//------------------------------// // Chapter 31 - Acceptance // Story: Tale of a Lost Scoots // by RDfan27 //------------------------------// “What do you mean, she’s my sister?” Tidal Wave seethed. “We didn’t know eithe—” “What do you mean, you didn’t know! She’s dead! My sister is dead! How could you try and say that she’s not!” Honeydew sighed sadly. “Sweetie—” “NO!” Tidal Wave yelled, jumping up and swatting her parents’ hooves away. “She’s dead! She’s… she’s dead,” Tidal Wave stopped as she choked up, feeling the tears come to her eyes. “She…” Tidal Wave collapsed to the ground, just as the sobs started to wrack her body. Not a second later, her mother was back at her side. Tidal Wave leaned her full weight into the embrace and cried into her mother's shoulder, while Blazing Fire came up and wrapped both of them in a protective hug. “It’s okay sweetie,” her mother said, trying to calm her down. “B-but…” “Shhh, it’s okay. I know sweetie. I know.” *** The room had fallen silent as soon as the pair had left. A tense atmosphere hung in the air after the earlier news. The deafening silence only broke when Honeydew and Blazing Fire returned, the clip-clop of their hooves resonating off of the walls in the large conference room. Tidal Wave followed close behind with her head hung low to the ground as she refused to look any of them in the eyes. “Good, you’re back,” Twilight said, glad for the silence to be gone. “Did you come to a decision?” “Yes, we did,” Blazing Fire answered for the three of them. “We’ll come with you.” Twilight and the others all let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. “That’s great to hear!” she said, enthused. “Let’s all get ready. We need to leave soon. We’ll help you all pack since we didn’t really bring much ourselves.” “Thank you Twilight,” Blazing Fire said as everyone started making their way out of the room to go pack. He followed suit shortly after, followed closely by Honeydew. At last, it was just Twilight and Tidal Wave left in the overly large conference room. Twilight was about to turn and head out herself, but she stopped, turning back to Tidal Wave. She now sat in the same spot she was standing before. Her head still hung low to the ground, but her wings also drooped so that the tips of her feathers rested on the floor. “Are you okay Tidal Wave?” Twilight asked with concern. “You don’t look so good.” Tidal Wave sighed. “N-no. Not really. I need to talk to you.” Twilight matched her sigh. “I take it they told you?” Tidal Wave just nodded, not even surprised that Twilight knew before her. Twilight walked over to Tidal Wave and wrapped her in a supportive embrace. “I imagine that’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Tidal Wave chuckled, shaking her head and smiling. “That’s an understatement.” Twilight laughed right along with her, but after a moment, they both went silent. “It’s just… I don’t know. It’s been so long since I last saw her, and I thought she was dead for so long…” “You don’t know how, or even if you should bring it up to her,” Twilight finished for her. Tidal Wave nodded. “I mean, she’s moved on with her life. I don’t think she even remembers us. Heck, I hardly even remembered what she looked like. I had no idea until my parents told me. She’s got a whole new life, new friends, and I’m just a sister that she doesn’t even remember having.” Twilight smiled. “Well, I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you about Rainbow Dash. She is the most loyal, and dedicated friend I have ever had. She will stick by us through anything, and no matter what life throws in her way, she never gives up. She also has a soft side though. She doesn’t let ponies see it very often. Only the ones she’s closest to, but it’s there.” Twilight paused. “You’ve met her daughter, haven’t you?” “Yes, I have. She’s such a wonderful little filly.” “Did you ever hear the story of how Rainbow came to adopt her?” “No. I don’t believe I’ve heard that story.” “Well, it is quite the story,” Twilight said, sitting down next to her. “Firstly, you have to understand how much Scootaloo has always looked up to Rainbow Dash. She has difficulty flying, so she idolizes Rainbow Dash for her flying ability. Rainbow’s one of the best flyers in all of Equestria, and Scootaloo aspires to be like her in every way. Ever since they first met, Scootaloo has clung to Dash like they were sisters, and Dash treated her like her own little sister in return.” “Aww, that’s adorable.” Twilight chuckled. “Just don’t let Dash hear you say that. She hates being called adorable.” Tidal wave laughed as well before Twilight resumed with the story. “So, their relationship stayed like that for quite a while. It was only recently that Dash adopted her, and I hate to say that it wasn’t under the best of circumstances.” “She was living on her own… wasn’t she?” Tidal Wave asked. Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah… how did you know?” “Well, when she was first brought into the hospital, I decided to run some tests. At all of the hospitals here, we have a DNA database. Whenever someone is born, they have a file created for them, and their information is updated as they grow up. If you run somepony’s DNA through it, you can find their file and all of their current information. I was able to find Scootaloo’s file right away.” “Wait, so Scootaloo is from here too?” Twilight asked, shocked. Tidal Wave just nodded. “But there’s more. In her file, it was marked that she had disappeared when she was very young. Just four years old. That explains when she ended up in your world, but something else intrigued me about her history, and I wasn’t the only one. Before she disappeared, she was brought into the hospital with multiple injuries under ‘suspicious circumstances.’ Charges were filed against the parents, but they were dropped after no evidence could be found.” Twilight was dumbfounded. “So you’re saying, not only is Scootaloo from here, but she still has parents here, who are more than likely abusive?” Tidal Wave gave a subtle nod. “Oh my… that explains so much,” Twilight said, prompting Tidal Wave to now give her a look of confusion. “I already told you that Dash adopted her under less than ideal circumstances. Scootaloo had tried to… take her own life.” Twilight gulped as she said this, not liking bringing up the memory again. Tidal Wave gasped, her hoof flying up to her mouth in surprise. “Oh my goodness! That poor little filly. What happened? Why did she do it?” Twilight lowered her head, shaking it side to side. “We don’t know for sure. All we’ve been able to get out of her is that her parents didn’t want her. Apparently, what she does remember of her parents is them telling her that she was useless and that she would never fly, and never be a true pegasus. She’d been on her own for so long too, she was convinced nopony cared about her… That’s where Dash came in. She took Scootaloo in, made her feel safe, made her feel like she was cared for. It wasn’t long before Scootaloo started calling her Mom.” Tidal Wave sniffled, reaching up a hoof to wipe away a tear from her eye. “Well, that definitely explains why they’re so close.” “Yeah… I’m gonna go talk to Dash about all of this. I think she would like to know that Scootaloo’s real parents are over here. At least it will put her mind at ease when we get back to Ponyville.” “Yeah, it’s probably time I go get packed too. My parents are probably wondering where I am.” “Okay, but I want you to remember something. I told you that story for a reason. Dash is a very caring pony, and she is willing to let other ponies get close to her. I promise she’ll understand. You should tell her as soon as you’re comfortable.” Tidal Wave smiled, looking up at her new friend. “Thank you, Twilight. This helped me more than you could know.” “Don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure. I’m glad we could have this talk,” Twilight said, leaning in to give her a hug that was quickly returned. “Now go get ready. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.” With that, the two of them parted ways as they went to make final preparations before their trip.