Gateway of the Eyes (First Draft)

Chapter 22

I walked downstairs to the dining room to get some breakfast, dressed in some new pants and a new t-shirt.  Everypony else was already eating their breakfast.  As I went and sat down, Twilight asked, “So, what do you have planned for today?”

I was quiet as I thought about what I had today.  I then remembered what I said to Dash yesterday and said, “Well, I believe today I’m going to be Rainbow’s slave, and I have no idea what she is going to make me do.”

“I have a few ideas.” Said Luna, giggling.  Everypony else giggled along with her, even Spike and Dinky, whom I thought would be too young to understand it.  I just sighed and sat down and began my meal.  During the entire time, we had some idle chitchat, just talking about random things.  Well, they talked, I mostly listened, but I said a few things when necessary.  Once I finished eating, I said, “So, does anypony know where Dash lives?”

“Oh, I do, I do!” Said Dinky, jumping up in excitement.  I chuckled and asked, “Well then, care to show me?”

Without another word, Dinky suddenly ran outside, leaving me to hurry on and put on my hoodie.  Before I left, I was able to take Dinky’s scarf as well, since she forgot to put it on.

I was able to follow her without much of a problem, since she wasn’t as fast as Applebloom was, but she still had me gasping for air once we reached our destination.  As I slowly caught my breath, I handed Dinky her scarf, which she took with a sheepish smile.  I grinned back, saying, “Next time, don’t forget your scarf, cause even ponies need to stay warm in this weather.”

“Yes, Daddy.” She said, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

“So, where is her house, cause I don’t see it anywhere.” I asked.  Dinky then pointed her hoof up.  I looked up, and what I saw was not only surprising, but breathtaking as well, for right there, up on the sky, was a house made up entirely of clouds.  The style was something that I would describe as Greek or Roman architecture, and there was even a rainbow waterfall.  I just stood there, my mouth gapping open, amazed at the entire scene.

“I know my house is awesome.” We turned around, and there was Rainbow Dash, hovering right behind us, a smug grin on her face.

“How come you’re up so early, Dash?” Asked Dinky, a confused look on her face.

Dash continued to smile, saying, “I went to finish my job early, so that we could have the entire day off.  I hope your ready for a busy day, Slave.”

‘Well, this should be fun.’ “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I said, a nervous grin on my own face.

“Cool, now follow me!” Shouted Dash, and then she zoomed away, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.  I sighed again and said, “Well, I’ll see you later, Muffin.  I hope Dash isn’t a taskmaster.” Dinky giggled, and then we both left, Dinky heading back to the library, while I started to jog after Dash, too tired to run anymore.

After a minute of jogging, I came across a small clearing on top of a hill on the outside of town.  From here, I could see a good amount of Ponyville, all the way to Sweet Apple Acres.  As I reached the top, I noticed that Dash was already there (not surprising) along with another Pegasus.  I smiled as I recognized Scootaloo, and said, “So, what are you going to have me do, Dash?”

“Well, the first thing on our list is to practice out these new moves that I have been working on, and you’re here along with Scoots to watch me and judge on how I do.” I nodded, and with that, Rainbow suddenly zoomed up into the air, and began to do all sorts of different moves, from loops to barrel rolls, and even something that Scootaloo said was called the ‘Blazing Buccaneer’ (Which she also said wasn’t a new move, so I assumed that she was just showing off at this point).  While Dash was doing her tricks, Scootaloo also talked about the group called the Wonderbolts that I heard Dash mentioned from before, and from what I learned, they are a group of Pegasus that perform all sorts of aerial dynamic moves and are some of the most talented Pegasus flyers in Equestria.  After hearing about them, it was no surprise that Rainbow decided to try and join their ranks.  After a good ten minutes, Dash landed back down to earth and said, “So, what you guys all think?”

I was quiet for a while, my mouth hanging open, and then I said, “That was one of the most incredible things that I have seen since I got here.  I’m surprised that the Wonderbolts haven’t let you join them already.”

Dash blushed at this, saying, “Well, I’ve tried, but things always seem to go…astray, I guess.”

Before I could say anything else, Scootaloo shouted, “That was awesome, Rainbow Dash!  I think you were about 20% cooler than yesterday!”

“That’s what you said last time, silly.” Said Dash, scuffing up Scootaloo’s mane a little, causing the filly to giggle.  I smiled at the two, and said, “Out of curiosity, are you two sisters?”

Dash laughed at this, and then said, “Naw, were not, although everypony always thinks that, though I wouldn’t mind having a sister like Scootaloo.”

“Do you mean that, Dash?” Asked the orange filly, awe in her eyes.

“Of course, you’re like, one of the coolest fillies out there, and I mean it.” Said Rainbow, giving the filly a big hug, to which she responded in kind.  I just stood there, watching the two, a smile on my face.  I could see that they were both very happy with each other, the happiness just flowing from their eyes.  After a while, Dash stopped, and turning towards me, she said, “Well, now that we finished with all of that mushy stuff let’s go do some other stuff.  We still have a big day today.”

Turns out that she was right, for we didn’t finish until almost 7:00 PM, and we were almost done at that point, but we still had one last thing to do, and that was to pull a prank on a certain pink mare.  Her idea was to get a ton of snow on top of Sugarcube corner, lure Pinkie out, and then she would push the snow on top of the pony.  My job was to lure Pinkie out of the store, how I was suppose to do that, I had no idea, nor did Rainbow give me any help with it.

The bell ringed as I walked into the store.  I looked around, and there was Pinkie Pie, doing…something.  I quickly got the pink pony’s attention by shouting, “Hey, Pinkie!  I got something to show you!”

“OH!  Is it cupcakes?  I love cupcakes!” Pinkie was suddenly next to me, an excited look on her face.  I blinked in surprise, and then I shrugged, deciding to go with it.

“Uh…sure?” I said.  I proceeded to walk outside the store, Pinkie closely following behind me.  Once outside, I waved to Scootaloo, who signaled to Rainbow who was on the roof.  Once Dash noticed, she began to beat her wings at a fast pace, trying to blow the snow off.

Suddenly, Pinkie’s tail starts to twitch.  “Twitchy, twitchy!  Twitchy, twitchy!”‘ she began to shout.

‘Oh, I forgot about that.’ “It’s probably nothing, Pinkie.” I said, though the lie sounded bad even in my ears.

“No way, my Pinkie Senses-” she began to say, when suddenly, with a loud “Poof!” the snow fell on top of her, burying her completely.

Scootaloo began to laugh, along with Dash once she flew back down to us.  Admittedly, I laughed a bit too, since it was kind of funny.

“Hahahahahaha!  We got yea good, Pinkie!” Said Dash in between bouts of laughter.

“You sure did, Dashie.” We turned around, and there was Pinkie.  Before I could do anything, the pink pony suddenly pushed me into the snow pile, and I fell head first into it.  When I pulled my head out, I saw that all three of the ponies were now laughing at me.  I was quiet for a second, starting to get a little embarrassed with the situation that I was in, when an idea popped in my head.  Smiling, I said, “Hahaha, nice one, Pinkie, nice one.”

“I know, I was like ‘hi there’ and you were like ’what?’ and then I…” Pinkie began to say.  As she was talking, I was beginning to collect my magic in my hands, and picking up some of the snow behind them.  At this point, the only pony that noticed what I was doing was Scootaloo, and she was desperately trying to hold her giggles in.  Once I got enough snow above them, I released my magic, and let the snow fall on top of Dash and Pinkie, once again burying them.  A few seconds latter, both of the ponies popped their heads out, and looked at Scootaloo and I whom were both laughing to death.

“Hahahahaha!  Now that was good, right Scoots?” I said to the orange filly.

“It sure was, Dad.” She said in between giggles.  Everypony was suddenly quiet and looking at Scootaloo, who suddenly stopped laughing, realizing what she just said.  After a few second, I asked, “D-did you just call me dad?”

“Uh, n-no.  I said, uh…rad, you know, like it was rad…he…he.” The orange Pegasus said, blushing slightly.  We were all quiet for a little while, and even Pinkie seemed to be quiet for the moment, and then Dash said, “Well Drak, I think that is good enough for today.  I appreciate you doing all of this for me.”

“Yea, it wasn’t a problem.  I think I’m going to go back to the library, maybe I can read a little right now.” I said.  I then looked at Scootaloo, who was trying to leave the scene unnoticed.  “Hey, Scootaloo, you want to join me?”

Scootaloo jumped when she heard me, and slowly, she turned to me and said, “Well, I do, but…um…my parents need me for…um…something.”

“Are you sure that-” I began to say, when the filly said, “Oops-gotta-go-see-ya!” and then zoomed off.  I was quiet for a moment, and when I looked around, I noticed that everypony else had already left.  Shrugging to myself, I went to go back to the library.

Once I reached there, I noticed that Twilight was busy reading a book, which reminded me to read one as well.  I gave Twilight a hello, and then asked, “Hey, Twi.  You know any good books on the animals of the Everfree Forest?”

Twilight smiled at me, glad that I was finally going to read something, most likely.  “Yup, let me just get Spike.” She said, getting up to go get the baby dragon.  I waited a few minutes, and then Twilight came down, along with Spike, who seemed to be yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and while the purple unicorn went back to her reading, Spike went to the shelves to look for a certain book.  After a while, he came back with a big encyclopedia-like book entitled, ‘Creatures of the Deep, a guide to the creatures of the Everfree Forest.’  I thanked Spike, and before he left, I said, “Hey Spike, is it all right if I talk to you for a second?”

Spike froze where he was, and then he slowly turned towards me.  When I took a glance in his eyes, I noticed that there was some nervousness in them still; I assumed it was because he was still a little scared of me.  He slowly walked back to me and said, “Um, w-what do you want to t-talk about?”

“Oh, nothing in particular, just want to get to know you better, is all.  We really haven’t talked much since we first met, and I was hoping we could right now, if you don’t mind?” Spike shook his head, and so I asked, “So, how has it been, being Twilight’s assistant?”

“Oh, it’s pretty good, I like to think of her as my mom most of the time, you know?” He said.  I nodded, and then asked, “I heard that you’re going out with two of the Crusaders.”

He smiled at that, and seemed to lose some of his nervousness as well, before he began to talk about them.  It apparently happened after he tried to go out with Rarity, whom he had a crush on ever since he got to Ponyville.  Rarity, however, respectfully tried to decline the offer, saying that even though she thought that it was sweet of him to like her like that, she just wanted to stay friends.  Unfortunately, this didn’t make it any easier for Spike, and he began to get into a pretty nasty depression, not even eating his jewels that Twilight gave him (which I learned that dragons apparently love to eat, to keep their fires going strong, or something).  After a couple of weeks of him moping about, both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom came to the library, asking if they could talk to Spike.  Spike was quiet for the most part, while the two fillies tried to cheer him up.  It seemed to be working, for after a while, the baby dragon began to feel a lot better, and even started to join the Crusaders on his free time.  Eventually, he asked if Sweetie Belle would go out with him.  The unicorn filly thought that he was just asking her at first because she looked a lot like her sister, but when Spike confirmed that he really did like her for who she was, not for who she looked like, she said she would, on the condition that AB joined them as well and they formed a herd.  Spike agreed, and they have been dating ever since.

I listened throughout the entire story, and when he finished I asked, “So, you happy with the choice that you made?”

Spike nodded happily.  “Yup, I have never regretted my decision, and I never will.” He said, puffing his chest out a little with confidence.  I chuckled, saying, “Well, I’m glad that you do, for I do believe that those fillies really do love you.”

Spike nodded, agreeing with what I said.  We were quiet for a while, a comforting silence falling on us.  Then Spike said, “W-well, I have b-been thinking about…you know…expanding my herd.”

I raised an eyebrow at the purple dragon.  “Really?  Do the other two know about it?”

He nodded, the nervousness from earlier showing in his eyes again.  “Yea, they do, but they want me to ask the parents for permission first.  While they think that it will be a yes, I’m still nervous, you know.”

I nodded myself, understanding were he was coming from.  “I understand, it can be hard to ask them for permission to go out with their daughter.”

Spike nodded again, and we were quiet for a while, and then he said, “S-so, w-what s-should I d-do?”

“Well, honestly, I think you should just ask them.  First of, does the filly know about this?” He nodded.  “Then all you have to do is ask the parents, and all should be well, especially if the parents understand the situation, and the daughter is there as well.”

Once again, Spike was quiet, and then he slowly said, “Well, in that case…um…I…uh…I need to ask you something.”

For some reason, little bells started to ring in my head, like my subconscious knew what he was about to ask; yet my conscious didn’t.  “Go on.”

After another moment of silence, the dragon asked, “Well, the filly in question is…um…its…D-Dinky…”

I was quiet, absorbing what he just said.  As I was thinking, I finally figured out why he was so nervous about me.  It wasn’t just because he was scared of what I was; he was scared of what I might do if he told me what he said just now.  After a few moments of tense silence, with Spike nervously tapping his claws together, I said to Twilight, “Hey Twi.  Where’s Dinky?”

“She should be upstairs.“ She said, not even looking up from the book.  I nodded my appreciation anyways, and then began to go up stairs, Spike nervously following me.

Once I was upstairs, I opened the door to Dinky’s room.  Inside, I saw Dinky reading a book, the title on it said, ‘Daring Do and the Emerald Cup’.  Upon seeing me, she gained a big smile, and then her smile vanished when she noticed that Spike was with me, still with his nervous expression.

“Yes, Daddy, what is it?” she asked.  I stayed quiet for a while and then I asked, “I just what to ask what do you think of Spike?”

She was quiet for a moment, and I could see her golden eyes gain a worried look, so to comfort her, I said, “You two aren’t in trouble, I just want to know how you feel about him.”

After a few moments, the pink filly took a deep breath and finally said, “Well, I think he’s smart, funny, cool, and, well, all in all, a nice guy to hang out with, and when he asked me to join his herd, I got these little butterflies in my stomach, and I wasn’t sure what to say, for I do like him, but I really wanted it to be ok with you and Momma first, so…Can I join his herd?”

I stayed quiet, thinking about the entire situation.  I looked at Spike, who was still nervous, and then I looked at my daughter, who was just as nervous.  After a few more tense moments, I sighed, bend down on one knee, and said to Spike, “Listen here Spike.  I trust you, I really do, but I want my daughter to go out with the best that life can give her, and that means that she needs to go out with somepony that loves her.” As I spoke, the dragon began to gain a mournful expression, and Dinky said, “But Daddy-”

“Let me finish.” I said, interrupting my daughter.  She went quiet again, and I continued.  “So, Spike, what do you think of my daughter?”

Spike was quiet for a few seconds, and then he spoke, saying, “I really like your daughter, sir, and I really want her to join my herd, for I believe that I have the same feelings for her as well as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but if you won’t let me-”

“Who said anything about not letting you?” I said, a sudden smile on my face.  Both Dinky and Spike looked at me, confusion in their faces, and then, Dinky said, “Y-you mean…I…I can…”

I nodded.  “Yup, you can join his herd, as long as you’re happy with your choice, then so am I.” At this, Dinky suddenly lunged at Spike, giving him a big hug, and Spike responded in kind, hugging her with equal affection.  I smiled at the show of emotions, and then I herd a certain voice from behind.

“Does my Muffin have a special somepony now?” I turned around, and there was Ditzy, along with Fluttershy, letting the grey Pegasus mare lean against her side for support.  I smiled at them and said, “Yup, I just said that it was ok by me that she could join Spike’s herd.  I hope you’re ok with this too.”

She nodded.  “Of course I’m ok with it!  I’ve been waiting for somepony to ask my little Muffin out, though I am surprised that it’s Spike.  Surprised, but not upset, cause I know that you will treat her with care.” She said, saying the last part to the dragon.  Spike nodded his thanks, and then said, “So, you want to go tell the others that your part of the herd now?”

Dinky nodded excitedly, and with that, both the dragon and the unicorn filly left the room to tell the other Crusaders about the good news.  Once they left, I turned my attention to the grey mare and asked, “So, you feeling any better, Ditzy?”

She nodded.  “Yup, thanks to Nurse Redheart, I’m feeling a lot better now.  I hope I didn’t worry you guys too much when I was gone.”

“Naw, though Dinky was worried at first, but then I told her that you would be fine, and she perked right back up.” I then looked at Fluttershy and asked, “So, what brings you here Flutters?”

The yellow Pegasus blushed slightly, and then said, “Am I not a-allowed t-to s-see my c-coltfriend for n-no r-r-reason?”

I smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the nose, saying, “Of course you can see me when ever you like, I was just curious is all.”

“Oh, w-well, I knew that you were busy fulfilling your promise to Dash, so I decided to help bring Ditzy back to the library.  W-we’re not b-bothering you, a-are we?”

“Of course not, I was just going to read a little when me and Spike began to talk, and well, I think you know where that led to now.” I said, chuckling slightly.  “It was actually pretty fun, helping out Dash, and Scootaloo even joined us as well.  We talked about a lot of things, and Scoots told me about the Wonderbolts, which for some reason sounds familiar to me.  I also asked Scootaloo to see if she wanted to hang out with me afterwards, but she said that her parents needed her for something.”

Fluttershy frowned at this and said, “B-but, Scootaloo is an orphan.  They both died when she was young, her mother from child birth, and her father when she was only 5 years old.”

When Fluttershy said this, I too gained a frown on my face, and then I asked, “Well, why would she lie to me then?”

We were all quiet for a while, trying to figure out the possible reasons for Scootaloo’s lying, but we came up with nothing.  After another few minutes of silence, I said, “Maybe we should just go and ask her?”

The Pegasai were quiet for a moment, and then they both nodded, Ditzy saying, “Well, I still need to rest for right now, but can you tell me what happens when you come back?”

I smiled and gave her a big hug, saying, “Of course, Ditzy, we’ll tell you everything that happens.” This made her smile, and she went to kiss me on the cheek, but I stopped her, saying, with a sad tone in my voice, “I would let you, but you’re still sick right now.”

Ditzy blushed, and then said, “W-well, actually, Nurse Redheart said that I wasn’t contagious anymore, so that, it’s ok to…you know.”

I smiled upon hearing this, and said, “Well, in that case, let me kiss you instead.” Before she could say anything, I gently placed my lips on her own.  She was surprised at first, and then she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of our lips once again flowing against one another.  After a good few seconds of kissing, we parted, and then, blushing, she said, “I can’t wait to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with you, for I got something that I bet you will really like.”

I smiled at her.  “As long as I’m with you girls, then I’m content with whatever you girls give me.”  We all smiled, everypony happy with one another, and then Fluttershy and I both left to go and find Scootaloo.

Once we left, I asked Fluttershy, “So, you know where she lives?”

Fluttershy shook her head, saying, “No, but I bet I know somepony that does.”

We were quiet for the most part, neither of us saying a word.  As we walked into town, we saw all sorts of ponies getting ready for the upcoming holiday.  As we passed them, they would give us a friendly wave or nod in our direction, and we would respond in kind.  Thankfully I brought my hoodie with me, so I was able to keep the hood on, though there weren’t that many ponies outside to begin with, and I was starting to get used to the residents of Ponyville, for they were indeed a nice group of people…er…ponies.

After a minute of walking, we came across Carousel Boutique, and we found Spike and his herd mates currently decorating the building, under the careful eyes of Rarity, of course.  As we approached them, I noticed that Spike would every once in a while give a kiss to one of the little fillies, making them giggle slightly, and when he kissed Dinky, she blushed and kissed him back, making him blush as well, which in turn caused all of the fillies, including Rarity, to giggle at his embarrassment.

“Glad to see that everypony is getting along so well.” I said, getting their attention.

“Darling, it’s so nice to see you!  How are you this fine evening?” Asked Rarity, a smile on her face.

“Well, we were just wondering if one of the girls knew where Scootaloo lives.” Asked Fluttershy.  Rarity nodded her understanding, and then she said to the fillies, “Do any of you girls know were Scootaloo lives?”

They were all quiet for a few seconds, and then, Sweetie spoke up, saying, “W-well, she told me one time, b-but she made me Pinkie promise to not tell anypony, so…” I was quiet for a few seconds, and then I said, “Well, can you show me were she lives then?” The unicorn filly was quiet for a moment, and then she nodded, saying, “I guess I could do that.  Is it ok that I go help them, sister?”

“Of course, Sweetie, just come back in time for dinner, ok” Said Rarity, a smile on her face.

“Ok, Rarity!” Said Sweetie, a smile her face as well, and with that, she walked to us and said, “Just follow me.” And with that she began to trot towards the destination, with Fluttershy and I following close behind her.

It took us a couple of minutes, but eventually, we reached what looked like to be an abandoned house.  On the outside, I was able to tell that it would be only a single story house with one room most likely, no electricity and no plumbing; at least, I assumed that’s what it would be.  The walls were all rotten and falling apart, the windows were cracked, and part of the roof seemed like it was starting to cave in.  We approached the door, but before we could knock on it, we heard a soft noise coming from inside.  After a few seconds of silence, we heard it again, and I was able to recognize it as somepony crying.  Worried, I decided to forego knocking and just open the door, the rusty handles creaking as it opened.

What I saw inside might as well have broken my heart in two, for sitting inside the middle of the room, wrapped in a thin, worn out blanket, was Scootaloo, looking down at something that she was holding in her hooves, silently sobbing, the tears leaving trails across her face.  She seemed to also be wearing her scarf, which was understandable, since it didn’t seem as she had much of anything else to keep her warm: I could see her breath as if we were still outside, it was that cold.  I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like to live in such coldness, even if you were a Pegasus.

Apparently, Scootaloo didn’t hear us walk in, for she continued to stare at the item in her hooves, giving a little sob every once in a while, and when I got a closer look, I noticed that it was a photo of some sort.  In the photo was a picture of two ponies, one was a small orange Pegasus, who I assumed was Scootaloo, while the other one was a large black unicorn with a grey mane and tail, the cutie mark was a picture of a hammer and stone.  I assumed that the bigger pony was her dad.  As I was watching her, the orange filly began to speak, and I thought she was talking to us, but then realized that she was talking to herself, still not having noticed us yet.

“H-happy…h-happy H-H-Hearth’s Warming E-Eve…D-D-Dad.  I…I k-know t-that it isn’t t-time y-yet, b-but…I r-r-really n-needed to t-talk t-to y-you.  I…I-I w-wish that y-y-you w-were h-here with m-me.  I…I miss…m-miss y-you s-s-so m-much…*sniff*…you w-w-would be…p-proud of m-me…I t-think.  I-I’ve m-made lots of f-f-friends, and I e-even f-found somepony t-that is l-l-like y-you a b-bit.  His n-name is D-Drakalian, a-a-and he isn’t e-even a-a p-pony, b-but h-he…he s-s-still a-acts s-so m-much l-l-like you.  He’s understanding, k-kind, p-playful, and h-he even w-went s-skating w-with me l-like w-we used t-to…*sniff*…he’s…h-he’s just t-the n-nicest pony…or…h-human…t-that I’ve e-ever m-met, b-b-besides F-Fluttershy.  H-he e-e-even g-got Diamond and S-Silver t-to s-s-stop b-bullying me a-and m-my f-friends, a-and it w-w-was s-so c-cool t-to see h-him d-d-do that.  And…and a-after t-t-that, he…he joined m-me and m-my f-f-friends to go to Trixie’s t-to l-learn a-about magical t-tricks, y-you know…f-for our c-c-cutie m-marks.  You r-remember w-w-what you s-s-said, in the h-h-hospital, t-that I would f-find s-s-somepony that c-could be m-m-my new dad, b-before you…y-you k-know…*sniff*…well, I…I think t-that I m-might h-have found h-him.  I just…I j-just…I w-w-wish that…he could b-be my new f-f-father, but…I doubt he will a-accept me a-anymore-”

At this point, I had enough of this, and I decided to interrupt her.  “Why do you think that, Scoots?”

Scootaloo jumped high in the air from the sound of my voice, and when she turned around, the surprise was evident in her eyes, and I could see her shaking even more, and this time I didn’t think that it was from the cold.  Everypony was quiet for a few seconds, nothing but the wind from outside could be heard, along with the creaking of the house.  Finally, Scootaloo seemed to be able to recover a little from her initial shock, and instead became irritated, saying, “H-how d-d-did you f-find me?”

“Sweetie showed us.” I said simply.  At this point, Scootaloo noticed the white filly next to Fluttershy, and I could see the orange filly start to get angry with her friend.  “You said that you Pinkie-”

“She kept her promise, for she didn’t tell us were you lived, instead she showed us were you lived.” I said, once again interrupting her.  “And, for the record, even if she didn’t, I still would have gone looking for you, since I was worried as to why you lied to me about your parents.”

The Pegasus filly was quiet for a moment, and then she sighed, sitting down on the cold wooden floor again, her breath appearing in small clouds.  “Well, n-now you know t-that I’m an orphan, so now what?”

I was quiet for another second, and then I sighed myself, also sitting next to her on the cold floor.  “Well, I just want to know why don’t you think that I would take you as my own?”

Scootaloo once again gained her mournful expression, and looked back at the photo, saying, “Cause…you have Dinky now, and you wouldn’t want anypony else now.”

I was quiet again, mulling over what she just said.  Finally, I carefully placed a hand onto her shoulder.  Scootaloo looked up in surprise, her face still stained with her tears, and as she looked at me, I looked directly into her light lavender eyes, so that I could hold her attention, and said, “Scootaloo, you couldn’t be farther from the truth then you really are.  I love everypony with an equal amount of feelings, admittedly I love my herd mates and friends a bit more, but my point still remains.  These past few days, I have been thinking about you girls not only as some of my closest friends, but also a part of my new family, and even though Dinky is my daughter, I would love to have you as my own daughter as well, for you are smart, athletic, funny, and just so darn cute as well.  I guess what I’m saying is, will you let me adopt you to be my newest daughter?”

Scootaloo was speechless for a moment, unable to say any words, her mouth just gapping open.  “You…y-you r-r-really m-mean it?”

At this point, Fluttershy decided to join us, coming to sit down next to us as well.  “I would love to have you as a daughter as well, Scootaloo.” She said, a small smile on her face.

Once again, Scootaloo was quiet for a second, absorbing everything that was happening at the moment.  Finally, she lunged at both of us, grabbing us in a death hug; and we both hugged her back with equal affection.  After a minute of hugging, the filly finally released us slightly, enough so that she could see our faces, and said, “I w-would l-l-love t-to be y-your d-d-daughter, Drakalian.  A-and y-your daughter a-a-as well, F-Fluttershy.”

I smiled at this, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, making her giggle slightly, and said, “Welcome to the family, Scootaloo.”

“Thanks…Dad.” She whispered, tears of happiness starting to flow from her eyes.  Both Fluttershy and I smiled, and we all began to hug each other again, chasing the cold away from us, keeping ourselves warm in the broken down house.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I decided that we needed to go back now, so I picked up Scootaloo, which caused the filly to squeal in surprise before she began to snuggle up against my chest, and the three of us began to leave the old house and to bring our newest daughter to her new home.

It was at this point that I realized that Sweetie Belle wasn’t with us anymore, and when I asked Fluttershy were she went, she said that she left when I was asking Scootaloo if she wanted to be my daughter, so I assumed that she went to spread the good news to everypony that she met.

After a few minutes, we eventually reached the library, Luna’s moon already high in the sky.  We opened the door, and inside, everypony had already begun their dinner.  As soon as we opened the door, everypony looked up at us, and upon seeing us, Ditzy asked, “So, I’m assuming that that everything went well?”

I smiled at the grey mare.  “You could say that.” I said, placing Scootaloo down so that she could join the others.

“So, is Scootaloo going to spend the night here?” asked Twilight, looking at the orange filly.  I nodded, saying, “Yup, tonight, and every other night as well.”

“What do you mean, Drak?” Asked Luna, a confused look on her face.

“Well, as of a few minutes ago, I decided, along with Fluttershy, to adopt Scootaloo into our family.” At this, everypony gained a surprise look, and turned to face the Pegasus filly, who was beginning to blush at all of the attention that she was getting.

Suddenly, Dinky ran next to Scootaloo and hugged her, saying, “YAY!  That means that were sisters now!” Scootaloo was quiet for a second, and then she looked back at me.  I just smiled at her, and motioned her to go with it, and so she hugged Dinky back as well.  We all stood there, just looking at the two fillies hugging each other, smiles on all of our faces, and when they separated, we all went to the table to have our dinner, with Scootaloo sitting next to me.  We all talked and had some idle conversation during our dinner, everypony just enjoying his or her meal as well as each other.  Once we all finished, we began to clean up, and after that, Spike then walks up to me, a nervous look on his face again.

“Um, Drak.  I was just wondering if, well…Applebloom invited Sweetie and I to go over to her house for a sleep over, and she wanted me to invite Dinky as well, so…” he then became quiet, unable to finish his sentence.  I smiled at him, knowing what he was going to ask, and said, “She can go with you, just as long as you behave nicely during the sleep over.  Oh, and also…” I said, bending down a little to look at him a bit closer, a serious look in my eyes.  “…Don’t go too far with anything either, got it?”

Spike gulped, and he began to shake a little.  I kept giving the stern stare for a few more seconds, and then, unable to hold it any longer, I burst out laughing, saying, “I’m just messing with you Spike, I trust that you will be on your best behavior.” Spike smiled at this, seeming to have calmed down a little.  He then motioned to Dinky to join him, and once she reached him, he told her that they were good to go.  She nodded, and with a final wave good-bye, they both began to head out to Sweet Apple Acres.  With that all settled, I decided that it was time for us to go to bed, and that was when I realized that we might be out of room.  When I mentioned this to Twilight, she said, “Don’t worry about that, anymore, for I was able to clear out a few of the rooms to make room for some of the others that might be joining us.”

I raised an eyebrow at this, for I was unaware that there were extra rooms in the library.  “Were did the extra rooms come from?”

She blushed at this, and then said, “W-well, I was using them to store some extra…stuff, you know, furniture and things like that.”

“She means that she stored all of the books that she finds in the extra rooms.” Said Luna, sneaking up on us, giving both Twilight and I a start.  When we calmed down, I noticed that Twilight was blushing even more now.  “Um, n-n-no, I d-don’t keep extra books, what kind of nerd would do that.” she said, laughing nervously.

I smiled at her, and said, “I don’t think it’s nerdy at all, and if it is, then I think that it’s pretty cool then.”

Twilight blushed even more at this, and said in a soft whisper, “Oh, w-well, t-thanks…I guess.”

We were all quiet for a second then, none of us saying anything to break the awkward silence, and then Luna said, “So, when are you going to ask him?”

Twilight then gave a Fluttershy worthy “Squeak!” and began to blush so much that her entire face turned red.  “Um, well…I…I-I’ll tell him when I’m ready, ok Luna?”  Luna just nodded, a look of disbelief on her face, and then she said, “You better, or else I’m going to have to tell him.”

“No!  I mean, I’ll tell him soon, ok?” Twilight said, nearly shivering in her hooves.  I began to get concerned for the purple unicorn, and bending down, I placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to make her blush even more, and said, “Would you like to tell me, maybe I could help.”

“Oh-would-you-look-at-the-time-gotta-go-night!” Said Twilight, and then she quickly ran up the stairs, leaving a Twilight shaped cloud in her wake.  I blinked in surprise, and then said, “I thought Pinkie was the only pony that could do that.” Which caused Luna to giggle.  At this point, the only ponies that were left downstairs were Scootaloo, Luna, and Ditzy, Fluttershy having already left to go and take care of her animals.  We were all quiet for a while, and then, I said, “Well, I hope that you girls don’t mind if I decided to sleep in my own bed for now, is that ok?” Thankfully, they all nodded, though Scootaloo seemed a little disappointed by the fact, but I was too tired to clearly notice.  At this point, we all decided to head upstairs and go to bed, each of us heading into our separate rooms, with Scootaloo taking Dinky’s room while she was at her sleepover.  Once in my room, I quickly got out of my clothing until I was only in my boxers, got under the covers, and started to relax as I fell asleep.

A little while later, I was woken up by somepony knocking on my door.  Yawning, I got up and went to open it, and what I saw surprised me.  Outside of my door was Scootaloo, and she seemed to be nervous of something.

“Um, hi, I was, uh…I had a bad dream and well…could I stay here with you, please?”

I was quiet for a second, looking in her eyes, and I noticed that she seemed to become more nervous upon mentioning her dream.  “Well, what was this dream about?” I asked.  She went quiet for a moment, and as I looked into her eyes, I noticed that she seemed to become even more nervous then before, but instead of being nervous of her dream, it seemed to me more like she was more nervous about…something else.

I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that she was lying, and I asked, “Scootaloo, are you lying to me?”

She froze for a second, and then with a sigh, she nodded, saying, “I just want to stay the night with you, cause…well…me and my other dad used to do that, and it made me feel…loved.”

I sighed, and then bend down to her level, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, and said, “Scoots, you will always be loved here, never tell yourself otherwise, alright.  And I’m perfectly fine with keeping you company throughout the night if that is what you want, though I don’t see how it can be that hard to ask.”

“Well, I just don’t want to sound like…some sort of sissy, I guess.”

“Scoots, you’re not a sissy, I think that you’re one of the most courageous fillies out there, and I mean that.”

She looked at me, awe in her eyes.  “You really mean that?”

I smiled.  “Of course, now, how about we get some shut eye, ok?” She nodded, and we proceeded to go back to the bed.  We crawled under the covers, and Scootaloo immediately snuggled up next to me.  I smiled, and gently placed an arm around her, making her give a small sigh of happiness.  As we were lying there, Scoots said, “Hey, Drak.  Thanks for understanding me.”

“Hey, it’s what I do best.” I said, smiling at her.  I then gave her a kiss on the forehead, saying, “Now, goodnight, sweet filly of mine.”

“Night…Dad.” She whispered, giving me a small kiss on the cheek.  With our good nights said, we both closed our eyes, and slowly, we once again began to drift off to the dream realm.