Scootaloo was riding on her scooter as fast as she possibly could. The teenage Pegasus was about to get as much air as she possibly could by jumping her scooter off a ramp and then jumping off that scooter. Once in the air she would probably drop her scooter down below and use her wings to fly. With the speed she gained on the ground she would attempt to pull off some tricks that any Wonderbolt watching from below would be impressed with.
She hit the jump and went into the air just as she wanted to. Once there, and after making sure nopony was below, she dropped her scooter and started flying. The speed and adrenaline was coursing through her body as she flew faster and faster. Being that she was a late bloomer from her old parents never teaching her how to fly, the show she was doing was really impressive.
Alright Scootaloo, let’s see if you can do this, Scootaloo thought to herself. Rainbow Dash may be the only pony that could do this before, but she was also your mentor. If anypony can do this besides her, it’s you.
Scootaloo angled herself for the ground, and started trying to fly faster and faster. She could feel the air pressure forming a cone around her as she was reaching closer to the speed she wanted to go. Come on Scootaloo, just a bit more!
Unfortunately Scootaloo wasn’t able to reach the speed she needed, and was pushed back by the air pressure. She flew back into the Wonderbolt H.Q and landed hard on her back. Ignoring the pain, she let out a grunt of disappointment that resounded all across the headquarters.
“Well kid, looks like you still need a lot of practice.” Spitfire walked up to Scootaloo, probably from hearing her loud grunt. “Though you shouldn’t have really expected to be able to break the sound barrier yet. Very few ponies have ever managed to accomplish that feat, and only one has managed to do that at a young age. Give yourself a few years, and then see if you are able to do it.”
Scootaloo got back up with a little help from Spitfire but she was still obviously annoyed. “Well I would probably be able to do it now if it weren’t for the fact that my lame parents never bothered teaching me how to fly!” Scootaloo said angrily. “By the time I was able to actually stay in the air for more than five seconds I already had my cutie mark!”
Spitfire was silent for a few seconds. She was looking over Scootaloo, trying to gauge her feelings. "You still don't really like your parents, do you Scootaloo?"
"No, I don't like them," Scootaloo said. "In fact I hate them! It's their fault that I'm such a late bloomer!"
"Scootaloo, you do know you're doing remarkably well for a pegasus your age," Spitfire pointed out.
After looking at her for a few seconds, Spitfire sighed and said “Scootaloo, would you mind following me? I have something I need to talk to you about.”
“Uhh…sure I guess,” Scootaloo said. She followed Spitfire as they both hovered down to the ground. Spitfire started walking across a dirt path with Scootaloo following closely behind. They both walked together for a few minutes before Spitfire started talking.
“You know Scootaloo, it’s pretty interesting,” Spitfire said. “While pegasi have the ability to fly, there are several pegasi that take jobs on the ground. While Unicorns are still the most versatile of all the three ponies, Pegasus can get the most jobs on a vertical plain. So while it is always a good idea for Pegasus to learn how to fly, some hardly need flight to make a living for themselves.”
“If you’re trying to make me like my parents more, you’re failing,” Scootaloo said. “You only know them from the money they gave to you. I actually had to live with them. So there is nothing that you can do to justify them.”
“I’m not trying to justify your parents,” Spitfire said. “I couldn’t do that if I tried. Not with the mistakes that were made when it comes to you.”
“I don’t even think they feel sorry about what they did to me!”
“No Scootaloo, that’s where you’re wrong. Your parents deeply regret what they put you through.”
“How would you know?!” Scootaloo asked.
Spitfire sighed. “Scootaloo, I am going to tell you something, but you have to let me explain everything. Afterwards, you can hate your parents all you want, and I won’t blame you. But don’t interrupt me, because this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say.”
Scootaloo stayed silent for a few seconds, so Spitfire took that as she is listening. “Scootaloo, Dust Storm is not your father,” Spitfire started.
“What do you mean Dust Storm isn’t my father?!” Scootaloo interrupted. “That’s impossible. What else could he be? I’ve been living with him all my life.”
“I told you to not interrupt me until I’m done,” Spitfire said, though not sharply. “Until I’m done explaining you won’t have the full story. I can answer any questions you have afterwards, but don’t interrupt me until then.”
“Ok, fine keep going,” Scootaloo said.
“As I was saying,” Spitfire said, “Dust Storm is not your father. You were given to Dust Storm by your real parents just a few weeks after you were born so that he could raise you. Your real father…was the captain of the Wonderbolts when I first joined.”
“What?!” Scootaloo asked.
“Your father was a great stallion. He pushed his team to do many things we didn’t think we were capable of,” Spitfire explained. “He was strict, but only when he needed to be. Otherwise he really did care for the performance of his team. Because of that, he attracted the attention of one of the Wonderbolt mares.” Spitfire took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure how Scootaloo would react to what she was about to say next, but she was going to say it anyways. She had to.
“Me,” Spitfire said. “Scootaloo…I am your real mother.” Spitfire looked back at Scootaloo to see her expression. Scootaloo had her mouth open as she looked at Spitfire with a very shocked expression, wondering whether this is some sort of trick or not.
“Are…are you serious?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yes Scootaloo, I am serious,” Spitfire said. “When I first moved into the Wonderbolts all the way from Manehatten, he made the move so much easier for me. And we both had similar goals of being better flyers and creating a better team. So I visited his office several times and we talked a lot and I just ended up falling for him. But I think—no I know—I should have slowed down a bit. I was only less than a year in the Wonderbolts, and I was already pregnant with you.”
Scootaloo was starting to fit some pieces together. “So when you told me that you’ve seen it too many times where pregnant mares would avoid telling the stallion about it out of fear, you were talking about yourself.”
“Yeah. I told you he can be strict sometimes. When I found out I was immediately worried about how he would react so I avoided telling him as much as possible. But naturally it is difficult for a pregnant mare to hide it for too long. I started eventually showing, and he found out. And…I can’t exactly say when he found out he was too happy about it. He would have been better about it if I told him right away. But since I was already showing when he found out, it was already too late.”
“So he made you give me away?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m sorry Scootaloo. But it wasn’t his decision to give you away. It was mine.” Spitfire didn’t look back but she was sure Scootaloo was crushed because of that. “After our fight I figured that he wouldn’t want you and I didn’t think I could take care of you by myself. After I heard that an old friend of mine, Dust Storm, had recently got married, I gave you to him after you were born. I trusted him and thought that he would raise you better than I ever could on my own.”
“Yeah, that obviously worked out so well,” Scootaloo said. The rising anger was obvious in her voice.
“I failed you Scootaloo,” Spitfire said. “I’m not going to place the blame anywhere else or give it to anypony else. It was my fault entirely that you ended up in the situation you were in. I failed you as a parent, and I am completely sorry about it.”
“What ever happened to my father?” Scootaloo asked. The anger still hasn’t left her voice yet.
“I don’t know,” Spitfire said. “After I gave you to Dust Storm we stopped talking to each other. We only saw each other during practices and that is it. And one day, he just up and left the Wonderbolts with no warning, leaving nothing behind except for a note naming me the next captain of the Wonderbolts. I always wondered whether he loved me or not, and I guess that answered that question for me. I have not heard from him since.”
“So Scootaloo, I’m guessing you’re angry at me...”
“You think?!” Scootaloo interrupted. “So you’re telling me that I had to go through my filly years in a house where the two people who were taking care of me didn’t bother giving me any love or frankly even notice me and nearly ruined my future just because you made a few mistakes?! Well I’m glad I get to be the one who pays for all of the mistakes you made!”
“Scooaloo,” Spitfire said in a warning voice.
“What are you going to do, yell at me in your drill sergeant voice? Or maybe you’re going to try to ground me? Oh wait, you can’t because Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ have custody over me! Because they actually cared enough about me to take me in!”
“Scootaloo I did care about you,” Spitfire said.
“Oh yeah? If you cared about me so much, then why did I have to spend 10 years of my life in a house with two people who didn’t love me?!” Scootaloo asked. Tears were starting to pour out of her eyes. “Why didn’t you try taking me back as soon as you could?!”
“Because I didn’t trust myself,” Spitfire said. At this point in time they both had tears pouring out of their eyes. “I couldn’t bring myself to take you back in because I felt I wouldn’t be able to take care of you or provide you the home you deserve. So I thought Dust Storm would be able to take much better care of you then me. And as soon as I heard about what was happening to you, Rainbow Dash was trying to fix it herself and I knew she would be able to provide a better home then I could. My past mistakes already proved that.”
“Well I’m glad I’m just some filly you can pawn off to people you think you can trust instead of taking care of me yourself,” Scootaloo said bitterly. “And this proves you care about me because?”
“Scootaloo, if it wasn’t for me helping Rainbow Dash she would have lost the case!” Spitfire said. “If I didn’t care about you then you would still be in Dust Storm’s custody and not in Rainbow Dash’s! So tell me again that I don’t care about you!”
“You only fixed your mistake!” Scootaloo said. “And that’s it. At least you managed to do that.” Scootaloo spread her wings and flew off before Spitfire could say anything else.
~
Scootaloo flew back up to the Wonderbolt Headquarters as fast as she could. She was really angry at Spitfire, almost angrier at her then she ever was at her old parents. And like what most pegasi do, she was reliving her anger by flying as intensely as possible. As soon as she was above the Wonderbolt Headquarters she started flying faster and faster, trying to break the sound barrier once again. She once again failed landing herself back on her back in the Wonderbolt H.Q, only adding to her frustration.
“Hey Scoots, are you ok?” This time it was Rainbow Dash that noticed Scootaloo plopping back on the ground from her failure.
“Yeah, I’m fine!” Scootaloo said, her annoyance obvious.
“Hey Scoots, you got pretty far,” Rainbow Dash said. “I wouldn’t be annoyed at that. Hay, most pegasi would be glad to have at least made it to the speed you did. One day, you might just reach the same awesome speeds that I can go.”
“That’s not why I’m annoyed,” Scootaloo said as she got up. “I got in a fight with Spitfire.”
“What was it about?” Rainbow Dash asked. Scootaloo didn’t answer for a while so Rainbow Dash took a wild guess. “Hey Scoots don’t worry. You’ll get into the Wonderbolts someday. If it isn’t when Spitfire is captain then it’ll be when I become captain. But you’ll get your shot eventually.”
“No, that’s not what we were arguing about,” Scootaloo said. “I just…I need to blow off some steam.”
“Well if you need to talk about it I’ll be around,” Rainbow Dash said. “Soarin’s in charge of keeping an eye on this kids, so I’ve got a bit of time to talk. I’ll give him about an hour before he goes insane and I’ll need to help him.”
“Thanks Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “If I need to, I’ll talk.”
Scootaloo walked mindlessly around the Wonderbolt Headquarters for a bit, just for the point of walking. She would be scooting around right now, but she left her scooter outside and isn’t able to scoot around inside the headquarters anyways. Right now she didn’t really have any goal in mind except for just trying to sort out her angry feelings.
She passed by several Wonderbolts, but none of them really asked her what was going on. She wasn’t really noticed that much by anypony she passed by, and those who would have noticed her she didn’t see while walking. It didn’t matter much to her anyways, since she didn’t really want to talk right now, she just wanted to think.
Scootaloo eventually kicked open a door and when she looked into the room she was in, she found out it was Spitfire’s office. Not wanting to see Spitfire, Scootaloo turned around to leave but before she was able to she noticed an open drawer with a booklet sticking out of it. Scootaloo’s curiosity got the best of her as she walked forward to see what exactly was in there.
Scootaloo took out the book and started looking through it. Inside the book there were several pictures of Scootaloo all throughout her life. There were pictures of her as just a foal, as a filly first starting school, a picture of her showing off her new cutie mark. Alongside the pictures there was a bunch of letters from Dust Storm telling Spitfire about what Scootaloo did that day. While Scootaloo noticed he conveniently forgot a few details, like the lack of love Scootaloo was getting or the fact that Scootaloo was unable to fly, they were for the most part a complete description of Scootaloo’s life. It was really interesting for Scootaloo to see her entire life written out in front of her.
So what? Scootaloo thought. She has a bunch of pictures of me throughout my life. Well my old parents also have those pictures but they obviously didn’t care about me. But Spitfire actually had to ask for these pictures. She went out of her way to make sure that I’m ok and in her own way, watch me grow up. And she was right, she wasn’t told anything about my lack of flight from Dust Storm. But when she heard why didn’t she try to take me in herself?
Scootaloo kept on reading through the scrapbook and saw that the pictures became less frequent at the point where Scootaloo was in custody of Rainbow Dash and Soarin’, but there were still some pictures. There was that picture of the three of them together at Rainbow Dash and Soarin's wedding. There were a lot of pictures of Scootaloo flying, doing tricks, and even a picture of her first kiss from Rumble. There was also a picture of all of them together a few weeks after Rainbow Dash’s first foal was born. Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ were on the sides, and Scootaloo and the foal Cool Breeze were in the middle.
Hehe, I’m part of a pretty awesome family anyways, Scootaloo thought. Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ take pretty good care of me, and I have some younger siblings now. I even get the chance to watch the Wonderbolts almost whenever I want to now. Maybe…maybe I am better off with them instead of with Spitfire. And...maybe Spitfire knows that. She said she wanted to take me in herself, but she thought...knew I was better off here. And because she does care about my happiness, she made sure I had a good family that I would be happy with instead of taking me in where I might not be.
She glanced by a picture of her, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Bell all together before they got their Cutie Marks. She also looked at a picture of her and Rainbow Dash on a cloud together high above Ponyville. Finally she went back to that picture of her and Rumble together enjoying their first kiss.
You know, if I never went to Ponyville, I wouldn't have met any of these guys. I wouldn't have joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders and been friends with Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom, I would have never seen Rainbow Dash practicing her awesome tricks. I wouldn't have had that camping trip where Rainbow Dash took me under her wing. And I would have never met Rumble, and he probably wouldn't be my coltfriend right now. Even though I hated living under da...no Dust Storm's roof, it's because I was there that I have so many amazing ponies in my life. And that's thanks to Spitfire giving me to him.
Scootaloo put back the photo album and went outside the office. She didn’t notice any sign of Spitfire outside the office, so Scootaloo went outside of the headquarters and took off. She looked all around outside until she saw Spitfire. Scootaloo didn’t directly fly to Spitfire, but she did start doing a bunch of tricks around Spitfire.
Spitfire didn’t notice Scootaloo at first, so Scootaloo started doing more impressive tricks. When that failed, Scootaloo once again tried for breaking the sound barrier. She once again managed to go fast enough for the air pressure to form a cone around her…but she once again was not able to break the sound barrier and was pushed back on to the ground. Spitfire definitely noticed that happening.
“Scootaloo, if you didn’t break the sound barrier this morning what makes you think you can do it now?” Spitfire asked. “Are you just trying to show off in front of me to spite me?”
“Because I’m not going to give up until I break the sound barrier,” Scootaloo said. “And when I do that I want to make sure that my parent is the first to see it. That way she gets another picture of one of my accomplishments for her scrapbook.”
Spitfire wasn’t expecting that. “Are you…?”
“I’m still mad at you,” Scootaloo said, “but I saw the scrapbook you made with all of the pictures of me. After seeing my life, especially after Rainbow Dash won custody over me, I realized you were sort of right. You gave me a pretty good life, and a nice family. So I guess thanks…Mom.”