//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Have you seen my Mommy? // by RainbowShyBrony //------------------------------// A mare sat in a dark corner staring at a photograph she held in her hooves. Tears fell down from her face and onto the photo but her stare never wavered. "Come on Ma'am, we need you to push!" The Nurse called out. Her tears began to flow more quickly then before. "Come on Ma'am! Just give me one more hard push!" Demanded the Nurse The mare grunted. "I CAN'T!!!" Painfully replied the mare. "Yes you can, just give me one last push!" The mare gave her finally and hardest push ever. The mare had begun to whimper softly to herself. The crying of a newborn foal could be heard by all in the room. "Congratulations. It's a girl." Stated the nurse as she gave the now wrapped up newborn filly to the mare. The first time mother stared at her newborn filly. She stared at her soft orange coat. She stared and her wet purple mane. She stared into her sleeping eyes, unable to believe that this was her daughter. For nine months and eleven hours of nothing but suffering she was finally able to hold in her arms her daughter. For the first time in the mare's life... she had a daughter. This was the happiest moment of her life. She knew that no one would make her as happy as the filly she held in her arms. Then the newborn filly gave her new found mother a welcoming surprise. The newborn filly had opened her eyes and stared at her mother. "H-hi there..." The new mother was at a loss of words. All she was able to do was laugh and stare into her daughter's violet eyes and as she stared, a single word popped into her head. She smiled and said, "Hi... Scootaloo." Tears began to flow down her face. "Scootaloo. What a wonderful name." The Nurse wrote the name down on the newly written birth certificate. "And for the mother that's-" "NO!!!" The mother interrupted the Nurse before she could continue writing. "Please, don't put my name on there. I can't have anyone finding out about this." "Well, legally I need to write down the name of at least one of the biological parents. So, how's the father." Questioned the Nurse. "Please. I don't want him to find out about this or get in trouble." The mare pleaded. "He doesn't have to find out about any of this. This is just for legal documentation. He won't be notified unless you want him notified. So, I'm asking again, who's the father?" The mare bit her bottom lip before she finally answered, "Picture Perfect. His name is Picture Perfect." She looked down at her daughter and let out a few more tears. This time not of joy, but of sadness and regret. The mare continued crying and staring at the picture of a newborn Scootaloo. "I'm so sorry..." The mare covered her face with her hooves and sobbed harshly. "This is all my fault." "This place is so... so... Empty. Where is everypony?" Scootaloo asked in mild boredom of Manehattan's City Hall. "Scootaloo, don't be so rude." Look out from some files in a filing cabinet. A lot of ponies have better places to be then Manehattan's City Hall." Twilight looked down and found the files of all the ponies who's names began with the letter P. "Oh! Here we go! I almost found it Scootaloo!" "Greeeeaaaaaat." Sarcastically replied Scootaloo. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnd got it!" Twilight pulled out a single file using her magic and opened it up. "Picture Perfect. It says here that he's Twenty-five and... Wait. Twenty-five?" Twilight rubbed her chin and thought about that for a second. "Scootaloo, you're seven, right?" "Yeah." Replied Scootaloo a little confused about what is going on. "So he was sixteen. Wow, he was too young to be having children." Twilight mumbled to herself. Scootaloo became frustrated and impatiently said, "Um, hello! Mind letting me know what's going on?!" Twilight snapped out of her thought was looked at Scootaloo with a questioning look before she duh-fully replied, "Oh! Sorry. Just thinking out loud. Alright let's see. He's twenty-five. He's a Photographer. Ah! Here we are! It says he lives in Cloudsdale." "Cloudsdale?" "Yeah!" Twilight put the file away and crouched down on the ground. "Hop on! I have my own short-cut to Cloudsdale." "A short-cut? Why do you have a short-cut to Cloudsdale?" "It's for whenever I have to go or send somepony to Cloudsdale. It's usually Rainbow Dash whenever she hears about a Wonderbolts performance happening in her old hometown." "Oh, cool! Let's hurry up and go then!" Scootaloo excitedly jumped onto the princess's back. Twilight closed her eyes and fired up the magic in her horn. Within seconds both her and Scootaloo were surrounded by magic and after a few more seconds the magic faded and they were in the center of Cloudsdale. Twilight quickly used this opportunity to check the address of a nearby building as Scootaloo stared in aww at the towering cloud structures all around her. "Oh! This is perfect! Come on Scootaloo! He lives in this building!" Twilight beckoned to the young filly. Scootaloo just stared up at the building that Twilight was referring to. It was the tallest one of all the buildings she was able to see. "He lives in this one?" Twilight nodded. "He lives on the top floor." "The top floor?! ...I can't even see that high!" Complained the orange little filly. Twilight smiled as she tried to reassure her. "It'll be alright Scootaloo. A building like this should have at least one elevator." She began to make her way into the building as she teased, "You coming?" Scootaloo, now pulled out of her stupor, followed Twilight inside. When they entered the building they were greeted by the luxurious view of the main lobby. Despite being made of clouds the walls and floors were smooth, hard and solid instead of being soft, round and bouncy like Scotaloo had thought. Then again, she had never been to Cloudsdale before. Distracted by her surroundings, Scootaloo hadn't realized that she had followed Twilight to the front desk of the lobby until the reception pony behind the desk welcomed them. "Welcome to the Cloudsdale Palace Hotel! How may I assist you?" "Yes," Twilight started. "we're looking for a pony by the name of Picture Perfect." The reception pony, not recognizing who he was talking to replied, "I am terribly sorry but I am not at liberty to give away information about our guest nor our residents." "I understand but I have a few questions for him that I need answered." Twilight insistently stated. "I'm sorry," the pegasus started. "but I can't disclose of that information to any random unicorn that just... walks... in..." His voice lost confidence as he finished his statement coming to the realization that a unicorn couldn't possibly be in Clousdale let alone in front of him that very moment. Eyes wide with shock, he observed Twilight more closely. He first saw, resting on top of hear head, her horn identifying her as a unicorn. But then he noticed something pressed against her sides. It was a pair of lavender wings that matched the color of her coat neatly tucked away. In a single moment he realized who he was talking to. Not some random unicorn that can somehow walk on clouds, but the young Princess Twilight Sparkle. Within seconds he was bowing as best he could behind the desk. "Your majesty. Please forgive me for not recognizing you earlier." Twilight, still not comfortable with ponies bowing to her smiled with embarrassment. "Oh! Uh, n-not a problem. But could you please get up? I don't want to make too big of a scene then I already am." Requested Twilight as she nervously looked around in search of anyone who may have noticed. The reception pony did as he was requested of and rose back onto his hooves. "As you wish your majesty. Y-you said you needed to talk to somepony?" He asked regretting his previous refusal to give her what she had requested of him. Twilight's ears perked up at this. "Yes. I wanted to talk to Picture Perfect, please." "Yes, your majesty. Right away." Instantly after the reception pony had said that he began to search on the desk computer for the requested pony. "Here we are! Mr. Perfect!" He stated when he found said pony. "His suite is on the top floor. Suite number 5." Twilight nodded her head as she spoke, "Thank you." "Is there anything else that you might need? Perhaps a stay in the royal's hotel room? A royal massage? An eloquent dinner?" The pegasus offered listing everything that a princess might want that their hotel offered. "No thank you." Twilight kindly declined. "We only came to ask Mr. Perfect a few questions." "We?" He asked in his confusion. Twilight opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Scootaloo. "Yeah! Me and Twilight are trying to find my mom!" She spoke with a smile slapped across her face. "Twilight and I..." Twilight quietly corrected. The reception pony looked down at Scootaloo and smiled as he replied, "Well, I wish you two the best of luck in finding her." "Thank you." Said the pair before they walked over to a nearby elevator that opened as when they arrived at it. They both entered the elevator and Twilight pushed the button. Before the elevator doors closed Scootaloo grinned to herself as she spoke, "Going up!" and as if on cue the elevator doors closed and the began their ascent to the top floor. "...3...4... AH-HA! Suite number 5! Here it is!" Twilight shouted proudly. "Finally!" Scootaloo let out in a huff as she caught up to Twilight.They had been searching the halls for a good 10 minutes before they finally found the door. Who knew that a hotel could have so many suites on one floor? Twilight stopped Scootaloo before she was able to reach the door. "Now remember Scootaloo he probably doesn't recognize you or he might not even know who you are so try to stay away from saying things like dad or father. Okay?" Twilight prompted. "But isn't he my dad?" Twilight sighed and explained, "He is but he might not know that. Your mother might not have even told him about you at all. That's why I want you to stay away from calling him that. Sound good?" Scootaloo was confused by this. "But why not? If he's my dad then doesn't he have a right to know?" She argued. Twilight was slightly taken aback by this. She had not expected Scootaloo to say something like that. Twilight took a deep breath, shook her head and replied, "Some things are better off unknown Scootaloo." With that said Twilight faced the door, lifted her hoof and knocked. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. "One moment please!" Came a voice from behind the door followed by the scrambling of hooves. After a few shortly waited seconds the door was heard being unlocked. When the door opened Twilight and Scootaloo saw a pegasus stallion with a camera around his neck standing in the doorway. "Oh! Uh... Hello. May I help you?" Picture Perfect was an orange coated pegasus stallion. His mane was a dimming sky blue. Probably dimming from stress. It could have been old age but he did look pretty young to begin with. Scootaloo stared in aww at the stallion standing before them. It was her father. She didn't need anypony to tell her that. She just knew it was her father. Whether it'd be instinct or her gut she just knew. She was so astounded and dumbfounded that she nearly leaped forward wrapping her arms around him were it not for Twilight who answered the stallion. "Oh. Hello. Are you by any chance Picture Perfect?" The stallion smiled at the mention of his name. "Yup! That's me! Best photographer out of Cloudsdale! I assume you're here about some of my latest work. Rest assure that the rumors are false, I didn't actually harm any of the foals taken in that picture. I just had to get close enough to get the proof that I needed to put a stop to what those no-good, rotten ponies were doing." Twilight was taken aback by his reply. She staggered to continue speaking. "Um, actually I came here to ask you a few... personal questions about your past." Picture Perfect gave Twilight a strange look as if he were in disbelief. "You're kidding right? You don't expect me to give personal information to some random pony who just waltz up to my door just asks me for my personal information without some form of ID to proof that they're at least some kind of official?" His look of disgust only became more apparent the more he talked. "Well, actually I'm-" Twilight was rudely interrupted by another interjection by Mr. Perfect. "The answer is 'No' Ma'am. Now I suggest that you..." He took a quick look at Scootaloo. "and your daughter leave before I call the police." Twilight put on a sort of sly look when she heard the last few words come out of his mouth. "Okay. Go ahead. Call the police. I always was curious at what would happen if somepony called the local law enforcement to arrest a Princess." Twilight placed emphases on the last word to find out if he would finally notice. Picture Perfect froze in place. Did she just say... Pr-Princess?! He thought to himself before taking a better look at the pony who knocked on his door coming to the realization that, "Y...You're Princess Twilight Sparkle?!!!" Twilight turned to Scootaloo. "Do you think I should start to wear my crown more?" Scootaloo only replied with a shrug. Picture Perfect staggered to gather his words. "Pr-Princess. Please, forgive me. I-I had no idea." He moved to the side and held the door open. "Please, come in. Make yourself at home." Twilight made her way through the door while she continued to talk with Scootaloo. "You see what I told you Scootaloo? 'Princess Privileges'." Scootaloo couldn't help but let out a giggle as she followed the princess into the suite.