Eventually Flutters and I washed off together. Before lunch she went out to the pharmacy for something, probably a pregnancy test. When I was alone Scooter came out and sat next to me, “So um, that’s what sex looks like huh?” She asked.

I just sat there, “You watched,” I said unquestioning.

“More like I walked in on you guys, you’re good together you know even if . . .” she said looking down. I knew that she wasn’t jealous at least not for herself.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“it’s just, Dashie’s always been kinda like a big sister . . . almost like a mom to me. And then you come in ready to help me fly . . . kinda like a dad so . . .” She closed her eyes. “Just imagine your parents getting back together and you’ll get it,” she said. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. “Yeah dumb right?” She asked.

“No it’s not, I just can’t fully understand, My parents were killed years ago I deliberately try not to remember what it felt like to know them,” I said.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what happened to you,” I said looking at her seriously. She knew what I was talking about.

“Alright fine, but you can’t tell anyone only Dashie knows,” she said.

“I promise, anyway my parents had a lot of kids. I was the oldest of eight when I was ten years old . . . I was the the only single birth. One day they all went to Disneyland and left me behind because I was grounded for stealing my dad’s fireworks and almost burning down the shed. The bus on the way to the park was robbed and everyone on it died. I lost my whole family in the blink of an eye. I lived on the road learning how to play music and sing until I was sixteen, joined the navy, got a fake I.D. lied about my age and became a SEAL. I could handle having to fight and doing what needed to be done, but I found out there’s a fine line between right and wrong when it comes to what needs to be done. In a nutshell I didn’t want to die a killer. I got out, settled into cooking then I was offered the caretaking job here. At first it was part time and all I did was live here and fix technical issues and cook some meals off the clock, but after Celestia and I . . . met, she increased my workload and my pay marginally,” I said.

She was quiet staring at me horrified, “I had no idea, you’re always so kind,” she said.

“It’s better to learn from the past than hide from it,” I prompted.

“Yeah of course . . . I lived in a cage the first three years of my life apparently. I don’t remember it, but my parents were caught by human poachers. This was before the Celestial Peace Trials were taken seriously. They escaped through the air, but were shot down and I landed in New York City. They sent me to an orphanage and since I wasn’t human they all picked on me . . . and at night the boys would force me to get naked so they could touch me. I felt like an object for them to take out their confusion on. If I didn’t then, well let’s just say not all my scars are from falling out of the air. No one ever actually raped me, but they talked about doing it one night. I ran away and almost starved to death a week later, but then Dashie found me and brought me home with her. She nursed me back to health and let me stay with her until I was old enough for the anthro foster home there. It was much kinder there because everyone was like me and no one was prejudiced. That’s when I went to school and met Annabeth and Belle. You know the rest,” she said pulling her knees up to her chest.

I sat there holding her knowing that my angered feelings about those monstrous little fuckers wouldn’t get us anywhere, so I pulled her in closer and buried my nose her magenta hair and told her, “See that Scoot, now you’re ready to spread your wings. Just don't forget that your loved.” I buried my nose in her hair.

“Scootaloo,” she said sounding like she was smiling.

“Hm?” I asked.

“That was my real name, before I shortened it. You know how most Anthros either changed or shortened their names to avoid Prejudice or persecution?” She asked.

I nodded, how could I forget. Jackie’s parents were killed by a gang because another apple orchard run by humans had connections with them. They didn’t want any competition so they went after anyone with the name Apple and took them out. Luckily Jackie’s Granny Smith had them change their names to something almost completely human. Most of the other girls just shortened their current names, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie. No one really seemed to notice that they were changed except Clare who had a problem selling anything from her boutique with a name like Rarity. Human stylists and fashionistas apparently mistook it for Anthro hubris, so she begrudgingly used Clare instead. During Tuesday tea-Flutter’s idea-we all call her Rarity. “Are you okay?” She asked. I shook my head and was brought slowly back into reality. “Hm, oh yeah just uh . . . distracted for a second,” I said. I really couldn’t understand prejudice at all.

Author's Note

Just a little backstory in a nutshell. Also wanted to explain why all the names were different. Equestrias great and all, but let's face it, In the real world even humans had to change their names. Anyway, things are going to start getting steamy before they get cool.