Feather Drift
Scootaloo’s dance recital was next Friday, and in between school, dance practice and her now weekly visits to Dr. Sunshine, Scootaloo didn’t really have time to dwell on the ticking clock counting down the days til either Rarity inevitably kicked her out or she became officially adopted.
Somewhat to Scootaloo’s surprise, Rainbow had followed up her declaration and made a concerted effort insert herself into Scootaloo’s life, even if said life was a little busier than usual. First, her big sister-ish took her out for ice cream. That was pretty okay— after all, everypony likes ice cream.
And then the next week Rainbow had taken her flying, which again was fun. Perched on Rainbow’s back, the wind coursing through her mane, her wings spread wide; with her eyes closed, it was easy to imagine that she was the one soaring through the air. But both of those experiences were strangely unfulfilling. Scootaloo wasn’t sure why, but both times she felt slightly more hollow afterward then she did before.
However, right now, none of that mattered. It was a Friday night, there was no homework to be done, and she didn’t have to wake up until noon tomorrow. After a late afternoon of crusading, she quickly hurried upstairs to drop her stuff off and have a quick shower. Freshly scrubbed, a light hunger began to gnaw at her, which meant a trip to the kitchen was in order.
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she found Rarity wearing a sequined blue evening gown, levitating different pairs of earrings up to her ears.
.
“Why are you all dressed up?”
“I have a date tonight,” Rarity said proudly.
“With a colt?” Scootaloo scrunched her snout. “Yuck”
Rarity could only laugh. “Just wait til you're older.”
“Whatever.” Scootaloo shrugged. Not being of any use in answering questions of the “How do I look?” variety, she scurried into the kitchen intent on finding a snack to fuel her night of dance practice and horror movies.
Rarity spent the next five minutes fussing over her mane in the mirror before the doorbell rang. After giving herself one last check in the mirror, Rarity trotted over to answer the bell. She tugged the door open with an air every bit as tantalizing as her ensemble. On the other side of the door stood a yellow-coated, green-maned stallion, wearing a black satin bowtie.
Primping her mane, Rarity drew his attention to her most fabulous features. “Well, don’t you look quite dashing,” she said by way of a greeting.
“And may I say, you look lovely,” the stallion, Feather Drift, replied with the faintest hint of a cocksure smirk.
“I would be hurt if you didn’t,” Rarity answered, not missing a beat. “So, tell me, where will we be dining this evening?”
Feather Drift rested a hoof on the doorframe, leaning in. “I made reservations at Olive’s Garden. They’re not easy to get, but you’re worth it.” The smirk he continued to sport was more than a little off-putting but Rarity let it slide.
Before Rarity could suggest they begin their evening, Scootaloo came sprinting out of the kitchen. “Bye, Rarity,” Scootaloo called out with a wave as she scampered up the stairs.
Rarity waved back and turned her attention back to her date. “Who was that?” he asked. His tone less friendly than Rarity would have preferred.
“Oh, she’s my daughter. Her name is Scootaloo and I’d have invited her, but I thought a nice candlelight dinner for two would be more romantic,” Rarity said, fluttering her fastidiously mascaraed eyelashes.
Feather Drift stepped back to a more comfortable distance. “I, uh, I didn’t know you had a daughter” he stammered, his confident attitude and smirk long-since gone.
“Yes, well, I’m sure there are lots of things you don’t know about me. That’s why we’re going to dinner is it not?” Rarity said, with what she hoped was an inviting smile.
“Oh. You know what, I just remembered that I have to, well there’s this thing with my buddy and I really just forgot about it and he’d be hurt if I didn’t show up and yeah....” Feather Drift’s voice trailed off as he furtively looked around for the quickest path away from the Boutique.
Though Rarity was practiced at hiding her emotions, even she couldn’t conceal the sting of rejection. Though Feather Drift’s chances of a second date had been dwindling by the second ever since he opened the door, Rarity still felt her chest tighten. “Oh, I see. Perhaps we could try this again some other time?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty busy over the next month actually, but well, I’ll write you a letter when I’m available.”
“Sure,” Rarity said half-heartedly. Closing the door, Rarity banished the stain that was Feather Dust from her eye, though the action did little to assuage her wounded pride.
Hearing the door close Scootaloo came bounding down the stairs only to find Rarity staring crestfallen at the now-empty foyer.
“You’re still here?”
“It would appear that I am,” Rarity said with a forlorn sigh.
“Why?”
“Would that I knew the answer to that, dear.” Rarity sighed again, ruminating on why there seemed to be no good stallions in Equestria. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d prefer to be alone right now.” Rarity took one last look at the now closed door and began to trudge over to her parlor room and its mini-freezer full of ice cream that was soon to be in dire need of restocking.
Scootaloo shrugged. She was too young to understand the pain of heartbreak, but she did know what a sad pony looked like—she knew the one in the mirror well.
Then, somewhat to her surprise, she got angry as she processed the chain of events as she knew them. Rarity was planning on going on a date, she was talking with some guy who probably was her date, now he was gone and Rarity was sad, which meant that he probably made her sad. That wasn’t fair. Some random jerk shouldn’t get to make her...Rarity...upset.
Scootaloo trotted over and gently hugged Rarity’s forelegs. “I’m sorry,”
Rarity smiled before lighting up in earnest. As Scootaloo pulled back, Rarity raised a hoof and ran it through Scootaloo’s ever-messy mane. “Scootaloo? Would you like to go to dinner?”
Her brow furrowing, Scootaloo tilted her head just a bit. “Huh?”
“I believe there is a reservation at Olive’s Garden, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.”
“I don’t really like Itallineighn food.”
“They have things other than spaghetti, dear.”
Scootaloo considered the offer. She was looking forward to practicing her routine and then watching Nightmare Night 1 and 2, but Rarity’s offer was so tinged with hope that it felt cruel to say no. She remembered what Rarity had said about families not being perfect. Sometimes they fight and maybe sometimes they did things they didn’t really want to do.
“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a shrug.
Rarity’s smile brightened. “Splendid! Though you will have to put on a dress, I’m afraid.”
Scootaloo wrinkled her snout in disgust. “Ugh, really?” she groaned.
The childish antic elicited a quick laugh. “Yes really. Come, I’m sure there must be something in your closet.”
After a brief deliberation, Scootaloo selected a yellow sundress that she generally didn’t hate. Looking at the pair of them in the mirror, Rarity was struck by the marked difference between their body language.
Rarity didn’t so much wear her dress as much as she allowed it to hang off of her body. Half of fashion was confidence and Rarity’s gait led to the conclusion that the dress she was wearing should be so fortunate to be her ensemble for the evening.
In contrast, Scootaloo retreated into her dress, using it as a shield between her and the rest of the world. The way she slumped her shoulders and stared at the ground practically screamed: “Isn’t my dress nice? Pay no attention to the pony who's wearing it.”
Rarity gingerly pushed Scootaloo’s shoulders down and lifted her chin up. “The key to fashion is confidence,” she began with her mini-lecture. “No matter how you’re actually feeling, you should act as though you are the most glamorous mare in the room.”
“But what if I don’t feel like that?” Scootaloo said, tilting her neck and trying out her new stance.
“Ah, but they,” Rarity gestured to an imaginary audience, “don’t know that. That, my dear, is the key to confidence.”
Scootaloo studied her reflection in the mirror and for the first time since she could remember she didn’t feel so bad about the reflection staring back at her. She offered mirror Scootaloo a smile.
“Well, let’s go then. We wouldn’t want them to give our reservation away.”
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Always happy to see this one update.
Also... 1000 upvotes, 20 downvotes. Nice, round numbers.
If I were to make a suggestion, I think "Neightalian" would be a better horse-pun interpretation.
Good to see you back, and another excellent chapter.
7340913 yeah that is better
7340904 yeah it's a lot of work maintaining 789 alts, but it's worth it.
Nice chapter, good to see you back in the saddle.
Nice to see this story having an update! I hope Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash can repair their relationship because it was sad that it feels like they are drifting apart and that just makes it sad.
Glad to see you're back, and I think this was a good chapter. I feel sorry for Rarity, her date should've at least given her a chance even if he wasn't interested in being a father.
I can't help but question something. Is it spaghetti in general that Scootaloo doesn't like, or specifically in how it's prepared and served?
It's okay that it's a stupid name. After all, it belongs to a stupid pony
Eeeeee~! I missed this!
I always love when this updates. Nice little chapter.
That guy was a jerk. Rarity and scoots are better off without him.
7341001
They have it at all the orphanages , Foster homes and other cheesey adoption agencies! bluck!
yup I knew it was doomed from the start.
7341013 here-here! Lets send Discord after him.
7341034 Great story, been a while since I read it, Any similarities are purely a coincidence.
Okay, who the heck is Raylan?
7341001 Here's my headcanon about Scoots and Spaghetti.
She's not a fan in general, that's compounded by a negative association that gets reinforced every time she's fed it because it reminds her she's in a place where she feels her opinion doesn't matter.
7341160 yes and probably
7341172 seriously?
I hope that when Feather Drift gets home his mother runs out from under the porch and bites him.
I keep forgetting that this story isn't over yet...
I really enjoy this story, I hope to see the end soon or see Raylan? The future stallion for Rarity.
7341211 Raylan has actually already made a brief appearance.
Your update was one of the more anticipated things for this evening... just behind Game of Thrones and Overwatch. Happy that you are back!
7341223 Wait he did? I might have to go back than to find him...
7341262 I also love GOT and Overwatch!
7341263 You have to look carefully
Anyone know a good vet? Feather drift is about to become a gelding that's been beaten to a bloody pulp.
thank you Scootaloo, somehow he made a bad impression from the start already.
That or it was because of the translation I used.
Poor fanfic-Rarity. Millions upon millions of lousy dates.
7341190 I'm not trolling or trying to be funny, but it didn't occur to me that someone was writing this fic. I thought someone else wrote it and I'm sorry for that.
7341355 I didn't think you were trolling
The story is back!!!! YAY
Happy to see you back. I'm sure Rares and Scoots will find the perfect pony.
Also, I think a certain Mr. Feather Drift needs a visit from a Super Saiyan.
7341277
You're self-inserting yourself and making yourself the future stallion for rarity? Seriously?
Well i'll be interested to see how you pull that off. I mean, you're a great author and I have confidence you'll do it.
If that was a joke and I completely misintepreted it... welp, you could totally do it XD
Wow, you return and immediately deliver a negative chapter. Why couldn't you give us something a bit nicer?
Anyway, I was waiting for such a chapter, well, not exactly waiting, but I was expecting the issue of this chapter to crop up eventually. Now that Rarity has adopted Scootaloo, she is pretty much a single mom. And I think everyone knows how difficult it is for single moms to find someone special. After all no one wants to start a relationship when there's a kid involved in the equation.
Granted, it does show you what kind of a person the guy is and Feather Drift did just that. While I do not doubt that a lot of insults will be thrown his way, I don't think it's entirely fair to blame guys like him.
Rarity is young, my guess is that she's in her early to mid twenties. I also assume she would date guys that were roughly at the same age she is. If that's so, how many guys are willing to have a kid at that time of their lives? He might be a decent guy and, after a few years, a wonderful father and a loving husband, but at that exact point in his life, a guy like him might not be ready to have a kid.
What I'm trying to say is, while I'm not trying to justify his actions, I do, to a degree understand him.
Wow, that sucks for Rarity. At least they get some nice bonding time.
I eagerly await the Raylan/Rarity kissy-kissy.
Olive's Garden?
The stallion needs to up his game and get reservations to Cheesecake's Factory.
7341343
All because they're not with Applejack.
Shut up damn you I love my ship.
7341909
Yus!
Thank goodness for a chapter even if it was short. Love this story looking forward to more.
Rarity being motherly, awwwww.
7341187
That would make sense. I just didn't know if she didn't like it being served plain because it was quick and easy, which suggests there's a lack of investment in the relationship, or if the dislike crossed over into whatever sauce or preparation went into it that would make it more presentable.
7341879
What kind of pony would eat at a factory?! They need to go to Golden's Corral.
7342161 that sounds more like a brothel
Thank you for the update!
A short chapter, but not out of place and rather good!
7342167
O_o I was imagining an ACTUAL corral, because pony puns... like, an outdoor venue. As far as I know the only pony brothel is the "secret" one that Cherry Jubilee runs out of Cherry Hill Ranch.
Another Chapter, sweet!
Also, Feath Drift is a douche.
Very glad to see you back at this.
This story is with ease in my top 5 favorite stories on FIMfiction, and will with no challenge make it into my 'best stories' folder once it is concluded.