• Published 7th Jan 2022
  • 4,942 Views, 556 Comments

Unseen, Unheard - Nocturnal Reverie



While helping Pinkie Pie throw a party for an orphanage in Baltimare, Rainbow Dash meets a deaf and blind filly that steals her heart. Everything that follows was simply meant to be.

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Chapter 13: Love

Spike lounged against a bookshelf as he munched on a small handful of gems, his eyes lazily tracking Twilight as she paced back and forth, an unrolled scroll not two inches from her muzzle as she mumbled over the words on the parchment.

“Thank you so much for your interest…we have sent you a report regarding clinical trials…we have several patients who would gladly speak with you…should you so wish…an operation coming up in the next couple months—SPIKE!”

The baby dragon barely flinched, having gotten used to his guardian’s sudden outbursts over the past couple weeks. “Yeah, Twilight?”

“Do you know what this means?!” He could practically see his own reflection in her shining eyes, her wide grin perfectly encapsulating her overexcitement.

“I’m gonna hafta write another letter?” he deadpanned.

His quip bounced right off of her as she continued, “This means I’ll have the chance to learn every possible piece of information I can before I give my proposal!”

Spike sighed heavily, pushing himself off the bookshelf and stepping toward her. “Twilight, this isn’t some book report, this is your friend!”

Exactly!” She fired back. “I want to know absolutely everything before I bring this up to her. I need to be as well-informed as possible, so she can be as well-informed as possible, so then when we get this thing going—“

If, Twilight,” Spike interrupted her prattling.

“What?”

If and if she wants to,” Spike reiterated. “This isn’t your decision to make. We aren’t even sure if she’d want it.”

Twilight blinked in stunned confusion. “Why wouldn’t she?” The letter flicked in her magic. “Spike, this isn’t just some scientific study, this is a life-altering occurrence! You’d be crazy not to pass it up!”

Spike sighed, popping the last gem in his mouth as he thought over his words, chewing slowly, only swallowing when he was ready to speak. “But Scootaloo’s not a scientific study, and she’s not crazy.”

Twilight halted, his words hitting a paradox in her mind as they sounded like an objection, yet didn’t disagree with her argument. She looked at him with a tilted head. “What?”

The baby dragon hopped up, heading to the kitchen to take his mug to the sink. “If you think it’s a good idea to bring up to Rainbow Dash, and if she thinks it’s a good idea to tell Scootaloo, Scootaloo still might not want to go through with it. Like you said, it’s life-altering. She’d have to learn how to do so much all over again. She’s only seven years old, Twilight, don’cha think that’ll be pretty scary for her?”

The overhyped mare bit her tongue before she could correct that the filly in question would be eight tomorrow, and sighed as she considered his valid argument. “Yeah…you’re right, Spike. But…I still want to know everything.”

“And I agree with you,” Spike piped up. “We both know how Rainbow Dash is, and she’ll feel a lot better knowing you’re the relative expert on things. But I don’t think you should get ahead of yourself. You’re not the one that’ll have to deal with figuring life out again.”

“I know,” Twilight slumped for a moment, perking back up as she offered, “But I can be there for her every step of the way.” She chuckled, adding, “If she decides to go through with it.”

Spike gave his guardian a little smile. “There you go.”


Rainbow Dash grinned, giving a little playful shout as she flipped the seventh pancake from her pan, the breakfast item flying over her head to land on a precisely-placed plate on the counter. A giggle bubbled from her chest in time with the tiny one coming from her back, Scootaloo laughing and squealing at every bob and twist the cyan body made as Rainbow Dash put on a show of making their birthday breakfast.

The mare twisted off the oven, taking bouncier steps than usual—much to Scootaloo’s giggly delight—as she slipped the completed plate of pancakes off the counter and made her way to the table. She deposited the pancakes, then Scootaloo, and dished out three pancakes to the filly, taking the other four for herself. “How much syrup do you want, squirt?”

Scootaloo made a little thinking noise, her hooves tapping the table, before she threw her hooves to the sky with a whoop, giggling maniacally.

Rainbow snorted, pouring a little more syrup than normal, before passing her filly a fork and knife, guiding Scootaloo’s butter knife-holding hoof around the stack of pancakes, the tip tracing out the area the pancakes were located.

Giving a determined little nod, Scootaloo felt Rainbow’s hooves leave, and dug into her birthday breakfast.

The cyan mare smiled, quietly following suit and cutting into her pancakes, thinking over the plan for the day and reminding herself where the filly’s present was.

Breakfast was made quick work of, and the older helped the younger with a glob of syrup that had fallen and clumped into her chest fur, the filly giggling in appreciative sheepishness. Table cleared, and mess cleaned, Rainbow Dash scooped Scootaloo onto her back and trotted into the living room, depositing her on the couch.

“Stay here for a second, okay?” Rainbow requested on the filly’s fetlock. At the nod she received as answer, she smiled, trotting up to her room and grabbing the package from her bed.

Grinning, she presented the gift to Scootaloo, the filly blushing and giving a small cry. “You didn’t have to!” she objected.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I wanted to, squirt! You only turn eight once!”

“But…I don’t have anything for you…”

The mare chuckled and pressed a kiss between Scootaloo’s eyes. “I don’t expect anything from you, kiddo. I know we talked about not worrying about presents for our birthdays since they’re so close to Hearth’s Warming, but I wanted to get you something extra.”

Scootaloo smiled sheepishly, nodding in understanding as she gingerly reached out and took the gift from her guardian. Easily finding the corner of the small package, she worked her hoof under the flap and tore away the paper, soon holding a familiar shape in her hooves as she looked up at Rainbow Dash in humorous question. “Is this another Daring Do book?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Feel the cover, silly.”

The filly giggled sheepishly, doing as she was told, finding the title and skimming her hoof over it.

Best Poems of the Modern Age

Perking up at once with a gasp, Scootaloo grabbed her guardian’s hoof and nuzzled it fiercely. “Thank you so much!”

The cyan mare beamed at her filly, ruffling her mane. “You’re welcome, kiddo, I’m glad you like it so much! I don’t know much about poetry, but let me know which ones are your favorites, okay?”

Scootaloo nodded, though a blush crept up her neck. Her guardian’s head tilted at the odd reaction, and asked her what was wrong.

The filly shifted in her seat. “You don’t think it’s weird, do you? That I like poetry? I know it’s not cool or anything…”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help the little smile worming its way up her face as she sat down next to the little pegasus. “Hey. You like it, right?”

The filly blinked. “Yeah…”

The mare chuckled. “Well, if you like it, then that makes it cool. I consider the things I like cool. If you like poetry, then it’s pretty awesome in my book.”

A new blush found its way onto Scootaloo’s cheeks as she shrank in her seat with a smile, rubbing her toe along the spine of the poetry book. She reached for her big sister, the mare pulling her into her lap with a tight hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, squirt,” Rainbow tapped on her withers. The sisters held each other close, gratitude and love matching each other wave for wave as they enjoyed each other’s company, the first few times out of many they were sure to face that day.

Finally, Rainbow pulled away enough to nuzzle Scootaloo’s nose with her own. “Alright, ready to go?”

With a giggly nod from Scootaloo, the poetry book was set aside for the time being, and filly was scooped onto mare’s back, the two grinning as they headed out the door to spend the day with their friends.


Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle grinned as Scootaloo tore open their gift to her, easily revealing the brand new game of Jenga. She squealed excitedly, clapping her hooves together in delight before the three friends set about opening the new game and breaking it in with a round.

Across the room, Rainbow Dash chatted ecstatically with her friends, the six Bearers happy to have some time together, the best friends sharing in the mutual celebration of the shared, small birthday party.

“It’s hard to believe it’s almost been six months,” Fluttershy gushed.

Rarity agreed, “Oh, I know, darling. And what a wonderful six months it's been!”

Pinkie tittered cheerfully. “It’s like you two have been together your whole lives!”

Chuckling, Applejack couldn’t help but agree, nodding through a mouthful of cupcake.

Rainbow Dash blushed at her friends’ words. “Aw, guys! It really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Time sure does fly when every day’s an adventure.”

Having finished her bite of cupcake, Applejack chuckled, “You can say that again!”

Giggles from five mares rose into the atmosphere of Sugarcube Corner, the silence from one making Rainbow Dash look over to her purple unicorn friend. “Twilight? Is everything alright?”

The unicorn in question snapped out of her thoughts with a little gasp. “What? O-oh…yes, I’m fine. Uh…” The scholar looked around at her friends, mentally scrambling for context. “What…were you talking about?”

A small round of giggles and chuckles passed through the five friends, Rarity speaking up for her, “We were simply admiring the time that’s passed with Scootaloo, darling; and appreciating the adorable little thing.”

“Oh!” Twilight’s face suddenly lit up with understanding as she nodded in agreement. “Thank you! Sorry about that.”

“What’s on your mind, Twi?” Rainbow inquired, smiling at her friend.

The simple question, spoken by a concerned friend, held a horribly complicated response that Twilight quite frankly was not ready to share. As such, the questioned mare shrunk a bit in her seat and muttered. “Uh…it’s complicated. I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” She eyed her friends, hoping they’d take the response.

The resounding nods immediately released a tension from her gut, her friends offering her understanding smiles. “Alright,” Applejack verbally conceded for the group, “but you let us know if’n it bothers ya too much, alright? We’re ready ta listen when you’re ready ta talk.”

Twilight’s smile gained a deep gratitude for her friends. “Thanks, girls.” With a lilted little giggle, she was met with a soft group hug, her friends pressing in on either side of her, leaving her to stare at the deaf-blind little filly as she celebrated the small victory of pulling out a Jenga block.

Her mind began working once again as she watched the filly play without a care in the world, her heart picking up pace as her internal debate started up again, a small worry for the young foal gripping at her heart as her previous conversation with Spike replayed for the hundredth time in her head.


Rainbow Dash held the mail against her chest, a tail flip shutting the mailbox before she took to the sky again, lazily circling upward until her hooves found her doorstep. She trotted through her foyer and passed Scootaloo, who was reading through her Equestrian passage for the morning.

Passing into the kitchen, she flipped the mail onto the counter, the envelopes spilling over themselves more so than she intended.

She rolled her eyes at herself, moving a hoof to gather up the scattered paper. A familiar name flashed across her vision, and she looked back in surprise.

The blood drained from her face as she recognized her own mouth writing.

Foggy Day’s name stared back up at her, the address of the agency spelt out below it, exactly as she had sent it over a month ago.

Her heart nearly stopped as her gaze finally processed the thick, ugly red ink stamped over it.

RETURN TO SENDER

Rainbow Dash felt as if she couldn’t breathe, her heart thundering in her ears. She set upon the scattered letters, easily finding two more letters identical to the first, all with the same awful red smashed across their fronts.

RETURN TO SENDER

The flabbergasted mare could only stare in shock at the letters lying before her, her mind working a million miles an hour and cranking out possibility after possibility for why they were sitting in front of her right now, why they weren’t with Foggy.

A call from Scootaloo jerked her back into the present, and she gasped, her heart thundering in her ears. She looked down at the letters, dragging herself away as their continued presence shocked her down to her very core.

One thought and one thought only cycled on repeat inside her head, even as she gave Scootaloo her worksheet, even as she numbly took the letters in her hooves, even as she ran them upstairs and placed them gingerly in an empty shoebox:

She…never even read them…


Rainbow Dash grinned as Scootaloo passed her yet another finished Hearts and Hooves Day card, asking her to address it to Apple Bloom as she tapped out her message slowly enough to let Rainbow Dash write it out at the same time.

Happy Hearts and Hooves Day to my best friend!

Thank you for accepting me so quickly!

I can’t wait to see all the adventures we’ll go on next!

Love,

Rainbow stopped writing here, giving the card back to Scootaloo as the filly felt for the Braille stickers, peeling off a strip and letting Rainbow Dash guide her hooves to plant it right under the last line.

Scootaloo gave an airy little giggle as she gently ran her hoof over the sticker strip patterned with her name in Braille, giving a little squeal of excitement. It was the best way the two of them figured she could sign her name; and after a few letters from Twilight on their behalf, the same company that made the Braille books sent them a dozen sheets of stickers, various shades and colors all reading the same thing and providing Scootaloo a way to put her own name down to whatever Rainbow helped her write.

The mare set the hoof-made card aside next to an identical card, this one addressed to Sweetie Belle, the message exactly the same as Apple Bloom’s as Scootaloo thanked the two fillies for loving her without fail. Scootaloo had done her best to show her appreciation for the two, the heart-shaped cards covered in glitter and bordered with lace, Scootaloo’s attempts at hoof-painted smiley faces and hearts leaving colorful splotches on both the paper and her hooves. Though, Rainbow had to admit, there was a certain charm to the spots of color across the otherwise red paper.

Chuckling at the small mess that had been made for just two cards, Rainbow Dash asked Scootaloo, “Is there anypony else you wanna make a card for?”

Scootaloo paused, absentmindedly tapping her hooves on the coffee table as she swayed in thought. After a moment, she nodded happily, her hoof sliding to her left and snagging a sheet from the small stack of red paper. “Can you cut this into a big heart, please?”

Grinning, Rainbow folded the paper in half widthwise. “Sure thing, squirt!”

As she cut, her head turned at a knock on the door. She hummed quizzically to herself before finishing the point and giving the unfolded heart back to Scootaloo, letting her know she’d be right back and where her needed supplies were on the sticky, glitter-covered table. She trotted into the foyer in time to hear a second series of knocks before she made it to the door and opened it.

A gray pegasus mare with neon green mane greeted Rainbow Dash with a bright smile and a clipboard cradled in her foreleg.

“Hello, Miss…” her golden eyes fell to the clipboard, “Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes?” Rainbow answered, a small quiver of nervousness flashing through her.

The mare smiled. “Good morning, Miss Dash. My name is Stormy Skies, I’m from the Baltimare Adoption Agency and I’m here for the mid-year check-in.”

Rainbow couldn’t stop her heart from skipping a beat. “Wh-what? I didn’t know you were coming.”

Stormy’s smile gained a small layer of practiced sympathy. “I know, Miss Dash. That is actually our standard protocol. We do not inform guardians when the first few check-ins will be. This is to ensure both an organic interaction with the families; and is a precautionary measure to protect foals.”

Rainbow’s head tilted to the side. “How do you mean?”

The gray pegasus shifted her clipboard. “I am not at liberty to go into details; but before the reformation of the system, ingenuine foster and adoptive parents were getting away with multiple counts of foal abuse. The new accountability protocols require us to not inform foster and adoptive parents of check-in dates and times to ensure they cannot hide anything.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened at the drop of information, the very thought of what potentially happened prior to said reformation making her stomach churn. She swallowed a wave of secondhand disgusted nausea and nodded. “Yeah…yeah, that makes sense. Come on in.”

Stepping into the foyer, Stormy Skies looked around the grand entrance to the house, her eyes landing on a little playhouse in the far right corner. She chuckled to herself, making a little note on her papers.

The cyan guardian chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s Scootaloo’s Hearth’s Warming present from my parents. I wasn’t sure how she’d like it at first, but she likes to take some pillows and a blanket in there every once in a while and just read or take a nap or play with her toys. We put it in her room just to see what it was like, but she can’t get around easily with it in there, so we leave it down here.” She chuckled to herself. “She likes to call it her Hideaway.”

“It’s lovely,” Stormy commented with a little giggle, taking a quizzical step toward the bright pink house. “Do you mind if I…?”

“No, go ahead,” Rainbow shrugged, gesturing to it.

Stormy Skies approached the little house, nothing more than a box of thick plastic walls a meter wide by a meter deep, yet contained a foal-sized door and some closable windows.

She peeked inside, spying a string of fairy lights lining the downward creases of the ceiling inside the house, the button to operate them hanging right inside the door. She glanced down at her clipboard, frowning in interested confusion. “Does she need the lights? My notes here say she has total blindness.”

Rainbow Dash perked up, smiling. “Oh! That’s mostly for me. I ask Scoots to turn them on when she’s in there so I know whether she’s in there or in her room so she doesn’t have to tell me all the time. Plus, it makes for a pretty cute picture when she falls asleep reading.”

The agent smiled at the mental image, making a note on her sheets. “Okay. And where is Scootaloo now?”

“She’s in the living room,” Rainbow informed as she led the mare to her filly. “It’s, uh…kinda a mess right now. She’s working on her Hearts and Hooves Day cards for her friends.”

Stormy giggled. “That’s perfectly alright. We don’t expect houses to be immaculate at all times, just controlled enough so they’re not a problem for the foal.”

Rainbow Dash felt a tension she didn’t know she was holding leave her shoulders, an easy smile finding her face with a chuckle as they entered the living room. “Yeah, makes se—oh my gosh!”

She rushed over to Scootaloo, the filly aggressively shaking a glitter bottle over head, only half of which was getting on the card. The rest dusted her mane and coat in sparkles of red and pink, partly piling in her lap.

Rainbow Dash gently took her fetlock, ceasing the violent shaking that threatened to turn the filly into a living Hearts and Hooves Day card. “Ah, Scoots…” Rainbow shielded the filly’s eyes as she chased her hoof through the purple mane, trying to shake out as much of the glitter as possible before running her hoof along Scootaloo’s forelegs, the pink and red sparkly snow dusting the cloud floor between them.

By the time she deemed herself as done as she could be, she looked down at herself, her mouth twitching in mild annoyance when she found herself almost as covered as Scootaloo. Thinking herself appearing highly unprofessional to the social worker, she sheepishly met her wide, amused golden eyes.

“Uh…” Rainbow gulped, “I’m sorry, this doesn’t normally—“

Scootaloo sneezed, unintentionally interrupting her as glitter puffed up around the little filly, slowly settling back down. A foalish grin crept up the filly’s face, the littlest pegasus in the room erupting in a fit of giggles.

Rainbow’s ear flicked, her eyes jumping to Stormy, who hid a giggle of her own behind her fetlock. Shrugging, the visiting social worker said, “Well, can’t have some family fun without a mishap or two.” She smiled brightly, speaking aloud as she wrote, “Mishap occurred at fault of visit, guardian responded accordingly, appropriately, and effectively.”

The words admittedly lifted a weight from Rainbow’s heart, the relief manifesting in a little half-smile as her shoulders relaxed.

Stormy Skies chuckled to herself. “I’ll let you two finish up down here while I go through the house.”

“Okay,” Rainbow smiled. “What else will we need to do?”

The social worker smiled kindly. “We’ll get to that in a moment, Miss Dash. One thing at a time, I’ll be right back down.”

Rainbow Dash managed a small smile as Stormy Skies headed for the stairs, giving her attention back to Scootaloo. “Somepony from the agency in Baltimare’s here to check on us.”

The little filly perked up, unable to hide a small flash of nervousness. “Is it somepony we know?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash replied. “She’s gone upstairs right now, so we can finish this Hearts and Hooves Day card before we have to do whatever else she needs us to.”

Scootaloo breathed a little sigh. “Okay.” She squirmed into Rainbow’s lap as the guardian picked up a pen, waiting to be told what to write on the massive Hearts and Hooves Day card.

Steeling herself, Scootaloo finally began:

I think about you every day,

Even though we are away.

I hope we can meet again,

I don’t want the part of my life that’s you to end.

I hope you’re happy, wherever you are,

Because, to me, you’re never far.

You taught me, cared for me, and gave me a home,

Scootaloo stopped here, her little hoof and body freezing as she thought over her words. Finally, a blush crept up her face, and she shrunk in on herself a bit as she continued:

I hope one day I, too, can be part of your own.

Happy Hearts and Hooves Day,

And thank you.

Scootaloo once again paused, her blush deepening as she hid her face in Rainbow’s cannon bone, finally finishing:

Thank you for being my first everything.

I love you.

Rainbow’s eyes released their welling tears, having known who the card was for the moment Scootaloo finished the first line. She cleared her throat, passing the note to Scootaloo and helping the filly stick her name onto the card. “When’d you get so good at writing poetry, squirt? You even got it to rhyme!”

The filly giggled sheepishly, pressing down her Braille name before responding. “I’ve been reading that book you got me! I don’t know much about rhyming, but from what Foggy told me, and from what I’ve read, I noticed ‘rhyming words’ have a lot of similar letters, so I guessed!”

Rainbow couldn’t stop the grin that suddenly split her face. “Well, you did awesome, Scoot!” She hugged her little sister tight, kissing her temple and tickling her side.

Stormy Skies chuckled at the distant, affectionate squeal coming from the little filly downstairs as she opened the door to Scootaloo’s room.

She nodded approvingly at the made bed and the lack of clutter on the floor, making a note on her clipboard. Tucking the pen behind her ear, she made her way around the room, smiling at the overall care that went into the room’s upkeep, stopping when she got to a floor-to-ceiling shelf.

The bottommost shelf was lined with Braille books that ended about three-quarters of the way across, the ending book tilted to keep them all from toppling over. The second shelf, however, made her stop and stare.

A line of clay figures stared back at her, the exquisite detail put into each of them something to be envied. A unicorn mare she didn’t recognize headed the group as it stood at attention on the left, a pegasus that was clearly Rainbow Dash standing next to her.

Lined up in a row were five other mares Stormy vaguely recognized from the newspapers, the other Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and Rainbow’s friends. Next to two of them stood the figures of a couple fillies: one, a unicorn filly, standing next to the unicorn with thick eyelashes and perfectly-curled mane; and the other, an earth pony filly wearing a large bow, standing next to the earth pony with a stetson.

The final figures in the line were two pegasi, a mare and a stallion, that Stormy also didn’t recognize, yet was able to infer were Rainbow’s parents, if the shape of the mare’s face and the spacing of the stallion’s eyes was anything to go by.

Giving a low, impressed whistle, Stormy Skies made a note on her clipboard:

Foal shows clear signs of intellectual and creative enrichment.

With a click of the pen on her chin, she tucked it into her ear with a smile and trotted off to see the bathroom across the hall.


Two mares landed side-by-side right beside the clubhouse, two little fillies running up to meet the one carrying their best friend, greeting her excitedly and helping her down from her guardian’s back.

With a grin, Scootaloo reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the two Hearts and Hooves Day cards, presenting them to her best friends.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ‘aww’ed as they took the cards, only to blink upon realizing they were addressed to each other. Giving giggles, they exchanged the mismatched cards and read them, simultaneously meeting Scootaloo in a big hug before they gave her the same, each filly tapping out what they wrote only for Scootaloo to coo appreciatively and hug her friends in return.

Stormy watched the cute exchange with a big smile on her face, recognizing the two fillies from the line of figures in Scootaloo’s room. “You two are very lovely.”

The stranger’s voice stopped the two in their tracks, and they looked up at the new mare in confusion before they looked to Rainbow Dash for an explanation.

Said mare chuckled as she stepped forward. “Girls, this is Stormy Skies. Stormy, these are Scootaloo’s friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.” After a shy exchange of hellos, Rainbow explained, “Stormy here is from the agency I adopted Scootaloo from. She’s here for the six-month evaluation.”

Apple Bloom’s and Sweetie Belle’s faces suddenly pinched in an odd territorial worry. “You’re not going to take Scootaloo away, are you?” Sweetie Belle questioned cautiously.

The mare smiled kindly. “Only if I need to.”

Rainbow Dash returned the smile, understanding the mare’s implications at once. The fillies, however…

Their eyes narrowed, and Apple Bloom nearly growled, “Well, ya don’t ‘need to’, so I reckon ya can leave now!”

Without another word, the two returned their attention to Scootaloo, the three tactiley chatting as if two-thirds of the group hadn’t made a passive-aggressive threat to the social worker, two leading the one into their clubhouse.

Mortified, Rainbow Dash stammered to the slack-jawed mare. “I’m so sorry about them. They…” she bit her lip, glancing at the trio of fillies as the door closed behind them. “They’re…pretty protective of her.”

The social worker blinked, snapping out of the stupor the absurdity of the situation had put her into. She hesitated as she watched the door, a trio of giggles emanating into the open air, then gave a small smile to Rainbow Dash. “Good.” With a small chuckle, she made a note on her clipboard, grinning good-naturedly. “Well, I can officially say she has a very good support system with others her age.” She trailed, reading through whatever else she needed to determine. “Am I correct in assuming your own support system has not changed?”

“Um…” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “My parents are involved now, and it was a little strained at first, but we’re good now. They love Scootaloo as much as I do.”

Concern creased Stormy’s brow. “‘Strained’ how?”

Rainbow blinked, eyes lighting up as she realized how what she said must have sounded. “Oh! Uh, they were just…surprised to see her, is all. It’s my own fault, really. They weren’t involved with the adoption—they actually didn’t even know I was adopting a foal, so the thing just…kinda…” She glanced up at Stormy’s curiously raised eyebrow. “But once they met her, they fell in love with her, so…they’re really supportive now. They came to see her on Hearth’s Warming and our birthday, and they’re all over her when they come.”

Stormy’s mild concern evened out to quiet understanding, and she offered a little nod. “I see.” She scrawled a quick note on her clipboard. “As long as they support her, that’s all that matters.”

The cyan mare couldn’t help her little chuckle as her previous tension dissolved. “Oh yeah, no question about that!”

Smiling, Stormy pulled a strand of her mane out of her face as she looked over her clipboard, flipping a page, and nodding to herself. “Alright, I believe that’s everything.”

“You don’t need to meet my friends?”

“It’s not entirely necessary,” Stormy explained, “since Scootaloo appears to be in perfect health and happiness, not to mention we would probably be here all day trying to track down five other mares, hm?”

Rainbow Dash paused, trying to remember her friends’ schedules. “Heh, yeah, that’s true.”

Stormy smiled. “It’s an expected flaw with the lack of notice to the scheduling. Not all times will work out for all parties; but, again, it’s an accepted flaw in favor of keeping the foals safe.”

Rainbow nodded her agreement. “I’m really glad you guys have a system like that, actually. Who thought of it?”

A little chuckle rose from Stormy. “You probably haven’t met him, he’s like, the top stallion in the Agency. His name’s Sage Note.”

A shock ran up Rainbow’s spine. “W-wait, what?! That was Scootaloo’s agent!”

“Hm?” Stormy looked up at Rainbow Dash, a second passing before the information sank into place, and her eyes lit up. “No way! This is the legendary case?!”

Now it was Rainbow’s turn to be confused. “Uh…what? Legendary?”

Stormy nodded, a sudden excitement sparking in her eyes. “Yeah! This is the one case Sage Note handled personally! And apparently the mare he placed her with was his most trusted subordinate!”

Crimson eyes widened as question after question flew through Rainbow’s head. “Wait, wait, slow down a second! Why did he take Scootaloo personally? And…wait…” Stormy’s words flit through her head, latching on to a crucial word as panic gripped her heart. “Was?! What do you mean ‘was’?! What happened to Foggy?!”

Golden eyes mirrored Rainbow’s for a moment, shocked at the sudden frantic look on the mare’s face. “You didn’t know?”

Rainbow Dash could only shake her head, her pulse beating against her eardrums as she began to feel dread creep its way up her neck.

Stormy Skies shuffled slightly. “Foggy Day left the agency. Officially, she took an early retirement; but the rumor is she quit.”

Rainbow felt the air filling her lungs begin to thin. “Wh-what? She…she said she wanted a change of pace, I didn’t know that meant she was gonna quit!”

Stormy’s eyes widened, Rainbow practically unintentionally confirming the rumor, though she decided to keep quiet about it. She was pulled back from her thoughts as Rainbow’s face fell, and the cyan mare mumbled, “That’s why…she…wasn’t even getting them…”

Green mane tilted as Stormy made a second realization: it had been Rainbow Dash sending those letters. She couldn’t help a blush of guilt, remembering bringing up the letters to Sage Note, only for him to sigh and finally request she send them back to where they came from.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow Dash, the cyan pegasus shaking her head to clear her own thoughts. Her emotions a bit subdued, she looked back up to Stormy and asked again, “Why did Sage Note take her case personally?”

Stormy blinked. “I figured I’d be asking you that question.” She lets out a sigh through her nose. “None of us know any details, but apparently something really bad happened the night she was born. According to the ponies who were around then, Sage Note was seething for over a week until she was released from the hospital. Apparently that was the last time Foggy Day stepped hoof into the agency headquarters until the case closed.”

Rainbow’s hooves began to tremble, the mare swaying a bit at the sudden information dump. She sat down to steady herself. “W-why wasn’t I…what happened? Was Scootaloo in danger or something?” Her blood ran cold, her mind working a million miles an hour. “Is she in danger now?!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Stormy assured her, instantly by her side and stroking a hoof along her shoulder. “If it was important for you to know, you would have been told. The fact that you weren’t just means it’s no longer necessary information, which means it’s no longer a danger to the foal, okay? Scootaloo’s perfectly safe, happy, and healthy. She was probably in the hospital because of her prematurity, right?”

Rainbow Dash sucked in a deep breath, practically forcing herself to nod. “Yeah…yeah, okay. It…might’ve been bad then, but…Foggy would’ve told me if it was still bad…right?”

Stormy offered the distraught mare an encouraging nod. “Exactly. By law, we have to inform you of any dangers to the foal. Whatever it was that happened that night, you weren’t told because it’s not a danger. At least, not anymore.”

The cyan mare’s breath shook as she drew in another breath. “Okay, yeah…yeah, you’re right.” She rubbed the spot between her eyes. “Sorry, I’ve just…I’ve been really stressed out since I got those letters returned from Foggy. I didn’t even know she wasn’t getting them.” The tiniest spark of hope shone in her eyes as she looked back up at Stormy. “Do you at least know where she is? Have you seen her?”

The gray mare sadly shook her head. “I’m afraid I haven’t. I was hired after she left, and the only pony who would possibly know is Sage Note himself.”

Rainbow’s face followed her eyes, her expression drooping and her hooves tingling with the phantom swipes of darkness she tried to pull Foggy from, a lump rising in her throat as she found herself fearing the unicorn was gone for good. After a moment, she gathered herself up again.

“Thanks for letting me know why she didn’t get the letters,” she smiled, before she nodded to the clipboard. “How’d I do?”

Stormy’s sympathetic smile turned to a more genuine grin. “You are every bit as suitable as you were when you first adopted her.” She placed a caring hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “You are a wonderful guardian and a loving mother to Scootaloo.”

Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat as the mare offered a smile to Stormy, unwilling to go into detail about their…admittedly odd family dynamic, a small piece of herself hoping beyond hope that what she desired was still possible. “Thank you, Stormy.”

The mare in question smiled, giving her an encouraging nod. “I’ll try to get assigned your case for the next inspection, and I’ll let you know if I find anything out, okay?”

The cyan pegasus gave her a grateful smile, thankful she has at least one ally inside the agency. “Okay.”

With a final smile and curt little nod, Stormy took to the air, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her thoughts and an impending sense of dread.

Author's Note:

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
- Luke 15:3-4; NIV

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Sorry it took so long for this one, guys! Next chapter shouldn’t take so long. If you would like to know what was up with me, please find my most recent blog post!:twilightsmile:

So, what do you guys think so far? Where’s Foggy? What happened? Why all the secrecy? Let me know what you think in the comments!

I would also like to give a shoutout to Queertrixie for this wonderful fanart from Chapter 9!

Go show her some love, guys!:heart:

Next chapter will possibly be a bit longer, as I’m combining what I previously planned to be two chapter’s worth of material into one chapter. This is where the ‘highly anthological’ part of this section of story will really show, just as a heads-up.

Can’t wait to see you guys again!:scootangel: Stay tuned!