Scootaloo sat on her cloud bed that Dash had set up for her in the guest room of her cloud mansion. It had been a month since she had been released from the hospital, and she was already doing much better. She was settling into her new life with her big sister, and really enjoying it. Rainbow had even made her a cloud staircase so she could go up and down from the house without help, at least until she learned how to fly. Dash had agreed to teach her as soon as her wings grew a little. Scootaloo couldn't wait for that day to come, even if she knew it would be a year or two.
Scootaloo was waiting on Dash to get home from Wonderbolts training. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have school, and her friends were all busy today. She normally got excited waiting for Dash to come home, but today was different, she was beyond excited. Rainbow had told her before she left this morning that she would be late because she had to pick up a surprise for Scootaloo. Scootaloo was getting impatient. Dash was already 20 minutes late. How long did this surprise take?
"Scoots, I'm home!" Scootalloo heard Dash call from downstairs. Well, I guess that answers that question. "Now are you gonna come down here for your surprise or what?"
"Coming!" Scoots called, jumping out of her bed and rushing out of her room. "What is it? What is it?" She called enthusiastically as she entered the kitchen where Dash was waiting for her.
"Whoah, calm down there Squirt. Close your eyes." Scootalloo did as she was told, and listened as Dash walked over to the counter and picked something up. "Alright, you can look now Scoots."
Scootalloo opened her eyes and stared, as she let out a gasp of excitement... and then stopped herself, "Wait, it's just an envelope," she said with a quizzical expression on her face.
Dash chuckled at this. "Scoots, the surprise is in the envelope."
"Ohhhhhh!" Scoots said, gaining the excitement back on her face. "Can I open it now, can I?" Scoots said, jumping up and down and buzzing her wings in excitement.
"Of course Squirt. Here you go." Dash said and handed the envelope to Scootalloo. Rainbow watched nervously as Scootaloo ripped open the envelope and looked at the papers inside. Her eyes scanned back and forth across the paper.
When she had finally finished reading the paper, she put it down and looked up at Dash with fearful hope in her eyes. Dash could see tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "D-dash? Is this serious? You wouldn't mess with me like that, would you?"
"Of course not Scoots. You know I love you way too much to do that. I know I'm a prankster but that's too far even for me. "Now come here Squirt," Dash said caringly, sitting down and holding out a hoof to invite Scootaloo in for a hug.
Scootaloo gladly accepted, and rushed forwards into Dash's hooves, nearly knocking her over onto her back. Tears were now streaming from her eyes. "I love you Dash."
Dash smiled. "I love you too Scoots."
"Wait," Scootaloo said, pulling away from the hug and looking up at her former big sister turned adoptive mother, "does this mean I call you Mom now?"
"Only if you want to," Dash replied, actually hoping that she would want to.
Scootaloo put her hoof up to her chin in thought for a moment. "Ok... Mom."
Dash reached out and wrapped her new daughter up into a tight hug. She knew this was going to be great for both of them. "Love you kiddo."
"Love you too Mom."
***
"I hereby call this emergency meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order!" Scootaloo shouted. It was the morning after she had gotten the news from Dash. She had run to get her friends and call this meeting this morning as soon as she woke up.
"Ugh," Sweetie groaned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What was so important that you had to wake me up this early?" Sweetie asked, a clear hint of annoyance in her voice. Since the incident with Scootaloo, things had pretty much gone back to normal. Scotaloo had asked the others to put that behind them. She didn't want that incident dragging down their friendship.
"Yeah, I—" Applebloom let out a huge yawn. "I'm with Sweetie on this one. Why in tarnation did you have to wake me up so early? The roosters ain't even up yet."
"Hehe... yeah, sorry about that," Scootaloo said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "But I promise you it'll be worth it when you hear the news."
"It better be," Applebloom grumbled.
"I promise, it is," Scootaloo said, trying to assure her friends. "Alright, so you know how I've been living with Rainbow Dash lately?"
"Well duh." Applebloom deadpanned. "It's literally the only thing you ever talk about."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, when she came home from Wonderbolts practice yesterday, she said she had a surprise for me. When I go to see what it is, she hands me an envelope. I was confused at first, but she told me to open it up and read it. Guess what it said?"
Both Sweetie and Applebloom looked awake and genuinely intrigued now. "What, what was in the envelope?" Sweetie said anxiously.
"She... adopted me! I have a mom now girls!" Both Sweetiebelle and Applebloom's jaws hit the floor. That was the absolute last thing they had ever expected to hear.
"Wait, let me get this straight," Applebloom began, "So Rainbow Dash, the very same pony who does not show feelings and hates mushy and sappy family stuff, adopted you?" Applebloom said, more confused than anything.
"Well, yep. I know what you mean, it was not at all what I expected either. Apparently, she talked to Twilight though, and she even helped Dash fast-track the application." Scootaloo explained.
"Well, either way, I'm happy for ya Scoots," Applebloom said, deciding not to pursue this any further.
"Yeah, me too!" Sweetie chimed in. "Ooh! I just had the best idea. We should go tell Pinkie so we—" Sweetie was cut off by the pink-maned party pony herself, appearing out of nowhere at the mention of her name, as usual.
"Tell Pinkie what?" she said, bouncing up and down in place.
"That Scootaloo got adopted by Rainbow Dash," Applebloom said for Sweetiebelle, who was still recovering from the shock of the party pony's sudden appearance.
"Oh my gosh! That's great! Well what are we doing just standing here, we've got a party to throw!" Pinkie pushed the Crusaders out of the clubhouse and drug them away towards Sugar Cube Corner. This was going to be interesting.
***
Rainbow walked into her cloud home, with Scootaloo snoozing away on her back. The party had lasted all day, and well into the night. Rainbow had no idea how Pinkie was able to set up an entire party and invite the whole town in a matter of minutes. Pinkie was Pinkie though, and everypony had learned to just go along with it. There was no point in trying to figure out how that pony did anything.
As Rainbow walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms, she looked back at her daughter sleeping peacefully on her back. That little filly was wiped out from a full day of partying, and to be honest, so was Rainbow Dash. She didn't even bother to take Scootaloo back to her own room. Rainbow walked into her room and carefully slid the filly off of her back and onto the bed, before crawling into bed next to her daughter. She wrapped a wing around the pegasus filly, who in turn nuzzled up against Dash's chest.
Dash sighed, everything had been happening so fast lately. Ever since the incident with Scootaloo had happened, Dash had felt more attached to the filly than ever. About a week after Scoots was released from the hospital, she realized that she wanted to do something extra special for her little sister. She wanted to make sure that she never felt like a disappointment, or like she wasn't loved ever again. She still wanted to make whoever the filly's real parents were, pay for what they had done, but the time for that would come later. She was having trouble figuring out what to do, so she went to see Fluttershy and ask if she had any ideas.
***
3 weeks ago at Fluttershy's cottage
"I just don't know what to do Flutters." Rainbow explained to her friend. "I really love my little sis, and I want to make sure that she never feels like she isn't appreciated ever again. I want to make sure she knows that I love her and that I will always be proud of her. I feel terrible that she ever felt that way in the first place and I want to make sure it never happens again."
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had also been getting closer after the incident with Scootaloo. Fluttershy had been there for Rainbow throughout the whole thing and now was no exception. "Well, have you ever thought about adopting her?" Fluttershy asked kindly.
Rainbow just stared at her closest friend in shock. "Fluttershy, look, I know I love the kid... but adopting her?"
"I mean, it makes sense to me. She doesn't have any parents, you already act like a mother figure to her, and there is nopony that loves a filly more than a true mother. It's the perfect way to let her know that you love her," Fluttershy explained.
Fluttershy did have a point, but was Rainbow even ready to be a mother? "Flutters, I see what you mean, but me, a mother. There's no way I would be a good mother. I'm—" Rainbow was stopped by a yellow hoof being shoved into her mouth.
"Now you stop it right there Dashie," Fluttershy said, removing her hoof from the stunned Pegasus' mouth. "You would be a great mother to Scootaloo. You practically already take care of her like she was your daughter."
Dash let out a sigh. "But how do you know for sure? What if I mess it up? What if I do something wrong? What if she ends up hating me? What if—" Once again, Dash was cut off by the yellow Mare's hoof.
Fluttershy removed her hoof from her friend's mouth, again, and said kindly, "I know you will because I know you Dash. You love that filly more than anything in the world. I saw a week ago in the hospital when you tried to stay awake for days to be there for Scootaloo when she woke up, and you wouldn't leave her side. I'm also seeing now too Dash. If you didn't care about her then you wouldn't be worrying about it this much. You are the most confident pony I know, and you are getting completely torn up by this. That is all the proof I need." Fluttershy finished with a smile, before leaning over to nuzzle her friend sitting next to her.
Dash blushed a little but returned the nuzzle. Fluttershy was right, she did love that filly more than anything in the world, and she did already act as a sort of mother figure to the young pegasus.
"Plus, if you ever need any help, you've always got me," Fluttershy said with a warm smile.
Dash smiled back. "You know what, you're right. Thanks, Fluttershy. What would I do without you?"
"Oh probably go completely insane worrying over things that you don't even need to worry about," Fluttershy joked.
They both shared a laugh before they said their goodbyes, and Rainbow made her way over to Twilight's castle to get started. "No time like the present," she thought to herself.
***
Twilight's house that same day
Rainbow sat in a chair in Twilight's study. Upon arriving, Twilight had invited her inside and offered to make some tea. Rainbow had accepted and walked into the study to wait. A few minutes later, Twilight walked in, carrying some tea and a tray of sandwiches in her magic. She took a seat, then levitated one cup over to Rainbow Dash, and another to herself, setting the sandwiches down on a table between her and Dash. "Now." She said, taking a sip of her tea. "What did you want to talk about?"
Rainbow sat her tea down on the table, before rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "Well... I was kind of thinking of m-maybe adopting Scootaloo," Rainbow said, unsurely. Twilight coughed, nearly choking on the tea she was drinking.
"Wait a minute, so you, Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash that hardly ever shows any feelings for anypony at all, want to adopt Scootaloo?" Twilight said, while very confused. This was not like Dash at all. Even with what had been going on lately, had Dash really grown that attached to Scootaloo?
Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not like me, but I really want to do this. She almost killed herself because she felt like a disappointment, and like nopony cared about her or loved her. I don't want that to ever happen again. I won't let it. I love that little filly more than anything in the world, and I want to make sure she knows that, and will always know that," Rainbow explained calmly. By this point, Twilight's expression had changed from one of confusion and shock to a caring and understanding smile. "Also... Fluttershy talked me into it."
Twilight chuckled. She figured Fluttershy had something to do with it. Those two had been getting much closer after what happened to Scootaloo. "Don't worry, I understand. I'll help you out with this. You just need to fill out a few forms, and I should even be able to speed up the application process. If I can fast-track the application then it should only take a few weeks."
"Thanks, Twi, this really means a lot to me," Dash said, giving Twilight a thankful smile.
"You're welcome Dash." Twilight then walked off to go get the necessary paperwork.
***
Present Day
Rainbow Dash smiled softly to herself, as she felt the rise and fall of her daughter's breathing under the wing she had wrapped around the pegasus filly. She was glad she had such good friends, who had been supportive of her the whole way. Especially Fluttershy, she would not have been able to do this if it weren't for her, and Fluttershy had been extra supportive when Rainbow had doubts. As she lay there in bed, listening to her daughter's soft and slow breathing, she knew that at least for now, everything was going to alright. That may change when they have to dig up more of Scootaloo's past, but that could wait. Right now, the only thing that mattered to Dash was making sure her daughter felt loved. She held her daughter tight to her chest with her wing, as she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.