Have you seen my Mommy?

by RainbowShyBrony

First published 24th of February, 2014

Scootaloo travles across Equestria with Princess Twilight Sparkle in search of her long lost mother, who may be closer to them than they think.

Scootaloo and Twilight travel across Equestria in search of Scootaloo's mother. They travel to different places and meet different ponies who will each bring them one step closer to answering Scootaloo's question: "Have you seen my Mommy?"

Chapter 1

It was late into Luna's night, a young, hooded mare was walking down a dimly lit sidewalk towards the Ponyville Orphanage, carrying a small basket. She walked up to the front door of the orphanage and placed the basket down looking into it. "I'm sorry. I'm SO sorry Scootaloo." She whispered with tear-filled eyes to a small orange foal wrapped-up inside the basket. The young foal was asleep. The young mare looked at the front door to the orphanage and knocked it.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She leaned back down to the foal and placed a loving kiss on her forehead. "I love you Scootaloo." The young mare then quickly ran away, crying from the pain of leaving her child.

Then the door opened. A brown mare with a light blue mane stuck her head out the door and had a look around. "Hello? Is anypony out here?!" Finally, she looked down and found a small orange foal. "Oh. Now what do we have hear?" She noticed a letter lying on top of the foal. She picked up the letter, noticing tear stains on it, and began to read it. It read:

To whoever it may concern,

This is my daughter Scootaloo. Please take good care of her and make sure she gets into a home she deserves. I would never be able to give her that. I love her to much to make her suffer with me. When she gets older, tell her that I am sorry and that I love her.

Sighed, with pain and tears forever,
Scootaloo's loving mother.

P.S. Her birth day is June 11 of this year. I just thought she should be able to celebrate her real birthday if she wanted to.

"So your name is Scootaloo." She said, picking up the basket. "Come now. Let's get you inside." The brown mare walked back into the orphanage and closed the door behind her.

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7 years later

It was Mother's Day in Equestria and all the little fillies and colts were spending the day with their moms. All except for the few that live in the Ponyville Orphanage.

Scootaloo was amongst these few. And for the past few years, she has spent the last few Mother's Days sitting on her bed, staring out the window and watching all the other ponies her age playing with their moms. This year was no different. She was in her usual spot, on her bed and watching everyone pass by. She let out a sigh.

Just then, a brown mare with a light blue mane, wearing her saddle bag, came into the room and walked towards the saddened filly. "Scootaloo? Is everything alright?"

"Oh! Uh... H-Hello Ms. Foster! Um, yeah. Everything's great! Couldn't be better." She said, obviously hiding something.

"Scootaloo, you've been sitting on your bed every Mother's Day for the past few years. What's wrong?" She asked, concern about the young filly.

"Why did she leave me?" She said in a saddened tone.

"Why did who leave you?"

"My mom! Why did my mom abandon me like this?"

Ms. Foster paused for a moment. Hesitant to say anything she might regret later. Then a thought acquired to her. 'I think she's ready.' She cleared her throat to get the filly's attention. "Scootaloo. I think it's about time I showed you something. Could you please come with me?" Scootaloo hopped off of her bed and followed Ms. Foster out of the room.

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Ms. Foster rummaged through her old letters and files as Scootaloo spun herself in an office chair. "Ah-ha! Here it is!" said Ms. Foster as she held up an old looking piece of paper.

Scootaloo stared at it blankly and confused. "What is it?"

"This was with you the day I found you." She hoofed Scootaloo the piece of paper.

Scootaloo took the paper noticing that it was a letter and began to read it. She couldn't believe what she read. "S-She... She loves me?" By now the young filly's eyes were watery and her hooves were trembling.

"She did. And most likely still does." She replied.

Scootaloo couldn't believe any of this was happening. First she found out why her mother left her and now Ms. Foster was telling her that there may be a chance that her mother still loved her. This gave Scootaloo an outstanding idea. "Ms. Foster? Do you mind if I keep this?" She asked unable to take her eyes off the paper.

"Of course you can. I think she would want you to keep it." Replied Ms. Foster.

Scootaloo quickly jumped off of the office chair and ran to her room. "Thank you, Ms. Foster!" When she got to her room she grabbed her saddle bag, stuffed the letter inside, put it on, grab her scooter and ran off.

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"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow DASH!!!" Scootaloo called up to said pony's cloud house.

A cyan head with a rainbow mane looked over the edge to see who was calling her. "Oh! Hey Scoots'! Hold on! I'll be right down!" Rainbow replied before jumping off the edge of the cloud and gliding all the way down. "What's up?"

"Hey Rainbow Dash. Am I glad you're home." Said Scootaloo relived. "I thought you might have been off doing some mopey stuff with your mom somewhere."

"Me? With my mom? I haven't even seen her in years. Why? What's up?" Asked the rainbow maned, self-proclaimed super star.

"I need your help to find my mom." Scootaloo was quick to reply.

"You’re what?"

"Look!" Scootaloo pulled out the letter from her saddle bag to show Rainbow Dash. "See? My mom wrote that when I was just a foal! She even said that she loved me! And Ms. Foster said that she STILL loves me! So will ya help me? Will ya? Will ya? Will ya?"

Rainbow quickly read the paper and blankly replied, "I'm sorry squirt, but I can't. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"But... But... You're Rainbow Dash! You can do anything!"

"Scoots, I like the complements, but I can't do everything. Besides, even if I knew how to find her, I'm just too busy. This new weather schedule has everypony working super hard." Said Rainbow trying to cheer Scootaloo up.

"Oh... Okay. Well, thanks anyways Rainbow Dash." She said starting to sadly ride her scooter back into PonyVille.

"I'm so sorry Scootaloo. I'm so, so sorry. But if I told you who your mother was, you'd never forgive me." Scootaloo was already out of earshot and wasn't able to hear that.

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Scootaloo was riding her scooter all over town, not wanting to stop for anything or look at anyone. She just kept on riding, looking only at her handle bars as her withdrawn tears blurred her vision.

Then she came to a sudden, unexpected stop. Scootaloo tried to push her scooter forward, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't budge it from it's position. Finally, the scooter started to move , but it was moving sideways.

When her scooter stopped again, Scootaloo found herself in front of the princess ,Twilight Sparkle. She had managed to pull Scootaloo and her scooter all the way to Golden Oaks Library. "Scootaloo, are you alright?" Scootaloo didn't answer. "Did something happen?" Still no answer. Then Twilight noticed a piece of paper sticking out of Scootaloo's saddle bag. Curious as to what it might be, she pulled it out of the bag and held it up in her magic. "Does it have anything to do with this?" Scootaloo nodded slightly. "Do you mind if I read it?" Scootaloo nodded again.

Twilight read the letter and became more and more curious as she read. Then it dawned on her. "Is it your mom? Is that what's wrong?" Again Scootaloo nodded, not speaking a single word. "Are you trying to find her?" Scootaloo nodded once more. "Did you ask Rainbow Dash to help you? I know how close you two have grown together sense that camping trip you girls took with your friends, Applejack and Rarity." Scootaloo began to cry at the mention of her hero. Tears made their way dow her face and Twilight, not wanting of anyone else seeing Scootaloo so distressed, pulled Scootaloo inside to the privacy of the library.

She closed the door and pulled Scootaloo into a comforting hug as she rubbed her back to calm her down. "Shh. It's okay Scootaloo. It's okay. Just tell me what happened."

Scootaloo was unable to stop crying but it had slowed down enough for her to speak. "Sh-She...she won't help me." Scootaloo's sobbing went back to how it was before. Tears racing down her face.

Twilight remained pondering about this and only saw one solution. "Scootaloo, what if I helped you find your mother?"

Scootaloo's crying nearly subsided turning into a more hopeful expression. "Y-You'd do that for me?"

"Sure. You ARE the "sister" of one of my friend. I don't see why I shouldn't help you out. Plus, I think I'd be a bigger help then Rainbow Dash could have been." Twilight answered as a grin began to etch itself onto her face.

"Oh, thank you, Twilight! Thank you!" Scootaloo, having all her sadness but not all her tears disappear, hugged Twilight as hard as she could. "So... where do we start?"

Twilight took a quick second to think before answering. "The Royal Library in Canterlot."

"Canterlot? Why there?"

"I want to have a look at your records. The ones from BEFORE the orphanage." Replied the Princess with a smile on her face.

"Are you sure I can go all the way to Canterlot with you?" Scootaloo asked with major concern.

"I'm a Princess. I can take you basically anywhere." Twilight replied in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Oh. Alright then, let's go!" Scootaloo said heading for the front door. Twilight followed her to said door and quickly told Spike that he was in charge until she came back before leaving.

"So, are you gonna use some of your magic to take us there?" Scootaloo asked once they both were outside.

Twilight began walking forward. "Actually, we're going to take the train. Canterlot is to far for my teleportation spell and I still haven't gotten use to flying yet. But at least we can still use the train."

"Oh. O-okay." Said Scootaloo, embarrassed of her over excitement.

"Plus I get Princess Privileges."

"What are 'Princess priva... Privo... Privi...?"

"Privileges. Well, I never have to wait for a train to come, I can get a private car, free room service and I can ride it whenever and wherever I want as many times as I want." Said Twilight starting to get a smug look on her face.

"How far do we have to go?" Scootaloo asked.

"I have a feeling that we're going to be at this for a while" Twilight replied looking forward.

--------------------

When Twilight and Scootaloo arrived at the train station, they walked over to the ticket window and picked up some exclusive passes for the both of them. "It's so shiny!" Said an excited Scootaloo.

"Think about how many ponies actually used one of these." Replied Twilight.

"Oh." Said Scootaloo sheepishly, embarrassed of her statement.

Twilight giggled. "Come now. Let's get on the train before everypony gets impatient." Twilight led Scootaloo into the private passenger car.

The car looked small from the outside, but when she walked in, Scootaloo was able to see how much space the train car actually had. She couldn't help but look around in amazement. The walls were very clean and they were a seemingly majestic and royal shade for stained wood. She noticed the curtains were a sparkling, silky smooth crimson that seemed to wave in the sunlight itself. Then she felt something soft at her hooves. She looked down to find a carpet which matched the curtains yet not as sparkly. Instead of it waving in the sun's light, it looked as if small rippling waves were traveling across the whole car. Near the far wall from where they were standing were a couple of red leathered seats that sparkled from the sunlight shining through the curtains. Between the seats was a table covered in a silky, snow white sheet. The whole car seemed to flow together to Scootaloo.

"Is there anything you would like, Madam?" Scootaloo's thoughts were interrupted by a stallion earth pony, wearing a tuxedo, standing by the door waiting patiently for an answer.

Scootaloo, in disbelief, looked behind her to make sure he wasn't talking to Twilight. However, it had seemed that Twilight had already found her way to one of the seats. Scootaloo turned back to the stallion, still not believing that he was addressing HER. "U-uhh... Um." Scootaloo's intangible speech was interrupted by the growling of her stomach. "C-can I get some... Uh... Hey. What kind of food DO you have here?"

"Shall I bring you a menu?" Replied the stallion using a question of his own.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"It is my pleasure, Madam." He said as he made his way to the door.

When he had gone through it, Scootaloo walked to her own seat. "Who was that guy?" Scootaloo questioned the violet alicorn.

"He's our waiter... butler… thingy. I don't, honestly, know either. He basically does whatever we ask him to." Replied Twilight, shrugging as she spoke at some parts.

"Here is your menu, Madam." Said the stallion appearing out of seemingly nowhere, hoofing Scootaloo her menu. "Would you like your menu as well, your Majesty?" He offered Twilight her menu as he bowed his respects to her.

"Yes. I do. Thank you kind sir." Replied Twilight picking up her menu with her magic. She opened up her menu and searched through it. "Let's see. Ooh! May I have the daisy salad with a glass of violet wine?"

"Of course. And for you, Madam?" He asked looking at Scootaloo.

"Uh, can I get the hay-bacon, rose peddle burger and some hay fries? Ooh! And can I get some apple cider to drink?!" Scootaloo asked a little too excitedly.

"...Extra virgin apple cider." Added Twilight enforcing the law against under-aged drinking.

"Of course. Your orders should be right out." He replied before walking back to the door he walked to earlier.

"What was that about?" Asked Twilight, a hint of anger in her voice.

"What was what about?" Asked an oblivious Scootaloo.

"You can't just order apple cider like that! You're WAAAY to young to be drinking that." Twilight lectured.

"But Rainbow Dash drinks it all the time." Retorted Scootaloo.

"Rainbow is 23 years old! You're only 7." Argued Twilight.

"WHAT?! You mean I have to wait 'til I'm 23 to drink NORMAL apple cider? Man, what a rip!" Scootaloo pouted really disliking the drinking age limit.

"Hey, at least I'm letting you drink some." Retorted Twilight. But it was in vain. Scootaloo was already staring out the window deep in thought. Somehow, the train was already moving. Neither of them had even felt the train start moving, let alone get this far.

Scootaloo just remained staring at green blurs she identified as trees. "You think my mom drinks cider." Asked a glum Scootaloo.

Twilight paused for a second before answering. "I don't know. It's surely a possibility. Many ponies drink cider so I wouldn't be surprised."

"What do you think she's like?"

Twilight blinked before she began to lightly laugh. "I'm sorry. It sounded like you asked me what kind of mare do I think she is."

This made Scootaloo confused. "But, I did ask you that."

Twilight's laughter seised. "Oh. I was hoping you weren't." She said more so that only she herself could hear it. "Well, if she's anything like you and if the letter told us anything about her personality, I think she's a very sweet mare with a few small problems. Then again who doesn't have problems?"

"What do you mean a few problems?" Scootaloo began to panic slightly.

"Woah. Calm down there Scootaloo. I only meant that she might have a bit of a money complex."

Calming down a little and a bit confused she asked, "A money what?"

"A money problem." The Princess simplified. "From what it says in the letter she would have very much raised you but she was barely making enough money to support herself. She wouldn't have been able to support both you and her. And even if she did then that would mean she would have to leave you at home to do her job and she definitely couldn't afford a babysitter to watch you while she was gone."

Scootaloo just became more disheartened the more Twilight spoke of her mother's major problem. "O-Oh. I didn't think of it like that."

Twilight noticed Scootaloo's sad look and attempted to cheer her up. "B-but hey, a lot of time has passed sense then. Maybe she was able to find a better paying job and get out of that problem. Like Rainbow Dash did when she first moved to Ponyville."

"Rainbow Dash had money problems?!" Scootaloo way shocked. She had never heard that her all-time hero had money problems.

"Well, yes. From what she told me she use to work in one of the restaurants as everyponies' clean-up crew. She never told me which restaurant it was but to say the least, she was very much under paid. But eventually, she got hired as a weather pony for Ponyville, she quite her job at the restaurant and she's been working as a weather pony ever sense. Well, except that now she's the captain of the weather team but you already knew that."

After hearing the story, Scootaloo was beyond her look of shock and instead began to feel a little bit guilty for asking her to help her find her mother. Rainbow worked hard to get where she was at and Scootaloo wanted her to potentially risk that just to help her. "Wow. I-I didn't know any of that. Well, except for the end. But... wow. I hope my mom was able to do the same."

After Scootaloo made that last remark an idea apeared into Twilight's head. "Oh! But if she wasn't there just might be a way I'd be able to help her."

"Really?! How?!" Scootaloo asked in a surprised manor.

"Well, I could help her one of two ways. The first one would be to provide her with government aid, you know, when our government helps the less fortunate by giving them stuff like food stamps and other stuff. That one might not help much but every little bit counts. The second way would be for me to help her get a new job by probably getting her a job at the castle or writing a letter of recommendation. Imagine how good a letter of recommendation from a Princess sounds."

A smile began to cross Scootaloo's face. "Could you really do that?!"

Twilight just smiled back. "If she is a good pony, then I'll help her out anyway I can."

"Oh, thank you Twilight!" Scootaloo ran out of her seat and over to Twilight to give the lavender princess a hug.

Twilight was about to speech up again when the butler... waiter... stallion from before came over and informed them of their arrival in Canterlot. She thanked the stallion as he left and focused her attention back at Scootaloo. "Well, we're here. Ready to get started on our adventure?"

The little orange filly looked across at the door on the other side of the train car. "You bet!"

Chapter 2

"Woah. The castle's a lot bigger up close." A young Scootaloo stared up at the towering castle of Equestria in Canterlot.

Both Princess Twilight and Scootaloo had gone straight to the castle as soon as their train pulled into the station. It was something Twilight decided on so that they did not waste a moment of sunlight. She wanted to help Scootaloo find her mother as soon as possible... Well, at least before mother's day ended but something told her that it would take longer than she thought it would.

None the less she looked over at Scootaloo, smiled and lead her into the building. "Yeah. First time I came here I said the same thing."

They walked through the doors and were pleased and surprised to find Shining Armor, Prince and captain of the royal guards, not to mention Twilight's brother, standing there seemingly looking at some stained glasswork. When he had heard the doors open, he turned his head and noticed that his sister had just arrived. "Twily! What brings you here?" He trotted over to his sister and gave her a brotherly hug. When he pulled away he noticed Scootaloo standing next to Twilight looking up at him. A sinister grin crossed Shining's neck. "Well, Twily. You complain about me not telling you when I'm getting married but then you go and have a foal without telling me?! Where is the trust in our family?"

This caught Twilight off-guard as she panicked to set her brother straight. "Wait! Shining... No! I didn't... She's not..." She stopped when she noticed that Shining Armor was laughing.

"I-I'm just messing with you Twily." He managed between what had calmed down to chuckles.

"Shining!" Twilight whined.

"Twilight!" Shining mocked. "So, who's this little friend of your's?" He asked out of actual curiosity.

Twilight let out a quick huff before calming down some more and saying, "Well, this here is Scootaloo."

"Why hello there Scootaloo! What brings you to Canterlot?"

Scootaloo as the spunky filly she is answered, "We're here to find my mommy!" Then a single question came to Scootaloo's mind. "Have you seen my mommy?"

"Uh. Sorry, no. I don't even know who she is. If you told me her name then I could probably help you find her." Shining replied with concern.

This stopped Scootaloo right in her tracks as she bent her head over in unadmitted defeat. After a few second a few soft sobs were heard coming from the filly.

Twilight decided to take over and answered Shining's for Scootaloo in a soft whisper. "This is why I brought her here. She's an orphan at the Ponyville orphanage. She was given a letter written by her mother seven years ago that said that she still loved her and not she wants to find her mother."

"Twily, that's not the best thing to do." He answered back.

"I know but it's the only thing to do right now." She looke over to Scootaloo and noticed a couple of tears fall on the floor. "I really think she needs this, Shining."

"Alright, Twily, just be careful about this." He rose his voice back up to how it normally sounded. "Hey, Scootaloo, how would you like a ride on my back to the record room." Twilight shot a look at her brother that said 'Great idea Shinig! That's perfect!'

Scootaloo sniffled one more time before she used her hoof to wipe her face dry before she looked back up to Shining Armor. "O... Okay."

With that said, Shining Armor kneeled down to let Scootaloo climb up onto his back before he got up and lead the way to the record room through the halls of the castle.

It was quiet for the first few minutes but then Twilight noticed something. "Hey, Shinig, what are you doing here anyways? Shouldn't you be at the Crystal Empire with Cadence?"

Shining Armor took a quick glance at Scootaloo before answering, "Well, yes but I had some things to take care of here in Canterlot."

"Really? What kind of things?"

Shining armor cleared his throat and gestured to Scootaloo. "It's just some personal matters."

"Oh... OOH...!" Twilight said once she figured out what her brother meant.

"Right." Shining then moved his attention over to Scootaloo who had calmed down enough to pick her head up. "So Scootaloo, you have any good friends back in Ponyville?"

"Huh?" Said Scootaloo caught off-guard. "Oh, y-yeah. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. We're all members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"The Cutie-Mark Crusaders? Why does that sound so familiar?" Shining Armor pondered this question for a moment before it hit him. "Oh! I knew you looked familiar! You and your friends were the flower girls at my wedding!"

"Oh yeah!" Exclaimed Scootaloo. "It's to bad we didn't get our cutie-marks in being flower girls. That was actually kinda fun."

A sly grin crossed Shining Armor's face as he devilishly looked at his sister. "Well I'm sure Twily won't mind you being the flower girl for her wedding. By the way," he turned his attention to his sister. "I forgot. Did you say your wedding was tomorrow or next week?"

"Oh yeah. Sure Scootaloo could be the... Wait. WHAT?!" That's when Twilight realized what her brother had said. "What do you me my wedding's tomorrow?! I didn't even know I was getting married! Is this some part of the princess inauguration process? I didn't sign up to get married!" Then Twilight had noticed something. Her brother and Scootaloo were laughing. Why were they laughing at her at a time like this?! This wasn't funny. Then she realized that there was only one reason that her brother would be laughing. "Oh, you annoying jerk!"

Shining Armor took a break from laughing to say, "You're the one that fell for it." Then he continued laughing and ran ahead of Twilight, Scootaloo clinging onto his back.

Twilight stammered. "But... Uh... Huh? ...Hey! Wait! Get back here!" Twilight chased after he brother and Scootaloo who couldn't contain their laughter as they made their getaway.

They ran through many hallways attracting a lot of attention but eventually Shining caught sight of the door to the records and made his final sprint towards the door.

Once he entered the room, he quickly hid behind a bookshelf and told Scootaloo to keep quiet. She did as directed an stayed as silent as Angel Bunny.

The doors then suddenly opened and a loud, powerful crash was heard when it collided with the wall around the door frame. "Woops. Maybe I overdid it a little." Commented Twilight regretting how much magic she used on the door. She then took notice of the room she was in. "Well, it least we made it. Hey. Where'd they go?" Twilight proceeded to wander the record room in search of her brother and Scootaloo.

"They should be here. I saw them come through the door." Unnoticed to the lavender princess was something lurking in her shadow. Then it pounced.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Twilight nearly jumped out of her coat as she frantically turned around to see what had attacked her. To her humiliation, it was none other then the very filly she was trying to help laughing as wildly as a happy hyena. "Wh-what? Scoot-Scoota...?" A stern look overcame Twilight's face as she processed what just happened. "Scootaloo!"

"You should have seen your face!" Laughed Scootaloo as she pointed a hoof at Twilight.

This frustrated Twilight. "Urgh! Scootaloo!... Where's Shining-" Twilight was unpleasantly as she turned around.

"Boo!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Once again, Twilight was frightened but this time it was her brother and not a little filly that scared her.

"Haha! You're right Scootaloo! That was the best face I've ever seen." Shining then bursted out into a frenzy of uncontrollable laughing along with Scootaloo.

After Twilight processed what happened she once again became frustrated. "Oh! Shining!" She wined. "You put her up to this didn't you?" She pointed an accusing hoof at her brother.

"What can I say?" Shining asked jokingly. "I'm a genius."

Once again, Twilight became frustrated. "Oh, showoff!" Twilight took a moment to breath and calm down. "Well, we're here. Why don't you help me start looking for Scootaloo's birth records?"

"I would but I have some stuff I need to attend to." Shining started making his way to the door. "I'll see you soon, alright Twilight?"

"Hopefully next time would just be for a visit."

"Knowing your luck, I doubt it." Shining Armor then turned his attention over to Scootaloo. "See you around, Sport!"

Scootaloo waved her hoof at the captain. "Later Shining!"

Shining Armor walked out the door and Scootaloo and Twilight were back to how they started. Twilight let out a sigh. "Oh brother. Well, I guess we should start looking for your birth certificate."

Scootaloo looked at Twilight confused. "My what?"

"Your birth certificate. Basically it's a piece of paper that says when you were born and who your parents are." Clarified Twilight. "If we find that paper we can see who your parents are then we can find out where they live and hopefully get a chance to talk to them."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Really? Then let's hurry up and-" Scootaloo stopped mid sentence when she turned and saw how big the room was. Starting from the wall every three feet there was a bookshelf and each bookshelf was filled to the brim with everypony's personal records and documents. To Scootaloo, the room seemed like it went on forever. "That's a lot of paper." She gulped.

"Oh don't worry about it Scootaloo. Each bookshelf is alphabetized and labeled with a letter to show which letters are in this row of book shelves. All we have to do is find 'S' and finding your papers shouldn't be to hard from there." Twilight looked around for a second. She notice that the shelf they were near was labeled 'D' and the one ahead of them was labeled 'E'. "Okay. So all we need to do is keep walking straight and we'll eventually reach 'S'. Let's get going."

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It took them a few minutes to get there, especially considering how many ponies' names started with 'M', but they eventually reached 'S'.

"Finally! We made it!" Scootaloo jumped for joy a she ran into the row between the bookshelves. Unfortunately for there seamed to be even more documents there then there were in the 'M's. "Urgh! This is gonna take forever!"

Twilight walked up beside Scootaloo. "Calm down there small fry. There's more alphabetizing that happens within each letter."

"What?"

"Take a look at this." Twilight pointed to a label on one of the shelves. It read 'Sec-Sel'. "After they alphabetize the names into different letters they alphabetize the names within each letter so that each name is in exact alphabetical order. Oh you know how much I love alphabetical order!" Twilight gleefully exclaimed.

Scootaloo had a slightly less confused face as she replied, "Uh, no I don't."

Twilight opened her eyes, which she had closed when she made her cheerful statement, and looked at Scootaloo. "Huh? Oh. I thought Spike was here." Twilight let out a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Oops. Sorry."

"Can we just hurry up and find out who my parents are?" Scootaloo complained.

Twilight snapped out of her embarrassed state and continued walking down the row of papers. "Alright. Just follow me and we'll be there in..." Twilight stopped abruptly causing Scootaloo to walk into her hind legs. "Oh, look here it is!"

Scootaloo got up and walk in front of Twilight as she rubbed her nose. "You found it?!"

"No. I fount the row that it's in." Twilight motioned towards a row that was labeled 'Sco-Scr'. "All I have to do is look through them and find your files." Then she began to look trough the folders of papers in a focused way. "Scold... Scone... Scooter... Ah! Here we are!" Twilight pulled out one of the folders in her magic. "Scootaloo!"

Scootaloo let out an exasperated, "Finally! I can't wait to find out who my mom is!"

Twilight looked through the folder and found Scootaloo's birth certificate. "And here's the birth certificate." Twilight took one look at the piece of paper and noticed that something was wrong. "What?!"

"What? Is something wrong?" Scootaloo asked as she became a little worried.

"The place where you're suppose to put the name of the mother is blank." Said Twilight as she showed Scootaloo the birth certificate.

"What?! H-how?" Asked Scootaloo staring at the paper. Not knowing what she was suppose to see.

"Well sometimes, on special requests, the mother can ask for specific things like what kind of doctor she wants, who she wants to handle the baby and she can even request that her name not be on the birth certificate." Twilight explained.

Scootaloo's eyes began to tear up. "But... why would she do that?" She said starting to sob.

Twilight wrapped a wing around the crying little filly which made her crying soften a little. "But there's still some good news."

Scootaloo's tears began to slow down at the thought of there being good news. "The-there is?" She said looking up at the lavender alicorn.

Twilight nodded. "Thanks to Equestrian law, at least one of the parents have to have their name written on the certificate. That means that we still know your father's name."

Scootaloo's tears had completely stopped and a smile began to spread across her face. "M-my dad?"

"Father." Twilight corrected. "And yes. His name is..." Twilight took another look at the certificate. "Picture Perfect."

Scootaloo stared dumbfounded at the birth certificate. "My dad's name is Picture Perfect?"

"Father." Twilight corrected again. "But yes. It says his name is Picture Perfect."

"Do you know where he lives?" Scootaloo asked eager to meet her newly discovered father.

"Uh, no. But I know where we can find out." Twilight said in a Matter-of-fact type of voice. "There's this building in Manehattan that has the address of everypony in Equestria. All we have to do is go to Manehattan and look him up."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "You're taking me to Manehattan?!" Twilight nodded. Scootaloo began jumping for joy as she excitedly said, "Oh my gosh! I've always wanted to go to Manehattan but the orphanage barely let me go out of the town boundaries. I can't believe I finally get to go to Manehattan!"

Twilight was about to stand up to begin making her way to the door when she heard hoofsteps. She looked to see where to hoofsteps were coming from and at the last second saw a figure run into the hallway and out of sight. She quickly chased after it, running only part of the way while she teleported herself the rest of the way, stopping only when she was actually in the hallway. Somehow the hoofsteps from before were no longer audible and the pony that was making the sound had seamed to have disappeared along with it.

Twilight didn't understand. It was a very long and hallway with no intersecting hallways for the first half a kilometer-meters or so. There was no way some pony was able to make it out of sight by the time Twilight had reached the hallway. How was someone able to get out of sight before Twilight had arrived? They could have either teleported, which was quite possible, or they could have been quite the speed demon. The latter was less likely.

After Twilight finished up with her thought, Scootaloo had ran to her side barely losing her breath. "Hey! What was the big idea leaving me back there?" She complained having caught her breath.

"I heard hoofsteps in this hallway." Replied the the lavender alicorn, never once taking her eyes off of the hallway.

"Well it's gone now. Can we hurry up and go to Manehattan already?" Diligently asked Scootaloo.

"Sure. Let's get moving." Said Twilight uneasily as she walked down the hallway she had been staring at. She was unable to put her mind at ease as they made their way down the hallway. Twilight couldn't help but question 'Is somepony following us? Why would anyone want to do that?'

-----------------

As Twilight and Scootaloo made their way out of the castle a pony watch them making sure to stay hidden in the shadows.

Princess Celestia walked up behind the pony and, having recognized them, gave them some words of wisdom. "You're going to have to tell her eventually."

All the pony could do was stare at a picture and cry. "Scootaloo..." The pony sobbed. "I'm sorry."

Chapter 3

A mare sat in a dark corner staring at a photograph she held in her hooves. Tears fell down from her face and onto the photo but her stare never wavered.

"Come on Ma'am, we need you to push!" The Nurse called out.

Her tears began to flow more quickly then before.

"Come on Ma'am! Just give me one more hard push!" Demanded the Nurse

The mare grunted. "I CAN'T!!!" Painfully replied the mare.

"Yes you can, just give me one last push!"

The mare gave her finally and hardest push ever.

The mare had begun to whimper softly to herself.

The crying of a newborn foal could be heard by all in the room.

"Congratulations. It's a girl." Stated the nurse as she gave the now wrapped up newborn filly to the mare.

The first time mother stared at her newborn filly. She stared at her soft orange coat. She stared and her wet purple mane. She stared into her sleeping eyes, unable to believe that this was her daughter. For nine months and eleven hours of nothing but suffering she was finally able to hold in her arms her daughter. For the first time in the mare's life... she had a daughter. This was the happiest moment of her life. She knew that no one would make her as happy as the filly she held in her arms. Then the newborn filly gave her new found mother a welcoming surprise. The newborn filly had opened her eyes and stared at her mother.

"H-hi there..." The new mother was at a loss of words. All she was able to do was laugh and stare into her daughter's violet eyes and as she stared, a single word popped into her head. She smiled and said, "Hi... Scootaloo." Tears began to flow down her face.

"Scootaloo. What a wonderful name." The Nurse wrote the name down on the newly written birth certificate. "And for the mother that's-"

"NO!!!" The mother interrupted the Nurse before she could continue writing. "Please, don't put my name on there. I can't have anyone finding out about this."

"Well, legally I need to write down the name of at least one of the biological parents. So, how's the father." Questioned the Nurse.

"Please. I don't want him to find out about this or get in trouble." The mare pleaded.

"He doesn't have to find out about any of this. This is just for legal documentation. He won't be notified unless you want him notified. So, I'm asking again, who's the father?"

The mare bit her bottom lip before she finally answered, "Picture Perfect. His name is Picture Perfect." She looked down at her daughter and let out a few more tears. This time not of joy, but of sadness and regret.

The mare continued crying and staring at the picture of a newborn Scootaloo. "I'm so sorry..." The mare covered her face with her hooves and sobbed harshly. "This is all my fault."

---

"This place is so... so... Empty. Where is everypony?" Scootaloo asked in mild boredom of Manehattan's City Hall.

"Scootaloo, don't be so rude." Look out from some files in a filing cabinet. A lot of ponies have better places to be then Manehattan's City Hall." Twilight looked down and found the files of all the ponies who's names began with the letter P. "Oh! Here we go! I almost found it Scootaloo!"

"Greeeeaaaaaat." Sarcastically replied Scootaloo.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnd got it!" Twilight pulled out a single file using her magic and opened it up. "Picture Perfect. It says here that he's Twenty-five and... Wait. Twenty-five?" Twilight rubbed her chin and thought about that for a second. "Scootaloo, you're seven, right?"

"Yeah." Replied Scootaloo a little confused about what is going on.

"So he was sixteen. Wow, he was too young to be having children." Twilight mumbled to herself.

Scootaloo became frustrated and impatiently said, "Um, hello! Mind letting me know what's going on?!"

Twilight snapped out of her thought was looked at Scootaloo with a questioning look before she duh-fully replied, "Oh! Sorry. Just thinking out loud. Alright let's see. He's twenty-five. He's a Photographer. Ah! Here we are! It says he lives in Cloudsdale."

"Cloudsdale?"

"Yeah!" Twilight put the file away and crouched down on the ground. "Hop on! I have my own short-cut to Cloudsdale."

"A short-cut? Why do you have a short-cut to Cloudsdale?"

"It's for whenever I have to go or send somepony to Cloudsdale. It's usually Rainbow Dash whenever she hears about a Wonderbolts performance happening in her old hometown."

"Oh, cool! Let's hurry up and go then!" Scootaloo excitedly jumped onto the princess's back.

Twilight closed her eyes and fired up the magic in her horn. Within seconds both her and Scootaloo were surrounded by magic and after a few more seconds the magic faded and they were in the center of Cloudsdale.

Twilight quickly used this opportunity to check the address of a nearby building as Scootaloo stared in aww at the towering cloud structures all around her.

"Oh! This is perfect! Come on Scootaloo! He lives in this building!" Twilight beckoned to the young filly.

Scootaloo just stared up at the building that Twilight was referring to. It was the tallest one of all the buildings she was able to see. "He lives in this one?"

Twilight nodded. "He lives on the top floor."

"The top floor?! ...I can't even see that high!" Complained the orange little filly.

Twilight smiled as she tried to reassure her. "It'll be alright Scootaloo. A building like this should have at least one elevator." She began to make her way into the building as she teased, "You coming?"

Scootaloo, now pulled out of her stupor, followed Twilight inside. When they entered the building they were greeted by the luxurious view of the main lobby. Despite being made of clouds the walls and floors were smooth, hard and solid instead of being soft, round and bouncy like Scotaloo had thought. Then again, she had never been to Cloudsdale before.

Distracted by her surroundings, Scootaloo hadn't realized that she had followed Twilight to the front desk of the lobby until the reception pony behind the desk welcomed them. "Welcome to the Cloudsdale Palace Hotel! How may I assist you?"

"Yes," Twilight started. "we're looking for a pony by the name of Picture Perfect."

The reception pony, not recognizing who he was talking to replied, "I am terribly sorry but I am not at liberty to give away information about our guest nor our residents."

"I understand but I have a few questions for him that I need answered." Twilight insistently stated.

"I'm sorry," the pegasus started. "but I can't disclose of that information to any random unicorn that just... walks... in..." His voice lost confidence as he finished his statement coming to the realization that a unicorn couldn't possibly be in Clousdale let alone in front of him that very moment.

Eyes wide with shock, he observed Twilight more closely. He first saw, resting on top of hear head, her horn identifying her as a unicorn. But then he noticed something pressed against her sides. It was a pair of lavender wings that matched the color of her coat neatly tucked away. In a single moment he realized who he was talking to. Not some random unicorn that can somehow walk on clouds, but the young Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Within seconds he was bowing as best he could behind the desk. "Your majesty. Please forgive me for not recognizing you earlier."

Twilight, still not comfortable with ponies bowing to her smiled with embarrassment. "Oh! Uh, n-not a problem. But could you please get up? I don't want to make too big of a scene then I already am." Requested Twilight as she nervously looked around in search of anyone who may have noticed.

The reception pony did as he was requested of and rose back onto his hooves. "As you wish your majesty. Y-you said you needed to talk to somepony?" He asked regretting his previous refusal to give her what she had requested of him.

Twilight's ears perked up at this. "Yes. I wanted to talk to Picture Perfect, please."

"Yes, your majesty. Right away." Instantly after the reception pony had said that he began to search on the desk computer for the requested pony. "Here we are! Mr. Perfect!" He stated when he found said pony. "His suite is on the top floor. Suite number 5."

Twilight nodded her head as she spoke, "Thank you."

"Is there anything else that you might need? Perhaps a stay in the royal's hotel room? A royal massage? An eloquent dinner?" The pegasus offered listing everything that a princess might want that their hotel offered.

"No thank you." Twilight kindly declined. "We only came to ask Mr. Perfect a few questions."

"We?" He asked in his confusion.

Twilight opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Scootaloo. "Yeah! Me and Twilight are trying to find my mom!" She spoke with a smile slapped across her face.

"Twilight and I..." Twilight quietly corrected.

The reception pony looked down at Scootaloo and smiled as he replied, "Well, I wish you two the best of luck in finding her."

"Thank you." Said the pair before they walked over to a nearby elevator that opened as when they arrived at it. They both entered the elevator and Twilight pushed the button.

Before the elevator doors closed Scootaloo grinned to herself as she spoke, "Going up!" and as if on cue the elevator doors closed and the began their ascent to the top floor.

---

"...3...4... AH-HA! Suite number 5! Here it is!" Twilight shouted proudly.

"Finally!" Scootaloo let out in a huff as she caught up to Twilight.They had been searching the halls for a good 10 minutes before they finally found the door. Who knew that a hotel could have so many suites on one floor?

Twilight stopped Scootaloo before she was able to reach the door. "Now remember Scootaloo he probably doesn't recognize you or he might not even know who you are so try to stay away from saying things like dad or father. Okay?" Twilight prompted.

"But isn't he my dad?"

Twilight sighed and explained, "He is but he might not know that. Your mother might not have even told him about you at all. That's why I want you to stay away from calling him that. Sound good?"

Scootaloo was confused by this. "But why not? If he's my dad then doesn't he have a right to know?" She argued.

Twilight was slightly taken aback by this. She had not expected Scootaloo to say something like that. Twilight took a deep breath, shook her head and replied, "Some things are better off unknown Scootaloo." With that said Twilight faced the door, lifted her hoof and knocked.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

"One moment please!" Came a voice from behind the door followed by the scrambling of hooves. After a few shortly waited seconds the door was heard being unlocked. When the door opened Twilight and Scootaloo saw a pegasus stallion with a camera around his neck standing in the doorway. "Oh! Uh... Hello. May I help you?"

Picture Perfect was an orange coated pegasus stallion. His mane was a dimming sky blue. Probably dimming from stress. It could have been old age but he did look pretty young to begin with.

Scootaloo stared in aww at the stallion standing before them. It was her father. She didn't need anypony to tell her that. She just knew it was her father. Whether it'd be instinct or her gut she just knew. She was so astounded and dumbfounded that she nearly leaped forward wrapping her arms around him were it not for Twilight who answered the stallion.

"Oh. Hello. Are you by any chance Picture Perfect?"

The stallion smiled at the mention of his name. "Yup! That's me! Best photographer out of Cloudsdale! I assume you're here about some of my latest work. Rest assure that the rumors are false, I didn't actually harm any of the foals taken in that picture. I just had to get close enough to get the proof that I needed to put a stop to what those no-good, rotten ponies were doing."

Twilight was taken aback by his reply. She staggered to continue speaking. "Um, actually I came here to ask you a few... personal questions about your past."

Picture Perfect gave Twilight a strange look as if he were in disbelief. "You're kidding right? You don't expect me to give personal information to some random pony who just waltz up to my door just asks me for my personal information without some form of ID to proof that they're at least some kind of official?" His look of disgust only became more apparent the more he talked.

"Well, actually I'm-" Twilight was rudely interrupted by another interjection by Mr. Perfect.

"The answer is 'No' Ma'am. Now I suggest that you..." He took a quick look at Scootaloo. "and your daughter leave before I call the police."

Twilight put on a sort of sly look when she heard the last few words come out of his mouth. "Okay. Go ahead. Call the police. I always was curious at what would happen if somepony called the local law enforcement to arrest a Princess." Twilight placed emphases on the last word to find out if he would finally notice.

Picture Perfect froze in place. Did she just say... Pr-Princess?! He thought to himself before taking a better look at the pony who knocked on his door coming to the realization that, "Y...You're Princess Twilight Sparkle?!!!"

Twilight turned to Scootaloo. "Do you think I should start to wear my crown more?" Scootaloo only replied with a shrug.

Picture Perfect staggered to gather his words. "Pr-Princess. Please, forgive me. I-I had no idea." He moved to the side and held the door open. "Please, come in. Make yourself at home."

Twilight made her way through the door while she continued to talk with Scootaloo. "You see what I told you Scootaloo? 'Princess Privileges'."

Scootaloo couldn't help but let out a giggle as she followed the princess into the suite.

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I've been really busy over the summer with work and "life" and now that I'm starting college on Tuesday... Yeah. Not much will get done. I will try to get as much as I can get done over the year but with how my school schedule and work schedule are I won't get much free-time. I'm sorry everyone but I WILL try. For you guys... and possibly girls. Anyways, Thanks for reading. See you next Chapter!

Chapter 4

“Hey, Perfect! Heads up!” The stallion in question didn’t have time to react as the pony that called out to him nearly threw herself into his hooves. Luckily for both of them he had caught her before she could fall. If hadn’t it would have been a rather unpleasant day for him. “I thought I’d find you around here!”

Realizing he had caught his marefriend, Picture Perfect allowed a smile to form onto his face. “Huh? Oh! Hey there cutie. Where have you been hiding I haven’t heard from you sense last week. I was starting to think you may have left me.”

The mare chuckled from within his arms. “Well keep talking like that and it just might happen.” She chuckled seeing the stallion’s eyes widen out of fear. “Oh come on! I was just joking.” The stallion visibly relaxed only letting out a cautious chuckle. “So, Perfect, what do you want to do today? I was hoping we could be together today.”

Picture Perfect stared at his marefriend with a confused expression. “Well, I wasn’t planning on doing much today besides heading over to the park and taking a few scenery pictures for Photography Club. Nothing to exciting really. Why do you ask?”

The young mare shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s just like you said, we haven’t seen each other all week. I just missed you is all. Now come on! Let’s go to the park so you can take pictures of me.” She finished her statement by getting out of the stallion’s arms and down the path a few steps.

“Wait! I said scenery pictures! You know! Pictures of scenery?! Plus, this is a school camera! I’d get in a lot of trouble if it was just full of pictures of y-!”

The stallion was silenced with a deep and passionate kiss from his marefriend. When they finally broke away from the kiss she said, “Calm down Casanova. It was just another joke. You know, haha funny?”

“Wha- Okay. What’s going on? You never were this forward with… Well with anything really. Did something happen sense last week?”

“What? No! Why would anything be wrong? I just missed you that’s all.” The mare reached out to place her hoof on her coltfriend’s chest but he took a step backwards keeping her from doing so.

“No, there’s something wrong. What is it? Do you not like me anymore?”

“What?! No! That’s not-”

“Did you find someone better? Is that it?!”

“No! It’s not I-“

“Do you regret sleeping with me?...” As soon as the words quietly left the stallions mouth all sounds stopped and the mare was left shaking unable to speak a single word… so he spoke for her. “We’re still so young, but I just didn’t care. I forced the question onto you and barely even give you a chance to say anything about it. I just kept insisting and insisting… I bet you think I’m a monster. The kind that takes advantage of young mares like you. I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll just get out of your life.” The stallion turned to make his way out of the young mare life

The mare couldn’t believe what she was hearing. No, she DIDN’T believe what she was hearing. She reached out and grabbed his hoof before he could leave, tears running down her face. “Wait! …No… No. I-I don’t think that at all. I love you and what happened that night was a choice we both made. I don’t think of you as a monster… You’re Perfect. And I love you just for being who you are.”

The stallion kept his gaze on the ground and his head turned away from her. “Then why are you acting so strangely? If there’s nothing wrong then what are you trying to hide?” His voice was cold and emotionless as he spoke, already fearing the worst to come.

“Because… I’m… I’m… I’m pregnant!” Now it was the mare’s turn to divert her gaze. She had been hoping to wait for a better time to let him know but now she it was all out on the table and Picture Perfect knew everything.

“Y-You’re pregnant?” The mare before him weakly and silently nodded. The stallion, to say the least was very shocked. His marefriend was pregnant and knowing his marefriend he was definitely the father. At first, the thought of raising a child scared him, he was still 16. He hadn’t even made out of high school yet! But he pushed his thoughts aside. HIS marefriend was going to have HIS child and he would do everything he could to make sure that the both of them would be safe. He grabbed ahold of her hoof and gave it a reassuring squeeze causing her to look up at him.

“Listen, I promise you that I will take care of you… BOTH of you. I’ll do whatever it takes! I promise you.” The stallion’s voice was strong and reassuring, giving the mare a little more hope than before.

“But… But your dream of being a famous Photographer.”

“Forget about my dream. What matters right now is you, me and the baby. I’ll do whatever it takes. My dreams can wait.”

The mare nodded not being able to come to terms with that outcome as tears continued to stream down her face. “No! I can’t let you do that! You’ve done so much for everypony! You deserve better than that! Just please just be selfish this one time and let me take care of it. Please…”

“But I can’t just-“

“Please… Please Picture. Just trust me when I say that I know what I am doing. Please.”

“But-“

“Please…”

Defeated, Picture Perfect let out a long sigh before asking, “Are you sure?” And with a simple nod it was answered. Despite his saddened look, emotions and demeanor he was able to put on a smile and look back at his marefriend who gave a saddened smile back to him.

“Can we… Can we still go to the park? The suns about to set and… I’d like to spend just one more day with you before I have to leave.”

At that the stallion’s smile died and with a soft voice he asked, “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. I am. I just can’t stay here. I have to go away… from everything.”

“Will I ever see you again?” The stallion asked hopefully.

The mare unfortunately shook her head. “No. I’m sorry but we might never see each other again.”

The stallion let out a sad sigh before he turned to the near setting sun. “Then let not waste a single moment.” And with that they walked to the park for one last date.

---

“Thank you for your kind hospitality Mr. Perfect.” Twilight was sitting down in on the couch inside of the Photographer’s apartment sipping away at a cup of tea given to her by Picture.

The stallion smiled at being able to please the Princess with that small gesture. “Think nothing of it. Anything for a Princess of Equestria.”

“Right.” Twilight was still getting used to being called royalty but now was not a time to fuss over such a small thing. She was helping Scootaloo and that is what she was determined to do the only way she knows how, “Mr. Perfect, I was wondering if you could tell us about 8 years ago?” …by being as straight and as forward as possible.

“Um… Excuse me?” The abruptness of Twilight’s question had caught him off guard as he expected something different like maybe she was going to tell him about an event where he could get exclusive photos. Oh well. A guy can dream, can’t he?

“Could you tell us anything about 8 years ago?”

He could not believe it! The newly crowned Princess came to his home just to ask a personal question… And out of nowhere! He just couldn’t help but wonder, “Just… Why?”

Twilight replied with a professional look about her, “Well we’re on the search for somepony somewhere in Equestria who disappeared about 8 years ago.”

“And you think that I might know something?”

“That is correct.”

“And what about the kid sitting next to you?”

“Oh… Scootaloo? She happens to be our biggest lead in trying to find this pony.”

For the first time ever Scootaloo was meeting her father and Twilight was introducing her! Scootaloo had to say something! Something awesome! Something memorable! But she had to play it cool like Twilight had told her to. Her mind was racing a million miles a minute thinking of all the things she could say and do when she came up with the perfect thing to say. The single most amazing thing to say at a moment like this! She lifted her hoof in a greeting manner and open her mouth- “…Hi…” only to end up immediately forgetting whatever she was going to say or do while she kept a dumbfounded look on her face.

“Uh, hi.” Picture Perfect did a quick double take on the filly before refocused on the princess. “I’m sorry to break it to you princess but I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to. You see, I am still suffering from partial amnesia from 8 years ago so I don’t remember anything about what happened in my life. I talked to a few of the guys at my orphanage and they told me that I was in some sort of relationship but none of them knew with who. I had apparently made a lot of enemies there that year… Oh well. You win some you lose some.”

“You have amnesia?”

“Partial amnesia, yes. The first thing I remember after my amnesia was waking up in front of the fireplace at the orphanage I was in and somepony throwing something into the fire before running off.”

Twilight remained with a stoic expression and kept her shocked emotions hidden for the moment. “Do you remember anything about the way the pony looked?”

“Sorry to tell you but no. My vision was a little blurry at that moment so I didn’t get a good look at them.” Twilight felt defeated, the one true lead that could help her the most doesn’t remember a single thing about anything that happened back then. It was completely futile “But-“ Or maybe not. “I was still able to save what she threw into the fire.”

Wait. What did he say? “She?”

“I’m sorry?” Picture paused when Twilight asked him the question.

“You said ‘she’. Are you sure you don’t remember anything about that day?”

“She? Why would I…?” The stallion shook his head to refocus on what he was doing. “N-No Princess. I swear, I don’t remember a thing.”

Twilight didn’t want to give up on the subject that easily but she knew better then to press on… for now. “Oh well. Just a minor detail. Please, continue.” Unlike what she said, it was not a ‘minor detail’ which is why she kept it in the background of her thoughts.

“Right. So the thing they threw in the fire was -Well, at least I think it was- a picture that I took. I still have it if you’d like to look at it.” Perfect finished off by turning slightly closer to a door on the other side of his apartment.

“Please,” was all that came out of the Princess’ mouth before the photographer went off to the room he pointed at coming out moments later with a binder clenched between his teeth.

He placed the binder down and flipped through the pages until he came to a near blank page with nothing but a burnt corner of a photograph placed in the center. He uncovered the page from its plastic covering and picked up the burnt corner, observing it as he spoke. “There was an address written of the back that luckily was not burned but for some strange reason every time I thought about going there something in my mind told me to ‘Stay away’ or just quickly find something else to focus on. It’s always bugged me.” He offered the “picture” to her highness who took it willingly. “I don’t know if this is something that’ll help but it’s probably the only thing I could give you that’s from around the same time.”

Twilight took the corner in her magic and examined it closely taking note of the address written on back along with the letter “y” which appeared to be the end of a word… or maybe a name. After observing the burnt piece of paper of a few more minutes she turned back to the stallion who had given it to her. “Thank you Mr. Perfect. This is possibly one of the most important pieces of information we may have received.” Only because without this we’d be at a dead end.

The stallion smiled at the princess. “Anything for you princess. I’m just glad I could help… potentially. I really hope you find her.”

There! He said it again! Why does he keep saying her when I haven’t told him about us actually looking for a mare? I wonder if he actually has amnesia. Or… Or maybe it’s… “Mr. Perfect, there is one last thing I’d like to ask of you, if you don’t mind.”

At that he seemed a bit confused. “Uh. Okay. I don’t think that there’s much more I can tell you but if you insist…”

“I would like to magically examine your mind Mr. Perfect. I have a sort of suspicion about something.”

Picture was taken aback to say the least. She wanted to look… INTO HIS MIND?! That was just crazy! Under normal circumstances he would flat-out just say “No!” but this was a princess he was talking to. He could trust her… Right? “Uh. O-O-Okay. I’m not sure what you’re looking for but go ahead.” He said as he leaned his head closer to the princess.

“This shouldn’t hurt or even take very long. It’s just a quick scan.” With that said the lavender alicorn light up her horn and began to search through his mind for something that could indicate that she was right. It took her nearly a minute before she found what she was looking for and she stopped her scan. “Just as I thought.”

Picture Perfect went back to his normal sitting position and looked at her majesty. “Wh-What did you find?”

Twilight looked at the stallion with slightly saddened eyes. “I’m sorry Mr. Perfect, but you don’t actually have amnesia.” The stallion only responded with a dumbfounded look. “There is a magical seal on a set of specific memories that just happen to be from 8 years ago. This type of thing can’t usually be done by a normal pony, especially at the quality used for yours. This type of work is usually done by a hypnotist. Someone skilled in mind-bending magic. I’m so sorry.”

Picture perfect was in complete and utter shock. “So…Someone… Someone just took my memories? They went into my brain and just locked it away?! But who would do something like this?”

“Well, the way hypnotism works is that the pony getting hypnotized has to be willing to do so.” Explained Twilight.

“So-So I…”

“You wanted to forget. But from what you’ve told me I have a different theory in mind. You were with someone, someone you cared for very deeply, and then something came up that. This her you keep mentioning was leaving for…” Here she took a quick look at Scootaloo and then back at Picture. “Something that was going to set you back. Possibly keep you from living the life you’re living now and she didn’t want you to have such a burden. So the both of you went to a hypnotist somewhere in…” She recalled the address on the corner. “Somewhere in Baltimare, your home town. When you were done being hypnotized you fainted and she either took you home or had help taking to there. When you got home she placed you near the fire place and took one last look at this picture,” Here she held up the corner and showed it to him. “-before throwing it into the fire as you started to wake up, causing her to panic and run out of the building before you could see her. She wanted to protect you, even if that meant leaving you. I’m so sorry Mr. Perfect. We won’t waste any more of your time now. Let’s go Scootaloo.” Twilight looked to where the filly was previously sitting down next to her only to find that she had made her way over to Picture Perfect, wrapping him in a hug.

At Twilight’s call the filly reluctantly let go of the very distraught stallion and walk out the door with Twilight. “…Bye.” Was the last thing she said before the door closed behind them leaving the shell of Picture Perfect to process what had just been said.

He sat there until long after the sun had set suddenly jerking his head upwards to look at the door muttering one single word as he recalled its significance to him, “…Scootaloo…”

Author's Notes:

Okay. Explanation time... It's my own fault I took so long. I am just easily distracted and every time I told my self to write something I found my self doing something else. I am sorry. I hope this chapter will make it up to all of you who enjoy this story.

In other news: This story is almost over. The plot that I concocted has enough content for about 2 or 3 more chapters. I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter, I was surprised twice by what exactly I wrote in this chapter. I think it might be one of my best chapters yet! A couple of things are awkward in this chapter I will admit but I am still amazed non-the-less. Anyways, thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter! Coming soon... I'll try my best to get it out to you guys(/girls). Promise!

Chapter 5

Okay, breathe. Just breathe. There’s nothing to be worried about. The mare thought to herself as she stared at the front door of a very familiar house.

“Alright Mom! I’m all packed up for heading back to Dad’s!” The mare said as she placed a large backpack near the front door in the foyer.

A fair unicorn mare who had a very light grey coat, a soft pink mane tail with the latter tied up near the end with a somewhat clear magenta ribbon that matched her eyes, walked into the foyer after her daughter, a saddened look made itself known on her face. She kept her eyes on her daughter as she said, “I still can’t believe you’re leaving so soon. You said that you’d be staying for at least another year. Maybe if you let me speak to your father I could-”

“NO!” The daughter rudely interrupted her mother. She chuckled nervously before she continued. “I-I-I mean, you can’t really. My father mentioned getting me the last ticket available and that he wouldn’t be able to wait for me there so I’m gonna have to ride the train alone or something like that.”

“I wonder what would’ve happened if I told her the truth.”

“Sweetheart? Are you hiding something from me?” The mother thought she could help out her daughter by stating what every child should remember... “You know you could talk to me about anything right?” …parental guidance.

“No Mom, I’m not! I swear to Celestia!” A thought wandered to her soon to be swelling belly. She looked up at her Mother and smiled. “You’d know if I was hiding something. We tell each other pretty much everything, right?”

“I guess you’re right.” The mother decided to drop the topic at hand.

“She probably could have helped me through all of it.” The mare felt nothing but utter shame at that moment. “Why did I have to be so stupid? If only I had said something.”

“Well, tell your father I said ‘Hi’ for me and be careful on the train.”

“I will mom, thank you.” And with a short hug, she pick up her luggage and walked out the door.

The mare calmed herself down by letting out a sigh. “I just hope she can forgive me.” With that said she looked back up, rose her hoof and gave the door a firm…

---

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Oh! Coming! Coming!”

“Okay. Now remember Scootaloo-“

“I know, I know, don’t say anything bad, just like with my dad.”

“Father…”

At that Scootaloo blinked. “… What’s the difference?”

Twilight just looked at the door and let out a breath she had been holding as she said, “More than you know.”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to ask another question but was interrupted by the door they stood in front of opened up and revealed a light grey unicorn with a translucent magenta ribbon in her greying mane just above and behind her ear. “Oh. Hello. May I help you?”

Twilight was first to speak up… Not that Scootaloo was given much choice as to that. “Yes. I’m here conducting an investigation and we were hoping you could help us.”

The mare looked over Twilight and Scootaloo before she looked back to Twilight and said. “An investigation you say? And would you happen to be the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle I’ve heard so much about?”

Twilight blushed sheepishly. “Uh, yes, but just Twilight’s fine.”

“Ah, apologies for asking, it just seems odd to me that a Princess and a filly wanted to talk to me of all ponies for an investigation.” She pointed out.

Twilight blinked at the realization of how ridiculous their situation sounded. “Oh. That. We’re actually looking for somepony quite special to little Scootaloo here.”

“I’m not little!” Scootaloo argued before getting a quick look from Twilight that told her to stay quiet.

Twilight looked back at the mare before continuing. “We’d actually like to ask you a few questions. Would you mind letting us in?”

The mare nodded and moved to the side to make room for her sudden guests. “Of course, …Twilight.” After Scootaloo and Twilight walked in the mare closed the door and lead them to her living room.

While being escorted through the house Twilight decided to look at what she could from where she was. “You have a lovely home Ms. …I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name.”

The mare smirked. “That’s because I haven’t given it yet.” The mare giggled before continuing. “My name is Pastel Light and I would think my home looks nice. I may be retired but an Interior Decorator always has to add a little “sparkle” to their home. Wouldn’t you say?”

Twilight smiled and nodded. Then she noticed that Pastel‘s cutie mark was of a ruler. Well, that explains her cutie mark. I just hope she something about Scootaloo’s mother. I feel like we’re so close to finding her and I was getting an idea of who it might be but that picture… I’m sure that “-y” was for the end of a name! It was probably a picture from her with a note on the back that signed somepony who’s name ends with a “y”, but who could that be? Rarity? Fluttershy? Gran- No! Definitely not her. And also, why am I trying to guess ponies from Ponyville? If the mother comes from here in Baltimare then why do I feel like I know her?

“Would you like some tea?”

Twilight was suddenly taken out of her train of thought by Pastel Light’s question. “Huh? Oh, um. Yes please.” was her quick response, realizing little of what she actually said after they made their way to the Pastel’s well decorated living room and onto her soft, designer sofa. Well, at least it looks like designer. Twilight never actually paid much to designers other than her friend Rarity.

Pastel Light let Twilight’s zone out go without a response and quickly left to collect the fresh tea she was making before her guests had arrived. She always made some extra tea just in case she had some unexpected guests. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it she always said. “So, you said you have a few questions you wanted to ask me?” She said as she poured each of them a cup of fresh, warm tea.

Twilight took a quick sip of her tea before replying, “Yes. We’d like to ask you what you know about roughly 8 years ago.”

Pastel’s eyes widened slightly at that. “Um, excuse me for asking but why ask me about something that happened 8 years ago? It just seems that what happened to me all of those years ago has no real relevance to somepony you’re trying to find now?”

“The pony we are looking for disappeared 8 years ago and we believe you may hold some information that might help us find them.” Twilight explained.

Pastel lowered her gaze to the flooring below them. “Oh. So you’re looking for her. It’s been so long. I thought everypony had given up searching for her.”

Her?! She knows who we’re talking about! Scootaloo, hold on to your tail because we’re about to find out just who your mother is! “Ms. Light, would you kindly tell us what happened?” Twilight knew that whatever happened was troubling this mare but she also knew exactly who they were talking about.

Pastel Light sighed before speaking. “It was the beginning of summer, my daughter had come to stay with me for a while.” She lets out a short chuckle. “I still remember her smile. She was so happy to see me after 3 years of being apart. You see, she lived with her father before then and we were never able to see each other very often. But then her father was promoted to a position that required him to travel all over Equestria, so we came to the agreement that our daughter could stay with me whenever he traveled away. And so he was sent out of Equestria and my daughter came to live with me. It was great at first, we had plenty of time to catch up with each other but after all of that was said and done thing started to get a little awkward between us. You see, she hadn’t made any friends while we were catching up so she stayed cooped up in her rooms most days. So I took it upon me to help her get out of the house. I suggested she that a walk through the park.”

“I don’t know whether she went to the park or not but when she came back she was smiling, telling me how she made a new friend. After that she would leave the house as soon as she could just to go meet her new friend. They spent a lot of time together. Eventually I found out that this new friend of hers was a colt named Picture Perfect. He was a nice young stallion I’ve seen around town a few times. He never really caused any trouble so I didn’t hold it against either of them when they started seeing each other as… a bit more than just friends.” Pastel laughed.

“It was about time too, I saw the way they looked at each other. Even if they didn’t realize themselves I knew they liked each other. It was rather cute seeing unfold from my kitchen window. He would always bring her home every time they went somewhere together. I got to see them grow closer to each other every night. I even saw the first time my daughter gave Picture a good night kiss. It was wonderful watching them grow so close to each other. But the he suddenly stopped coming over and picking her up.”

“I asked my daughter about it but every time she told me that she didn’t want to talk about it and go straight to her room. I don’t think she ever noticed but whenever I walked past her room I would hear her crying. I didn’t know why and it didn’t help that she had gotten a letter from her father saying how he was coming back to Equestria. She packed her bags so fast that I barely had a chance to say goodbye before she left. I wish I had taken her to the train station that day.”

“About a week later I sent a letter to her father’s house just to check up on how she was doing. When her father sent me a letter saying that she never made it home I immediately the worst. I went to ask Picture Perfect if he knew any about her disappearance but he couldn’t remember who I was or who I was even talking about. It had been as if his memory had been removed somehow. I wasn’t sure but… I think my daughter might have had something to do with that. She probably did it so that he wouldn’t feel hurt when she ran away.” Pastel began to cry. Bringing back those old, painful memories was beginning to become a little overwhelming for her.

“He had no idea where my daughter was… and he was the last pony she actually talked to. My daughter ran away and I have no idea where she went. I just want my little filly back. I just want to see her, to hold her one more time.” Her tears had stopped. It seemed as though she had cried all the tears she could years ago and nothing would change that.

Twilight looked at the aging mare. “I’m so sorry Ms. Light. I hope that in the end, we can reunite you with your daughter.” She waited for Ms. Light’s response which was just a simple nod. “By chance, would you happen to have a picture of her? Maybe in an album somewhere?”

The mare picked up her head. “Y… Yes. I was making an album for her when she was here with me. Something for her to remember me by when she moved back in with her father. I never got to give it to her. She was leaving so fast and I barely had time to even tell her goodbye I…” She stopped herself midsentence and decided to say something else. “It’s just over here.” She walked over to a nearby dresser and from the bottom drawer pulled out a large book titled “My Special Little Girl” in a collage of fonts and colors.

She placed it on the coffee table in front of Twilight and Scootaloo so the two of them could get a good look at it, despite how dusty it might be. Twilight was the one to pick up the book first using her magic. “By the way Ms. Pastel, I never got the chance to ask you. What’s her name?”

“Her name is-”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Pastel was interrupted by someone knocking at her door. “Oh. That’s strange. I wasn’t expecting any visitors today. Excuse me a moment Prin… I-I mean, Twilight.” She walked out of the room and towards the front door.

Twilight took this opportunity to open up the album and take a look inside. She was absolutely speechless from what she saw.

“Twilight? What is it? What do you see?” Scootaloo was getting a little anxious sitting there quietly not being allowed to talk and so decided that now would be a good time to ask Twilight what was going on. However she got no response. So she took matters into her own hooves and decided to climb over Twilight to take a look inside the book herself… but she stopped herself when she heard something come from the hallway.

“Hey… Mom. Long time no see, huh?” Mom? But if Pastel’s my grandmother then the only pony that would call her Mom would be…!!! Scootaloo made a mad dash for the hallway running as fast as her little legs would carry her. This was it. This was her chance to finally meet her Mom! She just had to run into the hallway and-

SLAP!!!

Scootaloo ran into the hallway just in time to see Pastel slap the mare that stood in the doorway before pulling her into a bone crunching hug letting out new tears that must have formed from the sheer happiness she was feeling at that very moment.

However, the way Pastel was hugging her made it so that Scootaloo couldn’t see who it was that she was hugging. So she walked closer as Pastel cried, “You’re back… Ooooh, you’re finally back… My little girl is finally home… Oooh, I’m so happy you’re back… I’ve missed you so much…”

Scootaloo inched ever closer. Making her way around Pastel and FINALY she is able to look at her mother in the face. However, when she saw her mother’s face a look of sheer heartbreak took over her whole being. Her mother opened her eye in time to see Scootaloo back away from her slowly without breaking eye contact for a single second.

“S-Scootaloo I’m…” She stopped herself. She had no words for this. She couldn’t look at her own daughter in the eyes and tell her how sorry she was. She was completely and utterly speechless.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have to because Scootaloo made a dash for the door and didn’t stop running. Tears pouring down her cheeks she ran further and further away from the one pony known as her mother.

The mother could only watch as Scootaloo ran out the door and beyond. She wouldn’t dare move in fear of making things worse than it already is.

Twilight however did move, but it wasn’t to catch Scootaloo. No instead she marched right up to the mother, a look of anger drowning her face making her look as though her calm and peaceful demeanor never even existed. Twilight grabbed the mother her with her magic and pulling her so close that their noses were pressed tightly against each other and near growled, “Explain. Why did you do all this? What was the point?! Why even go through all of the trouble of giving her up for adoption if you were just going to take care of her anyways? Talk!”

“I-I-I…” The mother was still unable to speak a single word.

“I said TALK Rainbow Dash!!!”

Author's Notes:

Oh my GOD it feel so good to end it off like that!!! Oh my god. Does it always feel this good when you get to the climax? ... Please don't answer that.

Alright so first off I have to thank Windy The Warrior for helping me come up with Pastel Light's name and Cutie Mark. It was taking me so long to come up with one but thanks to him I finally have one.

Secondly, The mother has been reveled! For those of you who have been trying to guess just who the mother might be... You were right. It was Rainbow Dash. (*Sarcastically* Oh no, what a shocker...) Yeah, so that happened. But I have some really good news for you guys! College is almost over and I am quitting one of my jobs to do the other full time during the summer! How is this good news for you? Well, my second job is sitting in an office and pushing a big... red!... BUTTON!!! And they pretty much let me do whatever I want in between button pushes. Whether it is playing on my 3DS, going on YouTube or even writing FanFiction (That's how I was able to write this chapter). So you can be expecting more of my work coming out in the next few months. So get excited!!!

Finally, I am both proud and sad to say that there is one or two (Most likely one) chapter(s) left to this story. I'm pretty excited to have a 100% completed fanfic for the very first time. But I am also a little sad because I loved writing this story so much. So I have a question for all of you. Do you think this story needs a sequel? Now, before you start screaming "YES!!!" all over the comments I would like you to know that the sequel would be more of a family-based story instead of an adventure it'll be about... Well... Spoilers! Not gonna spill to much. Just going to stick with what I said. So would you like to see a sequel? Yes or No? It is your choice! And may the odds lean one way or the other... What? Did you think I was gonna quote the Hunger Games or some thing? Ha, funny.

Chapter 6

Just watching Scootaloo run out of the house like that was too much for the speedster to handle and she burst into tears of shame and guilt. Running on nothing but pure emotions and instinct, Rainbow Dash started running towards Scootaloo only to be stopped by something holding onto her tail. When she stopped trying to get away she saw that it was none other than her mother, Pastel Light, who was holding her back by her tail. With tears in her eyes she said “Mom! Let me go! I have to follow her!”

Looking at her daughter and letting go of her tail she replied with a knowing, “She’ll come back.”

Still riled with emotions, Rainbow Dash looked back at her mother and angrily questioned, “How do you know?”

Pastel just looked at her daughter lovingly. “Because you did?”

---

Having ran through the streets of Baltimare and grabbing the quick attention of the ponies she ran past, Scootaloo collapsed into a heap of orange, purple and tears against an ally wall. She didn’t know how much time had passed sense she got there and frankly, she did not care as she bawled and bawled only stopping to mutter the word “Why?” to herself every now and then. She cried and cried until her tears ran dry then she cried some more. Only when she couldn’t cry any longer was when she was able to hear someone else in the alley with her. However, they were not here for Scootaloo. No, the sounds she heard were sounds of pain. They were… of someone crying. Crying for their own reasons.

Scootaloo wiped her face of her tears just to make out the small, blurry, gray form of someone near the alley’s other wall looking away from Scootaloo crying their own tears of sadness. Her vision was still a little blurry from her tears but she was able to make out the form of someone about her size lying in front of the one who was crying.

Scootaloo wiped her face of her tears again so that she could see whoever it was that was barely two meters from herself and what she saw was something that would make anything with a heart sad. What she saw was a puppy barely a month old crying while sitting next to, what could only be assumed as, its mother who was lying on the ground, cold and lifeless. She saw the puppy morning over the loss of its mother. She saw a puppy that was now going to live its life alone because it will never have the chance to live with its mother ever again. She saw the puppy and heard it howling wanting the comfort of its mother for which it will now never receive.

She saw this and felt an overwhelming need to do something. So she got up, walked over to the puppy, sat down and pulled the puppy up to her chest to give it a hug that they both so desperately needed. The puppy was so caught up in its crying that it never noticed the little orange filly that was now hugging and comforting it.

They remained like that until the puppy cried no more and when it finally noticed the little orange pegasus that was holding it, it nuzzled closer to her but only after giving her a little lick on her cheek. Scootaloo looked at the puppy who had just licked her and nuzzled it back as best as she could possibly nuzzle it before setting it back on the ground.

The puppy however didn’t want to leave her side and just crawled onto her lap, giving her its most legitimate sad puppy dog eyes it would ever have in its life. So Scootaloo put the dog back on the ground and laid down so that the puppy was able to crawl onto her back which the puppy gladly did. Scootaloo got up and was ready to leave the alley but first she said a quick “Good-bye.” to the puppy’s mother before leaving the alley with the puppy in tow.

Scootaloo didn’t know her way around and had no idea what to do with the puppy so she did the first thing that came to her mind. She began asking ponies where she would be able to find the nearest animal shelter was. After getting some directions from some very helpful ponies and a few minutes of walking Scootaloo and the puppy arrived at the Baltimare Public Animal Shelter where they were greeted by a smiling earth pony holding a small bag of cat food and standing behind the counter. “Well hello there.”

Scootaloo and the puppy’s moods didn’t actually improve from when they were in the ally and when the stallion behind the counter noticed how upset they both were, his tone of voice changed to a softer more caring voice. “Hey, are the two of you okay? You both look pretty upset.”

Scootaloo lowered her head slightly and softly said, “We’ve had a long day.”

“Is there something I can do to help?”

Scootaloo looked up at the stallion and asked, “Could you take this puppy? I found it crying in an ally sitting in front of… its mom. She-She… She wasn’t moving.”

The stallion made his way out from behind the counter and walks over to Scootaloo all the while saying, “Oh the poor thing.” He lifted the resistant puppy off of her. “You did the right thing bringing her here.” He directed towards Scootaloo.

“Will… she be okay?” Scootaloo asked worry for the puppy’s safety.

The stallion holding the now calmed puppy smiled at her reassuringly and told her, “Yes, she will be well taken care of and by the looks of how small she is, it shouldn’t be too long before somepony comes and adopts her. It’s still a shame though. She’ll never be able to see her mother ever again. All living things deserve to be with their mother’s until they’re ready to leave but that was just taken away from her, the poor thing.” The stallion sighed and shook his head before shifting his focus back to Scootaloo. “Is there anything else you need help with before I get her registered?”

Scootaloo once again sagged her head and didn’t even look the stallion as she shook her head. “N-No. That’s all I wanted to know. Thank you.”

She then walked out of the shelter, still sagging her head as thoughts ran through her mind. Why do I feel so bad? I should be feeling happy. I help a lonely puppy get closer to having a family again. But… I still feel bad. What did I do?!

She’ll never be able to see her mother ever again.

“Sh-she won’t ever get to be with her mommy ever again…” Scootaloo’s eyes shot open when she realized what she had done. Her head shot up and she ran as fast as she could to fix her mistake.

---

“Mom, I’m… I’m sorry I… I didn’t mean-“

“I don’t blame you, dear.” Pastel Light interrupted her daughter. “From what I’ve seen, you were only doing what you thought was best for everyone you know. No pony can blame you for that. I just wish you told, at least me about it. I could have help you through it all. You didn’t… You didn’t have to run away like that.”

Pastel’s words were such a great surprise to Rainbow Dash that she couldn’t help look at her with a shocked and sad expression on her face. She wanted to say so much in that moment that she had no idea what to say at all. So instead she turned her away from her mother and let her tears come out slightly harder than before.

“But in the end, I’m just glad you came back home Rainbow Dash. Despite the fact that you most-likely came back for… Scootaloo, was it? Now we can talk about what’s happened and hopefully work everything out.” She smiled at her daughter who weakly smiled back at her. “Speaking of which, who is her father? I don’t remember your father saying anything about you having a colt friend.”

Rainbow Dash just let out a small chuckle as she wiped away a few of her tears. “Actually, do you remember that colt I hung out with who I just called my friend? Well… Let’s just say that we were just friends only on the day I actually met him.”

Pastel gasped. “You don’t mean that picture fellow!”

“That’s the one!”

This made Pastel quite ecstatic. “Oh, how wonderful! Are you still seeing him? Do you live with him now? You must tell me everything, sweetheart!”

Rainbow’s smile quickly turned into a frown at her mother’s outburst. “Actually, the day I told him that I was pregnant was the last day I saw him.” She paused and took a few shaky breaths. “Before I left, we went to a hypnotist pony and we… he… I… I made him forget everything about me.” Tears started to pour from her eyes once again. “I-I told him not to worry. That I would take care of her. That he shouldn’t give up on his dream. That I would go find him someday so that he could meet his child. I-I promised him so much… and I couldn’t keep a single one of them.”

Twilight couldn’t take this anymore. A lot of pain could have been saved that day if she had just told Scootaloo who she actually was. But she could also see how much it all has hurt her friend and she didn’t want to see her shed another tear. “That’s not true!” Rainbow’s whimpering quieted down at Twilight’s interjection. “You did keep your promises! You watched over Scootaloo sense the day she was born and even though you put her into an orphanage you still looked out for her. That’s why you still live in Ponyville to this very day. And Picture Perfect did follow his dream. He’s the best photographer in all of Equestria thanks to you! And he did meet Scootaloo. That’s how we were able to know to come here.”

“You… talked to perfect?” Rainbow Dash turned here widened tearful eyes towards the lavender alicorn. “Does… Does he remember anything?” She asked, a small hopeful tone in her voice.

Twilight shook her head and replied, “Sorry. By the looks of it the hypnotist you took him to did quite a good job hiding away his memories and the only way he could get them back would be if something or someone reminded him of back then or if the hypnotist who casted it removed the spell themselves.”

“S-So… Unless I talk to him he won’t remember?” Rainbow asked a little disappointed.

Twilight shook her head once more. “No. He won’t.”

Rainbow looked down sadly. “Tha… That’s good. I-I don’t want him to ruin what he has just for me.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Pastel Light was able to handle a lot of things. Having your child run away from you hurts pretty hard and having to get over something like that would make any pony strong… but when she heard her daughter talking so lowly of herself… She just couldn’t accept that. “I won’t let you speak about yourself that way! If you don’t want him to change his life that’s fine but you shouldn’t blame yourself for wanting him to love you again.” Her tone softened as she continued. “You still love him. Ever sense the day you met him I knew that you two loved each other…” Pastel let out a quick snicker before she continued. “And I knew that every time you “snuck” out of the house was to see him.”

Rainbow quickly looked wide eyed at her mother. “Wha… You-You knew?!”

“Oh sweetheart,” She began. “You weren’t exactly the quietest of escape artists.”

“Oh, heheh. Right.”

Twilight decided to interject once again. “I think we’re all missing the point here. Scootaloo is gone and none of us have gone after her.”

Pastel replied with a simple, “Oh, don’t worry about that your Majesty. In fact she should be back fairly soon.” Having said that, everypony was able to hear a set of quickly clopping hooves heading in their direction. “Perfect timing. Ehem, Twilight would you mind joining me in the living area?”

Confused, Twilight complied and went with Pastel into the other room leaving Rainbow Dash in the foyer as she had turned her entire body to face the door as the hoofsteps slowed down behind the closed door.

“Scootaloo” was the only thing Rainbow Dash was able to say before the door she stared at began to slowly creep open.

Once there was enough space and Scootaloo made her way through the door, she immediately made direct eye contact with Rainbow Dash. For a moment neither of them spoke a word. They only stared at each other, neither of them wanting to look away from the other. But the silence had to come to an end.

“I’m sorry!” Both of them spoke at once, both apologizing to each other simultaneously. They both paused giving the other a chance to speak.

Rainbow Dash was the first to take the chance to say something. “Look… Scootaloo I… I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner but… I-I was afraid that you still weren’t old enough to understand.” She sighed before continuing. “To be honest, I don’t even understand it. I just… I-I wanted to be with you so badly that I couldn’t just give you up. So I watched you as you grew up. I watched you take you first steps, I saw you when you first got your scooter, I watched you go to your first day of school… but I couldn’t be there with you. I wanted to tell you so badly but... I didn’t know how or when to say it. I really wish that I could’ve been there for you instead of just watching you from far away.”

Rainbow had to take a breath before she continued. “And then there was the day you asked be to become your sister. I was so happy that you were letting me into your life but… I was also heartbroken because it only became harder to tell you that-that…” Rainbow Dash choked up as she once again had tears running down her eyes. “Scootaloo… I’m your mom.”

With the only sound being Rainbow Dash openly crying Scootaloo to small, short steps towards her mother before she quickly ran up to her and enveloped her in the biggest hug she could muster as she too began to cry. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t know why I ran away like that. It’s just that… when I saw it was you I couldn’t help but think of all the times you could’ve told me but didn’t and-and…” She shook her head and wiped away a few tears. “I don’t want to lose you!”

Rainbow Dash was caught off-guard by that. She had not been expecting Scootaloo to be so excepting of her once she found out the truth but before she could ask Scootaloo spoke again. “I-I don’t care if you lied to me. I don’t care if you gave me up for adoption. I just don’t want to be away from you anymore. I want you to be my mom. I want to go home with you. I want us to be a family. Please. Don’t let me be alone anymore.”

Rainbow Dash was dumbfounded but quickly wrapped her hooves around her daughter and held her close once again as mother and daughter as she proclaimed, “I will never leave you ever again. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that never happens.”

“I think I know someone who could help you with that.” Both of the pegasi’s heads snap to the direction of the voice only to see Pastel Light standing there smiling.

“Mom?”

“But before I do anything to help I think it’s about time you two came into the living area so that we could all become a family together. After all, this is the first day that I get to spend with no longer missing daughter and my long lost granddaughter. We have quite a bit to catch up on so let’s hop to it.” She walked back into the living room urging Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to follow after her.

“Should-Should we follow her?”

“Well, she is your grandma. Come on. Let’s go be a family.”

---

“Wait, there’s still something I don’t understand.” After everyone settled into the living room and began talking to each other they all decided to fill in all of the missing pieces to Twilight’s investigation. “On the back to the picture you left with… Well, Picture. There was a “y” on the back of it which I was positive was the end to a name. But you name doesn’t end that way. So why was that on there?”

“Dashy.”

“Dashie?”

“It’s what Picture used to call me back then. It was a pet name like the ones that happy-go-lucky couples still do to this day.” Rainbow Dash had replied with a look that said ‘Well duh!’ to anyone who looked.

It took Twilight a few seconds to quickly figure something out in her head. “Wait. So you spelled Dashie with a “y” instead of an “ie” at the end of it?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Because you misspelled it.”

Rainbow’s eyes slightly widened. “I did what now?”

“Oh that seems like something Rainbow Dash would do. She never really was the best speller but ask her to fly somewhere and she’d do it in… Oh, what was the expression you used to use? Oh! Now I remember. She’s say,-

“I’ll do it in 10 seconds flat.” Both Rainbow and Pastel said the phrase simultaneously, everyone laughing as they did so.

Rainbow then suddenly stood up. “Well. It’s getting pretty late and the train will take quite a while to get home.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“Don’t worry mom. We’ll be back to visit soon.”

“We?”

Rainbow turned her head to look at Scootaloo. “You’re coming with me right?”

Scootaloo looked wide eyed at her mother. “Does… Does that mean…?”

“We’ll go fill out the papers in the morning.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but let her tough girl demeanor falter once again as she cried tears of joy while she ran into her mother, hugging her around the base of her neck.

Rainbow just picked up Scootaloo and laid her on her own back before looking back at her mom. “Happy Mother’s Day mom.”

Pastel smiled before she replied, “Happy Mother’s Day to you as well… Rainbow Dash.” And with that, everyone went back to their homes, except for Scootaloo who for the first time she could remember stayed with her very own mom.

The End

Author's Notes:

Well, that was it. The final chapter to "Have You Seen My Mommy?" has been published. This is the first fic that I have ever written to completion. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story, I suprisingly put a lot of heart and soul into this and I would appreciate it if any of you could let me know of any way I could fix either this chapter or any other chapter so that this story can become even better than it already is. I really appreciate all of you for reading my story and would love it if you could share it with as many people as you can. And for those of you wanting more of this be sure to watch out for an up coming epilogue and a sequel after that starting the one and only Picture Perfect. Once again I thank you all for reading this and hope to hear from all of you when the epilogue and the sequel are released. I'll see you all next time.

Epilogue

1 month and 3 years later:

“Happy Birth Day, Scootaloo!”

It had been three years sense the mother’s day where Scootaloo found out that Rainbow Dash was her mother and although it they had a rough start over time they were able to turned their relationship back around because the very next day, Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo back to the orphanage to adopt her. It had been a rough start for the two of them but with a little help from each of their friends they were able to get past that rough point and get to the point where they were both comfortable with calling each other Mother and Daughter.

They were in the middle of celebrating Scootaloo’s birth day. They were celebrating in Sugar Cube Corner and had invited many of Scootaloo’s classmate including her best friends. She had just blown out the candles on her birthday cake having everyone cheer for her as per tradition.

“So whad’ja wish for?” Apple Bloom was first to talk after the crowd had cheered.

“I can’t tell you!” Scootaloo retorted. “It won’t come true if I do that.”

That’s when Sweetie Belle decided to give her two bits. “Yeah Apple Bloom, you don’t want to jinx Scootaloo’s wish right.”

“Aww, horse apple! Everypony knows that there’s no such thing as a jinx.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle just stared at their clueless friend in shock and fear. “What? Was it somthin’ ah say?”

[hl]

“We’re very proud of how you’ve handled your responsibility Rainbow Dash. This is very mature of you.” Twilight was talking to Rainbow Dash as they both poured themselves a glass of punch.

“Thanks Twilight. I really appreciate it. And thank you I wouldn’t even be able to handle any of this if wasn’t for everyone’s help.” Rainbow looked down at her punch as she spun it around in the cup before drinking it. “I don’t know where I’d be without you guys.”

Twilight smiled as she replied, “You’re very welcome.”

“Grandma!” The sound of Scootaloo’s voice was heard from across the room as Pastel Light entered Sugar Cube Corner.

“It looks like your mom was able to make it this time.”

“Yeah. I took a note from you and asked her to come about a month ahead of time.” Rainbow took finished her punch before she continued. “I’m gonna go say ‘hi’. Don’t wait up for me, okay?”

“Rodger!” Twilight mocked a salute as the rainbow maned pegasus as she walked away.

Rainbow was walking towards her mom who was helping Scootaloo cut her cake and passing out pieces to everyone but something stopped her. She stopped in her tracks when she heard a knock at the front door. No one else seemed to notice the knocking so Rainbow took it upon herself to answer the door. She grabs the handle with her hoof and yanked the door open to see a very familiar looking pegasus standing behind it.

It was an orange-coated pegasus stallion with a dimming light-blue mane and a camera around his neck. Rainbow Dash knew exactly who this was. How wouldn’t she recognize this pony?! How could she ever forget about what she had done to Picture Perfect?

Rainbow Dash just stood there, frozen in shock. Why was he here? There’s no way he could have remembered her and there was no way for him to find out where she lived. So why was he here… Or… No, actually, why was he here?

Rainbow forced on a fake smile and staggered a bit as she said, “H-Hello. C-Can I help you?”

Picture just stood there for a sec before he replied, “Hello, Dashie.”

Author's Notes:

Um... Hello? ...Is it safe to come out? No one's gonna burn me at the stake, right? ...Right?

Well everyone, I'm really sorry I haven't updated this in... 7 months. I'd like to say that I have an excuse for this... even a bad excuse would work but... the truth is that I just to lazy to do anything about it. I'm really sorry.
But recently I've been getting a little bored at work and I started writing again to help pass the time. It's not a lot but at least it's a place to start right?

Anyways, I realized Valentines Day was coming up and I thought that this little chapter would be a good present for you guys. I do hope you guys like it.

In other news I am going to be coming back into the writing game though I won't be uploading very often. I just wanted to let you guys know what I have planned. So first is what you all want to here. this story is going to be getting a sequel. It's going to be a one shot but it will be from the perspective of Picture Perfect in his quest to find his long lost marefriend and daughter. Next, my first fimfic (How to Cross a Broken Bridge) will be coming out of hiatus soon. I plan to add a few more chapters before it ends. Finally I have a new story that I've been planning for a while. It's going to be an Epic Fantasy Adventure story inspired by Critical Role (If you haven't watched it I highly recommend doing so. It's awesome).

Well, thank you guys and girls for reading my story. I hope you all enjoyed it and that you have a happy Valentines Day. Hope to see you soon!