And So the Story Begins
"My dad isn't exactly stable. His reaction when things don't go his way is always overboard," Scootaloo explained to Spitfire. "It's why his reaction to me saying I wanted to stay here in Ponyville instead of moving was a lot like what one could expect out of Rainbow Dash if somepony called you a two-bit whore." Upon completing her sentence, a sound emanated from Rainbow Dash that was akin to the growling of an Ursa Major, and her right eye proceeded to twitch as if she snapped.
"How did your mom deal with it?" Spitfire asked while waving a hoof in front of Rainbow.
"My mom was the most indifferent pony I have ever met. And the most helpless. She just accepted that if she didn't have dad she wouldn't be able to FIND the kitchen, let alone cook for herself. The prospect of her going against my father is a joke. It would imply that she thought for herself for a change," Scootaloo replied bitterly.
"What about you? How well can you take care of yourself?"
"I've been taking care of myself since I was old enough to speak. I may as well have lived on my own."
"Did they ever give you flying lessons?"
"Flying lessons? You do realize I still use that scooter to get around, right?"
"Fair enough."
"Do you have any family nearby that we can take you to?" Rainbow asked.
"No. The rest of my family lives in Fillydelphia."
"Then why'd your family move here?" Spitfire asked.
"My family never stayed in one place for very long. My dad is brilliant, but his unnatural temper tends to keep him out of a solid job. It's why we lived just outside of Ponyville. He couldn't afford the tax money for the town on top of what he already owed the princesses."
Scootaloo looked at the clock on the wall.
"Son of a mule, I'm gonna be late for school!"
"Language Scootaloo!" Spitfire exclaimed.
The filly didn't seem to hear the reprimand.
"Rainbow Dash, can you give me a ride so I won't be late?"
"You don't have to go today if you don't want to," Rainbow said, albeit a little too late. Scootaloo was already out the door, preparing to jump off the porch. Before she could, Rainbow yanked her back.
"What are you doing?!" she yelled.
Scootaloo noticed that the fall from here would be a lot harder than from her old home.
"I guess that is a little high up..." Scootaloo said. "I'm used to the ground being a little closer than that."
"You're telling me you had to jump off the porch of your cloud home every morning so you could go to school?"
"On bad weather days, when we had to move the house above the clouds, my mom would fly me down. But other than that, yeah," Scootaloo answered.
"Hop on up, I'll fly you to school if you really want to go," Rainbow said. But before she even finished the sentence, Scootaloo had a death grip around Rainbow's neck.
"Let's go!" she exclaimed. Rainbow was puzzled at how quickly her mood changed back to that of the overly energetic filly Rainbow knew and loved.
Spitfire watched as her wife dove off the porch with Scootaloo. She had no idea what to think of what she had just been told. A filly her age going through so much. From her own family no less. Spitfire had no idea how to take care of a filly, but it looked like she was about to find out.
When Rainbow got back from dropping off Scootaloo, she was ready for a good, long talk with Spitfire. They needed to decide what to do about Scootaloo. She walked in the door of their home and was immediately greeted with a soft hug. Rainbow returned the favor. As usual, Spitfire didn't waste any time in getting right to the point.
"What do we do now?" she asked Rainbow.
"I don't know," Rainbow responded. "We can't just send her to a youth home, the nearest one is in Canterlot."
"They'd be better able to take care of her there though," Spitfire replied.
"She'd just be a number on a list. She needs to know what it's like to be loved."
"We don't know for sure how honest she was being with us though. We need to talk to her parents. See for ourselves if they match her description. That beating seemed a little... dramatic."
"Spitfire, she was covered in cuts and bruises last night."
"She gets covered in cuts and bruises every time she goes "crusading" with her friends."
"Good point." Rainbow knew her wife was right. Scootaloo did idolize Rainbow and Spitfire and would do ANYTHING to get their attention. But this? "We never did ask where her parents were headed, did we?"
"We don't know for sure that they actually moved. We should go to their house and see if anypony's home."
"Sounds like a plan." Rainbow agreed.
When Rainbow and Spitfire arrived at the house, they knew without question that nopony was inside. The home was a mess, and a large pile of snow was laying under it. It looked like the storm from the night before had frozen the water in the clouds and caused the home to snow, thus rendering the home uninhabitable. It was so thin that a single step could cause the floor to break.
"She wasn't lying about getting left behind," Spitfire noted. "There is no way anypony is living in there right now."
Rainbow couldn't believe her eyes. "What kind of parent just leaves his daughter behind like that?" she asked, still dumbfounded.
"She did say her dad wasn't right in the head, and that her mom wouldn't go against him for any reason," Spitfire reasoned. "Perhaps there is validity to her story."
"Let's check it out to be sure. And find out where they work in Ponyville. They could have forgotten to move the house while they were looking for her," replied Rainbow.
"Good idea," Spitfire agreed.
"Scootaloo, what n' th' hay happened ta ya?" Applebloom inquired.
"I don't want to talk about it," Scootaloo replied.
"You were trying out a new trick on that scooter to impress Rainbow Dash, weren't you?" Sweetie Belle asked with a grin.
"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Scootaloo replied, a lot more angry than usual at her friend's picking. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle glanced over at each other. They both knew it wasn't like their friend to yell at them like that.
"Okay, if ya'll do wanna talk sometime, just let us know," Applebloom said before taking her seat.
"And don't yell at us next time," Sweetie Belle said. Scootaloo knew they were both miffed and decided that she'd apologize after class.
"Fired his flank last night. Nopony blows up on me like that and keeps his job." The owner of Quills and Sofas was obviously displeased about talking about the hot tempered stallion. "Why do you even want to find him anyway?"
"We found his daughter alone last night and wanted to talk to him and her mother. From what she's told us and from what we've found out today, it seems that he moved away and left her behind," Spitfire answered.
"You're telling me that he left his filly all alone here? Why I 'oughta shove a quill right up that jack flank's-"
"Before a sofa gets involved, let's get back on track," Rainbow interrupted. "Do you have any idea where he may have gone?"
"Well, he did some ranting about finding better work in Cloudsdale, but that sounded like what he was talking about before he came."
"Thank you for your time sir," Spitfire said. "We'll let you get back to business now."
"Before you go, you wanna buy a sofa?"
"Errm, no thank you," Rainbow said before following Spitfire outside the store.
"To Cloudsdale?" Rainbow asked.
"I think we should stick with sending a letter for now," Spitfire responded.
"Alright. It would probably be better to find out if they're even there before going."
"Plus, in a week Cloudsdale will be almost directly over Ponyville. It will really decrease travel time," Spitfire added.
"Ugh, I hate trying to keep up with that city's drift."
"You do know there's a Cloudsdale Drift calendar on our fridge, right?"
"Yeah. You know as well as I do that just because something is there doesn't mean I read it," Rainbow replied. Spitfire rolled her eyes.
"I know Rainbow. I know."
"You know, it'll still be a while before Squirt gets out of school... we could have some time to ourselves," Rainbow said very flirtatiously.
"Wrong time, wrong place Dash," Spitfire answered, a little mad that Rainbow would think about sex at a time like this.
"Maybe next time then," Rainbow said.
"Maybe after we take care of the filly that you brought home last night?" Spitfire responded forcefully.
"I hate it when you make a good point," Rainbow responded as the couple took off and flew home.