//------------------------------// // 2: Discoveries // Story: Scootaloo's Parents Are... // by RavenGuardian17 //------------------------------// Shining Armor loved to read. Not as much as his sister of course, but still a lot more than the average pony. Today, like most of his days off, he sat in his study, reviewing old military history texts. Suddenly a  knock came on the door, interrupting his studying. Shining got up with an annoyed expression on his face and opened the door to the study. One of Cadence’s personal guard stood there, holding a letter in one hoof. “Sire, a letter from Princess Twilight,” He said, handing Shining the letter in question. Shining gave a small smile, it was always nice to hear from his sister. “Thank you soldier,” He said, fighting the urge to salute. Years as a member of the guard left some instincts in him. “You are welcome, sire.” The guard replied, bowing. Then he turned and walked away.  Watching the guard leave, Shining closed the door, sat down in his chair, opened the letter and began reading it’s contents. Dear Prince Shining Armor,   An unusual set of circumstances has resulted in me sending you this letter, demanding that you come to Ponyville immediately for reasons that will become clear to you in a moment.   As you are certainly aware, during my stay in Ponyville, I have befriended many ponies, young and old. One such pony is a young Pegasus filly by the name of Scootaloo, who, I recently discovered, was abandoned at birth at the local Ponyville orphanage. During one of her class’s assignments on family history, I offered to use a spell I had discovered that could reveal a pony’s biological parents. Imagine my surprise when I cast the spell on the orphaned filly, only for my brother’s face to appear, alongside that of Spitfire.   For these reasons, I request your immediate presence at the Ponyville library in order to straighten out this mess regarding your daughter.   Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle   P.S. Spike here. Don’t worry, I’m as confused as you are.   Shining stared at the letter. What in Celestia’s name is she talking about?! Shining thought, I don’t have a daughter! He read it over again to make sure he wasn’t going crazy, then twice, then thrice. Finally he gave up re-reading it and started thinking instead, Who is this ‘Spitfire’ she was talking about? He knew he recognized the name from somewhere so he dug further into his memory. “Spitfire… Spitfire… Spitfire…” He muttered to himself. Suddenly the memory returned to him. It wasn’t good. “Oh buck.” Shining swore, slumping back in his chair. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts sat in her office, reviewing performance papers for some of the recruits in the academy. The next recruitment session was coming up and Spitfire wanted to see the best of the best. A few ponies, including Rainbow Dash, had caught her eye with extremely impressive performance records. A knock on the door interrupted her reading. “Permission to enter?” “Permission granted.” Spitfire replied, recognizing Soarin’s voice. “Come in Soarin.”  The door opened and Soarin stepped in, “I’ve got a letter for you.” Spitfire gave Soarin a confused look. She didn’t often get personal letters. Most were addressed to just the wonderbolts. “Who sent it?” She asked as Soarin hoofed her the message. “Rainbow Dash, all the way from Ponyville.” Soarin explained. Spitfire opened the envelop with her teeth, then unfolded the letter inside and read it. Dear Spitfire,   I know I don’t write to any one of you very often, but right now I have a good reason to.   I just found out that you are the mother of an orphan here in Ponyville, with Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, being the father. Not only am I mad that you abandoned the poor filly, but she also happens to be one of my best friends, which makes this a little more personal! How could somepony as awesome as you abandon their kid at an orphanage like that? Especially one as cool as Scoots?   Unless of course, this is some sort of misunderstanding. You must have had a good reason, right? Either way, me and Princess Twilight want you to come to Ponyville immediately to explain yourself. From Rainbow Dash Spitfire stared at the letter, then slowly re-folded it and put it back in the envelope. “Uh, Spitfire is something wrong?” Soarin asked, noticing a worried look on her face. “No!” Spitfire snapped. “Now if you would excuse me I have some, uh, important business to attend to.” “Listen Spitfire, if something is bothering you, you can tell me about it.” Soarin said in a comforting tone. Spitfire fought the urge to facehoof. Soarin why do you always have to be too helpful?! “I just told you; nothing’s wrong.” Spitfire replied. Gritting her teeth, she got out of her chair and made her way to the door. Soarin rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Spitfire. “Talking to somepony is the first way to solve a problem,” he explained. Spitfire gave an angry grunt and pushed him out of her way, “You’re right. I just don’t want that pony to be you.” She huffed, walking out of her office. Soarin, now even more willing to help, followed her. “Hey! I’m just trying to help!” As she kept walking, Spitfire felt anger rising through her body. Remember what you were told Spitfire. Breath in, breath ou- “Spitfire, this is not helping you.” Soarin said. Spitfire clenched her teeth, Alright, I’ve put up with this oaf for long enough. At that exact moment the anger slowly rising in her burst like a dam and she violently turned towards Soarin and yelled, “In Celestia’s name, shut the hell up!” Soarin started to raise a hoof in protest but the enraged mare in front of him cut him off. “And if you even think of following me, I’ll kick you from the squadron! Do I make myself clear?!” Soarin slowly backed away in fear. “I asked you a question Cadet! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!” "Y-yes ma'am!" the blue Pegasus stammered, giving a quick salute before turning tail and running off." Spitfire gave a satisfied smirk, not paying attention to the worried glances cast her way, as she stormed out of the wonderbolts main office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight paced around the centre of the library, her mind abuzz with thoughts about their findings. Rainbow Dash sat off to the side playing cards with Spike. The letters they wrote had been sent,  so Shining and Spitfire should be coming here soon. Twilight was still wondering on how to confront them about the situation.  Suddenly Scootaloo, who had been sitting off to the side, spoke up. “Hey Twilight, if Shining is your brother then doesn’t that make you my aunt?” Twilight Immediately stopped pacing and both Spike and Rainbow looked over, the realization hitting all of them. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Twilight answered, her brain working even faster now. It was strange; she had always wanted a niece or nephew but now that she had one it felt… weird. And the more she thought about it the weirder it got. Scootaloo had been living in this town her entire life. Had Twilight not moved here all those years ago Scootaloo might have lived on without ever knowing her true parents and Twilight never would have met her niece. Rainbow flew over and gave Twilight a nervous look, “Twilight, you find out Scootaloo is your niece an all you have to say is ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right’? Are you feeling okay?” “Ugh, it’s just too much to take in.” Twilight complained, slumping to the floor. “Hopefully Shining and Spitfire get here soon to clear up this mess.” Rainbow said, looking expectantly at the door. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville Train Station wasn’t very large. It only held a small building for ticket buying and waiting on rainy days, but not much else. At the same time, however, it wasn’t a small station, the amount of ponies that commuted through the station daily was extremely high for the town’s small population. Stranger still, was the amount of important ponies that visited the farming village. Princes, Princesses and sometimes a Wonderbolt could be seen around the town. Rarely did two of these ponies visit on the same day, though, especially when no important events were happening. Shining Armour understood this well. Not wanting to attract attention to himself the prince had covered his face with a large scarf as he sulked behind large crowds, blending in with the other ponies. Shining navigated his way through Ponyville, searching for the library. After walking around for a few minutes he found his destination (which wasn’t hard considering it was a large tree in the middle of town) and walked up to the door. When the prince put his hoof on the doorknob, however, another hoof, this one bright orange-yellow, was blocking his path. Shining turned his head to see the pony in his way. It was her. “Hello, Shining Armor.” Spitfire greeted in a businesslike tone. Shining gulped, “Hello Spitfire.” “Did you get a letter too?” She asked him. “Yes.” The wonderbolt gave a heavy sigh, “Well, I guess it will be easier to explain things if we are both here.” Shining simply nodded his head. Spitfire gave the prince a confused look, “You’re a lot quieter than you were all those years ago.” Shining's face went deep red, “I’d rather not talk about that at the moment.” Spitfire nodded, “Agreed. Now let’s get this over with.” She said, opening the door. When the door opened, Shining saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spike and a small orange filly staring at them. Twilight grimaced at the sight of her brother, but quickly shifted to a stern glare. "Take a seat," she ordered. Shining almost didn’t hear her, he just kept staring at the small orange filly. Is… Is this my daughter? Shining had been secretly hoping that this entire thing had been some kind of misunderstanding, but now that he had seen the filly in question with his own eyes, he knew it to be true. Her coat was a darker orange than Spitfire’s, but the resemblance was still there. The young pegasus’s mane had a dark purple hue to it, most likely inherited from Shining.  The filly slowly stepped forward, “Are… are these my parents?” She asked, slightly in awe.   Rainbow Dash nodded grimly, “Yes.” Suddenly, Shining felt two orange hooves cling onto his body as the filly embraced him. “Why did you leave me?” She asked, on the verge of tears. Shining tried to say something but the words were stuck in his throat, instead he just hugged the filly back. When he let go of her, however, he saw Twilight standing behind them with a disgusted expression on her face. “So, you think you can just abandon her and then waltz in here like it never happened?” Twilight spat, “You should be ashamed of yourself.” The words stung Shining right in the heart, mainly for the reason that they weren't true. “B-bu-” He started. “And here I thought you were a good pony.” Rainbow seethed, interrupting him, “After all, you love your sister enough that most ponies would think you’d at least show the same love for your own child.” Shining held up his forehooves in protest, “Hey! I never even knew I had a child!” He defended, then he pointed a hoof at Spitfire, “She never told me!” Twilight expression changed from disappointment to apologetic in a split second, “S-sorry, I though-” “It’s okay, Twilight. Believe me, you handled it better than most ponies would’ve.” The prince reassured. Rainbow’s face still held a look of anger though, “So, you abandoned Scootaloo?!” She accused, pointing at Spitfire. The pony in question flinched, hanging her head in shame, “Yes, although before you get angry, let me tell you the story.” Rainbow looked as if she wanted to say something but Twilight cut her off, “Alright fine. Some answers would be nice.” The alicorn admitted. “I was just making tea as you two came in. How about I pour everyone some and we have a nice civil discussion?” She suggested. Rainbow crossed her hooves with a big harumph, “Fine. But you'd better have a good reason Spitfire. If not..” Rainbow slowly drew a hoof in front of her neck. “Rainbow!” Twilight scolded,  “I said civil.” Shining looked at Spitfire, whose face was scrunched up as though Rainbow had just destroyed one of her prized possessions right in front of her. Spitfire took a deep breath and held it back. “I think that’s a good idea.” She said. “It’s settled then.” Twilight said, giving a sigh of relief.