//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Star-crossed // by WhovianPony //------------------------------// *Knock, Knock, Knock* "It's time to wake up little filly, you need to get to school." Katie opened to door to the guest room and walked inside. Scootaloo was curled up in a happy little ball on the blanket. She was so adorable, it seemed like a crime to wake her. Katie Walked over to the sleeping filly and nuzzled her awake. Scootaloo blinked her eyes open and yawned. "Is it really morning already?" "Yeah it is, Scootaloo. I'm taking you down to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast so you best hurry and wake up so we can go." The orange filly stretched her limbs in all directions and shook her mane around. "Okay, I'll hurry." Katie left and trotted down the stairs where Discord greeted her with a happy embrace. "Good morning Katie!" "Something has you in a good mood." Katie said. She couldn't help but smile along with him. "Katie, you know I don't sleep much, right?" "Yes...I don't see how it's relevant though." "Well in my not sleeping I flew around a bit, looked at things, talked to a few ponies, and found the place that Scootaloo used to live at. They said they would send somepony over later today with adoption papers." Katie's face lit up. "I could kiss you, you know that? and I think I will." She flew up to eye level and kissed him happily. It just so happened that Scootaloo came down the stairs at that exact moment. "Okay, I'm all ready to...Umm... do you guys need a minute?" Katie and Discord separated immediately and Katie blushed a bright pink that looked purple through her blue coat. "Sorry Scoots, I got a bit carried away over some good news." Katie said. "What was it?" "Something we'll discuss after school." Discord said cryptically. "But that means I'm going to spend all day thinking about it!" "Then you'll be that much more excited for when we tell you. Now hurry up, we're meeting Rarity and Sweetie Belle there." Katie said. Scootaloo followed Katie outside, unfortunately she left her scooter at Rarity's; that rainbow bridge would have made the coolest ramp ever! "I'll race you to Sugarcube Corner!" Scootaloo said. "You're on!" The two pegasi ran down the rainbow bridge and through the forest in the direction of Ponyville. Scootaloo didn't run as fast as Katie did, but she knew all the backways and shortcuts. It was anypony's race. Katie galloped through the main streets, she knew what she thought was the fastest way to Sugarcube Corner, so she went as fast as she could. The streets were mostly empty so she wasn't worried about running into ponies. This was something she loved doing, going fast, really fast. Her hooves beat a steady rhythm on the dirt road. Her silver mane looked almost golden in the early morning light. The silky strands flew out behind her in the breeze. Unstoppable. That was the only word to describe the feeling, no other word could possibly compare. She hadn't run like this in a while, it reminded her of the morning after she met Discord when she carried him through the forest. In no time at all she slowed to a stop in front of the bakery. She felt triumphant and sure that she had won. She walked inside casually to wait for Scootaloo. "Wow! Two whole minutes!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I'd say she ate your dust, Scootaloo!" She tilted her head in thought, "Of course, why would anypony eat dust? Or even dirt in general? I did once on accident and it wasn't particularly tasty. I suppose somepony must have done it though or else they wouldn't have come up with the phrase. Stuff from the dirt tastes good though. Like carrots and potatoes, and apples, and basically all fruits and vegetables. OOOh wouldn't it be cool if cupcakes and candy grew on trees too? I mean if it can rain chocolate milk than trees can sprout cakes right?" Pinkie stopped to take a breath. "How did you beat me Scootaloo? I thought I got here tons faster." Katie panted. "I know all the shortcuts!" She said proudly, "Once I got here, Pinkie started a timer to see how long it would take you to catch up!" "Well, I am definitely impressed. Rarity should be along with Sweetie Belle soon, if your friend is feeling up to it that is. We were all going to walk you to school together so that those horrible fillies don't bother you again." As if on cue, Rarity came in through the door followed closely by Sweetie Belle. The filly was wearing a bandage over her eye. Scootaloo got up off the chair and ran over to Sweetie. "How are you feeling Sweetie Belle? That looks like it hurts." "It does," The unicorn groaned, "A lot. But I have to go to school anyway. Who knew that Silver Spoon could kick so hard? I sure didn't." "Don't you worry Sweetie Belle, your sister and I are going to be having a chat with Ms. Cheerilee about what happened yesterday. Those fillies are going to regret doing this to you for a long time." Katie said encouragingly. She bought a bag of blueberry muffins for the four friends to share on the way to the school house, with a couple left over for Applebloom. Rarity still looked like she was about to cry whenever she looked at Sweetie Belle. Of all the ponies in Ponyville, Rarity was right at the top of the list of ponies that you wanted to avoid getting mad at you. Heaven help Silver Spoon if Katie or Rarity ever caught her being mean to anypony again. As the group continued down the dirt road to the schoolhouse they heard the far off sound of foals playing on a playground. Applebloom was waiting outside the fence for them to arrive. She didn't want to go in alone and risk running into Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon. Scootaloo hadn't left Sweetie's side the whole way. As tough as she tried to be, she couldn't help being worried about her friend. "How ya feelin' Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked. "I'll be okay, it hurts a lot but Fluttershy says it will heal up with no permanent damage." The white filly replied. The school bell rang and Cheerilee called out over the playground and the foals began filtering into the school house. Cheerilee saw the five fillies and mares waiting by the fence and went over to talk to them. "Sweetie Belle! What happened?" "She, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were attacked by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. My poor little sister took a buck to the face!" Rarity said. "I have heard about them being bullies before, but this is my first report of violence," The teacher mused,"I'll be very sure to look into it Rarity, and I'll keep a close watch to make sure this never happens again." The three fillies trotted inside, reassured that their teacher was going to give the bullies what they deserved. Rarity and Katie walked away from the schoolhouse back towards town. Katie decided to take opportunity of the moment alone, and ask Rarity what she should do about Scootaloo. "Rarity, can I ask you a question? About foals?" Rarity looked at Katie, she was suspicious of where the conversation was going but she didn't show it on her face. "Of course, darling. Whatever you need." "Well, you're well aware that my coltfriend and I are different species." "Yes, I know. What does that have to do with foals?" "It means that we can't have our own foal, at least not by conventional means." "Oh...right." Rarity blushed. "Discord and I decided that since we can't get a foal that way, we should adopt." "I think that's wonderful, but what is it you're trying to ask me, dear?" "We have little filly in mind. I promised not to tell anypony that she was an orphan so I won't use her name. But, she doesn't know that we want to adopt her. How do I tell her I want to be her mom?" "I'm afraid Fluttershy or Cheerilee would know how to deal with little fillies better." Rarity thought for a moment, "All I can suggest, is that you and Discord take her to a nice secluded place, away from other fillies or colts she may know and simply tell her how you feel. With my little sister, and with clients for that matter, I find it best to be straightforward and let them know what you think. I hope that's helpful to you." Rarity finished. "It is Rarity, thank you. I'm going over to Fluttershy's next to help her with the bunny census and a few other things, so I'll ask her about it too. Also, I think it would be a good idea to talk to Princess Luna about it; after all, the filly would be her new granddaughter." "I think that's a wonderful idea." Rarity said. She was glad that she was able to be helpful to Katie, she hoped that whichever filly they had taken a liking to had taken a liking to them as well. The clock tower chimed letting Ponyville know that it was 10 in the morning. "Oops, I should have opened shop a while ago. I hope I didn't keep anypony waiting. I wish you the best of luck with adopting the filly." "Thanks Rarity, have a nice rest of your day!" Rarity left to go open shop while Katie continued her journey to Fluttershy's cottage. The pegasus in question was out front watering a bed of flowers she was working on. She hummed happily to herself, many of the birds in and around to cottage knew the tune and they hummed along with her. "Hey Fluttershy! I heard you needed help with a bunny census." "Oh yes, I would definitely like some help, umm if you're offering and everything..." The timid pegasus spoke barely above a whisper. "How can I help?" "Well, what we have to do is get all the baby bunnies in this pen here. Then we can count them. There's so many though, that I can't herd them in." "So what you need is a dog like Winona?" "I think that would work wonderfully, um if that's ok." "No problem!" Katie flashed and turned into a border collie like Winona. "Oh, that'll do perfectly!" The pegasus said. "Just remember to be careful, they're only baby bunnies after all!" Together the border collie and Fluttershy had an easy time herding the bunnies together into the pen. Fluttershy did a quick count up and let the bunnies back out. "Thanks for the help Katrina. I really appreciated it. That was the easiest bunny census I've ever done." Katie flashed back to a pegasus. "No problem, Fluttershy. I was glad to help. I had something I needed to ask you about anyway." "Oh, well, what is it you need to know?" She asked shyly. "Well, I know that you're really good with foals. Discord and I were thinking of adopting a little filly and we know just the one that we want to adopt, but I don't know how to tell her that we want to be her parents. I mean, she got along well enough with Discord when she came over to visit, but what if she doesn't want us to adopt her?" Fluttershy thought about the question while she patted Angel on her lap. "Is it a filly I know?" "I think it may be, but she doesn't want anypony to know that's she's an orphan." "You mean, she's been living entirely on her own? Poor filly. I wish I had known sooner, I would have invited her to stay here, but i'm glad that she has ponies like you to care for her now. I think you should be straightforward about what you want to do, but... um... don't go shooting it out all at once. Take her out for ice cream or something so that your all nice and relaxed and tell her calmly that you want to adopt her. I'm sure that she'll say yes, I mean you're a very nice pony, and Discord is too once you get to know him, I guess." Katie nodded in understanding, it did make sense to do it like that. Rarity had a good point too. If Scootaloo is stressed out and surrounded by ponies, she might not be willing to listen to what she had to say. That meant she only had one pony left to talk to. Her mom. "Thanks for your time Fluttershy, you were a big help!" "Anytime!" She whispered happily. Katie walked deep into the Everfree. There were few places in Ponyville where the princess of the night could show up unannounced and not cause a riot, so Katie and her mother had their own special rendezvous point where they could talk without everypony freaking out. The Everfree was like a second home to Katie. She was friends with many species of animals there and very few of the ones she wasn't friends with bothered to give her any trouble, especially if there were timberwolves around. She loved the feel of the forest. Katie flashed into a timberwolf and darted through the trees. She loved the crunch of the leaves under her feet. She loved the smell of the forest too, she imagined that in spring, with all the flowers and trees in bloom, the air smelled similar to what the forest back on Earth used too, but better. Katie expertly leaped over a patch of poison joke, being sure not to make contact with any of the blooms. A bridge lay ahead of her, and on the other side a dark castle was shrouded in mist. The ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. The princesses used to live here, before they moved to Canterlot. The castle was mostly forgotten and very few of the ponies in Ponyville knew it existed. She carefully negotiated the rotted bridge and walked into the castle. In the center of the main room was a large crystal. By just giving it a little magic, it would contact Luna and if she wasn't busy, she could teleport right over, a bit like a pager. She sat down in front of the crystal and flashed into a unicorn. She wasn't very good at unicorn magic, but she was good enough for the purposes of the crystal. Katie sent a few sparks into the crystal until it glowed blue and stepped back from it. In a few minutes Luna popped in to the room from thin air. She smiled at Katie and gave her a hug. "Hey mom." Katie said snuggling into the warm embrace. "Sorry for the short notice, but it was really important that I talk to you as soon as possible." Katie explained the situation, including what Rarity and Fluttershy said. "I think it's a fantastic idea to adopt a filly. You're sure you're ready, though?" "I don't know. I just know that she's been living alone for a long time. And I know you never meant for it to happen that way, and I know you would take it all back if you could, but I know how it feels to think you're alone. I can't just sit and watch a wonderful little filly like her go through that. Discord and I both think she's just perfect, she would be your granddaughter, you know." "Can you really imagine me as a grandmother?" Luna said jokingly. "Well you're plenty qualified. And I bet she'd love you, just as much as I do." Katie nuzzled Luna's coat comfortingly. "I can't wait to meet her. I think you'll make a great mom." Luna had important things to do back in Canterlot so the two mares traded hugs and goodbyes and Katie headed back to town. Author's Note: Hmm... how will Scoots react to being asked to be adopted? I can't wait to find out! XD I already know. How? I read ahead in the chapters that you've written but haven't posted yet. Speaking of which, in chapter 14, don't you think it would be really cool if, instead of... Pinkie!! Oops. Spoiler alert! *eye roll* Anyway, Chapter 14, while I'm not giving away any specifics, is going to be the special Nightmare Night chapter. So let me know what you're going as, if anything, this year or what your favorite costume that you ever wore was, down in the comments!