Depends on What?
After their little talk, Rarity left Scootaloo alone so that she could prepare dinner, but when she got to the kitchen she had the belated realization that she hadn’t ever actually cooked barley soup. She did own a few cookbooks however, mostly for ambiance, and one of them did contain a recipe for “down home barley soup”. Luckily for Rarity, it turned out that making Scootaloo’s favorite meal, or at least one of the few things Scootaloo had admitted to liking, wasn’t particularly hard. After measuring out a two-to-one ratio of barley to water and adding some spices, all that was left was to let the mixture simmer for an hour.
Dinner taken care of, Rarity turned her attention back to her work. As she stitched together a few more dresses, it began to occur to her just how much work time she had already lost to dealing with Scootaloo’s situation. She had gotten involved a mere twenty four hours ago and already she was more behind in her work then she preferred.
But Scootaloo was important, and not just because of her relationship with Sweetie Belle. She was a living breathing filly who had a rough start of life and it was impossible for Rarity not to feel sympathy for her. She couldn’t really empathize with the situation, but she could imagine what it might be like to feel as though you weren’t wanted anywhere, and that thought made her heart ache.
Before she could finish the order she was working on a shrill “ding” from her kitchen timer informed her that it was time to check on her soup. She opened the pot, gave it a quick stir and tasted it. It tasted like the other few bowls of barley soup she had in her life, which meant that she still found it bland and tasteless. After adding a final dash of salt she declared it finished and called Scootaloo down for dinner.
Scootaloo came down the stairs slowly. She looked better than she was an hour ago, her mane still a little damp from what Rarity guessed was a hot shower and her eyes no longer red, but her expression was still reading as neutral at best.
The pair sat down at the table and Rarity served them each a bowl of her culinary creation. Scootaloo looked skeptically at the bowl in front of her and poked at her soup before slowly lifting a spoon to her mouth. She took a tentative lick, her tongue briefly darting out from behind her teeth, before blowing on it and shoving the whole spoon in her mouth.
Rarity winced as she studied Scootaloo’s face, hoping for a clue as to her opinion. “Not bad, it could use more pepper,” Scootaloo said with a small shrug of her shoulders. Rarity raised an eyebrow, unsure if that was high praise or a scathing rebuke. Flustered and confused by Rarity’s reaction she amended her previous statement quickly. “I mean umm, thank you.”
Scootaloo let out a painful sounding sigh, “I don’t mean to have bad manners, I just say things without thinking, I don’t know why. The soup is great, really!” Scootaloo ate another large spoonful and tried to smile.
Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at Scootaloo’s obvious lie. “It’s okay Scootaloo; I think it is important for us to be honest with each other. For starters I don’t actually like barley soup.”
“But you said it was one of your favorites!” Scootaloo shrieked.
Rarity kept her voice level in response to Scootaloo’s escalation. “Yes, I did. You seemed upset and I thought it was important to establish some common ground, so I told you I liked barley soup in the hopes that you might feel a connection with me.”
Rarity’s frank admission left Scootaloo shocked, she had never heard an adult admitting to lying so readily before and she had certainly never heard them justify it in such an open way. Unable to respond she turned her attention back to dinner. The two continued their meal in relative silence, Scootaloo not knowing what to say and Rarity not wanting to risk setting off another tantrum.
As Scootaloo finished her soup Rarity took advantage of the lack of banter to steer the conversation down the path she wanted. “I owe you an apology, dear. It was…uncouth of me to broach the subject of my visit with Autumn today without giving you at least a moments warning.”
Scootaloo nodded cautiously, her body going completely still as she drew in a sharp breath. Only the slight twitching of her ears betrayed any emotion as she waited for the next part of Rarity’s sentence. “But we do need to talk about your living situation,” Rarity finished, as gently as she could, and waited for Scootaloo to indicate that she was ready to talk.
Scootaloo’s face grew red and Rarity mentally prepared herself for a verbal onslaught again, but Scootaloo didn’t say anything. She just sat there, her expression growing increasingly despondent. From Rarity’s perspective it appeared as though Scootaloo was arguing with herself, Rarity couldn’t imagine exactly what the content of Scootaloo’s debate might be but she fervently hoped that she had an advocate somewhere in there. Eventually Scootaloo spoke again, “Fine. What do we need to talk about?” she said sadly.
“Well, for starters he’s agreed to let you stay here until we can find a home for you in Ponyville.” Rarity’s summation wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough.
Scootaloo smiled, though her eyes betrayed her true emotions. “Great. What else do we need talk about?”
“This is all rather new to me, perhaps you can tell me a little bit about the process?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “It depends.”
Rarity suppressed her growing frustration. At some point Scootaloo would have to be more expressive, but for now she hadn’t shut down, so Rarity pressed onward. “Depends on what?”
“Well, sometimes when there’s a family that might want to adopt me, Autumn takes me to the Foal Services office and introduces us. There’s a room with some games and some coloring books and stuff and we just kinda hang out for an hour or so.” Scootaloo spoke softly, her eyes darting around the room, never settling on the same spot for more than a few seconds.
“Hang out?”
“Yeah, no one really talks about adoption. Autumn says it’s just so they can get to know me and I can get to know them.”
“I see.”
“Then later, I guess if they like me, we spend another afternoon together, this time at like a park or something. After that visit Autumn asks how’d I feel about living with them. I usually say it’d be fine, it’s not like I have ponies lining up to take me in.”
Rarity placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “And how do you feel about all that?”
The gesture stirred something within the little filly. For the first time Scootaloo looked directly at the mare talking to her. “I don’t really like it. I always feel like they're always judging me, like if I do something wrong they won’t want me. I shouldn’t have to audition to be part of a family!” Scootaloo said, her voice growing louder. She took a deep breath and shook her head, when she finished she seemed calmer, though sad again. “It’d be different if I could fly,” Scootaloo said wistfully.
Unsure of exactly what Scootaloo could mean, Rarity asked for some clarification. “Why do you say that, dear?”
“If I could fly Rainbow Dash would adopt me,” Scootaloo replied without a trace of sarcasm.
The statement was delivered so sincerely, as though Scootaloo was reporting that the sky was blue, that it took all of Rarity’s self control to pretend to agree with her, lest she radically alter Scootaloo’s world view for the worst. “I see. Have you talked to her about this?”
“Well no,” Scootaloo admitted. “But that has to be the reason she hasn’t, isn’t it? I mean, she lives in a cloud house, it’d be unfair of me to expect her to move, but if I could fly then I could live in the cloud house with her. She already said we were sisters.”
Rarity was again unsure how to respond, but she did make a mental note to have a very serious talk with her friend later. “You said sometimes dear, what happens the other times?” she asked, grateful for the chance to change topics.
“Oh, sometimes Autumn just tells me that I’m going to move. That’s how I ended up at Mrs. Hoofington’s, and what happened with the family in Baltimare. I don’t really know why some families meet with me first and some don’t.”
Rarity wanted to ask more questions, but decided to err against turning this into some sort of interrogation. Scootaloo was being as open and honest as she had ever seen, she didn’t want to risk shutting that down, lest she lose any progress she had made. “Well, you’re living here now, and if we are going to find you a home in Ponyville, you should have a say in where you live.”
Scootaloo shrugged again, “It won’t make a difference anyway.”
Rarity was about to interject when she remembered the promise she had made barely an hour ago. It seemed for the time being Scootaloo was entitled to her fatalistic worldview. Before she could say anything, Scootaloo spoke up.
“I still shouldn’t have to help out in your dress shop and-”
Rarity held up a hoof, “We can talk about all that later. Can you trust me enough to believe me when I tell you that I’ll try and make your stay here-?” Enjoyable? That wasn’t the right word; Scootaloo wasn’t here for some kind of sleepover. Agreeable? That seemed too formal. Rarity finally settled on “comfortable,” deciding that it struck an appropriate balance.
Scootaloo looked down at the remnants of her soup and mentally reviewed everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. Rarity had been nicer to her than she thought she deserved, and other than lying about the barley soup, hadn’t given any indication that she had some sort of ulterior motives for any of her actions. “Okay,” she said quietly. Another pause later, “If there’s nothing else I think I’ll go hang out in Sweetie’s room for a while,” she said a little louder.
Scootaloo pushed herself away from the table and went upstairs, leaving Rarity alone with some dishes and a still unfinished dress order.
The order wasn’t complicated, but it was large. Rarity had agreed to design and sew the gowns for the touring production of How to Grow a Tulip. The old world, rustic setting of the play meant that all of the dresses were spartan and unadorned, but the cast numbered in the low twenties and a little more than half of them were females. That meant Rarity had to design and sew fourteen dresses, and even though most of the dresses where only four pieces of cloth sewn together, with only a ribbon cinched around the middle, the entire order was extremely time consuming. By the time Rarity sealed up the last box she was so tired she could barely carry herself up the stairs to reach her own bed. But when she reached the top she heard a faint whimpering coming from Scootaloo’s room.
She opened the door to find Scootaloo wide awake, sitting upright in her bed, her mane damp with sweat. “It’s late, you should be asleep,” Rarity said.
“So should you,” Scootaloo shot back.
“Believe me dear, I would like nothing else; but since I’m here, is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. I just have trouble falling asleep sometimes.”
It didn’t take a pony of with Rarity’s pony-reading skills to see that Scootaloo both was anything but fine. Her breathing was noticeably shallow and though it was hard to see clearly in the moonlit room Rarity would swear that she looked pale. Remembering her earlier promise Rarity didn’t press for answers. Instead she simply walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on her haunches, “Sweetie Belle has trouble getting to sleep sometimes. Would you like me to do what I do for her?” she asked gently.
Scootaloo cocked her head and nodded, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Rarity lit up her horn and a faint blue glow began to envelop Scootaloo; she instinctively started to struggle but quickly realized that the tingling warmth she felt was not dangerous, rather it felt like she was being gently swathed in a soft blanket.
Rarity took notice of Scootaloo’s bewilderment and offered a brief explanation. “It’s a modification of the spell I use to get wrinkles out of delicate silk.”
“You’re ironing me?!”
“Not really, no. I can stop, if you’d prefer?
Scootaloo shook her head, too busy enjoying the sensation to protest further. Beyond feeling physically pleasurable, her skin enjoying the dual sensations of both softness and warmness, it was hard for Scootaloo to ignore the fact that there was another pony doing something to make her feel better. And while most of Scootaloo’s thoughts screamed that none of this was real, Rarity was just wanted to put Scootaloo to sleep so she could enjoy her own rest; there was small dissenting opinion that dared to suggest that perhaps Rarity did care about her beyond just Sweetie’s feelings.
Scootaloo shut her eyes, and for a brief moment imagined that this is what it must be like to have somepony actually love you. Her imagination took her back to some very vague memories from before she was abandoned for the second time. Her mother would swaddle her in a blanket and gently rock her back and forth. It all happened when she was too young to remember, but she did have a faint notion of that feeling of being safe and loved, it felt a little like this.
As Scootaloo fought between the reality she wanted and the reality she knew existed, Rarity began to sing in a low timbre, much less shrill than her usual speaking voice.
I know a little filly
I see her every day
And though it may sound silly
She keeps the night away
Cause when she cries
it’s not some ornamental sigh
and when she breathes
it brings the world to its knees
But when she smiles
It’s when she smiles
Now she’s the light I long for
She’s the light I see
Long as the moon rises
I’ll have dreams of Scootaloo
“That doesn’t rhyme,” Scootaloo said, letting out a yawn and snuggling more firmly under the covers, the combination of Rarity’s spell and the gentle lullaby alleviating some of her previous stress.
“Well, when mother sang it, the line was dreams of Rarity,” Rarity replied, stroking Scootaloo’s mane gently.
Scootaloo instinctively leaned into Rarity's hoof and shut her eyes, finally giving into her exhaustion, and maybe a little bit of her fantasy.
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I thought rarity's magic was blue.
Time for a chat with Rainbow Dash.
Is it supposed to be a translation of this?
Favorited and impressed. Really look forward to seeing where this goes.
My favorite Scootadopt story is Taste of the Good LIfe. Curious to see if you can top it.
Princess bride?
5529806 Unless she's still under the influence of the Inspiration Manifestation spellbook.
5529806
fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/145/d/6/rarity_changeling_by_internationaltck-d514ire.png
it makes total sense
she wants scootaloo to love her
You're Ironing me?!
Best line I've read in a while. Nice chapter.
5527762 7
"Virtures and Sins doesn't really work out. Since Twilight is anything but Envious, and has 0 Temperance (Temperance being moderation and self-restraint. Yeah, that is not her by a long shot, in any way shape or form.)."
Interesting point of view. In the season 4 finale Twilight does desire the sense of purpose that the other princesses have. Same in winter wrap on in wanting to fit in. She is not controlled by her vice by any means but I don't think its not applicable. Also prudence to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time. Proper moderation between self-interest, versus public-interest, and against the rights and needs of others I think fits here well. Where do you disagree?
As for Sloth for Rainbow Dash. She's anything but. if you think about the fact that she works out and trains constantly for her stunt flying, ontop of being the Captain of the Weather Team, and does weather work rather than just treat it as an administrative duty.
Than all that sleeping she does is well deserved. Since she is in fact doing many hours of intense work. Added onto Pegasi metabolism. Rather what her problem is, is that she has a Loyalty Switch, and from S1 - early 3. Was a total B, and even her tropes page has her as a jerk455, taking levels in jerk (until late s3, early s4 rolled around. She's really grown up lately). She's hot headed, egocentric, and as prideful if not more than AJ (Best Flyer in Equestria).
Going to disagree here. Rainbow dash does work out and indeed put alot of effort into it. However she also tend to procrastinate on everything else. This is seen even in Season four where she waits till the last minute to study for the the test. Sure she has a good bit of pride to but unlike AJ she doesn't let it blind her as much.
"Fluttershy isn't Wrathful, alt least not more than any ordinary being. Definitely not enough to be considered her "sin". Since she's rarely wrathful. No her biggest problem is fear, and repression. It's caused her body to freeze up, and sever psychological harm throughout the show."
Disagree take a look at her in the Grand Galloping Gala and after Iron will's seminar. Again wrath does not define her any more the the sins of the others define them however it is there.
But even then. You can't call RAres in the show Charitable. Not in the least. And as I aforementioned, I'm not purposefully ignoring her actions. But almost nothing (but like 3 things ever) she's done in the show can be construed as Generosity. If her Element was "Inspiration", than yes. 1000%.
But every action she's taken has either been to benifit herself, because of her guilt of her actions. Or the second things went slightly wrong / against her idea of fabulosity, reacted in an overly extreme manner ([planning self-imposed exile because of her ugly dresses her friends wanted (followed by locking herself in her room / severe depression), emotional blackmailing of her firends. wishing to sabotague Flutters).
Yet it's the fics that bring out what Generosity she could have if hte show wasn't stuck on making her the most manipulative, self-centered, and self-serving of the lot.
This part I probably disagree with the most. Being Generous or Charitable does not mean you can't help yourself as well. Take the dresses she made for everyone in season one. Yes it can be said that having her dress at the gala and the fashion show would help her business. However look at what she did as soon as her friends said they didn't like them. She changed them to make them happy not to promote herself. This gives definite proof of where her focus was and that was doing something nice for her friends.
But yes. Every pony while not Sins and Virtues, and nopony's perfect. They have their lists strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, most of those strengths / acts of personal character are quickly forgotten under the muck the show piles on certain individuals (Pinkie's insane; Rarity's manipulative, and has no memorale Generous moments that weren't born from her own wnats / needs; Applejack's stubborn and prideful; Wonderbolts are inefficient ponies and total sellouts; Flutters is scared of everything. Even her own shadow.). Or people confuse canon, with fanon. Since it's mostly fanon that makes many characters likeable / adds layers of growth / character / developement that gets ignored by the show. Not to say there aren't moments just not very memorable ones.
I can agree that at times fanon can be better. (Sometimes is can be much much worse) I do think you are being to harsh on canon though.
5529902 Plot Twist! (But no Rarity is not a changeling in this story)
5529853 A Taste of the Good Life is a classic, I doubt I can top it, it fizzles out a bit at the end though.
5529864 Nope
5529817 Nope
Typo
___1
leaving Rarity alone with alone with some dishes
Keep up the great story please.
I am not certain shrill is an appropriate description of Rarity's voice. I find it to be quite lovely.
you think you so big, well i will tell you what! it from...moon song.... shut my mom always called it the moon song, and typing it in to google help a lot now does!
Think Rarity's starting to fall into the same trap I did when I joined the local cat care program: letting yourself get too involved and connected to your charge to give them up when the time for them to be properly adopted inevitably comes.
That said, she otherwise is doing a masterful job of maintaining that delicate balance between being caring and authoritative.
5530653 I don't know what the moon song it...but your answer is still incorrect.
5530888 well damn, TIME TO PLAY SKYRIM!
It's a good life? (The one where the guy wishes he was ever born)
5530969 I think you're referring to the oft played Christmas classic, its a wonderful life. And no. The last verse is a reference so obscure I doubt anyone will recognize it.
are you going to make Rarity scootaloo adopt mother?
5531049 thanks haven't seen it In a while I remember "I'll lasso the moon for ya." So I guessed that.
Wonderful chapter
Rarty's magical glow / aura is blue.
________________
D'awww! The Ironing of Love. The mightiest of spells to vanquish a fillies distress at nighttime.
I was just thinking it this story two days ago!
Hoping that you were continuing it.
And you are doing a great job!
Rarity and Scootaloo are working through this very unusual situation in character, and the story doesn't seem forced. It's flowing well and while there are a few nitpicking technical errors (grammar, spellz) I can't find anything wrong with your story.
Roll credits!
...
Favorite folder! Now!!
5529912 Thanks. One of my pet peeves in Scootadopts is the cliche of the orphanage matron/foster parent/social worker being a cruel and heartless bastard. It's unnecessary and out of place in Equestria so I try to avoid it.
first thing came to mind
Oh yes scootaloo I'm ironing you out. You gonna learn some respect today.
No idea where it came from, but if you changed the line "She's the light I see" to "She's the light I view" it ryhmes.
5529806 Maybe it's the spell colorization. Like, each spell has a different color with it.
Just caught up with the last chapter and I want to commend you on such a good story. Granted, I don't usually read these types of stories, but occasionally I give them a try. As it turned out, in this case, I struck gold.
I have read a few Scootaloo adoption stories and while I do not want to make them look bad, yours stands out quite a bit. Not only because of whom you have picked as Scootaloo's adoptive parent (which to me as a huge Rarity fan is a big plus), but also how realistic everything is handled. It's not just sunshine, butterflies and diabetes inducing cuteness all around. There's quite a bit of psychological problems involved on Scootaloo's part and uncertainty on Rarity's part. Obviously, there's still plenty of stuff for them to take care of.
What I really love about "your" Rarity is how she treats Scootaloo. In a lot of ways, she treats her as a grownup. She's honest and direct, yet at the same time helpful. Considering how every other family has been treating Scootaloo, I am certain that this will benefit her. Granted, I doubt they will ever see each other as true mother and daughter, I think they're both too aware of how things work. But a child and her guardian, who happen to be very close, yeah, I can see that.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
5529806 that's exactly what i was going to say.
Anyway, author, this is going good so far. glad scoots has opened up a little and look forward to seeing where you go from here/
Has this story been featured yet?
It should be.
This is one of those stories in my favourites list that I keep checking for updates!
5555898 thanks, its been featured and you know fimfic will alert you when there's anewchapter if you want, right?
Urgh, I know where the verse of that song comes from, when I read it sounded SO familiar but it's JUST out of my reach, if you know what I mean. I wish I could think of it!
5570014 I hate that feeling, and its an innocous enough lyric that I'm sure something like ithas appeared in a song somewhere,but my reference is not a song
Love the interesting scootaloo orphan story. Keep up the good work
If i am not mistaken Sweetie Belle's color of magic is green. Rarity has blue. The color of unicorn magic mostly corespond to color of their eyes.
"Don't be silly, Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash isn't avoiding adopting you because you can't fly. She's not adopting you because she is utterly incompetent!"Is it, When She Smiles by Andrew Rannells?
5586320
5550233
5531976 Okay I fixed it. I had a reason for making it green but I can't remember what it was.
5588730 Nice, that's the second verse, the third "She's the light I long for..." verse is the super obscure reference.
5586548 Bwahaha
Oh my. the feels that are emanating from this fic are addicting, i crave more
5570858
perhaps a poem? I don't know, I just think I've heard it somewhere before
Very well crafted story. I haven't read many Scootadopt fics that didn't rush things, not for a long while.
Gonna assume some of ur verses are from story of a girl by nine days
Shrill? As a music major, I take offense to that. Granted, I'm not a VOCAL major, but I would not call Rarity's singing voice shrill at all. Shrill would mean that her timbre is off, or her pitch not quite there. It's late, so I can't really think of any better words at the moment, but still!
Also, it's very interesting to see this take on a Scootadoption fic. I don't typically read them, since they're all similar, but I'm giving this one a go because it's Rarity. Not really disappointed thus far, so keep up the great work!
Oh, Scoots. It isn't that RD won't adopt you because you can't fly, its because she doesnt know you are officially an ORPHAN!
5529810 I'll get the baseball bat!
5529902 genius!!
Eh, seems to me Rarity is breaking through Scootaloo's shell just a little bit too quick. It's only been a day and change since she picked Scootaloo up. I suppose she's being very considering of her actions though, and that helps a lot (by now, Twilight would have gone through her third neurosis episode
)
Awwww this is so beautiful i feel like everything is going to be ok