-Saturday, April 14th, 2019-
Rainbow Dash woke up that morning to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and chocolate chip pancakes; the usual breakfast her mother cooked every Saturday since she was seven. Smiling, she got up and went through her usual morning routine consisting of a quick shower, brushing her teeth, and finally brushing her rainbow hair. Which didn't do much as for some reason no matter how many times she brushed it her hair was still an absolute mess (though nowhere near as bad as Pinkie Pie's cotton candy curled mane.)
Once she was done and got changed into her usual attire, she walked downstairs to the bottom floor of the two story apartment to see her parents where they usually were on Saturday. Her mother, Windy Whistles was at the stove cooking, wearing an apron over her usual pink pants and orange shirt, a bit of pancake batter stuck in her reddish-orange hair. Her father, Bow Hothoof was reading the Saturday paper and drinking his coffee, wearing a green polo shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his rainbow-colored hair in a crew cut like he usually wore ever since his days in the Army Rangers.
Seeing her, Windy smiled and said "Good morning sweetie."
She smiled back. "Good morning mom." Looking at her dad she asked "Anything interesting?"
He shook his head. "Nothing 'cept for Spider-Man stopping another bank robbery last night."
"Yeah, Pinkie and Fluttershy already got that up on the blog," she replied as she grabbed the milk from the fridge and poured herself a glass. She looked around the kitchen, then immediately poked her head out into the living room. She was greeted with the sight of Scootaloo staring at the TV, her eye looking a little better than it did yesterday.
But she herself looked as if she hadn't slept a wink last night.
And considered all that had happened to her before now, Rainbow wouldn't blame her if she hadn't.
Yesterday after finding Scootaloo at the shelter and with a black eye, Rainbow wanted answers. So she, Aunt May, Flash, Twilight, Thorax, and the rest of the Rainbooms had all decided to go to the kitchen to hear Scootaloo's story.
It wasn't a good story.
Apparently since Scootaloo's father left them two months ago, her mother had fallen hard into alcoholism. What she had told Flash and Thorax was true; her mother had locked her out of their apartment multiple times or never came home period, because she was getting drunk at a bar.
But it was even worse when they were both in the apartment.
It started out small; a shorter temper, a few mild verbal insults.
Then whenever she "was out of line" or "mouthed off", she'd slap her. At the same time the verbal insults got worse; a few times she'd blame Scootaloo for her problems, saying that she was the reason her father left. It wasn't true, but it was clear to everyone that Scootaloo's mother was seriously going off the deep end.
As time went on it got worse and worse. The bruise Flash and Thorax had noticed her trying to hide was from when her mother had chucked one of her beer bottles at her and nailed her in the arm.
And the black eye? Well, Scootaloo refused to talk about it but it was clear it wasn't her fault as her mother claimed.
After they processed this (which involved Applejack pinning Rainbow Dash to the wall to prevent her from doing something drastic to Scootaloo's mother) they decided that Scootaloo would be safer if she stayed with one of them while Twilight talked to her brother for his help (since he was a cop). Almost immediately Rainbow Dash suggested that she stay with her and her parents. When Flash asked if she'd be safe, Rainbow said "My dad's former Army Rangers, my mom teaches self-defense classes, and they both own handguns." Seeing Scootaloo's shocked face she quickly added "Not that they'll have to use them, because unless she tagged you with a GPS chip I doubt she'll know where you'll be."
"I doubt she'd care that much," Scootaloo muttered.
With that settled Rainbow took Scootaloo home and introduced her to her parents, having texting them about the situation while they were taking the bus. After the introductions Bow checked Scootaloo's eye while Windy fixed up dinner for the night. While it was a little awkward, as nobody really wanted to bring up the subject of her mother, Scootaloo seemed to brighten up when they talked. She certainly enjoyed the meatloaf Windy made.
That night Rainbow volunteered to let Scootaloo sleep in her bed for the night and she'd take the couch. But Scootaloo adamantly said she'd be fine taking the couch, so Rainbow relented and bid her good night.
If the yawn she just let out was any indication, then clearly Scootaloo did not have a good night.
Sitting on the couch beside her, Rainbow asked "Couldn't sleep?"
She shook her head and muttered "Nope."
"You wanna talk about it?"
Scootaloo was silent for a moment, before saying "I just... I don't know how to feel."
"About your mother?"
She nodded sadly. "I know she's probably going to get arrested for what she did. And part of me is glad that she won't be able to hurt me anymore. But..."
Catching on, Rainbow finished "But part of you doesn't want her to."
She sighed. "It's just... she wasn't always like this. She used to be a good mom. Not as awesome as yours, I mean my mom never cooked anything besides one of those instant meals you pop in a microwave. But she still cared. She picked me up from school when Dad had to work late. She tucked me in at night when I was little. She took me out for ice cream when I did good on a test. She did all of the things a good mother would do. But then dad left, and she..."
Neither of them had to finish, as the evidence of what happened was still around Scootaloo's right eye.
"I guess part of me just doesn't want her to go, because she's the only family I have left," Scootaloo finished.
"No she isn't." Putting a hand on Scootaloo's shoulder, Rainbow continued "One thing I've learned in life is that sometimes, your friends can count as your family. All of my friends are my family: Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Sunset, and especially... you!" She emphasized her point by poking Scootaloo in her stomach, making her giggle and making Rainbow smile. "Family isn't always about the people you're related to by blood. More often than not, it's the people who love and care about you. AKA, your friends."
Scootaloo thought about it for a second, realizing that Rainbow was right. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were just as much like sisters to her as Rainbow was (though not in the "cool big sister" way, not that they needed to know that.) Plus there were all of Rainbow's friends. They were nice to her, and had helped her out on several occasions. And Rainbow's parents now that she thought about it. Two of the kindest people she'd ever met since Fluttershy, who were more than willing to let her stay with them and give her food despite having never met her in person before.
"Maybe, hopefully, while your mom is in the pen she can get the help she needs," Rainbow finished. "But until that happens, you've got family all around you. You're not alone, sis."
Just hearing that was enough to get Scootaloo to smile again, finally feeling better despite the lack of sleep she had from the previous night.
Seeing Scootaloo brighten up, Rainbow said "Come on. Let's get you some breakfast. After that, how about you and I hit the skate park?"
"Sounds awesome."
Once they were done and had washed the dishes, Scootaloo helping out by drying them, they got their helmets and Rainbow grabbed her skateboard while Scootaloo grabbed her scooter. "Be careful out there you two," Bow said. "And Rainbow, if SHE shows up, you know what to do." SHE of course being Scootaloo's alcoholic mother.
"Run the other way and call the police," Rainbow replied. "Relax Dad. I'm not going to do anything."
"I'm just making sure. From what Applejack told me over the phone, you were about ready to kill her."
"I wasn't going to kill her. I was just gonna talk to her. Repeatedly. With my baseball bat."
"Let's not do that," Windy said. "Because I'd rather my daughter NOT get arrested for bludgeoning someone with a baseball bat. Even if they did deserve it." Seeing Scootaloo's face she added "Sorry."
"It's okay," she reassured halfheartedly.
Rainbow ruffled her hair and said "Come on, Scoots. Those half-pipes aren't gonna shred themselves."
Almost immediately that got a smile from her. "Race ya there!"
"Oh, it is ON!"
Once Rainbow and Scootaloo had raced off Windy looked at Bow. "She's a good kid."
Bow nodded. "She is. Shame she'll probably end up in the foster care system once her mom gets her sentence."
"Well, maybe she doesn't have to."
Seeing the look on Windy's face, he couldn't help but grin. "I know that look."
"Well, we've been married for eighteen, almost nineteen years now," she replied, giving Bow a quick kiss on the cheek as she checked the grocery list on the fridge.
Chuckling, Bow sipped his coffee and said "Best eighteen years of my life."
"Just to make sure we're on the same page, once her mother goes to jail for Child Abuse, we're adopting Scootaloo," Windy stated as she finished the list. "Right?"
Looking up over the top of his paper, he smirked and pretended to be hurt. "Windy, I thought you knew me better than that. You know I will never object to getting a new member of our family."
Windy giggled. "I know. After all, when I first told you I was pregnant with Rainbow you ran out onto the balcony and screamed that you were going to be a father. I'm actually surprised they didn't hear you over in Pennsylvania."
Bow couldn't hold back his laughter as he walked over to the sink. "What can I say? The Hothoof's are known for having big lungs." Washing his coffee mug he said "Seriously though. I think adopting her would be a great idea. And I don't think Rainbow would be against it either."
"Since they consider each other 'Honorary Sisters' I don't think either of them would object."
After spending a few hours at the skate park, Rainbow and Scootaloo decided to grab lunch at Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow ordered a big thing of spaghetti and meatballs while Scootaloo got two grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of tomato soup. "How are you able to eat all that spaghetti," Scootaloo asked.
"I have a pretty big metabolism," Rainbow replied. "Plus, I usually eat stuff like this before I have a big game."
"Seriously?"
"I like to carbo-load."
"That doesn't sound healthy. Like, at all."
Before Rainbow could retort, Pinkie Pie came by and placed two milkshakes down in front of them. "Uh, Pinkie? I don't think we ordered these," she said.
"I know," Pinkie replied with a smile while skating off. "They're on the house."
Scootaloo and Rainbow shared a look, before Scootaloo said what was on both of their minds. "She's trying to cheer me up."
"Yeah."
"Kinda like what you were trying to do."
Rainbow winced. "So, you figured it out."
She nodded. "It's fine, Rainbow. I appreciate it. And to be honest..." She took a sip of her milkshake, not at all surprised that Pinkie made it a Choco-Strawberry, AKA her favorite. "I do kinda feel better."
Sighing in relief, Rainbow replied "That's good. Honestly, after you told me about what you've been through the past two months, I figured you could use some fun."
"Thanks." Drinking some more of her milkshake, she said "Your parents are pretty cool."
Rainbow chuckled bashfully. "Yeah. They are. Though sometimes they tend to go overboard with their support for me."
"Really? How?"
"At one of my soccer games back in middle school, they somehow snuck in rainbow colored fireworks and set them off after I scored a goal. It was cool, but also pretty embarrassing. And they ended up getting banned from the school grounds for the rest of the season."
"Did that stop them?"
"Nope. They still came to my games, but they stayed on the outside of the fences with pairs of binoculars. All this because they didn't want to miss a single second of one of my games. If that doesn't earn them those 'Best Dad/Mom Ever' coffee mugs I got them, I don't know what would."
Scootaloo couldn't keep the smirk off her face. "Maybe they'll make a huge banner in your honor and hang it from the roof of the school."
"Don't give them any ideas!"
Both of them ended up laughing at that, imagining the two parents trying to pull up a huge banner onto the roof, with a large crowd of people watching in confusion. It was honestly kind of hilarious.
Seeing her 'little sister' happily laughing brought no small amount of joy to Rainbow. Oh, Scootaloo. I really hope Mom and Dad decide to make you a permanent part of this family.
A week later Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles became foster parents to Scootaloo, after her mother was slammed with the maximum sentence for not only Child Abuse but also Child Negligence, a few D.U.I.s, and for assaulting the officer who was sent to bring her in. She'd be spending up to and including ten years in Rykers Island, far away from Scootaloo and anyone she could hurt.
The week had also been spent with Scootaloo hanging out and getting to know her future foster parents, to the point where Rainbow's friends and Scootaloo's fellow Crusaders could've sworn they'd always been members of the same family. No doubt it made the decision to adopt her even easier.
It took a while to get used to it all, but eventually Scootaloo started to realize that Rainbow Dash was right. Family wasn't about blood relations, but by the love people had for each other.
And if the love she was getting now was any indication, she had finally found her family.
A family of rainbows and one scooter.