End of January, 1005 A.D. (After Discord)
The next day found the two friends reveling in the scents and sounds of their adopted hometown; birds chirping, crowds of ponies calling greetings to each other, wind blowing through the many trees in the area, the smells of fresh foods made on a daily base and so much more that made it a small and cozy town. As they stepped off the platform of the train station, they started to look about themselves in an effort to find a young filly with whom they needed to speak with. The only problem was actually finding the young pegasus; she had been hiding out and working at not being found for so long that she was kind of an expert.
To help the search go faster, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy split up while agreeing to meet at Fluttershy's cottage at noon if they didn't find her before hoof. Each pegasus took one of the two locations that would make the most sense to potentially find the filly; Dash would head over to Sweet Apple Acres to check their clubhouse while Fluttershy would check with Derpy Hooves to see if the girls had been spotted around town.
Since it was still early in the morning, the timid mare hoped Derpy hadn't left for work yet and landed softly on the doorstep of the single floored house, shifting in place before tentatively knocking on the door. The shy mare fought against her nerves at being in such an open area with who knows watching and wondering why she needed the local mailmare by reminding herself that it was for Scootaloo's sake.
As she took a few calming breaths, Fluttershy heard the sounds of a filly shouting through the house, drawing her attention back to the door.
“Mom! I think somepony is at the door!” The confused reply was muffled before the sounds of hoofsteps started to become clearer as someone went to answer the door. Just as Fluttershy was starting to doubt if she got the right house, never having heard about Derpy having a daughter before, the red-brown door opened to reveal the blue-gray pegasus she was searching for.
“Oh, hello Fluttershy; was there something you needed?” Fluttershy crouched down slightly as she found her gaze drawn to the floor as she tried to phrase her question; she found instead a blue-gray unicorn with yellow mane that looked like an exact copy of the pegasus gazing back curiously.
“Oh, uhm, I didn't realize you had a daughter; congratulations...” Derpy smiled with a blush as she laid her left wing over the filly who was trying to find out who was at the door without being intrusive.
“Well, I adopted little Dinky here last October...”
“O-oh, ok... Uhm, I'm sorry to bother you while you're with your daughter but did-did you happen to know where Scootaloo is?” At the mention of the young pegasus, Derpy's face fell which spurred Dinky to hug a blue-gray leg in support while Fluttershy laid back her ears in worry.
“No, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been avoiding me lately. Is there something wrong?” Fluttershy had crouched lower at having made the other pegasus sad but straightened at the question while waving a timidly reassuring hoof.
“Oh, no, it's good news actually. Rainbow Dash and I just got back from a trial in Manehatten where it was decided that the Hudson side orphanage will close down. Rainbow has papers that would allow Scootaloo to remain in Ponyville so long as someone takes guardianship.” At news that was actually something good concerning the orange pegasus, Derpy straightened once more with a grin while Fluttershy realized that Derpy had known about Scootaloo's situation longer and may want to help, but wasn't sure if she should ask.
“Umm, would, would you want to be her, her guardian?” Derpy blinked in surprise and thought about it before sighing in resignation, knowing Scootaloo wouldn't want it.
“No... I do want to help but I don't think she wants me to be the one to check on her.” Teal eyes found the ground once more as Fluttershy thought very similarly; the mailmare glanced downwards as well and noticed the young unicorn's attempt at being nonchalant about the topic.
“Don't worry my little muffin, I'm not going to forget or leave you behind.” Dinky gave another smile and re-hugged the hoof while proudly exclaiming why she wasn't worried.
“I know because my mom is the nicest mom ever that cares about everyone!” The two older mares smiled at the simple but adorable statement before Derpy gave into her need to hug the filly; Fluttershy watched with a warm smile, touched to see that Derpy now had a family.
While she didn't want to disturb them, the cream-yellow mare could feel the urgency of finding the young pegasus before anything happened to her or the papers.
“Uhm... I'm sorry, but uh, I-I have to try and find Scootaloo... Ha-have a nice day!” Fluttershy started to back up from the doorway while Derpy stood once more as she placed her adopted-daughter on her back with a grin.
“Thanks for stopping by! I hope everything goes well, please let me know what happens.” The blue-gray mare waved a hoof as the young unicorn waved from her mother's back.
“Thanks for visiting, have a nice day!” The canary pegasus smiled at the higher pitched call and waved back before flying into the air and back to town to try and find the orange filly.
Meanwhile, a few hills over where the local apple farmers live, a rainbow blur sped through the orchard on its way to the secret not-so-secret clubhouse. She arrived with a skid on the porch in front of the doorway, shortening the trip by ignoring the stairs and busting inside with a shout.
“Scootaloo! Hey squirt, you here!?” Dash glanced around the room, finding it empty of any fillies but a list predominated the room with the majority of its contents checked off.
The rainbow maned pegasus glanced around with a frown once more before focusing on the paper once more and stepped forward to get a better look.
(Kite flying? Badminton? What kind of things are these to try and earn cutie marks for? Kind of boring, but maybe they've already worked through the cooler ones... Let's see, last one before checking off... is... scooter racing? Why would they try that one, doesn't Scoots have that scooter all the time anyways? Where would they try to do that anyways...? I guess that means I gotta go back to town...)
Rainbow rolled her eyes at having to travel back to the town but started to leave nonetheless; as she sped back through the trees, she came across the orange farm mare walking the fields, checking on the trees as they hibernated in the winter.
“AJ! Hey, AJ!” The farmer paused in her travels as she looked to the sky, watching the cyan pegasus shoot down from above and land in a rush.
“Well hey there RD, what's up?” Applejack tipped back her hat to watch curiously as Rainbow glanced around the immediate area.
“You know where the kids are? I have to find Scootaloo.” The orange mare frowned in wonder at the urgency in Dash's voice and cut right to the chase.
“Ya just missed them; they just checked in with me before headin' out for more crusadin'. What did ya need them for?” Rainbow scrunched her nose in annoyance before looking in the direction of town, already planning out her flight to search the area.
“I just have to find her before I can say whether it's good news or not. Though, you should let me know if there's any problem with Scoot, ok?” Applejack tilted her head intrigued, though before she could get another word out the speedster took off once more without looking back. The orange farmer rubbed her head in curiosity before resettling her hat and continuing her trek, putting it down to more of Rainbow Dash’s weird antics.
The three fillies were just getting back from trying to race each other through town square, heading for the clubhouse in order to put their supplies away. They walked the scooters back instead of trying to ride, the threatening eyes of the ponies that had almost been run over still burning on their backs. Even as adrenaline continued to course through their veins, the girls tried to calm down from their frantic race.
“You guys did pretty well for first time racers! We only crashed twice and the scooters aren't too messed up at all.” Scootaloo tried to encourage her two best friends with a large grin, still feeling elated by the mad race they had.
“Ah don't think we're meant tah be racers, Scoot; maybe you are, but it's not fer us.” Apple Bloom shook her head while Sweetie Belle was giving all three of them a glance over to find any injuries, though she seemed to find herself staring longer at the pegasus than others.
“You ok there, Sweetie Belle?” The young unicorn gave a small start as she glanced to find the others watched curiously and gave them a small smile.
“Oh, yes, I was just making sure no one has any injuries... Well, at least ones that need to be treated.” The other two friends gave each other a once over and concluded that only minor scrapes were gained from their little misadventure before starting to walk once more.
“What are we going to do next then?” Scootaloo looked between her two friends who were about to suggest various ideas when a blast of wind overtook them, revealing a cyan pegasus who couldn't help but strike a pose before stepping closer to the trio.
“Hey Rainbow Dash, what's up?” The other fillies rolled their eyes with small smirks at the sudden excitement of the orange filly which soon turned into pensive frowns at how the usually bold pegasus was acting slightly nervous.
“Hey squirt, glad I found you.” Scootaloo tried to contain her joy at her hero looking for her while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came closer to hear what was going on.
“Yeah, you, you remember about that orphanage? The Hudson Side Orphanage?” Three pairs of eyes shrank in fright and the trio tensed, something Dash didn't notice in her own nervousness about what she was about to ask the younger pegasus.
“Well, I went to Manehatten and found the orphanage with it's totally uncool caretaker and-” Sweetie Belle couldn't take the suspense as her eyes shrank even further while her mind supplied the rest of the sentence with the worst scenario possible.
(They're coming to take Scootaloo away! I don't want her to go! She can't go! We have to get her out of here!)
“-And they're coming for you! Scootaloo, run! We'll hold them off!” At the sharp frightened shout of the unicorn's, the young pegasus felt her barely restrained fear snap in moments and hopped onto her blue scooter, taking off further in town while weaving through the crowds.
Apple Bloom, who had also been tense at what was being said, snapped to action at Sweetie Belle's shout and tackled the cyan mare before them with the unicorn's help.
“Wha? Huh? Bu-no, wait Scoot! Guys, let me go!” Rainbow held out a pleading hoof but couldn't do much as the earth pony grabbed her hind legs while the gray-white filly jumped and tried to prevent blue wings from being able to lift their owner into the air.
“Yer not takin' Scootaloo from us!”
“Yeah! She's-she's staying with us! We won't let anyone take her!” Dash frowned at the shouts and looked at the fillies holding her back in annoyance.
“Duh! I just went and made sure that that crazy mare Hannigan can't do anything to her! I was going to tell her that but you guys just went nuts on me.” The duo paused in their struggle and shared a nervous glance, worried about having made things worse.
“Wha-what do ya mean?” The cyan mare sighed and started to try and shake the fillies off her while answering, an easier feat since she had their full attention this time.
“I meeeaan, I went and help make sure the orphanage closed down; she just needs to fill out some papers and then she could stay in Ponyville. Now I have to try and find her again, just great.” With a roll of cerise eyes, the cyan pegasus leaped into the air once more and took off in the direction she saw Scootaloo go before disappearing from sight.
The ramifications of what they may have done sunk in during the wake of wind from Rainbow's take off; Sweetie Belle especially felt guilty since all of it started with her shout and looked despairingly to the olive-yellow filly.
“What do we do? If-if something happens, it will be all my fault...” Apple Bloom rested a hoof on a gray-white shoulder and paused only for a moment to think.
“We'll go an' find Scootaloo an' tell her we got it wrong. Everything'll be fine, you'll see. Come on, we gottah get tah her before she hides so well that no one can find her.” After a shaky breath, Sweetie Belle nodded determinedly and followed the earth pony as they also ran into town.
Luckily Scootaloo had described some of her first stage hiding places to her friends; these were locations that the young pegasus used to lose her pursuers before moving on to the places that would hide her for a longer time. The two crusaders were just able to spot the orange blur zip behind the stacks of crates that held dry goods for Sugarcube Corner and picked up their pace while trying to get her attention.
“Scootaloo! W-wait up!”
“Hold up, we need tah talk with ya!” An orange head popped out and frowned in worry at the sight of the others panting as they stood in front of the brown crates.
“What are you doing here? You're going to blow my cover!” Scootaloo hissed while scanning the area for anyone chasing them.
“We-huff-got-huu-it-puff-wrong!” Sweetie Belle collapsed at the pegasus' hooves as Apple Bloom was about to go further into detail when there came a call from the sky as a much bigger pony landed by the fillies.
“Scootaloo! Wait up!” The orange filly tried to bolt but was picked up by strong blue hooves that held fast to the squirming girl.
“Whoa! Hang on kid!”
“Let me go! I'm not going back!” The other crusaders were still trying to catch their breath and couldn't help solve the confusion, watching with soft pants as Dash kept Scootaloo in the air to prevent her from getting away.
“Look, I was trying to tell you that the orphanage is closed!” Scootaloo started to slow in her attempt to flee as Rainbow continued as she took it as a good sign that the filly was listening.
“Fluttershy and I personally went and helped shut the place down!” As the older mare explained, the filly went still as she stared at her hero in awe; once Dash saw that the girl wasn't going to try and run, she set her down once more and continued, unaware that Fluttershy had seen her flying earlier and landed nearby to listen.
“That's what I was trying to say before! Sheesh.” As Dash rolled her eyes, the trio stared back with hope growing in their own eyes.
“Does that mean I can stay here?” Dash rubbed the back of her head at the question and tried to appear nonchalant about where the topic was headed.
“Well, to stay in Ponyville you have to someone watching out for you.” Seeing the guarding edge return to purple eyes and stance, Rainbow rushed on with the proposition.
“You don't have to stay with anypony or be adopted or anything unless you want to. I mean, if you want, I could be the one to watch out for you and I'll just, be cool with whatever you want or, or whatever...” Scootaloo froze in surprise at what Dash was suggesting and looked to her unsure.
“What, what do you mean?” The older pegasus flipped her ears back as she glanced around herself for inspiration, catching sight of a proud Fluttershy which helped Dash take a deep breath and try again.
“Like, if you want to, I could be the one everyone comes to when it concerns you, like in trouble or how you're doing and we could meet every so often, to make sure you're doing ok and, uh, and stuff. And you'd be able to stay in Ponyville... Un-unless you want somepony else to fill out these papers?” Rainbow Dash tried to make it seem less like she had to constantly watch for the young pegasus as she remembered how Scootaloo had reacted to Derpy worrying about her as well as giving her a chance to choose who she wanted to watch over her; something that wasn't necessary as Scootaloo was thrilled at the offer and threw herself at the older pony for a hug.
“Yes please I would-oh, uh, cough, yeah, that'd-that'd be cool.” Scoot broke out of her hug to try and remain cool in her idol's eyes, unaware that Dash had been caught by surprise and was about to return the gesture when the filly remembered to act 'cool', spurring the cyan mare to do the same; much to the bemusement of those watching who had seen the true happiness of the two pegasi before they remembered their 'image'.
“Cough, uh-hem, uhmh, right, so we're cool then?” Scoot started to rapidly nod before suddenly trying to appear 'cool' once more.
“Alright, so, uh, let's get these dumb papers out of the way and then you guys can continue to have fun.” The three bystanders watched with great pride and joy as the two pegasi went over the papers and signed with their best mouth writing.
Once it was complete, Dash folded them back up and scuffed Scootaloo's mane briefly before preparing to fly to the post office when she was suddenly surprised into the air by a large explosion of multicolored confetti with corresponding bang.
“That's so awesome! We gotta celebrate!” As they looked to the source of noise and explosion, they saw Pinkie with both fore-hooves sticking out of a back window, grinning down at them.
“Oh, well I have to go and send this off so maybe later Pinkie. See ya around squirt.” Without a moment's pause, Dash took off before she could be pulled into a potentially very embarrassing party considering the party subject; Fluttershy also tried to back away without being noticed but froze when big blue eyes landed on her with joy radiating from them.
“Oh, uhm, well, I have to go and check on my animal friends... And parties are usually... loud...” Pinkie sighed briefly before nodding to the timid mare's words while Scootaloo grew embarrassed as she realized how many saw the interaction, something that grew even further when her best friends gave her a tight hug.
The young pegasus allowed the hug for a moment but remembered how Dash would be checking on her and gently pushed her two friends off before turning to the pink party hanging from the window.
“It's ok, we don't need a party...” Apple Bloom stepped forward with a grin as she addressed the hanging baker, pushing Scootaloo aside with a gentle shoulder bump.
“But we'll take it tah go an' have ah big ol' party at the clubhouse.” Scootaloo tried to protest but Apple Bloom wouldn't hear a word against it as they started to walk to the front of the store before noticing how they didn't have a certain gray-white shadow.
They turned to find Sweetie Belle still sitting where she had been pushed to, rubbing the spot on her fur where Scootaloo had pushed from; unbeknown to either of the other fillies, the spot where Scootaloo had touched had felt warm and tingling afterwards to Sweetie Belle’s incomprehension, which is what caused her to remain in place trying to understand it.
“Hey Sweetie Belle , you coming?” The call from the orange pegasus jolted the young unicorn to her surroundings and she ran to catch up to her friends.
“Ya think we should celebrate Scoot bein' free of the orphanage, right?” Sweetie Belle perked up and nodded quickly to the proposed plan with a small grin, opting to remain silent as she pondered what happened moments ago.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and remained silent, just as happy as her friends but unwilling to show it, least they get sappy again. As they stepped inside the bakery, they found the party mare waiting eagerly with a cart full of supplies, bouncing in place excitedly.
“There's enough supplies for a totally cool sleepover and cake and cupcakes and punch and everything!” The girls smirked at the over excitement and gave their thanks before hooking up the blue scooter to the cart and heading to their clubhouse, asking permission for a sleepover along the way.
Since they had been doing so well, lately, both older sisters gave permission right away, much to the trio's great happiness. They were soon on their way to their trusty old tree house where they opened the bags they were given and it exploded with confetti and streamers (which was almost not a surprise for the trio) and with eye rolls all around, the girls pulled out the various supplies to set up. Once everything was in place, they sent a quick message to Eripio about the big news and while the green unicorn gave her congratulations, they couldn't talk for long in case someone checked on them.
After that, the girls decided to party loudly and merely have fun instead of worrying about anything, playing games, enjoying the snacks and punch provided well into the night. Each filly was slightly distracted that evening, so lost in their own thoughts that they didn’t notice that the others were as well as they tried to have fun and relax after such a tiring day.
(Rainbow Dash said that it was closed, it has to be closed... I-I signed those papers, it means they can’t come and try to force me to go back... I’m not going back, no matter what… I’m never going back to that place... Never…)
(Ah ain’t gonnah to lose mah best friend, I bet Sweetie Belle is happy ‘bout that! But Ah better make sure nothing else happens, they aren’t as tough as us earth ponies. Ah’m gonnah make sure they have the best time ever an’ that they never feel sad like Scoots did before; better get more games out tah make this the best sleepover party ever!)
(...Why? Why did I shout like that? I could have ruined everything…! At least she can stay now, she must be happy about that...I hope she is at least… Why am I blushing so much? And I keep staring! It’s rude, I should stop… Was that a frown? Why would she be sad…? Why does my chest hurt when I think about Scootaloo being sad…?)
A blur of cyan with a rainbow trail flashed over the town, heading towards the single floored gray building with blue roof. The Equestrian Postal Service prided itself on being the fastest around and employed the fastest and friendliest they could; meaning that Dash didn't have to wait for long to mail out the forms and finding with mild surprise that it was Derpy who was on duty for the delivery.
Recalling what Fluttershy had said earlier, the blue-gray postal worker couldn't help but ask how it went as she helped prepare the package.
“Hello Rainbow Dash, I heard from Fluttershy that you guys were looking into having someone to take care of Scootaloo?” Dash glanced about briefly as Derpy placed the needed stamps on envelope.
“Yeah, she's, well I'm applying to be her legal guardian; that's what I'm mailing today actually.” Derpy smiled at the news and finished the preparations with a flourish.
“In that case, this will be my happiest delivery, topped by the good news this would hopefully bring.” Dash smiled briefly before heading out while Derpy did the same with a full pack of mail.
Rainbow then went and found a cloud high about town and sat, gazing towards the ground as she thought about what this meant for her life.
(I guess this means I have to shape up a little, Scootaloo could need my help at anytime after all... But what do I know of taking care of somepony else? I mean, when I got sick (not that I'd admit it), 'Shy was the one who helped me get better... Heck, when Scoots got sick it was Fluttershy who helped her... I guess I could just get Fluttershy to help too, but that wouldn't be fair since she has to take care of all those animals too... I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on Scootaloo and hope it never comes to that. Where did she go anyways?)
The speedster glanced about herself and noticed with surprise how the sun had made its way across most of the sky.
(Jeez, when did that happen? Alright, let's see, where would the squirt be at this time?) Rainbow dived off her cloud and plummeted at an angle for Sweet Apple Acres to check the clubhouse.
In order to keep her visit a secret, Dash pulled out of the dive early and glided the rest of the way to find that the trio were indeed at the clubhouse and having a celebratory party. She watched for a while to be sure they would be ok before heading on her way to check that Fluttershy was settling after their trip; something that was a pleasant surprise for the quieter mare who then asked if Rainbow would want to stay for supper (much to the speedster’s pleasure, since she hadn’t eaten much all day).
The two friends shared a very fulfilling meal, made especially to replenish lost strength since Dash hadn’t eaten very much. Eating like that was a usual condition for the shy mare, but an interesting and new experience for the bolder since she usually ate alone and less healthily.