Adoption: Spot

by Bluetree650

A Choice To Be Made

Chapter three: A Choice to be Made

Three days had passed since Mom got me a cloud bed. It’s so soft, so warm, yet I only use it when she’s around. I have terrible nightmares when I sleep on it alone.

I told Mom that I didn’t want the whole room to be plastered with clouds anymore. It’s fine as it is, and Mom agreed to stop fighting with Rainbow Dash in return!

“Mom,” I said, “what does allure mean?”

True to her word, Mom kept my life simple. No experiments I couldn’t handle, she set my head on fire again though, but most importantly, no jumping off cliffs.

Right now, Mom and I are resting on my cloud bed. I have my left side pressed against hers, and I’m using her chest as a pillow. My godmother’s book is open in front of me, Cloudy Melody is watching me, and everything just feels right.

“It means to attract, Spot,” Twilight said. She looked up from her own book, probably a complex book on magic or something, and looked at me with her purple eyes. I’m starting to really like those eyes, “for example, The leader had such an allure that he gained many followers.”

“Oh, then can I say, um,” I had to think for a second, “Rainbow Dash, she allures me?”

Twilight visibly tensed. “In essence, yes, but I think you can go into a bit more detail?”

I liked it when she made me think, “um, the strong friendship you and Rainbow have allures me to your side?”

Twilight looked away from her book. “If you’ve got something to say, then say it Spot.”

“I, uh,” I felt my cheeks heating up and looked away, “It’s just that you haven’t hung around Rainbow for a while. I don’t want you two to stop being friends because of me”

“Is that all,” Twilight put an arm around my back, pulling me closer, “Rainbow and I were connected by the Elements of Harmony at one time, and our friendship has lasted well over a decade now. You of all ponies could never break us up like that.” She leaned in close, “We’ll get through this, Spot. Try not to worry yourself over it.”

I smiled, relief making me dizzy for a moment. “Okay, Mom!”

If only she’d kept to her word.

---

---

Chrysanthemum was Spot’s best friend. He was very protective of her– from getting in between her and any kind of bully, even the bigger ones, to being the pony she runs to instead of her adoptive mother. He cares for her just as much, if not more then Twilight cares for him.

She was over just about everyday, eating Twilight’s food and making so much noise that Twilight had to cast a sound proof spell around both his bedroom. Although there were times when Twilight wondered just what went on between the two. She understood Spot more than ever since he started talking to her, but she could never truly figure out the connection they shared.

They were complete opposites.

Spot was calm and liked taking things slow, often refusing to do things he didn’t understand while Chrysanthemum was gung ho about life. She lived by the rule, you only live once, and often jumped off things that shouldn’t be jumped off.

Yet, as Spot hugged Chrysanthemum tightly and said until we meet again, she could see his mile wide smile.

“Hey, Spot,” Twilight said after the colt closed the door.

Spot walked down the hallway that lead to the kitchen.

The shiny crystal kitchen had three industrial ovens, enough to cook for a summer sun celebration in Fillydelphia (there’s a reason Pinkie kept using it for her parties) and more than ample seating. Twilight, Spot and Spike tended to use the small gathering room found on the third floor of the castle for meals. It just felt so empty in the kitchen with only three ponies.

“I did the dishes, took out the trash, cleaned and swept the floor of my bedroom. Did I miss something?” Spot said.

“No, and I’ll get you your allowance tomorrow,” Twilight started moving to one of the many long tables in the kitchen dining room, “I just need to ask you a few questions.” She could see Spot tense up, and knew he knew what kind of questions she’d be asking.

Very personal ones.

Most of the time they'd been about his life before 'the event', as they called it, but this was going to be different.

“Alright, Mom.”

The two sat next to each other at the end of one of the long birch tables. Spot sat with his back turned to a window, warm light soothing him, while Twilight sat in front of him.

“All I want to know is how you got to the Ponyville orphanage. What happened after your nightmare?” Twilight rested a hoof on Spot’s shoulder.

The room was silent as Spot digested Twilight’s words. Nothing was said until he took the hoof in his grasp, but didn’t push it off. “I panicked. What was a six year old to do? I knew she was gone, that I lost the one pony I truly trusted in this world. I lost my mind!”

Twilight could see the strain in his eyes. She could feel him squeeze her hoof, and knew he didn’t want to go into any more detail.

But she had to know.

“You were at the bottom of Ghastly Gorge, how did you end up in the orphanage I picked you up from?” She kept her words soft, yet firm enough for him to get the point.

“I flew!! I used my wings to fly out of the gorge!”

“Is that it? Nothing in between?” Twilight put a second hoof on his other shoulder, and almost immediately he took it in his own. “The event happened at night, and I remember Cheery tell me that you arrived in the morning, around noon. What happened in between? Where did you sleep?”

“I went into town screaming. Bonbon came out of her house and helped me as best she could.” Spot was yelling, and Twilight was getting an understanding on how stallions feel when their hooves were crushed by their wives in labor.

“But if you were screaming, then why was Bonbon the only one that reacted?”

“Back off!”

Twilight could see rage in her son’s eyes, and briefly worried about being attacked, “I don’t know why Bonbon was the only one that came out! Why do you like books so much? Why do ponies kill themselves? Why is death a reality? Some questions don’t have bucking ANSWERS!!” Spot got out of his chair. He looked at Twilight with rage, then kicked the chair to the ground. “There’s no reason for you to ask that question, Mom!” He hobbled, looking for things to smash. Twilight noticed, and was very thankful, that he didn’t look at her. “Who cares how I got to the orphanage!”He decided on the crystal wall, banging his hooves against it with loud thuds. “It doesn’t matter!!”

Twilight winced, each blow sounded like a whip crack. She lit her horn and forced Spot to the ground he hurt himself. He wiggled and squirmed but couldn’t break free. Twilight then walked up and knelt beside him. “Do you know why I adopted you, Spot?”

“Because you saw something in me, something you wanted to nurture.” His words were like burst of steam from a train, sharp and painful to hear.

“To be honest, Spot. I wanted a unicorn filly. Someone I could teach to be a better magician than me, someone to pass on my most potent spells, but that’s not what I got, is it?”

Spot looked away before he stopped struggling. “Clearly not,” He gave a sad sardonic chuckle, “I’m right here, and I just so happen to be a pegasus, not a unicorn.”

“The reason I adopted you, gave you a home, is because you looked sad,” she picked him up and sat him back down on his chair. He looked up, wiping his dry eyes, not saying a word. “It’s true I did see something in you. There had to be some reason why the other fillies and colts looked to lean on you, but, I could see a pain in your eyes. The way you walked was like you had a giant weight strapped to your back.

“Through the five months I scoped out who would become my child, I became attracted to you. None of the unicorn fillies seemed so”

“Pathetic,” Spot yelled.

“No, mature. I’ve learned that maturity comes with life experiences, and you must have been through something horrible to make you look so mature out there. I took you in because I wanted to help you, heal you. Spot. I’m very thankful that you would recall such a painful event in your life for me, and I hope reliving them will help you cope with the pain instead of burying it.

"I know i'm not as important to you as Cloudy was, but I want you to feel safe with me. As your mother I want to guide you through this no doubt pain filled time in your life. It may take weeks, months, even years for you to completely move past her death, but I want you to know that I'll be there everyday."

Spot silently looked at his new mother, slack jawed. They sat like that for minutes at a time before Spot slipped off his chair and slowly made his way to the stairs. Twilight hoped he was heading to his room to think about what was said, like the other times.

She would later find him peacefully sleeping alone in his cloud bed for the first time.

---

---

Innocent blood willingly spilled with slashes from a razor blade on both fetlocks.

Spot looked off into the distance. He could see tiny pink hooves with thin jagged scars marking a ladder that climbed up her legs. A lump formed in his stomach. Those pink hooves belonged to someone he truly cared about.

“Spot, it’s your turn.”

“Wha…” Spot jumped, cards falling to the floor in a flutter.

He sat in the gathering room on the third floor. There was only one small round table, perfect for breakfast for three, or a quick couple of games of Crazy Eights, Slapjack, ERS and whatever else Twilight’s book of card games could come up with. The fireplace was roaring and the wind was howling outside. Spike was too busy taking a nap to come and join them.

It was one of those rainy days that were oh so common this week. Twilight said ponyfeathers and closed the library. She’d posted a waterproof sign on the front door that said, All Books Get A Single Day Extension. Just one of the perks of being the librarian as well as owner of the castle itself.

“What were you thinking about?” suddenly Twilight’s voice turned sultry, “I bet it was Chrysanthemum.”

“You’re right,” Spot said, placing his seven of hearts followed by his seven of spades down on the pile. “and now I win.”

“Best six out of eleven!” Twilight shouted, a strand of hair going out of place.

“I beat you five times in a row, Mom! I want to play a new game.”

“Best six out of eleven!!!”

With a roll of the eyes, Spot gathered up the cards and began dealing.

---

---

Rainbow Dash stood outside the office of the late Cloudy Melody. To anyone else it would look like any other cloud building. White, puffy cumulonimbus walls, light glass windows kept aloft by a gravity proof spell, but this building was a part of her childhood.

Slowly, she moved on. Thoughts of a powerful pink mare with wings half her body length. Bright welcoming blue eyes that always had a fire under them. A blue double bolt on her flanks, her symbol, her hope.

She started wandering down the streets of Cloudsdale, thoughts of her life if she hadn’t lost that mate floating in her head like bubbles just out of her grasp. She made her way to the Foal Protective Agency.

“So, Miss Dash,” A cream colored pegasus mare with thick red hair that made her head look like a poisoned weeping willow said, “if I'm getting the whole picture. You want to take custody of an already adopted foal? On the grounds that you are his godmother.”

“For the third time, yes!” Rainbow Dash was down to her last nerve with this mare. She’d given her the document (it took a full day to find it in her house) that proved she was Spot’s godmother, and the mare still insisted on giving that stupid look of disbelief.

“Well, you see,” Rainbow wanted to sock the mare in the teeth, “You had your chance. Blazing Spotlight was at the Ponyville orphanage for a full year, and if you’d gone down there and picked him up– but you waited, and now he has a mother. A Miss Twilight Sparkle, and even after two months under her care, you still did nothing. What makes you think I have the power to take a child from his lawful home?”

“Because the paper says so!” Rainbow screamed, getting some worrisome looks from the other patrons, not that Dash took any notice. “I signed that piece of paper five years ago, and now that Cloudy Melody is gone, it’s my responsibility to take care of her son.” she gave the mare a dreadful glare, “and I won’t take no for an answer.”

There was some typing before the mare gave Dash a rather annoyed expression. “Alright, under the situation where two parties are vying for a child, it is up to the child to decide who to live with. I can give you a week, and a week is all I will give you, to earn the love and trust of this Blazing Spotlight–”

“Everyone calls him Spot” Rainbow spat, enjoying the slight groan that came from the mare’s lips.

“Spot then. You have a week to get Spot to sign this sheet of paper,” she passed Rainbow the paper, “and I am to take it that the late Cloudy Melody left something for Spot in her will?”

“Yes,” Rainbow said, wings itching to take her from this awful place.

“Then I will see you in a week Miss Dash.”

---

---

For the first time that week, the sky was clear and the wind warm. Spot took Chrysanthemum to their spot behind the orphanage. An apple tree on top of a hill overlooking SugarCube Corner.

They played hide and seek, tag, laid back and watched the clouds float by, everything normal friends would do. Chrysanthemum’s happiness had been so infectious that it stuck with him after they parted ways, promising each other to do it again tomorrow.

As Spot walked home, he felt content. He was closer to Twilight then ever, maybe even as close as a real mother and son would be, and as he went over what she said in the past couple of days, he started agreeing.

The palace was a safe place for him. Nothing bad could ever happen there. Twilight was someone he could trust and wouldn’t ever steer him wrong. He needed her, and she gave him what he needed.

The sight of a low flying cloud, just above the straw roofed homes of the other ponies in town, sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t run or shout, but kept an even pace that grew ever slower with each step as he made his way home.

The cloud grew downwards, and turned into a white box.

“I’m taking him for a week, Twilight!”

Spot froze at the sound of Rainbow Dash screaming in the middle of the street, just below the giant white cloud box that looked more and more familiar with each passing glance.

“And I said over my dead body!” Twilight screamed. Twilight never screamed unless she felt it necessary.

Spot felt the almost unbearable urge to run back to the tree. To avoid the scene no doubt involving him, but before he could, Rainbow spotted him.

“Hey, Spot!”

He tried to run, but no one can out run Rainbow Dash, two time Iron Pony champion. She was on him in the blink of an eye. She pinned him to the ground. When he looked up he saw a giant grin on her face. “Do I have a surprise for you.” Seconds after those words left her mouth, Rainbow’s body glowed bright purple and she floated off him.

“Rainbow Dash, please, don’t assault my son.” Twilight’s words had lost their sharp edge along with half their volume.

“Let go of me, Twilight!” Rainbow’s words, however, seemed to have gained what Twilight’s lost and Spot flinched. He got up and ran behind Twilight’s leg, nervously poking his head out. “Spot! This is your home! The one that–”

“I know what it is Rainbow Dash!” Spot shouted.

Twilight watched Spot move back, slowly, but he didn’t go very far. She saw his eyes shimmer as if tears were about to flow, and his body shake like he was about to collapse. “Spot, I could get rid of her if it hurts too much?”

Spot mouthed words, but no sound came out. His legs gave out. Twilight made her way over after shutting and locking the door. She put a hoof on his shoulder, feeling him tremble.

“I just need time, Mom,” Spot’s words came slow and evenly, “Please tell my godmother to go away, but keep,” he gulped, “my old home where it is.”

Twilight smiled, “Alright. I’ll give you time, just relax and think. You can go to your safe room. I’ll be up there in a bit with some hot chocolate. With plenty of tiny marshmallows and a graham cracker, just like you like it”

Spot nodded then took to his wings.

When he was out of sight, Twilight moved back to the door. Rainbow banged against it with loud thumps that echoed in her brain, giving her a slight headache. When she opened the door, Rainbow stood there glaring at her. “Give me my son,” she hissed, angrily flapping her wings.

Twilight flared her wings, making herself look twice her size.

Rainbow flinched and when she was hit with Twilight’s harshest glare, she felt a pang of fear in her gut. “You should think about what all this is doing to my son, Rainbow. Seeing his old home is something that’ll take time for him to digest. To try and force him to leave with you is something he shouldn’t have to deal with right away. Yes, you have the documentation to take him, and I will let you, but only if he says it’s alright. If not then I’ll take you to court.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped, “you won’t take me to court, Twilight,” she gave a nervous laugh, “I’m one of your best friends…” her words ceased when she saw the unwavering glare come from the purple princess.

“Leave, Rainbow,” Twilight hissed, “Let Spot cope with this one step at a time. I’m sure a pony as awesome as you doesn’t need a full week to gain the trust of a single colt,” the sarcasm was so thick you could spread it on toast, “so, I ask you as a friend and a mother, leave peacefully.”

Rainbow left.

---

---

The white cube loomed ahead like a lion ready to strike a gazeel. Spot saw it, black against the night sky, and immediately thought back to that fateful night at Ghastly Gorge. The outside was exactly the same. Windowless with a gentle sag in the spot where the blankets lay.

Steeling his nerves, Spot took flight.

It was an hour after Rainbow Dash left, and Spot had taken twenty minutes to take in the fact that his old home was suddenly floating right outside his new one. The other forty minutes he was just trying to figure out just what to do with it. He could scrap it, but that felt almost sacrilegious. The cube was a part of him. He’d lived in it for most of his life.

The only other things he could do was to go inside.

Now, as Twilight also took flight, Spot prepared to go inside and relive the memories of old. Whether good ones or bad ones came up was his greatest fear. It was the reason he hesitated opening the floor door, and, if Twilight hadn’t been there to give him a reassuring smile, he would have run away.

Pushing the door open felt easier than it had a year ago, and flying inside was easier too.

Poking his head inside, everything was dark.

“Whoops,” Twilight said, “my bad, I should have grabbed a few candles. I’ll be right back.” She flew off, leaving Spot on his own.

Gulping, he went inside.

Immediately, the moment his hooves touched the barely worn cumulus cloud, a wave of nostalgia washed over him, and the moment of truth made itself known.

A checkers game. A crib. Warm, welcoming memories.

“That’s where I slept, that’s where Mom washed me,” Spot chuckled, pointing to the different corners of the cube. “She had to use river water when I got really dirty, oh!” He flew over to the corner with all the blankets, and stood upon them when his legs gave out.

Her presence was overpowering.

He lay, legs and wings completely relaxed, on the pile or warm fluffy blankets until Twilight showed up with three small gravity proof candles in her aura.

In their light, Spot could see the few wonderbolt posters still standing proudly against the wall. The space where Cloudy planned to put Tommy’s second thunder cloud lay vacant, a small counter just big enough for him to sleep on.

And he had.

Twilight flew up, set all three candles on the empty counter and sat besides Spot on the blankets. Spot had a goofy grin plastered on his face as he looked around the home with glassy eyes. She pulled an arm around his back.

“It’s so nice to be here again,” he groaned more than spoke, like he didn’t wish to speak at all.

The two sat in calm silence. Both ponies contemplating what, if anything, to say. After ten minutes, Twilight put a wing around Spot’s back and brought up the elephant in the room. “Rainbow wants to take you away from me, Spot.”

Spot looked down, his good mood sliced through as if by a blade. “I know, Mom. You two kind of broadcasted it to half the town.”

“What do you think? I left it up to you whether you wanted to go to Rainbow’s for six days or have me go to court. I know I could settle things there and you’d never have to deal with anything like this again.”

Spot silently digested Twilight’s words. He sorted through them piece by piece until he sat up, looked her in the eye and said, “I’ll go.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and there was the briefest flicker of fear in them, “but, she’s going to try to make you love her instead of me. I could easily, and I mean easily beat her in court, Spot.”

“But I don’t want to go to court!” Spot shouted, “I don’t want anyone telling me who I live with, who’s my mother and who’s not! Rainbow is my godmother, and if Cloudy thought her good enough to take care of me, then there is no reason I shouldn’t give her that chance.”

Twilight looked down, an almost inaudible whimper escaping her mouth as she gently scooted across the pile of blankets. “Spot, I'm scared she’ll succeed. I don’t want to hear the words ‘Rainbow is a better mother than you’ come out of your mouth.”

Spot looked away.

“She’s so enthusiastic, so charismatic, I fell more often than not to her crazy schemes.” Twilight couldn’t look Spot in the eye either, “She had her own fan club at one time. All of the foals marveled at how cool she was, how she always saved the day no matter the situation. She’s saved the world at my side countless times, and, I don’t think I can match up to an image like that.”

“You don’t,”

Twilight gave a quiet sniffle at his words.

“You’re a boring librarian whose only claim to fame links you to other ponies. The citizens of this town look to you for leadership, and all you can come up with are boring plans. Rainbow is about action, instinct. She has the energy ponies want to see. You can’t compare.”

Twilight was about to shed tears in front of the son that watched his own mother kill herself. He should be crying, not her, but all of that stopped when she felt him rest his head on her chest.

“But to me, that’s fine. You’re boring, but stable. With you I have the balanced life I want. With Rainbow my life would be hectic. I’d always need to be on my toes, no chance to truly let my guard down like I can with you“

“What are you saying?” Twilight finally turned back.

“I’m saying that Rainbow might take me away, but you’ll always be a part of my life. She lives close, so whenever I need a break, I’d come here. I’m sure you’d let me have sleepovers, ones with ghost stories instead of pillow fights, and s’mores instead of late night pranks, right?”

Mother smiled down on son and a peace fell over the room.

“Plus, you two are best friends. Taking your best friend to court is messed up.”

Twilight floated a book out of her saddle bags. “I brought Red Diamond, you’re favorite.”

Red Diamond was a story about a stallion in red diamond armor traveling through the world, defeating dragons even gods to save the princess of his land. Twilight had read the story to him nearly five times. Quite a feat since the book was well over three hundred pages long and Spot fell asleep by the ten page mark.

“Cloudy used to read that to me every night before–” Spot suddenly went silent. A look of discomfort came over him before he relaxed again. “She read me that story before bed on the day of her death.”

“I can choose another one?” Twilight said, closing the book. She was about to put it back in her saddlebags and grab one of three Daring Do books when he spoke up again.

“No, I want to hear that one.” He looked up at her with a small, hopeful smile. “It could be like repeating history, except this time I don’t lose somepony I trust.”

“Does that mean you want to sleep here too?” Twilight said, pulling the book back out, “like how Cloudy did it?”

Spot yawned for show, “Yes, Cloudy always let me sleep next to her. She felt like a heated bed,” he grabbed Twilight’s hoof and pulled it across his shoulder, then rested his head on the pile of blankets,

Twilight sighed, at home she would have told him to sleep in his own bed, but she could let it slide this time. She’d gotten very used to reading out loud with how often Spot requested her to do it. On lazy days they would relax together, him, Spike and her, and she’d read out loud. Occasionally she’d pass the book off. It was a real book club (with only one book) and had easily become her favorite family time event.

This was the first time she tried to act out a little more. She’d shout loud and proud when the Red Diamond would pronounce the dragon’s defeat this time, and Spot fell asleep after ten pages. It was like clockwork with him.

Closing the book, Twilight looked at the windowless room. To her it felt a little too claustrophobic to call a home. Maybe a bedroom, but not a home.

She fell asleep, secure in the knowledge that while she might not always be Spot’s mother, she’d be in his life forever.

Author's Note:

As usual, PM me any errors you might find.

bluetree650