“Scootaloo, breakfast is ready!” Fluttershy sang up from the kitchen. “Come and get it before it gets cold.”
The little orange pegasus filly slowly pulled herself out of her big, comfy bed and stretched out her hooves before calling back, “Be down in a minute, Fluttershy.”
Scootaloo walked into the bathroom to do her usual routine of brushing her teeth, washing her hooves, and quickly running a comb through her hair to make it curl up the way she liked it. Unbeknownst to her, Fluttershy was watching a pancake cook in the frying pan with a sad look on her face, sighing to herself.
‘Does she still not feel comfortable calling me “mom”?’ she thought with a sigh. ‘She hasn’t called me that since I brought her home that day…’
Fluttershy scrutinized the pancake as it sizzled in the pan, a small trail of smoke rising from it as it began to burn, thinking only about Scootaloo still not calling her “mom”. It took a minute for the smell of burnt pancake to reach her nose, snapping her out of her reverie as she scooped the ruined pancake into the trash.
“Fluttershy?” Scootaloo asked from the doorway. “What’s wrong?”
The yellow pegasus jumped, causing her to drop the frying pan with a dull clatter.
“Oh, uh… Nothing’s wrong, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy began nervously. “I, uh, just… accidentally burnt the last pancake, yeah… and I didn’t make any more batter so now I have one less than you do.”
“Oh… Well, you can have half of one of mine then, if having less than me really bothers you that much,” Scootaloo said awkwardly, walking over to her seat at the table where her stack of pancakes already lay.
“N-no, it’s fine,” Fluttershy said as she brought her own plate to the table and sat across from the little orange pegasus. “I just really hate wasting food is all.”
“Okay then!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically, bearing down on her plate. “More for me!”
Fluttershy watched Scootaloo dig into her pancakes, all the while thinking about Scootaloo’s reluctancy to call her “mom”. Then again, they had only been together for a couple of weeks; three at most. Still, Fluttershy was worried that Scootaloo wouldn’t fully accept her as her mother.
Fluttershy, who had been slowly eating her own pancakes while deep in thought, was interrupted suddenly when Scootaloo asked, “Are you gonna finish those? I mean, you did say you hated wasting food and you don’t seem like you’re gonna eat that whole stack of pancakes and I’m still kinda hungry.”
Fluttershy smiled, looking over to see Scootaloo's plate was already empty; she pushed her plate over to her daughter saying, “Help yourself, I didn’t realize just how many I made.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo said, swiping half of Fluttershy’s stack onto her plate.
Scootaloo gulped down the pancakes in seconds, letting out a hearty belch as she slumped down in her chair.
“Oh, uh… Excuse me,” she said, embarrassed.
Fluttershy let out a small giggle and asked, “Were they that good?”
“Yeah, they were pretty nice,” Scootaloo said, pushing herself up in her chair. “They were a little plain, but still very good.”
“Oh, I didn’t know if you liked anything in your pancakes so I just made plain ones.”
“My favorite kind are buckwheat pancakes. They are pretty filling so you don’t have to make as much of them and they taste really good too and also, add some chocolate chips in it and it's to die for! That’s what they usually made for breakfast at the orphanage, mainly because it was so cost efficient, though they only added the chocolate chips for special occasions.”
Fluttershy made a mental note to get buckwheat flour and chocolate chips next time she went to the market for groceries.
“Well, I’m gonna go get ready for school then,” Scootaloo said, getting up from the table and heading to the door.
“Alright,” Fluttershy called up after her. “Don’t forget your homework.”
There was bustling around upstairs, Scootaloo forgot where she had left her homework last night and was searching around for it. It took her a couple of minutes to gather her things and meet Fluttershy at the door.
“Do you have everything?” Fluttershy asked kindly.
“Yup, let’s go already! I don’t want to be late!”
Fluttershy opened the door and Scootaloo tore out down the path to town, Fluttershy following at a steady pace behind her.
It was a nice calm trip from their cottage to the edge of Ponyville, the only thing out of the ordinary being a bird swooping down landing on Scootaloo’s back.
“Looks like the critters are getting used to you, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said happily, gently coaxing the bird onto her hoof and giving it a quick nuzzle before setting it on its way.
As the two walked the streets of Ponyville, making their way to the school, Scootaloo was suddenly tackled by a blur of cyan.
“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy exclaimed, the worry evident in her voice. “Are you okay, Scootaloo?”
“She’s fine,” said the cyan pegasus, holding Scootaloo down while giving her a noogie. “She’s a tough little filly, just like I was.”
“Stop it, Rainbow!” Scootaloo shouted, her cheeks reddening.
“What’s the matter, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked, releasing Scootaloo. “Are you not as tough as I thought you were?”
“No, it’s just that I’m going to be late for school!” Scootaloo retorted indignantly, running ahead of the two mares.
“That was kind of mean, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said in her usual quiet yet stern demeanor she used when ponies weren't being nice.
“She usually laughs when I do that though, is something wrong with her?” Rainbow Dash asked worriedly.
“I don’t think so, she hasn’t been acting strange lately,” Fluttershy said, dropping her stern look and looking up at Scootaloo with concern.
“Hmm… Hey, Scoots!” Rainbow called after the little orange filly. “Something the matter?”
Scootaloo turned around and said, “No, I just really want to get to school cause me, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom are planning to do some major crusading later and we need to discuss stuff during the day so we can have it all planned out and have nothing go wrong… hopefully. So are we done with the interruptions? Can we get a move on?”
Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a mildly shocked look and said, “Wow, must be a really important thing they got planned.”
Fluttershy shrugged and continued walking Scootaloo to school, Rainbow walking along side her.
“Finally, we’re here!” Scootaloo shouted happily as the red school house came into view. “I’m gonna run ahead and meet Apple Bloom and Sweetie, see you after school, Fluttershy!"
Scootaloo gave her mother a tight hug and then ran off towards the school.
Fluttershy smiled brightly and called after her, “Have a good day, sweetie!”
With a wave, Scootaloo was gone. Fluttershy sighed and turned to her friend.
“Well, do you want to come with me to the market? There’s a few things I need to get, including something called Buckwheat.”
“Buckwheat!?” Rainbow shouted in shock and disgust. “Why in Equestria would you get Buckwheat? It's tough and kinda bitter.”
“Well,” Fluttershy started, her eyes darting to the ground. “I-I’ve never had it, but Scootaloo seems to like it. I just wanted to make her her favorite breakfast is all.”
“Oh, uh… Well, I guess everypony’s got different tastes and all,” Rainbow said, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “It’s kind of nice that you’d make something that you've never even tasted before, just for her. You’re one heck of a mother, Fluttershy.”
“Thanks, Rainbow. That means a lot coming from you. Though…” Fluttershy trailed off, leaving her thought hanging there.
“What!?” A pink pony suddenly popped between the two pegasi with an incredibly, and quite possibly over-exaggerated, look of shock on her face. “What do you mean Scootaloo still won’t call you “mom”?”
Fluttershy squeaked and zoomed behind a nearby bush, quietly saying, “B-but I never s-s-s-said…”
Pinkie Pie gave her a perplexed look and said, “But you left your thought just hanging there in midair for everypony to see. I’m surprised Rainbow didn’t say anything about it, it was practically hanging right in front of her face.”
Fluttershy’s eyes slided over to Rainbow Dash who just shrugged and mouthed, “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” Before she shook her head.
Fluttershy looked back over to her pink friend and thought, with a roll of her eyes, ‘Right, of course… We should all be used to this by now…’
She stepped out of the bush and continued walking towards the market, her two friends walking beside her.
“Well?” Pinkie asked expectantly.
“It’s been almost a whole month now and Scootaloo still hasn’t so much as let slip the word “mom” since the day that I told her the truth about us and took her back. I’m starting to get worried that she isn’t completely accepting me as her mother.”
Fluttershy was practically in tears, her friends giving each other worried looks.
“Hey, she probably doesn’t call you “mom” because she doesn’t want to be all sappy,” Rainbow said matter-of-factly. “I mean, you know how much she hates that kind of affectionate stuff.”
“But then, why would she have hugged me like that before she ran off to go be with her friends?” Fluttershy asked skeptically. “Giving somepony a hug is very affectionate after all.”
“Uh… I dunno, maybe she just… uh-“
“Oh, oh,” Pinkie shouted over Rainbow. “Maybe she just doesn’t know you want her to call you “mom”. I mean; she has known you as “Fluttershy” way longer than she’s known you as her mother. Perhaps she just thinks that you still want her to call you by your name.”
Fluttershy perked up a bit at that.
“Maybe you’re right, Pinkie. I’ll ask her when she gets home from school today, thank you.”
“No problemo, Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed happily.
The three finally reached the market, the hustle and bustle filling the street with noise and ponies.
“Well, I’d love to hang with you two some more, but I gotta go oversee a shipment of rain clouds from Cloudsdale. See ya!”
Without another word, Rainbow sped off into the sky, leaving Pinkie and Fluttershy standing in the middle of the street together.
“Well, do you want to walk with me through the market, Pinkie?”
“Sure thing! I have to get some more cake mix for the Cakes anyways,” Pinkie said with a smile.
With that, the two headed into the sea of ponies shopping and haggling with vendors.
