A purple hoof rapped quickly on the door.
A white mare with a purple and white pinstripe man opened the door and smiled.
"Twilight, Rainbow, Scootaloo, Spike! Great to see you all!" Velvet stepped aside and welcomed the group into her house. "Night Light should be home soon, he just ran to get some groceries."
Velvet paused, noticing something new adorning her grandfoal's flank.
"Well I'll be... Scootaloo, you look different somehow."
Scootaloo beamed and showed off her new cutie mark. "Yup!"
Velvet tapped her chin and pretended to be oblivious. "Hmm, is it a new manestyle? Maybe you've grown since I last saw you?"
"I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!" Scootaloo yelled excitedly, face broken out in a wide grin.
"You sure did, dear. I'm proud of you." Velvet grinned back at Scootaloo before booping her nose.
Scootaloo just started jumping up and down excitedly.
Twilight nudged Scootaloo and pointed toward an award cabinet in the library. "Go check that out." She quietly instructed. Scootaloo, now interested, trotted over to inspect some of the trophies.
"Woah WHAT?!" Scootaloo screamed a second later, before zipping over to Twilight Velvet. "You were the one who got the award for setting the highest bungee jumping record?! That was you?! That's so awesome! Can we go bungee jumping some time?"
Twilight chuckled. She figured Scootaloo would instantly bond with her mother due to their similarly daredevil natures. Although she was worried about the idea of Scootaloo doing such dangerous things, she also knew her mom would never let Scootaloo be harmed.
"Well of course I can!" Velvet smiled, tousling Scootaloo's mane. "What kind of grandmare would I be if I couldn't spoil my little grandfoal? Assuming her parents are okay with it."
Velvet stared up at Rainbow Dash and Twilight expectantly.
"Only if I can come with!" Rainbow Dash replied excitedly.
"As long as you keep an eye on her and don't let her get hurt." Twilight responded.
"Eeeeeeee!" Scootaloo screamed loudly, overjoyed, and started bouncing around. "This is the best! Best grandmare ever!"
"Aw, but what about me?" Night Light laughed, having just opened the front door with grocery bags magically in tow. "Do I get to be great too?"
"Are you gonna come with us?!" Scootaloo bounced over to him, giving him a big sad expression.
Night Light tapped his chin with a hoof. "Well, I'm not usually as much of a daredevil as my wife... But I guess if I'm going to be a grandstallion, I can give it a try once."
"Aw, come on." Velvet complained. "I've been trying to make you go for years and this little tyke manages you convince you in one question?"
"Aw dear, you know I've always been helpless against the puppy eyes of a foal." Night Light laughed, magically levitating the grocery bags into the kitchen and watching Scootaloo now happily zipping around the foyer with amusement. "Besides, now that we're grandparents we get to be more lax and spoil our grandfoal rotten."
"That we do." Velvet replied, smiling as she watching the overjoyed filly flit around.
"She didn't..." Rainbow gasped.
"She totally did!" Velvet chirped. "Big meeting with all the parents and foals of Celestia's school, and Twilight walked right up to the princess and loudly demanded to know where foals came from. You could hear a pin drop! I don't think I've ever seen Celestia blush before, or since!"
The whole room, bar Twilight, fell over in a laughing fit. Twilight just grumbled quietly and stared at the floor.
"Is this really an appropriate conversation to be having around a foal?" Twilight interrupted, drawing attention to Scootaloo.
"We learned about that last year, Twilight." Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively. "Also, I walked in on my parents once when I was like... seven. My mom tried explaining it. Problem is, she's a terrible liar." Scootaloo gazed between her adoptive parents. "Well my blood mom, I mean."
"Nah, you're right." Rainbow scoffed, nudging Scootaloo with her elbow and flashing a smile. "Twilight and I are awful liars too."
Twilight laughed. "Says the pony who told Pinkie she was house-sitting a vacationing bear named 'Harry'. At least I had a believable excuse."
The table laughed again.
"Believe it or not," Rainbow chuckled. "she actually believed you were hitting books. That pony is too literal for one that so often defies logic."
There was a moment of companionable silence between the five ponies. Night Light, seeing the opportunity to make Twilight uncomfortable, jumped on the opportunity.
"So you've given us a grandfoal, come here married, and still won't admit you two are head over hooves for each other?"
Twilight groaned and facehooved as Rainbow Dash let out a guffaw.
"We all know Twi is crazy for me." Rainbow Dash joked, guiding a wing around Twilight and pulling Twilight to her breast. "I mean, who wouldn't be?"
Rainbow Dash and Night Light missed Twilight's face going hot pink. Velvet did not.
"Twilight, dear, would you mind following me to the library? There's a new spell I've been trying, but I just can't figure it out for the life of me." Velvet asked.
Only too glad to get out of the uncomfortable situation, Twilight hopped up. "Of course mom! Sound great. See the rest of you later!"
The two mares left the kitchen and entered the library, where Velvet whirled on her heels to face Twilight.
"So." Velvet stated simply.
"So... So what?" Twilight queried, desperately hoping her mother wasn't about to initiate the conversation that Twilight had a nagging feeling was about to come.
"Dear, your face was pinker than your friend Pinkie Pie's. My husband and your Rainbow Dash might not be the most observant, but I raised you. I can tell what you're feeling from a mile away, call it mother's intuition. So what's going on? Does Rainbow Dash not know? Or are you trying to hide it from us? Dear, you know your father and I don't care if you're into mares-"
"What?!" Twilight coughed. "Mom, I'm not gay! I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Oh honey, of course you're not." Velvet crooned, placing her hoof on Twilight's shoulder in a placating manner. "Just know that whatever you are, your father and I love you regardless."
"Mom... I..." Twilight stammered. "Rainbow Dash and I are just good friends! We're not an item!"
Velvet raised her eyebrow. "Am I to believe that you act this way around all of your friends, then?"
"I... well..."
"You give them sideways looks when you think they're not looking? Laugh extra hard when they joke? Blush furiously when they pull you into them?" Velvet spoke flatly. "I know you're not really the romantic type, dear. In fact you've never had a boyfriend or girlfriend as far as I know, but even you're not that oblivious. You're acting... well, just like I did when I met Night Light."
Twilight couldn't find the words to respond to that.
I'm not... I don't think of Dash like that! ...Do I? No, that's ridiculous! We've just bonded over caring for Scootaloo! ...Right?
"Just think about that dearie." Velvet finished. "I'm sure anybody would be lucky to have somebody like you, and your father and I are behind you for this whole thing."
On that note, Velvet made her way back into the kitchen. Twilight followed slowly, head down and lost in thought. As she entered, she noticed everyone gathering around a dark blue scroll placed on the table.
"Twilight, you're finally here!" Spike exclaimed. "We got a scroll from Princess Luna asking us to stop by when we get the opportunity. She says make sure Scootaloo is there too."
Scootaloo? What would Princess Luna want with Scootaloo?
"Isn't it great?!" Scootaloo squeaked, suddenly noticing the far off look in Twilight's eyes. "Hey... Twilight, what's wrong?"
Twilight shook her head in a vain attempt to clear it. "No, yeah, I'm fine. Just..."
Velvet jumped in to save her daughter. "I'm sure she's just thinking about the spell we were discussing. It's one of Starswirl's and you know how she gets when her favorite sorcerer gets brought up."
The rest of the table believed the lie. Twilight shot a thankful expression to her mother.
"Well you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like, Twiley." Night Light announced. "We have yours and Shining's rooms cleaned up, so as long as you all don't mind sleeping in groups of two, you can sleep here tonight."
I don't know if sleeping next to Rainbow Dash is really something I want to do tonight...
"Yes. Well, how about we go see the princess in the morning?" Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Why don't you and Scootaloo take Shining's room? There should be some posters and comics in there you two will love. Spike and I can take my old room."
Velvet shot Twilight a strange look. Rainbow shrugged. "I'll take your word for it, Twi. You do know me pretty well."
I just... I just need to sleep on this, and I'll be fine in the morning. Then I'll realize that I've just been being silly. My mom is a smart pony but the relationship Rainbow and I have right now isn't that simple. It's bonding through stress, of course we're a little closer than the rest of our friends.
"Twilight, are you sure you're okay?" Spike asked for the fifth time that night. "I know you freak out easily, but nothing's happened. Are you nervous about meeting Princess Luna?"
"This has nothing to do with that, Spike. I'm fine!" Twilight snapped a little harder than anticipated. Upon seeing the startled look on Spike's face, Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Sorry. I'm just a little on edge. I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning.”
Twilight clicked the light off and climbed into bed.
"Twilight, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I won't tell anybody, promise!" Spike pleaded.
What harm could it do, confiding into Spike? Wait, no. No no no. I'm not gonna give credit to that idea. That's just preposterous. I just need some rest.
"I do know that Spike, thank you. I'm probably just too tired. I'm sure I'll be perfectly fine after a good night's sleep."
At least I hope so...