No Longer Lost

Chapters

Guttersnipe
Urchin
Ragamuffin
Wastrel
Waif
Gamin
Foundling
Wanderling
Kismet
Destiny
Tatterdemalion

Guttersnipe

It could have been just another night.

It should have been, Vinyl reflected to herself. Normally, the DJ was the last pony to leave whatever club she was performing in, except for the bartender, the owner, and sometimes the bouncer. This gave all of her adoring--and by now, catastrophically drunk--fans time to disperse before she appeared, leaving only a few diehards behind to beg for autographs and photos. As something of an accidental celebrity, Vinyl Scratch was thrilled to even have fans, and more than happy to sign anything placed in front of her, or to pose for pictures next to anypony, offering a few words of thanks and the occasional encouragement to young hopefuls eager to follow in her hoofsteps. But for every shy, blushing young mare sheepishly asking her to sign a black-and-white photograph, there were ten soused, boorish stallions with stupid smirks and fake tattoos offering to “take her home and show her how to keep the party going.” Vinyl preferred to avoid these confrontations whenever she could, since explaining to a drunken foal exactly why his proposition didn’t interest her was an exercise in futility.

As such, she usually waited until the party had wound down and most of the more inebriated attendees had left, but that was unfortunately not an option tonight, as she had to cut her set short for a special occasion. Tonight was supposed to be date night, and Vinyl had spent the whole performance eagerly waiting for the clock to read “8:30” so she could get home to spend the rest of the night enjoying the company of her significant other. This created the complication of having to find some way to leave the club without passing through the sweaty throng packed onto the dance floor and spilling out into the street beyond. Fortunately, the club had a back exit, which the owner was gracious enough to point the way to after the DJ had finished her set, taken her bow (to raucous applause, as usual), and excused herself from the stage. Piling the few supplies she had brought with her into her saddlebags, she thanked the club owner for the time slot, and was thanked in turn with a hoofshake and a tidy compensation, which she also stuffed discretely into her bags as she pushed open the back door and trotted out into the dank, cold alley behind the building.

It was immediately after this escape that she found herself in her current bewildering predicament. Having lived most of her life in Manehattan, the ivory-coated unicorn was accustomed to seeing horrible things in back alleys. She had seen drunks passed out behind dumpsters, homeless ponies sleeping in cardboard boxes, even the occasional less-than-savory transaction taking place, but the sight that met her eyes tonight was at once more impossible and more heartbreaking than any of these. Vinyl desperately hoped that it was just a trick of the light, but after a few moments, she realized that it was tragically, terribly true.

Some distance down the alley, just on the edge of the circle of light cast by the bare bulb hanging over the back exit were a group of trash bins belonging to the club she had just left, apparently mostly used by their kitchen. Clinging to the side of one of these bins, hooves barely touching the box she was using to stand on, was a tiny orange pegasus with a shock of magenta hair. Her tiny wings fluttered a little every time she jumped to reach deeper in the bin. Stunned, Vinyl glanced up and down the alley, as if expecting to see somepony else who could explain what she was seeing, but they were alone in the pale, flickering light. The unicorn cautiously stepped down the short staircase, attempting to approach the filly without startling her. The little pegasus was thoroughly engrossed in getting at something deep in the bin, and didn’t register Vinyl’s approach until the mare was close enough to see the filly’s bright violet eyes and matted patches of orange fur stretched across a thin, albeit not emaciated form. Unsure of how close she should approach, Vinyl paused and quietly cleared her throat.

The filly froze instantly at the sound, her ears flicking back in Vinyl’s direction. Slowly, she turned and glanced over her shoulder to lock eyes with the unicorn. Vinyl forced a small smile and said, “Um...hey there.”

The instant Vinyl spoke, the little pegasus leapt down from the box and took off down the street in a panic. Without thinking, Vinyl started running after her. “Hey, wait! Don’t run away! I’m not going to hurt you!”

The little pegasus yelled back as she fled. “No! I’m not going back! Leave me alone!”

Unwilling to let the little female escape but afraid to hurt her, Vinyl did the only thing she could think of and caught the fleeing filly in a cloud of magic, lifting her off her hooves and gently holding her in place while the unicorn caught up to her. The filly struggled fiercely against the magic, her eyes wide and fearful tears running down her cheeks. “Stop it! Put me down! Help!”

“Shh!” Vinyl said, panicking slightly. It suddenly occurred to her exactly how this would look if somepony were to happen upon them at this moment. “Hey, calm down, alright? I’m not going to hurt your, or...or...’take you back’ or whatever you’re afraid of. I just wanted to talk.”

The pegasus kept thrashing futilely against the faint blue aura surrounding her. “I don’t believe you! Let me go!”

“I can’t let you go,” Vinyl said, her voice tightening a little. “I saw you digging in that trash can back there. What were you looking for?”

“Nothing!”

“Then why were you doing it?”

“I’m not telling you!”

Vinyl sighed, her patience thinning. “Look, I don’t know what to say. I’m just trying to help, okay? I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m not going to tell anyone what I saw, okay? I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

The little pegasus’ legs slowed to a stop as she looked back at Vinyl with wide, fearful eyes. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

Vinyl shrugged. “I guess you don’t. But for whatever it’s worth, I promise that if you want to leave, I’ll let you. I just want to ask you a couple questions, okay?”

The filly’s wings slowly folded back against her back as she relaxed slightly. “You’d let me go?”

Vinyl nodded, sighing shallowly. “Yeah, I guess. I hope you’ll stay and talk to me for a bit, but I’m not going to force you.”

The pegasus glanced at the ground for a moment, then back at Vinyl. “Put me down, then.”

Frowning, Vinyl lowered her to the ground and let the magic dissipate. The instant she was free, the filly took off again, bolting away down the alley. Vinyl sighed heavily and lowered her head in defeat, a sickening feeling sliding down the back of her throat as she wondered how the fleeing pony’s life could have gotten to such a point. Octavia...what would Octavia say when Vinyl told her what had happened? She’d probably be mad. Disappointed. Octavia would have made sure the little filly was safe before even thinking about worrying about her feelings or...

Suddenly, Vinyl realized the clopping of the pegasus’ hooves had slowed to a stop. Glancing up, she saw the filly standing some distance away, looking back at her over her shoulder. The look on her face was conflicted, almost surprised. Vinyl struggled to pull a smile back to her lips, hoping to reassure her into returning. The moment hung in space for several seconds while the little stray looked at Vinyl, then away into the yawning darkness, and then back again. Finally, the balance tipped, and the filly slowly turned and walked back to where Vinyl was still standing, her smile broadening with every step the pegasus took.

“You really aren’t going to chase me?” she asked, pausing several hooves away.

Vinyl shook her head. “No. I wish you’d stay, but I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

The little filly considered this for a moment. “Okay...okay.” She came the rest of the way back to stand in front of Vinyl. “You really just want to talk to me?” Vinyl nodded. “Why?”

This struck the unicorn as an odd question. Wasn’t it obvious? She decided to avoid answering right away. “I’ve just never seen you around before. What’s your name?”

The young stray hesitated a moment before answering. “Scootaloo.”

Vinyl smiled. “Hi, Scootaloo. My name’s Vinyl.”

“Vinyl...” she repeated. “Like Vinyl Scratch?”

“Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”

“You’re THE Vinyl Scratch? DJ-Pon3?” Scootaloo’s wings snapped open, eliciting a nervous chuckle and a faint blush from the unicorn.

“Well, yeah. You’ve heard of me?”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo piped, grinning broadly and rising a few inches off the ground under her buzzing wings. “Rainbow Dash talks about you all the time!”

Common ground. Vinyl sighed inwardly with relief. “Well, see? If Rainbow knows me, I can’t be all that bad, right?”

The little pegasus considered this. “No, I guess not.”

Vinyl smiled. “Well, in that case, do you want to walk with me?” She glanced around. “This...isn’t really a good neighborhood for a filly.”

Scootaloo’s ears drooped and her wings folded back against her back. “No...I guess it’s not.”

The unicorn turned back towards the street on the other end of the alley and smiled, nodding her head at Scootaloo. “Come on, kid. Let’s get out of here.”

Scootaloo smiled. “Okay...Vinyl.”

The club owner’s promise that the rear exit would get her past the throngs of rabid fans outside proved genuine as Vinyl led her new companion out of the alley and back onto the better-lit street in front of the building. The neighborhood they were now walking through was fairly new to Ponyville, part of the newly-developed northern suburbs, built up to house the sudden influx of new residents the town had recently acquired.

The little town’s profile had increased steadily over the past few years as stories about Nightmare Moon’s and Discord’s return and subsequent defeat at the hooves of the Elements of Harmony who lived there had filtered across the rest of Equestria. Hundreds of tourists now visited the little town every year, and dozens of them had chosen to move there permanently after discovering the hidden beauty of the quaint, quiet village in the middle of nowhere. Vinyl and Octavia had been two such relocated tourists. Previously residents of the outer suburbs of Canterlot, the couple had originally visited Ponyville on a whim, just as a short vacation to escape the high-intensity of city life, but it had only taken one day of walking through the parks and the market, meeting one immensely friendly, outgoing, and cheerful pony after another for the two mares to realize that they were dreading their return to Canterlot in two days. A long night spent talking under quietly across the pillow in their hotel room, marveling at the peaceful silence of the sleepy little burb was all it had taken to make the decision to relocate. Both ponies had travel-heavy jobs anyway, and it didn’t really matter where they lived, as long as they could still get where they needed to go. Less than a week after they returned to Canterlot, they packed up their small apartment and moved into a small townhouse near the Ponyville windmill.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the sudden population boom was that the new urban areas of the town were more susceptible to problems typically relegated to cities like crime and homelessness. Luckily for the current residents, most of these issues stayed in the areas that spawned them, like the neighborhood that Vinyl was now leading her young charge away from. The streets were well-lit, but full of foreboding shadows in every corner. Scootaloo nervously walked closer and closer to Vinyl as they went until her flank was pressed against Vinyl’s right foreleg. The unicorn smiled faintly at the touch, recognizing the trust inherent in the contact. “Don’t worry, kid,” she said, drawing the filly’s attention, “you’ll be alright with me.”

“I’m not scared,” Scootaloo said, the determination in her voice failing to disguise the wide-eyed fear on her face.

“Oh, I didn’t say you were,” Vinyl said, grinning. “But if something happens, you know it’s better if we stick together.”

Scootaloo smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The pair continued walking for a mile or so, the streets getting steadily darker but less unnerving the further south they traveled. The buildings steadily lost their urban facade, taking on a more traditional appearance, built of wood and paint instead of concrete and rebar. Tall, angular street lamps gave way to low hanging lanterns, and by the time the windmill came back into view in the distance, both Vinyl and Scootaloo had relaxed enough to start talking again.

“So, Scootaloo,” Vinyl started, looking down at the filly, “what brings you up to this side of town? I don’t see too many fillies around that neighborhood.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, not meeting Vinyl’s gaze. “I don’t really go there too much...it’s...well, I’m not scared or anything, but...”

Vinyl waved a hoof dismissively. “I know what you mean, kid. I don’t really like going out there myself.” She raised an eyebrow at the little pegasus. “But then, I also don’t go digging in trash cans much.”

In the light of a nearby lantern, Vinyl could see the fur on Scootaloo’s cheeks darken a shade. “Yeah...well, I don’t usually...I mean, I wouldn’t, but, uh...”

“Scootaloo,” Vinyl said gently, “where are your parents?” She steeled herself, fearing the worst.

It didn’t help. “Um,” Scootaloo started, looking at the ground, her voice shaking, “I don’t...they aren’t...here. In Ponyville.” Her voice cracked over the last word, raising a lump in the back of Vinyl’s throat.

She swallowed, trying to speak past it. “Okay, who do you live with, then?” The little pegasus didn’t answer. After a moment of silence, Vinyl heard her sniff, then again. She brought a hoof to her eyes, swiping at unseen tears. Vinyl’s heart ached for the filly, and without thinking, she put a hoof on the little female’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay...it’s alright, forget I asked.”

Suddenly, Scootaloo burst into tears, wrapping her forelegs around Vinyl’s outstretched hoof. “I don’t wanna go back!”

Startled, Vinyl sat on her rump and drew her hoof into her chest, pulling the little filly closer. “Whoa, what do you mean? Go back where?”

Scootaloo looked up at Vinyl through wide, tear-filled eyes. “I don’t want to go back to the orphanage! Please don’t send me back!”

“Who said anything about sending you anywhere?”

“I don’t have any parents, and now you know, and now you’re gonna go tell the orphanage, and they’re gonna come get me, and then they’re gonna take me away from all my frie-he-hends!” The little pegasus dissolved into sobs again, burying her face in Vinyl’s chest, her tears soaking into the fur.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Scootaloo,” Vinyl said, gingerly raising a hoof to pat the little filly on the head. “I’m not gonna tell the orphanage.” Up to this moment, Vinyl hadn’t really had any idea what she was about to do; she was making it up as she went along. But now, watching Scootaloo crying bitter, fearful tears at the prospect of going to the orphanage, she knew, despite her better judgment, that the orphanage, at least, was no longer an option.

The sobbing filly sniffed and hiccupped, looking up at Vinyl from between her forelegs with tear-stained cheeks. “You...you mean it?”

Vinyl smiled. “I mean it. If you really don’t want to go, I’m not going to send you.”

She seemed unconvinced. “P-promise?”

“Yeah, Scootaloo. I promise.”

Scootaloo sniffed and wiped the tears out of her eyes. “I don’t wanna go back,” she repeated, her voice still quavering. “I didn’t have any friends, an’ the other kids made fun of me ‘cause I can’t fly, an’ no one wanted to adopt me, because who wants a pegasus who can’t fly?” She looked down, her wings unfurling enough to droop to the ground.

Vinyl smiled, ruffling the little filly’s mane. “Well, I’m not sending you back, so you can stop worrying about it.” She chucked Scootaloo under the chin. “Come on, I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“Well...” Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. Before she could continue, her stomach growled so loudly that Vinyl started a little. The filly wrapped her forelegs around her midsection, embarrassed. “Maybe...maybe a little.”

Vinyl giggled. “Come on, Scootaloo. Why don’t you come home with me? We’ll get you a decent meal.” She leaned over and murmured candidly in the filly’s ear. “And you won’t have to go digging in trash cans for your dinner.”

Scootaloo’s face glowed red, and she dug at the dirt road with a nervous hoof. “Yeah...yeah, okay.” She smiled from behind the blush. “Thanks, Vinyl.”

Vinyl smiled broadly, putting a foreleg around the pegasus’ shoulders and giving her a little squeeze. “No problem, kid.”

Urchin

The rest of the walk back to the townhouse was largely uneventful. The biting early Spring breeze pushed Scootaloo to walk as close to Vinyl as she could, leaching what heat she could from the larger mare’s body. Vinyl made a conscious effort to stand between Scootaloo and the wind. The winter wrap-up had been a few days ago, but the pegasus ponies were still keeping the ambient temperature just a few degrees above freezing, to allow early spring plants the chance to sprout before the heat brought out the bugs that would eat their tender young leaves. The chill in the air prompted Vinyl to repeat a question she hadn’t yet really gotten an answer to. “So, if you’re an orphan, where do you live, exactly?”

“Well,” Scootaloo said, “usually I live in a clubhouse me and my friends fixed up in the Sweet Apple orchard.”

“Oh, so you actually do spend most nights indoors?”

“Yeah...it’s still pretty cold, and there’s no bathroom or anything, but it’s better than sleeping in the woods.”

“I bet,” Vinyl said. “So you usually live in the clubhouse? Where do you live the rest of the time?”

“Sometimes I get to spend the night with my friends. I...I really like sleepovers,” she said, her cheeks turning pink. “When I sleep over, I get dinner, breakfast, and I get to sleep in a bed...it’s almost like having a home.” She looked away, the blush on her cheeks darkening further.

Vinyl’s heart ached for the little filly. “Well, you can sleep over at my place tonight, if you want.”

Scootaloo looked back at her with wide, hopeful eyes. “You mean it?”

Vinyl smiled. “Sure.” She reflected on the wisdom of making promises she wasn’t sure her significant other would let her keep, but decided it was worth the risk. She would deal with Octavia when the time came.

The little pegasus beamed. “Oh, thank you, thank you!” Her buzzing wings lifted her a few inches off the ground in her excitement. “Wow...it’s been a while. Applebloom’s been busy helping her sister with the planting season, and Sweetie Belle’s on vacation with her family, so I’ve just been sleeping in the clubhouse.” She grimaced. “It’s been kind of...rough.” Scootaloo glanced over her shoulder at a particularly visible patch of stained, matted fur. “Could I...um...that is, if you don’t mind...do you think I could...” she lowered her voice to just above a whisper, “take a bath?”

Vinyl struggled to contain the sympathetic interjection the little filly’s request invoked. “Of course you can, Scoot. My house is your house tonight. Whatever you need, you just let me know, and I’ll do what I can, alright?”

Scootaloo blushed deeply. “Oh...I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble, kid. I promise. I just want to make sure you get a good meal and a good night’s sleep, alright?” She smiled warmly. “Nopony should have to live out of a clubhouse and trash cans.”

Scootaloo smiled back. “Okay. Thanks, Vinyl.”

Vinyl grinned as she stopped in front of the house she and Octavia shared. “No problem. Now come on, this is my place. Time for you to meet my better half.”

~~~

As soon as she pushed the door open, Vinyl knew there would be complications. The front hallway was dark, lit only by the flickering of a dozen candles situated at romantically strategic locations, illuminating a distinctly intentional path directly toward the bedroom. Soft strains of cello music--J. S. Buck’s ‘Air’, arranged by the pony currently playing it--wafted down the hall towards the ponies standing in the doorway. Vinyl winced at the realization of what she was about to ruin, but leaned down to Scootaloo just the same and said, “Um, why don’t you stay here for a minute. I...I might need to explain this to my, er...my marefriend.”

Scootaloo looked confused, but nodded just the same. Vinyl walked down the hall, simultaneously eagerly anticipating and dreading the moment she laid eyes on her beloved. As soon as she peeked around the corner into the bedroom, she knew it would be harder than she had expected to keep her promise to the filly in the foyer. There were several dozen more candles spread throughout the bedroom, casting a warm, shimmering light across the bed centered in the room upon which sat two trays of magnificent-looking food, two glasses of wine, and two small vases holding tender white rosebuds. Between the trays sat the most amazing sight Vinyl had ever laid eyes on. A beautiful grey earth pony with a jet black mane and tail was sitting on the bed, her hooves curled around a cello leaning against her shoulder. She was drawing the bow smoothly and expertly across the strings, evoking a haunting melody that sent shivers down Vinyl’s spine and made her knees weak. The unicorn stood in the doorway for several seconds, transfixed by the vision before her. When she finally managed to find her voice, she could only say one word. “O-Octavia...”

The silver-coated earth pony opened her eyes and glanced at Vinyl from beneath her silken mane. The unicorn’s heart froze as her gaze met the smoldering violet pools, half-lidded and sultry. Octavia smirked as Vinyl found herself struck utterly dumb. “Well, for once it seems you have nothing to say.”

Vinyl’s mouth opened and closed fruitlessly a couple times before she managed to swallow hard and nod. Octavia’s smirk widened into a grin as she continued playing, using her ebony tail to beckon Vinyl into the room. The unicorn did as she was bade, stumbling over her own hooves as she approached the bed. Her previous purpose was forgotten, lost in the swirling torrent of affection and desire flooding her mind. As the last tremulous note slowly faded, Octavia set the cello aside and reached out to drape her hooves around Vinyl’s shoulders. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this evening, Vinyl.” She pushed the shades up off of Vinyl’s eyes, revealing the wide, crimson irises behind them.

Vinyl chuckled nervously, blushing. “Y-yeah, me too, Tavi.”

“It’s been ages since we’ve had an evening just to ourselves. No interruptions, no obligations, no commitments...just you...” she leaned forward and kissed Vinyl’s cheek, “and me,” she shifted over and kissed the opposite cheek, “and the whole night to do whatever we want,” she hissed, pressing her nose against Vinyl’s and drawing the stunned unicorn into a sultry embrace.

Several moments of rushing animalistic instinct silenced Vinyl’s rational mind while Octavia held her close, flicking a restless tongue across her unconsciously parted lips. When the kiss finally ended and Octavia sat back to survey the effects and grin, it was all Vinyl could do to shove aside the rising tide of desire and remind herself that there was in fact an obligation standing in the entryway behind her. “Octavia, I...uh...I...” she struggled to decide where to start.

Octavia giggled and flicked the unicorn’s nose with a playful hoof. “You don’t need to say anything, silly pony.” She leaned back on the bed, crossing her back legs coyly. “Come on, it’s dinner ti--” Suddenly, the earth pony froze, her eyes tripling in size in an instant as she looked past Vinyl into the hallway.

Vinyl’s blood ran cold as she slowly looked over her shoulder, hoping to see a burglar or a murderer or anything except what she knew she was about to. Instead, she saw Scootaloo’s little purple-maned head poking anxiously around the edge of the doorway. The filly looked up at Vinyl. “I...uh...I thought you might have...forgotten me...” she said, her voice trailing off into silence.

Vinyl shook her head, struggling to put a smile on her face. “Nope! Nope, haven’t forgotten you. Just, ah...about to tell Octavia here what we talked about earlier.”

“Oh,” Scootaloo said, blushing faintly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt...”

Vinyl managed a genuine smile. “Don’t worry, kid. It’ll be fine. Just go into the living room...third door on the left...and I’ll be out in a little while, ‘kay?”

Scootaloo nodded, cast a fearful look at the earth pony behind Vinyl, and then disappeared. Vinyl listened to her quiet hoofsteps go down the hallway and then change timbre as she stepped onto the denser wood of the living room floor. She went to the door, looked into the hall to make sure Scootaloo was really out of earshot, then carefully closed the door, turning around and falling against it with a shallow sigh.

Then she shrieked in terror as she looked up to see Octavia standing mere millimeters away with an expression of the purest rage on her face. “Don’t kill me!” the ivory unicorn pleaded, cowering behind her hooves.

“What--is--she--doing--here?” Octavia said, punctuating every word with a fierce poke in Vinyl’s chest.

“Ow!” Vinyl said, recoiling and covering her ribs with her hooves. “Wait a second, just let me explain!”

“Explain?!” Octavia’s eyes flashed dangerously. “How do you explain kidnapping someone’s foal?”

“I didn’t kidnap her, I found her in the alley behind...the...club...” Vinyl’s explanation faltered and died on her lips as the earth pony stared at her, incredulous.

“You found her? Are you insane?” Octavia suddenly stepped back, putting her hooves on her head and pacing anxiously a few steps back and forth in front of her. “For Celestia’s sake, Vinyl, I can’t even imagine--”

“Octavia...” Vinyl said, trying to interrupt.

“--of all the most unbelievable--”

“Octavia...”

“--irresponsible--”

“Tavi!”

“--asinine--”

“Tavi!” the unicorn shouted, startling her fillyfriend into silence. Vinyl spoke quickly, “Tavi, she’s an orphan.”

“An orphan?” Octavia repeated, the fury on her face swiftly fading.

Vinyl nodded. “She’s homeless. She’s been living in some clubhouse and eating scraps out of the trash.”

Octavia deflated slightly. “Homeless...Vinyl...”

Vinyl held up her hooves defensively. “I know, I know, it was stupid of me to get involved, but I just...I saw her digging in the trash behind the club, and I couldn’t leave her there, Tavi.”

“No,” Octavia agreed cautiously, rubbing the back of her neck with an anxious hoof, “but why didn’t you...I don’t know, tell someone?”

“Well, I, uh...promised her I wouldn’t.”

“You promised,” Octavia deadpanned. Vinyl nodded, wincing. The earth pony heaved an exasperated sigh. “Of course you did.”

“I’m sorry, Tavi. I didn’t think, I just saw her there, and I...my heart broke for her, you know?” Octavia didn’t say anything, so Vinyl pushed on, yearning to make her beloved understand. “I couldn’t stand the idea of some poor filly spending the night on the street, living on scraps or worse, and she just seemed so scared of the orphanage, I couldn’t send her back to someplace she hated so much, and I just figured...I don’t know, I just thought we could give her something to eat, maybe let her take a bath and spend the night...just, you know, give her someplace to live...just for one day...right?” she pleaded, silently begging Octavia to agree with her.

The earth pony didn’t say anything. Instead, she gestured for Vinyl to move aside, away from the door. Vinyl did so, and Octavia slowly pulled the door open, walking out into the hallway. Vinyl followed her, nerves buzzing anxiously. The earth pony clopped into the living room where Scootaloo was sitting in the middle of the floor, her expression utterly terrified. Vinyl was about to say something reassuring, but Octavia went straight up to the little filly and sat down next to her, smiling broadly. “Hi, there,” she said.

“H-hi,” Scootaloo said, visibly shaking.

Octavia kept smiling. “I’m Octavia. What’s your name, sweetie?”

“S-scootaloo.” The filly’s voice was barely audible.

“That’s a neat name,” Octavia said. “Are you hungry, Scootaloo?”

The little orange pegasus looked up at Octavia, her eyes wide. “Um...yes, ma’am.”

Octavia chuckled. “Oh, please call me Octavia. ‘Ma’am’ makes me feel so stuffy and old.”

“Okay...Octavia.” Scootaloo smiled. The shaking had stopped, and Vinyl could see her slowly relaxing.

“Tell you what,” the grey mare said, “why don’t you go take a nice hot bath, and when you get out, I’ll have a big dinner ready for you. How does that sound?”

“Pretty good,” Scootaloo said, smiling more.

“Good. Vinyl,” she said, looking at the unicorn, “be a dear and show our guest where the bathroom is. Make sure you give her a towel too, please.”

Vinyl nodded. “Sure thing, Tavi.” She led the little filly back down the hallway, grabbing a fluffy blue towel from the linen closet on the way. “Here you go, Scoots,” she said, pushing open the bathroom door. “Soap’s in the corner over there, hot ‘n’ cold are where they’re supposed to be. If you need anything, just give us a yell, alright?”

The little pegasus smiled up at her. “Okay. Thanks, Vinyl.”

Vinyl chuckled, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane. “No problem, kid.” She shut the door behind the filly and went back to the kitchen, where she could hear Octavia already digging through the icebox. “Hey, Tavi, I just wanted to say--”

She was suddenly interrupted as Octavia snatched her by the neck and planted a fierce, passionate kiss on her muzzle. Pleasantly stunned, the unicorn melted into the embrace until Octavia released her to collapse onto the kitchen floor. “Uh...huh...what?” she panted.

“Vinyl,” Octavia said, staring into her eyes, “you are the dumbest, most impulsive, most foolhardy...” she sighed, smiling, “...sweetest, most generous, most caring mare I have ever met.” She reached out and hugged the unicorn tightly. “Thank you. You did the right thing.”

Vinyl was thoroughly bemused. “I...I did good?”

Octavia giggled and kissed her cheek. “Yes, Vinyl. You did good.” Vinyl beamed as Octavia returned to the icebox. “Now come on, help me get something fixed up for that poor little thing. She’s awfully skinny.”

Vinyl nodded, opening cabinets and collecting plates and glasses. Historically, her greatest contribution in the kitchen was staying out of the way. Setting the kitchen on fire making hay smoothies had been the last straw, and Octavia had forbidden her from actually turning anything on anymore. Instead, she carefully used her magic to grab a pitcher of milk from the icebox and pour a glass. As she poured, her stomach rumbled fiercely, reminding her that Scootaloo wasn’t the only one who was hungry. “Um, hey Tavi, what about the food in the bedroom?”

“Oh yeah,” Octavia said, suddenly reappearing from behind the icebox door. “You want to go grab those? We can all eat together.”

“Sure thing.” The unicorn carefully leaned closer to the bathroom door as she passed it, listening to make sure Scootaloo was alright. Quiet splashes and humming confirmed that she was, and Vinyl quickly returned with the trays, placing them on the dining room table before rejoining Octavia in the kitchen.

The grey mare was already half done with a tall, delicious-looking buttercup and daffodil sandwich, garnished with a pile of grated carrots and mustard greens. Vinyl’s stomach growled furiously at the sight. Octavia glanced over at her and smirked. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re going to eat the portabella steak I made for you when this was still a date night.”

Vinyl blushed, embarrassed. “Uh, yeah...sorry about that. I mean...I really was looking forward to it, I promise! It’s just...”

Octavia giggled. “Relax, Vy. I’m sorry, too, but I think this is a little more important.” Vinyl smiled. “Speaking of, you haven’t really told me exactly how you ended up bringing home a stray filly.”

“Uh, heh, yeah,” Vinyl said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. “Well, you see, I finished the set early, like I promised you I would...”

Octavia smiled. “I know you keep your promises, Vinyl; you don’t have to convince me.”

“And I went out the back door to get away from the crowds, and, well...there she was. Just...digging in the trash.”

“Aw...the poor thing...”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. She tried to get away, but I, er...well, at first, I caught her with my magic, but--”

“Vinyl!” Octavia cried, cuffing the unicorn around the ear. “How could you?”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Vinyl whimpered. “She would’ve gotten away, and who knows what would have happened to her.” Octavia sighed, but didn’t say anything else. Vinyl continued, “Anyway, I told her she could leave if she really wanted to, but that I just wanted to talk to her. She almost did, too, when I put her down.” Vinyl chuckled. “I was worried what you’d think if I told you I let an orphan get away without making sure she was okay.” Octavia rolled her eyes and smiled. “But it didn’t matter, because she came back. We talked, and I told her to come home with me so she could get a decent meal, a bath, and have someplace to sleep for the night.”

“I see...” Octavia raised an eyebrow at her. “So you had already promised her all these things before you even brought her home to see if I would be okay with it?”

“Um...maybe?”

Octavia sighed. “I wish I could say I was surprised. Well, luckily for you, you did just exactly what I would expect you to. Including,” she added, “giving her the option to leave. That’s probably the most important part.”

Vinyl smiled, blushing faintly. “Oh, well, I just figured she wouldn’t trust me if I forced her to come home with me. At least this way she knows I’m not trying to control her or anything.”

“Exactly,” Octavia said, smiling. “And it made all the difference in the world, I’m sure.” Both mares’ ears flicked in the direction of the bathroom as they heard the water suddenly start rushing into the drain. “Sounds like Scootaloo’s done. You wanna check on her while I get everything finished up in here?” Vinyl nodded and started towards the door. “Oh, and while you’re in the area, could you blow out all the candles?” Octavia smiled wryly. “I don’t think we’ll get to enjoy them properly tonight.”

Vinyl giggled as she left. “No...probably not.”

Ragamuffin

"Hey, Scoot, you might was to slow down a bit," Vinyl giggled as she watched the filly ravenously attack her sandwich. "You don't want to make yourself sick, do you?"

Scootaloo paused for an instant, then continued her rampage unabated. Vinyl shook her head and smiled, returning to her own dinner. It was at least as hard for her to resist stuffing the entire giant mushroom cap in her mouth; Octavia's skill set was broad and varied, and thankfully included cooking, something the ivory unicorn had given up attempting many years ago. The thick mushroom dripped with a light cream sauce that enhanced its own natural flavors, and Vinyl found herself closing her eyes blissfully as she chewed.

The meal had thus far been rather subdued, as after the immediate shock registered on Scootaloo's face faded enough for her to actually fit her mouth around the giant sandwich Octavia had created for her, the trio had sat at the dinner table in relative silence, each enjoying their meal with varying enthusiasm. As a result, it came as no surprise that the filly was the first to complete her main course, and flowed seamlessly into devouring the side dish.

Octavia chose this moment to start conversing with the little pegasus. "So, Scootaloo," she said, daintily carving a reasonably-sized bite of the mushroom on her plate, "I'd ask if you enjoyed your meal, but I think I can figure that much out for myself." She smiled warmly at the filly, who grinned sheepishly and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much."

Octavia shook her head with mild exasperation. "Scootaloo, I thought I told you to call me Octavia. You make me feel old when you say 'ma'am' like that."

"Sorry," Scootaloo said, blushing faintly.

Vinyl snickered. "You could just call her Mama Tavi, you know."

"Vinyl!" the earth pony hissed at her mate from across the room, futilely attempting to cuff her shoulder from the other side of the table.

Scootaloo just laughed. "I can't call you that! You're not my mama." The little filly smiled. "I'll call you Octavia, though." She looked over at Vinyl. "Is it alright if I keep calling you Vinyl?"

The unicorn grinned. "That's my name, kid."

"Scootaloo," Octavia said, "Vinyl tells me she...met you behind the nightclub she was performing at tonight." The pegasus nodded. "That's an awful long way from Sweet Apple Acres. What were you doing all the way out there?"

"Oh," Scootaloo muttered, her face turning bright red and her ears flattening against her head as she poked awkwardly at a carrot. "Well, I didn't really mean to go so far out of town, but...see, I was actually hanging around near Sugar Cube Corner, because I...I hadn't eaten in a couple days, and Pinkie Pie sometimes gives me cupcakes or muffins or other stuff that's gone stale, and even when she doesn't give it to me, they're throwing stuff out all the time." Vinyl and Octavia exchanged a pained look. Scootaloo didn't appear to notice, focused on abusing the carrot on her plate. "The Cakes don't really like me that much, though, because...well, I think it's because Pinkie's always trying to give me free food, and she's not really supposed to. They've gotten a lot worse since the foals were born, and last night...I guess Mr. Cake just got tired of me, because he came chasing after me with a broom, yelling that he was tired of me hanging around and that he was going to talk to my parents about it. I got scared, 'cause I didn't want him to find out I was living in the orchard, so I jumped into a cart that was going by and hid. When I finally looked out again, I was miles away and the sun was starting to go down." She tapped her hooves together, her voice thickening slightly as she struggled not to tear up. "I asked a couple ponies for help, but no one really stopped or said anything to me. One stallion even kicked me in the side and told me to get away from him." She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing tears to slide out of the corners and down her cheeks. "After that, I didn't really want to ask anypony else, and I was starting to get really tired, so I just went into the alley to find somewhere to sleep. Then I saw somepony come out of the club and throw a bunch of food, in the trash. I don't really like digging in the trash, because that usually makes me sick...but I thought it might be safe because it looked fresh enough." She took a couple deep breaths as she finished her story, and when she spoke again, her voice had returned to normal. "Anyway, that's when Vinyl found me." She smiled at the ivory unicorn. "And I'm really glad she did."

Vinyl smiled, her chest swelling with joy. "Me too, Scoot. I'm glad to hear you weren't out there for too long."

Scootaloo nodded. "I don't like that part of town...it's scary, and the ponies aren't very nice."

Octavia shook her head, scowling sideways at Vinyl. "No, they aren't. I don't like that part of town either." The unicorn withered under her mate's glare, but Octavia didn't maintain it for long. Instead, she smiled at Scootaloo, reaching out and placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Well, I'm glad she found you too. I'd hate to think of you having to spend a night starving in the cold like that."

"Yeah...the clubhouse isn't a great home, but it's got a roof, and no one ever bothers me out there."

"How long have you been living in the clubhouse, Scootaloo?" Vinyl asked.

The filly shrugged, chewing absently on a mouthful of carrots. "I dunno. I don't really pay much attention to what day it is. I just wake up, try to find something to eat, go to school, hang out with my friends, and get back to the clubhouse without anyone noticing."

"Oh, you go to school?" Octavia asked, her eyes lighting up.

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want to at first, but Sweetie Belle said I should come with her one day, and I did. Miss Cheerilee is really nice, and she seemed real happy to have me there, so I stayed." She smiled. "It's fun, actually. It's kind of boring, sometimes, but I like when we do math and stuff."

"I'm glad to hear that," Octavia said, smiling. "At least you spend some time every day with an adult keeping an eye on you."

Scootaloo suddenly scowled. "I don't need someone to keep an eye on me! I do just fine all on my own!"

Octavia frowned. "Scootaloo, you must understand, it's not safe for a filly your age to be--"

"I'm not a baby," Scootaloo huffed, drawing herself up in her chair. "I've been taking care of myself for a long time, and I don't need anypony's help!"

"She didn't mean it that way," Vinyl said, holding up a hoof to stem Octavia's imminent protest. "We know you can take care of yourself. It's obvious you've been doing a pretty good job so far." Scootaloo smiled proudly. "But it's good for us to know that you've been going to school, because Miss Cheerilee could make sure you weren't sick, or hurt, or lost or something."

The little pegasus settled back into her chair, huffing. "I guess...I still don't need anypony to keep an eye on me."

"Scootaloo," Octavia said diplomatically, "there's nothing wrong with needing someone to watch out for you. Take Vinyl for instance," she said, glancing sideways at the unicorn. "I can't leave her alone for more than a day or two because I know if I do, she'll just eat corn flakes and sleep in the middle of the living room floor until she suffocates in a heap of her own trash."

"Tavi," Vinyl whined, pouting, "that's mean!"

"But true," Octavia insisted, pointing an accusatory hoof in her direction. "I know, because I've come home from concerts in Canterlot before to find you passed out in the middle of the floor with magazines and corn flakes boxes all over the room."

"One time!" Vinyl said, throwing up her hooves in exasperation.

"Still." Octavia looked at Scootaloo, who was giggling at the exchange. "You see, Scootaloo, even adults need someone to keep an eye on them sometimes, even if just to make sure they're taking care of themselves properly. I'm sure you can take care of yourself better than Vinyl can, but I'd still prefer to know someone's helping you make sure."

Scootaloo nodded. "I guess that's alright."

Vinyl smirked. "Good. Now come on, you wanna go play Goldeneye? Tavi won't play with me." She grinned and muttered conspiratorially to the filly. "She's kinda really bad at it."

"I am not!" Octavia said, her cheeks flushing. "I just don't see the appeal of killing one another, that's all."

"Sure, sure!" Vinyl soothed, holding up her hooves defensively. Then she leaned over and added, "not that she's ever killed anyone in that game anyway."

Scootaloo giggled as Octavia rolled her eyes. "Alright, get out of here, you two. At least that game will keep you out of my mane while I clean up."

Vinyl hopped up out of her chair and trotted around the table, kissing Octavia on the cheek as she did. "C'mon, Scoot. Let's go."

"Okay!" Scootaloo jumped down out of her chair and followed Vinyl, pausing as she passed Octavia. "Thank you for dinner. It was really good."

Octavia smiled, vaguely surprised. "Why, you're quite welcome, sweetie. I'm glad you enjoyed it." The little filly smiled back and then cantered out into the living room where Vinyl was already getting set up, only slightly hindered by her uncanny ability to get tangled in any bit of cord or string more than a few hooves long. Octavia watched the pair chat and laugh together for a few minutes before shaking her head with amusement and turning back to her meal, now able to finish it in relative peace while she listened to the excited palaver of her mate and their new--temporary--charge.

~~~

"So just as the evil Pegleg was about to board the helpless civilian schooner, the dashing rogue stallion Picaroon burst out of the brig, swinging the sword he'd taken from the jailor!" Vinyl enthusiastically leapt up onto her chair and struck a dramatic pose.

Scootaloo sat forward in bed, her wings stuck out straight and her eyes shining. "Then what did he do?" she asked, breathless.

Vinyl smirked and shrugged. "Oh, well, he just went up to Pegleg and asked if he wouldn't mind letting the schooner go, of course. Diplomacy and whatever."

Scootaloo laughed. "That's silly! Picaroon wouldn't do that."

"Oh really?" Vinyl said, hopping down off the chair. "Well, what would he do, then?"

"He'd charge forward, flying over all the other pirates, and then he'd tackle Pegleg to the deck and fight him to the death, like this!" Scootaloo suddenly leaped out of bed and into Vinyl's midsection, tackling the unicorn to the floor.

"Ow, hey!" Vinyl laughed as the little pegasus sat on top of her, grabbing one of her arms and tugging it behind her back. "I give up!"

"Haha!" Scootaloo grinned triumphantly, sitting up and letting Vinyl's arm go.

Suddenly, the unicorn sat upright, grabbing the filly around the middle. "I have you now, Picaroon! Never let your guard down!" She began tickling Scootaloo mercilessly.

"Ack! No, stop!" She laughed, struggling against the older mare's grasp.

"Do you surrender?"

"Never!" Scootaloo giggled, still wriggling. She managed to get free enough to return the tickling assault on her captor, who she discovered had a crippling weakness to just such an attack.

"No, wait! Aaaah!" Vinyl shrieked as she collapsed into fits of laughter, rolling on the floor in a futile attempt to escape Scootaloo's prodding hooves.

"Do you surrender?" Scootaloo asked, grinning.

"Yes, yes!" Vinyl laughed as Scootaloo relented and sat astride her conquered foe.

"Glad to see you two are well on your way to bed." Octavia's voice suddenly drew Vinyl's attention to the door, where the earth pony was standing with a mix of exasperation and amusement on her face. This was an expression that Vinyl was all too familiar with, as she saw it almost every time Octavia looked at her when they had been apart for more than fifteen minutes at a time.

Vinyl grinned sheepishly. "I was just...ah, telling her a bedtime story."

Octavia smirked. "I gathered. Come on, Scootaloo, storytime's over." She stepped into the room and gently nudged Scootaloo off of Vinyl and back towards the bed.

"Aw..." the little filly protested, but went quietly anyway. She climbed back into the temporary bed that folded out of the sofa in the living room. Octavia pulled the covers back up over her and tucked them into the sides of the mattress as best she could.

"I know it's probably not as nice as what you get when you sleep over at some of your friends' houses, but--"

"No, no!" Scootaloo interrupted her, shaking her head fervently. "It's great! It's a lot better than the clubhouse floor."

Octavia smiled. "Well, I should hope so. Anyway, we'll just be down the hall if you need anything, so just give us a shout, okay?"

Scootaloo nodded, suddenly unable to stifle a yawn that left tears in the corners of her eyes. "Okay."

Vinyl smiled as she got up and rubbed the little filly's head with a hoof. "G'night, Scoots."

"Pleasant dreams, sweetheart," Octavia added as she left the room, turning out the lights as she closed the door behind her.

As soon as the door was closed, Octavia heaved a deep sigh. "That poor little girl...can you imagine? Living on the streets, digging in trash cans for food..."

"Yeah," Vinyl said. Then she smiled. "Good thing she won't have to do that anymore, right?" Octavia didn't say anything. The smile faded from Vinyl's face. "Right, Tavi?"

Octavia bit her lip anxiously. "I...I don't know, Vinyl. I'm not sure what we could do for her. She doesn't want to go back to the orphanage, but I don't know of any alternative."

Vinyl snorted. "Don't be silly, Tavi. Of course there's an alternative."

"What?"

"Yeah." The unicorn grinned broadly and gestured to Octavia and herself.

Her marefriend blinked, confused. Then, comprehension dawned and a horrified look spread across her face. "Oh, no. No, no, no. We are not--"

"Oh, come on, Tavi!"

"No, Vinyl! We don't have the time, we don't have the space, we don't have the money...no!" she repeated as Vinyl bobbed her head enthusiastically.

"Come on, sure we do! You work during the day, I work at night, one of us is always home..."

"Vinyl..."

"We could move into a bigger place closer to the farm..."

"Vinyl, stop it!" Octavia said, putting her hooves over her ears. "Look, even if it was an option, it's not the kind of decision we could make after one night with her, alright? Let's..." she sighed, "let's sleep on it, at least. That's not a yes!" she added, as Vinyl grinned and started bouncing happily on her hooves.

"But it's not a no!" the unicorn sang, prancing around her mate in the hallway.

Octavia shook her head, unable to resist the smile that seeing Vinyl happy always brought to her face. "I suppose not." She sighed again. "Come on, Vinyl, it's been a long night. Let's go to bed."

Vinyl stepped forward and gave her a long, passionate kiss, only pulling away when the earth pony started gasping, breathless. "Thank you, Tavi. I love you, you know that?"

Octavia smiled as she recovered. "I do. Celestia knows why, but I love you, too."

Vinyl grinned, flipping her mate on the nose with her tail as she passed. "For the stability...and the predictability."

The other mare giggled. "Yeah, that must be it."

Wastrel

The following day, Octavia rose with the sun, much as she did every morning. The gentle shafts of light streaming through the window next to the bed danced playfully across her face as the sun peeked slowly over the horizon, casting aside the somber blackness of night and welcoming back the day. The earth pony smiled to herself as she lay in bed, keeping her eyes closed as she relished the simple bliss of a peaceful, nearly silent morning, only occasionally punctuated by the tentative singing of the birds who had joined the sun in this early confluence of natural ecstasy and beauty.

SNNRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKK

Octavia's eyes snapped open and then immediately slid closed again in an exasperated grimace as a rasping snore shattered the tenuous majesty of the morning and brought her careening back to real life. The earth pony sighed as she listened to the unicorn beside her breathe, her deep slumber occasionally eliciting another alarmingly loud snore that made any illusions Octavia may have been nursing about attempting to fall back asleep laughably impossible. Instead, the silver mare tossed aside the bedclothes and got up, stretching, yawning, and then slowly stumbling into the bathroom for a shower. A few minutes later, she reappeared, a towel still wrapped around her mane and her spirits considerably buoyed. She even chuckled softly to herself as Vinyl snored again, making little grunting sounds as she exhaled, her legs kicking slightly as she dreamed. The earth pony trotted over to the bed and kissed her lover's cheek, which brought a broad, comical grin to the sleeping unicorn's muzzle.

Octavia giggled. "Vinyl, you are a silly, silly filly. What would my old friends think if they found out who I settled down with?" She shook her head, smiling, and left the ivory mare to sleep, tangled in the bedsheets with her electric blue mane strewn wildly about her head.

Walking out into the kitchen for breakfast, Octavia was shocked to see Scootaloo already sitting in the dining room, her shock of magenta hair spiking out in all directions and her chin resting on the table. Much to her concern, she saw the filly was frowning slightly, worry creasing her brow. As soon as she noticed Octavia's arrival, though, the little pegasus sat up and smiled at her. "Morning."

"Good morning, sweetheart," Octavia said, smiling back. "You're up awfully early."

She shrugged. "I don't really have an alarm clock in the clubhouse. I just go to bed when the sun goes down and wake up when it comes back up."

"That's a good habit to get into," Octavia said, trotting over to the icebox and pulling it open. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Yes, please," Scootaloo said, her voice strangely tight and polite.

Octavia took note of the change in tone, but didn't mention it. "What are you interested in? Some oatmeal, perhaps? Eggs, toast, fruit?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter to me. I'll eat whatever you want to make."

Octavia sighed lightly, smiling. "Scootaloo, you are a guest in my home. Surely you don't mind if I cater to your wants just a little, do you?"

"I guess not," she said, tapping her hooves together, unsure.

"Good. Now, what are you hungry for this morning?"

"Um...you wouldn't happen to have..." Scootaloo blushed and lowered her voice, "I mean, you couldn't make...waffles, could you?"

Octavia smiled brightly. "Of course I can, sweetie." Suddenly, an idea struck her. "In fact, why don't you help me out? That way you can make sure I'm doing it right."

"Okay," the little pegasus said, grinning and hopping down off of her chair.

"Wonderful. First, I'm going to need you to look down there and grab the waffle iron for me," Octavia said. "Don't worry about the scorch marks; it used to belong to Vinyl before we moved in together."

Scootaloo pulled out the blackened utensil and brought it over to her. "Are you and Vinyl married?" she asked.

Octavia blushed and laughed nervously. "Ahem, ah...no. No, we're not. We're just partners. Marefriends."

"Oh," the filly said. "Are you going to get married?"

The blush deepened. "Well...maybe. I mean...we've talked about it a little, but never very seriously." She plugged in the iron and began to collect the ingredients on the counter, lining them up in front of her while it heated up.

"That's too bad," Scootaloo said matter-of-factly.

"Really," Octavia said, pulling a stool up to the counter and gesturing for the pegasus to climb up on top of it. "Why do you say that?"

"Well," she said, clambering up on top of the stool, "everypony should have someone they love, who loves them back, and they should get married, so they can be together forever."

"I see," the earth pony giggled, filling measuring cups and sliding them over for Scootaloo to pour into a mixing bowl. "Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that. We've been together for a while; I don't think we're going to part ways any time soon."

"That's good," Scootaloo grinned briefly, but the smile quickly faded and her face fell into the same nervous expression she'd had when Octavia had first walked in.

This time, the earth pony decided to say something. "Scootaloo...is something wrong?"

"No," the filly responded too quickly, and she pulled a brave facade back onto her face.

Octavia frowned. "Sweetie, please tell me what's the matter. I promise I just want to help, but I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong." Scootaloo didn't respond. "Please?" Octavia prompted.

Scootaloo glanced up at her. "I...I heard you and Vinyl talking. Last night." Tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she looked away, sniffing and brushing them away with her hooves.

"Oh," Octavia said, her stomach suddenly tightening. "Well..."

"I don't want to go back to the orphanage," Scootaloo said quietly, still not looking at Octavia. "But if you don't want me to stay, I can go back to the clubhouse." She tapped her hooves together, frowning down at the counter. "If you don't mind too much...I'd like to come visit sometimes, but I don't want to--"

Scootaloo was suddenly interrupted as Octavia threw her arms around the filly's shoulders, pulling her into a fierce hug. "Oh, Scootaloo, it's not that! I want you to stay." She held Scootaloo at arm's length and smiled through eyes shimmering with frustrated tears. "I want you to stay very much, it's just...I know this is hard for you to understand, but...well, Vinyl is sweet, but she doesn't always think things all the way through." The explanation sounded feeble even to her, and Octavia struggled to come up with a firmer one.

Scootaloo didn't give her the opportunity. "It's okay. I understand. I mean," the filly sat back on the stool, her shoulders hunching dejectedly, "I didn't really expect to stay more than a night, anyway." She forced a faint smile. "It was nice, though, staying here with you and Vinyl. It really felt..." she blushed as her voice trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Octavia put a hoof under her chin and forced the filly to look at her. "Felt...?" she prompted.

A tear slid down each of Scootaloo's cheeks as she looked into Octavia's eyes. "It felt like having a home."

Octavia sighed, letting tears run down her cheeks as well. "Alright, Scootaloo, alright. You win. You can stay."

Scootaloo's eyes suddenly lit up, and her little wings buzzed furiously with joy. "You mean it?" she shrieked. "You really mean I can stay?" Octavia nodded, smiling weakly. The little pegasus suddenly leaped into her arms, wrapping her hooves around the silver mare's neck and hugging her tightly, her flailing wings making it difficult for Octavia to return the embrace.

The earth pony laughed. "Yeah, I mean it, Scootaloo. You're a sweet filly, and I can't bear the thought of you having to spend another night on the street, and if you really don't want to go back to the orphanage, I'm not going to force you to." She grinned. "Plus, it'll be nice for Vinyl to have someone her own maturity level to play with."

Scootaloo giggled even as Octavia felt tears soaking into the fur of her neck. She smiled to herself and hugged the filly tightly, relishing the warmth and pure unbridled euphoria Scootaloo was emanating. It reminded her of the first time she had agreed to go on a date with Vinyl, some years previous. That same bright-eyed excitement, the unabashed joy...that had worked out pretty well, she remarked to herself. Why couldn't this?

~~~

"So, you have your lunch, right?" Octavia asked, glancing up at the bright red schoolhouse just coming into view down the road.

"Yes."

"And you know to wait here for Vinyl this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, Octavia," Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes with her voice. Once again, Octavia recognized the tone; it was one that Vinyl was very fond of.

She chuckled softly to herself, letting it slide. "Alright, then." They paused outside the schoolhouse, and Octavia smiled down at the filly. "Have a good day, Scootaloo. Pay attention, work hard, listen to your teacher."

"I know, I know," Scootaloo said, this time actually rolling her eyes. The gesture lost much of its impact when she grinned up at the Octavia afterwards. "Thanks for walking with me. The clubhouse is a lot closer to school than your house is."

"You're quite welcome, sweetheart."

Scootaloo flinched very lightly at the endearment, glancing around to make sure no other fillies had heard. Once she had determined they were more or less alone in the front yard of the schoolhouse, she suddenly dove forward to give Octavia a quick hug. The silver mare didn't even have a chance to reciprocate before the little pegasus took off into the school, giving her a smile and a wave before she disappeared into the building.

Octavia stood in the yard for a few moments, deliberating over whether she should go through with her original plan or not, but before she could make a decision, it was made for her, as the pink-maned magenta school teacher came out of the schoolhouse and walked over to her, smiling. "Good morning! Can I help you?"

Octavia shook her head. "Oh, no, thank you. I was just dropping Scootaloo off."

"Scootaloo?" the teacher said, her eyes lighting up. "Are you her mother?"

The earth pony laughed nervously. "Ah, no. No, I'm just taking care of her."

"I see." A flash of disappointment crossed the other mare's face, but only momentarily. She quickly recovered her cheerful smile. "Well, thank you for bringing her. I don't believe we've met. My name is Cheerilee." She held out a welcoming hoof.

Octavia shook the proffered hoof warmly. "Good morning, Cheerilee, I'm Octavia. My...partner and I are fairly new in town."

"Oh, I see. Well, welcome to Ponyville!" she said, grinning widely. "How do you like it so far?"

"A lot, actually," Octavia said honestly. "Everypony is exceptionally friendly, and the whole town is beautiful, clean, and just feels very...homey."

Cheerilee nodded. "Mmhm. I've been to a couple other cities in Equestria, but nothing beats coming home to Ponyville."

"I believe it."

A moment of silence passed between the mares before Cheerilee cleared her throat and said, "So...you're Scootaloo's caretaker, are you?"

Octavia nodded. "For the time being, yes."

"How long have you been, ah...'taking care' of her?" Octavia thought she heard a hint of anger riding just underneath the cheery tone of the question, and it took her only a moment to realize why.

"One day," she responded dryly. "I know what you're thinking, but please understand we would never neglect her like that." Cheerilee didn't look particularly convinced, so Octavia pressed further. "She's an orphan, Cheerilee. Vinyl--my partner--found her digging in the trash behind the Black Stable, and brought her home. We fed her, bathed her, gave her a place to spend the night...we're hoping to find a more permanent arrangement, but for right now, she's living with us."

Cheerilee didn't immediately respond, searching Octavia's face for any sign of a bluff. Then she sighed and nodded. "I suppose I believe you. She did seem unusually cheerful this morning." She glanced over her shoulder, frowning at the schoolhouse door. "It's just that, well...like you said, she's a sweet girl. She's very smart, and has tons of potential, but she just..." She sighed, looking at the ground. "I can always tell when she's spent the night with one of her friends, because she comes to school with a completely different attitude. She's cheerful, focused, enthusiastic...but then there are all the other times when she's sluggish, moody, inattentive...she's just not the same. I don't really know where she comes from on those days, but I know she's not being taken care of properly. I kept hoping she would talk to me about it, or that I'd be able to find out for myself, but she's very proud, and I think she knows I've been keeping tabs on her, because I've never been able to follow her all the way home before."

Octavia nodded. "She told us that she's been living in a clubhouse in the Sweet Apple orchard."

"The Crusaders' clubhouse?"

"I...don't know. She didn't say what clubhouse."

"Oh, she hasn't told you about the Cutie Mark Crusaders yet." Cheerilee giggled as Octavia shook her head. "Well, she will. She and her friends are very proud of their little club. They're trying to earn their cutie marks together."

"I was unaware that you could 'try' to earn a cutie mark."

"You can't," Cheerilee smirked. "But that doesn't stop them from trying. And they do seem to have a lot of fun doing it. Anyway, without that little club, and her friends--and their extraordinarily patient sisters--I think Scootaloo would be a lot worse off than she already is."

"So you knew?"

"That she was an orphan? No," Cheerilee shook her head. "I suppose I knew it was a possibility, but she didn't look as ragged or malnourished as I would have expected an orphan to look. I always assumed she just had very inattentive parents. They never come to parent-teacher conferences, and since I didn't know where she lived, I couldn't visit them myself. She's always been evasive about her address, and she wouldn't give me a straight answer, so I just assumed she was ashamed of her family--it's not particularly uncommon."

"No, I would imagine not," Octavia said, thinking back to her own parents. She wasn't exactly ashamed of them, but she certainly never offered to introduce anyone to them if she could help it. "She is very smart," she agreed. "She's been taking relatively good care of herself, getting food from Sugar Cube Corner when she wasn't able to sleep over at one of her friends' houses, and sleeping in the clubhouse for shelter."

"I'm not surprised at all. She's very resourceful, and she has so much potential." She smiled broadly. "I'm glad to hear someone's finally managed to catch her and take her home with them. I wish I could have done it myself, but..." the smile faded slightly, "well, I've already got twenty foals to take care of during the week. I'm not sure I could give one filly the attention she deserves."

"I understand," Octavia said. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure we're quite prepared for the...unique challenge associated, but...well, sometimes you just have to take a chance, when somepony else needs you to."

Cheerilee smiled broadly. "I'm glad you feel that way. Thank you, Octavia."

"For what?"

"For giving Scootaloo a second chance. She deserves it."

Octavia smiled, remembering the previous night, listening to Scootaloo laughing and talking with Vinyl, watching her enjoying what must have been her first truly substantial meal in days, seeing the smile on her face as she helped make waffles that morning. "Believe me, Cheerilee, it is my pleasure."

Waif

Octavia paused several steps away from the front door of Ponyville's only fashion outlet and stared up at the opulent building. The Carousel Boutique struck a tenuous balance of looking ostentatious without being garish. It caught the eye, certainly, but thankfully didn't make the viewer regret it. She was pausing because she wasn't quite sure what she was about to say, or how she expected the proprietor of the store before her to respond. As her conversation with Cheerilee had drawn to a close, she had asked the schoolteacher if there were any other ponies in town who might know more about Scootaloo, and her first suggestion had been to talk to her best friends' families, or more specifically...

"Miss Rarity and Applejack," she said, gesturing vaguely back towards the town. "Rarity runs the Carousel Boutique."

"Oh, that big dress shop in the south?"

Cheerilee nodded. "Not only is she Sweetie Belle's sister, and therefore knows Scootaloo quite well, but she's also something of a connoisseur of gossip; if there's anything dark and juicy to be known, she's the one to ask."

"I see. She's Sweetie Belle's sister, you say? Why not talk to Sweetie's parents?"

"Rarity and Sweetie Belle's parents both work during the day, and Sweetie usually stays with her sister after school until they come to pick her up. I'm not sure they've ever met Scootaloo, come to think of it," the magenta mare tapped her chin thoughtfully. "But Rarity certainly has. They've spent the night at the boutique many, many times." She chuckled softly. "Apparently it's not exactly Scootaloo's favorite place to hang out."

Octavia tried to imagine Vinyl attempting to amuse herself in a dressmaker's shop. "No, it probably wouldn't be. Well, what about Applebloom? Why not talk to her parents?"

Cheerilee's face suddenly darkened considerably, and the smile vanished. "Oh, the Apples...well..." she swallowed, and her voice tightened, "they, um...passed away. Several years ago."

"Oh, my goodness," Octavia gasped, "I'm so sorry."

"Applebloom was very young at the time. I'm not sure how much she remembers, but she was there when it happened, so I'm afraid she remembers more than she should. We talk about it very, very infrequently, mostly just when I can tell she's been having nightmares about it again. In any event, she just lives with her two older siblings, Applejack and Big Macintosh, and their grandmother, Granny Smith."

"I see..."

"Scootaloo is particularly fond of the Apples, for obvious reasons, and she and Sweetie Belle sleep over at the farmhouse more than they don't. If anyone knew something unusual about Scootaloo, it would be the Apple family."

"Should I talk to them first, then?"

Cheerilee shook her head. "No, in fact, I would recommend you spoke to Rarity first. She may not know as much as the Apples, but she might know something they don't. The first time I saw Scootaloo, she was coming to school with Sweetie Belle, and apparently she was only coming because Rarity had threatened to make her try on clothes all day if she didn't." The mare giggled. "No matter what anyone says about her, that unicorn does seem to have a unique way with foals."

Octavia smiled. "Well, thank you, Miss Cheerilee. I'll do just that. Oh, and don't worry if a vaguely disturbing, spiky-haired white unicorn mare with bright red eyes and no maturity or sense of decorum comes to take Scootaloo away this afternoon," she said dryly. "That's just my partner, Vinyl, and she wouldn't know tact if someone threw a brick of it at her head."

Cheerilee laughed. "I see. Did you say...she was your partner?" The tone and the look were both familiar to Octavia.

She bristled very slightly. "Yes, she has been my fillyfriend for several years. Is that an issue?"

Cheerilee smiled, shaking her head. "Not at all. I was just making sure I had heard you correctly."

Octavia relaxed. "Oh, okay. Sorry, it's just...well, we used to live in Manehatten, and ponies were mostly okay with it there, but we did have a few...incidents when we moved here. It wasn't a big deal; we kind of expected as much, coming to a small town from such a cosmopolitan city, but every so often..."

"Say no more," Cheerilee said, waving a hoof dismissively. "Despite what you might think, Ponyville's a pretty accepting place. I'm honestly surprised you had any troubles at all, especially since...well, I suppose you haven't met Twilight Sparkle yet, have you?"

"The Honorable Hero of Equestria? We haven't the pleasure."

"You should stop by and talk to her sometime. She's actually quite down to earth, and very pleasant. Don't let the hype put you off," she remarked, correctly deciphering Octavia's skeptical expression. "I think you'll find you have more in common than you might expect."

It was a suggestion Octavia planned to take sometime in the future, but right now, she had to convince herself to take the remaining fifteen or so steps up to the front door of the Boutique. Reminding herself it was for Scootaloo's benefit, she sighed and trudged up to the door and knocked on it.

She had only tapped her hoof on the wood once when the door swung swiftly inwards, revealing a beaming white unicorn with a beautifully styled purple mane standing in the entryway, her horn and the door glowing with a light blue aura. "I was WONDERING when you'd finally muster up the courage to come and grace my vestibule! Please, come in!" Without warning, the unicorn dashed out of the boutique and urgently nudged Octavia inside, slamming the door behind them. "Oh, I just can not wait to start designing for you. You have such beautiful ebony hair, and your eyes are simply stunning! I have just the fabric to make them pop. Don't move a muscle!" She dashed away, leaving a stunned Octavia to suddenly find herself standing on a fitting podium in the middle of the boutique, surrounded by full-length mirrors.

Before she could properly regain her bearings, the unicorn reappeared with a bolt of brilliant amethyst satin chasing her. "This will look simply smashing on you, darling. And I must say, you have such a...regal frame. I can't wait to see how this satin hangs off of--"

"Excuse me!" Octavia interrupted the designer's tirade with slightly more force than she'd intended. She cleared her throat and tried again, blushing lightly. "I mean...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I'm actually not here for a dress."

"You're not?" the unicorn said, shock plain on her face. "Oh, I thought for sure...you have such a beautiful face, and you carry yourself with such poise, I assumed...well, no matter! Perhaps another time." She smiled brightly and levitated the bolt over to a table already covered in five more, each wound in an elegant, magnificent--and doubtless extraordinarily expensive--fabric. "So, what can I do for you, then? A makeover, perhaps? I'm not much of a hairdresser, but I can certainly see what I can do! Your hair really is quite beautiful; if you wore it up, perhaps..."

"No, no thank you," Octavia said, the blush deepening slightly as the unicorn raised a hoof to reposition a lock of her mane. "I actually just wanted to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Questions? Whatever about, darling?"

"Are you...Rarity?" The query sounded ridiculous the instant she said it. This was Carousel Boutique, of whom Rarity was the owner, and this unicorn was clearly the only inhabitant of the building.

The designer didn't bat an eye. "The one and only, my dear. And to whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"My name's Octavia Philharmonica, and I--"

The unicorn gasped. "Miss Philharmonica! Oh my stars, I had no idea...oh, but I should have recognized you immediately!"

"You...know who I am?" Octavia gaped.

"But of course! You play cello and bass viola for the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra, do you not?"

"Well, yes, but that doesn't usually garner fans for individual musicians."

"Well," Rarity gushed, "you are hardly just any musician, now are you?"

Octavia blushed fiercely at the praise. "Oh, my...that may be a little strong...I mean, I appreciate the compliment, but I simply do what I love, and am fortunate enough to make a living out of it."

"And we are fortunate as well, Miss Philharmonica." Rarity smiled broadly, walking over to an ornate record player in the corner of the boutique. As soon as she dropped the needle onto the record already there, Octavia realized she recognized the music being played.

"The Six Suites..." she murmured. After several seconds, a second realization struck her. "This...this is my recording. It's the first solo recording I ever performed." She stared at the grinning white unicorn. "But this record only sold a few dozen copies. It was just a demo, for when I was auditioning for the Canterlot Symphony and the Manehattan Philharmonic. How did you...?"

"I have dear friends in high--and often quite distinguished--places, my dear," Rarity beamed. "As it happens, I was visiting a friend in Canterlot, and he insisted I hear this record. He was quite complimentary of it, and I must say he could have been even moreso. It is simply magnificent."

"I'm sure it's not all that," Octavia said, struggling not to beam as her face burned with a proud blush.

"Oh, but it is. I was so taken by your performance that I asked Fancy--that's Fancy Pants, the friend I spoke of--if I could perhaps borrow the album for some time, and he insisted I keep it, that he could obtain another copy. Apparently they are quite rare, though, and very valuable."

Octavia's head was spinning. She had had no idea that the only solo recording she had ever produced was so popular. At the time, she had been severely disappointed in it, as sales had been less than lackluster, and critics had lambasted the performance for the various minor technical and creative liberties she had taken in recording it. It had impressed both of the orchestras she'd sent a copy to, though, and had garnered the earth pony her current role as the Canterlot Symphonic's lead cellist, but she had always assumed the recording itself would feature as a minor footnote in her life, an attempt to impress that had gone terribly awry. Never in a million years could she have imagined that it would be at all popular, or valuable. This realization had the modest pony reeling, and it was several seconds before she could regain enough of her senses to remind herself that she had come to the boutique for a reason.

"Well, I...I really do appreciate the praise, but--"

"Praise you well deserve, my dear! I wonder if I could trouble you to sign the album itself? I would be ever so grateful."

"Um...perhaps in a moment. But I really did come here for a reason."

"Oh, of course you did! My stars, how rude of me." Rarity put a dramatic hoof to her forehead. "Here I am, nattering on about fame you didn't even realize you had, when you simply wanted to come and chat. Sincerest apologies, Miss Philharmonica. What can I do for you?"

"It's...no problem. Like I said, I just had a couple questions."

"Well, let us go to the sitting room, then, and you may ask them." The white unicorn led her visitor into another room of the boutique. This one was less glamorous than the fitting room, much cozier and more homey. A small fireplace in the corner crackled quietly, putting out just the right amount of heat to make the room feel snug without being sultry. Several overstuffed red velvet sitting chairs surrounded a polished wooden coffee table with a modest bouquet in the middle. Rarity indicated for Octavia to situate herself on one of the chairs and then sat in the chair next to hers. "Now, my dear, you wished to interview me, I believe?"

"Um, yes...well..." suddenly Octavia realized she had no idea how to broach the subject. Exactly how did one explain that they had 'acquired' an orphan? "You're Sweetie Belle's sister, right?"

Rarity almost rolled her eyes, but managed to turn the gesture into a slightly exasperated smile instead. "Yes, I am. She hasn't gotten herself into trouble again, has she? I swear, that little filly spends at least as much time trying to get into things as I have to spend getting her back out again."

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I was just making sure, because I actually wanted to ask you about one of her friends, Scootaloo."

"The little orange pegasus?" Rarity asked dryly. "Yes, I know her, as well. A...rather unrefined little mare, much like her idol, Rainbow Dash. Strong of spirit, somewhat lacking in common sense. What can I tell you about her?"

"Well, I was actually about to ask you exactly the same question. What do you know about Scootaloo?"

Rarity tapped a thoughtful hoof on her chin. "I suppose I know as much as there is to know, but that doesn't exactly constitute a great deal of information. I've known her for perhaps two or three years, ever since Sweetie Belle first brought her over, begging to let her spend the night. I acquiesced, mostly because she seemed so adamant about it, although I had my reservations. Scootaloo was...well, not particularly well-kept. Thin, filthy...I must admit, I was concerned for her well-being that night, but I said nothing. As it turned out, she ended up more refined, more polite, and less...difficult, than my sister." She laughed, a bright, almost superficial sound. "How odd, that a ruffian like that would prove more courteous and less, shall we say, pesky than my sister, who has spent much of her life watching from my shadow. In any event, it happens that she is only this way the first several times she interacts with somepony. After she becomes comfortable with you, she becomes much more querulous, although she manages still to remain generally respectful. Very clever, too. As I said, she lacks in common sense, as is not particularly surprising for a filly--and a pegasus--but she is quite intelligent. She often helps Sweetie Belle with her schoolwork, particularly math and science. She doesn't seem to read much, but she will sometimes amuse herself by doing additional schoolwork beyond what her teacher has assigned her."

"She did say she likes math," Octavia agreed, nodding.

"Oh, you've spoken to her?" Rarity said with moderate surprise.

"Yes, I...well, actually," she hesitated for a moment. "As it happens, my partner and I have recently discovered that Scootaloo is...well, was...an orphan."

"An orphan!" Rarity said, dismay plain on her face. "Oh my dear, had I but known! Oh, the poor thing, I can't imagine...but she never said anything of the sort!"

Octavia nodded grimly. "She didn't want to go back to the orphanage. Apparently she used to live in one, and it was...an unpleasant experience."

"I'm sure. No wonder she was so eager to spend the night that evening...I knew she seemed slightly undernourished and a little dirty, but I just assumed...oh, I wish I'd been more insistent! I did try to contact her parents, you must understand, but she was so evasive, and I never did manage to get a straight answer out of her. I just presumed her parents were...well, like mine, actually. Absent during the day, but generally present at night, when they came home. I mean, sure, she was thin, but look at Rainbow Dash! Pegasi are always slim and athletic. How could I have known she was--"

"Rarity," Octavia interrupted the fashionista's self-flagellating lament, "you couldn't have. No one could have. If Vinyl hadn't found her digging in the trash behind the Black Stable, she wouldn't have known Scootaloo was in any sort of trouble at all."

"Digging in the trash...oh my stars..." She shook her head. "Well, this really is awful news...but you said she 'was' an orphan?"

Octavia nodded. "Well, you see, Vinyl and I talked about it, and after...well, not a whole lot of discussion, to be honest, we decided we wanted to see if we could adopt her."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Rarity beamed. "I'm so happy for her, and for you! No filly should have to raise themselves, least of all one with such potential. Vinyl is your...partner, you said?"

"Yes, she's my marefriend."

"I see. Well, to each their own," Rarity smiled. "I'm sure you will be perfectly excellent parents to her. But why come to me?" she asked. "What could you possibly need of me, then?"

"I was hoping you might be able to help me track down her parents, actually. I wanted to do it right, you know, get her parents to agree, or at least find the orphanage she used to live at and have them make it official."

"Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense. I wish I could help you," Rarity said, her face falling slightly. "But I don't know a lot more than you do. As I said, Sweetie Belle simply brought her home one evening, introduced her as her new best friend," the unicorn giggled at this, "and then disappeared to her room. I haven't really spent a great deal of time conversing with the little dear, to be honest. I mostly play Mean Miss Mare, if you catch my drift, making sure they go to bed on time, bathe, eat, and so forth."

Octavia laughed. "I know precisely what you mean. As it happens, I spend most of my time playing the same character, albeit with my mate, and not my daughter or sister."

"Your partner is, shall we say, less refined than you, I suppose?"

"We could say that, yes. We could also say she is a catastrophe of indelicacy, devoid of maturity." Octavia sighed and smiled. "And incredibly, the love of my life."

Rarity giggled. "Say no more, darling. Love is a strange and fickle beast, the vagaries of which we mortals can ill understand."

"And how." The two ponies laughed together.

Gamin

Vinyl knew something was amiss as soon as she woke up. Where Octavia was able to rise with the sun--or, when the day was overcast, the very gentle chiming of the small golden alarm clock on her bedside table--her ivory marefriend was a much heavier sleeper. Normally the unicorn was roused by the sudden thunderous cacophony of her favorite dance track booming out of the powerful stereo she used as an alarm. She had even learned to time the music so she could tell how much longer she could lounge in bed before she actually had to be up and about. Today, though, was different. Instead of waking up to the throbbing strains of electronic music that she had become accustomed to, Vinyl awoke to silence. Well, relative silence, anyway. The street outside their apartment was bustling and alive with ponies going about their day, conversing, shouting, laughing. Carts rattled as they were pulled down the dirt roads, fillies shrieked and laughed as they played in the--

Fillies.

Vinyl sat bolt upright in bed, her heart suddenly pounding. Scootaloo! What time was it? She looked over at the sound system's display to check the clock and discovered why she had overslept. The display was blank, the magic that normally kept it illuminated apparently exhausting sometime during the night. The unicorn groaned as she realized she hadn't recharged the stereo's magic reservoir last night like she had planned to. Powerful systems like this one normally required diligent and frequent recharges to continue to function autonomously; larger ones like the systems she typically DJ'ed with couldn't function on their own, and required a constant flow of magic to play, normally supplied by the jockey behind the turntable. Vinyl had known the stereo's reserves were failing, but had put off recharging them because it took a fair amount of magic, and she had had several gigs to perform in quick succession. She hadn't wanted to exhaust herself by pouring a ton of magic into her home system and risk petering out in the middle of a set. Now, though, that decision seemed foolish, as she had--as she often did--forgotten about it completely, and now, she realized as she glanced across the bed to check Octavia's mechanical clock, she had overslept her alarm by almost three hours.

Frantic, the unicorn leapt out of bed, bolting down the hallway towards the front door. Her horn flared suddenly as she yanked it open in front of her, then back closed once she was out in the street. Her original plan had been to wake up with two hours to spare, have some breakfast (or brunch, as it would be), and take a leisurely walk to the schoolhouse, arriving just in time to meet Scootaloo and bring her home. Now, she fretted, she'd be lucky to show up before Scootaloo was the only filly left at the schoolhouse, or worse, decided she'd been abandoned and went back to the clubhouse. The ivory unicorn galloped down the street, all the way across town, and finally, some minutes later, she sprinted up the path to the bright red schoolhouse. Vinyl's heart sank as she realized the yard was completely empty, class having ended almost an hour earlier. All the fillies and colts had already left, including, apparently, Scootaloo. Vinyl sighed heavily, her bed-tossed mane falling across her eyes as her head sank to the ground, tears of anger threatening to fill her eyes. One thing, she thought to herself, you had one job today. Wake up on time, pick Scootaloo up, bring her home. You couldn't even pull that off. Guilt ached in her throat as she shook her head, struggling not to cry as she imagined what Octavia would say if she found out what Vinyl had done.

"Vinyl?" The ivory unicorn's head suddenly darted upwards as a familiar voice called out to her from above. Glancing into the sky over her head, the DJ was pleased and only a little surprised to see the brilliant rainbow-hued mane and cyan coat of one of her oldest--and best--Ponyvillian friends.

"Dash?" she asked, struggling to crane her neck into a more comfortable position to examine the constantly moving pegasus.

The cyan mare grinned broadly and swooped down to land lightly in front of her. "THE one and only," she quipped with her characteristic arrogance. She held out a hoof to the blue-maned unicorn. "Haven't seen you in a while, filly."

Vinyl smiled as she bumped hooves with the pegasus. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Dash. What've you been up to?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Same ol', same ol'. You know how it is. One day you're kickin' lightning out of clouds for fun on Nightmare Night, then the next thing you know, they've made you head of the weather team and you find yourself sitting in a presentation on cumulonimbus composition theory and you can't remember how it happened."

Vinyl laughed. "Sounds...interesting?"

The pegasus rolled her eyes. "It isn't. Well, not to anyone else, anyway. I have to at least look interested, though, you know, for my crews. Don't want them thinking they can slack just because I do. But enough about me, filly, what've you been up to? I keep hearing ponies toss your name around; sounds like you've gotten pretty popular around town."

The unicorn shrugged, mimicking Rainbow's gesture almost perfectly. "I do what I do, you know. I can't help if I'm the only one who does it quite as...perfectly." She grinned as Rainbow rolled her eyes, groaning.

"Oh, puh-lease. You're starting to sound like me."

Vinyl smirked, poking the pegasus in the chest. "Hey, at least I only sound like you. I'll worry when I start to look like you, too."

"Worry? Please. You'll get down on your knees and thank Celestia if you ever wake up with my--" she kissed her hoof and ran it through her mane theatrically--"dashing good looks." She held a glamor pose for a few moments before both mares burst out laughing.

"Seriously, though," Rainbow said when they had recovered their senses somewhat, "what're you doin' on this side of town? I thought you and Octavia lived up in the North Quarter."

"We do," Vinyl nodded, "but...well..." Vinyl tried to decide where to start. "It's a long story, I guess. I'm not sure I've got time to tell it all..."

"Scootaloo?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I--yeah, how did you know?" the unicorn asked, incredulous.

The pegasus gestured with a wing back towards town. "Because she's up in my cloud home right now...probably still sniffing, if I had to guess," she added frostily.

Vinyl winced. "Sniffing?"

Rainbow nodded. "And that's only if she hasn't actually broken down and started crying yet."

"Aw, buck..." the unicorn said, sighing heavily and dropping her head in shame. "I was afraid of that." She looked back up at Rainbow from beneath her electric blue bangs, guilt preventing her from actually making eye contact with the other mare. "I really did mean to be here on time, you know."

"I don't know, but I'll buy it."

"Seriously, Dash," Vinyl said, raising her head slightly, a glint of desperation flashing across the tears collecting in her eyes again. "I set my alarm for one o'clock, I was gonna get up, get ready, and be here like twenty minutes before school ended, just so I could be here when they got out, but my stereo...you know how those things go through magic, right?" She locked eyes with Rainbow, searching the cyan mare's face for any signs of understanding. "I mean, you remember how I always had to recharge yours when I came to visit, right?"

Dash nodded, her face still largely inscrutable. "Sure. I also remember they had a little light on them that went on when they needed charging. Or does yours not have one?" she asked sarcastically, knowing the answer.

Vinyl closed her eyes, another wave of disappointed anger in herself rising in the back of her throat. "Yeah," she sighed, "yeah, it does. And it was on last night." She looked at the ground between Dash's hooves. "But I was so tired, what with that week-long schedule of sets, and then bringing Scootaloo home and taking care of her, talking to Tavi about what we were going to do with her, and worrying about the future...I just didn't have the energy, Dash. I thought...I hoped, I guess, that it would last just one more night." She settled back on her flanks, unable to stop a guilty, angry tear from sliding down her cheek. "I should've given it a little boost, just to make sure, but..." She looked up at Rainbow, another tear escaping her eyelids and creeping down her face. "I'm sorry, Dash, I really am. She must be so mad at me..."

Several moments of tense silence passed between the pair before the blue pegasus sighed and sat down as well. "She's not mad, Vy. Not really. She wants to be, I think, but mostly she's just hurt."

"I bet," the unicorn said miserably. "How long was she waiting for me?"

"About an hour," Rainbow deadpanned. "At least, I assume she was waiting an hour. I didn't even notice anything was up until I came by around half past three and she was sitting here all by herself. Even then, I only noticed because usually she and her friends are totally inseparable. I flew down to see what was up, and she told me she was waiting for someone. Apparently she'd told her friends to go on home and leave her be because someone was coming to get her. I asked her if she wanted me to sit and wait with her, and--being Scootaloo--she just shrugged and said I could if I wanted. So I did." She paused long enough to heave a sigh. "I know a lot of ponies don't really give me much credit for being too emotional or anything like that, but Scoot's been my biggest fan for as long as I can remember, so I try to keep an eye on her if I can, you know? I could tell she was upset, but she wasn't talking, and she was working pretty hard to hide it. Anyway, after it was pretty obvious no one was coming--" Vinyl winced visibly "--I asked her if she wanted to come wait in my house for a while. That seemed to cheer her up a lot; I don't have too many visitors, and she's never been one of them. The second we got there, though, she started worrying that you had come after all, and that you'd be worried when you couldn't find her. I told her I'd come do a flyover and make sure, but I gotta say I didn't actually expect to see you." Rainbow's face darkened severely as she finished talking. "You blew this one, Vy. You know she's got issues already; this isn't exactly helping."

"I know, I know," Vinyl groaned, laying out in the dirt and covering her face with her hooves. "If there was any way I could--wait, how do you know she has issues?" she interrupted herself, blinking out from under her wild mane. "What do you know about her?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I told you she's my biggest fan, right? I've indulged her a couple times, hung out with her and her friends, gone to a couple plays or whatever. She and I talk sometimes, and she's told me a lot of stuff I don't think she's ever told anyone else."

Vinyl's eyes lit up. "Really? Like what?"

"Like none of your business," Rainbow said. It wasn't malicious or snide, but very calm and matter-of-fact. "If she wants to tell you, she will, but until that happens, whatever she tells me stays between the two of us."

Vinyl nodded, sheepish. "Yeah, I...that makes sense. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's just...well, you know she's an orphan, right?"

Rainbow nodded. "I know she hates that word."

"What, 'orphan'?"

"Yeah. She says it makes it sound like she was abandoned, which she insists isn't the case. She's a runaway, not an orphan."

"Either way, you know she's homeless, right?"

The blue pegasus sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I don't think too many ponies do, though. Her friends probably know, since the three of them talk about everything, and I bet the Apples know, since she's living on their property and all."

"Well," Vinyl said, "Tavi and I were thinking about trying to...change that."

"How so?"

"We're thinking about trying to adopt her."

"Really?" Rainbow's face suddenly broke into a grin. "That's awesome! But wait...how did you even find out she's a runaway? It's not like she goes around telling everypony."

"It was pretty obvious when I found her digging in the trash behind the club last night," Vinyl intoned. "We had a chat, I managed to convince her to come home with me, and here we are. Tavi isn't exactly sold on the idea yet, but I think she'll come around. We can't just let her live in the clubhouse forever."

Dash sighed. "No, you're right. And to tell you the truth, I've kind of thought about adopting Scootaloo myself a few times, but I couldn't, because she'd have to live with me in my cloud home, and, well..." The pegasus glanced around conspiratorially and lowered her voice. "She can't fly."

"I know." Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise, and Vinyl continued. "She mentioned it in passing. She didn't exactly say why or how, but she did say that was one of the worst things about living at the orphanage. She knew she'd never get adopted because, and I quote, 'No one wants a pegasus who can't fly.'" Vinyl sighed. "Which I think is ridiculous, because Scootaloo's the sweetest, most polite, most adorable little filly I've ever met. I can't believe nopony would want to adopt her if they just spent ten minutes getting to know her."

"That's just it," Rainbow said, her voice darkening slightly. "Nopony would bother talking to them if they could help it. It's all about picking the best, the smartest, the most athletic. All the while, the most wonderful young fillies get left out in the cold, just wishing somepony would give them a chance."

Vinyl nodded, her face grim. "Well, we're not going to make that mistake. I don't care what it takes, we're going to make Scootaloo our daughter." The hardened expression suddenly faded to a more sheepish one. "That is...if she still wants us to."

Rainbow smirked. "Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem. You'd be surprised at how much she gushed about you before I took her back to my place."

Vinyl groaned. "Don't tell me that! It just makes it worse."

"Good," Dash said sternly. "You should feel bad. It means you really care about her, and even if she's mad now, if you come in telling her how guilty you feel, I think she'll appreciate it. I'll even put in the good word for you."

Vinyl smiled faintly. "Thanks, Dash."

Rainbow grinned and poked the unicorn with a hoof. "Hey, what are friends for, huh?"

Carrying another pony up into a cloud home might have been a challenge for any other pegasus, but Rainbow Dash had spent the better part of her life training incessantly for her eventual tryouts for the Wonderbolt aerial acrobatic team, and her flying muscles were exceptionally more powerful than average, at times topping out at an incredible 20 wingpower, easily twice the best performance of any normal pegasus. This made it all but trivial for her to tote Vinyl up into the clouds where the unicorn discovered she had forgotten to cast a cloudwalking spell before Rainbow put her down, leading to a heartstopping five seconds of freefall before Rainbow caught her and brought her back up, howling with laughter the whole way.

Vinyl blushed fiercely as she cast the spell she had learned several years ago when Rainbow had first invited her to spend the night in her cloud palace. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, featherbrain," she muttered.

"Thanks, I will," Rainbow giggled. "I've never heard anypony make a sound like that before! 'Just like old tiEEEEEEE!'" Rainbow mimicked the last words Vinyl had said before beginning her descent, then threw herself to the cloud floor and continued cackling.

Vinyl rolled her eyes and went up to the front door of the cloud castle. "I see your ego hasn't faded any. Was that always there?" she asked, gesturing to the glinting mockup of the pegasus' cutie mark situated over the entrance.

Rainbow recovered enough to look up at the image. "Oh, nah. I just put it up a while ago. I change stuff from time to time, you know, spice things up a bit."

Vinyl looked around at the rest of the cloud home. "Yeah, I can see that."

"I'll give you the grand tour sometime. You know, when we're not trying to get you back on Scootaloo's good side." Vinyl grimaced as Rainbow trotted past her and threw the front door open. "Hey, Scoot, I'm home!" she shouted into the foyer, her voice oddly muted by the thick clouds that passed for walls.

Vinyl's heart jumped as she heard the familiar voice of the little orange pegasus calling back. "Hey, Dash!" The voice got louder as Scootaloo came out to the front from somewhere deep in the house. "I was just thinking, do you think it would be okay if I spent the night--" She stopped suddenly as she rounded a corner and saw that Dash was not alone in the entryway. Her face flashed through shock, then joy, and then settled into a hard, angry sulk as she realized who the other pony was. "Oh," she deadpanned, her normally exuberant voice thick with disdain, "it's you." Vinyl forced a smile she hoped was more disarming than it felt. Scootaloo was unmoved. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick you up, of course," the unicorn responded, her nervous grin widening. The filly didn't respond.

Several seconds of awkward silence passed through the misty foyer before Rainbow Dash forced a cough, breaking the standoff. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I think you guys have some catching up to do, and I've got some...stuff to, uh, work on. In my room. I'll just get out of your hair." She floated down next to Scootaloo and hesitated momentarily, muttering something inaudible into the filly's ear. Vinyl tried to read the expression on the little orange pegasus' face. It was fairly easy.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and then narrowed them at Vinyl, looking daggers at her. "Do I have to?" she whined, glancing over at Rainbow Dash.

The cyan mare smiled wanly and ruffled the littler female's mane. "Yeah, kid. Just trust me, alright? Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

"Well, you did try to help me earn my cutie mark in quarray eel wrangling."

"Okay, but--"

"And there was that time you tried to teach me how to fly by dropping me out over the lake and telling me to glide."

"In my defense--"

"And then there was that trick you tried to show me on my scooter, which it turned out you need wings to do."

"Right, but I couldn't--"

"And that one time--"

"Okay, okay!" Rainbow cut her off, flailing her forelegs. "But when have I ever steered you wrong when it really mattered?" Scootaloo opened her mouth again, but Rainbow put a hoof to her muzzle. "Never mind. Just...trust me on this one, okay?"

Scootaloo sighed. "Alright, Dash." The older pegasus mussed her mane one more time before swooping up, around, and out of the room, deeper into the house.

The two remaining ponies stood in the foyer for several more seconds of silence before Vinyl cleared her throat to break the ice. "So...I see you and Dash are pretty good friends."

Scootaloo shrugged. "Not really."

The unicorn raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean? You seemed pretty friendly just a second ago."

"She's just helping me out. She's pretty cool that way. I don't think she wants to be my 'friend,' though."

"Why wouldn't she?"

Scootaloo scowled, her frosty demeanor hardening. "Why are you here?"

Vinyl reflexively grimaced at the jab, but struggled to pull a smile back to her face. "I'm here to pick you up, of course. Tavi said I would, right?"

"She said you'd meet me at the schoolhouse," Scootaloo said. "You didn't."

"I know, and I'm really--"

"If you don't want me around, you can just say so," Scootaloo spat, her anger not quite masking the faint moistness in her eyes.

Vinyl's heart sank at the accusation. "That's not it at all. I just--"

"I'm used to it, you know, being unwanted." Scootaloo's voice trembled as she struggled to maintain her composure. "It's not like this is the first time somepony's tried to get rid of me."

"I'm not trying--"

"Rarity doesn't like it when I stay at the boutique because she thinks I'm going to mess it up, and Applejack doesn't want me to stay in the orchard when they're not around, because they think I'm going to steal something." Her voice got slightly louder and more tremulous as she spoke.

"You know that's not--"

"And even Rainbow Dash didn't want to bring me here today. She doesn't think I know, but I can tell when somepony doesn't want me around." Her facade cracked, taking her voice with it and bringing tears streaming down her cheeks. "She didn't even want to sit next to me in the schoolyard until she saw I was crying, you know." The little filly swiped furiously at the tears on her face. "I wish I hadn't. I wish she'd just stayed away. I hate it when somepony feels sad for me and thinks they have to take care of me. I don't want you to pretend, alright?" she nearly shouted, her voice still oddly muffled by the heavy atmosphere of the cloud home.

"I'm not pretending, Scootaloo, I really am sorry."

"I believe you," the filly said, her voice suddenly soft. "I know you didn't want to make me feel bad. Nopony ever does. But you don't have to take care of me because you feel like you have to, alright?"

"That's not why--"

"Stop lying to me!" she shouted, her voice cracking fiercely and sending the last word into a pained shriek. "I'm not a baby, I don't need you to hold my hoof! Just leave me alone!" With this, the filly turned and ran back around the corner, deeper into the house. Vinyl sat, dumbfounded, as she heard the sound of a door opening and then slamming, followed by the unmistakeable and heart-wrenching sounds of Scootaloo openly sobbing.

As if summoned by the sound, Rainbow Dash suddenly reappeared from somewhere upstairs. "Wow," she muttered awkwardly. "What did you say?" Vinyl gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut to resist the frustrated and desperate tears welling up in them. Upon seeing her pained expression, Rainbow backtracked. "Sorry, I was kidding. That was kinda mean."

"No," Vinyl said, shaking her head. "You were right. This is all my fault. I can't believe it...the easiest thing in the world, just wake up and be somewhere on time. I couldn't even do that right." She hung her head in shame, a lump painfully rising in the back of her throat.

"Aw, come on," Rainbow said, floating down to put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "It's just one time, right? She'll get over it, you know. She's a filly; they overreact sometimes."

"No, Rainbow!" Vinyl suddenly snapped at the pegasus. "It's not just one time, it's just one MORE time! It's the most important time! The only time it really mattered, the one chance I had to prove to Scootaloo and Octavia that I can handle something this important, and I screwed it up!" The tears were flowing now, running down her cheeks in hot streaks of shame, leaving cold trails of guilt and frustration in their wake. "I kind of thought this one time, I'd be able to take something seriously, you know? Maybe prove to my marefriend that she can trust me with important stuff, maybe show her I'm responsible enough to marry, but I can't!" A sob interrupted her tirade and she covered her muzzle with her hooves, hoping to stem to tide.

Rainbow Dash was on the floor next to her now, wrapping her forelegs and her wings around the distraught unicorn. "Hey, shh...Vy, calm down, alright? It's not as bad as all that. Look, I know you...you're just like me, you know. We're both kind of flakey sometimes, but when it really counts, we know how to get things done, right?"

"No, Dash," Vinyl said, pushing out of Rainbow's grip and walking back towards the front door. "Not this time. I really screwed up. Just...take care of Scoot for a while, could you?"

"What, like...let her stay here? Why? Where are you going?"

"Home. I have to do some thinking."

"Vy--" Rainbow called after her, but the unicorn had already left, slamming the door angrily behind herself.

Foundling

Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head as the door slammed behind her distraught unicorn friend. She contemplated following her out onto the terrace, but decided that she probably needed some time alone to get her thoughts in order. Meanwhile, Rainbow mused, there was another angry young mare who had had enough alone time already. The cyan pegasus took back to the air and swiftly swooped down the hallways, tracking the sound of angry, bitter sobs until she came to rest outside of her guest bedroom. The door was closed, and Dash allowed her young compatriot the privilege of some privacy by rapping on the door with a hoof. "Hey, Scootaloo?"

"Go away!" The voice broke between words, and Rainbow winced in spite of herself.

"Scootaloo, we need to talk." Silence. "Kid, I can kick this door open, or you can open it for me, but one way or another--" She trailed off as the door cracked open, revealing a tear-stained, sunset-orange face with wide, sad eyes. She smiled gently at the filly. "Come on, kid, it's not that bad. Let's talk about it. You know, like adults."

Scootaloo's eyes widened a little at the last sentiment, and she stepped away, allowing Rainbow to enter the room. The older mare flew in a short circle around the ceiling before settling down on the edge of the bed, patting the spot next to her with a hoof. Scootaloo took the hint and climbed up onto the cloud-crafted mattress. Rainbow smiled at her. "That's more like it. Now, I couldn't help but overhear the two of you...discussing this afternoon out there." She looked down at her young friend with a slightly firm expression. "It didn't sound like you were taking my advice, you know."

Scootaloo looked down at her hooves, a faint blush of guilt tingeing her cheeks. "I know...I tried, though, I really did!" she said, looking up at her idol with wide, desperate eyes. "I wanted to believe her, but...I just thought..." She trailed off.

Rainbow sighed lightly. "I know what you thought, kid, you said it all out loud. I am a pegasus, after all; you know how good our hearing is." Scootaloo looked away, embarrassed. "Look," Dash continued after a moment's hesitation, "I'm gonna be straight with you for a minute, alright? I know you hate to be lied to, so I'm not going to. You know how you said we aren't friends, and that Rarity and the Apples don't want you around?" Scootaloo nodded shallowly. "Well, you're right. We aren't really friends." Scootaloo looked up at her with mild shock and tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Don't get me wrong," the blue pegasus soothed, "I think you're a great kid, real cool and fun to hang with once in a while, but you're...well, you're a kid. I don't really make friends with fillies. Someday, I think we can be pretty good pals, but not yet. And Rarity...well, Rarity doesn't really want anyone around her boutique, especially foals, and probably especially high-energy daredevils like you. It's not because she doesn't like you or anything, she just thinks you'll mess the place up, and she's probably right...right?" Scootaloo didn't respond. "Anyway, as far as the Apples go, they've got a business, and they probably are worried you're eating their crops. Even if you aren't, it's fair for them to be concerned, because that's how they survive. Now look," she continued, putting a hoof under Scootaloo's chin and forcing the filly to look up at her as tears started sliding down the little pegasus' cheeks, "I'm not saying all this to make you sad or hurt your feelings, I'm saying it because I want you to know I'm being honest with you, and that when I tell you that Vinyl was telling you the truth, and that she really does want you around, you know I'm not lying to save your feelings."

Scootaloo managed a faint, watery smile. "R-really?"

Rainbow held up a hoof and placed the other over her heart. "Honest to Luna. You should've heard how she was talking about you all the way over here." She rolled her eyes theatrically. "Constantly going on about how sweet and kind and fun and smart and polite you are, on and on..." She smiled as Scootaloo giggled through her tears, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink at the praise. "Take it from me, kid, that unicorn really cares about you. She and Octavia both. Heck, Vy was in tears, she was so mad at herself for missing out on picking you up today."

"Really?" The filly's face lit up.

"Really." Rainbow nodded. "I know you're scared to get too attached, and that you're worried you're just gonna get left behind or kicked out again, but believe me, kid, you've got something special here. Vinyl loves you, Scoot. Loves you so hard it hurts, and she's just dying knowing she disappointed you. Now, I know you're skeptical about this sort of thing, but there's a family there that's just aching to make you a part of it. You don't want to let that get away from you."

Scootaloo was silent for a minute, contemplating. "No," she finally said, "No, I don't!" She suddenly looked up at Rainbow, panic flashing in her eyes. "Oh, no, Dash, I told her to go away! What if she's mad at me? What if she doesn't want to talk to me at all? What if she doesn't care about me anymore?"

Rainbow smiled and ruffled the filly's mane. "Don't worry, kid, she's not mad at you. She even told me so herself."

"Well, could you fly me over to their house so I can apologize?"

Rainbow nodded, then suddenly burst out laughing. "You know what? I won't have to."

"Why?" Scootaloo asked.

"Because unicorns can't fly."

Vinyl had been staring at the edge of the cloud terrace for some minutes, contemplating whether death by falling was preferable to going back inside and asking Dash for a lift back to the ground after she had stormed out in a huff. Eventually she came down on the more painful but less lethal option and turned to knock on the door. Instead, it swung outward and knocked her, shoving her away from the house and back onto her back in the thick, pillowing clouds.

"Vinyl!" The unicorn's ears pricked and her embarrassment evaporated in an instant as Scootaloo's excited voice rang out and the filly was suddenly wrapped around her midsection in as tight a hug as the little pegasus could muster, her wings buzzing excitedly.

"Scootaloo?" she said, incredulous. "But I thought...aren't you still mad at me?"

Scootaloo leaned back far enough to smile up at her. "A little," she admitted, "but I don't want you to leave me alone anymore! I'm sorry I yelled at you..." She squeezed the unicorn more tightly.

"You...sorry...what?" Vinyl sputtered, confused. "Why? I'm the one who should be sorry--which I still am, by the way."

"I know," Scootaloo said, "but that's okay, because you still came for me."

Vinyl almost laughed. "Of course I did, you silly filly." She nuzzled the little pegasus affectionately as she returned the hug. "You're family, you know."

Scootaloo smiled into the unicorn's fur. "I know."

"Alright, so what's it going to take for you to not tell Tavi about our little...adventure today?" The two ponies were walking into the market on their way back to the house after Rainbow had ferried them down off of her cloud terrace.

Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin as though mulling it over. "I don't know...don't you think we should tell her? She'd want to know, after all."

"What Tavi would like to know and what Tavi should know are often very different things," Vinyl said grimly, "and usually dependent on how likely she is to kill me upon hearing about it. This is one of those things where if she found out about it, I might as well have jumped off Rainbow's porch."

Scootaloo giggled. "So, don't tell her, then?"

"If you want to have two mothers instead of just one, you probably shouldn't."

"Really?" The little pegasus smirked deviously. "What's it worth to ya?"

Vinyl cast a glance around the marketplace. "Um...how about a hot fudge sundae?"

"Don't like ice cream."

"Really?" Vinyl said, shocked. "What kind of foal are you?"

Scootaloo giggled again. "A weird one. I like muffins and pies, not cake and ice cream."

"You are weird," Vinyl agreed. "Alright then, how about a muffin?"

"How about a dozen muffins?"

"How about a half dozen?"

Scootaloo considered this offer. "Alright...but only if Pinkie made them!" She held out a hoof officiously.

"Deal." Vinyl shook the filly's hoof and they laughed as they walked into Sugar Cube Corner together.

As the only specialty bakery in Ponyville, Sugar Cube corner was always full of ponies patiently standing in line, waiting to purchase some of the delicacies that had made the little shop famous throughout Equestria. Today was no exception, and the moment Vinyl and Scootaloo walked into the building, they were inundated by a cacophony of shouted orders and the heady aroma of fresh-baked muffins and cookies hanging thick in the air. Despite the length of the queue, the Cakes were efficient business ponies, and a steady stream of happy customers trotted past the waiting customers, their recent purchases balanced on their backs, hanging in bags from their mouths, or hovering through the air in a cloud of magic in front of them. Vinyl and Scootaloo followed the steady flow of the line with salivating anticipation, the little pegasus extolling the virtues of Pinkie Pie’s muffin-making skills the whole time.

“And she always adds just a dash of vanilla and cinnamon to the mix and lets it rest for a few minutes to give the flavors time to spread out and fill the whole mix.” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed excitedly as they neared the front of the line.

“Hey!” A sudden shout cut through the general hubbub of business and Vinyl looked up to see one of the bakers—the lanky yellow stallion—staring directly in her direction with a distinctly incensed expression on his face. No, wait, she realized, he wasn’t staring at her after all, but instead at—

“I thought I told you never to show your thieving face around here again!” he continued raging, coming out from behind the counter and making a beeline for Scootaloo.

“I’m sorry, I forgot!” The little filly squeaked in fear and stepped behind Vinyl’s flank, pressing her suddenly trembling body against the unicorn’s leg.

“I’ll make sure you never forget again,” the baker growled as he grabbed a broom from the wall and started pressing through the crowd, which parted reluctantly in front of him with concerned murmurs.

“Whoa, hang on a second,” Vinyl said, trying to regain some control over the situation. “What’s going on here?” The yellow stallion didn’t respond, but instead continued his approach, drawing more frantic apologies and heavier shaking from the little orange pegasus behind Vinyl until the unicorn had had enough and stomped angrily on the floor, sliding intentionally between the angry earth pony and his target. “I said, what is going on?”

The baker paused only momentarily before trying to sidle around the obstructing mare, but Vinyl simply sidestepped him, putting herself in his path over and again until he finally swung the broom in frustration, barely managing to catch Scootaloo’s hiding flank. The filly squeaked, more from fear than actual pain, but the sound was more than Vinyl could take, and the unicorn suddenly saw red. With an instinctive burst of magic, she tore the broom out of the other pony’s mouth. A second surge sent a shudder through the implement, which vibrated and crackled ominously until it suddenly exploded in a shower of wooden splinters, eliciting shocked cries from the crowd below. Before the startled pony could protest, a third surge of magic lifted him bodily off the floor and threw him against the wall behind him with a sickening thud. She kept him suspended there as she stalked furiously across the now-silent bakery, putting her nose mere millimeters from his and snarling, “Don’t—you—EVER—hit—my—daughter—again.”

“Your daugh—” the pony started, but Vinyl cut him off with a surge of magic pressing against his throat and eliciting a strangled cough.

“Yes,” Vinyl said, “I’m her guardian now, you understand? I don’t care what sort of problems you’ve had in the past, but you will not take them out on her now.”

“Carrot!” Another voice cut through the heavy silence, and Vinyl spared only a momentary glance for the plump blue earth pony coming out from behind the counter. The unicorn sneered at her as she approached, and she stopped short a few feet away, alarm and fear in her eyes. “Carrot?” she said again, more tentatively now.

“Are you his wife?” Vinyl asked, her voice still simmering with anger. The other mare nodded shallowly, and Vinyl narrowed her eyes at her. “Your husband just hit my daughter with a bucking broom. Give me one reason I shouldn’t beat him senseless right here in front of you.”

“She—she…” the blue pony stammered, but she was almost immediately cut off by Scootaloo’s shrill voice.

“Vinyl, stop!” The little pegasus was at her heels now, her forelegs wrapped around Vinyl’s flank and her head resting against her cutie mark. “Please! It—it’s not their fault! I shouldn’t have come back.”

Vinyl glanced down at her, still upset. “That’s no excuse! He shouldn’t have hit you, and I’m not going to let him get away with it!”

“It didn’t hurt,” Scootaloo pleaded, “and he’s right, I—”

“Whoa, what’s going on out here?” Yet another pony’s voice joined the discussion, and Vinyl rolled her eyes as she glanced over to see a neon pink earth pony step out of the kitchen, a chef’s hat on her head and a veritable rainbow of icing and sprinkles in her mane and tail. Her bright blue eyes widened at the scene in front of her, but she didn’t react much beyond that as she bounced out from behind the counter and came over to Vinyl. “Hi there, Miss Grumpypants. What’cha doin’ with Mr. Cake there?”

“Miss…I…what?” Vinyl sputtered, all anger fading in an instant as she tried to register this new development.

“You know, that doesn’t look very comfortable to me,” the pink pony observed with a hoof to her chin. “Do you think you could put him down for a sec?”

“I…guess.” Vinyl slowly lowered the yellow stallion to the floor and released her magical hold on him. Carrot, as he was apparently called, immediately leaped to his hooves and went over to stand behind his wife, who was now trying to hide behind Pinkie.

"Thanks!" Pinkie chirruped, her demeanor still fully at odds with the situation at hoof. "Now, what's up? Why'd you have to go and pick Mr. Cake up like that?"

Vinyl was about to answer when Scootaloo interrupted again, her voice still painfully high-pitched. "It's my fault, Pinkie! I shouldn't have come back, but I did, and now Mr. Cake is mad, and Vinyl's in trouble, and--"

"Whoa, slow down a sec, Scootie. Come on, let's go up to my room and talk for a bit. You too, Vinyl." The pink pony didn't even pause for breath as she turned to the cowering Cakes. "I'm gonna be just a minute, alright?" The couple nodded vaguely, and Pinkie beamed as she shrugged out of her apron and hat, shaking the sprinkles out of her mane. "Come on," she repeated as she bounced over to the stairwell leading to the second floor. Scootaloo immediately followed the earth pony up the stairs, and Vinyl, left with no meaningful options, did likewise, ignoring the bewildered stares of the collected customers as they watched her depart.

The second floor was somewhat more urbane than the first, with less colorful decorations adorning the walls and more personal photos and inspirational artwork. A large frame containing several dozen pictures of two tiny foals hung from one wall, and several more photos of the same two ponies were taped haphazardly to the edges of the frame and the walls around. On the other wall were a few subdued photos of the Cakes alone together, and then a few less subdued pictures of the Cakes with Pinkie between, below, or behind them. In each picture the pink earth pony was defying gravity and had somehow managed to generate a cloud of confetti, a pair of sparklers, or a bunch of balloons just in time for the camera to catch it.

Vinyl smiled faintly at the pictures. They reminded her strongly of any photo she and Octavia took together. The demure silver musician took pictures very seriously, always making certain her bow was straight, her mane was properly flat and smooth, and that she smiled just enough to look happy without showing her teeth. Vinyl, on the other hoof, was a foal for the camera, and never passed up the opportunity to show up in a photo, even if the photographer wasn't necessarily aiming for her. She always wore a wide, silly grin, and more often than not took the opportunity to play with Octavia's sense of poise, either magically turning her bow sideways, making her mane stand on end or in some other wild arrangement, leaping on the other pony the moment the camera went off, eliciting a look of shock and rage, or even something as simple as surreptitiously slipping her own shades onto Octavia's head without the earth pony noticing until it was too late.

These pranks always guaranteed a predictable series of events, starting with Octavia's flustered outrage, followed by Vinyl cowering under her annoyed--but largely harmless--cuffing, grinning widely as Octavia sputtered admonitions and wondering aloud why she stayed with the irritating unicorn. When the attack stopped, though, Vinyl would invariably take the opportunity to smile up at the other pony, marveling at just how beautiful, sexy, and pure her mate looked when she let her guard down, something she very rarely did. The unicorn would say as much out loud, and follow the admission with a kiss on her mate's cheek. The combination would always result in a slightly flustered, slightly flushed, fully disarmed, and uniquely photogenic Octavia, and if they were lucky, the photographer would take the hint and capture an image that represented what their relationship truly looked like. There were very few of these pictures in their apartment, but they were Vinyl's favorites. To her, it was an opportunity for the rest of the world to see her beloved exactly as she always did--shyly smiling, mane slightly mussed, a faint tinge of pink on her cheeks, and none of her carefully crafted walls hiding who she was from the world.

The trio made their way to the end of the hallway and up to another set of stairs, this one curling around the upper floor of the shop and into an attic that had been repurposed into a small apartment. Even if she hadn't been leading the way, Vinyl would have immediately known the room was Pinkie's. The floor was littered with confetti and streamers, most of them clearly hoof-made. Balloons were strewn about the ceiling and floor, tied to the banister on the stairwell and to the corners of the bed under the window across the room. Under the bed sat a small basket, in which an indistinct green shape was curled, apparently alive and dozing. Under another window, closer to the staircase, was a table completely covered in construction paper, felt, and foam of a dozen different colors. Markers, paints and crayons filled a box on one side of the table, and shakers full of glitter, confetti, and sequins were lined up on the other. The walls were plastered with vibrant posters and stickers ranging from huge yellow stars and hearts to pictures of fireworks and masterfully decorated cakes. Dozens of photographs filled the rest of the walls, each one a picture of Pinkie with an arm around somepony. Vinyl recognized some of the subjects on sight, but even if she hadn't, the hoof-written names and dates scrawled in bright pink ink across the bottom of the pictures would have clued her in. To her surprise, Vinyl quickly found a picture of Pinkie with her arms around two ponies she recognized better than the rest. "Hey, when did you take this?" she asked, gesturing to the photo. "And how?"

Pinkie laughed, the lilting giggle sending an unexpected thrill of joy through Vinyl's chest. "Silly! I have cameras stashed all over Ponyville in case of New Friend emergencies!" She bounced over to the picture, grinning. "I took this when you and Octy first came to town, exactly two years, three months and eighteen days ago!"

Vinyl wasn't sure just how unnerved to be by this. "I don't remember seeing you when we moved here. When did you take it?"

"Oh, you looked pretty busy, so I didn't take too much of your time. I introduced myself, you introduced yourselves, and I just asked for a picture, you said 'okay', and that was that!" She beamed.

"Huh," was all Vinyl could think to say. She cast her memory back to when she and Octavia had first moved to Ponyville; surely she would remember being photographed by a neon pink pony whose smile constantly flirted with the line between 'exuberant' and 'disconcerting.'

Pinkie left the conversation as quickly as she'd joined it, bouncing back over to Scootaloo. "Okie dokie, first things first!" She suddenly scooped the filly up into a bone-crushing hug. "Scootie! I'm sooo glad to see you again! When Mr. Cake chased you away yesterday, I thought you were gonna run away forever!"

"Well," Scootaloo grunted through the vice-like embrace, "I kind of wanted to, but then I met Vinyl here, and she sort of...saved me."

Pinkie put the filly down. "Saved you how?"

"After I ran away, I got really lost, and I don't know how I would have ever gotten back if Vinyl hadn't found me." She smiled at the unicorn. "She took me back to her house for dinner and then let me spend the night. Her fillyfriend Octavia is really nice, too, and she made me breakfast and took me to school this morning. They're both really cool...and they want to adopt me!" she finished with a broad grin and a fluttering of wings.

Pinkie gasped theatrically, putting her hooves to her cheeks. "Really?" Vinyl smiled and nodded, then grunted as Pinkie suddenly applied her suffocating hug to the unsuspecting unicorn. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she gushed, shaking Vinyl back and forth in her exuberance. Having an earth pony for a mate had given the ivory mare plenty of experience with their unnatural strength and endurance--something that occasionally left her pleasantly breathless in the small hours of the night--but Pinkie's powerful embrace was in a league of its own. The unicorn struggled to loosen her grip enough to breathe while Pinkie obliviously said, "I'm sooo glad to hear that! Everypony needs a mommy, you know, and Scootaloo doesn't have one anymore. I wanted to do it myself, but the Cakes said no, and I can't afford to get my own house."

Vinyl finally managed to get a hoof free and used it to brace herself against Pinkie's arms, giving herself room to breathe. "Yes, well...we couldn't very well let her keep living in the clubhouse, and she really didn't want to go back to the orphanage, so--"

"No," Pinkie agreed, her cotton candy pink mane whipping around as she shook her head vigorously. "Nopony should have to live in an orphanage." Her voice darkened slightly and her eyes unfocused. "Nopony."

The room was silent for a few moments before Vinyl cleared her throat awkwardly and finally managed to struggle out of Pinkie's grasp. "Anyway...I'm...well, I'm not exactly sorry for what I did downstairs, but I am sorry it had to happen."

"Oh!" Pinkie suddenly rebounded, returning to the conversation. "What happened, exactly? I was so busy putting a fresh batch of muffins in the oven that I didn't really hear what was going on."

"Well," Vinyl said, her voice taking a hard edge, "your boss Mr. Cake took exception to Scootaloo coming back to his shop after he chased her away yesterday. He decided to show his displeasure by hitting her with a broom." She narrowed her eyes angrily. "I decided to show him that wasn't okay."

"Oooooooh," Pinkie cooed, her eyes widening. "Wow, I'm surprised! You were holding him up against the wall pretty easily; most unicorns can't muster that kind of magic power unless it's really, really important."

"Well..." Vinyl said, smiling down at Scootaloo. "It was really, really important." She sighed. "I think I probably went overboard, though..."

"Did he actually hit her?"

Vinyl nodded. "Not hard, but..."

"Well," Pinkie mused, "if you promise not to tell the mayor about that, he'll probably agree not to tell the mayor about what you did, either."

The unicorn smiled. "You think so?"

"Uh huh. He was mad, you were mad, you both did craaazy things you shouldn't'a done...best to just let it go, right?"

Vinyl nodded, relieved. "Yeah...I think so."

"So," Scootaloo suddenly spoke for the first time in several minutes, "no one's going to get in trouble because of me?"

Vinyl shook her head, ruffling the filly's mane. "It wasn't your fault, Scoot, even if I had gotten in trouble." She nuzzled the little pegasus. "I'd gladly get in trouble for you, you know."

Scootaloo giggled. "I hope you don't have to."

"That makes two of us." Vinyl smirked. "Now, Pinkie, I believe you said something about a fresh batch of muffins..."

Wanderling

The sun was just sliding below the horizon by the time Vinyl and Scootaloo finally made their way back home. The unicorn pushed open the front door and gently nudged the little filly into the house. "I told you not to eat all of those muffins in one sitting."

Scootaloo could only groan in reply as she stumbled into the foyer, a distinctly distressed expression on her face and her wings hanging limply at her sides. Her belly was slightly distended, evidence of her overindulgence in Pinkie's unique masterpieces. The bouncy party pony had in fact recently finished several batches of her famous muffins, and insisted on doubling the pair's order despite Vinyl's insistence that she only wanted to buy six.

"Well, let's make it a baker's half dozen, then!" she had exclaimed with unflagging enthusiasm.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow at her. "Wouldn't that be...seven, then?"

Pinkie burst out laughing, as though this was a ridiculous suggestion. "Seven! You can't have seven muffins, silly!" She had then packed twelve muffins into a bag and dropped it in front of the perplexed unicorn, sweeping her money into a hoof and then shooing the two out of the bakery, which was still busy enough--and now filled with a completely different group of ponies--for them to escape without further incident. Scootaloo had been unable to resist sampling their spoils as soon as they'd left the bakery, and by the time they trotted around the corner and onto the street where they lived, the little pegasus had managed to eat five of the twelve, and her previously elated face had slowly fallen to 'uncomfortable' and was now hovering between 'regretful' and 'ill'.

Vinyl smiled wanly as she shooed the little filly back towards the bathroom. "Go get ready for bed. I'll put the sheets back on the couch." Scootaloo nodded very shallowly as she trudged down the hallway towards the bathroom. Vinyl hummed quietly to herself as her horn flared to life, snapping the sheets smooth and stretching them across the mattress as she fluffed the pillows with her hooves. The faint sounds of nighttime preparations echoed down the hallway for a few moments, then she heard Scootaloo come back down the hall and into the room. She didn't speak, her face still grimacing slightly as Vinyl helped her up into bed and pulled the sheets up to her neck. The unicorn nuzzled her gently and turned out the lights. "Night, kid. If you need anything, just give me a shout, alright?" The little pegasus' eyes were already closed, but she nodded lightly anyway. Vinyl left her to recover from her muffin binge.

The unicorn trotted down the hall, sticking her head into the kitchen to see if Octavia was there or in the dining room. She wasn't, so the ivory mare checked the next most likely location, her practice room. She fully expected to see the earth pony crouched over a piece of music, feverishly stabbing at the notes with a pencil clenched in her teeth as she struggled to make the music in her head appear on the ledger paper on her desk. But the room was empty, save for the large double bass, cello, and other smaller stringed instruments placed carefully in cases and stands around a single music stand in the middle of the room with dozens of sheets of music on it. A small lamp clipped to the stand put off a subdued glow, illuminating the hoof-written music underneath in an almost quaint fashion. Tavi, however, was not there, which puzzled the unicorn somewhat. Surely she had returned from her errands by now. Their home was not particularly large, though, so the remainder of her search was relatively short, and the unicorn finally found her mate in their bedroom, lying facedown on the bed. "Tavi? You okay?" she asked tentatively.

The earth pony groaned softly in response, but didn't move. Concerned, Vinyl closed the door behind her and trotted over to join her on the bed. "What's wrong, hun?"

The silver mare grunted and turned to face her. "I ate too much pie..."

Vinyl blinked. "Come again?"

"At the Apples...I stayed for lunch...and then dinner...and dessert..." She groaned again. "It was so good...but now..." She sighed heavily and put her face back into the pillow.

The unicorn giggled softly, running a hoof through the other mare's mane. "Aw...I'm sorry, sweetie. Anything I can do for you?"

"I'm alright," Octavia muttered, barely audible through the fabric of the pillow. "I just need some rest." A few moments of silence passed as Vinyl continued stroking her marefriend's mane gently. Then, Octavia said, "Vy?"

"Yes, Tavi?"

"Could you...could you rub my back a little?" Her voice, already muffled by the pillow, was made even quieter by her embarrassment in asking for a backrub like a little filly.

Vinyl giggled. "Of course." She climbed up and over her mate, straddling the other mare's hips and careful to avoid putting any unnecessary pressure on her stomach. With ease born of practice and tenderness born of love, she began to stroke her hooves up and down Octavia's back, feeling the muscles give way beneath her light touch as the earth pony sighed again, this time with a distinct air of pleasure and relief. Octavia was a physically affectionate pony, the result of a relatively aloof relationship with her parents. Although she'd never admit or show it to anyone, she loved holding hooves, cuddling, grooming, and--most embarrassingly for a grown pony--backrubs. "There is nothing," she had told Vinyl under duress, "more relaxing, more pleasant...or more...sexy...than a backrub." This admission, particularly the quietest part at the end that brought a faint pink tinge to the earth pony's cheeks and forced her to look away, had given Vinyl a fit of the giggles, which had incensed Octavia somewhat, but the unicorn had managed to assuage her with a kiss and a promise to indulge her little obsession as often as possible--but only in the privacy of their home.

As a result, she had gotten rather good at it; she wasn't exactly a masseuse like one of the Blossom sisters, but she knew all of Octavia's favorite spots, all her pressure points, and just how hard she wanted Vinyl to press. Tonight, Octavia's full, round stomach and occasional groans of discomfort suggested she would rather Vinyl didn't press down at all, so she simply ran her hooves gently across her marefriend's coat, letting the contact itself provide the comfort Octavia was seeking. A small smile flitted across Octavia's lips, and Vinyl knew she was doing it right.

After half an hour or so, Octavia seemed to relax, and she sighed lightly, apparently no longer feeling unwell. Vinyl didn't stop her ministrations, but did increase the force a little, leaning into the other pony's back and feeling the muscles roll and soften beneath her hooves. Taking advantage of Octavia's obvious contentment, Vinyl decided it was time to discuss Scootaloo again. "So..." she started.

"Did you oversleep?" Octavia interrupted her in a tone so nonchalant that Vinyl wondered for a moment if she'd heard the other mare correctly.

"Did I...what?"

"Oversleep," Octavia repeated, her eyes still closed and her head still resting on the pillow with a dreamy expression of contentment. "I noticed last night that your stereo was running low on magic, and it was dead when I got home tonight. Did it last long enough to wake you up this afternoon?"

"No! No, of course...I mean," she faltered and stopped rubbing, looking down at her hooves as her face flushed with embarrassment. "I mean, yeah. I did. Oversleep, that is."

A look of grim disappointment flickered across Octavia's face, and the smile disappeared. "By how much?"

"Um...two...hours."

The earth pony sighed heavily, her back rising and falling beneath Vinyl's motionless hooves. "Vinyl..."

"No, you don't have to say it," the unicorn said miserably. "I know, I need to be more responsible, I need to focus and take things more seriously, I need to grow up and start acting my age...I'm sorry. I really meant to, but I've been so busy, and--"

"Vy..." Octavia's voice was quiet, but still managed to silence Vinyl's babbling. "You're not rubbing anymore." Vinyl dutifully started stroking her marefriend's silver pelt again as Octavia continued. "Vinyl, I know you've been busy, and I know you've been tired. You're right, you do need to be more responsible...but I should have mentioned it to you last night or this morning. I'm sorry, sweetie."

"You're sorry?" Vinyl blanched. "Why are you sorry? I should've gotten up on time, I should've recharged my stereo...I should've been a better...mother...for Scootaloo." She tripped over the last words because she hadn't meant to say them at all. She hadn't even really thought the words before she heard them coming out of her own head, and the instant she did, she blushed deeply, mortified to admit something so overt and ridiculous, even to her marefriend.

Octavia didn't visibly react. "Even so, you shouldn't worry about it." Octavia opened one large violet eye a sliver and looked back at Vinyl. "Besides, you aren't her mother."

The blush deepened further. "Um...yeah, about that..." Vinyl coughed theatrically as she redoubled her efforts at massaging her mate's back. "I was just thinking...I mean, I know we discussed it a little last night, and I know you weren't exactly sold on the idea, but..."

"Vy," Octavia said again, still in that demure, arresting tone of voice. Vinyl pushed on anyway, determined to state her case before Octavia could shut her down.

"Hear me out, okay? Just let me explain. I know we just met her and all, and we've only been taking care of her for a day, but really, how much time does she have? I mean, she's been living on her own for a while, and she's not exactly doing great, you know?"

"Vy, I--"

"And what's the point of letting her live here if we're not going to actually adopt her? Isn't that sort of mean, to lead her on like that without ever taking that step? I know we're not in the best position, financially or anything, to be adopting a filly, but you know we've talked about trying to get pregnant before, and this is even better, isn't it?"

"I'm not--"

"I know, I know, I'm probably being rash and a little irresponsible, but you can't possibly tell me you don't die a little inside, just looking into her eyes and knowing she hasn't got anyone else in the world except us!" Vinyl was getting into her rant now, leaning back and gesturing wildly with her hooves. She was used to being told 'no' by her marefriend, because of the two of them, Octavia was substantially more rational and responsible. Octavia knew the difference between one of Vinyl's passing fascinations and something that was really important to her. She rarely denied Vinyl something she desperately wanted, but the unicorn wasn't taking any chances this time. She had to make Octavia realize how important this was. "Please, Tavi...you have to understand...she needs us." Vinyl hadn't really intended to cry while she was making her point, but the tears welled up on their own anyway, hot and stinging with frustration she couldn't really explain. "Please..."

Octavia was quiet for a minute or so. Vinyl sniffed and swiped at the tears on her cheeks, angry at herself for letting her emotions get away from her and make her look silly, especially now when she needed to look rational and responsible. When the earth pony between her legs heaved an enormous sigh and looked back at her, eyes half-lidded, Vinyl held her breath, terrified that her mate was about to refuse. "Vinyl," she said, "I do understand. I understand...maybe more completely than even you do." She struggled to roll over on the bed, and Vinyl adjusted her perch so she was straddling her earth pony mate's belly now, the two mares looking each other in the eye. "I spent a lot of time talking to some ponies around town today, you know."

Vinyl nodded, her stomach still squirming uncomfortably as she waited for Octavia's verdict. "I know...I only got to talk to a couple, but both of them were...worried about her. Tavi, we might be her last chance. You know why she was downtown, right?" She didn't wait for Octavia to answer. "She was chased there. Chased, by an adult. Someone who should be trying to take care of her, to save her from having to take care of herself, and he just..." She struggled to maintain her composure, a lump rising in the back of her throat. "Tavi...we--"

"We're adopting her," Octavia said firmly, silencing her marefriend.

"W--really?" Vinyl's face lit up at Octavia nodded, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

"Of course. You're absolutely right, Vinyl, we very well may be her last chance, and she may very well need us, but that's not why. We're going to adopt her because we need her. Look at yourself, sweetie. I know you get attached and emotional easily, but this is the most upset I've ever seen you about anything, and it wasn't even because I had said 'no'. The mere thought that I might say 'no' has you in tears. That says a lot to me." She smiled and shook her head slightly. "Vinyl, I daresay you've fallen in love with this little filly. And I must admit...I've grown rather fond of her myself." The mare reached up and took Vinyl's hooves in hers, holding them gently. "It'll be a big step, you know. There's a lot more to raising a filly than just playing games with her all the time."

Vinyl thought back over the past several hours and nodded. "Yeah...I know." She smiled. "I'm really looking forward to it, though. I know it'll be tough, but that's half the fun, right?"

Octavia snorted lightly. "I'm not sure 'fun' is the right word for it, but yes, I suppose so." The mare brought one of Vinyl's hooves to her lips and kissed it gently. "You know...I can't think of another mare I'd rather raise a filly with than you."

The unicorn blushed crimson as she smirked, leaning forward to kiss her mate on the muzzle and wrap her arms around her shoulders, pressing their bodies together. "And I can't think of another mare who'd be willing to try."

The next morning started much earlier than either pony had been expecting as a sudden fierce rapping startled them from their slumber. Octavia, more used to waking early than her partner, shook her head and slowly extracted herself from Vinyl's cuddling embrace, rolling out of bed with a wide yawn. "Coming," she mumbled groggily as the offending noise repeated and she realized it was originating at the front door.

"Whazzamatta" Vinyl opened one eye and grumbled from between the sheets. The earth pony nuzzled her gently.

"Don't worry about it; I'll be right back." The unicorn nodded and closed her eye again as Octavia slowly trudged out of the bedroom and down the hallway. Glancing into the living room, she noticed Scootaloo was also awake, blinking sleepily and rubbing her eyes as she sat up in her bed. "Go back to sleep, sweetie; it's just somepony at the door." The little pegasus didn't immediately obey, watching as the older mare leaned on the door handle and pulled it inwards to reveal three ponies standing on the doorstep. She recognized the one in the middle--hoof still raised and about to knock again--as Mayor Mare, the longtime elected governor of Ponyville. Though relatively young, the mayor was a keen administrator, and had been running the little town quite smoothly for several years, ever since taking over from the previous mayor. She had been hoof-picked from several other hopefuls, all of whom possessed some variety of government-related special talent, as the most able candidate for the job, and the voting public of Ponyville had overwhelmingly agreed. Today, she was about to put those talents to the test.

"Miss Philharmonica, I presume?" the mayor asked with a cheerful voice and a genuine smile that didn't quite hide a hint of something less...pleasant in her expression. Octavia nodded, her brain still slowly grinding into function from a dead sleep. "Terribly sorry to have to wake you so early, but I'm afraid there is an...issue that simply cannot wait."

"Issue?" Octavia repeated, her mind still not quite up to speed yet.

"Yes, you see...oh, but where are my manners. I'm Mayor Mare, the, well, mayor of Ponyville." She smiled wanly, as though this particular play on words didn't occur every time she introduced herself to anypony. "This is Carrot Cake," she gestured to the lanky yellow stallion to her right, his short orange mane for once not corralled by his short cylindrical baking cap. The confectioner didn't look at Octavia, but inclined his head slightly at the sound of his name. "And this is Bumble Bee." The lead-colored stallion with a close-cropped ash-colored mane and stunning emerald eyes dipped his head in greeting, his face mostly expressionless.

Octavia nodded shallowly, a quiet alarm ringing somewhere in the back of her head. "How do you do."

"Quiet well, thank you," the charcoal pony said. His voice was smooth but firm, and immediately evoked memories of the voice her father used to use when he disciplined her, usually with sentences that began, "I'm not mad, just disappointed..." Her stomach sank unpleasantly at the sound. Carrot Cake didn't respond at all.

Mayor Mare smiled again, still not quite masking...something. Something unpleasant. Was it anger? Sadness? "Miss Philharmonica," the beige earth pony said again, "are you familiar with a young pegasus named Scootaloo?"

The silver mare's stomach suddenly tightened and any remaining vestiges of tiredness vanished instantly. "Yes, I am." She contemplated sharing more, but something told her that would be unwise. "Why?" she asked instead.

"I've been told she may be living here with you. Is that true?"

"Yes," Octavia said again, her hackles rising slightly. There weren't many places this conversation could go, and none of them were good. She was immediately on the defensive. A quiet clopping sound behind her revealed that Vinyl had resisted the urge to doze off again and was now standing behind her, listening intently to the conversation. Octavia silently willed the normally verbose unicorn to keep her mouth shut for once. Incredibly, she seemed to sense her mate's consternation and held her tongue.

"I see," Mayor Mare said, nodding. "Can I speak to her, please?"

"No." Octavia's eyes narrowed coldly. "You can speak to me, and I can speak to her, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to talk to her yourself. You understand," she said, her mouth tightening defiantly.

"I see..." she repeated, sighing. "Very well. Mr. Cake has been issuing complaints for some time now about young Scootaloo, ranging from simple loitering to outright theft. I have--" she said, holding up a hoof to silence Octavia's outraged response before it could start, "--seen no evidence to suggest any of this is true, despite Mr. Cake's insistence, and in speaking with other interested parties, including Miss Pie, I suspect that while his complaints may hold some merit, the primary issue is not that Scootaloo is troublesome in her own right, but rather that there seems to be no easily accessible guardian to speak to."

"So?" Octavia couldn't resist interjecting. "There is now, so speak."

"It isn't that simple, Miss Philharmonica. You see, when Mr. Cake first brought these problems to my attention, I went in search of Scootaloo's parents, so I could discuss it with them, but of course I'm sure you know that...well, Scootaloo's parents are unavailable."

"Yes, she may have mentioned something to that effect. Your point, Miss Mare?" Octavia said, frustration and impatience leaking into her voice as she tried to hide the fear slowly rising in the back of her throat. She had a nasty suspicion she knew why Bumble Bee was here...

Mayor Mare sighed heavily, trying to maintain her composure. "My point, Miss Philharmonica, is that when I couldn't find them, I did some more research and eventually was put in contact with Mr. Bee, who provided the missing piece of the puzzle." She glanced at the grey stallion next to her. "You see, Mr. Bee is the patron of an orphanage in Baltimare, and he--"

"No."

Mayor Mare blinked. "I'm...sorry?"

"No," Octavia repeated, her voice shaking slightly as she fought to contain her emotions. Behind her, Vinyl was having a much harder time, quietly whispering to herself, "Oh, no, oh Celestia, no...not now..." Her voice grew quieter as she stumbled into the living room, sitting next to Scootaloo on the bed. The little filly was still sitting silently on the bed. Her eyes were wide and scared, but she had yet to speak. Octavia ignored her as best she could, knowing she couldn't afford to let her emotions get the better of her. "I know exactly what you're about to say, and the answer is quite unequivocally no. You may not take her from us, and that's quite final." She went to shut the door, but the leaden stallion was suddenly in the doorway, one hoof easily preventing her from closing it.

"Excuse me, Miss Philharmonica." The smile he hitched onto his face sent an ugly chill down Octavia's spine. "I'm afraid it's just not that simple. You see, as a former resident of my foals' home, Scootaloo is technically in my charge."

"Yes, I know she is," Octavia deadpanned, meeting the stallion's eyes with a steely, half-lidded glare. "She has mentioned as much, you see, and according to her, it wasn't exactly a highlight of her life."

Bumble Bee shrugged shallowly. "As well it shouldn't be. No foal should be an orphan, but unfortunately such things happen with terrible regularity. In any event, I'm in the...business, as it were, of making sure they find suitable homes. I would be abandoning that goal if I were to simply allow anypony to take my foals in because they found them on the street."

"We did not find her, she chose to come home with my marefriend. We're taking perfectly good care of her, and if you try--"

"Miss Philharmonica," the stallion said quietly, "I don't think you understand. I'm not 'trying' anything. I'm here to take her back to the home with me, and nothing you do or say will do anything but make that harder for everypony involved."

"No!" Vinyl shouted, suddenly behind her marefriend again and struggling to get past her onto the stoop. "You will not take her from us! She's our daughter, do you understand? Ours!"

"Vinyl," Octavia said, struggling to hold the furious unicorn back as the ivory mare fought to get by, most likely intent on attacking the calm, emotionless stallion in front of her. "You're not helping."

"Not...help...but Tavi! He wants--"

"I know!" Octavia shouted, closing her eyes against the tears of anger and fear gathering in the corners. "I know," she repeated, softer now. "But getting into a fight with him doesn't help anyone...least of all her." She forced her marefriend to look her in the eyes. "Go take care of Scootaloo."

"But--"

"Vinyl!" Octavia said firmly. "She needs one of us. Go." Vinyl looked for a moment like she wanted to keep arguing, but then she glanced into the living room and smiled wanly.

"Yeah...yeah. Hey, kid, don't worry, Tavi'll get everything sorted out, alright?" The unicorn finally left Octavia in peace and trotted heavily into the living room, taking a seat next to the filly again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Octavia could see Scootaloo's tear-streaked face, the eyes wide with fear and the blankets pulled up to her chin. Again, the earth pony tried to shut it out, still fighting to keep her composure. "When you say...take her back..."

"To the foals' home, yes. In Baltimare."

"If I may ask...why, exactly?"

The stallion shrugged again. "Well, she's been missing for some time, but she is still technically a charge of the Baltimare Foals' Home, and we can't simply write her off. We've been searching for her ever since--"

"Obviously not very hard," Octavia snapped, unconsciously baring her teeth. "You know she's been living here on scraps and hiding in a shack ever since she escaped your 'foals' home', right?"

"I did not, but--"

"I see," Octavia interrupted him. "So you never thought to extend your search out this far, did you? Ponyville's a little too small, a little too rustic to pay any attention to, huh?"

"Ponyville," the stallion said, sighing in exasperation, "is a very long way from Baltimare. We honestly didn't think she could have gotten this far."

"You don't know much about her, then. I've only known her for two days, and I could have told you she could get this far or further, if she wanted to."

"Two days?" Bumble Bee's shock was plain. "You've only known Scootaloo for two days, and you think somehow you understand her better than I do?" The stallion snorted. "Madam, I raised that filly. I taught her to read and to write. I helped her look her best for adoption days, and I consoled her as best I could when those days passed and she had to come back to the dorms!" He drew himself up indignantly. "And I will not have anyone, least of all you, try and tell me I didn't do my best to find her when she ran away from the only home she's ever had!"

"Your orphanage wasn't her home, and it still isn't!" Octavia suddenly snapped, her eyes flashing with rage as she stepped forward, glaring up at the stallion. "This is her home now, and I swear if you try to take her from us, I'll...I'll..." Octavia couldn't think of what she might do, but she snorted furiously at the stallion anyway, allowing his imagination to fill in the blank.

He seemed unimpressed. "It doesn't work that way. Especially not at my foals' home. Scootaloo is still one of my foals, and you have no right to keep her. She'll come home with me, or I'll have you thrown in prison, do you understand?"

For one insane, Vinyl-inspired moment, Octavia contemplated taking the second option out of pure spite. Fortunately, her more rational mind got the better of her, and she calmed down enough to say, "Fine, fine. What if we wanted to adopt her, then?"

"Adopt her?" he repeated, as if unaware that this had ever been an option. "Are you certain? By your own admission, you've only been taking care of her for two days, and--forgive me if this sounds somewhat...condescending, but--you realize that caring for a filly full-time is an incredibly demanding task, right? Foals are expensive, time-consuming, and difficult, even at the best of times."

Octavia huffed. "We'll manage."

"While I respect your confidence and your determination, I'm afraid it simply doesn't work that way. I don't know anything about you or your living situation, I know very little about this town...no, I'm afraid that if you are serious about wanting to adopt Scootaloo, you will have to make a better case than threats and boasting." He smiled joylessly at the mare as she struggled to come up with a legitimate argument.

Finding none, she sighed and settled back on her haunches. "Please...Mr. Bee...I know we haven't known her long...and you don't know anything about us at all...but please...just give us a chance. We've grown rather...fond of Scootaloo in the short amount of time we've spent with her."

The stallion gave her an appraising look. "Yes, well...despite her--rather glaring--shortcomings, Scootaloo is a charismatic young filly." There was a long, yawning pause during which the only sound Octavia could hear was the dull thudding of her own racing heartbeat echoing in her ears. Eventually, he spoke again, the slightest edge of acquiescence creeping into his words. "It is discouraging that I was never able to find a family for her when she lived at the home."

Sensing an opening, the mare pressed her advantage, hardly daring to hope that she might be making headway. "She mentioned that no one would want a pegasus who couldn't fly, which I think is foolish. There's a great deal more to her than simply wings that do not work."

Bumble Bee nodded. "Indeed. Most of the families who come to the home are looking to adopt within their own species, and pegasi are...proud ponies. They are not usually interested in any foal who they will have to dedicate additional effort into simply allowing them to be normal."

"Well, it doesn't bother us," Octavia said, forcing a wry smile. "We're anything but normal, my marefriend and I. We rather think Scootaloo would fit in quite well in our little family."

The stallion sighed. "Alright, fine. I suppose I could...conduct the interview here. But you have to be honest, you realize," he said, his eyes narrowing fiercely. "If I find out you lied to me--and I will find out--you'll have a lot more to worry about than losing Scootaloo, understand?"

The earth pony mare nodded as solemnly as she could while her heart was fluttering excitedly in her chest. "Of course." In the living room, Octavia could barely see Scootaloo sitting in Vinyl's lap, the two ponies hugging each other tightly and staring in disbelieving shock at the scene unfolding just out of their line of sight. "I've no reason to lie; I'm quite certain you'll be satisfied."

"For your sake...and Scootaloo's...I certainly hope so." The stallion shifted from hoof to hoof. "Would you mind terribly if I came inside to conduct the interview?"

"No, not at all," Octavia said, putting on her best hostess charms and standing aside to allow the other pony to enter the house. She paused to give Mayor Mare a grim nod and Mr. Cake a disgusted look before shutting the door.

Once he had gotten inside, Bumble Bee relaxed a little and even smiled as he glanced to the right and saw Scootaloo and Vinyl still hugging each other tightly on the pull-out bed. "Good morning, Scootaloo. I suppose you remember me, don't you?" The little pegasus glared at him and ducked behind Vinyl, but didn't say anything. He seemed unfazed by her animosity. "I assumed as much," he chuckled dryly. Turning back to Octavia, he said, "Normally, we begin the adoption process by visiting the prospective parents' home, looking into their finances, background checks, et cetera. Under these...unusual circumstances, I believe a simple tour will be sufficient, especially given how difficult it has been to place Scootaloo."

"Certainly," Octavia said, spinning up her best high-class accent. "As you can see, we live in a fairly modest one-story, one bedroom, one bathroom...it's not particularly large, but it's very cozy."

"Very cozy indeed," the stallion mused, casting a skeptical eye around the slightly cramped hallway and the living room, currently dominated by the pull-out bed.

Clearing her throat nervously, Octavia continued, "But, of course, we're planning on moving into a larger house sometime in the near future!"

"Is that so." It was not a question. "Larger and closer to the city center, I hope."

"Well..." Octavia hedged, following the stallion as he continued trotting through the house, examining every room with a critical eye. Both Vinyl and Scootaloo clambered off of the makeshit bed to follow behind her.

"Mayor Mare informs me that this particular suburb is relatively new to the city, and rather...dubious in quality." He paused and looked back at the three ponies following him. "Do you find this to be the case?"

"Well," Octavia said again, wondering how much she should fudge the answer. No, no, honesty! He wants honesty, remember? She sighed. "It's a little seedy, I admit. But it's clean enough, and we feel safe; Vinyl--my marefriend--works at night, and she's never had any troubles. It's hardly Canterlot's Alicorn Row, if that's what you're wondering, but it's a far cry from Manehattan's Dock District."

Bumble Bee smirked faintly. "So I see." He reached the bedroom and gave it a cursory glance. "You seem to have quite the eclectic collection of musical paraphernalia, and in such an array of technological advance. You are a musician?"

"Yes, my mate and I are both musically inclined, as it happens. I am--"

"Octavia Philharmonica. First class cellist and bass violist for the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra."

Octavia's mouth fell open in shock. "How does everypony here know who I am?"

"Miss Philharmonica, anypony who is a fan of the symphony knows who the major players in Canterlot's orchestra are, and you are one of the more famous, despite what you may think." He smiled. "It is simply a more...dignified variety of fame than that of, say, the Wonderbolts."

"Dignified and subtle, apparently." The earth pony shook her head in disbelief. "I had no idea. But wait, if you already knew who I was, why did you ask if I was a musician?"

He glanced across the hallways into the bathroom for a moment before turning to face her completely. "Honesty, Miss Philharmonica. The simplest questions are the most tempting to bluff, because they seem harmless enough, but such dishonesty indicates a proclivity for altering the truth when honesty is paramount. In any event," he smiled again, "I just wanted to make sure you were who I thought. I am, as I said, quite the fan. I hear your solo recording of the Six Suites is a wonder to behold."

"So do I," Octavia sighed good-naturedly, "much to my surprise, I assure you." An idea occurred to her. "You know, if you want to hear it, you should stop by Carousel Boutique before you leave. The proprietor owns a copy, and I imagine she'd be delighted to share it with another fan."

Bumble beamed. "I'll have to do just that."

Octavia returned the smile hesitantly. "So...is my profession a pro or a con?"

"A pro. While most musicians have...questionable income and job security, the Canterlot Symphony is a well-established, high-profit affair. And while there is always fierce competition to join the ranks, quiet murmurings among those in the know seem to indicate that there hasn't been a genuine challenger to you in a generation or so."

Octavia blushed furiously, unsure of how to respond to the compliment. "My goodness...thank you."

"You are welcome. It is praise well deserved," he said with utmost sincerity. Then the smile faded back down to a more professional level. "Well, miss Philharmonica, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak with Scootaloo in private, if I may. It's been some time since I've seen her, and there are a few things I need to discuss with her." He glanced down at the little orange filly standing between Vinyl's forelegs.

Scootaloo scowled back up at him. "I don't wanna talk to you." The look on Vinyl's face seemed to indicate that she agreed with Scootaloo's sentiment.

Octavia smiled and shook her head in mild exasperation at both of them. "Scootaloo, you know he won't let us adopt you if you don't."

The little pegasus frowned at her, her eyes wide and glinting with frustration. "But Mama Tavi..."

Octavia shook her head again, pulling a stoic face. "If you really want to call me that, you'll talk to Mr. Bee." She slowly walked over and settled to the floor, eye level with the filly. "Please, Scootaloo. Please just talk to him. We want you to be a part of our family, and he's the only one who can make it final." She nuzzled the filly gently. "Do it for us, alright?"

Scootaloo looked as though she was about to cry when Octavia pulled away, but she quickly managed to put on a brave face and nodded once, curtly. "Alright." Drawing herself up proudly, the little pegasus flared her wings once, very quickly, in a reflexive expression of determination, before trotting out from between Vinyl's legs. She came to a stop just in front of Bumble Bee, glaring up at him.

The stallion smiled faintly back at her before glanced over at Octavia. "May we use your dining room, perhaps?" Octavia nodded and led the pair through the kitchen and into the dining room, where she closed the door to the kitchen behind them. Then, after silencing Vinyl's objections before she could voice them, she closed the kitchen door, shutting both the unicorn and herself in the kitchen, well within earshot of the dining room. The conversation was easily audible through the thin wood of the door. It took several seconds to start.

"Well, Scooter, it's good to see you again."

"It's not for me. And don't call me that. I'm not your Scooter anymore."

"Yes, I think you've made that pretty obvious. Any particular reason, or are you just mad because you're remembering the home and how awful you think it was?"

"It was terrible, and you know it. I don't want to go back, and if you don't let them adopt me, I'm just gonna run away again."

"Yes, I know you will, Scooter. You tried eight times before you got away this last time, if I remember correctly."

"I don't know. I just didn't want to stay there any more."

"You know that's not why you tried to escape, Scooter."

"Yes it is. The orphanage sucks, and you suck, and I didn't want to be there anymore."

"The home, Scooter. It's not an orphanage."

"Whatever."

There was a long silence, and then Bumble Bee spoke very quietly. "We had to look for them, Scootaloo."

"No you didn't."

"They had a right to know you were there."

"They didn't care."

"We had to make it official. We're not allowed to accept runaways without trying to get them back to their parents."

"I told you, Mr. Bee. I told you why I ran away."

"Yes, I know you did. That's why I was surprised when your mother came by to get you at all."

"You shouldn't have let her take me."

"I know. I wish I hadn't."

"But you did."

"I'm sorry, Scooter. I really am. I wish I could make you see how much."

"Whatever."

Another long silence. "You really like it here, don't you?"

"I love it here."

"It's a little small."

"It's better than a bunk bed."

"Or the streets, right?" Scootaloo didn't respond, and after a moment, Bumble Bee continued. "What about Miss Octavia? And Miss Scratch?"

"I love them even more."

"Love is a strong word, Scooter. You've only known them for a couple days."

"Long enough."

"Long enough for what?"

"Long enough to know Miss Octavia and Miss Scratch love each other, and they love me, and they want me around, unlike everypony else in the world."

"I want you around, Scooter. But I understand what you're saying." There was another pause, longer than any previous. So long that Octavia and Vinyl exchanged a worried glance, and Octavia was about to open the door and check on the pair when Bumble Bee finally heaved a deep, protracted sigh. "If I say yes, and let them adopt you, I want you to send me a letter every month telling me about it, alright? I want to know they're taking care of you, that you're happy, healthy, that you're going to school, that you're going to the doctor...everything. Understand?"

"You mean it?" Scootaloo's voice was suddenly devoid of all the venom it had been dripping in every sentence before. "You'll let me stay?"

"I don't want you back at the home, Scooter. Nopony should have to grow up there. I care entirely too much about you to make you come back with me if I think you'll be taken care of here." His voice suddenly brightened. "And I think you'll be very well taken care of here."

Octavia and Vinyl stared at each other, their faces sharing broad smiles of surprised euphoria. The room on the other side of the door suddenly echoed with the unmistakable sound of Scootaloo's happily buzzing little wings. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Bee! I'll write you every week! I'll tell you everything!"

The stallion laughed, a warm, genuine sound. "I'll read them all." Suddenly, the door was pulled away and Octavia and Vinyl tumbled over one another into the dining room. Octavia grinned sheepishly up at the stallion, who shook his head with a good-natured smirk and gestured to the little pegasus. "Go on. I think your daughter would like to share this moment with you."

"Our daughter?" Octavia said, exchanging an excited look with Vinyl, who was unable to keep the grin on her face from widening foolishly at the phrase.

He nodded, smiling. "Congratulations, 'Mom'."

Kismet

"Do you have your homework?"

"Yes."

"Your lunch?"

"Yes."

"Pencils, paper, books?" Octavia's eye twinkled in amusement.

Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom. Oh, hey," she said, suddenly remembering something. "Apple Bloom wanted to have a Crusader sleepover tonight."

"Is that so?" her mother asked, smiling. "What are you going to try to get your cutie marks in this time?"

Scootaloo shrugged as if she hadn't really thought about it. "I think we're gonna try mime, juggling, architecture, staring contests, knife throwing, and mane styling."

Octavia ignored the second to last item, knowing Scootaloo was intentionally needling her. "I thought you already tried to get your mane styling cutie mark."

"Well, sort of. We really only got to try dyeing before Miss Rarity made us stop. Something about turning her clients into a freakshow." She shrugged. "Anyway, we're just gonna practice on ourselves this time."

Octavia spent a moment contemplating whether it was worth the inevitable protracted argument to try and discourage Scootaloo from cutting her or her friends' manes. She decided that if the sleepover went as they usually did, the trio would get through their first three options before running out of steam and settling down to watch movies until they fell asleep. She'd watched this precise scenario play out a dozen times in her own living room. "Alright then. Where were you going to have it?"

"Well..." The filly's hesitation could mean only one thing, and Octavia knew what she was going to say before she did. Even so, she patiently waited for Scootaloo to finish, smiling faintly to herself. "We were going to do it at the Apples', but Applejack said she didn't want us crashing around in Apple Bloom's bedroom while she was trying to sleep, especially in the middle of harvest season. And Sweetie Belle said that Rarity still hasn't gotten over what we did to her clothes horse...soooo..." She grinned hopefully up at her adopted mother, who rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Oh, very well. You know the rules, though. Homework first, then Crusading, and lights out at nine."

"Ten?" the little filly asked hopefully, as she often did.

"Nine." Octavia repeated, unmoved.

The little pegasus scowled at the ground. "You're no fun. I shoulda asked Mama Vy."

The earth pony chuckled softly and mussed her daughter's mane with a hoof. "Yes, well, next time, perhaps." Suddenly, the unmistakeable sound of an old-fashioned school bell cut through the conversation, and both ponies glanced over to see Miss Cheerilee standing in front of the schoolhouse with the bell in her mouth, ringing it vigorously with short nods of her head that sent her billowing pink curls bouncing wildly around her face. The school teacher's face shone with the quiet contentment of preparing to begin another day doing what she was born to do, and her enthusiasm was infectious, even for young ponies who might otherwise have dreaded the prospect of spending another day stuck indoors, studying.

Scootaloo was one such young pony, and Octavia knew that if it weren't for Miss Cheerilee's unique ability to inspire young minds, the restless little pegasus might not have bothered with school at all. As it was, she immediately turned and started trotting towards the school, pausing only to cast a hurried, "Bye, Mama Tavi!" over her shoulder as she burst into a run, meeting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle halfway across the front lawn and running with them the rest of the way to the door.

"Have a good day!" Octavia managed to yell back before Scootaloo got too far away to hear her, and she smiled as she settled back onto her haunches, watching as the class slowly collected in front of their teacher. As usual, Snips, Snails, and Diamond Tiara were the last to join the group. The magenta earth pony cast an appraising glance over the collected children before nodding in satisfaction and stepping aside to allow them to file into the schoolhouse. As they passed, she lazily peered about the schoolyard, her face breaking into a smile when she saw Octavia standing by the road. She waved enthusiastically, as she did most days, and Octavia returned the wave. This time, however, the schoolteacher left her post by the entrance and trotted over to the other mare, beaming the whole way.

"Good morning, Octavia! How are you today?"

The grey mare smiled back. "Doing well, Miss Cheerilee. And yourself?"

"I do what I love and it never gets boring. I suppose I couldn't ask for much more." She paused for a brief instant before grinning widely. "Sooo...it's been a few months, right?"

"Three months exactly as of tomorrow, yes," Octavia said.

"Well, how's life with a foal treating you and Vinyl?"

Octavia smirked, shaking her head in mock exasperation. "At once much better and much worse than either of us could ever have imagined. The only constant is that we never know what to expect, and we're always playing catch-up." Her expression softened as she glanced over Cheerilee's shoulder and watched Scootaloo chatting animatedly with her friends as they followed their classmates into the school. "And that neither of us would have it any other way."

Cheerilee smiled warmly. "I'm glad to hear that. The difference in Scootaloo is remarkable. I used to look forward to the days when she would come to school well-groomed, well-fed, and alert. Now, I don't even remember what it looked like when she wasn't. It's wonderful." She beamed at Octavia with a faint sheen in her eyes. "Thank you...for taking her in."

Octavia blushed lightly. "Oh, it was nothing, really. I mean...we couldn't have done otherwise, I don't think."

"Even so," Cheerilee shook her head. "Anyway, I just wanted to check and make sure everything's going well, and ask if you needed any help or advice or anything. I don't have any of my own foals, but I know they can be...difficult. If there's anything I can do--"

"We'll let you know," Octavia interrupted her with a grin. "Nothing's changed since the last time you asked."

Cheerilee smiled sheepishly. "Well, I just want to make sure you know."

"We know. We appreciate it."

The earth pony nodded. "Alright. Well, the school day won't start until I show up, so I guess I'd better get inside. Tell Vinyl I said 'hi'!" she said as she turned and trotted back to the schoolhouse.

"I will," Octavia said, waving at the retreating magenta mare before turning and starting back up the road into town, already going over her mental checklist of a dozen or so errands she had to do today. She had to stop by the market and pick up a few items that they seemed to go through with remarkable speed these days, swing by the library and drop off a couple of books that Scootaloo had let get a few days overdue...again, she needed to hunt down Rainbow Dash and return her book - "Flightless, Fearless - Famous flightless Pegasi and their triumph over adversity", she had to make sure she got to the post office before they closed so Scootaloo's letter to Bumble would get to him on time...

Octavia sighed shallowly. Despite multiple warnings that raising a foal was harder than anyone could expect or explain, she and Vinyl had been shocked at just how much harder it turned out to be. The sheer amount of additional chores, bits, and time necessary to do a halfway decent job was astounding, and had been something of a wake-up call. The first week had been the hardest; coming from a leisurely, placid, generally simple life only to be immediately thrown into the harried, expensive, frustrating world of motherhood had stressed both mares almost beyond tolerance, and there had been more than one tearful, hushed row between the two, arguing as quietly as possible across the bedroom, hoping against hope that Scootaloo couldn't hear them fretting about problems that she had--through no fault of her own--been the root cause of. It had been a long few weeks.

Eventually, however, the arguments had become less frequent and less vehement as the two had learned to take some things in stride, and to work around others. Then one night they had discovered Scootaloo crying quietly behind the couch in the living room, and after some coaxing they had convinced her to reveal that the little filly had heard enough of their arguments to determine that her new parents were fighting about her. Crushed, she had retreated to her makeshift bedroom and had been planning to ask Bumble to come and retrieve her. "I-I don't want you t-to fight over me..." she had hiccuped quietly, looking at her hooves as she sat between her mothers. "I'd rather l-live at the h-home than m-make you hate each other."

The two mares had looked at each other, horrified and heartbroken, before immediately and simultaneously diving forward to crush the little pegasus in a tight hug. "Oh, Scootaloo, we don't hate each other!" Octavia had exclaimed, tears springing to her eyes.

"Yeah," Vinyl added in a shaky voice, holding their daughter close. "And we're not fighting over you, you silly filly. We're fighting because, well..." she grinned over Scootaloo's wild magenta mane at her marefriend, "that's just how we communicate." She nuzzled the little pegasus fondly. "It's not your fault, and it never will be. Promise."

Scootaloo smiled tentatively, sniffing. "Really?"

Octavia nodded. "Sweetie, Vinyl and I fight a lot. It's just part of our relationship. We're not mad at each other or at you, we're just...well, we just clash sometimes. But that's half the fun of being together," she smiled, her eyes glistening as she glanced at the wild, immature, ridiculous, and utterly irresistible mare hugging their daughter with her. "It's never boring." She looked back down at Scootaloo. "But if it bothers you, we'll try not to. At least not when you're around, alright?"

Scootaloo looked up at her, still blinking away tears. "But...if it's fun, I don't want you to stop."

Octavia giggled. "Well, perhaps fun wasn't the right word. Anyway, it's not worth upsetting you."

"Tell you what," Vinyl suddenly interjected with a grin. "How about we keep fighting--'cuz we're going to anyway," she smirked and winked at her marefriend, who blushed faintly, "but you let us know if it's really upsetting you, okay? Any time you want, if we're making you nervous or scared or sad, you just barge into the room and tell us to cut it out, alright?"

Scootaloo giggled. "Alright."

Octavia nodded her agreement. "That sounds like a good plan. We'll try to be quiet and not fight when you're home, but if we forget, you just let us know, and we'll stop. No argument is more important than you are, understand?"

The filly smiled and snuggled against both of her mothers. "Yeah. I understand."

And that had more or less ended the arguments, at least the ones about Scootaloo. It turned out most of the arguments that had involved her had been about other things anyway, and somehow one or the other of them had always managed to make it about their new daughter. With a good reason to avoid bringing her into their normal regimen of ridiculous, unimportant, often childish arguments, they hadn't. Instead, they discussed her quietly, civilly, and pleasantly. Then, fifteen minutes later they would be standing on opposite sides of the living room, yelling about whether Draft Punk was more integral to the musical arts than Beethoofen, usually while Scootaloo sat quietly on the sofa between them, smiling faintly as she did her math homework, occasionally interrupting the shouting match to ask a question, which one or the other mare would calmly answer before picking the argument back up where they'd left it.

It had happened quickly, smoothly, and almost imperceptibly. Octavia and Vinyl had, in the space of a quarter of a year, gone from a comfortable, formulaic life as a childless couple to a frenetic, exasperating, infinitely rewarding life as parents to a filly whom they were swiftly discovering had been the missing piece they hadn't realized they'd been lacking. The rest of the town was slowly coming to discover that Scootaloo was much more than she had once appeared to be. Where she had originally been a seen as nothing more than a nuisance, or even a threat, ponies were beginning to see that there was much more to the rambunctious little filly than anyone had taken the opportunity to discover.

As Octavia made her way back into the town square, her eyes fell upon the facade of Sugar Cube Corner. She frowned shallowly. One pony who still seemed unfazed by Scootaloo's new status as a properly-parented filly was Carrot Cake. The yellow stallion had made no further attempts to contact the new family, for good or ill, and Octavia and Vinyl had eventually decided that that was for the best. Still, Octavia mused quietly to herself, it was a shame, and somewhat odd that the Cakes as a family seemed to be going out of their way to avoid Scootaloo, even now that she actually had the family, and the discipline, that Mr. Cake had been attempting to force her into in the first place. Mrs. Cake was no better, for while she displayed no overt dislike of the filly, she was by no means friendly to her. At best, she simply followed her husband's lead and treated her like a stranger whenever she came into the bakery.

But it didn't matter. Not really. Octavia smiled as she walked through town, waving, nodding, and occasionally greeting one new friend after another. Scootaloo's story had spread like wildfire through the small population of the village, and within days everypony knew who she and Vinyl were. Despite living on the outskirts of town and being relatively new additions to the community, being the inadvertent heroines in Scootaloo's now well-known tragic story had propelled them into the inner circle of Ponyville's oldest and closest friends, most notably the famous Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, most of whom Octavia was surprised to realize they already knew.

She had already met Rarity and Applejack, of course, and Vinyl had been friends with Rainbow Dash for years. Pinkie somehow knew them both--despite having never met Octavia between their arrival in Ponyville and the inevitable "Congratulations on Being Adopted!" party she had thrown for Scootaloo--and Vinyl had eventually--sheepishly--revealed the catastrophe that had catalyzed the entire adoption process. Octavia had had to contemplate for several hours on whether to beat Vinyl to death or simply within an inch of her life (contemplation that had occurred while she sat outside of the locked bathroom door, ignoring Vinyl's pleas for clemency from inside). Eventually, she decided that since it had resulted in Scootaloo joining their dysfunctional little family, Vinyl's lapse in good judgment could be forgiven, and she had released the hapless mare from the bathroom. Of course, she had then discovered that Vinyl had used the time during her imprisonment to make small sculptures out of wet toilet paper all over the previously spotless floor, and the cycle had started again.

Eventually, they were introduced to Fluttershy (much to the Pegasus' apparent horror), and Twilight Sparkle, a mare of unparalleled intelligence with whom Octavia and Vinyl had discovered--true to Cheerilee's promise--they had a great deal in common . She too had come to Ponyville later in life, and had had to make friends from the outside in. Despite her fame and prominence from being the Hero of Equestria and Princess Celestia's protege and Princess Luna's close personal friend, the young lavender mare was surprisingly down to earth, very humble and pleasant to be around. True to her unicorn heritage, and reinforcing Cheerilee's suggestion that she and Octavia had a great deal in common, her preferences apparently also leaned towards mares, and her partner turned out to be a bombastic, animated, utterly ridiculous unicorn as well. Trixie, Twilight's mate, was very nearly the polar opposite of her partner, sensational, showy, arrogant, and generally well-suited to her chosen profession of showmare. Naturally, she and Vinyl got along swimmingly--after they both got over the fact that they had just met somepony even more comically theatrical than they were. After a tense initial meeting, the two quickly fell into discussing various performance techniques and tricks, swapping trade secrets and giggling together about their more refined, stuck-up marefriends.

Over time, the two mares had become good friends with everypony in town. Vinyl was now receiving multiple requests to DJ at small personal parties, requests she was more than happy to fulfill. The sheer number of parties combined with the somewhat shorter time commitments resulted in her making a slightly better living than she had been at the seedier clubs, and the new regimen kept her out of the less savory parts of town, much to Octavia's relief. She still performed for large audiences at larger parties, but she no longer had to check over her shoulders on her way home every other night. Octavia had begun to give private music lessons to some of the fillies and colts in the village, and a few were proving exceptionally talented. Her gentle, reassuring methodology coupled with the enormous patience she had developed living with Vinyl proved to be a sensational combination, and she soon had more foals applying than she could ever have time for. She did her best to focus on those who seemed genuinely interested in learning and improving, most notably--and perhaps surprisingly--Rarity's young sister Sweetie Belle who, in addition to having a wonderful singing voice, was remarkably talented with music in general. It was strangely fulfilling work, much like being a mother was turning out to be.

Everything changed so quickly now, she reflected as she trotted up to the library and waved at Twilight, who grinned and waved back as she pointedly ignored Trixie's typically melodramatic irritation at being interrupted in the middle of a conversation. Although it would be disingenuous to suggest every change had felt like a positive one, there was no doubt that the general direction that her little family's life was going was a good one, and they had Scootaloo to thank for that, without question. The little filly had been a sudden and intense infusion of intense, superlative emotions, from euphoric joy to crushing disappointment, fear and anticipation, enthusiasm and regret...and all of it resulting in memories that Octavia treasured deeply in those precious few quiet moments she could manage to find in between music lessons, helping Scootaloo with homework, balancing their new budget, and making time to see all of their new friends. It was the best change they could ever have hoped for.

And to think it could have been just another night.

Destiny

"Hey, Scootaloo, can you come here a sec?" Scootaloo's ears pricked at her mother's voice, and she looked up from her homework to see Vinyl standing in the hallway, a strange sort of smile on her face. "I need your help with something."

"Sure, mama," the little filly said, jumping down off the sofa and following her mother down the hall and back towards the bedroom in the rear of the house. The young pegasus hesitated for an instant at the threshold of the master bedroom. Strictly speaking, she wasn't really allowed to come in her parents' room, even when they were home, and having Vinyl lead the way still didn't guarantee that she should follow.

The unicorn noticed that her daughter had stopped, and gave the little filly an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, kid, you can come in. I need you to help me with a surprise for Tavi."

"A surprise?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes wide and excited. She trotted across the bedroom floor towards her mother. "What sort of surprise?"

Vinyl grinned broadly. "A huge surprise. An awesome surprise. Tavi's gonna love it, but I need you to help me out."

"Okay, what do you need me to do?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head to the side as Vinyl extracted a horseshoe box from one of the high shelves in the closet and brought it down to set it on the bed.

"You know how Tavi's in Canterlot this weekend for a concert, right?" Scootaloo nodded. Vinyl smirked. "Well, we're gonna go visit her and surprise her. We're gonna do it in a special way, though, and for that, I need you to do a few things. First, go take a bath and brush your mane. We need to look our best if we're going to be seen in Canterlot, especially if we're going to be with Tavi. Our train leaves in an hour, so get ready to go. I'll explain the rest on the way."

"Okay!" Scootaloo chirrupped, and she bounded out of the room.

~~~

The train ride to Canterlot was not, by itself, very long, although the last third of the trip was largely taken up by the extensive switchbacks up the side of Mount Sleipnir. Even so, Scootaloo had barely managed to contain herself, especially after Vinyl had finished revealing her plans to the little filly. The unicorn sighed heavily in relief when the conductor finally leaned out of the side of the front car of the train and yelled, "Last stop: City of Canterlot!" The train hissed to a stop in a sultry cloud of steam that clung to the edges of the platform and rolled across the polished marble. Vinyl and Scootaloo trotted carefully across the slick surface, their hooves clopping loudly on the unfamiliar terrain. "Alright," Vinyl said, glancing down at her daughter. "Stick close to me, okay? Canterlot's a big city, and I don't want you getting lost."

"I won't get lost!" Scootaloo tossed her mane defiantly. The gesture lost some of its impact as the normally unkempt hair had been carefully brushed and gently styled to give it a smooth shine, lending an unusual intensity to her vibrant magenta locks. "I've been here like five times already with the Crusaders! And with Rainbow Dash!"

"I'm sure you have," Vinyl said. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you run off on your own now. We just found you, kid. I don't want to risk losing you again, alright?"

Scootaloo considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Alright." Together, mother and daughter trotted out into the open air of Canterlot City.

Unlike Manehattan, which was largely skyscrapers and bustling, busy streets, Canterlot may as well have been transported directly from a time centuries or even millennia ago. Every building was a vast, imposing edifice of the most regal bearing, hewn from massive blocks of rare and ancient minerals. Walls of limestone, marble, obsidian and basalt towered over streets paved with immense granite flagstones set so seamlessly together that the cracks between them may as well have been painted on. Every building had the grace and poise of an ancient capital, the design and architecture mimicking the castle that overlooked the city and replete with parapets and towers that once provided the city with defensible points. The train had even passed over a long wooden drawbridge on its way in, rushing under the gleaming metal spikes of a heavy portcullis just beyond the bridge, the lingering vestiges of the impenetrable defenses the city once relied on.

Everywhere inside the city, Scootaloo and Vinyl passed the elite of Equestria, the rich and famous going about their daily lives, unmolested by the populace here in their sanctuary. The two ponies refrained from pointing out the various celebrities as they passed, focused on their goal as they were. The Canterlot Concert Hall was deep in the heart of the city, one of the oldest buildings still standing. As they approached, Vinyl looked down at Scootaloo. "You remember the plan, right?" Scootaloo nodded affirmatively. Vinyl eyed her daughter significantly. "Recite it back to me one more time...just to be sure."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. Vinyl nodded and smiled, satisfied. "Awesome. Alright, come on, kid; it's show time." The unicorn grinned broadly...perhaps too broadly.

Scootaloo recognized the expression. She leaned against the older mare's legs, smiling up at her. "Don't worry, mama. It's a good surprise. Mama Tavi will love it."

"Yeah," Vinyl said, not altogether convincingly. "Yeah, I hope so." She took a deep breath. "Alright, let's do this."

The pair trotted into the auditorium, stopping at the ticket booth just long enough for Vinyl to explain who she was. The attendant nodded and waved them through. The swelling of an orchestra in the middle of a concert reverberated from behind the closed doors of the main amphitheater, and one of the ushers politely asked them to wait for the current song to end before interrupting. Vinyl nodded, stepping uneasily from one hoof to the other while they waited. Scootaloo sat on the plush red carpet in the hallway, tilting her head from side to side in time with the music. Finally, the music faded and the usher opened the door, waving them through. Vinyl thanked him and led her daughter into the darkness.

Up on stage, Octavia was oblivious to her new audience. The stage lights were as bright as they ever were, their searing gaze completely washing out the world beyond the edge of the boards. For the players in the orchestra, the world began and ended at the curtains to stage left and stage right. The effect was even more pronounced for the cellist, as she was standing out in front of the rest of the orchestra, perched atop a shallow dais. She was on display, the featured instrument for the Vivaldi concerto they were performing. They were one piece away from completing the concert and Octavia, for one, was genuinely dreading the end. She loved Vivaldi, and she maintained that his concertos featured the cello in the most distinguished and beautiful fashion. She cherished every opportunity she got to perform his work; she even felt slightly guilty about being paid to do something she considered a privilege. With a shallow sigh, she nodded at the conductor to her left, indicating she was ready to begin the final movement.

At the first stroke of the midnight blue pony's baton, Octavia felt her heart swell with joy as the music rose up behind and around her. She closed her eyes and counted the time in her head, a small smile tugging at the edges of her lips. When the time came for her to join the orchestra, she did so enthusiastically, drawing the bow across the strings of her instrument with purpose. The song was swift and technically challenging, but Octavia didn't even glance at the music as her hooves danced across the strings of her instrument, the song flowing from deep within her as if air from her lungs. She breathed in time to the music, quietly humming the notes as she exhaled, sensing and correcting her pitch by feel, rather than sound. Every passage fed delicately and immaculately into the next, and the earth pony felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as the tantalizing beauty of the concerto washed over her. Too soon, the song was over, and as the last ringing notes faded into the darkness, Octavia slowly opened her eyes to a resounding ovation from the invisible audience.

She smiled. This was another part of her job that she simply loved. It was one thing to create music for herself, to listen and enjoy the sounds of her instrument alone in her studio, but nothing could quite compare to the sublime magic of introducing an entire amphitheater of ponies to the world of truly extraordinary music. At the conductor's prompting, she swung her cello out of the way and bowed low, her silken black mane falling in curtains over her shoulders as she did.

The applause suddenly faltered and then faded, replaced by quiet, curious murmurs of conversation. Puzzled, Octavia looked up from her bent-over pose to see what might be amiss. Something moved in the corner of her eye, and she glanced across the stage to see a tiny orange pegasus trotting eagerly across the polished boards towards her.

Octavia's blood froze. Straightening immediately, she hissed under her breath at her daughter. "Scootaloo! What in Equestria are you doing here? And why are you on stage?"

The filly simply smiled up at her as she reached the dais and climbed up on it. "I wanted to come see you perform, mama," she said, her reedy voice clearly audible in the amphitheater's supremely tuned acoustics.

Octavia blushed as the audience tittered quietly. "Well, as wonderful as it is to see you, sweetheart, you can't be up on stage." She gestured towards the wing with a hoof. "Go back out there and wait for me."

Scootaloo stayed put. "Mama Vy wanted me to come up here and give you something. She said I had to do it on stage, right after the concert was over." The little pegasus extracted a shallow white box from under her wing with her mouth, holding it out for her mother.

Octavia blinked. "She...did?" She raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Why?" She took the box in her hoof, freeing Scootaloo's mouth to answer her.

"Mmhm," Scootaloo intoned, a wide smile on her face. "Open it."

"Now?" The filly nodded. Still puzzled, Octavia glanced at the conductor with a half apologetic, half confused look. To her surprise, the normally stoic stallion was...smiling? He nodded at her, gesturing towards the box. The sense that she was being set up began to niggle at the back of Octavia's mind, and she looked back down at the parcel in her hooves. Setting her cello carefully on its side, she sat back on her haunches and opened the box.

Her heart stopped.

Inside the box, resting on a white satin pillow was a necklace. It was not ornate or flashy--it probably hadn't even been particularly expensive. Jewelry of this variety rarely was, because the simplicity was part of the message. It had a thin silver chain, and the pendant was a platinum disc with her marefriend's cutie mark set into it in onyx. She knew what she would find on the opposite face. It would be her own cutie mark, likely set in amethyst. She knew this because she knew exactly what she was holding.

Octavia looked back up at her daughter, eyes wide and head spinning. "S...Scootaloo. This...this is..."

"I had to do a little research to figure out what to get." Octavia whirled around to see Vinyl slowly walking across the stage, her face flushed a bright pink color and a sheepish, nervous smile on her face. "Unicorns just do rings, but I figured...earth ponies don't have horns, so they must do something else."

"Vinyl..." Octavia breathed, her throat tight and her mouth dry. The auditorium had fallen silent around her. The audience was now watching intently, keenly aware of what was happening on stage. Octavia was oblivious to it all. Her heart was racing in her ears, and her eyes swam as her marefriend made her way to the dais and climbed up onto it.

The unicorn rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "So...I was gonna write a whole big speech and everything, but then I remembered that I'm not real good with words and stuff, so I figured I'd just...wing it, I guess." She took a deep breath. "Octavia, we've known each other since the conservatory, and from the first day, when you threw a pencil at the back of my head to stop me drumming on my desk so you could hear the teacher, I knew you were something special. You were so beautiful, so intelligent, and so classy...I felt like a troll just standing next to you. I guess that's why I started pestering you in the first place." She smirked. "I was just a little jealous of how...perfect you seemed. I had to find some way to break through, so I just started teasing you. You know, just trying to get under your fur, see what made you tick."

Vinyl pressed on, the tears forming in her eyes starting to track down her cheeks. "And when I finally managed to get through that shell, when I finally found out who you really were, what a sweet, incredible pony you are...I was hooked. I fell in love immediately." The unicorn smirked through her tears. "Of course, it took a while to convince you to give me a chance. I'm really glad you did, though."

Octavia sniffed and gave a watery chuckle, tears running down her face as well. "Me too," she said, her voice wavering. "It was the silliest...and best...decision I ever made."

Vinyl grinned, her foalish demeanor returning even as she cried. "It's been a long time, Tavi. We've been through a lot together, but I've never felt more comfortable, more confident, more...complete than I do when I'm with you. I want it to last forever, Tavi. I want to be by your side from now until we both get old and creaky and you have to scream in my ear to get me to do things because I can't hear anything anymore." Octavia giggled in spite of herself, but the laugh died as her breath caught in her chest when Vinyl took the box from her with a spell, hovering it in front of her muzzle as she bowed low in front of the grey mare, looking up at her through shining crimson eyes wide with anxious anticipation. "Octavia Philharmonica, would you do me the honor of making another silly decision and make me the happiest mare in Equestria?" She lifted the pendant out of the box. "Will you marry me?"

Octavia burst into sobs. Alarmed, Vinyl stood up and said, "Tavi, I...I didn't--" She cut herself off as Octavia threw her forelegs around her marefriend, pulling her into a bonecrushing hug.

"Yes, yes of course I will, you sweet, silly, ridiculous filly!" She buried her face in Vinyl's shoulder, letting tears of joy soak into the other mare's coat as the auditorium erupted in cheers and applause. "Why," she muttered through the unicorn's fur, "did you have to do it here, of all places? I must look such a fool, crying like this up here in front of everypony."

"Nah," Vinyl said, stroking Octavia's mane with a hoof and leaning her head against her mate's. "You don't look foolish, you look happy. And that's the way I like it." She pulled away and grinned down at Octavia. "Besides, I had to ask you in public. I was kinda worried you might say no, and I thought..."

Octavia cuffed her fiancee lightly, scowling at her. "You know perfectly well I would have said yes, Vinyl. We've practically been married already for years." She smiled and kissed the other mare, a tender, romantic embrace. "But I'm so glad to know you want to stay that way forever." She sighed and laid her head against the unicorn's chest. "I love you, Vinyl."

Vinyl smiled and squeezed her fiancee tightly. "I love you, too, Octavia."

"And I love you both!" Scootaloo squeaked as she bounded across the dais and squirmed in between the two mares, her wings buzzing excitedly.

The couple chuckled together and parted slightly to include their daughter, and together the three ponies silently celebrated this new chapter in their strange little family's life.

Tatterdemalion

The two mares conversed for several more minutes, discussing classical music, fine dining, and Octavia's unique taste in mates.

"It took some time for me to think of her even as just a friend," she remarked, smiling down into the cup of tea Rarity had just placed in front of her. "She was so brash, so obnoxious, and just so...unusual. Initially, I think it was probably my sense of propriety that encouraged me to engage her in conversation to begin with. I was so astounded that anypony could be so openly tactless that I thought for sure I could teach her how to be a proper mare." She blushed faintly, the smile broadening. "As it turned out, I was the one who ended up learning a few lessons, mostly about letting my mane down and not worrying so much about what other ponies thought. Obviously," she said, gesturing to her bowtie and her smoothly brushed mane, "I do still take care of myself, and I do maintain some level of decorum, but, well..." The earth pony chuckled softly. "Sometimes you just have to have a flour fight in the kitchen with someone you love."

Rarity laughed and took a sip of tea from the cup hovering in front of her. "Well, having never partaken myself, I'll have to take your word for it."

"It's exactly as filthy--and as much fun--as you might expect."

"You are quite fortunate to have found someone you care so much about. Are you married?"

Octavia blushed. She had never been asked that question twice in one day. She couldn't even remember the last time anyone had bothered to ask at all. "No, we aren't. Not that we never will, but we've simply not made the...decision, I suppose."

Rarity smiled knowingly. "Far be it from me to comment on a matter with which I have admittedly little experience, but I must say you sound as though you have found your perfect match. Perhaps it is time to...decide."

"Maybe," the earth pony coughed uneasily. "Anyway, it's been lovely, Miss Rarity--"

"Oh, please, darling, call me Rarity. 'Miss' is for customers and admirers, not for friends." The unicorn smiled warmly, looking suddenly more genuine and personable than she had yet that morning.

"Alright, Rarity. It really has been wonderful, but I must be going. I have an errand or two to complete this afternoon before I must be home to take Scootaloo off of Vinyl's hooves."

"Of course. Oh, but before you go!" The unicorn's horn glowed with telekinetic magic as the record still playing quietly in the corner was suddenly interrupted and floated over towards the pair. A quill floated out of a nearby desk, and Rarity was suddenly wearing an expression of deepest sycophancy. "If you would do me the sincerest honor..."

Octavia had, feeling just a little foolish, but elated just the same. Afterwards, she had nodded politely at Rarity's insistence that they meet up again soon, perhaps for a spa date, but left with no firm plans. She had to admit a spa day sounded like great fun, and it would certainly feel more...distinguished if she were to go with Rarity than if she went with Vinyl, whom she suspected would spend most of the time surreptitiously eating the cucumber slices intended for the mud masks. She made a mental note to get back in touch with the friendly--if a tad bit superficial--fashionista.

Now, though, Octavia realized she was swiftly heading in precisely the opposite social direction as she trotted down the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. The pristinely groomed dirt roads of the town gave way to a rocky, rutted trail that was only distinguishable from the surrounding area by the rough-hewn wooden fences on either side of it. The indistinct but pleasant scent of a crisp spring afternoon gave way to the much more intense and specific aromas of a fruit and flower farm. The bright, clean scent of lemons wafted across the stronger, sweeter essence of oranges. Almost lost in the powerful citrus bouquet was the much more delicate combination of young daffodils and the heady, succulent perfume of freshly blooming magnolia trees. This struck the earth pony as odd, considering she was approaching a farm called "Sweet Apple Acres," but as she got closer to the barn, she realized that while the bulk of the farm did appear to be covered in an apple orchard, there were several plots that contained other varieties of plants, including the lemon, orange, and magnolia trees she'd already identified, as well as large beds of daffodils, phlox, and snowdrops just barely peeking out of the loamy earth. The scent of the apple trees was barely noticeable, as the vast plantation had yet to bloom, the early spring frost keeping the timid flowers from blossoming. Octavia smiled broadly, pausing in the middle of the road to take a deep breath through her nose, the sultry aroma flooding her senses with a euphoric giddiness. Her mouth watered at the prospect of tasting any of the vegetation, with a special consideration for the tender, minute blooms of the snowdrop, her personal favorite.

Octavia's stomach suddenly growled furiously. Breakfast had been several hours ago, and whilst walking all over Ponyville, the only additional sustenance she'd had all day were a few light biscuits that Rarity had brought out to share with the tea. With a pang of hunger, and just a hint of guilt, the silver-coated mare glanced anxiously up and down the path before gingerly walking over to the nearest bed of snowdrops and taking a closer, deeper sniff.

"What the hay do you think yer doin'?"

Octavia started so violently at the rustic voice that she almost leapt into the bed of flowers and hid. Instead, she simply whirled around to face the speaker, shouting, "I wasn't going to eat any! I just wanted to smell them!"

A bright orange earth pony mare with a worn brown leather hat perched atop a long straw-colored mane pulled back into a ponytail stepped back, holding up a hoof in a defensive posture. "Whoa there, sugar cube. Didn' mean t' startle ya. I jus' wanted t' make sure ya weren't gonna take anythin' without askin', is all."

"Oh," Octavia straightened, brushing the edges of her bowtie self-consciously. "No, I was just...entranced by their aroma. You have grown a lovely bed of snowdrops here; it's been some time since I've seen any in the wild, and these are particularly beautiful."

"Well, thank ye kindly, miss..." the orange pony smiled broadly as she trailed off.

"Oh, Octavia. Octavia Philharmonica," she responded to the prompt.

The farmer chuckled softly. "That there's a mouthful. Mind if I jus' call ya Octy?"

Octavia did mind, but she decided not to say so. It was a minor irritation, one she had had to cope with many times before, as most ponies found her name somewhat of a chore to enunciate in full. At least she had chosen 'Octy' instead of her friend Lyra's personal favorite, 'Opie.' "I suppose not. And what might I call you?"

The mare doffed her hat and grinned. "Name's Applejack, proud proprietor 'n' part owner a' Sweet Apple Acres--only th' best plantation anywhere in Equestria." She gestured at Octavia with mock ferocity. "An' don' let nopony tell you otherwise, y'hear?"

Octavia smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it. I believe you." She glanced at the vibrant trees and flowers all around her. "I can see for myself that you run a beautiful farm."

"Well thank ye kindly," Applejack repeated, beaming with pride. "I saw y'all eyeballin' the snowdrops there. It's a little early for 'em, but did ya wanna try a couple?"

"Oh, no, I'm not hungry," Octavia lied. Her stomach suddenly growled again, catching both ponies' attention and bringing a light blush to her cheeks as it betrayed her deception.

Applejack grinned and chuckled. "Ah think yer stomach might have a diff'rent opinion on that. Here, I'll grab ya a bunch to snack on while ya find yer way to brunch."

"That's very kind of you, but I don't have any money on me right now. I'll certainly come by again another time, though."

"Oh, ponyfeathers," the orange mare scoffed, trotting over to the bed and deftly snapping several of the flowers from their stems with careful, practiced bites. "Don' even worry about it." She gathered the bouquet into her hooves and offered them to Octavia.

The silver mare shook her head fervently. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly--"

"Nonsense. 'S the least I c'n do fer a new friend. Take 'em, Ah insist."

Octavia was about to refuse again when she caught the hard edge in the other mare's eye that suggested there was no conversational path that ended in Octavia leaving without the flowers. The silver pony sighed shallowly and smiled, taking the bouquet from the farmer. "Well, if you insist. I really do appreciate it, and I promise I'll pay for them eventually."

"Now, Octy, you know I cain' accept payment fer a gift. I saw you lookin' at those snowdrops an' I knew you wanted to have a few. I jus' wanted ya t'ask, tha's all." She smiled. "'Sides, one bouquet ain't gonna hurt us none, an' you look like a classy sort ah pony who can appreciate nice flowers."

Octavia sighed again, this time combining the exasperated sound with a shake of her head. "Oh, very well. They are beautiful, Applejack. Thank you."

"Try one!"

The silver mare did as she was ordered, carefully selecting and nipping off one of the larger blooms that was just barely opening. The icy fresh flavor immediately chilled the tip of her tongue and spread swiftly through her mouth, the slightest hint of sweetness cutting through the sharp bitterness of the young flower. She closed her eyes and savored the morsel for a moment or two before swallowing it with a level of satisfaction well beyond what the tiny flower should have provided. When she opened her eyes again, Applejack was grinning widely at her. "Whatcha think?"

Octavia beamed. "They are sublime. Thank you so much."

The other mare waved a hoof dismissively. "Aw, shucks. 'Tweren't nothin' ay'tall. Now, did y'all come by jus' ta browse, 'r were ya lookin' ta place an order?"

"Oh," Octavia said, awkwardly shifting the flowers from hoof to hoof, "actually, neither. Not that your orchards and flowers aren't wonderful," she gestured to the bouquet, "but I honestly came by just to talk."

"Talk, huh?" Applejack tilted her head curiously. "What'cha wanna talk about?"

"You're Apple Bloom's sister, correct?"

"Sure am. Why? Don' tell me she's gone and gotten herself in another scrape," the earth pony lamented in precisely the same tone that Rarity had used earlier in the day.

"No, no, nothing like that. I actually only ask because I'm trying to collect some information about one of her friends. Do you know Scootaloo?"

"Her little pegasus pal. Yeah, I know 'er." Applejack's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Why? What d'ya think ya need ta know?"

The sudden change in tone and expression startled the silver pony somewhat. "Nothing bad, I promise! I just was trying to get some details about her past, possibly fill in some of the blanks about her present, and maybe figure out what her future might look like. I was concerned--"

"Well," Applejack suddenly cut her off, her tone frosting even further, "not that it's any ah yer bus'ness, but she lives here, with th' Apples. She has fer as long as anypony's concerned, and she'll continue t'do so fer as long as she needs. Anythin' more'n that an' yeh'll have'ta ask her, 'cause I ain't betrayin' her trust in me, if'n you don' mind." The mare suddenly turned around and started back down the path towards the farmhouse.

"No, no, wait!" Octavia shouted, dropping the flowers and running around in front of her. "I'm sorry, I think I gave you the wrong impression. I'm not just some random stranger asking, I...okay, I know Scootaloo is--was, an orphan. I know she's been living in the clubhouse and surviving on the kindness of her friends and their family."

Applejack's face registered a modicum of surprise, but she maintained her frosty demeanor. "Well, if'n ya knew all that, why'd y'ask?"

Octavia sighed. "I'm still trying to figure out how to address this, but...my partner and I have decided that we'd like to adopt Scootal--" The mare was suddenly silenced as Applejack dove forward to embrace her in a rib-cracking hug.

"Oh, thank Celestia! Ah cain't even tell ya how happy Ah am t'hear somepony say that! When ya started askin' about her past an' her future, I thought...well, she won' tell us much--wouldn' even tell us she was livin' in the clubhouse, but shucks, we know this here farm like th' back of our hooves; ain't much goes on here we don' know about--we figured she must'a been hidin' from somethin', so we didn' ask too many questions. Are ya really plannin' on adoptin' her?"

Octavia tried to respond, but Applejack's hug was still stifling her. She made some strangled whimpers to alert the powerful earth pony to her plight, and the zealous mare released her, sitting back and brushing her off with a sheepish grin. "Hehe, sorry about that. Guess I got a li'l excited."

Octavia panted as delicately as she could muster, trying to catch her breath. "It's...it's quite alright. I understand completely." She straightened her bowtie and ran a hoof through her mildly disturbed mane. "To answer your question, nothing is set in stone yet, but yes, that is the plan. We...I would prefer to get some sort of official recognition first, but that requires some more details that I simply can't get from her, details like where she actually came from, and--if at all possible--whether her parents are still alive, and where they might live now. Barring that, I suppose we would at least need to know where she used to live--what orphanage she came from--so we can get their official consent, lest they come and try to claim her again someday."

Applejack nodded. "That makes sense, Ah s'pose. An' Ah wish Ah could help ya, but, well, it's hard t' get a straight answer outta that filly. If y'all know Scoots, then ya know how stubborn she can be."

"Oh yes," Octavia agreed, nodding somberly. "We know quite well. I think that's part of her charm, though. At least, that's part of what makes her so charming to me. She's rather like my marefriend in that regard. They're both quite bullhead--"

"Wait, yer marefriend?" Applejack suddenly cut her off with a look of surprise. "Yer partner's a girl?"

"Um...yes?" Octavia said. "Why, what difference does that make?"

"Well...none, Ah guess. Ah jus' though when ya said y'all were gonna adopt Scoots, I just figured you musta been married."

"Well, we could be," Octavia bristled slightly. "We simply haven't decided to cross that bridge yet. But even if we didn't, I don't see how that would affect our ability to raise a filly."

Applejack shook her head, not exactly smiling, but no longer visibly disturbed, either. "Ah suppose. Well, whatever makes you happy, Ah guess. An' I don't reckon it matters much, so long as Scoot's got someplace to call home."

"I'm so glad you approve," Octavia deadpanned, somewhat miffed.

The orange earth pony sighed and smiled wryly. "Ah, shucks. Don't y'all mind me none. Ah guess Ah'm just ol' fashioned, that's all. If yer happy, that's all that matters, right?"

"I should certainly hope so," Octavia spat, and then immediately regretted her venomous tone. She took a deep breath and tried again. "I mean, yes, once upon a time, I might well have agreed with you. I used to be of a rather old-fashioned mindset myself, but...well, falling in love has a strange way of making you reconsider your stance on a lot of things."

Applejack chuckled softly, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "Yeah...Ah've heard as much from some ah mah friends, too. Anyhow, if'n y'all really want ta know more 'bout Scoots 'n' her past, ye'll wanna talk to Rainbow Dash. Li'l filly follows that crazy pegasus all over the place. If she's told anypony anythin', RD'd be the one."

Octavia sighed shallowly in disappointment, having hit yet another dead end. "Oh well. Thank you for your help, anyway, and especially for the flowers. I...hope I didn't offend you, snapping like I did."

"Shoot no. If anyone should be apologizin', it's me. I was outta line, an' 'tweren't none a mah business." She held out a hoof to the other mare. "Bygones 'n' all that."

Octavia smiled as she shook the proffered hoof. "Quite."

"Great! Now, we best hurry if we're gonna make it to brunch before Big Mac takes all the best parts an' leaves us nothin' but the seeds and skins." Applejack was suddenly behind her, leaning a shoulder against her flank and pushing her towards the farmhouse. Octavia could just barely hear a the unmistakable clanging of a worn iron triangle echoing through the orchard.

"Wait, what?" Octavia said, utterly bewildered but unable to resist the stronger pony's shoving. "I can't stay, I have to--"

"Fiddlesticks! Nopony should work through lunch, an' it's the least I can do, since I cain't help you with Scootaloo."

"But you already--the flowers--and yelling!" Octavia struggled to muster a coherent and sufficient argument, but her stomach suddenly growled again, indicating her appetite had only been whetted by the flower she'd sampled moments ago. She sighed in defeat and acquiesced to Applejack's shoving, allowing herself to be led to the farmhouse. "Fine, fine...but just a sandwich or something. I refuse to take advantage of your kindness...no matter how much you may want me to."

Applejack grinned and winked. "Whatever you say, Octy."