Life's Left Hook

The silence dawns on the group, and the stares you get are radical.

The princess chokes a bit on her next sip, and tries to clear her throat as she speaks.

"I-*cough*... I, uh... Come again?"

Octavia stares at you with wide eyes as well.

"Anonymous? Take a couple steps back, please," Octavia says, setting down her cup.

"That was quite a... Jump," Cadance says, still clearing her throat.

You take a deep breath and ready yourself to explain.

""Okay, so. After Scootaloo and I had a drink at the cafe, she said she wanted to walk home. By herself."

"Uh-huh?"

"Yes, and?"

"Well, I followed her. And I was in for a bit of a surprise, once I saw where exactly she was staying."

"Where was she staying?" Octavia asks.

"Well, ever heard of a place called 'Bellevue'?"

Octavia nods.

"Yes, I have. That's the cemetery - couple of our orchestra members stop by there every year we tour. What about the place?"

You give Octavia a depressed look, and bite your tongue before you speak.

"That's where she went. She was sleeping by an old headstone."

Octavia looks down at the floor, a little surprised, and a little worried.

Cadance does the same, only she looks more stressed; she must know where this is going.

"I read the headstone. Concerning nobody in Ponyville has ever once seen, heard of, or heard from Scootaloo's parents or relatives, I could only assume whose headstones those are."

Cadance sits back in her chair a bit, her gaze distant.

She must be thinking.

Octavia, however, glares at you.

But not out of anger.

Out of an influx of emotions taking over her expressions.

"But I've seen Scootaloo in town for years! Where has she been staying? How did she feed herself? What did--"I'm not sure," you say, cutting her off. "Nobody's sure, and I doubt she's about to tell anyone."

"But there's one thing I do know."

Octavia tilts her head, one ear flopping down.

"And what's that?"

"She needs a home, a role model, and a lot more love and attention than she's getting right now."

"I think we have plenty to share."

Octavia remains silent for a bit, and Cadance finally decides to butt in.

She doesn't even look at you as she speaks; she's staring at the ceiling, thinking.

"Her parents. Do you remember their names?"

You think for a moment.

One name comes to mind, but the other slips.

"Roy G. Biverly. He was one of the ones on the headstone."

Cadance nods.

"I remember hearing about that. Vaguely. A few months before Luna's return, a group of pegasi from Windsoar was trying to vaccum out water from like Muleon. There was an accident, and many were injured. Three died."

"Two of those three were a couple. They had two daughters. One was old enough, and had moved to Cloudsdale. The other one was orphaned."

She takes a moment to contemplate, and then lets out a sigh.

"I remember that day. Sister had to go and condole the angry crowds. She wasn't happy."

The silence comes back for a while, until Octavia mutters.

"So... You want us to take care of Scootaloo?"

"All of us. Together. She needs a true home."

"I have no objections," Octavia says.

Cadance sighs a bit, and nods.

"I suppose. I can't just say no, after knowing what happened; I wouldn't wish such a thing on my worst enemy."

"I just hope that Trixie doesn't feel cross with Scootaloo, and vice versa, after her troubles in Ponyville."

After a beat, she continues.

"And I pray she isn't too much of a block for our private time."

You grumble a bit.

"You'll find a way. I know you will."

The three of you chuckle a bit, and then it goes straight back to silence.

Until you hear someone pounding on the door.

Very violently.

She must be anxious to get back and see her scooter.

"Come in," you holler.

"DANNAZIONE!"

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"ZE DOOR IS LOCKED!"

*POUND POUND POUND*

OPEN UP BEFORE I GUT YOU, YOU-"

"[angry Itailian noises]"

The two mares look at the door, dumbfounded.

Octavia turns to you, looking worried.

"We forgot the doctor, didn't we?"

You nod.

"Eeyup."

Cadance sighs, shakes her head, and turns to you both.

"Anonymous, can you get the door?"

"Uh, sure."

Letting out a grumble, you get out of your chair and walk to the door.

As you walk up to it, the doctor is still shouting in her native tongue.

Whatever she's saying, it isn't nice.

As you unlock the door and pull the door handle, the shouting ceases.

"Vhat ze hell vere you thinking?! You just -left- me! In ze dust! I had no idea vhat happened!"

"Do you have any idea how awful it vas to find you?! My head is pounding! My legs are sore! I almost got mugged!"

"Not to mention I haven't eaten yet, and it's almost ten at night!"

The bitchfest continues, and all you can do is let out a sigh.

"and then I had to go through this whole awful place full of plotholes and flankhats, and then I--"

"DOC!"

She immediately halts, and looks up at you.

"Are you going to come in, or are you going to try and wake the neighbors with your bitching?"

She blinks, a bit surprised at your retort.

And, then, she grumbles, lowers her head, and trots past you.

" 'Bitching' is an understatement..."

Well, the mare was honest, at least.

You walk inside behind her, and she glares at the other two.

"Vithout a vord?! Not a varning? A talk? Nothing?! Did you just forget about me?"

Octavia looks incredibly guilty, and looks down at the floor.

Cadance, however, looks a bit irritated.

"Well, I'm sorry we had places to be while you slept," she says, shrugging it off. "We couldn't wait, and we forgot to let you know we were on pinched time.

The doctor grinds her teeth in anger at this, and takes a step forward.

"You realize, yes, that I have a concussion? I need my bedrest! I shouldn't have done as much trotting as I did today! My head is pounding!"

Cadance merely sighs and shakes her head.

"Whatever. I'm sorry we had shit to do."

The doctor grumbles.

From what you understand, she knows Cadance a fair bit.

Anyone with a brain cell or two could deduce that that 'apology' was all one could get.

"Anyvay. Now zat I'm back, I need to sleep. Vhere's ze bed?"

"There isn't going to be room for five on the bed. The -couch- is over there."

Cuore glances at Cadance, and then at the couch, and then at you.

And, slowly but surely, she puts some dots together in her head.

"I'd... Rather stay on ze floor, on second thought. But only if I can't sqveese into ze bed."

You look at her, cocking an eyebrow.

"Why do you want to be in bed with us so badly?"

"Because it's varm? Besides, you all don't seem to mind being in it at ze same time."

"That's because we fuck."

Your bluntness doesn't even phase her.

She nods, and returns the favor.

"Touche. But still. Even though I von't partake in your harem activities, as much as I'd like to, I still vould like a decent place to sleep."

She smiles a bit, and you know what's going on.

It's time to change the mood.

You can hear Cadance snickering, and you can tell Octavia has a bit of a blush.

"You might not get much sleep. Candy-Ass over here is pretty loud."

Now Octy's the one that's snickering.

And, with a glance behind you, you see Cadance's rosy cheeks.

"All four of them, infact!"

"H-Hey! You're worse!" she yells back, embarrased

"I know! You make me want to scream!"

The doctor starts to chuckle a little, Octavia's snickering intensifies, and Cadance's face is starting to glow.

"I-What?! Of course I do, I-- I--!"

Just like that, you can tell Cadance is out of comebacks.

Defenses are down!

Time to go in for the kill!

"You make me work, too. Holy shit, with an ass like that, no wonder. I'm holding on so hard, it's like I'm trying to ride a horse at full gallop."

Immediately, Cadance turns from Pink to red, and sinks back in her chair.

The doctor absolutely loses her shit, and bursts out laughing.

Octavia covers her face with her hoof, trying to hide the fact that she's laughing so hard.

And you hear another laugh.

A small, squeaky laugh, from outside of the room.

Immediately, the whole room goes silent.

The four of you collectively turn your heads and feast your eyes upon the sight.

A little orange filly, rolling around on the ground, laughing her poor little plot off.

The door is still wide open.

A little orange filly, rolling around on the ground, laughing her poor little plot off.

The door is still wide open.

"...Oh no..."

"...Uh..."

"...Merda sacra..."

"...God damnit. How much did she hear?"

You look at your party members.

They are all terribly embarrassed, and have all gone silent.

Shaking your head at your dumb luck, you stand up.

"Oh, hey Scoots."

She's still laughing her ass off, and you make your way over to her.

As she laughs, she tries to choke out a few words.

"BAHAHAHAA! Sweet Celestia! What the hay did I miss?!"

"Uhm"

She makes her way to her hooves, still laughing as she looks up to you.

"I-I turn the corner, hear something about riding a horse, and and then-BAAAAHAHAHAHA! THE--THE LOOK ON HER FACE!"

"You must have razzed her! Holy crap!"

Did she miss the 'sex bits'?

Please, god, let it be so...

"Uh, Scoots?"

"Y-Yeah? h-heheheh... heheh..."

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Heheh, I-I just... 'Riding a horse'... Did you call the princess a horse?!"

She chuckles a bit, and, knowing this was your only chance, you nod.

"Y-Yeah, I burned the princess pretty good.

Scootaloo keeps chuckling, and she walks inside.

"Heheh, nice one, man!"

Oh, thank Luna, she's still as ignorant as a mule.

You follow her, and wave at the group.

You heard a collective sigh of relief a moment ago.

Cadance was still cherry red, though.

Even though there wasn't a ripe cherry in the room at all.

Cadance stands up, and without a word, rushes to bed.

Octavia follows behind, saying something about taking a nap.

With that, you turn to the doctor.

"Erm, Anonymous? Who's ze little vone?" she asks, an eyebrow raised as she looks back and forth between the two of you.

"It's Scootaloo. She's a filly I'm friends with. She's from Ponyville."

The filly beams happily at the doctor, offering a wave.

"Hi!"

Curore waves back, nodding.

"Hello, Scootaloo."

"Scoots? This is Dr. Cuore. She's fixed me up a couple of times."

"Oh, cool."

With that, Scootaloo trots over and plops down on the couch.

The same couch you and Cadance...

Whoops.

You shrug, and look at Dr. Cuore.

"So, what're you going to do?"

"Probably sit around until Trixie returns. Ve have much to discuss."

You raise an eyebrow, interested.

"Discuss? About what?"

The doctor takes on a more subtle look on her face, and faces away from you.

"Business."

The tone in her voice was odd.

You're not sure whether to press, or leave it be.

It probably isn't any of your business, and you could seriously earn some distrust if you prod her too much...

But then again, you were curious, and this mare was -notorious- in your mind for being straight-forward and blunt.

But, on second thought, she just got done with a bitchfest.

Probably not a good idea to go prodding around.

"Ah. Okay."

The silence is broken a few moments later, as the doctor turns the radio on.

Some announcer is talking in his typical radio voice, talking about the next song that's coming on.

You recognize that voice.

Wait, fu-

"SHUT THAT BLASTED THING OFF!" Octavia screams from the bedroom.

Yep.

Knew it.

You hit the radio and turn it off in a flash, leaving a very confused doctor and Scootaloo staring at you in bewilderment.

"Octavia has... A thing..." you say, trying your best to explain the unexplainable.

You knew nothing about her hatred for him, but, whatever.

Scoots shrugs, and goes back to being an orange feathered potato.

The doctor looks at the ground, thinking.

And, then, she chuckles knowingly before trotting over to the couch to plop down next to Scootaloo.

Weird.

You wonder what she was chuckling about.

Shrugging it off, you sit down at the table.

You can hear the doctor say a couple small thing and ask a few small questions as she talks with Scoots.

They get the point across that she's staying with the group for an undefined amount of time.

The doctor was told to ask you for an explanation.

But, she said she'd ask later.

Thankfully.

Time to kick back.

You change the radio station, and

Bob Marley

Meh, whatever.

Everything WILL be all right.

You look around for a snack and see Candyass forgot some of her animal crackers.

You grab the box, reach in, and pull out a handful.

Tossing them in your mouth, you begin to much.

Incredibly and overpoweringly sweet, as always.

Sure, they were childish, but you didn't give a shit.

They were good.

They were just what you needed.

As your munching intensifies, you notice some movement out of the corner of your eye.

You look, and see Scoots waving.

"Huh?"

She puts her hoof down after you look at her.

"I'm just gonna sleep on the couch. Okay, man?"

You nod, swallowing down the sugar-coated deliciousness.

Which is hard to do with the smile plastered on your face.

"Sure. I'll ask the receptionist or whatever for some sheets for you."

"Sweet."

She goes right back to lying back, listening to the radio as it plays.

Both her and the doctor look incredibly bored.

Understandable, since there's absolutely fuck all to do in this hotel room.

And you doubt you would ever get in another situation like you did a few minutes ago.

God that was glorious.

But you told the truth.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Hello? Anyone home? Trixie has returned!"

Oh, great.

"Oh, great!"

You look at the couch.

Scootaloo doesn't seem to happy.

"Who was that?" asks a confused Trixie behind the door.

After a sigh, you speak up.

"The door's unlocked, Trix. Come on in."

The door swings open, and Trixie steps in with a cocked brow.

She glances at you, and lets out a retort.

"My name is -Trixie-, by the way. Only Octavia can call me that. Anyway, who else is here? Do we have a gues-"

She notices Scootaloo vegging out on the couch.

"...Oh, it's... You," she says, with a bitter tone in her voice.

Great.

Scootaloo looks back at her with a bit of a glare.

"Yeah, what about me?"

Trixie snarls a bit.

"Nothing. It's just that Trixie is a bit surprised."

"At what?"

"After all Trixie's seen, Trixie would never expect Anonymous to associate himself with fillies. Much less one like this little rambunctious ankle-biter that Trixie has had the displeasure of meeting."

whoa whoa whoa

Back the fuck up.

Before Scoots can snap back, you interrupt.

"I'm sorry, Trixie?" you ask, shooting her a glare.

Trixie looks at you, still angry.

LHonestly, this is a jarring transition. You have a group of powerful, attractive, intelligent, and proper mares, and then..."

She looks at Scootaloo.

"Well, you have this."

All of your buttons are being aggressively pushed.

"And just what the hell is wrong with that?"

"You tell me. I'm sure you've heard more than enough about me from the little filly."

Scootaloo chuckles, agression in her tone as she speaks.

"Ohohoh, yes he has," she says, glaring at Trixie.

You sigh as Trixie and Scootaloo glare at each other and argue like twelve-year-olds.

Shaking your head, you look at Trixie.

She returns your gaze, a skeptical look on her face.

"This filly is nothing but trouble, I'm sure of—"

"Get out."