//------------------------------// // Daughter // Story: Spits Fire // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Spitfire was as light as a feather as she bounded through the air. They'd stayed in Manehattan for merely a day, spending the evening with Cresent's family and generally having a good time. The Two old friends making up and promising to see each other so every now and then, something his little daughter had no objections to. Rainbow was close on her tail as they made their way into the country, getting close to Ponyville once again. "You know, seeing that kid made me think of something." "And what's that?" Spitfire asked as she pulled in close to the other pegasus. "Well with Scoots and all... Where are you going to live?" Rainbow questioned. "All her friends live in Ponyville and she's way behind on her flying which means my house isn't exactly an option." It was a good question, one Spitfire had yet to put enough thought into. She couldn't rightly take the filly to Cloudsdale, away from all she had left, it wouldn't be at all that fair to her. "I'm... not sure yet." "You know, I'm sure there'd be a house available in Ponyville. The town would welcome you without a doubt," Rainbow told her, it was certainly a serious option to consider. It is a very nice town, the flight to Cloudsdale is a bit far but manageable... "No need to decide right now, Spits," Rainbow chuckled as she could see her marefriend thinking. "...though it might be a good idea to get your mind made up with the speed things are going." The snowed over town was calm as they arrived overhead, the market being the only place truly busy as ponies got their shopping done. The two pegasi banked and headed for Twilight's castle, hoping that they'd find the alicorn there. As they suspected, they found Twilight in the library where she was reading two books simultaneously. She was so focused that she didn't even notice the two pegasi entering the library behind her. "Dash to egghead, are you there?" Rainbow asked as she poked Twilight from behind, making her jump. "Rainbow! Spitfire! Sorry, I was doing some light reading," She sheepishly said as she recognised her two friends. "If you're looking for Scootaloo, she is staying over at Applejack's. The crusaders are probably about doing their things... Though I'd appreciate it if you stuck around for a bit to help with some paperwork." "Of course!" Spitfire immediately agreed, looking to her side at Rainbow who lacked her enthusiasm and snickered. "Yes, you can go." "Thanksbye!" Rainbow shot off and away, fleeing as fast as she could from what was definitely going to be something boring. "I'll never get why ponies don't like paperwork," Twilight grumbled as she put away the books and teleported a significant stack of paper onto the table instead. "Yeah, strange," Spitfire said with a nervous chuckle, regretting that she hadn't followed Rainbow. Don't be silly Spitfire, you know what this paperwork is probably about and that's definitely worth it. "So what do you need me to sign?" "Well... I wish it were so simple," Twilight sighed, dividing up the stack into much more manageable sections. "Scootaloo's aunt technically still has custody of her." "Can't you just revoke that?" Spitfire questioned. "You know that I am bound by the rule of law, Captain, I can only do so much by decree," Twilight shook her head. "I already set the judicial process in motion back in Canterlot, an emergency hearing to release Scoots from her aunt's custody and give her a place to stay. There'll be an emergency hearing before the end of the week." "Do I need to be there?" Spitfire asked, getting a sealed letter from Twilight stamped with the insignia Equestrian government's judicial branch. "Your presence to testify is indeed being requested. Rainbow too since it was the two of you that picked her up after the house was burned down," Twilight provided as Spitfire read through the summons. "Normally a filly would be placed in the custody of another family member but Scootaloo doesn't seem to have anyone else than her aunt around. The usual procedure would be to place her into the foster system but I can have her placed into Ponyville castle after the judgement." "Alright, so what are the rest of those documents for?" Spitfire asked, stashing away the letter and taking interest in the other paperwork. Twilight divided up the stack into smaller bits. "This first part is the requirements for even being eligible for adoption. That's everything from housing to income and everything in between. " Spitfire scanned the papers, she'd read them in detail in just a bit. "And the rest of them?" "The application papers. I'd like to go over all of these right now and get them ready to send in." Twilight levitated over the rest of the papers. "Alright then, let's get started." Spitfire was once again back in Canterlot as Ponyville fell within the Capital's judicial zone. She along with Rainbow had been waiting outside the courtroom for an hour before being led in and taking their seats behind the witness stand. A lawyer representing both Scootaloo's aunt and the Equestrian government which was the entity bringing the charges. The older pony in question who was supposed to be the guardian of Scootaloo was present too, she was staring down at her hooves. Spitfire wanted to be angry at her but she couldn't, she was utterly revulsed but the pony that sat on the other end of the room was only worth her contempt. The judge tapped her hoof on the desk twice. "This emergency hearing has been opened. Mister fine print, as the defence lawyer you have the opening statement. Come forth to the stand." The stallion, a unicorn in his case, stepped forth and lined out his papers. "Your honour, this case is built off of a misunderstanding. My client loves her niece very much and resents the accusation she abandoned her, I hope to show this by the end of this hearing." The procedures continued as they were supposed to, the prosecution making their opening statements after which the hearing started in earnest. Rainbow fidgeted around on her chair pretty much the entire time, keeping only half an ear on the proceedings as she tried her very best to not go mad having to sit still. Spitfire on the other hoof was like a rock, staring daggers at the mare that was supposed to keep Scootaloo safe but had utterly failed. You dare to make the argument that you didn't do anything wrong... you should be deeply ashamed of yourself "Captain Spitfire? please step forth," the judge called out, the captain finally breaking her glare. Spitfire stepped up to the podium, straightened her suit and tie, and cleared her throat. "Your honour, my part in this story starts when Ponyville was hit by a rogue Everfree storm. One of the houses struck and lit on fire was Scootaloo's, I intervened and pulled her out of that fire. After hoofing her off to the hospital I initially had not thought of who was taking care of her, but when I and Rainbow Dash found her near the edge of the Everfree forest we found out that there was no one to take care of her after the fire," Spitfire laid out, keeping her tone levelled as she remembered how devastated the filly had looked when they'd found her. "How can you be so sure my client was not in Ponyville?" the lawyer representing Scootaloo's aunt asked. “If she was I was not aware of it. But if she was even Scootaloo did not seem to know that she was present and after we brought her to Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle we never got word that your client was searching for her niece,” Spitfire snidely shot him down, barely managing to keep her sharp teeth retracted. The lawyer's face hardened a little as he flipped. Through his notes. “Of course you'd say that because you have filled out paperwork indicating that you wish to adopt my client's niece. You'd blacken her name to snatch her away right from under her nose!” Spitfire felt the low blow right in her stomach. How in the world did he get access to that?! “I... Yes, I wish to adopt Scootaloo. She's a good kid and after I found her freezing in the snow and I got time to bond with her I wanted... no, want to make sure that she has someone to take care of her, not just leave her alone and give her a monthly allowance to survive off of,” Spitfire growled at him, he didn't ask her any more questions. The judge allowed Rainbow to come and tell her story, the Pegasus repeating the story Spitfire had told from her perspective. After their testimonies the lawyer for the prosecution provided a letter written, signed, and sealed with Twilight's royal stamp, explained what she had uncovered in the time she'd been looking into Scootaloo's situation. Then when the closing statements were done the judge called a short recess to deliberate. “The absolute bastard!” Spitfire growled as the door to the waiting room closed behind her. “He tried to make it look like I was just doing this out of selfishness!” A little flame escaped from her throat as she raged. “The judge will see through that horsecrap, Spits, you'll see.” Rainbow pulled Spitfire into a hug as the captain looked like she was about to punch a hole in the wall. “Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine... I'm just worried.” “Well yeah, you care for the squirt. Of course you'd be worried, hell I am too!” Rainbow said brushing a hoof through Spitfire's hair. The captain chuckled after letting out a deep sigh. “Since when did you get so wise?” Rainbow snorted. “A burned down courthouse isn't going to help either of us.” “So little faith in my self-restraint?” Spitfire replied, her anger simmering down and making way for some mirth. “The way you looked at that mare I'm surprised you didn't set her on fire with your glare alone,” Dash shot back with a smirk, Spitfire pulled loose of her and gave her a fanged grin. "Me? I wouldn't hurt a fly!" Spitfire innocently said, holding up her hooves defensively. Rainbow giving her a raised eyebrow as a response. "...I may have considered lighting her tail on fire." Rainbow snorted and shook her head but before she could retort the door to the room opened again and one of the members of the courthouse's staff came in. "The judge will be rendering her verdict, your presence in the room is requested," He told the two of them, the pair glancing at each other before following the staff member back to the courtroom where they took seats in the stands. The judge tapped her hammer on the table in front of her desk to reopen the hearing and cleared her throat. "I shall not keep everypony here in suspense. From the evidence presented, from testimony to the Princess' letter documenting her findings I have found sufficient evidence to support the injunction to have Scootaloo placed under the protection of the crown until a suitable place is found for her." He returned all the documents strewn about his desk to the folder he'd gotten them from and closed it. "Additionally the crown brings charges of abuse to the defendant for which a court date will be provided later. That closes this session." The judge got up, grabbed his file and left the courtroom, Spitfire grabbed Rainbow and pulled her into a tight hug. "See, told ya!" Rainbow smirked as she received a kiss on the cheek from her marefriend. "Now let's go sign out and get the buck out of here!" Spitfire laughed as she followed rainbow out of the courthouse, flying after her fellow Wonderbolt as she took off. The two of them probably breaking a few of Canterlots flight regulations as they relieved some of the stress from the hearing. "We should get back to Ponyville to deliver the good news!" Spitfire laughed as they flew over the outskirts of the city. "Well, it isn't too late yet, we could fly back to Ponyville," Rainbow proposed. "It'd be some good endurance training." "Sure, lets go!" The next week was a rollercoaster of changes as Spitfire finished all the paperwork and even bought a house in Ponyville's outskirts. Scootaloo, though technically placed in Twilight's care for the moment, had pretty much moved in with her. Rainbow was also moving some of the things from her house to the one Spitfire shared with Scoots but didn't completely want to abandon the cloud house she'd worked so hard on. The press had been settling down quite a bit so they could go about town in relative peace, getting to know the neighbours and such. Spitfire had also been using the free time to practise her magic pretty much every day, getting the books Twilight had available on the subject. All around it had been a fairly relaxing few days compared to the stress of what had come before. Though all good things end at some point and leaving Soarin' to run the Wonderbolts all on his own wasn't exactly fair either. Besides, school was starting up again so Scootaloo would be in class through the day, allowing her to go back to HQ. That the trip between Cloudsdale and Ponyville would be becoming a daily journey but Spitfire didn't care much, if Rainbow could manage it before, she could handle it now. Getting back to work is going to be great, I wonder if I could start integrating some of my fire magic in our flight routines... The penultimate move to use would be the teleportation spells, of course, and I think I could pull off the basic ones soon. The principle isn't too different to the scroll spell, only for the caster itself... Unlike unicorn teleportation spells that could go horrifically wrong, dragonfire ones would just turn into normal fire if performed wrong. That meant Spitfire could practice all she wanted and the only thing she'd have to be concerned about was lighting her environment on fire. "You ready to go, Rainbow, Scootaloo?" Dash yawned as she strapped on her bags and helped Scootaloo with her own. "Yeh, we're good." "Are you going to be okay walking to school on your own?" Spitfire asked, making Scootaloo roll her eyes. "I've been doing that since forever, I'll be fine," Scootalo said, nuzzling her adopted mom. "See you two tonight!" The filly shot out of the door, leaving Rainbow and Spitfire to close after themselves. Spitfire would need to work on her schedule a bit so she could spend more time with Scootaloo but for now they'd figure things out as they went. "Hey Dash, tomorrow morning you're drinking coffee." "Yeah, yeah, if you just figure out to create some kind of portal to HQ I won't have to get up so early," Dash groaned as she rubbed her eyes. "That's... actually not a bad idea," Spitfire admitted. "But that's a long time off." Giving Dash a kiss on the nose, Spitfire took to the air. "Come on, we've got work to do!"