Secret of a Shy Pegasusby TimeLord_WhoovesChaptersThe SecretThe TalkThe DilemmaThe TruthThe SecretIt was late; the usual chatter from the nocturnal animals seeped in through the windows as Fluttershy, Ponyville’s resident animal caretaker, was trying to get some sleep. She tossed in her bed, unable to find peace in her dreams. “Oh, Rainbow Dash. How nice to see you, come in,” a younger Fluttershy said, stepping to the side of her door to allow her friend in. “How are you?” The younger Rainbow Dash began pacing. “Fluttershy, something’s been bothering me.” “What is it?” “You,” Rainbow said as she turned to face the yellow pegasus. “W-what about me?” Fluttershy replied, her voice beginning to fail her. “I can’t believe you’re still here waiting for that guy! He left, don’t you get it? No matter what he said or what you think, he’s gone and he’s not coming back!” Rainbow shouted, stomping her hoof. “You’re wrong!” Fluttershy shouted, closing her eyes to hide the tears forming in them. “He’ll be back. He promised he’d come back… He promised…” “I know you want to believe that, but you have to accept the fact that he’s gone.” Fluttershy burst out crying, dropping down to the floor as she put her hooves over her eyes. Rainbow put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “H-He said, n-no matter what h-happens, h-he’d a-always be there for me,” Fluttershy sobbed. Rainbow lay down next to her crying friend and hugged her. “I know Flutters, I know.” The two lay there as Fluttershy continued to cry into her friend’s mane. Rainbow Dash running her hoof comfortingly through the sobbing mare’s mane. It was a while before she began to calm down. “Fluttershy?” “Hmm?” “This may not be the best time, but we should probably also talk about that,” Rainbow said, pointing to the bulge in Fluttershy’s belly. Fluttershy cringed with a quiet whimper. “What are you going to do with it?” “I… I don’t know yet,” Fluttershy replied softly, her voice was a bit hoarse from her crying. “You’re not seriously thinking about keeping it are you?” Fluttershy looked up at her friend with sadness in her eyes. “Well, I don’t really see why not, I mean, I am it’s mother, I’m very caring, and I have a home for it.” “Fluttershy, this cottage is filled with animals! It’s no place for a foal,” Rainbow said as she waved her hoof around the cottage. She sighed, “What it needs is a mother who isn’t going to struggle to make ends meet just to take care of it. You already take care of all these animals; you don’t need the pressure of taking care of a foal too.” “But I can’t just abandon it, that’s horrible. What would ponies think if they knew I abandoned my foal?” “Frankly, I’d be more worried what they think if they found out you had one in the first place. It’s not exactly normal for pony your age to be having foals; you’re barely old enough to be living on your own.” Fluttershy got up and sat herself on her comfy armchair, looking at her friend pleadingly. “I know I could take care of a foal,” she said, her confidence draining. “Look Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said flatly.” If you want to keep it, then keep it; but it ain’t gonna be easy. You’re far too young to take care of a foal and you know it. And you know that he’s not coming back to take care of you.” Fluttershy just sat in her chair, cradling her bulging belly, tears starting to fall down her cheeks again. Rainbow sighed. “It’s your choice Fluttershy, but I really think it would be better for the both of you if you gave it away.” Fluttershy began sobbing quietly again. She knew Rainbow Dash was probably right, but she just couldn’t bear the thought of her little foal given to some family far away where she wouldn’t be able to see him or her ever again. Rainbow shook her head and left her friend sobbing in her chair. Fluttershy could feel the tears on her cheeks, but what woke her, was the tears pooling on her pillow. She slowly got up, rubbing her eyes gently. It was just a dream, Fluttershy. Just a dream… Even if it really did happen… Looking up at her clock, Fluttershy realized that it was about time to get up anyways. She rolled onto the floor, made her bed, wiping the tears off of her pillow, and walked into her bathroom. Perhaps a nice soothing, hot bath is just what I need to get these thoughts out of my mind. As she drew her bath, her mind kept turning to her dream. Stop it, that’s not helping anypony. She dipped her hoof in to test the water. It was just a little warmer than she wanted it, but she’d get used to it. She lowered herself into the hot water and instantly relaxed. It was as if the water had washed away all her fears and sadness and left nothing but calm, contentedness. After she finished her bath, Fluttershy quickly set off to drying herself off and styling her mane back into its usual long, curl. The animals would be waking up soon and she needed to get their food out before they got upset. “That should be everyone’s bowl,” Fluttershy finished five minutes later. She cleared her throat and sang out, “Okay everyone… breakfast.” Animals came rushing out from their cages and holes in the walls, some coming in through the windows, and even some larger animals came in through the door. “How are all of my special friends doing today?” There was a general chatter that rose up from this question, every squeak and squawk sounded bright and positive. Angel Bunny came running through the crowd of animals and hopped up on the mare’s back, hugging her neck tightly. Fluttershy smiled. “It’s so good to know you’re all happy.” She laughed as Angel bounded off her back to his bowl. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. “Just a second,” Fluttershy called as she made her way around the many bowls, doing her best not to step on anyone’s tails or other body parts. When she finally reached the door, she opened it to find three very familiar fillies standing there, each holding a clipboard. Her eyes wandered over the Crusaders and stopped on the young pegasus of the group. Without warning, her mind jumped to another old memory. She was in immense pain. There were ponies standing around her, one of them kept telling her to breathe, over and over. It was starting to get annoying. Finally, she gave a mighty push and the room was filled with the cries of her newborn foal. “Congratulations,” came a voice from her left, “It’s a girl.” The nurse gently handed a tiny bundled magenta maned, orange pegasus filly to Fluttershy. She looked down on her newborn daughter and smiled. “Sh-She’s so beautiful,” she said in awe. “What are you going to name her?” Fluttershy’s smile faded into a pained frown. “I… I still need to think about that,” she replied softly. *** Fluttershy was sitting in her cottage, her new filly still in the basket Fluttershy had brought her home in. She just sat in her chair, looking at the bundled up foal, thinking. What if Rainbow Dash is right? What if I can’t handle taking care of a foal? A tiny, baby bunny hopped up to them, curious about what was in the basket. He peeked his head over to look inside the basket and frowned in confusion. He poked the little part of the foal that wasn’t wrapped in its blanket, causing the filly to start crying. Fluttershy looked up at her daughter again, the crying instantly catching her attention. “Angel bunny, be gentle with her,” Fluttershy said as she stepped over, picked up the bundle in her hooves, and began to cradle her gently. “She’s younger and more fragile than me or you.” Angel just looked up at Fluttershy and at the wrapped up filly. He hopped up into Fluttershy’s hooves and tried to push the bundle out of his way. Fluttershy instantly pushed Angel off her hooves with her muzzle. “No Angel! You mustn’t hurt her, she’s precious.” Angel tried again to hop into Fluttershy’s cradling hooves but was met with the side of her hoof, causing him to fall back to the floor. Fluttershy lowered her hooves and looked down at the bunny in worry. She didn’t swat him away; she only raised her hooves higher so he couldn’t jump into them. Seeing the bunny look so hurt on the floor sent a shock through Fluttershy’s body. Oh no, Rainbow was right. I can’t take care of my animals and a foal. More critters began to gather round Angel, all looking up at her with curious eyes. She couldn’t take it, what if she hurt another of her animals trying to keep her foal safe? She didn’t want to think about it. She started to panic. Without thinking, she placed the little wrapped up filly back in the basket, grabbed the basket’s handle in her mouth, and ran out the door. It was dark and cold out. Fluttershy began to cry silently as she ran with the little basket up the street. She didn’t stop until she reached a tall, stone building. She looked up to make sure she was where she wanted to be. The sign above the door read, Ponyville Orphanage. She hesitated, whimpering slightly and looking up and down the street to make sure nopony was around. Reassuring herself, she slowly made her way up the stone steps. She set the basket down in front of the door and peered inside it. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered to the orange filly snuggled in the basket. With new tears filling her eyes, Fluttershy quickly knocked on the door and fled as fast as her hooves could take her. “Fluttershy!” the orange pegasus filly shouted, snapping Fluttershy back to reality. “Are you okay? You spaced out for like a whole minute there.” “Oh… Yes, I’m sorry. I was just … thinking… What can I do for you girls?” “Will you sign our petition to save the Ponyville clock tower?” Apple Bloom asked, pushing her clipboard up to Fluttershy. “Mayor Mare wants to tear it down so they can build a parking lot.” “It’s a big part of Ponyville’s history you know?” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “And it will get us our cutie marks for sure this time,” Scootaloo added proudly. “Oh, yes, of course. Let me just get my quill and I’ll sign it.” “I have one right here!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly. Fluttershy smiled, took the quill from the filly, and signed the petition, saying, “There you go; one signature.” “Thanks Fluttershy!” All three of the Crusaders shouted as they took the clipboard and quill. As they turned to walk away, Fluttershy began to tear up again. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. “What?” Scootaloo asked, turning to face Fluttershy again. “N-no, nothing!” Fluttershy sputtered, “I-I was just saying sorry about the clock tower.” “Oh,” Scootaloo said, brightening up. “Don’t worry, we’re on the case! We’ll save it, just you see. Bye Fluttershy!” Fluttershy watched her run to catch up to her friends, a sad smile spreading across her face. “I’m so proud of you.” As she walked back into her cottage, Fluttershy began to sob. She walked over to her couch and flopped herself down onto it, pulling one of the pillows on it close and cuddling it. Angel Bunny watched as his friend flopped herself on her couch and cautiously made his way up to her. Hopping up next to her, he gently hugged the crying mare’s foreleg. “Oh, Angel. Don’t w-worry. I-I’m fine.” *** Fluttershy hummed to herself as she walked out of her kitchen, not really paying attention to anything in particular. As she bounced to her tune, her gaze drifted up to her clock. She immediately stopped bouncing. “Oh my, is it that time already?” She quickly scooped up Angel and ran out the door towards town. Fluttershy was greeted by the owner of the toy store as she entered. She slowly walked around, looking for the perfect gift. Every year, I buy a nice, well thought out gift for Scootaloo’s birthday. I also buy a small meaningless one. She left the toy shop with a large, wrapped box on her back and a small one in her saddlebag. Making sure she wasn’t being followed, she then made her way over to Sugar Cube Corner, where Scootaloo’s birthday party was going to be held. While everypony is out, I sneak in to the party, and leave the big one, without a name of course… She walked up to the table where there was already a couple of presents and placed the large present on it. She looked at the gift and felt tears welling up in her eyes. The meaningless one has my name on it naturally. I keep it for when I show up at the party… If I have the courage to show up, that is. Angel, noticing that Fluttershy was crying again, hopped onto the table and up into her hooves, giving her his most comforting of hugs. Without either of them noticing, Pinkie Pie was watching from the top of the stairs. She had just been about to go down to add her own presents to the table when Fluttershy had walked in. Seeing that Fluttershy seemed to not want anypony to know she was there, she stayed out of sight. I know it’s stupid, but I see it as my way of saying… “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you… My poor baby.” Fluttershy turned and left, leaving Pinkie Pie alone at the top of the stairs. Pinkie’s eyes began to water as understanding dawned on her. *** “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTALOO!” The orange pegasus filly instantly brightened. She practically rose a couple of inches in excitement and joy. “Thank you everypony,” she said, running up to the table with her presents, making everypony around laugh. “Open the big one! Open the big one!” Apple Bloom shouted in excitedly. Chuckling, Scootaloo said, “Geez, you seem more excited than I am.” Without another word, she complied. Fluttershy watched happily from her spot in the corner, by herself. “Oh wow!” came Scootaloo’s voice from the table, causing Fluttershy’s smile to grow. “It’s so cool! Look at this you guys.” “Wow!” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “That’s awesome!” It filled Fluttershy with such joy to know how much Scootaloo liked the gift, but also sadness, knowing that the filly wouldn’t know that it was from her. “It’s a very nice gift Fluttershy.” Fluttershy turned to face the voice in shock. “You should be proud of yourself,” Pinkie Pie said, turning to face the shocked mare. Fluttershy just stared. How did she know? “Don’t worry about it,” Pinkie continued, a tear falling from her eye. “I won’t tell anypony.” The Talk“But… how do you know?” Fluttershy asked. “I saw you bring it in earlier. Not that I meant to spy on you, of course, you just walked in when I was about to come downstairs with my gifts,” Pinkie explained. “Pinkie, you have to promise me, you won’t tell anypony about this,” Fluttershy demanded, a little more sternly than she had meant to. Pinkie was slightly taken aback at the forcefulness of Fluttershy’s request. “I really think-” “Just promise me, Pinkie, please.” Fluttershy’s pleading eyes were just as effective as her infamous “stare”. Pinkie sighed and gave in to the yellow pegasus’ soft, worried eyes. “Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie said as she went through the motions of the Pinkie Promise. “But, there is something I’d like to know,” Pinkie said, frowning slightly. “If it’s okay to ask, of course.” Fluttershy tensed. “Uh… I-I don’t know,” she responded weakly. “If you’d rather talk about it somewhere else, that’s fine too.” Fluttershy contemplated for a moment, she didn’t really want to answer any questions, but Pinkie already knew anyways. It would simply be unkind to leave her in the dark. “O-okay,” Fluttershy said softly after a full minute. “I’ll answer your questions… later.” Satisfied, Pinkie trotted off to go enjoy the party with everypony else, leaving Fluttershy alone to worry about the questions Pinkie was going to ask. The rest of the party was fairly uneventful, Scootaloo and her friends played with her presents for a bit before the cake was brought out by Pinkie. Aside from Scootaloo ending up with about half of the cake smeared across her face by her enthusiastic friends; it was just like any other birthday party. As the guests began to leave, Fluttershy wondered whether she could sneak out and avoid being questioned by Pinkie, at least for today. I mean, I know she’s not going to leave me alone until she gets her answers... Pinkie seemed to be busy cleaning up the wrapping paper and confetti scattered about the room, this was her chance. Quietly, Fluttershy made her way to the door with the last few party-goers and managed to slip out of the door unnoticed by Pinkie Pie. She sighed in relief and trudged on towards her cottage. Thankfully for Fluttershy, it seemed that Pinkie wasn’t going to come and confront her about everything tonight. The cottage was filled with its usual chatter as Fluttershy laid herself down on her bed, pulled the covers up to her neck, and fell into an uneasy sleep. *** KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Fluttershy looked up from the book she had been reading and turned towards the door. “Fluttershy, open up, would ya?” The yellow mare put the book down on the coffee table and slowly got up to answer the door. As she opened it, she was met with a rather large bouquet of all kinds of colorful flowers. “Surprise!” shouted the white stallion behind the wall of flowers. “Oh my, what’s this for?” Fluttershy asked, taking the bouquet and smelling all the wonderful flowers. “Well, you know the try outs for the Wonderbolts was today…” Fluttershy let out a great gasp. “You mean, you made it into the Wonderbolts!? Oh, what about Rainbow Dash, did she make it too?” “I’m afraid they were only looking for one new pony for the team this time…” “Oh, poor Dashie, she must feel so bad, not making the team,” Fluttershy said, dropping her head slightly. “Hey, aren’t you happy that I got in? Now that I’m a Wonderbolt, I can give you anything you want. Just name it and I can get it for you.” “Oh, I’m sorry. Of course I’m happy for you,” Fluttershy said, walking over and giving the stallion a tight hug. “Congratulations on making the Wonderbolts, Rapidfire.” Rapidfire smiled and returned the hug. “Well, this was only a quick visit. I’ve got to get back to HQ. I’m supposed to start training early tomorrow but I should be able to come by again in the evening. See you then.” Before Fluttershy could say anything else, the door swung shut behind Rapidfire. Fluttershy sighed, admiring the flowers. She walked over to her kitchen to get a vase for them when there came another knock on the door. “Did you forget-” Fluttershy started to ask as she opened the door. She was taken aback as a fuming Rainbow Dash stormed in the second the door was open. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, is everything okay?” Rainbow Dash turned towards Fluttershy so fast and with such hostility, it caused Fluttershy to cower. “No, everything’s not okay!” Rainbow shouted. “Your stallion friend is quite possibly the worst scum I’ve ever met!” “W-what?” Fluttershy asked incredulously. “What could he have possibly done to make you think that?” “He broke into my house and turned off my alarm clock! I woke up so late today that I completely missed the Wonderbolts try outs!” Fluttershy was backing further into the corner of the room, her voice getting so soft that Rainbow Dash could barely hear it. “H-how can y-you b-be so sure i-it wasn’t just that you f-forgot to set it?” Fluttershy whimpered from her corner. “Because I left like a bagillion notes around my place telling me to set my alarm clock, I even left one on my pillow so that I wouldn’t fall asleep before setting it!” “B-but why would he break into your place just to turn off your alarm?” Fluttershy asked, a slight tone of anger entering her voice. “Because he knows he can’t beat me in fair competition! He knows that if he hadn’t sabotaged me, I’d have won, hooves down!” “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little?” Fluttershy asked, walking over to her friend from her corner. “There could be countless reasons why your alarm wasn’t set this morning, but I know Rapidfire. He wouldn’t do something like that just to win.” “Yeah well, he did. And I seriously think you should rethink staying with him. He’s a cheat and a jerk and an all around bad pony to be around.” “Rainbow Dash! Did you forget, he’s been your friend for years and he’s been nothing but nice to me ever since we met. How could you even say something like that about your friend?” “Whatever, you just wait and see. He’ll screw up eventually and when he does, don’t come crying to me.” With that, Rainbow Dash flew out of the door as fast as she could, causing it to slam shut behind her. Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. Rainbow was her closest friend, but Rapidfire was her stallionfriend. She decided to ask for his account when he visited tomorrow, which he never did. *** “Fluttershy!” The pegasus rolled over and put her pillow over her head. “Fluttershy!!” She sat up, looking around for the source of the voice calling her name. “Fluttershy, I need to talk to you!” She walked over to her window and looked out. Standing in front of her door was Scootaloo. Fluttershy’s mind reeled. Scootaloo? Oh no, could Pinkie have told her about me? But Pinkie would never break a pinkie promise, but then, what is Scootaloo doing here? “Fluttershy, are you gonna come to the door or what?” Scootaloo called up, seeing the yellow mare peeking her head out of the window. “J-just a moment,” Fluttershy called down, startled at having been caught staring from the window. She hoped Scootaloo didn’t think she was avoiding her now… Fluttershy made her way to the door as quickly as she could, without stepping on any of her animal friends, and opened the door to let the young pegasus filly in. Scootaloo immediately flopped herself down on the couch at which Fluttershy gently settled herself onto her comfy armchair, after moving a sleeping kitten. “S-so, what’s the matter Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked, a little uncertainly. “W-well… I’ve been having doubts,” Scootaloo said, her head drooping. “Doubts about what?” “My flying… I mean, even before I started learning to fly from Rainbow Dash, I haven’t exactly had the strongest wings.” Fluttershy stretched out her own wings for a second and folded them back against her sides, feeling her own weaker wing muscles and looking at Scootaloo with an apologetic expression. Scootaloo didn’t notice and continued talking. "I'm worried Rainbow Dash might start feeling like I'm a lost cause. What if she decides that she doesn't want to teach me anymore." Fluttershy’s expression turned from apologetic to concern for the little filly, after all, she knew exactly what Scootaloo was experiencing right now. “And well… Rainbow doesn’t exactly listen to me when I try to talk to her about this, she just brushes it off and continues with the training session. That’s why I came to you. You’re always there for your friends and you’ve helped me and my friends before, so I felt you’d actually listen to me now.” Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Well, you know, I wasn’t always a good flier. In fact, only recently have I gained a little confidence in my flying ability. Like you, I wasn’t born with the strongest wings and I was picked on for it.” Scootaloo raised her head to look Fluttershy in the eyes and listened intently. “You had the very good fortune of having lived in Ponyville though, where nopony could care less how well you can fly, that’s one of the reasons why I moved here in the first place. You do know that I was born in Cloudsdale, right?” Scootaloo shook her head. “No? Well, I was, and as you do know, Cloudsdale is populated by nothing but pegasi. It’s a lot different growing up around pegasi. If you can’t fly well, you’re looked down on and bullied for it. That only made it harder for me to gain the confidence I needed to fly well. The one thing that kept me going then, was Rainbow Dash, she was my only friend back then and she always encouraged me to keep trying my best even when I fell and she never ever gave up on me. If you have a pony like Rainbow Dash teaching you, you’ll be flying in no time,” Fluttershy finished with a big smile. “Wow, Rainbow is that good of a teacher?” “The best, just listen to her encouragement. So long as you have one pony rooting for you, you’ll find the strength to fly, I just know it. And if she does decide to stop teaching you, which is very unlikely, I can teach you to fly, though I'm not the best teacher. But know that I'll always be rooting for you. Woo Hoo." “Thank you so much Fluttershy, you’re the best!” Scootaloo said as she jumped up from the couch and gave a very startled Fluttershy a tight hug, which she returned. Scootaloo shifted a little, the hug seemed different than when most other ponies hugged her. This hug felt warmer, more secure, it seemed to melt all of her worries away. She didn’t know what to make of it, but before she could get too comfortable, she looked up at the clock. “Oh my gosh! It’s that time already? I’m gonna be late for my flying lessons today!” Scootaloo said as she jumped out of Fluttershy’s embrace. “Thank you for listening to me Fluttershy, and for helping me find the confidence I needed.” With that, Scootaloo rushed out of the door, leaving Fluttershy sitting there with a sad look in her eyes, her hooves stretched out, reaching for the comforting mass of warmth that was her daughter. The pony she had never gotten the chance to hold so close, so lovingly… until now. And just like that, it was gone again, beyond her reach. “S-scootaloo…” Fluttershy managed to get out before bursting into tears. The DilemmaIt was a long time before Fluttershy calmed down enough to move from her couch. When she finally did, she looked over towards her fireplace. Up on the mantle was a picture in a silver frame of her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they had stayed the night with her. Her eyes fell on the small orange filly sitting in the center, smiling brightly and hugging her two friends tightly together. “I think I should tell her the truth. What do you think Angel?” Fluttershy asked, scooping the bunny up in her hooves. In reply, Angel’s stomach growled and his cheeks flashed red. “Oh, well then I guess we’d better get you something to eat,” she said as she headed for the kitchen. Fluttershy opened cupboard after cupboard only to find that all she had left to eat was broccoli… that had gone bad. “Oh my, looks like we’re going to have to go to the market.” Angel’s stomach growled loudly again. “And fast.” Fluttershy put on her saddle bags, jotted down a quick shopping list, and went out back to check the animals’ food. Might as well stock up on everything if we’re going to the market. She went back inside to pick up Angel and settled him on her back before making her way into Ponyville proper. The market was fairly empty, being so early. Fluttershy only just then realized how early Scootaloo had woken her. Many of the market stall must just now be opening. Sure enough, as she looked down the road there were unmanned stalls and some just now opening their curtains and setting up their wares. “Let’s hope that the stalls we need are open,” Fluttershy said, turning her head to face Angel before walking up the road to visit the Carrot’s stall. It didn’t take long to get everything on her list. All the stalls were already open by the time she got to them, with the exception of two, celery and cherries. She managed to get all of her shopping done in ten minutes. Fluttershy was starting to head home when her vision was filled with pink and she was knocked backwards to the ground letting out a stifled shriek while the contents of her saddle bags to spilled everywhere. “I finally found you Fluttershy!” the pink mass shouted excitedly. “Pinkie? What’s going on? Why did you suddenly attack me?” Fluttershy asked, tears in her eyes. “I didn’t attack you, silly. I just tackled you,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile so big, nopony else could match it. “Sorry I made all of your groceries spill all over the place though, let me help you pick them up.” With one blurred motion, Pinkie picked up everything and stuffed it all back into Fluttershy’s saddle bags before hopping back in front of her. “Well, thank you, but you shouldn’t be tackling ponies,” Fluttershy said, trying to keep her voice level. Pinkie just smiled, ignoring what Fluttershy said, and bounced excitedly saying, “Fluttershy! You’ll never guess what I saw last night after the party!” Fluttershy just stood there, waiting for Pinkie to tell her. “Come on, you’re supposed to guess,” Pinkie said flatly. “Oh, uh…” “I know where Scootaloo lives!” Pinkie shouted before Fluttershy could say anything else. “What?” “I know where Scootaloo lives,” Pinkie said again, stressing each word. “Jeez, do I hafta spell it out for ya?” “No, I mean, I thought Scootaloo lived…” It was just then that Fluttershy realized that she didn’t actually know where Scootaloo lived, or who her foster parents or parent was. “Well of course she lives; she wouldn’t be walkin’ and talkin’ if she didn’t live.” “Never mind that. How did you find out where she lives?” Fluttershy asked, mentally berating herself for not knowing already. “Well, last night, after the party, I followed Scootaloo home because I was worried when she was the last to leave. I offered to take her home but she refused, saying she would be fine, she always walks home alone. But since I was worried, I followed her to make sure she would be fine but I had to keep hiding and she kept walking around the same block for like an hour, like she knew I was following her or something. But then she finally started walking down this one street and did you know she still lives in the orphanage?” Pinkie finished without taking a single breath. “What?!” Fluttershy shouted in her usual soft tone disbelievingly. “You mean, she’s never been adopted?” “Well, I went and checked to see if she had been adopted before but then went back for some reason, cause I knew you’d want to know once I told you that she still lives there, but the pony at the front desk said that Scootaloo has been there ever since they found her on the doorstep. Apparently nopony wants to adopt a filly who doesn't have a known parent, something about possible health risks later in life, ponies would rather have a foal they could be sure won't have any issues.” Fluttershy just listened with her hooves covering her mouth and her eyes watering. “I’m such a horrible pony!” Fluttershy shouted as loudly as she could while turning to run back home. “Fluttershy, wait!” Pinkie shouted after her, but Fluttershy was crying too loudly to hear her. Pinkie sighed and her face and mane dropped sadly. “Pinkie Pie? What’s the matter?” Pinkie looked up with tears in her eyes to look at the pony now standing next to her which turned out to be a group of ponies. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all standing around Pinkie, all with curious and worried expressions. Upon seeing tears in Pinkie’s eyes, Rarity asked, “Pinkie, darling, what happened? Are you alright?” Pinkie just sat there, in the middle of the road, staring at them all, her lower lip quivering. “C’mon, Pinks. Ya can tell us anything,” Applejack said in her most reassuring voice. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, moving in front of her. “I made Fluttershy cry!” Pinkie shouted in Twilight’s face as she began to sob openly, causing Twilight to jump back in shock and fall onto her back. After helping Twilight to her hooves, Rainbow Dash asked, “How did you make her cry?” “I d-don’t know,” Pinkie said through her sobs. “I guess I s-said something w-wrong.” “Pinkie, I’m sure that whatever happened, we can work it out,” Twilight said after dusting herself off. “B-but, I thought it was g-gonna make her h-h-happy, but she j-just started cry-ing and ran away!” “Pinkie, just calm down an’ tell us what ya said ta Fluttershy,” Applejack said, rubbing Pinkie’s back comfortingly. “I-I can’t t-tell you.” “What? Why ever not?” Rarity asked, confused. “Because I made a Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and said, “Oh,” simultaneously. “Well… Is there any way you could tell us what’s going on without telling us what you promised to not tell?” Twilight asked cautiously. “I can’t even tell you using hypothetics, Pinkie Promises have rules ya know,” Pinkie replied haughtily. “But I can give you some details.” Pinkie just sat there again, not saying anything. Twilight and the others were all subconsciously moving closer to her, waiting for her to speak. Getting impatient with Pinkie, Rainbow shouted, “Tell us already!” “Jeez fine! You don’t gotta be so mean,” Pinkie said indignantly. “You said you could tell us some details,” Twilight said, trying to bring Pinkie back on topic. “What can you tell us?” “Well… I can tell you that it’s about Scootaloo and I told Fluttershy about Scootaloo living in the orphanage-“ “Well no wonder you made her cry!” Rainbow shouted, cutting off Pinkie. “You do know that Scootaloo is her-“ Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves to her mouth before she could say any more. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all staring at Rainbow now. “Scootaloo is Fluttershy’s, what exactly?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash hovered above her friends for a moment, deliberating with herself before dropping down to the ground defeatedly. “Grr, it’s not like she could keep it a secret forever!” she shouted at nopony in particular. “Scootaloo is Fluttershy’s daughter!” Everypony gasped and stared at Rainbow in disbelief. “Wait,” Pinkie said, putting her face into Rainbow’s. “You knew too?” “Of course I knew, I’ve been friends with Fluttershy longer than anypony. What I’m wondering is how you found out, ‘cause I know she wouldn’t tell anypony about it herself.” “I found out on accident, right before Scootaloo’s birthday party,” Pinkie replied. “Okay, so you both knew,” Twilight said before Pinkie could go off on a whole story which would undoubtedly turn into some random inconsequential thing. “Now that we all know, can you tell us what it is that you said to make Fluttershy cry?” “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore,” Pinkie said, considering. “I told her that Scootaloo hasn’t been adopted ever since she left her there.” “What!?” Rainbow shouted. “How is that even possible, I thought she had been adopted a long time ago.” Pinkie shook her head sadly. “I went and asked one of the mares that works at the orphanage and she told me Scootaloo’s never been adopted. Ponies are worried she'll have issues since nopony knows who her mother is.” “Well, whatever happened, we need to go and comfort Fluttershy and convince her to do the right thing,” Twilight said as she began to walk up the road towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Author's Note It's finally here. Sorry it took so long to get this done, better late than never right? Hope y'all enjoy. The TruthKNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. “Fluttershy, open up!” The yellow pegasus walked over to her door cautiously and looked through the peephole. Standing just outside her door were her friends. “Fluttershy, we need to talk to you!” Twilight called through the door. “Go away and leave me alone!” Fluttershy shouted back. “Fluttershy, please open up.” She was only met with silence. “Come on, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Why don’t you want to talk to us?” “Because I’m a horrible pony who isn’t even brave enough to raise her own daughter,” Fluttershy sobbed at them. “Being afraid does not make you a horrible pony, Fluttershy,” Rarity said soothingly. “Many ponies are afraid of being parents.” “But they don’t abandon their foals like I did!” “That may be true,” Twilight said through the door, trying to keep her voice as calm and comforting as possible. “But you’ve still got a chance to fix that mistake.” “How can I make this any better, Twilight?” Fluttershy sobbed at her. “Ya can take responsibility and go get yer daughter back,” Applejack said rather angrily. “What if she doesn’t want to be with me after she finds out about what I did?” Fluttershy cried. “Having a mother and being upset at her is better than being alone and sad,” Pinkie said, her voice dripping with sorrow. “Scootaloo has nopony at the orphanage who cares for her.” There came no response from Fluttershy at this. She turned her head to the window and looked out into the sunlight, tears streaming down her face. Twilight and the others waited to see if Fluttershy was going to open the door. Five minutes passed in pure silence, until Rainbow Dash began to get impatient. “Wouldn’t you have rather known your mother, Fluttershy?” Rainbow shouted angrily. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all stared at Rainbow with looks of shock. “Her mother died when she was little,” she said in response to her friends’ stares. Fluttershy simply started to whimper behind the door, just loud enough for them all to hear. “You know the difference between you and Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked, her tone dropping to one of soft concern. “She has the chance to know her mother, if you’d go and tell her the truth.” Fluttershy stopped sobbing and opened the door just enough so they could see her face. “I-I just can’t,” she said, her voice wavering. “I c-couldn’t bear her b-being a-angry with me.” “You don’t know for sure if she will be angry with you,” Twilight said soothingly. “You just have to take that chance and hope that she will just be happy that she knows that she has a mother who loves her.” At this, Fluttershy opened the door all the way and looked at her friends. They all had reassuring looks on their faces and Twilight was holding out a hoof to her. “I-I don’t want to go alone,” Fluttershy said softly, looking down at her hooves. “We can all go with you,” Twilight said, to which everypony nodded in agreement. “Oh, thank you all,” Fluttershy said as she began hugging all of her friends tightly. They all began walking to the orphanage but once they got to town square, three certain fillies ran across their path. “Hey, sis,” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle piped up. “What are you all doing out here… You’re not looking for us are you?” “Well, yes and no,” Rarity responded with a small smile. “While we were hoping to run into you three, we weren’t actively looking for you.” “Why were you hoping to run into us?” Scootaloo asked, cocking her head to the side. “Well, squirt, we have something we need to tell ya,” Rainbow said, hovering over to the orange pegasus filly. “Well, more specifically, Fluttershy needs to tell ya.” Fluttershy visibly tensed up. “Oh, well, what was it you need to tell me, Fluttershy?” “Oh… um, w-well…” Fluttershy started, looking to her friends for support. They all just nodded eagerly at her. “Uh… H-how about we just walk and talk?” Fluttershy asked, letting her nerves get the better of her. “Okay…” Scootaloo said unsurely. Twilight and the others all sighed and shook their heads, though they brightened up a bit when they noticed that Fluttershy was at least walking to the orphanage. “What’s goin’ on?” Apple Bloom asked the rest of them. “Well, sis, Fluttershy is going to tell Scootaloo a very important secret that she’s been hiding for a long time,” Applejack answered with a smile. “Really?” Sweetie Belle asked loudly. “Yes, darling, but you have to keep quiet until Fluttershy tells her,” Rarity said after taking her hooves away from her ears. She knelt down to Sweetie Belle’s level and whispered, “Now, don’t get too excited but, Fluttershy is actually Scootaloo’s mother.” Sweetie’s jaw opened wide and she was about to burst out screaming but Rarity put her hoof to her sister’s mouth just in time. “What did I say about keeping quiet?” Rarity said sternly. “She’s going to tell Scootaloo any moment now, when she does, then you can let your excitement out.” Sweetie Belle nodded and looked at Apple Bloom with a huge smile. Before anypony could say anything else however, Fluttershy nervously called back, “Y-you coming?” Everypony jumped and scrambled to catch up with the two pegasi. They all walked along, nopony saying anything. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, all were getting more impatient as they walked along in silence. The orphanage was now in sight and Scootaloo began to get nervous. “Uh… You never did say what you wanted to talk to me about…” Scootaloo said as they got closer to the old building. Fluttershy just looked directly ahead of her as she walked, not answering the young filly. That is, until they reached the front of the orphanage where Fluttershy finally stopped and turned to Scootaloo who was quivering as she turned from the building to face Fluttershy, her eyes full of worry. “Are you happy here, Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked keeping her tone even. “W-what do you m-mean, am I happy here?” Scootaloo asked nervously. “D-do you mean, in Ponyv-“ “You know what I mean, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, her voice still even and devoid of emotion. “Are you happy at the orphanage?” “What does she mean, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked, stepping ahead of the group. “I-I don’t know,” Scootaloo said defensively. “I don’t live here.” “Don’t lie, Scootaloo, I already know that you’ve been here your whole life,” Fluttershy said, a little more sternly than she had meant to. Scootaloo’s ears splayed back as she asked, “H-how do you know that?” Fluttershy took a deep breath and said, calmly, “Just tell me if you’re happy here first.” “I… I…” Scootaloo suddenly broke down crying as she shouted, “I live in an orphanage… What do you think!?” Fluttershy moved to put her hoof around the filly, but Scootaloo pushed it away and dropped to the ground sobbing. “Nopony cares about me here, I have no friends here and I’m so ashamed that I live here, that the friends that I do have, don’t know anything about it! Would you be happy, living like that?” Scootaloo asked, looking up to look Fluttershy in the eyes. Fluttershy shook her head and moved closer to the sobbing filly. She said in her most comforting voice, “I… I just want you to know that… you don’t have to stay here anymore.” “Huh?” Scootaloo said as she gave Fluttershy a perplexed look. “What I meant to say before…” Fluttershy started before shaking her head. “What I’ve meant to tell you for a long time now is… that I’m actually your mother, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo backed away, her eyes still full of tears and now confusion. She asked, “A-are you really m-my mother?” Fluttershy nodded, putting on a small, sad smile. “Then why?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Why did you leave me here all alone? I’ve been miserable here! Why didn’t you keep me and raise me yourself?” Fluttershy began to cry softly. “Because… because I w-was afraid. I didn’t know how to take care of a little filly and I was afraid of what other ponies would say… I was so young when I had you and I was also already taking care of animals, I couldn’t take care of all of you at the same time, I just… I just didn’t know what to do.” “S-so you chose your animals over me, your own daughter!?” Scootaloo asked incredulously. Fluttershy shook her head. “I just had too much to handle, I gave many of the animals away too.” “What about my dad? Why didn’t he take care of me?” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “He doesn’t know about you… He left me before you were born. You wouldn’t want him to take care of you anyways, he turned out to be an even worse pony than I am.” Scootaloo ran up and hugged Fluttershy tightly saying, “You’re not a bad pony. Even though you couldn’t take care of me yourself, you still looked after me, you’ve always been there when I needed somepony. I don’t care that you left me, you stayed close enough to keep an eye on me and help me when I needed help. Even if I wasn’t living with you, you still acted like a mother would.” Scootaloo sat there crying in Fluttershy’s hooves. Their friends smiled brightly at them, deciding not to disturb their moment. It was a while before Scootaloo broke free from Fluttershy and she gave her mother a watery smile before saying, “Thank you for telling the truth.” Fluttershy smiled back warmly. Seeing this as a cue, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran up and gave Scootaloo a huge hug. “This is great!” Sweetie Belle said, her voice cracking. “Yeah, though, we are a bit sad that you felt you couldn’t tell us that you lived in the orphanage, we are so happy for ya!” Apple Bloom said excitedly. Scootaloo smiled and returned their hug, saying, “I couldn’t be happier. I finally found out that my mom is the kindest pony I’ve ever met and she wants to take me back!” “This is all so wonderful!” Everypony turned to the door of the orphanage. Unbeknownst to them, one of the mares who ran it came outside to see what all the commotion was about and stumbled onto the touching scene. She smiled brightly at them all and said, “I’ll go and get the paperwork ready. Scootaloo, you should go and get your things packed and be quick, we’re going to get through all the paperwork in a jiffy.” Without another word, the mare ran back into the building. Fluttershy nodded at Scootaloo and they both followed, Scootaloo going up the stairs to get her things and Fluttershy over to the front office where the mare was waiting. It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to finish all the paperwork and Scootaloo was already waiting outside the office. Fluttershy grabbed Scootaloo’s hoof and lead her out the door, the mare still in the office waving them goodbye. Their friends had already left, thinking it best that they get time to be together for a while. Fluttershy turned to Scootaloo, a warm smile on her face, and said, “Shall we go home then, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo returned the smile and said, “Yes… Mom.”
The SecretIt was late; the usual chatter from the nocturnal animals seeped in through the windows as Fluttershy, Ponyville’s resident animal caretaker, was trying to get some sleep. She tossed in her bed, unable to find peace in her dreams. “Oh, Rainbow Dash. How nice to see you, come in,” a younger Fluttershy said, stepping to the side of her door to allow her friend in. “How are you?” The younger Rainbow Dash began pacing. “Fluttershy, something’s been bothering me.” “What is it?” “You,” Rainbow said as she turned to face the yellow pegasus. “W-what about me?” Fluttershy replied, her voice beginning to fail her. “I can’t believe you’re still here waiting for that guy! He left, don’t you get it? No matter what he said or what you think, he’s gone and he’s not coming back!” Rainbow shouted, stomping her hoof. “You’re wrong!” Fluttershy shouted, closing her eyes to hide the tears forming in them. “He’ll be back. He promised he’d come back… He promised…” “I know you want to believe that, but you have to accept the fact that he’s gone.” Fluttershy burst out crying, dropping down to the floor as she put her hooves over her eyes. Rainbow put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “H-He said, n-no matter what h-happens, h-he’d a-always be there for me,” Fluttershy sobbed. Rainbow lay down next to her crying friend and hugged her. “I know Flutters, I know.” The two lay there as Fluttershy continued to cry into her friend’s mane. Rainbow Dash running her hoof comfortingly through the sobbing mare’s mane. It was a while before she began to calm down. “Fluttershy?” “Hmm?” “This may not be the best time, but we should probably also talk about that,” Rainbow said, pointing to the bulge in Fluttershy’s belly. Fluttershy cringed with a quiet whimper. “What are you going to do with it?” “I… I don’t know yet,” Fluttershy replied softly, her voice was a bit hoarse from her crying. “You’re not seriously thinking about keeping it are you?” Fluttershy looked up at her friend with sadness in her eyes. “Well, I don’t really see why not, I mean, I am it’s mother, I’m very caring, and I have a home for it.” “Fluttershy, this cottage is filled with animals! It’s no place for a foal,” Rainbow said as she waved her hoof around the cottage. She sighed, “What it needs is a mother who isn’t going to struggle to make ends meet just to take care of it. You already take care of all these animals; you don’t need the pressure of taking care of a foal too.” “But I can’t just abandon it, that’s horrible. What would ponies think if they knew I abandoned my foal?” “Frankly, I’d be more worried what they think if they found out you had one in the first place. It’s not exactly normal for pony your age to be having foals; you’re barely old enough to be living on your own.” Fluttershy got up and sat herself on her comfy armchair, looking at her friend pleadingly. “I know I could take care of a foal,” she said, her confidence draining. “Look Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said flatly.” If you want to keep it, then keep it; but it ain’t gonna be easy. You’re far too young to take care of a foal and you know it. And you know that he’s not coming back to take care of you.” Fluttershy just sat in her chair, cradling her bulging belly, tears starting to fall down her cheeks again. Rainbow sighed. “It’s your choice Fluttershy, but I really think it would be better for the both of you if you gave it away.” Fluttershy began sobbing quietly again. She knew Rainbow Dash was probably right, but she just couldn’t bear the thought of her little foal given to some family far away where she wouldn’t be able to see him or her ever again. Rainbow shook her head and left her friend sobbing in her chair. Fluttershy could feel the tears on her cheeks, but what woke her, was the tears pooling on her pillow. She slowly got up, rubbing her eyes gently. It was just a dream, Fluttershy. Just a dream… Even if it really did happen… Looking up at her clock, Fluttershy realized that it was about time to get up anyways. She rolled onto the floor, made her bed, wiping the tears off of her pillow, and walked into her bathroom. Perhaps a nice soothing, hot bath is just what I need to get these thoughts out of my mind. As she drew her bath, her mind kept turning to her dream. Stop it, that’s not helping anypony. She dipped her hoof in to test the water. It was just a little warmer than she wanted it, but she’d get used to it. She lowered herself into the hot water and instantly relaxed. It was as if the water had washed away all her fears and sadness and left nothing but calm, contentedness. After she finished her bath, Fluttershy quickly set off to drying herself off and styling her mane back into its usual long, curl. The animals would be waking up soon and she needed to get their food out before they got upset. “That should be everyone’s bowl,” Fluttershy finished five minutes later. She cleared her throat and sang out, “Okay everyone… breakfast.” Animals came rushing out from their cages and holes in the walls, some coming in through the windows, and even some larger animals came in through the door. “How are all of my special friends doing today?” There was a general chatter that rose up from this question, every squeak and squawk sounded bright and positive. Angel Bunny came running through the crowd of animals and hopped up on the mare’s back, hugging her neck tightly. Fluttershy smiled. “It’s so good to know you’re all happy.” She laughed as Angel bounded off her back to his bowl. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. “Just a second,” Fluttershy called as she made her way around the many bowls, doing her best not to step on anyone’s tails or other body parts. When she finally reached the door, she opened it to find three very familiar fillies standing there, each holding a clipboard. Her eyes wandered over the Crusaders and stopped on the young pegasus of the group. Without warning, her mind jumped to another old memory. She was in immense pain. There were ponies standing around her, one of them kept telling her to breathe, over and over. It was starting to get annoying. Finally, she gave a mighty push and the room was filled with the cries of her newborn foal. “Congratulations,” came a voice from her left, “It’s a girl.” The nurse gently handed a tiny bundled magenta maned, orange pegasus filly to Fluttershy. She looked down on her newborn daughter and smiled. “Sh-She’s so beautiful,” she said in awe. “What are you going to name her?” Fluttershy’s smile faded into a pained frown. “I… I still need to think about that,” she replied softly. *** Fluttershy was sitting in her cottage, her new filly still in the basket Fluttershy had brought her home in. She just sat in her chair, looking at the bundled up foal, thinking. What if Rainbow Dash is right? What if I can’t handle taking care of a foal? A tiny, baby bunny hopped up to them, curious about what was in the basket. He peeked his head over to look inside the basket and frowned in confusion. He poked the little part of the foal that wasn’t wrapped in its blanket, causing the filly to start crying. Fluttershy looked up at her daughter again, the crying instantly catching her attention. “Angel bunny, be gentle with her,” Fluttershy said as she stepped over, picked up the bundle in her hooves, and began to cradle her gently. “She’s younger and more fragile than me or you.” Angel just looked up at Fluttershy and at the wrapped up filly. He hopped up into Fluttershy’s hooves and tried to push the bundle out of his way. Fluttershy instantly pushed Angel off her hooves with her muzzle. “No Angel! You mustn’t hurt her, she’s precious.” Angel tried again to hop into Fluttershy’s cradling hooves but was met with the side of her hoof, causing him to fall back to the floor. Fluttershy lowered her hooves and looked down at the bunny in worry. She didn’t swat him away; she only raised her hooves higher so he couldn’t jump into them. Seeing the bunny look so hurt on the floor sent a shock through Fluttershy’s body. Oh no, Rainbow was right. I can’t take care of my animals and a foal. More critters began to gather round Angel, all looking up at her with curious eyes. She couldn’t take it, what if she hurt another of her animals trying to keep her foal safe? She didn’t want to think about it. She started to panic. Without thinking, she placed the little wrapped up filly back in the basket, grabbed the basket’s handle in her mouth, and ran out the door. It was dark and cold out. Fluttershy began to cry silently as she ran with the little basket up the street. She didn’t stop until she reached a tall, stone building. She looked up to make sure she was where she wanted to be. The sign above the door read, Ponyville Orphanage. She hesitated, whimpering slightly and looking up and down the street to make sure nopony was around. Reassuring herself, she slowly made her way up the stone steps. She set the basket down in front of the door and peered inside it. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered to the orange filly snuggled in the basket. With new tears filling her eyes, Fluttershy quickly knocked on the door and fled as fast as her hooves could take her. “Fluttershy!” the orange pegasus filly shouted, snapping Fluttershy back to reality. “Are you okay? You spaced out for like a whole minute there.” “Oh… Yes, I’m sorry. I was just … thinking… What can I do for you girls?” “Will you sign our petition to save the Ponyville clock tower?” Apple Bloom asked, pushing her clipboard up to Fluttershy. “Mayor Mare wants to tear it down so they can build a parking lot.” “It’s a big part of Ponyville’s history you know?” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “And it will get us our cutie marks for sure this time,” Scootaloo added proudly. “Oh, yes, of course. Let me just get my quill and I’ll sign it.” “I have one right here!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly. Fluttershy smiled, took the quill from the filly, and signed the petition, saying, “There you go; one signature.” “Thanks Fluttershy!” All three of the Crusaders shouted as they took the clipboard and quill. As they turned to walk away, Fluttershy began to tear up again. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. “What?” Scootaloo asked, turning to face Fluttershy again. “N-no, nothing!” Fluttershy sputtered, “I-I was just saying sorry about the clock tower.” “Oh,” Scootaloo said, brightening up. “Don’t worry, we’re on the case! We’ll save it, just you see. Bye Fluttershy!” Fluttershy watched her run to catch up to her friends, a sad smile spreading across her face. “I’m so proud of you.” As she walked back into her cottage, Fluttershy began to sob. She walked over to her couch and flopped herself down onto it, pulling one of the pillows on it close and cuddling it. Angel Bunny watched as his friend flopped herself on her couch and cautiously made his way up to her. Hopping up next to her, he gently hugged the crying mare’s foreleg. “Oh, Angel. Don’t w-worry. I-I’m fine.” *** Fluttershy hummed to herself as she walked out of her kitchen, not really paying attention to anything in particular. As she bounced to her tune, her gaze drifted up to her clock. She immediately stopped bouncing. “Oh my, is it that time already?” She quickly scooped up Angel and ran out the door towards town. Fluttershy was greeted by the owner of the toy store as she entered. She slowly walked around, looking for the perfect gift. Every year, I buy a nice, well thought out gift for Scootaloo’s birthday. I also buy a small meaningless one. She left the toy shop with a large, wrapped box on her back and a small one in her saddlebag. Making sure she wasn’t being followed, she then made her way over to Sugar Cube Corner, where Scootaloo’s birthday party was going to be held. While everypony is out, I sneak in to the party, and leave the big one, without a name of course… She walked up to the table where there was already a couple of presents and placed the large present on it. She looked at the gift and felt tears welling up in her eyes. The meaningless one has my name on it naturally. I keep it for when I show up at the party… If I have the courage to show up, that is. Angel, noticing that Fluttershy was crying again, hopped onto the table and up into her hooves, giving her his most comforting of hugs. Without either of them noticing, Pinkie Pie was watching from the top of the stairs. She had just been about to go down to add her own presents to the table when Fluttershy had walked in. Seeing that Fluttershy seemed to not want anypony to know she was there, she stayed out of sight. I know it’s stupid, but I see it as my way of saying… “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you… My poor baby.” Fluttershy turned and left, leaving Pinkie Pie alone at the top of the stairs. Pinkie’s eyes began to water as understanding dawned on her. *** “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTALOO!” The orange pegasus filly instantly brightened. She practically rose a couple of inches in excitement and joy. “Thank you everypony,” she said, running up to the table with her presents, making everypony around laugh. “Open the big one! Open the big one!” Apple Bloom shouted in excitedly. Chuckling, Scootaloo said, “Geez, you seem more excited than I am.” Without another word, she complied. Fluttershy watched happily from her spot in the corner, by herself. “Oh wow!” came Scootaloo’s voice from the table, causing Fluttershy’s smile to grow. “It’s so cool! Look at this you guys.” “Wow!” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “That’s awesome!” It filled Fluttershy with such joy to know how much Scootaloo liked the gift, but also sadness, knowing that the filly wouldn’t know that it was from her. “It’s a very nice gift Fluttershy.” Fluttershy turned to face the voice in shock. “You should be proud of yourself,” Pinkie Pie said, turning to face the shocked mare. Fluttershy just stared. How did she know? “Don’t worry about it,” Pinkie continued, a tear falling from her eye. “I won’t tell anypony.”
The Talk“But… how do you know?” Fluttershy asked. “I saw you bring it in earlier. Not that I meant to spy on you, of course, you just walked in when I was about to come downstairs with my gifts,” Pinkie explained. “Pinkie, you have to promise me, you won’t tell anypony about this,” Fluttershy demanded, a little more sternly than she had meant to. Pinkie was slightly taken aback at the forcefulness of Fluttershy’s request. “I really think-” “Just promise me, Pinkie, please.” Fluttershy’s pleading eyes were just as effective as her infamous “stare”. Pinkie sighed and gave in to the yellow pegasus’ soft, worried eyes. “Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie said as she went through the motions of the Pinkie Promise. “But, there is something I’d like to know,” Pinkie said, frowning slightly. “If it’s okay to ask, of course.” Fluttershy tensed. “Uh… I-I don’t know,” she responded weakly. “If you’d rather talk about it somewhere else, that’s fine too.” Fluttershy contemplated for a moment, she didn’t really want to answer any questions, but Pinkie already knew anyways. It would simply be unkind to leave her in the dark. “O-okay,” Fluttershy said softly after a full minute. “I’ll answer your questions… later.” Satisfied, Pinkie trotted off to go enjoy the party with everypony else, leaving Fluttershy alone to worry about the questions Pinkie was going to ask. The rest of the party was fairly uneventful, Scootaloo and her friends played with her presents for a bit before the cake was brought out by Pinkie. Aside from Scootaloo ending up with about half of the cake smeared across her face by her enthusiastic friends; it was just like any other birthday party. As the guests began to leave, Fluttershy wondered whether she could sneak out and avoid being questioned by Pinkie, at least for today. I mean, I know she’s not going to leave me alone until she gets her answers... Pinkie seemed to be busy cleaning up the wrapping paper and confetti scattered about the room, this was her chance. Quietly, Fluttershy made her way to the door with the last few party-goers and managed to slip out of the door unnoticed by Pinkie Pie. She sighed in relief and trudged on towards her cottage. Thankfully for Fluttershy, it seemed that Pinkie wasn’t going to come and confront her about everything tonight. The cottage was filled with its usual chatter as Fluttershy laid herself down on her bed, pulled the covers up to her neck, and fell into an uneasy sleep. *** KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Fluttershy looked up from the book she had been reading and turned towards the door. “Fluttershy, open up, would ya?” The yellow mare put the book down on the coffee table and slowly got up to answer the door. As she opened it, she was met with a rather large bouquet of all kinds of colorful flowers. “Surprise!” shouted the white stallion behind the wall of flowers. “Oh my, what’s this for?” Fluttershy asked, taking the bouquet and smelling all the wonderful flowers. “Well, you know the try outs for the Wonderbolts was today…” Fluttershy let out a great gasp. “You mean, you made it into the Wonderbolts!? Oh, what about Rainbow Dash, did she make it too?” “I’m afraid they were only looking for one new pony for the team this time…” “Oh, poor Dashie, she must feel so bad, not making the team,” Fluttershy said, dropping her head slightly. “Hey, aren’t you happy that I got in? Now that I’m a Wonderbolt, I can give you anything you want. Just name it and I can get it for you.” “Oh, I’m sorry. Of course I’m happy for you,” Fluttershy said, walking over and giving the stallion a tight hug. “Congratulations on making the Wonderbolts, Rapidfire.” Rapidfire smiled and returned the hug. “Well, this was only a quick visit. I’ve got to get back to HQ. I’m supposed to start training early tomorrow but I should be able to come by again in the evening. See you then.” Before Fluttershy could say anything else, the door swung shut behind Rapidfire. Fluttershy sighed, admiring the flowers. She walked over to her kitchen to get a vase for them when there came another knock on the door. “Did you forget-” Fluttershy started to ask as she opened the door. She was taken aback as a fuming Rainbow Dash stormed in the second the door was open. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, is everything okay?” Rainbow Dash turned towards Fluttershy so fast and with such hostility, it caused Fluttershy to cower. “No, everything’s not okay!” Rainbow shouted. “Your stallion friend is quite possibly the worst scum I’ve ever met!” “W-what?” Fluttershy asked incredulously. “What could he have possibly done to make you think that?” “He broke into my house and turned off my alarm clock! I woke up so late today that I completely missed the Wonderbolts try outs!” Fluttershy was backing further into the corner of the room, her voice getting so soft that Rainbow Dash could barely hear it. “H-how can y-you b-be so sure i-it wasn’t just that you f-forgot to set it?” Fluttershy whimpered from her corner. “Because I left like a bagillion notes around my place telling me to set my alarm clock, I even left one on my pillow so that I wouldn’t fall asleep before setting it!” “B-but why would he break into your place just to turn off your alarm?” Fluttershy asked, a slight tone of anger entering her voice. “Because he knows he can’t beat me in fair competition! He knows that if he hadn’t sabotaged me, I’d have won, hooves down!” “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little?” Fluttershy asked, walking over to her friend from her corner. “There could be countless reasons why your alarm wasn’t set this morning, but I know Rapidfire. He wouldn’t do something like that just to win.” “Yeah well, he did. And I seriously think you should rethink staying with him. He’s a cheat and a jerk and an all around bad pony to be around.” “Rainbow Dash! Did you forget, he’s been your friend for years and he’s been nothing but nice to me ever since we met. How could you even say something like that about your friend?” “Whatever, you just wait and see. He’ll screw up eventually and when he does, don’t come crying to me.” With that, Rainbow Dash flew out of the door as fast as she could, causing it to slam shut behind her. Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. Rainbow was her closest friend, but Rapidfire was her stallionfriend. She decided to ask for his account when he visited tomorrow, which he never did. *** “Fluttershy!” The pegasus rolled over and put her pillow over her head. “Fluttershy!!” She sat up, looking around for the source of the voice calling her name. “Fluttershy, I need to talk to you!” She walked over to her window and looked out. Standing in front of her door was Scootaloo. Fluttershy’s mind reeled. Scootaloo? Oh no, could Pinkie have told her about me? But Pinkie would never break a pinkie promise, but then, what is Scootaloo doing here? “Fluttershy, are you gonna come to the door or what?” Scootaloo called up, seeing the yellow mare peeking her head out of the window. “J-just a moment,” Fluttershy called down, startled at having been caught staring from the window. She hoped Scootaloo didn’t think she was avoiding her now… Fluttershy made her way to the door as quickly as she could, without stepping on any of her animal friends, and opened the door to let the young pegasus filly in. Scootaloo immediately flopped herself down on the couch at which Fluttershy gently settled herself onto her comfy armchair, after moving a sleeping kitten. “S-so, what’s the matter Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked, a little uncertainly. “W-well… I’ve been having doubts,” Scootaloo said, her head drooping. “Doubts about what?” “My flying… I mean, even before I started learning to fly from Rainbow Dash, I haven’t exactly had the strongest wings.” Fluttershy stretched out her own wings for a second and folded them back against her sides, feeling her own weaker wing muscles and looking at Scootaloo with an apologetic expression. Scootaloo didn’t notice and continued talking. "I'm worried Rainbow Dash might start feeling like I'm a lost cause. What if she decides that she doesn't want to teach me anymore." Fluttershy’s expression turned from apologetic to concern for the little filly, after all, she knew exactly what Scootaloo was experiencing right now. “And well… Rainbow doesn’t exactly listen to me when I try to talk to her about this, she just brushes it off and continues with the training session. That’s why I came to you. You’re always there for your friends and you’ve helped me and my friends before, so I felt you’d actually listen to me now.” Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Well, you know, I wasn’t always a good flier. In fact, only recently have I gained a little confidence in my flying ability. Like you, I wasn’t born with the strongest wings and I was picked on for it.” Scootaloo raised her head to look Fluttershy in the eyes and listened intently. “You had the very good fortune of having lived in Ponyville though, where nopony could care less how well you can fly, that’s one of the reasons why I moved here in the first place. You do know that I was born in Cloudsdale, right?” Scootaloo shook her head. “No? Well, I was, and as you do know, Cloudsdale is populated by nothing but pegasi. It’s a lot different growing up around pegasi. If you can’t fly well, you’re looked down on and bullied for it. That only made it harder for me to gain the confidence I needed to fly well. The one thing that kept me going then, was Rainbow Dash, she was my only friend back then and she always encouraged me to keep trying my best even when I fell and she never ever gave up on me. If you have a pony like Rainbow Dash teaching you, you’ll be flying in no time,” Fluttershy finished with a big smile. “Wow, Rainbow is that good of a teacher?” “The best, just listen to her encouragement. So long as you have one pony rooting for you, you’ll find the strength to fly, I just know it. And if she does decide to stop teaching you, which is very unlikely, I can teach you to fly, though I'm not the best teacher. But know that I'll always be rooting for you. Woo Hoo." “Thank you so much Fluttershy, you’re the best!” Scootaloo said as she jumped up from the couch and gave a very startled Fluttershy a tight hug, which she returned. Scootaloo shifted a little, the hug seemed different than when most other ponies hugged her. This hug felt warmer, more secure, it seemed to melt all of her worries away. She didn’t know what to make of it, but before she could get too comfortable, she looked up at the clock. “Oh my gosh! It’s that time already? I’m gonna be late for my flying lessons today!” Scootaloo said as she jumped out of Fluttershy’s embrace. “Thank you for listening to me Fluttershy, and for helping me find the confidence I needed.” With that, Scootaloo rushed out of the door, leaving Fluttershy sitting there with a sad look in her eyes, her hooves stretched out, reaching for the comforting mass of warmth that was her daughter. The pony she had never gotten the chance to hold so close, so lovingly… until now. And just like that, it was gone again, beyond her reach. “S-scootaloo…” Fluttershy managed to get out before bursting into tears.
The DilemmaIt was a long time before Fluttershy calmed down enough to move from her couch. When she finally did, she looked over towards her fireplace. Up on the mantle was a picture in a silver frame of her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they had stayed the night with her. Her eyes fell on the small orange filly sitting in the center, smiling brightly and hugging her two friends tightly together. “I think I should tell her the truth. What do you think Angel?” Fluttershy asked, scooping the bunny up in her hooves. In reply, Angel’s stomach growled and his cheeks flashed red. “Oh, well then I guess we’d better get you something to eat,” she said as she headed for the kitchen. Fluttershy opened cupboard after cupboard only to find that all she had left to eat was broccoli… that had gone bad. “Oh my, looks like we’re going to have to go to the market.” Angel’s stomach growled loudly again. “And fast.” Fluttershy put on her saddle bags, jotted down a quick shopping list, and went out back to check the animals’ food. Might as well stock up on everything if we’re going to the market. She went back inside to pick up Angel and settled him on her back before making her way into Ponyville proper. The market was fairly empty, being so early. Fluttershy only just then realized how early Scootaloo had woken her. Many of the market stall must just now be opening. Sure enough, as she looked down the road there were unmanned stalls and some just now opening their curtains and setting up their wares. “Let’s hope that the stalls we need are open,” Fluttershy said, turning her head to face Angel before walking up the road to visit the Carrot’s stall. It didn’t take long to get everything on her list. All the stalls were already open by the time she got to them, with the exception of two, celery and cherries. She managed to get all of her shopping done in ten minutes. Fluttershy was starting to head home when her vision was filled with pink and she was knocked backwards to the ground letting out a stifled shriek while the contents of her saddle bags to spilled everywhere. “I finally found you Fluttershy!” the pink mass shouted excitedly. “Pinkie? What’s going on? Why did you suddenly attack me?” Fluttershy asked, tears in her eyes. “I didn’t attack you, silly. I just tackled you,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile so big, nopony else could match it. “Sorry I made all of your groceries spill all over the place though, let me help you pick them up.” With one blurred motion, Pinkie picked up everything and stuffed it all back into Fluttershy’s saddle bags before hopping back in front of her. “Well, thank you, but you shouldn’t be tackling ponies,” Fluttershy said, trying to keep her voice level. Pinkie just smiled, ignoring what Fluttershy said, and bounced excitedly saying, “Fluttershy! You’ll never guess what I saw last night after the party!” Fluttershy just stood there, waiting for Pinkie to tell her. “Come on, you’re supposed to guess,” Pinkie said flatly. “Oh, uh…” “I know where Scootaloo lives!” Pinkie shouted before Fluttershy could say anything else. “What?” “I know where Scootaloo lives,” Pinkie said again, stressing each word. “Jeez, do I hafta spell it out for ya?” “No, I mean, I thought Scootaloo lived…” It was just then that Fluttershy realized that she didn’t actually know where Scootaloo lived, or who her foster parents or parent was. “Well of course she lives; she wouldn’t be walkin’ and talkin’ if she didn’t live.” “Never mind that. How did you find out where she lives?” Fluttershy asked, mentally berating herself for not knowing already. “Well, last night, after the party, I followed Scootaloo home because I was worried when she was the last to leave. I offered to take her home but she refused, saying she would be fine, she always walks home alone. But since I was worried, I followed her to make sure she would be fine but I had to keep hiding and she kept walking around the same block for like an hour, like she knew I was following her or something. But then she finally started walking down this one street and did you know she still lives in the orphanage?” Pinkie finished without taking a single breath. “What?!” Fluttershy shouted in her usual soft tone disbelievingly. “You mean, she’s never been adopted?” “Well, I went and checked to see if she had been adopted before but then went back for some reason, cause I knew you’d want to know once I told you that she still lives there, but the pony at the front desk said that Scootaloo has been there ever since they found her on the doorstep. Apparently nopony wants to adopt a filly who doesn't have a known parent, something about possible health risks later in life, ponies would rather have a foal they could be sure won't have any issues.” Fluttershy just listened with her hooves covering her mouth and her eyes watering. “I’m such a horrible pony!” Fluttershy shouted as loudly as she could while turning to run back home. “Fluttershy, wait!” Pinkie shouted after her, but Fluttershy was crying too loudly to hear her. Pinkie sighed and her face and mane dropped sadly. “Pinkie Pie? What’s the matter?” Pinkie looked up with tears in her eyes to look at the pony now standing next to her which turned out to be a group of ponies. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all standing around Pinkie, all with curious and worried expressions. Upon seeing tears in Pinkie’s eyes, Rarity asked, “Pinkie, darling, what happened? Are you alright?” Pinkie just sat there, in the middle of the road, staring at them all, her lower lip quivering. “C’mon, Pinks. Ya can tell us anything,” Applejack said in her most reassuring voice. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, moving in front of her. “I made Fluttershy cry!” Pinkie shouted in Twilight’s face as she began to sob openly, causing Twilight to jump back in shock and fall onto her back. After helping Twilight to her hooves, Rainbow Dash asked, “How did you make her cry?” “I d-don’t know,” Pinkie said through her sobs. “I guess I s-said something w-wrong.” “Pinkie, I’m sure that whatever happened, we can work it out,” Twilight said after dusting herself off. “B-but, I thought it was g-gonna make her h-h-happy, but she j-just started cry-ing and ran away!” “Pinkie, just calm down an’ tell us what ya said ta Fluttershy,” Applejack said, rubbing Pinkie’s back comfortingly. “I-I can’t t-tell you.” “What? Why ever not?” Rarity asked, confused. “Because I made a Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and said, “Oh,” simultaneously. “Well… Is there any way you could tell us what’s going on without telling us what you promised to not tell?” Twilight asked cautiously. “I can’t even tell you using hypothetics, Pinkie Promises have rules ya know,” Pinkie replied haughtily. “But I can give you some details.” Pinkie just sat there again, not saying anything. Twilight and the others were all subconsciously moving closer to her, waiting for her to speak. Getting impatient with Pinkie, Rainbow shouted, “Tell us already!” “Jeez fine! You don’t gotta be so mean,” Pinkie said indignantly. “You said you could tell us some details,” Twilight said, trying to bring Pinkie back on topic. “What can you tell us?” “Well… I can tell you that it’s about Scootaloo and I told Fluttershy about Scootaloo living in the orphanage-“ “Well no wonder you made her cry!” Rainbow shouted, cutting off Pinkie. “You do know that Scootaloo is her-“ Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves to her mouth before she could say any more. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all staring at Rainbow now. “Scootaloo is Fluttershy’s, what exactly?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash hovered above her friends for a moment, deliberating with herself before dropping down to the ground defeatedly. “Grr, it’s not like she could keep it a secret forever!” she shouted at nopony in particular. “Scootaloo is Fluttershy’s daughter!” Everypony gasped and stared at Rainbow in disbelief. “Wait,” Pinkie said, putting her face into Rainbow’s. “You knew too?” “Of course I knew, I’ve been friends with Fluttershy longer than anypony. What I’m wondering is how you found out, ‘cause I know she wouldn’t tell anypony about it herself.” “I found out on accident, right before Scootaloo’s birthday party,” Pinkie replied. “Okay, so you both knew,” Twilight said before Pinkie could go off on a whole story which would undoubtedly turn into some random inconsequential thing. “Now that we all know, can you tell us what it is that you said to make Fluttershy cry?” “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore,” Pinkie said, considering. “I told her that Scootaloo hasn’t been adopted ever since she left her there.” “What!?” Rainbow shouted. “How is that even possible, I thought she had been adopted a long time ago.” Pinkie shook her head sadly. “I went and asked one of the mares that works at the orphanage and she told me Scootaloo’s never been adopted. Ponies are worried she'll have issues since nopony knows who her mother is.” “Well, whatever happened, we need to go and comfort Fluttershy and convince her to do the right thing,” Twilight said as she began to walk up the road towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Author's Note It's finally here. Sorry it took so long to get this done, better late than never right? Hope y'all enjoy.
The TruthKNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. “Fluttershy, open up!” The yellow pegasus walked over to her door cautiously and looked through the peephole. Standing just outside her door were her friends. “Fluttershy, we need to talk to you!” Twilight called through the door. “Go away and leave me alone!” Fluttershy shouted back. “Fluttershy, please open up.” She was only met with silence. “Come on, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Why don’t you want to talk to us?” “Because I’m a horrible pony who isn’t even brave enough to raise her own daughter,” Fluttershy sobbed at them. “Being afraid does not make you a horrible pony, Fluttershy,” Rarity said soothingly. “Many ponies are afraid of being parents.” “But they don’t abandon their foals like I did!” “That may be true,” Twilight said through the door, trying to keep her voice as calm and comforting as possible. “But you’ve still got a chance to fix that mistake.” “How can I make this any better, Twilight?” Fluttershy sobbed at her. “Ya can take responsibility and go get yer daughter back,” Applejack said rather angrily. “What if she doesn’t want to be with me after she finds out about what I did?” Fluttershy cried. “Having a mother and being upset at her is better than being alone and sad,” Pinkie said, her voice dripping with sorrow. “Scootaloo has nopony at the orphanage who cares for her.” There came no response from Fluttershy at this. She turned her head to the window and looked out into the sunlight, tears streaming down her face. Twilight and the others waited to see if Fluttershy was going to open the door. Five minutes passed in pure silence, until Rainbow Dash began to get impatient. “Wouldn’t you have rather known your mother, Fluttershy?” Rainbow shouted angrily. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all stared at Rainbow with looks of shock. “Her mother died when she was little,” she said in response to her friends’ stares. Fluttershy simply started to whimper behind the door, just loud enough for them all to hear. “You know the difference between you and Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked, her tone dropping to one of soft concern. “She has the chance to know her mother, if you’d go and tell her the truth.” Fluttershy stopped sobbing and opened the door just enough so they could see her face. “I-I just can’t,” she said, her voice wavering. “I c-couldn’t bear her b-being a-angry with me.” “You don’t know for sure if she will be angry with you,” Twilight said soothingly. “You just have to take that chance and hope that she will just be happy that she knows that she has a mother who loves her.” At this, Fluttershy opened the door all the way and looked at her friends. They all had reassuring looks on their faces and Twilight was holding out a hoof to her. “I-I don’t want to go alone,” Fluttershy said softly, looking down at her hooves. “We can all go with you,” Twilight said, to which everypony nodded in agreement. “Oh, thank you all,” Fluttershy said as she began hugging all of her friends tightly. They all began walking to the orphanage but once they got to town square, three certain fillies ran across their path. “Hey, sis,” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle piped up. “What are you all doing out here… You’re not looking for us are you?” “Well, yes and no,” Rarity responded with a small smile. “While we were hoping to run into you three, we weren’t actively looking for you.” “Why were you hoping to run into us?” Scootaloo asked, cocking her head to the side. “Well, squirt, we have something we need to tell ya,” Rainbow said, hovering over to the orange pegasus filly. “Well, more specifically, Fluttershy needs to tell ya.” Fluttershy visibly tensed up. “Oh, well, what was it you need to tell me, Fluttershy?” “Oh… um, w-well…” Fluttershy started, looking to her friends for support. They all just nodded eagerly at her. “Uh… H-how about we just walk and talk?” Fluttershy asked, letting her nerves get the better of her. “Okay…” Scootaloo said unsurely. Twilight and the others all sighed and shook their heads, though they brightened up a bit when they noticed that Fluttershy was at least walking to the orphanage. “What’s goin’ on?” Apple Bloom asked the rest of them. “Well, sis, Fluttershy is going to tell Scootaloo a very important secret that she’s been hiding for a long time,” Applejack answered with a smile. “Really?” Sweetie Belle asked loudly. “Yes, darling, but you have to keep quiet until Fluttershy tells her,” Rarity said after taking her hooves away from her ears. She knelt down to Sweetie Belle’s level and whispered, “Now, don’t get too excited but, Fluttershy is actually Scootaloo’s mother.” Sweetie’s jaw opened wide and she was about to burst out screaming but Rarity put her hoof to her sister’s mouth just in time. “What did I say about keeping quiet?” Rarity said sternly. “She’s going to tell Scootaloo any moment now, when she does, then you can let your excitement out.” Sweetie Belle nodded and looked at Apple Bloom with a huge smile. Before anypony could say anything else however, Fluttershy nervously called back, “Y-you coming?” Everypony jumped and scrambled to catch up with the two pegasi. They all walked along, nopony saying anything. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, all were getting more impatient as they walked along in silence. The orphanage was now in sight and Scootaloo began to get nervous. “Uh… You never did say what you wanted to talk to me about…” Scootaloo said as they got closer to the old building. Fluttershy just looked directly ahead of her as she walked, not answering the young filly. That is, until they reached the front of the orphanage where Fluttershy finally stopped and turned to Scootaloo who was quivering as she turned from the building to face Fluttershy, her eyes full of worry. “Are you happy here, Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked keeping her tone even. “W-what do you m-mean, am I happy here?” Scootaloo asked nervously. “D-do you mean, in Ponyv-“ “You know what I mean, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, her voice still even and devoid of emotion. “Are you happy at the orphanage?” “What does she mean, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked, stepping ahead of the group. “I-I don’t know,” Scootaloo said defensively. “I don’t live here.” “Don’t lie, Scootaloo, I already know that you’ve been here your whole life,” Fluttershy said, a little more sternly than she had meant to. Scootaloo’s ears splayed back as she asked, “H-how do you know that?” Fluttershy took a deep breath and said, calmly, “Just tell me if you’re happy here first.” “I… I…” Scootaloo suddenly broke down crying as she shouted, “I live in an orphanage… What do you think!?” Fluttershy moved to put her hoof around the filly, but Scootaloo pushed it away and dropped to the ground sobbing. “Nopony cares about me here, I have no friends here and I’m so ashamed that I live here, that the friends that I do have, don’t know anything about it! Would you be happy, living like that?” Scootaloo asked, looking up to look Fluttershy in the eyes. Fluttershy shook her head and moved closer to the sobbing filly. She said in her most comforting voice, “I… I just want you to know that… you don’t have to stay here anymore.” “Huh?” Scootaloo said as she gave Fluttershy a perplexed look. “What I meant to say before…” Fluttershy started before shaking her head. “What I’ve meant to tell you for a long time now is… that I’m actually your mother, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo backed away, her eyes still full of tears and now confusion. She asked, “A-are you really m-my mother?” Fluttershy nodded, putting on a small, sad smile. “Then why?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Why did you leave me here all alone? I’ve been miserable here! Why didn’t you keep me and raise me yourself?” Fluttershy began to cry softly. “Because… because I w-was afraid. I didn’t know how to take care of a little filly and I was afraid of what other ponies would say… I was so young when I had you and I was also already taking care of animals, I couldn’t take care of all of you at the same time, I just… I just didn’t know what to do.” “S-so you chose your animals over me, your own daughter!?” Scootaloo asked incredulously. Fluttershy shook her head. “I just had too much to handle, I gave many of the animals away too.” “What about my dad? Why didn’t he take care of me?” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “He doesn’t know about you… He left me before you were born. You wouldn’t want him to take care of you anyways, he turned out to be an even worse pony than I am.” Scootaloo ran up and hugged Fluttershy tightly saying, “You’re not a bad pony. Even though you couldn’t take care of me yourself, you still looked after me, you’ve always been there when I needed somepony. I don’t care that you left me, you stayed close enough to keep an eye on me and help me when I needed help. Even if I wasn’t living with you, you still acted like a mother would.” Scootaloo sat there crying in Fluttershy’s hooves. Their friends smiled brightly at them, deciding not to disturb their moment. It was a while before Scootaloo broke free from Fluttershy and she gave her mother a watery smile before saying, “Thank you for telling the truth.” Fluttershy smiled back warmly. Seeing this as a cue, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran up and gave Scootaloo a huge hug. “This is great!” Sweetie Belle said, her voice cracking. “Yeah, though, we are a bit sad that you felt you couldn’t tell us that you lived in the orphanage, we are so happy for ya!” Apple Bloom said excitedly. Scootaloo smiled and returned their hug, saying, “I couldn’t be happier. I finally found out that my mom is the kindest pony I’ve ever met and she wants to take me back!” “This is all so wonderful!” Everypony turned to the door of the orphanage. Unbeknownst to them, one of the mares who ran it came outside to see what all the commotion was about and stumbled onto the touching scene. She smiled brightly at them all and said, “I’ll go and get the paperwork ready. Scootaloo, you should go and get your things packed and be quick, we’re going to get through all the paperwork in a jiffy.” Without another word, the mare ran back into the building. Fluttershy nodded at Scootaloo and they both followed, Scootaloo going up the stairs to get her things and Fluttershy over to the front office where the mare was waiting. It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to finish all the paperwork and Scootaloo was already waiting outside the office. Fluttershy grabbed Scootaloo’s hoof and lead her out the door, the mare still in the office waving them goodbye. Their friends had already left, thinking it best that they get time to be together for a while. Fluttershy turned to Scootaloo, a warm smile on her face, and said, “Shall we go home then, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo returned the smile and said, “Yes… Mom.”
