//------------------------------// // Conversations // Story: Moving Forward // by RuinQueenofOblivion //------------------------------// Traveler and Rainbow headed down the stairs towards where the party was going on. Rainbow smiled a little when she saw Scootaloo talking with her friends again with Stormy close to her. Stormy was already used to a lot of the ponies that were here, she couldn't imagine what might happen when they went to the Apple family reunion next month. That was a crazy thing to think about, Rainbow was going to be part of the extended Apple Family. Sure they weren't related by blood, but she had seen the kind of bond the Apple Family had and that didn't matter to them. They were going to be family, and that was actually kind of nice. She had never had much family outside of her parents until Scootaloo was born, and even after that she was still pretty much on her own. Her friends had become sort of her second family, and that was something at least. She gave Rarity a wave as she looked at Traveler. "There sure are a lot of ponies here, who are they?" He asked nervously. "Well, some of them are classmates, others are ponies the CMC have helped throughout the years," Rainbow said with a light chuckle. "Scootaloo's a good kid, she's always been more interested in helping ponies than anything else. I, didn't really think that all of this would happen." Traveler just shrugged as they walked forward over to where Scootaloo was talking with Sweetie Belle. "Hey Scoots, there's somepony here you should meet," Rainbow said and the orange Pegasus looked at Traveler curiously. "Oh hey, you're that guard from before," she said with a smile as she looked at him. "What's up? I'm not in any sort of trouble am I?" Sweetie looked at her and then at the two older ponies nervously for a moment. She couldn't put her hoof on it but something about this whole thing seemed weird to her as she gently took Stormy in her telekinesis and held her close. "Scootaloo, I..." Traveler started to say and took a deep breath as he looked at his daughter and tried to put the words together. "I'm, well... my name is Traveler and..." "What?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the stallion, she didn't get any weird vibes from him, but there was something familiar about him. Maybe it was his coloring, or maybe it was just her imagination. "I'm your father," he finally said softly and looked down at his hooves. "I'm here because, well, I wanted a chance to meet you and see everything that you've done." Scootaloo froze up for a moment, her father? She hadn't ever imagined that she'd meet her father, especially given everything that Rainbow had told her about him. Even though Holiday and Lofty were nice, they didn't seem to want to talk about her father other than what she already knew. "Hello Traveler," a voice said from behind them and they turned to see Holiday standing there with Lofty and the fillies back a ways looking nervous. "I didn't think you'd really have the guts to show your face here, even after I told you what was going on." "Well, err..." Traveler said and gulped nervously as he got a glare from his older sister who just shook her head. "I wanted to set everything right, you know? She's my flesh and blood, shouldn't I have a chance to try and reconnect with her?" "Then why did you wait until now?" Sweetie Belle asked as she shot him a look. "You've had 18 years to try and connect with Scootaloo. Heck, she met Holiday and Lofty 2 years ago, why couldn't you come here then?" Traveler actually paused at that and looked at Scootaloo and then down at the 2 year old filly next to the Unicorn's hooves. "I... I don't have a good reason. I'm a deadbeat dad, I admit it, I abandoned my duties because I couldn't own up to them and be the father I needed to be. I'm sorry, and I don't expect you to forgive me for what I did, but I just want a chance to try and make up for it." "Its, your choice what you want to do Scootaloo," Rainbow said and looked over at her daughter. "You're old enough to make choices on your own. If you want to talk with him and let him be part of your life, then that is your decision." Rainbow shot Traveler a look that made the Earth Pony stallion flinch, he knew what that look meant. He couldn't mess this up, if he hurt Scootaloo or her daughter then Rainbow Dash would hurt him, badly. "I'll, give him a chance," Scootaloo finally said with a sigh. "Yeah, I know he should've come here sooner than this, but he's here isn't he? If I held a grudge for my parents leaving me then I would've left Rainbow Dash years ago." Rainbow Dash flinched a little at that but she had to admit that Scootaloo was right. She had left Scootaloo up for adoption, essentially abandoning her in hopes that she'd be able to get an even better life than what Rainbow could give her. It hadn't gone according to plan, but everything had gone pretty well all things considered. "Alright," Sweetie said with a nod as she leaned in and gave her fiance a kiss on the cheek. "Well, if Scootaloo thinks you can be given another chance then I'll trust her judgment. But, I would like to be there with her while you talk, okay?" "Alright," Traveler said and looked at the Unicorn curiously. "You're her fiance then? Curious, I wasn't expecting you to be a..." "Mare?" "No, no, I have nothing against that kind of thing," Traveler said dismissively. "I just wasn't expecting you to be a Unicorn is all. I've, not had great experiences with Unicorns outside of the Royal Guard, but if Scootaloo loves you that's good enough for me." Scootaloo smiled a little and nuzzled Sweetie Belle gently before she looked back at Traveler. "So, umm, how about we enjoy the party and then we can talk some?" "Of course, so, where's this granddaughter Rainbow said I have now?" Traveler asked and looked down at Storm who tilted her head curiously at the stallion. "Well, umm, Storm Chaser this is your grandpa," Scootaloo said as she moved next to Sweetie Belle and the filly. "Dad, this is Storm Chaser, she's my daughter. Stormy, this is, I guess your grandpa Traveler." "Hello," Storm Chaser said and looked up at the stallion curiously. "Hey kiddo," Traveler said and looked down at the filly with a smile. "Its nice to meet you, I heard about you from your Grandma Rainbow." "Hello, Grandpa?" Storm Chaser asked as she tried to process who this strange stallion was and tilted her head curiously. "You look like mommy..." Traveler chuckled lightly, it was true that Scootaloo did kind of take after him more than Rainbow Dash in terms of looks. Still, she had that same determination and drive in her eyes that Rainbow had all those years ago. "Yeah I do, well I don't want to keep your mommies from their party," Traveler said and looked back at Rainbow and Holiday before back at Scootaloo. "I'll just go talk with your mom and aunts, have a good time." "Alright, come on Stormy," Scootaloo said with a nod as she put the toddler on her back before heading off to find her friends with Sweetie Belle. "Is she okay?" Traveler asked as he looked over at Rainbow. "I mean, it couldn't be easy on her with everything that's going on." "She went through a lot when she found out, but, she's going to be okay now," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Still, there are days that I wish I had been there for her from the beginning. I did everything I could to try and help her growing up, but I'm just glad that she's doing as well as she is." "You did fine Rainbow," Traveler said and they both looked over at Scootaloo who was talking with her friends. "Yeah, I hope I did," Rainbow said before walking off, leaving Traveler standing there for a long moment. He sighed and looked outside for a moment before he headed out again to go to his hotel. He still had a lot to think about right now, and he'd come back when he figured some things out. 00000 Scootaloo laid back on the bed and smiled over at Sweetie Belle who was going through the invitations for their wedding next month. She smiled a little at the beautiful Unicorn mare who looked back at her and smiled back as she set the invitations down for a moment. "What's got you smiling Scootaloo?" She asked as she put the papers together neatly. "Oh, I'm just thinking about everything," Scootaloo said with a smile as she sat up and gave her fiance a kiss on the cheek. "About how lucky I am to have you as my special somepony for one." "Mmm, you better know that," Sweetie said with a giggle as she nuzzled Scootaloo gently. "But really, I'm just glad that I got the chance to be with you. I mean everything's been so crazy lately and, well I know we're kind of rushing into things, do we even have a plan for where we're going to be married?" "I was thinking the farm, I mean its going to be coinciding with the family reunion anyway, so why not?" Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Unless you have a better idea." "No, no, that's fine, we'll just have to get everything set up is all," Sweetie said and shrugged a little. "All things considered, I'll just be happy to have this done. I've never been so nervous about getting everything just right, and we have to get all our family there too." "Have, you heard from your parents about whether or not they'll be there?" Scootaloo asked softly, and Sweetie flinched a little at that. Sweetie Belle's parents had been, pretty absent for as long as she had known the Unicorn, having basically dumped her on Rarity while they did Celestia knew what. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." "No, no its fine, they'll be here, they said they would," Sweetie said with a smile that felt just a little forced. "Its not like they haven't said that before and failed to keep their word. Remember what happened at Rarity and Applejack's wedding?" "Oh yes, when they showed up 10 minutes before the ceremony and we had to rush her father out on the aisle," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "Your parents are a bit... flighty." "Yeah, I know," Sweetie said with a sigh. "Sometimes it feels like Rarity has been more of a parent to me than my actual parents. I don't even know what to do Scootaloo, I want them to be there, but, I don't know if they're going to mess it up or not, you know?" "Yeah," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "Maybe you should..." She paused and let that thought trail off for a moment. It was a rather strange idea, and she wasn't sure if Sweetie Belle would agree with it. "I should what?" Sweetie asked with a tilt of her head. "I should just not invite them? They're my parents, I want them to be there." "No, no, they should be there," Scootaloo said with a nod. "But, I was thinking, maybe you should ask Rarity to walk you down the aisle instead of your father. I mean, you said it yourself she's been more of a parent to you than they have, it, might not be a bad idea." Sweetie actually looked like she was thinking it over for a long moment before she shrugged. "Its an idea, and not very traditional, but I'll talk to Rarity about it and see if she'd be willing to. Speaking of my sister though, she's trying to get me to convince you to wear a dress again." "Really, I was hoping she'd have given up on that already," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "But Sweetie, if you want me to wear a dress at our wedding, I'll do it. Its not about what I want, its about what makes you happy." Sweetie looked at her fiance surprised for a moment. Scootaloo for as long as she had known her hated wearing dresses and would never willingly wear one. Not that Rarity hadn't tried on several occasions, but Scootaloo had managed to get out of it every time. Now she was saying that she'd do it if Sweetie Belle wanted her to? She wanted her to be happy, that was the kind of thing that made Sweetie love the Pegasus mare as much as she did. But still, she had already made up her mind and just shook her head. "No Scootaloo, you're going to wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing," Sweetie said and used her telekinesis to pull the orange Pegasus in close. "Its not just about my happiness you know, its just as much about yours and I want you to be happy, because I love you. You're the mare I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and I don't want you to be unhappy just for me. I love you no matter what you wear at the ceremony." "Okay, what if I wanted to wear a Wonderbolt uniform?" Scootaloo asked with a chuckle which just made Sweetie Belle laugh. "We'll see, but I think you'd look better in a tuxedo," she said with a chuckle as she kissed Scootaloo on the nose. "I mean, remember that one you wore to our prom? You looked beautiful in that." "Right, the prom we had to leave early because Stormy got sick," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "And then I lost the deposit on the tux." "Yes, but you left because you love your daughter and you wanted to help her when she needed it even if it meant we had to go back home," Sweetie said. "Weeks of dance lessons for nothing," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "I don't think it was for nothing, besides we had a nice little dance that night, and you were amazing," Sweetie said and kissed Scootaloo gently. "I love you Scootaloo, and nothing you do could ever change that. I've never been happier than when I get to spend time with you and Stormy." "Not exactly the fairy tale romance you imagined when we were fillies huh?" Scootaloo asked with a chuckle. "Are you kidding? You're brave, dashing, loyal, and you do everything you can to help ponies," Sweetie said with a laugh as she shook her head. "You're my knight in shining armor astride a scooter. You are my fairy tale romance in your own way, and I love you for every little bit of it." Scootaloo sighed happily and closed her eyes as the two laid down on the bed together. She smiled at Sweetie and draped her wing over her gently as they rested comfortably on the cloud mattress. She knew that she wanted to spend every night for the rest of her life like this, and wake up every morning next to this Unicorn. "I love you too Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said with a smile as she nuzzled her again. "I just wish that I could do more to show how much I love you." "Scootaloo, you do enough to show it," Sweetie said with a smile. "Besides, I'm just glad that you were willing to let me into your family. You're trusting me with your daughter, and I know that she means everything to you so that is enough for me." Scootaloo smiled a little and rest her head on Sweetie's chest. She sighed and took a deep breath as Sweetie smiled and ran her hoof through the Pegasus' mane. "I don't regret what happened, but maybe if I..." "Scootaloo, you should know better than to dwell on the past," Sweetie said as she covered her mouth with her hoof. "You did everything you thought was right at the time. You thought Cirrus loved you and its not your fault that he turned out to be a jerk. Besides, you have a wonderful daughter, mother, and future wife because of it. If all of that came out of what happened three years ago, then maybe it was what was supposed to happen." Scootaloo blinked a little, she had thought about it before but had never really thought about it in that way. Was it possible that everything was supposed to happen like this because of her choice? It wasn't that she regretted what happened, but sometimes the thought of what her life could've been like if she had just realized her feelings for Sweetie sooner might have been like. "Plus, I think Apple Bloom would've been disappointed that she didn't get to tease us until we finally got together," Sweetie added with a chuckle which just made Scootaloo laugh as Sweetie put on her best country accent. "Dag nabit, Ah wanted ta tease ya'll some more until Ah convinced yah ta start makin' out or whatever!" "Yeah, she's never gonna let us live that down," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "So, we just have to worry about sharing a house with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon now. That should be interesting, right?" "Yeah, knowing them its probably a really nice house too," Sweetie Belle said with a chuckle and then paused a little. "Wait, are we going to be able to pay our part of the rent? What if its really expensive?" "I don't think they would've offered it to us if we couldn't," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "Come on, lets just relax a little and get some sleep, we can worry about all of this in the morning." The two mares yawned as they snuggled with one another and closed their eyes. Scootaloo smiled as she felt the warmth of her fiance's body against her's and just enjoyed the moment as they drifted off to sleep. 00000 "Sounds like those two finally got to bed," Rainbow Dash said as she laid back on her cloud bed next to Fluttershy in the next room over. "I guess they're still figuring a lot of this stuff out." "Are you okay Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked as she looked at her wife. "I mean, you've been kind of on edge ever since Traveler showed up at the party earlier. Is everything okay?" "Honestly Flutters, I don't know," Rainbow admitted as she laid back in her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Its not just him either, I guess its just kind of sinking in that Scootaloo and Stormy are going to be moving out soon. I guess I just have gotten so used to having them around its going to feel kind of empty here without them, you know what I mean?" "I think somepony is suffering from empty nest syndrome," Fluttershy said with a chuckle. "A little early, but you never know. Maybe, someday we can have another filly or colt running around here, getting into trouble..." "Maybe, but I'm still kind of nervous about this whole thing," Rainbow admitted with a sigh. "And Traveler coming doesn't help matters. He seems to have shaped up, but I don't know if I believe him. There's just something incredibly odd about the fact that he picked today to show up and I don't know what it is." "Yeah, I know what you mean, but for now he doesn't seem to be causing any problems," Fluttershy said with a shrug. "Once he gets a chance to settle in maybe you should try talking to him again. He's not going to be here forever, and you should try to patch things up. What's the point of holding a grudge, right?" "Yeah, I know, and I'm not exactly about to tell him to leave without a reason," Rainbow said. "I just, wish I knew what was going on right now. Something about all of this feels weird, maybe I should send a letter to Princess Celestia at some point, she might be able to shed some light on his mindset." "Come on, lets just get some sleep," Fluttershy said. "We can figure that out in the morning, and, I think we can find some things to occupy our time in the meantime." Rainbow smiled and leaned over and kissed her wife deeply. She wasn't going to let everything that was happening keep her from spending time with the mare she loved the most. 00000 A few hours later Scootaloo snapped awake in bed when she heard the sound of crying coming from across the hall where Storm Chaser was sleeping. On instinct alone she got to her hooves and ran through the door and opened the door to her daughter's room where the small filly was crying. "Shhh, Stormy, calm down, mommy's here," she said and gently picked up the small pony and held her close as she sat down in the chair next to the bed. "What happened, did you have a bad dream?" Storm sniffed and nodded a little as she buried her muzzle in her mother's chest fur. Scootaloo smiled softly and stroked the filly's mane gently. Storm had a few bad dreams lately and she wasn't sure why, and it worried her a little so she had been checking on her every night like this. "Was it the same one?" She asked and Storm nodded softly. "I'm sorry Stormy, I'm here for you, mommy is here for you." Stormy sighed in relief and closed her eyes as she snuggled up to Scootaloo and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you Mommy... can I sleep in your room with you and Mommy Sweetie tonight, please?" She looked up at Scootaloo with the biggest purple eyes the mare had ever seen and she smiled softly as the door opened again and Sweetie Belle came inside. "I'm sure that can be arranged, don't worry," Scootaloo said and nuzzled the filly gently before she nodded to Sweetie. "Sorry Sweetie, she had another nightmare." "Aww, poor thing, that's the fourth one this week," Sweetie said and looked at Scootaloo. "Maybe we should talk to Princess Luna, see if she can help any." "Maybe," Scootaloo said softly as she looked down at the quivering filly. "I just hope she'll be able to help, I'll talk to Twilight tomorrow and see about getting word to her about it." "Come on, lets take her back to our room," Sweetie said and kissed Storm lightly on the forehead before they picked her up and carried her into their bedroom. "Good night mommies, love you" Storm said and snuggled up under the covers between them as she drifted off to sleep. Scootaloo smiled a little as she nuzzled her daughter gently and then leaned over and nuzzled Sweetie Belle. She sighed happily and draped her wing over the two most important ponies in Equestria to her. "I love you Sweetie Belle," she said softly as Sweetie smiled over at her. "I love you too Scootaloo," she said before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Scootaloo smiled and drifted off to sleep finally as she closed her eyes. Right now she didn't care about the wedding plans or what had happened that day, right now she just wanted to spend time with her family. 00000 Traveler looked up when there was a knock on the door to his hotel room and then an envelope was slipped under the door. He made sure the curtains were closed before he picked the envelope up and opened it carefully. He nodded as he read it over and put it in his bags. He'd stay in Ponyville for a few more days before he had to deal with this. He didn't like lying to them, but he was doing a job and had to make sure that he did everything just right if he didn't want to get in trouble. He glanced out the window towards where Rainbow Dash's house was and sighed a little. "Sorry Scootaloo, I wish I could be the father you need..." He sighed and sat back down on the bed and started to plan out his next move.