. “Right after the station.” He answered, and I felt the train slowing down as we approached the station. “Oh,” The train stopped, and the doors opened, “I have to go, maybe I’ll see you again.” “Maybe...” he said as I left the train. Fluttershy and I headed over to the train lines departing to the western half of Equestria; we searched for Ponyville’s express train. We looked for it, turns out Ponyville’s train is in the last gat, so we ran over to the ticket counter. Fluttershy gave the two tickets to the mare behind the counter and we boarded the train. When I sat in one of the seats, I realized how tired I was, today had honestly been really long, I went from being an orphan to being in a loving family, and I've been to Trottingham and back. I started to drift into a world of sleep when a thought hit me; I got up and walked over to Fluttershy. “Night mom, I love you.” I gave her a hug. She seemed to be taken aback by this, she responded warmly, “I love you too, sweet dreams.” I sat back down and leaned my head against the window, I fell asleep soon after to the rumble of the train. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy sat there, she’d adopted Scootaloo, was it an on the spot decision, did she just feel bad for the filly...NO, she wouldn’t let those thoughts into her head, she loved this little filly, she loved her with all her heart. She looked out of the window and watched Trottingham’s lights fade away behind the train, she didn’t know how she would explain her adopting Scootaloo to her friends, but she knew that with enough assurance, they’d eventually approve. Fluttershy looked back at Scootaloo, who was now sleeping heavily, she thought about what Scootaloo in the orphanage with that horrible Miss Gluck, the thought of her made Fluttershy sick, she decided to watch the scenery for a while. “Stubs?” An older stallion asked as he made his way through the train. “Here” Fluttershy handed the two ticket stubs to the stallion. He took a look at them and then handed them back to her, “Have a nice ride.” The stallion left the train car and continued his duty. Fluttershy took one last look out of the window before falling asleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I awoke to the sound of the train’s whistle sounding as we entered Ponyville. I looked out the window, it was just beginning to become daylight, the weather team was clearing up clouds, today would be a bright and sunny day. I looked over and saw Fluttershy waking up as well, she rubbed her eyes lightly. Fluttershy stood up and stretched her wings a bit. “Morning.” I said happily. “Good morning.” she smiled again. “What are we going to do today?” “We have to tell the girls that I adopted you, then we’ll go on from there.” she answered, the two of us headed towards the exit. The train came to a stop right even with the platform, but something wasn’t right. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all standing on the platform, almost as if they were waiting for us. When the doors opened, Fluttershy and I walked out of the train car and we were greeted with some smiles, right up until Pinkie disappeared and popped out of barrel placed nearby, “Welcome back!” she said, throwing confetti everywhere. “How’d you girls know?” Fluttershy questioned. “Well Pinkie told us about six hours ago,” Twilight gestured to Pinkie, who squeed, “At first, we didn’t approve, but after an hour or so of explaining it, we finally said it was okay for you to adopt Scootaloo.” “Six hours ago?” I asked. “It takes time to cross Equestria!” Pinkie Pie interjected. The ponies all looked over at Pinkie, whose smile had returned by now. She started to talk, “Okay, I know it’s early, but there’s a super-duper party waiting for you two at Sugarcube corner!” The two of us had no choice, it’s not like we would’ve chosen differently, we headed with the group of ponies to Sugarcube corner. The group remained silent on the walk, but that changed when we opened the door. It was amazing, AppleBloom, Sweetie Belle, the Cakes, Spike, Derpy, and a few other ponies all jumped out in surprise for us. Everypony started talking to everypony else, I knew which pony I’d talk to first. I headed over to Derpy, who was eating a muffin beside the punch; she swallowed the muffin whole and looked at me, “Hiya Scootaloo!” “Derpy, you want a son right?” I asked, she seemed a bit down. “Yeah, but I can’t find a nice stallion.” she said sadly. “I know this nice colt in Trottingham, he’s an orphan and he needs a home.” I said, smiling. “Hmm, I never thought of adopting.” she put a hoof to her chin, “What’s his name?” “Star Chaser, he and I tried to escape the orphanage, but he got hurt when we jumped off a train.” “Where’s he at, I might go visit him.” Derpy said, her face lightening up. “He’s at the Trottingham Orphanage.” I said, she nodded. “Well, I gotta go, gotta make sure my little Muffin wakes up on time, and then I have to work!” Derpy said as she started to leave, “See you around!” “Hey, Scoots!” I turned around to see Rainbow smiling. “Yeah Rainbow?” I said excitedly. “Got you a little present, it’s for your room at Flutters.” Rainbow pulled out a tube with a bow on it. I took the gift and looked back at her, “What is it?” “Open it.” she said simply. I untied the bow and there was a small groove, I unrolled the fit, actually the tube was the gift, but it was not a tube, it was a poster. "That's awesome!" I couldn't believe that she actually bought me a poster. “It’s nothing mu...” I grabbed her in a hug, I didn’t know why, but I felt like hugging ponies since Star kissed me. The party was amazing, even thought it was really early, I had a lot of fun, the CMC were just happy that I was back in Ponyville. Once the party ended, I just hung out with Pinkie and the Cakes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy followed rainbow outside of the bakery, they could still hear the party going on inside, it had wound down quite a bit, but it had a lot of life left in it. When the cyan mare finally stopped, she turned and looked at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, how are you going to take care of Scootaloo?” “I earn money from the Animal Society; I earn enough to care for anypony in need.” Fluttershy said calmly. “Yeah, for a day or two, you don’t earn enough bits to raise a filly on your own.” Rainbow said, sounding very concerned. “I...I can manage.” Fluttershy reassured herself. “No, you can’t! Listen, how about I help you raise Scootaloo, I make money that I don’t need, I could give it to you.” Rainbow said kindly. “You don't have to do that....I couldn’t...” Fluttershy said, she knew she had to accept. “Please, let me help you and my number one fan.” Rainbow inched towards Fluttershy. “Alright, but I can’t just take your bits.” Fluttershy sighed. “You’ll make it up to me.” Rainbow smiled, and flew to the sky, leaving Fluttershy to wonder, what did she mean? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And so ends part one of three of All in Time…stay tuned for more!