She sat still as the wind rustled the leaves on the nearby branches of the trees. The sun, as usual, bore down its warming light, and she sighed with content. Behind the trees stood the countryside house she now called home, and on the patio, watching the idyllic scenery were her new parents. The mint green unicorn lifted his drink to his lips and took a sip, giving a sigh of satisfaction once the sip had been consumed.
Click
It was all she could have hoped for in her life. Her new home wasn’t far from Ponyville, so she could still see her friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. And best of all, she could still see her idol, Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have to change schools, didn’t have to say goodbye to her friends, how could things get any better?
“Don’t you think this is a little cruel?”
With a yawn, she stood up and trotted back towards the house, where her new adoptive parents smiled, offering her some lemonade. She gladly took the glass, said her thanks and took a sip of the cooling drink.
“Nah, now on three. One…”
High in the sky and some distance away, a pegasus shape figure took to the sky, rainbow trail following. Grinning in excitement, Scootaloo watched the figure began to practise routines. Nothing could be better than seeing Rainbow Dash.
“THREE!”
Scootaloo shot awake as a horn blared a mere inch from her head, screaming in surprise. Beside her, Snowdrops was on the floor, gasping for breath between laughs, and Oca looked ashamed.
“It was her idea!” he shouted, running away as fast as he could.
Glaring at the still laughing white mare with a light blue mane and tail, otherwise known as Snowdrops, Scootaloo climbed out of bed. Grumbling to herself, she began to run the dream through her head again, and was filled with sorrow as she realised it had been a dream. She was still in the orphanage, an unwanted filly that no one outside the walls was willing to let into their lives.
As she began her routine in the bathroom, starting with the trip to the toilet, she heard Snowdrops slowly begin to cease her laughter. The hoofsteps towards the door gave it away that the older mare had come to the bathroom and was now waiting for a good moment to speak.
“Sorry Scoots, but, the look on your face,” she paused to try and compose herself, lest she broke down into laughter again, “just, you slept through breakfast. Luckily, Miss Amethyst kept you some, she said to tell you to come to her office when you were awake to get it.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. In all the times she had slept through breakfast, each one had been met with a message from somepony else to go to the office to get the breakfast Miss Amethyst had prepared for her. Would it really kill her to miss one breakfast?
Pretty annoyed that she was once again going to be forced to eat breakfast, Scootaloo left the bathroom and walked past Snowdrops, not noticing Snowdrops’ smile fade into a frown.
--
The corridors around the orphanage now looked far different. Where before the wallpaper had seemed all too eager to part company with rotting wood planks, the walls were now a bright white. So bright that the lighting could be kept to a minimum, and the reflecting light off the walls made up for it. The floors had also changed, from a slightly sodden wood, to sturdy stone. The changes made Miss Amethyst happy, as less bits were spent on bills for lighting.
Rooms were now separate from each other, with small ensuite bathrooms, but still remained very much as they had been before, fillies on the one floor with an overnight caretaker, and the colts on another floor, the stairway right next to where the caretaker would be. This had been to the joy of all the previous orphans living there, who had become fed up of sharing one large room with at least one other pony.
On the first floor, which had been for rooms in the old building, there now could be found a library that would rival the public one in Ponyville. There was also a recreation room, art room and a larger bathroom for daytime use. In the center of the first floor was a grand staircase.
Scootaloo wasn’t the only pony walking around. With the rebuilding of the orphanage, it had become common for more orphans to be brought in, though just as many, it seemed, would sooner or later leave.
As she got halfway down, where the grand staircase turned back around, Scootaloo stopped and looked out across the main hallway. In the old building, this had been just a narrow corridor where Miss Amethyst’s office could be found, but it was now larger. It contained a special records keeping room with secretary, and a first aid room with nurse. Next to this there were two double doors to the dining room (with kitchen and its often very angry chief), and of course, right next to the doors into the orphanage, Miss Amethyst’s office.
In the middle of the hallway, Miss Amethyst was currently leading a small colt towards two older mares, one mint green unicorn with matching light green mane, and a light yellow earth pony mare with multi colored mane. They stopped nearby, and Scootaloo saw as papers were handed into the unicorn mare’s magic. This was followed by a look of surprise and joy from the colt, who begun to hop excitedly on the spot.
Scootaloo sighed. Another one. While she was happy for him, because it now saved Miss Amethyst from trying to explain why the grandmother he lived with instead of parents wouldn’t wake up the morning of the day he had been brought in, she couldn’t help but feel jealous of the colt. She was older than he was, and yet, her turn to feel that joy, of seeing the adoption papers being given to the new guardians, well, it was beginning to feel like it would never happen.
“Well, good morning, Scooty,” Showstopper greeted her, he was a yellow colt easily ten years older than Scootaloo, his orange mane and tail were neatly brushed, his mane pushed to a point above his right eye, though a cape he almost always wore covered his flanks, “Miss Amethyst is not too pleased, based on how she looked around the dining room this morning, confirmed when she asked us to keep an eye out for you and give you a message.”
“Oh? And what message might that be?” Scootaloo asked.
“Scootaloo! Down here now, missy!” Miss Amethyst called out breaking Scootaloo attention towards Showstopper.
Her ears folded back against her head, and obeying, she trotted down the last flight of stairs, and crossed the hall to Miss Amethyst. The older mare stared at her, and simply pointed a hoof at her office. Walking ahead, Scootaloo saw a decent sized breakfast on the desk in the office. While she took a seat before it, Miss Amethyst entered the room and sat in her chair opposite, and simply observed.
“You have to stop missing breakfast, Scootaloo. Promise me?”
“I try my best Miss Amethyst, but it’s not my fault I don’t wake up on time sometimes.” Scootaloo answered.
The stare Miss Amethyst gave reflected what could be said in words as ‘Sometimes isn’t the right word there, is it, Scootaloo?’. Scootaloo groaned.
“Fine, every day.”
“Now, I just wanted you to know something,” Miss Amethyst paused, as Scootaloo took another bite of some fruit and looked to her, “a couple came in recently. As you know, when a couple comes here looking to adopt, we don’t let them meet any orphans, just folders we have on them. And well, Scootaloo, they asked to put you in their top three orphans to meet.”
Scootaloo almost choked, and had to hit herself hard to prevent it. She looked towards Miss Amethyst, her eyes wide with joy. She had often heard from others how couples would shortlist orphans, and then they would meet and one would become clear as a perfect match. But in all the years she had been there, it had never happened to her.
“This… this isn’t some sort of cruel joke is it?” Scootaloo whispered.
Miss Amethyst took three folders from the top drawer of her desk, searched through them for one, putting the other two back.
“Those three folders are the shortlist of the orphans they would like to meet later today,” she placed the one she still held just within Scootaloo’s sight, the filly’s name right at the top along with a recent photograph of her making Scootaloo break out into a hopeful smile, “and here is your folder. This isn’t a joke, Scootaloo. Someone is considering adopting you.”
--
The main orphanage stood a small distance away from the building where would-be adoptee couples met the orphans that they had considered to adopt. Scootaloo had often seen orphans enter the building and leave, once or twice it had been Snowdrops, but this was a building she had never been inside before.
One thing she had learnt, the couple would always be left in the building, and the orphans brought in after them, so the orphans wouldn’t purposely throw the meeting to not be adopted by those they didn’t like the look of. What she hadn’t been told was that there were two rooms at least.
The first room was where the couple currently were, meeting the second of their shortlist. The second room was where any orphans they wanted to meet would be kept, unable to see the other room, until they were brought in through the door that connected the two.
Scootaloo was bored, having been the last. The other two had been colts, a little younger than her. As she waited in silence for her turn, she begun to wonder if she would have a chance, since she was older.
Her thoughts however were soon interrupted by the door opening. One of the newer employees poked their head around the corner and smiled.
“You may come in now.”
Standing up, and smiling, Scootaloo wondered what would await her on the other side of the door. She had long given up foalish hopes of a Wonderbolt or somepony equally awesome coming to adopt her, and wouldn’t care if Rarity had decided to adopt her simply to have a live model fashion clothing.
What she saw made her reconsider being open to just anypony adopting her. Two unicorns whose clothing screamed ‘Canterlot’ walked in, the stallion was grey with a black mane, and the mare was light olive with a pale blue mane with a white streak in it.
Scootaloo did her best to hide her utter horror, the smile that had been on her face when entering the room never faltered.
“Scootaloo, meet Jet Set and Upper Crust.”