Renaming Starlight's Village

by Brass Polish

24. Underdog Parenting

Author's Note:

Scootaloo’s favourite mom and dad are summoned, soon to discover what made them such cheerleaders.

By now, Professor Glomgold’s students, secondary and primary, were sure he was quarter-baking his lessons.

“I have here a list of names of Equestrian citizens from days gone by,” he said one day to his secondary school class, having just explained the concept of nominative determinism. “I’m going to read some one by one, and what I’d like you to do is tell me what this pony went on to do after being named that by his parents. First, we have a colt named Salad Tosser.”

The class pitched ideas that this pony might have gotten a job at a restaurant, or spent much of his life on a greens farm, or might have invented a kind of dressing. The Professor said he was pleased with the ideas his class put forward, but he never told them what the pony Salad Tosser really had gone on to do. He just moved on to the next name; Scrump. Some of the students suspected he didn’t even know the answer, but none of them said so. They just went right on with their little guessing game, never to know that Salad Tosser had been given that name by his vegan parents and went on to work in a delicatessen with his eventual husband. Apple Bloom was wondering if the Cutie Mark Grid might soon summon her, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and their teacher. Her cutie mark went off. So did Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s. Professor Glomgold’s didn’t, though.

“Ah, I see you three have a mission,” remarked the teacher. “You’re excused.”

*****

The Village’s Weather Team hadn’t begun its operations to regulate the town’s weather yet. A strong breeze was blowing along the road as the Crusaders left the schoolhouse.

“Windy!” exclaimed Scootaloo.

“It sure is,” said Apple Bloom.

“Bow!” Scootaloo called.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to where Scootaloo was looking. There were Rainbow Dash’s parents flying into town. As Scootaloo took to the air to welcome the couple to the Village, some heads poked out of some cottage windows to see what all the noise was.

*****

“I cannot believe we get the honour of being summoned to this Village and getting cutie mark help from the best Cutie Mark Crusader ever!” roared Bow Hothoof.

“Well now, that’s not totally fair,” said Windy Whistles. “Apple Bloom over there is the founder of the best cutie mark discovery and rediscovery club ever! And Sweetie Belle here is the one who created this spectacular Grid!”

She stood marvelling at the shapes criss-crossing the Maze.

“Best Cutie Mark Grid ever!” she proclaimed loudly. “You’ve got to be one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria to have created this!”

“It was nothing,” said Sweetie Belle modestly. “I don’t even know how I did it.”

But it seemed modesty didn’t register with Rainbow Dash’s parents. Windy Whistles was still looking at Sweetie Belle as though she were a war hero. Feeling uncomfortable, Sweetie turned to look at the Grid. So did the other two Crusaders. They were surprised to find that a pair of blue blurs had joined Evensong Glisten’s cutie mark.

“That can’t be right,” remarked Scootaloo. “You two have…”

She gasped when she looked at Bow’s and Windy’s flanks. Both of their cutie marks had faded a little.

*****

“The last time I saw you, your cutie marks were fine!” cried Scootaloo. “What happened?!”

“We don’t know,” shrugged Bow. “Not much changed for us since Summer started, did they Windy?”

“Not really,” Windy nodded. “We’ve just been going about our usual business.”

“What’s that?” asked Apple Bloom.

Bow was about to answer when a deep howling sound distracted him and his wife. They all turned towards the Cave.

“It’s the wind blowing through the hole in that Cave,” observed Windy. “What happened there?”

The Crusaders told them about how the Cutie Mark Grid used to be in the Cave, until they got help from the Wonderbolts to use dynamite and ice to move it. Bow and Windy were blatantly impressed, and their exclamations of appraisal drowned out the wind and the howling.

*****

Some villagers stepped out of their cottages to see what all the noise was. Updraft was one of them. She scowled when she saw Bow and Windy.

“Not you two again!” she groaned.

Remembering that Updraft was a member of the Wonderbolts Reserves, Apple Bloom tentatively asked her what the matter was.

“Those two were barred from the Wonderbolts Compound,” Updraft scowled. “And all Wonderbolts events and undertakings.”

“Why?!” burst out Scootaloo crossly.

“We’ve had no end of complaints,” said Updraft. “From spectators, organizers, and from members of the organisation themselves. Vapour Trail told me that the final straw was at a rally held early last Summer, where they polluted the air with vuvuzelas they’d brought along.”

“I was at that rally!” Scootaloo spluttered. “That was one of the most fun Wonderbolts events I’d ever been to!”

“What, are you sadistic?” asked Updraft. “You think everypony around them going deaf is fun?”

Scootaloo took to the air to look Updraft in the face. “Well guess what?! Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles are perfectly welcome here in Starlight’s Village!”

Updraft glanced down at the Grid. “Then it’s up to you to keep them from causing trouble. If they get out of hoof…”

She punched her hoof in a threatening manner, then turned and went back into the nearly finished Weather Team Base.

*****

Scootaloo had half a mind to go after Updraft, but Apple Bloom’s voice calling to her made her turn around. She was surprised to see Apple Bloom was calling her from one of the CMC Clubhouse windows.

“Can we have a word with you before we start?” she asked.

Scootaloo flew into the Clubhouse.

“I heard that at the first Wonderbolts event you took Bow and Windy to, they shot fireworks into the stadium,” said Apple Bloom. “Is that right?”

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo as though there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Apple Bloom huffed. “Scootaloo, if we’re gonna have any kinda shot at helping those two, you’re gonna have to face it. They’re not good role models.”

Scootaloo scowled at Apple Bloom. “Rainbow Dash turned out great--”

“When Rainbow Dash was just a filly,” Apple Bloom interrupted, “she realised everything her parents said and did was meaningless.”

Scootaloo’s teeth were bared.

“Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles,” she said, shuddering with anger, “are two of the greatest ponies I know.”

Apple Bloom was trying not to imagine how Scootaloo might have turned out if Bow and Windy had been her parents.

“How many parents have we helped since we came to this Village?” she asked Sweetie Belle.

“Just Muga and Coan,” shrugged Sweetie Belle. “We’re still kind of working on helping Day Star and Sereta.”

“Right. And look at what all their constant praise and encouragement did to their foals,” Apple Bloom said to the twitching Scootaloo. “Mussel and Evensong both had backwards upbringings. They were both at risk of going astray if they were exposed to bad influences.”

Scootaloo calmed down. She remembered how she managed to get through to Mussel, and how Evensong wanted to punish her parents even though they’d realised they were wrong and apologised endlessly for it.

“Okay,” she acquiesced. “I’ll try to look past how happy and positive Bow and Windy make me feel.”

*****

“So,” Scootaloo said when she and her fellow Crusaders returned to join their clients, “why don’t you two tell my friends here how you got your cutie marks?”

Bow went first.

“I got mine when I found out I liked cloudscaping. But I got a little discouraged when I found out there were lots of other pegasi who could do that. And they all had similar cutie marks to mine.”

He stared for a moment at his fading shoe and rainbow.

“So eventually, I stopped doing my own cloudscaping, and started supporting and encouraging others who got into cloudscaping. It seemed to give them a boost, which made me feel pretty good.”

“Even though you weren’t taking part yourself?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Bow shrugged.

*****

“I got mine at Flight Camp,” said Windy. “We were trying to create breezes that would blow cloud cover evenly across the sky so that sunlight and shadow were evened out on the land below.”

This pretty much described the weather as it was in the Village at the time, which seemed to account for the broad smile on Windy’s face as she told her backstory.

“But I was nowhere near the only one who got a cutie mark for it in Camp. I saw there were lots of other pegasus foals who could make even cloud cover. And they were all really good at it. I made a point of letting them know I felt that way.”

“But you didn’t make a point of pursuing it yourself after your Flight Camp days were over?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Windy nodded.

*****

The school bell rang to dismiss the secondary class students. The Crusaders turned to see Professor Glomgold was the first to exit the Schoolhouse. He glanced at the party standing by the Cutie Mark Grid, and did a double-take. He looked at the faded cutie marks on the two adult ponies.

“So it’s true,” he remarked. “If ponies veer away from what their marks tell them for too long, their marks fade.”

Why did he never bring that up in class? thought an irritated Scootaloo.

“Good thing that doesn’t apply to me,” the Professor said, aloud but to himself. “I’ve made my contribution. If my cutie mark fades, it won’t matter much.”

I’ll take that as a confession, thought Apple Bloom as she watched the teacher walk away and his students file out.

*****

The Crusaders turned back to Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles; the two had faraway looks in their eyes.

“We met in secondary school,” said Windy.

Bow nodded. So did Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They could vividly imagine Bow and Windy as teenagers bonding over their similar aptitude for encouragement and wasted aspirations. Scootaloo could picture this too.

“I’ll bet,” she said, “that after you two fell in love, you vowed that if you had a foal, you’d support her non-stop; even if she ended up with a pretty common interest. Or hobby. Or cutie mark.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle grew concerned at the reverant expression on Scootaloo’s face. Scootaloo seemed to sense their concern; she gave her head a little shake and said to Bow and Windy “I’d like you to meet some other parents in this Village.”

*****

Scootaloo led the party to the Silks’ cottage. She was pleased to find that Muga and Coan were tending their backyard garden. Scootaloo wasted no time in introducing the two sets of parents. Quickly, they struck up a conversation about gardening. Bow was looking around the garden with keen interest; particularly at all the gardening tools. He expressed interest in having a go with helping Muga and Coan out. Muga and Coan were happy to accept his help and to help him get acquainted with the various tools. The Crusaders were happy with this progress.

“What do you say we leave them to it?” asked Scootaloo. “It worked pretty well with Gabby.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were concerned, but agreed. Before they parted, they let Bow and Windy know where the Village Hostel was, and who the Innkeepers were. The rest of the afternoon went by and there were no more noisy disturbances. Scootaloo had perched herself on the Clubhouse roof. She wanted to be at the ready in case Bow and Windy did start to get boisterous again, so she could square off with Updraft if she tried anything forceful. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle decided not to object to this. Come nightfall, all seemed perfectly fine.

*****

The next day, the Crusaders realised that unlike with Gabby, they would have to take a much more personal approach with Bow and Windy. The two had met Mussel, and had been encouraging him to try and collect lots of spiders; even though it was only Spring and there were barely any mosquitoes about.

“No need to overwork yourself,” Scootaloo said as Mussel started to look around the street. “You may have a cutie mark for taking care of mosquito problems, but if there is no mosquito problem…”

“That’s what I said,” said Mussel. “But Bow and Windy said if I get a move on, I could get a head start before the mosquito problem gets bad.”

Scootaloo didn’t know what to say to this. She turned to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“Okay, but then what?” asked Apple Bloom. “You’ll be bored all Summer. And you’ve got schoolwork, don’t you? Wouldn’t it be better to go around collecting spiders when you’ve got nothing else to do?”

“Oh, good point,” said Mussel.

*****

“I guess you two were right,” Scootaloo said to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “Praising somepony for every single little thing can be a problem. But I think there’s someone Bow and Windy should be encouraging.”

“Who?” asked Apple Bloom.

But Sweetie Belle knew the answer. “Each other?”

“Bingo,” smiled Scootaloo.

*****

When the Crusaders revisited Bow, Windy, Muga, and Coan, they discovered that Bow didn’t get much done yesterday. He hadn’t caused any damage, and the Silks weren’t opposed to having him around still. So Scootaloo insisted, with approval from the Silks, the Bow keep at it. Bow was clearly not confident.

“Landscaping is very different to cloudscaping,” he said.

“But Updraft won’t let you anywhere near the Weather Team’s territory,” grimaced Scootaloo. “A garden on land is your next best shot.”

She gave Windy a little nudge.

“Go on, honey,” Windy said to her husband. “Give it another try. You could be the best scaper ever!”

“Okay,” said Bow with a broad grin. “Where can I start?”

And Muga and Coan put him to work on watering and weeding.

*****

As Bow and the Silks went about their work in the back garden, Windy kept up the encouragement. Her voice was loud, but not as loud as whenever it was joined by her husband’s. Scootaloo took to the air to have a look in the Village. There were no windows opening, and no villagers were poking their heads out with curiosity and concern on their faces. And there was no sign of Updraft. She flew over to the Clubhouse for a minute. She could hear Windy egging Bow on, but it didn’t seem to be disturbing anypony. When Scootaloo returned to the garden, she found Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were looking very pleased. They pointed to Bow’s flank. Scootaloo was delighted to see that his cutie mark was coming back into sharper focus. She was about to give a congratulatory yell, but stopped herself; her loud voice mingled with Windy’s might give Updraft an excuse to start trouble.

*****

That evening, the Silks remarked that Bow had done a good job. Windy of course would not stop praising him. His cutie mark was as clear as anypony could remember it being. The Crusaders led them to the Cutie Mark Grid. They all looked at it. Bow Hothoof’s cutie mark was no longer a blue blur. Windy gave a whoop and tackle-hugged her husband. Scootaloo looked at the Weather Base. No one came out.

“Well, it’s late,” said Scootaloo. “But we’ve still got work to do. Tomorrow it’ll be your turn, Windy.”

Windy nodded. “Thanks, Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

And she and Bow went to the Hostel.

“Do you think they’ve already gotten friendly with Day Star and Sereta?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“We’ll find out tomorrow,” said Scootaloo. “If not, we’ll see if we can get them to help Windy. Then she can get some encouragement from Bow and get her cutie mark to come back to normal.”

“Well don’t forget,” said Sweetie. “Lightning Dust is going to get her weekly exercise tomorrow, so I’ll be spending the day in Day Star’s and Sereta’s cottage.”

*****

Right on cue, Lightning Dust showed up to make sure Sweetie Belle hadn’t forgotten. She looked at the Grid to see if the Crusaders had a mission.

“Who is it this time?” she asked. “The Royal Canterlot Choir?”

“No. It’s the proud parents of Rainbow Dash,” grinned Scootaloo.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. “How come they’re so loud? Yesterday, I thought the cottage was under attack. The windows were rattling and dust was fluttering off the shelves.”

“They’re just big cheerleaders, that’s all,” said Scootaloo. “It was… largely thanks to their constant support and encouragement that Rainbow Dash grew up to be the great flyer she is.”

To Scootaloo's surprise, Lightning Dust burst into laughter.

“What kind of empty ponies need to validate themselves through their foal’s achievements?!” she cackled.

“Let’s see how much good your weekly exercise has done for you,” growled Scootaloo, advancing on the laughing Lightning Dust.

Apple Bloom held her back, and Sweetie Belle hastily told Lightning that there was no problem with her taking over her post tomorrow.

*****

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo went to the Hostel the next morning. Bow and Windy had of course met Day Star and Sereta by now, but they hadn’t had any lengthy conversations yet. So Apple Bloom and Scootaloo set the wheels in motion.

“Why don’t you tell each other about your daughters?” suggested Scootaloo.

“Well,” said Day Star, “this used to be a cult colony. Any parents living in this Village were instructed to discourage their foals from striving for anything. But that all went away after we all found out our leader was a fraud.”

“From then on,” said Sereta, “we gave our daughter all the support she need-- well, we thought she needed. But Evensong became spiteful towards us. And whenever she did something good or impressive with her magic, we congratulated her for it. She ignored us. All our praise meant nothing to her.”

The Crusaders looked at Bow and Windy. They seemed uncomfortable, and reluctant to talk to Day Star and Serata about how they’d raised their daughter.

“It’s alright,” said Scootaloo kindly to Bow and Windy. “Go ahead.”

“Well, our Rainbow Dash always loved racing,” said Windy. “And no matter what place she came in, we cheered her on…”

*****

Sweetie Belle didn’t have much to do in Day Star’s and Sereta’s cottage; or she didn’t think there was anything for her to do. Then she remembered what Lightning had said yesterday about dust being shaken from the shelves. She looked at a wooden shelf mounted on the wall behind a glass-fronted cabinet. There were some Queen Celestia commemorative plates mounted on it. They were very dusty.

“That’s what I’ll do while I’m here,” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ll do some dusting.”

After she’d found a dustrag, everything seemed to happen at once. As she magiced one of the dusty plates down from the shelf, she heard the front door open. She heard Lightning Dust’s voice shouting something, and turned towards the door. There was a thump, and a beam of magic shot across the room and hit Sweetie. The beam of magic did nothing - it instantly vanished upon impact - but it startled Sweetie Belle, and the Queen Celestia commemorative plate she’d been levitating ended up crashing into the glass doors of the cabinet. The plate and the doors smashed, and some of the commemorative plates in the cabinet cracked. Sweetie looked at the damage for a second, then at the front doorway. There, lying on the floor, pinned down by a very proud Lightning Dust, a Changeling Throne bracelet wrapped tightly around her horn, was Evensong Glisten. Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark went off.

*****

Back at the Hostel, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were pleased with the direction the conversation was going in. The two pairs of parents were quite understanding of each other's status as fans of other ponies. Day Star and Windy Whistles were bonding over their collections of Queen Celestia commemorative plates. Day Star was just offering to show Windy his collection when Apple Bloom’s and Scootaloo’s cutie marks went off.

“That’s funny,” said Scootaloo, looking at Bow and Windy’s cutie marks, which were not glowing and vibrating. “We can’t be done yet.”

“It means we’ve got another mission,” said Apple Bloom, a note of excitement in her voice.

Sweetie Belle came bursting in at that moment. “No. It’s not a new mission. It’s an old one. The oldest one, in fact.”

All eyes in the Hostel turned to Sweetie.

“I’ve got some bad news, Day Star,” she said.

Her horn glowed, and she levitated the shattered remains of a commemorative plate through the doorway.

“What happened?” asked Day Star and Windy Whistles together.

Their question was answered when Lightning Dust walked triumphantly into the hostel. In her mouth, she was holding a submissive and unhappy Evensong Glisten by the scruff of her neck.

*****

“I wasn’t attacking you,” insisted Evensong. “This big oaf startled me, that’s all.”

She took not the slightest notice of her parents, who were staring longingly but fretfully at her alongside Bow and Windy.

“So why did you come back to the Village?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Why do you think?!” barked Evensong. She indicated her cutie mark, which was glowing and vibrating. “My cutie mark’s been driving me insane ever since you made that stupid Grid thing! I can’t take it anymore. I decided to answer the call.”

Briefly, Apple Bloom thought of Gaffe.

“Oh, really?” asked a skeptical Sweetie Belle. “You intended to answer the call and accept help from us Crusaders? Then why did you go straight to your old house?”

“Well when I got here, I saw that the Grid wasn’t in the Cave anymore,” Evensong explained. “I didn’t know you’d moved it. I looked through that big hole in the side of the Cave… and the first thing I saw was… the house I grew up in. I couldn’t help but want to go back there. It’s only natural. Everyone has a deep-seeded desire to return to where they grew up. It’ll happen to you Crusaders one day. You’ll find yourselves wanting to go back to Ponyville soon enough.”

*****

Evensong looked around at everypony’s skeptical faces. Even her parents appeared not to believe she genuinely wanted to atone for her misdeeds. But the two ponies in the room she didn’t recognise seemed to be utterly thrilled with her story.

“Good for you, finally deciding to follow your conscience!” beamed Windy.

Scootaloo sidled towards Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof, and led them to a corner of the room away from the front door.

“This is your ultimate test,” she said in an undertone to Rainbow’s parents. “You can’t be too encouraging to Evensong Glisten. She tried to dethrone the Queens just to spite her parents. She can’t get any praise for her magical accomplishments, or we’ll never be able to rehabilitate her. Even with that bracelet stopping her from using her magic, she might get a big head and think of other ways to make her parents suffer.”

“Just a minute,” Windy said with a shocked expression. “That little filly was the one who captured Queens Celestia and Luna?”

“You didn’t know about that?” asked Bow.

“Well I’d heard that they’d been captured of course, but I hadn’t heard who’d done it,” spluttered Windy. “If you knew, why didn’t you say?”

“I never would’ve guessed you didn’t know. There’s not a pony in Equestria who’s a bigger Sun worshiper than you,” reasoned Bow.

Windy smiled. “I guess I am. Why else would I have loved making sure cloud cover doesn’t spoil anypony’s sunshine?”

*****

Windy Whistles cutie mark was no longer faded. She, Bow Hothoof, and Scootaloo were happy to see that it had returned to its opaque glory. But no one’s cutie marks were going off; the mission was not yet complete, and another rather important one needed to be undertaken.

“Me and the other Crusaders need to rehabilitate Evensong now,” Scootaloo said to her two favourite adult ponies. “And I’d like you two to be with us while we try. Your challenge is not to encourage her or cheer her on.”