"Rainbow Dash?" The soft voice of Fluttershy asked as I turned over in bed to see the yellow Pegasus mare looking at me.
"Hey Flutters, what's up?" I asked.
It had been almost a year since we had gotten married, we had dated for a few months before we had finally decided the time was right. Honestly, I was more nervous about it than anything else, especially when it came to telling our friends.
Our friends had been accepting of course, Ponyville was a pretty accepting place after all. I loved Fluttershy a lot, and I didn't really care what anypony thought. Now I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without her.
"Rainbow... I've been thinking..." Fluttershy said before stopping herself. "Never mind, its nothing..."
"Fluttershy, its not nothing, I know that look," I say, looking at my wife for a long moment. "You can tell me anything."
"Its silly but... have you ever thought about you and me adopting a foal?" She asked softly, I blinked for a long moment, out of all the things she could've said I hadn't expected that. "Sorry... forget I asked."
"Fluttershy, its okay," I say, hugging her tightly. "What brought this on anyway?"
"Well... I've been thinking about it a lot lately," Fluttershy answered. "Its just, I'd like a foal, a little pony to raise together. I understand if you don't want to."
I paused for a long moment, honestly I wasn't sure what to say at all. I hadn't ever really been that great with kids, I didn't have much faith in my ability to be a mother, heck I had barely even known my own mother.
Really the only foal I had ever grown close to was Scootaloo, but that was more as a big sister. Could I be a mother to a filly or colt? Was I even ready to take on that kind of responsibility?
Fluttershy looked at me expectantly, I didn't want to disappoint her. I took a deep breath and started talking again.
"Fluttershy, honestly I don't know," I admitted. "Its not that I don't want to raise a foal with you... its that I don't know if I can. Its a big responsibility, and I'm just not sure I'm ready for that... or if I'll ever be ready."
"I understand Rainbow," Fluttershy said and nuzzled me gently. "If you don't think you're ready, then we don't have to do it until you are."
I smiled at that, Fluttershy was the best wife I could ask for.
"I love you Fluttershy," I said, giving her a kiss.
"I love you too Rainbow," she said with a smile as she closed her eyes.
I looked up at the ceiling for a long moment, I wasn't sure what to do to be honest. Maybe it was something we should do, but was I ready?
I sighed and went to sleep, this wasn't going to be an easy decision to make.
00000
I was in kind of a daze the next day, I couldn't stop thinking about what Fluttershy had talked to me about last night. Raising a foal together would be a big change to our relationship, I knew Fluttershy wouldn't have brought it up if she didn't think we could do it.
I was flying over Sweet Apple Acres when I spotted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle by their clubhouse.
"Hey Rainbow, have you seen Scootaloo today?" Sweetie Belle asked as I came in for a landing. "She wasn't at school, Ms Cheerilee said she had to stay home today."
"That's weird," I said, I admitted I was confused, Scootaloo normally didn't stay home from school. "Did she say why?"
"Not really," Apple Bloom said. "Though she's been kinda busy lately at tha home... Ah think they're havin' ta send her back ta tha orphanage."
"Oh..." I said, I knew that Scootaloo was living with a foster family, but going back to the Orphanage? "Why?"
"I don't know, I think the family is having to move but they can't keep her or something," Sweetie Belle says. "We don't want her to have to leave."
I didn't want her to have to leave either, the closest orphanage was back in Cloudsdale which meant she'd have to leave Ponyville, possibly forever.
"I'll go see her," I said and flew off towards the house where Scootaloo had been living.
00000
"I'm glad you're here, Mrs. Dash," Scootaloo's foster mother said. "Its a tough time for her. She really is a good filly, but... we honestly can't afford to raise her anymore, and it was always going to be kind of temporary..."
"I see," I said with a frown. "What's going to happen to her?"
"Well, unless somepony can take her in, she's going to have to go to Cloudsdale, we've been looking all week," she said and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but there's not really anything we can do."
"Can I talk to her?" I asked, the mare nodded and I headed upstairs.
To be honest I wasn't sure what to do. If they hadn't been able to find anypony to take her in, there wasn't much I could do. But... was it possible that me and Fluttershy could?
I knocked on the door to Scootaloo's room and after a moment she answered, her eyes went wide when she saw me.
"Rainbow Dash!" She said with a big smile on her face. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, your friends told me about what was happening," I said with a pause, her smile faded at that.
"Yeah... I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Scootaloo said sadly. "I just didn't want you to worry about me."
"Scootaloo, I care about what happens to you, your friends do too," I say, putting a foreleg around the filly. "You could've come to me and Fluttershy about this."
"I know," she said with a sniff. "Do you think... you two might be able to take me in? At least for a little bit."
I wasn't sure what to say to that at all, I looked around at her room, she was mostly packed up by now. Honestly part of me really did want to do it, Scootaloo was like a little sister to me, but I still had those lingering doubts.
Could I be more than just a sister? Could I be her mother?
"Tell you what, I'll talk with Fluttershy about it tonight," I said, I knew that it was going to be hard to reach a decision, but we would. "When do you have to go back to the orphanage?"
"The day after tomorrow," Scootaloo says. "Rainbow... I really don't want to go back there."
"Don't worry Scootaloo, we'll figure something out I promise," I say, hugging the filly, that at least seemed to cheer her up. "Come on, lets go have some fun."
"Okay!" Scootaloo says happily and we head out of her room.
00000
That night me and Fluttershy were seated eating dinner, but I honestly didn't feel much like eating.
"Are you okay Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked as I poked at my food. "You've barely touched your dinner.
"I've just been thinking a lot about what you said last night," I said. "About us taking in a foal."
"Oh?" Fluttershy asks.
"Well I'm still not that sure I'm ready," I admitted, Fluttershy looked sad for a moment at that. "But at the same time... I found out today that Scootaloo's foster parents can't take care of her anymore."
"Oh, that's terrible," Fluttershy said. "The poor dear."
"Yeah..." I said, trailing off for a moment. "She'll have to go back to the orphanage if somepony doesn't take her in."
I looked at Fluttershy for a long moment, she was processing what I had told her. I admitted that I wasn't sure what she'd say. I had been thinking about it a lot since I had talked to Scootaloo, maybe we should at least give it a try.
"Rainbow... do you think we should take her in?" Fluttershy asked.
"Fluttershy, you know I love you, and I've been thinking about this a lot," I said. "I think, we should at least try. She needs somepony to take care of her after all."
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before nodding with a smile. "Okay Rainbow Dash, we'll get it all worked out tomorrow."
I couldn't help but smile and leaned in and kissed Fluttershy.
Honestly I was still nervous, but with Fluttershy behind me, we couldn't fail.
00000
The next day Scootaloo had gone to hang out with her friends, which gave us enough time to get her new room ready. As we finished I took a deep breath, looking at Fluttershy with a smile.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked.
"I'm ready," Fluttershy said as she smiled, we had talked to Twilight and gotten it all worked out this morning. "Are you?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," I said. "Fluttershy... I honestly don't know, what if I can't be a good enough mother for her?"
"Rainbow, you'll do fine," Fluttershy said with a reassuring smile. "Scootaloo already looks up to you, and you care about her otherwise you wouldn't have been the one to suggest it. Don't worry, we're going to do this together."
"I know," I said with a smile. "Fluttershy, the day we were married was the happiest day of my life."
"Mine too Rainbow," Fluttershy said, kissing me. "You should go get Scootaloo, she'll be heading home soon. I'll finish getting things ready here."
"I'm on it!" I say with a quick salute before speeding off.
00000
I fly over Ponyville until I spot Scootaloo coming out of Sugarcube Corner. I came in for a landing and she brightened up at the sight of me.
"Rainbow Dash!" she said happily.
"Hey squirt, feeling better?" I asked.
"Well kinda... Ms. Twister said there was a family interested in taking me in but..." she says. "I don't know really, what if they're mean to me? What if they don't care about me?"
"Scootaloo, they'd be crazy if they felt that way," I said giving her a smile. "You're an awesome filly, and I'll bet your new family will love you."
"Thanks," Scootaloo says with a smile. "That means a lot."
I smile back, and kneel down. "Hey, why don't I give you a ride home?"
"Okay!" Scootaloo said as she climbed onto my back, holding on tight as I take off. "Who do you think took me in?"
"Probably somepony that cares about you a lot," I said with a knowing smile as I flew towards my cloud mansion.
"Hey, where are we going?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh, I needed to run by my house real quick to pick something up from Fluttershy," I replied. "I hope you don't mind, it won't take long I promise.
"Its fine," she said as we came in for a landing and she climbed off my back. "I haven't been here very much since Fluttershy moved in."
"Yeah, we've really cleaned up," I said and we headed inside.
00000
"Hi Scootaloo," Fluttershy said as we entered the kitchen.
"Hey Fluttershy," Scootaloo said, looking around. "Umm, Rainbow Dash said she had to pick something up?"
"Well, not exactly," I admitted, getting a confused look from the filly. "Come on, let us show you something."
Scootaloo looked confused as we made our way down the hallway to a bedroom. Fluttershy opened the door and she looked on in shock when she saw all of her stuff was inside.
"Wait... does this mean you two..." she starts to ask.
"It does Scootaloo," Fluttershy said with a smile. "You're an amazing filly, and we'd be happy if you'd come to live with us."
I reached into my saddlebags and gave her some papers, they were the adoption papers that I had gone to Twilight to get worked out this morning. It had been kind of rushed, but having Twilight for a friend really came in handy sometimes.
"Why me?" Scootaloo asked, still shocked.
"Scoots, you're an amazing filly," I said. "I'm not going to lie, I probably won't exactly be the best mom ever, but we both want you to be part of our family. If you'll have us."
Scootaloo looked between us, tears welling in her eyes as she ran over to us and hugged us tightly. "Thank you so much..." she said through the tears.
I smiled and wrapped my wings around my wife and my adopted daughter. I still wasn't so sure about this mom thing, but I didn't have to go it alone. We were a family, and that was all that really mattered.
