Scootaloo found herself sitting at her desk in school. Well, to be more precise, she was sitting at the only student desk in the classroom. All of the other desks were gone save only Cheerilee’s which looked more imposing than she had ever seen it in this low light. It almost felt like it was looming over her, ready to strike like some sort of monster from the Everfree Forest.
Feeling her body shaking, Scootaloo gulped before looking around. It turned out that there were other things wrong with this room. Everything from the colorful pictures on the walls to the cubbies containing the student’s personal possessions had been removed leaving everything bare. The windows had been boarded up like one of those condemned building Scootaloo had seen in pictures from Manehatten. Only small bits of light could be seen shining into the room before they were eaten by the darkness. And behind her was the door leading to the outside, shaped like the lid of a coffin as well as being bolted shut.
Scootaloo bit her lower lips as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but her thoughts were interrupted by a sound in front of her. Breathing heavily she turned to look forward to see that the door that lead into Cheerilee’s office was rattling wildly. But just beyond that was another sound. It sounded like two mares talking in unison, calling out her name. As if it couldn’t get any worse, smoke began to flow out from the bottom crack slowly filling the room.
Scared out of her mind, Scootaloo screamed as she leapt off the seat and made her way towards one of the windows. Frantically she banged at the boards, trying to either break them or make enough noise so somepony near her would notice. Over and over the filly tried harder and harder as the smoke began making it harder to breathe. She could feel her eyes stinging with tears while her breathing came out more like coughs. But still she refused to give up.
“Squirt, is that you?” came an all too familiar voice from the other side of the window. Despite her panic, Scootaloo smiled as she caught a glimpse of a rainbow mane through one of the cracks. “Hang on; I’ll get you out sis.” Scootaloo’s heart leapt for joy as she watched one of the boards was smashed by a light blue hoof. She could now see Rainbow Dash’s face, looking at her with the sun in the background. She reached out a hoof, ready to pull her to safety so they could fly far away from this place.
But before their hooves could connect, a lavender glow surrounded her idol. Scootaloo blinked as Rainbow saw launched backwards high into the air and out of sight while the board fixed itself. Scootaloo tried to bang on the boards again, but found herself unable to as the same lavender glow surrounded her body as well. She then felt her body begin to move back to her seat against her will as if she were nothing more than a puppet, only able to move her eyes and watch. As soon as she was seated chains burst from the floor wrapping around her legs and wings, keeping her in place as Cheerilee’s door exploded.
For a moment, nothing but smoke came out of the room beyond the shattered remains of the door. Scootaloo took several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She kept telling herself that Rainbow would come to help her, save her like she did on the camping trip. But then a figure emerged out of the smoke and her hope died. This thing was shaped like Queen Chrysalis in every way except the face. Half of it looked like Cheerilee, glaring at her with a frown. The other was a grinning Twilight, looking as crazy as she did when she cast the Want-it, Need-it spell.
“You shall never become like Rainbow Dash,” said the monster, using both pony’s voices at the same time. “We won’t allow it!”
Scootaloo screamed…and woke up.
-x-
It took several minutes for Scootaloo to calm down enough before she was ready to head downstairs for breakfast. She moved slowly, pausing several times to yawn or to rub the sleep from her half lidded eyes. Her limbs felt like lead and she was vaguely aware of the sweat that lightly coated her coat. Scootaloo knew she must have looked like a wreck, but would rather not let anypony know about the nightmare she had. Perhaps she would tell everypony she had just gotten up early to practice some stunts. That sounded far better than the truth.
As she stepped onto the main floor, Scootaloo turned to see Ms. Foster standing by the main doorway. While not as old as somepony like Granny Smith, it was clear that Ms. Foster was getting on in her years. Her old, dark blue coat was beginning to cling tighter to her frail bones and her short mane was as white as a sheet. She was standing in a way so Scootaloo could see her entire left side as she looked through a saddle bag that was on the floor with a frown on her slightly wrinkly face. Ms. Foster, however, must have either noticed Scootaloo out of the corner of her eye or heard her with those sharp ears that were always listening for any problems in the house, for she instantly straightened up to smile at her charge.
“Goodness,” she said as her light blue eyes surveyed the filly. “Looks like somepony was too excited to sleep last night.”
Scootaloo turned her head to look away from the older mare. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “Excited.”
“Not really surprising,” continued Ms. Foster as she returned to her saddle bag. “Given what happened yesterday. I’ll stop by the school while I’m out running a few errands and tell that teacher of yours you're staying home today.”
In an instant, all the sleepiness within Scootaloo vanished. Her face brightened as her eyes went wide with life. Her wings stood upright as far as they could while fighting the urge not to jump around screaming ‘YES!’ at the top of her lungs. But it was hard; her body was shaking from the tips of her hooves all the way to the top of her mane in a desperate attempt to keep her join inside.
“Hopefully I’ll be home by lunchtime,” said Ms. Foster as she put on her saddle bags. Then, while looking up at the ceiling, she nodded several times to herself. “Yes, yes. Should be noon if all goes well. Two at the very latest. Now if I am running a tad late and you get hungry just cook yourself something. Please remember to-”
“Clean up whatever mess I make,” said a still grinning Scootaloo in unison with Ms. Foster. However, the older mare didn’t seem to register what had just happened. She just said a few more things like reminding her that there were to be no stunts in the house before leaving after saying goodbye.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Scootaloo turned to head into the kitchen. There, near the large bay window, was a table that a dozen fully grown ponies could sit around. However, most of the seats looked untouched for some time save for two. A thin layer of dust covered a majority of the table which told the filly that soon Ms. Foster would be telling her to wash it. Perhaps she would even be asked to clean the seats seeing how they also sported a similar amount of filth. But things like that could wait for later. Right now, the only things on the fillies mind were eating her favorite cereal and looking over her plans for the future in peace.
-x-
A few hours later, at the Castle of Friendship, Twilight found herself dragging her tired hooves into the breakfast nook. There, visible scent trails flowed through the air carrying with them the scents of a late breakfast. Or perhaps it would be best to call this brunch as the princess surveyed the spread Spike had whipped up. On one plate was a small stack of tiny sandwiches, which as Twilight noticed, had various flower petals sticking out of them. Next to that was a stack of deep fried hay fries as well as a plate of hash browns. On the table were also three plates stacked full of various pancakes surrounded by bowls of various toppings. As Twilight began to drool at the spread, Spike entered from the kitchen while wearing a white apron with another stack of pancakes in his claws.
“Spike, what’s all this about?” asked Twilight as her assistant placed the plate on the table.
“Well,” began the dragon as he used the apron to remove some pancake batter from his claws. “You looked really sad last night. So I thought maybe this might cheer you up. Hopefully you’ll like-” Spike never got the chance to finish his sentence as Twilight was on the move. With soft, grateful tears appearing in her eyes the purple princess wrapped a wing around her assistant and brought him into a warm hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered with a smile as she held onto him for what seemed like forever. With Spike here and the smell of the food he had made for the two of them, she was able to forget about her mother’s probable affair and the impactions it may bring.
“Aw, it was nothing,” replied Spike, his cheek scales turning red as he waved it off. Slowly he pulled away from Twilight before racing over to her seat and pulling it out for her. “A seat for the lovely madam,” he said in a very fake Prench accent.
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. “Why thank you my good dragon,” she said as she walked over to her seat and sat down. Once seated, Twilight’s horn lit up as food from across the table began floating towards her and landing on her plate. By the time Spike was seated next to her, Twilight had stacks of various pancakes piled on her plate, sandwiches, and hash browns in front of her.
“So Twilight,” said Spike as he began helping himself to the hay fries. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to do?”
Twilight didn’t answer at first, her mouth already so full of food that she couldn’t speak. Chewing quickly, she swallowed before saying “About?” before beginning to go for her next big bite.
“Scootaloo,” the dragon reminded her with a raised eyebrow. Twilight pause in the middle of levitating her fork to her mouth, her eyes wide for a moment before a somber expression overtook her. No longer having any desire to eat at that moment, Twilight set her fork down while releasing a large sigh.
“I…don’t know,” she said while looking down at her plate.
“Really?” said the dragon as he picked up a claw full of hay fries and tossed them into his mouth. “Seems like the easiest thing in the world to figure out. Just bring Scootaloo to live here from now on.”
“But what about the rest of the family?” asked Twilight as Spike reached out for more food, her head a bit lower now. As Spike lowered a claw, Twilight’s ears and wings went limp. For a brief moment, she pictured herself and the rest of her family on the day of her coronation, happily celebrating with each other without a care in the world.
“Right,” said Spike as he slumped in his seat. “Never really thought about that.”
“It’s just,” began Twilight, but paused to take a breath and exhaling the way Cadence taught her to. Feeling a little calmer and more in control of her emotions, she continued. “It’s just so hard to believe that my mom had an affair. I never thought that she'd do something like that. I mean, mom and dad always look so happy together! But that’s something I’ll have to come to terms with. Something…we all might have to come to terms with. Hopefully, when mom writes back she’ll be able to explain herself.”
“And what about Scootaloo?” asked Spike, lifting his head a little to look at Twilight.
There was silence for a moment before both of them heard knocking on the front door. With a worried look on his face, Spike stood before excusing himself to see who it was, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts on the matter.
Thinking about the situation, Twilight couldn’t help but feel guilty. Here she was, moping about what might happen to her family when there was a filly who had never known what it was like to even have one. A filly who, for all Twilight knew, had very little to her name while Twilight had grown up in the capital of Equestria and received the very best of everything. The logical part of her brain tried to tell her that she was being irrational. That she didn’t even know they were related until last night and that it was ok to feel this way. Still, Twilight couldn’t help it. Scootaloo should have gotten all of the same advantages that she and Shining Armor had gotten.
Slowly Twilight lifted the fork in front of her, watching it spin lazily with her magic. There was no denying what needed to be done. As far as Twilight knew, they were the only family that Scootaloo had. The only problem she could see with that would be the reaction of her family. There was no denying that sooner or later everything would come out into the open with plenty of hurt and angry feelings. Scootaloo might even become a target for those feelings, no matter how unjustified they were. Thinking about that, Twilight suspected that her best course would be to wait for her mother’s reply to find out the whole story. Then she could-
Loud banging like that of dozens of hammers filled the air, surprising Twilight so much that her fork shot straight up and hit the ceiling. As it fell back to land on the table, Twilight turned to look at the door that Spike had just left with her heart still pounding. Taking a breath, the princess trotted over to the door and opened it. What she saw was definitely not what something she ever expected.
In the main entrance of the castle, situated at the doorway, was a large painted standee of a white unicorn stallion. Dressed in what was clearly an old Prench commander’s uniform from World Party One, the stallion was posed to make himself look as heroic as possible. However, with his curly light red mane blowing in an invisible wind and massive chin held high that made Twilight think of one of Fluttershy’s sappy romance novels. Ones that ‘totally’ didn’t exist under her bed. Around the standee were a dozen or so worker ponies, looking like they were just leaving as they passed by really tacky altars holding hundreds of rose petals. Finally, she spotted Spike who was standing there frozen with a look of utter horror on his face as he stared up at the stallion’s face.
“Spike,” called Twilight as she approached the dragon. “What is,” she paused to gesture with her hoof, “this?”
Spike didn’t answer, his eyes still frozen as he looked upwards. He did, however, move his arm towards Twilight revealing that he had been holding a letter addressed to her. Curious, Twilight took the letter to see that her name was written on it in fancy golden ink. Frowning she opened it to see that the entire letter was written in the same golden ink.
“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, my future beloved,” read Twilight, pausing for a moment to stick out her tongue. She had a bad feeling about this already. “Since the day of your coronation I have been unable to get you out of my head. To have you stand by my side as the peasants shower us both with praise and admiration. I know you must feel the same way about me given how shyly you have acted towards me in the past. But we cannot continue to wait. On Monday, I shall come to thee to confess my feelings in pony before we are to be wed. Until then I hope this small gift of me shall suffice and prepare you for the real thing. Signed Baron Casanova.”
Twilight’s pulled her head back as a look of confusion appeared on her face. Baron Casanova? The letter implied that they had met before but for the life of her she couldn’t remember. Not that it was impossible since, after all, she did forget the names of her friends from Canterlot. Had he attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? That seemed unlikely since she was sure that somepony like him was more than likely the type that would be hard to forget.
“He’s watching me,” said Spike as he continued to stare at the standee.
Rolling her eyes, Twilight lit up her horn. Within moments, everything that had been brought into the castle was covered in a lavender aura before vanishing from sight. Pleased with herself for pulling off such a massive teleportation spell, Twilight wiped away a few beads of sweat from her forehead before looking down at her assistant. It looked like Spike was coming out of his stupor as well, rubbing his eyes with both his clawed hands vigorously.
“Spike, do you have any idea who that stallion is?” asked Twilight. Spike, after dropping his arms, just shrugged. “Well, with everything going on I think it would be better if we asked him not to come over just yet.”
“Or ever,” muttered Spike darkly as he folded his arms.
“Ok Spike,” began Twilight as she got into her dictation stance. “Take a lett-” Before she could finish, Spike opened his mouth to shoot out emerald flames. When they subsided, a scroll hung in the air where the flames had been for a moment allowing Twilight to grab it with her magic. Looking at it closely, her eyes widened as she saw that the seal the letter bore was not that of Celestia’s but her father’s!
Quickly she unraveled the letter and began to read it out loud. “Twilight. I saw the letter you sent to your mother. Heading down to Ponyville as soon as we are done with some legal issues. Dad.” As soon as Twilight said the last word, her eyes went wide as her magic left the parchment. Like a leaf, it softly fell to the ground below as Twilight stared blankly with her mouth hanging open.
“Ah, Twilight,” began Spike waving his tiny claw in front of Twilight’s face. For better or for worse, it worked.
“I can’t believe I did that!” shouted Twilight as she began running around as randomly as Pinkie Pie would. “Sending mom a letter in the middle of the night! How stupid could I be? I should have realized there would be a greater risk of him seeing it. Oh why didn’t I just wait for them to come back home from the Crystal Empire and talk to her pony to pony?”
“Twilight, you need to calm down,” said Spike gently. But Twilight wasn’t hearing any of it.
“He said he was clearing up legal issues,” panted Twilight, tears rolling down her face. She stopped running her legs, but now her wings were active. With each sentence she spoke, she flapped her wings to take her up several feet. “He’s probably coming down here after the divorce. Or maybe he wants to see if I made a mistake before he does that. Is he asking Shining Armor for help? The family is breaking because of me! Why didn’t I…Couldn’t I just…I wish I had-”
Twilight was silenced by a knock on the door. Both froze for a moment as they stared at the closed double doors as another set of knocks echoed through the hallway. Heart racing, Twilight landed on the ground. Could it be her father? No, he just sent her a letter that stated he would be here soon instead of right away. Also very few ponies had the power to teleport beyond a few miles distances and Twilight doubted that any of the princesses could teleport from the Empire to Ponyville. Could it be her mother? That seemed more likely. She could have left on a late night train or gotten herself a flying chariot ride. Was she here to explain herself and get Twilight’s help? Or was she here to yell at her, blaming her eldest daughter for exposing her secret and ruining her marriage.
As another round of knocking began, Twilight felt a claw on her side. She looked down at Spike who gave her a weak smile and a timid thumbs up. While this wasn’t the best support she had ever gotten from him, it was still appreciated all the same. She smiled knowing that she had him watching her back. He would help her like he always did and together they would weather whatever would come their way.
So, taking a deep breath, Twilight began to walk towards the door. As she got closer, her horn lit up to open the doors revealing not a member of her family but instead a pony she had only met a few times in passing when she went to Mayor Mare’s office: Ms. Foster.
“Ah good, you’re home,” said the older pony was she walked into the castle, looking around as she did. “Beginning to think that you were out. But I do suppose this is a big castle and it takes awhile to get anywhere.”
“Actually I was dealing with some…mail issues,” said Twilight, trying her best to sound normal and failing horrible. However, the older mare didn’t seem to take notice as she instead trotted over to the central stairway to begin examining it. “Ah, how is Scootaloo doing?”
“Other than not getting much sleep last night, she seems fine. Still I decided it would be best for her to skip school today,” commented the older mare as she turned around to look at Twilight, surveying her for the first time. “But Princess, I have to know. Is it true what she told me? That you’re Scootaloo’s sister?”
“That’s what it looks like,” said Twilight. “Neither one of us had any idea until last night.”
“Then you’re just the mare to help me with a problem I’m having,” said Ms. Foster in an upbeat voice as she began to walk away from the stairway and down a random hallway. Unable to keep herself from frowning, Twilight followed the mare who continued to talk while keeping her focus on everything other than the princess. “Lately I’ve been going down to see the mayor regarding this issue, but she refuses to budge an inch on her stance. Might have a bit of mule blood in her I think. I don’t suppose she’s told you about it, has she?”
Even though Ms. Foster wasn’t looking at her, Twilight still shook her head. “No,” she voiced. “Mayor Mare only comes to me when she needs my help and I do my best not to interfere with her authority. The last thing I want to do is to step on her hooves.”
“I see,” said Ms. Foster as she paused to look into the map room for a moment before continuing. “Well princess, we’ve been talking about the orphanage. Now I’ve been running it by myself for the last fifty years. Hasn’t been that hard since there have been so few who lose their parents and have nopony to take them in. However…” Ms. Foster paused in the middle of the hallway to let out a deep sigh. Slowly she turned to look at Twilight and, as if noticing it for the first time, the princess noticed just how old the other mare was. While her appearance hasn't changed, something in her eyes seemed to add a number of years to the mare. Twilight recognized this, having seen that same look in Celestia’s eyes several times.
“Scootaloo was the last foal I took in,” said Ms. Foster eventually while looking down at her hooves. “I knew back then I was starting to get too old for the job. Began getting harder to get out of bed thanks to these old bones and not as fast as I used to be. Thank my lucky star that my hearing and eyesight are still going strong, but even then I knew that it was only a matter of time before they began to fade. So I told myself that once all of the foals under my care had left that was it, I’d retire. Right now, Scootaloo’s the only one left. Been that way for awhile now. Doubt she even remembers the others.
“In normal cases, I’d keep looking after Scootaloo until she was adopted or until she became old enough to make her own living. But recently, Mayor Mare decided that it was time to close down the orphanage and send Scootaloo to Manehatten or Canterlot. Says that it has to do with the town budget and there was little sense keeping the place open when there was one filly. Trying to get me to see that it might be the best for Scootaloo, heading into a bigger city where she’ll stand a better chance at getting adopted and not being alone. She also knows that I’ve been wanting to retire so it looks to her like it’s a win-win. Personally, I think areas like Ponyville are better for her, where she’s surrounded by ponies who love and care about her. Sadly, the mayor’s decision is final.” Ms. Foster then looked up at Twilight with a pleading look in her eyes.
Twilight knew what she was asking her to do. Something that she knew would be coming soon, but didn’t expect it to be this soon. To take Scootaloo in right now.
“Th-this is just a bit sudden,” stammered Twilight.
Ms. Foster let out a sigh. “I know dear, I know,” she said. “I know the two of you are still trying to wrap your heads around the idea. But, if what you say is true, you are Scootaloo’s sister. You could take her in for now until you’ve talked things over with your family. It would be a very simple process, much easier than normal adoption.”
From there, Ms. Foster began to talk about what Twilight would have to do. However, Twilight wasn’t paying attention as her mind tried its best to process this information. The town was losing the orphanage? The purple princess could see the logic and the reasoning. With everything that had been going on since she arrived like a giant rampaging Spike, Discord, Tirek, Rainbow Dash’s snowstorm, and Applejack’s baked bads it was easy to see where the money in the town was going to. Heck, they were still trying to fix all the damages from her fight with Tirek! And that was only the stuff that Twilight knew about. How many disasters occurred before she came to Ponyville? While she understood the mayor’s reasoning, Twilight wished Mayor Mare had talked to her about securing extra funds from the crown before closing down a government facility.
One that might have closed down anyways, she reminded herself before her thoughts drifted towards Scootaloo. Twilight had planned on taking Scootaloo later, a few weeks at most. After she had a proper talk with her mother and was able to come up with a plan. But now, due to her own impatience, her father knew. The entire family probably knew right now. Even with all the family chaos going around, Twilight knew she needed to be strong for Scootaloo. To stand by her like a real sister should.
“Ok,” said Twilight, interrupting Ms. Foster as she was talking about how a member of Foal Services would come to check up on them. “My sister can stay here.”
-x-
Later that evening, when the sun was close to its decent, Scootaloo found herself looking at what was to be her new room. With saddle bags stuffed with all of her most prized possessions, ones that she didn’t want quickly stuffed into boxes, the flightless pegasus walked into the crystal room which was three times bigger than her old one. Located next to Twilight’s room, this one had two large windows that let plenty of light in and gave her a good view of the entire town. Built-in dressers lined the crystal walls for things like her winter clothing, her single dress, and Nightmare Night costumes. Finally there was a large, four post bed that looked like it had just arrived today.
As she walked into the middle of the room, with her hoof steps echoing all around her, Scootaloo felt very small. She knew what Twilight was trying to do, but the room felt so…empty compared to her old smaller one. Looking down at her saddlebags, she wondered if she could ever fill up this room to make it her own. Right now, she doubted she’d even take up a corner!
Out of the corner of her eye Scootaloo noticed Spike as he appeared in the doorway while carrying a large box. “Knock, knock,” he said cheerfully as he knocked on the door with his tail before entering. “Where would you like this?”
“Ah, anywhere is fine really,” said Scootaloo with a shrug.
“Ok then,” said Spike as he walked over to the bed before setting it down. He paused for a moment to wipe away the sweat from his forehead before leaning against the box. There was a proud look on his face as he looked at Scootaloo. “So, enjoying the new digs? Pretty sweet, right?”
Scootaloo forced herself to smile. “Ah, yeah,” she said. “It’s…sweet.” As she said this, Spike stood up straight with his mouth a little agape.
“If you don’t like it there are other rooms you can have,” said Spike with a hint of worry in his voice. “I think we have some smaller rooms downstairs. O-Or we could move you into the bigger rooms if you want.”
“No, no,” said Scootaloo quickly as she wings stood up. “You don’t have to do that. This room is nice. Totally, one hundred percent perfect!” For a moment, the two stood there just looking at each other before Spike seemed to relax.
“Ok, I think I know what’s going on,” he said as he opened up the box he had been carrying.
“Ah, you do?” asked Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow as she watched Spike begin to pull out several laminated papers. She knew what they were, her past reports she did for school on Rainbow Dash.
“Well yeah, I’ve seen it before,” said the dragon as he paused to look at a crudely drawn picture of Rainbow Dash that was several years old. Spike squinted at the laminated picture for a moment before he set it on the floor with the others and continued to talk. “When the library was destroyed and we moved in here, it was a lot for Twilight. She had become used to the small but cozy tree house so when we moved into this big empty castle well it didn’t really feel like home. It took her a while to adjust.” He paused to look at another of the laminated papers. “But I’m sure that’ll happen faster with you than Twilight. I mean, isn’t it every orphan’s dream to move into a castle or something?”
“Yeah, when you’re a foal and don’t know any better,” said Scootaloo in a tone that caused Spike to take a step back. “I used to think like that too. I’d go to bed telling myself that in the morning I’d wake up and my parents would be talking to Ms. Foster. A-And when they saw me they’d come running up to me and hug me tightly while telling me how sorry they were that we got separated before taking me to live in a castle where nothing bad would ever happen again.” At that moment, Scootaloo’s wings began to hang by her side limply as her gaze was redirected towards the floor. “But then, when I got older, I realized how uncool that was. If it did turn out like that, they’d probably want to change everything about me until I was more like Diamond Tiara or one of those Canterlot snobs who come to Ponyville every once in a while. And knowing that while I was in an orphanage while they were living in some big, fancy…”
As Scootaloo words trailed off she shut her eyes. She didn’t want to look at herself in the floor’s reflection. Not wanting to look pathetic or uncool, Scootaloo took in a few deep breaths. But that wasn’t what helped her calm down. Instead it was a small claw touching her shoulder. When she opened her eyes she saw that Spike was now standing next to her.
“Sorry,” he said genuinely. “I guess I never looked at it look that. I just thought-”
“I know,” interrupted Scootaloo as she touched his claw with her hoof. She then looked away, biting her lower lip for a moment before speaking again. “Did you ever wonder the same thing? About your parents?”
Spike blinked at this, clearly taken a bit by surprise. Then he shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “Before I came to Ponyville, Twilight and her family had been the only family I ever knew. Honestly I never really thought about where I came from until the Dragon Migration. And even then, it was more about trying to get closer to my roots then find out who my parents were. I guess it’s because I know they are my family.”
“That sounds a little cheesy,” said Scootaloo with a chuckle before she got up and walked over to the box. Getting on her hind legs the filly reached in to begin pulling out more of her old Rainbow Dash inspired homework out of the box. From macaroni pictures to small figures and more reports, Scootaloo began placing them carefully on the ground.
“Yeah, it does sound cheesy,” replied Spike with smug look, his arms crossed. “But it is true.”
As Scootaloo shook her head, Twilight choose that moment to enter the room. Around her, held within her magic were several more boxes of various sizes. With great skill, the boxes were gently placed on the ground before the magic faded. But the glow of her horn didn’t fade. Instead it glowed brighter, a bead of sweat appearing on her brow before several more pieces of furniture appeared the room. In one corner was a new crystal desk that looked like all three members of the CMC could lie on its table. Appearing next to the bed were two nightstands with three drawers on each. Finally there was a large orange couch placed against the wall.
“Twilight,” began Scootaloo as she looked around at all the new furniture in her room. “What-”
“Well since this room was a little bare I thought I’d help fill it,” began Twilight in a tone that made it sound like it was no big deal. As she walked over to the filly, Twilight pointed to each of the items that she brought into the room. “That desk right there is the same size as the one I had when I was your age. It’s prefect for when you have multiple large projects you have to do. I thought those night stands would suit you perfectly. And that couch has a pull out bed so when you hold a sleep over your friends won’t have to sleep on the floor.”
Scootaloo felt her eyes grow wide as she felt a pang of guilt in her gut. “Ah, Twilight,” she began as she looked away, her ears flattening against her skull as she did. “You really didn’t have to spend all that money on me.”
Twilight stopped in front of her sister. When she spoke next, her tone was less cheery and more somber. “Scootaloo, I wanted to do this for you. It’s the least I could do since you deserve every advantage I had when I was your age. If it makes you feel any better, just think of all this as missed birthday. And…” As Twilight’s words trailed off, Scootaloo turned to look at Twilight just in time to her glancing at the door. For a moment, Twilight seemed nervous. It was as if she expected somepony to come screaming through the door at any moment. After a moment, she looked back at Scootaloo appearing more like herself. “Anyways, lets help you get unpacked.”
“Sure,” said Scootaloo. “First I need to find someplace to store all of my old Rainbow Dash homework assignments. Used to have them arranged by date back at the orphanage, but now I’m thinking that the better stuff should be more on display. But I also have my report that I did myself that summarizes all of my other assignments so I’m not so sure where that would go.”
“Maybe we could organize them by both grade and content,” exclaimed Twilight as she happily clapped her hooves, most likely happy at the thought of being able to organize something new.
As the two began looking through the box, Spike stood there watching this as he scratched the side of his head. “Wow,” he muttered. “Guess they do share one trait. Just switch Celestia with Rainbow Dash and…”
“Hmm,” said Twilight as she began laying out all of Scootaloo’s past assignments on the floor with Scootaloo now sitting next to her. “Did you say something Spike?”
“Not at all,” said Spike with a smile on his face as he began to walk out of the room. “I’ll get you two some drinks and some snacks.”
And so, for the next several hours, Twilight and Scootaloo worked to set up the filly’s room. While there was still a large amount of empty space, it didn’t feel nearly as empty. With every poster that was put up as well as every nik-nack, Scootaloo began to feel more at ease. Yet the only thing that remained untouched were the items in Scootaloo’s saddle bags. In there was a notebook that Scootaloo didn’t want Twilight or anypony else to see. It was this notebook that was the cause of her guilt when she saw everything Twilight had gotten her. A notebook detailing her ideas for the future.
One she had no intention of changing.
Oh dear... I hope Nightlight is okay! D:
Ouch poor Scootaloo. I think she is going to be having a hard time with the whole related to Twilight issue. Now I wonder when the rest of their friends will be brought into the secret?
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he'll be fine, or divorcing or going to kill something who knows? find out next time for MY LITTLE PONY!!
And away we go.
cant help but wonder if this is before or after the cmc got their cutie marks
i have feeling nightlight knew about it, and everyone agreed the foal go with the father who then drop her off in ponyville.....
Wow, nice story :3
Love this new concept. I can already guess what "legal problems" Nightlight was talking about. It doesn't have to be necessarily the divorce, but more a legal adoption of Scootaloo. Hopefully.
8569900
Either that, or if Scootaloo was the result of them being Sexually adventurous, they could have probably left Scootaloo with her biological father and may even have been sending said stallion money to help raise her, but then find out that he got rid of her and then pocketing the money for himself might be the legal issues they are dealing with.
like
knick-knack
Hmm going by the wording I'm not sure that it's a divorce... It's vague enough. That leads me to think that is a red herring...
Maybe violet used magic to hide her pregnancy! :O we can only wait and see!
I sense lots of awkward twi-scoot moments.
Well, for the things not being an affair, it could be that nightlight is not fertile anymore for some reason, and they tried artificial insemination, but after the giving bird, hospital fucked up and scootaloo was lost, somehow ending up in ponyville's orphan, twilight and shining never knew because they were training and studying in the casstle, parents wanted it o be a surprised, but because shit happend, they decided to keep it to themselves, now they found scootaloo, and are going to take guardianship of her. This is the best i could come up with, if either this, something similar, or a real affair.
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Speaking of Red Herrings this chapter may have introduced Scootaloo's father, this Baron Casanova has met Twilight previously in the past with no indications as to where and when beyond it being in the past...
Might want to see if Scootaloo would mind being made a baroness *draws a sword* theirs about to be an opening I think.
But like Night Light's letter, this to could be a red herring.
I just really hope she removed that moldy sandwich from her last report.
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I don't think that could really be it. they haven't even met Scootaloo for any sort of interview nor have they talked with the orphanage in charge of Scootaloo. There is no way any sort of adoption process could be started under those circumstances when none of the relevant parties have even met. While it's not necessarily divorce papers they are talking about (I'd imagine it would be spelled out if it was such a big event for the family), it can't realistically be adoption papers at that point.
What a sweet little moment Twilight & Scootaloo had, but... This is all nothing Scoots wants at the end of the day... This is gonna sound really fucked up, but I hope Scootaloo & Twilight being long-lost sisters is indeed the result of an my affair that T. Velvet had years ago, this story has the potential of being drama gold!
Another new chapter! First thing I'll do when I return from my 5 mile run.
Dreadnought
Well Scoots will realize eventually that accepting Twilight as her sister doesn't mean she has to give up Rainbow Dash as her Surrogate sister. Of course getting there is point of the story after all.
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Haven’t seen anyone done the 3rd possibility yet which would be interesting too see.
I could swear that i saw this fic year or two ago.......
It was sort of dead though.....
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Got to admit that line was the best in the chapter.
I love the way the author is connecting bits of the show to make a possible connection between these characters. First its the fact that Velvet is, well, more like Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash in the way that they love extreme action and now showing that Scootaloo and Twilight have a certain obsession with ponies they admire. The dream bit was also really telling and gave us a look into Scootaloo's fears, making me think this is why she doesn't want Twilight to be her new big sis. It's childish...but then again Scootaloo is also childish so it makes sense
This doesn't make sense. I bet they would be compensated by the crown. Also princess lives in Ponyvile and that means they would me more than compensated for the damage. There also live all of the Elements of harmony. Celstia would be more than happy to contribute to the town budget.
awesome chapter looking forward to more
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She's Velvet's biological daughter. There's no need for adoption proceedings, just a custody ruling.
That being said, there's no way a judge would award custody without being provided evidence of Scootaloo's heritage. If that is the end goal of these "legal issues", then most likely all they're doing at this point is hiring a lawyer and filing papers to get a custody suit started.
(Personally, I doubt it's anything like that. I can't imagine them jumping into things this soon, without even talking to Twilight or Scootaloo.)
Perfect, no prefect. We're not talking about senior students in leadership positions, after all.
Let me guess, Wonderbolts?
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yeah... and then equestria became a monarchy and the sparkles had close personal ties to royalty, there won't be a judge or a hearing, they'll be a stamp and the end of it.
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typeset-beta.imgix.net/2017/4/2/768c6366-3053-4a09-bc53-3b6ef7ea48aa.jpg
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That very much depends on how such things work in Equestria though. It would be a folly to assume they are the same as the US system, which I assume you are referencing. It may well be that having given Scootaloo up already, Velvet no longer has any special privileges to Scootaloo's custody and would have to go through the whole process, ties to royalty notwithstanding.
But as you said, actually trying to do that (or anything related to Scootaloo really) without actually talking to Scootaloo first would be a recipe for a deserved disaster. Or Twilight for that matter, who is the closest to Scootaloo out of any of them (or indeed the only one who is close to her at all) and can flip the table on the whole process in an instant if she feels like Scootaloo's best interests aren't being taken in to account. And them showing up trying to whisk Scootaloo away to Canterlot or something without having ever seen or spoken to her is definitely something stupid enough to trigger just such a reaction from Twilight, and they should be smart enough to realize that, so whatever the "legal business" is, definitely shouldn't be that.
Frankly this does feel like a very blatant attempt at creating fake tension by the author anyway, because the letter doesn't feel like a real letter that someone would write in this situation, but something purpose-built for keeping the reader in the dark by not presenting the least bit of useful information. Unless Twilight's parents really are that dumb, who knows.
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Or that the letter was written in a hurry. This sort of thing has happened to me all the time by my parents who let brief messages assuming I know what they meant
8570503
It's a fair point, and obviously the author could write Equestria's legal system however he wants, but I'm basing my assumptions largely on Ms. Foster's statement:
It does seem that biological family members are able to bypass the myriad hoops of a full adoption process.
In any case, I think we're both in agreement that the "legal matters" are probably a red herring, so it barely matters at this point.
Well that happened. Really hate it when these high and mighty nobility folk just presume Twilight is theirs already and decide she must be thinking precisely the same thing. It usually doesn't end well...for them. For Twilight, in the fanfics I've read covering this at least, Twilight usually gets the last say in the matter. Looking forward to that.
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Thought the same thing. The timing of his introduction does seem entirely a bit too timely to not rule it out as a possibility just yet at least.
Otherwise, his introduction does seem a bit sudden and random...but I'm trusting the author has a game plan that will reveal itself on that shortly, whatever it is.
Still enjoying the story. Only criticism I have is actually pretty small one, just that it seems like the tale blurs or just speeds through details from time to time when it'd actually be more interesting to see stuff like that fleshed out a bit more (or at least it would for me), like I would've liked to see more on Scootaloo's reaction when she found out she was going to be relocating to Twilight's place. But it's not like the story isn't still getting the needed and important details out, so that's good.
Why do i not like where that is going...
I hope scoots isn't planning to run away.
Though now that I think about it, it seems a little bit ridiculous
this is so much fun to read. The suspense kills me and makes me want more! I feel like there is going to be a battle over custody for scoots as well as persistent nobles looking to marry twilight. I always think that with the drama going on in some of the fics I read, many of the non brony people I know would enjoy this fandom if they could see the fun bits like this.
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I believe this is the most credible possibility.
Twilight Velvet couldn't have kept a pregnancy secret from Night Light, and it's not in their nature to leave a child without parents (See: Spike).
The most likely explanation is that they gave Scoots to her father with the expectation that he would take care of her, and then he dumped her in an orphanage.
The legal issue is almost certainly resolving custody.
Baron Casanova...I'm predicting Blueblood but flirtier. Unless his last name is Frankenstein. In which case Mare-Do-Well needs to watch out.
Glad to see your story working out so well, darth. Hope my cyberpunk fic I'm working on ends up anywhere near as good. ;o
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Well I'll be happy to look at it and give advice. I also plan on doing a steampunk story when this is done
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that what i hope,
8571579
Here's where it gets creepy, because they probably met when Scoots was handed over.
If this suitor is involved then he could be Scoots half-brother that's the same age as Twilight. This is the less-creepy option, but also less credible because the spell didn't show a half brother on her father's side.
More likely, he is Scoots father. That means he was a fully grown adult who took an interest in Twiilight when she was a child too young to remember him. The disgusting aspects of that aside, the implications of what he did and could have done to Scoots are beyond the pale. If that's the case, then Twilight needs to banish him, and put him in jail in the place where he's banished to. I'm sure Luna and Celestia would have some choice options.
Wait was velvet a sureget? Or whatever it’s called when you help a couple who can’t have a kid of there own. You know like phebe from friends, man I feel old saying that and am not that old.
8570574
Aye, no arguments about the red herring :P
Regarding Foster's statement that this would be a much simpler case than a typical adoption, I imagined she was referring to Twilight's status as a Princess, which kinda makes the legalities of the situation a formality since she could assume custody via a royal command anyway (I mean, I rather doubt any normal pony could simply show up at an orphanage, declare themselves to be a relative of a specific orphan, even if it were true, and have said orphan transferred to their home before the day is out before any actual checks and investigations and conformations have been carried out by the otherwise relevant agencies :P) and the sister part was brought up in order to convince Twilight to take Scootaloo in as quickly as possible, because it did feel like Foster was trying to guilt trip (kinda) Twilight in to taking Scoots off her hooves as quickly as possible because she evidently wanted to be done with the whole fostering business ASAP and move on with her life.
But yeah, whatever the "legalities" mentioned are, they are most certainly meant to be a red herring. Or otherwise the biggest case of hiding in plain sight I have seen in quite some time
WAS launched.
LIKE that.
Now that you mention it, it's similar isn't it?
Nice chapter, good work.
My Little Pony, Divorces are Magic?
Fun slice of life story so far. Of course I always feel like I'd go crazy around fictional characters like these. things would be so much simpler if they just talked things out. I really don't see Twilight trying to break up what Scootaloo and Rainbow have going on, other than trying to get Scootaloo's grades up that is. Although I'm curious about Scoot's plan... and the romance subplot sounds properly frustrating for future Twilight. Every story needs a Tatewaki Kuno.
That letter from Night Light is pretty ominous.
The question is whether it is what it truly appears to be, or whether he's actually talked to his wife and they're bringing Scoots officially back into the family. I know, that's a bit too optimistic, but this is a land of sunshine and rainbows (and occasional wanton destruction) after all!
Seeing Twi and Scootaloo already doing stuff together, even if it's just organizing some things, was pretty heart-warming.
Now, the big question is the obvious elephant in the room - will this end with the family getting properly together, or breaking apart?
Only time will tell.