Family Mares

Chapters

Houseguests
Wedding Bells
Unwinding
All Alone
And So the Story Begins
Rules and Regulations
Morning Errands
Off the Radar
Reaching New Heights
Just Dropping By
It's Just a Dream...
First Impressions
Another Day in Ponyville
Waking Up
It Isn't Mine
Helpless
Nothing We Can Do
He Won't Hurt Me Again
Not Without a Fight
Recuperating
It's Official
Epilogue: Wedding Bells Part 2

Houseguests

Spitfire let her fiery mane hang low as she walked out of the bathroom. Water dripped off her coat and mane onto the floor of her cloud home, but she didn't care. As she sat on her back porch to let her gold coat dry, she watched yet another sunset, anxiously awaiting nightfall. Why she showered before going out flying she didn't understand, but it wasn't like she couldn't get herself clean flying through a cloud here and there. She thought back to her team's last show. As usual, a particular cyan coated pegasus with a rainbow colored mane was in the front row, cheering louder than the rest of the crowd that came to watch. Spitfire became lost thinking about her. Those fierce magenta eyes, determined spirit, tomboyish attitude. She secretly wanted it all. Spitfire had never really known love. Filly Foolers weren't accepted in many areas of Equestria. Exactly why was something she didn't understand, but she knew that if she wanted her job she had to involve herself with stallions or nopony at all. "They ought to prefer my being a filly fooler" Spitfire mumbled. "A mare can't get me pregnant and take me out of a job." While still in this train of thought, Spitfire heard what sounded like a mare screaming in the distance. She looked over in the direction of the sound to see a small dot flying in the direction of her home. The screaming began to get louder. And louder. Suddenly the dot began to take shape and Spitfire was just able to get out of the way before Rainbow Dash crashed into the wall of her home. She lodged herself in the wall just so her head and forelegs were inside Spitfire's home whereas her rear legs and wings were dangling just above the porch.

"Owwww...." moaned Rainbow Dash

"Umm..." said Spitfire

"Wanna help me out?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure thing Rainbow Dash." Spitfire replied.

At the mention of her name, Rainbow immediately stiffened and her wings snapped back against her body.

"How do you know my name?! Who are you?! Are you a spy?!"

"Easy Rainbow, it's me, Spitfire."

At the mention of Spitfire's name, Rainbow stiffened again, this time her wings snapping to a fully erect position.

"Sp-Spitfire?! OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH I'M SOOOO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO CRASH INTO YOUR HOUSE AN-"

Before she could go on Spitfire cut her off.

"Relax Rainbow, it's just clouds. I can fix it up before bed tonight. I'm gonna push you through, alright? I can't do that if you still have your wingboners in the way."

"I-I-umm" Rainbow stuttered...

"Look, I don't care what you're preferences are, just put 'em down so I can get you through my wall."

"Wait, are you calling me a filly-fooler!?" Rainbow replied angrily. At least is sounded like she was angry. Inside she was terrified. "Was it that easy to figure out?" Rainbow thought to herself."

"Quite frankly you're giving me that impression. Not too mention you've seemed the part as long as I've known you. Plus the wingboners kinda give it away."

Rainbow sighed and folded her wings. "Just don't go telling everypony you see alright? A lot of ponies don't tend to tolerate me when they learn about that..."

Without warning Spitfire kicked Rainbow in the flank and sent her sprawling into her living room.

"What the hay was that for?!" Rainbow screamed.

"The hole in my wall." Spitfire responded nonchalantly as she stepped through the very hole her "guest" had just made.

"You could've been a little softer about it..." Rainbow muttered.

"Make yourself at home." Spitfire said, offering a hoof to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow accepted the gesture, though not without confusion. She opted to keep that to herself. 'I'm in Spitfire's house. Best not to ruin this.' Rainbow thought.

Spitfire took a seat on her couch. Despite her calm demeanor, the pegasus was more nervous than she had been before her first performance with the Wonderbolts. 'The mare of my dreams is in my home. I can't ruin this.' Spitfire thought. For the first time since Rainbow dropped in, the two pegasi directly looked at each other. Spitfire's mane was still wet from her shower, so it hung in a slightly disheveled manner down her neck and around her face. Upon this inspection of Spitfire's very wet and very enticing appearance, Rainbow's wings began to flutter a little. Spitfire had a difficult time keeping check of her own wings. Rainbow was soaked to the bone from her recent collision with Spitfire's wall, and the light reflecting off her her dripping color spectrum of a mane was almost too much to take. After a long, slightly uncomfortable pause, Spitfire spoke up.

"Wanna go flying? A good race should help us dry off." With a challenging tone she added "Not that you stand much of a chance of course."

At that Rainbow was on her hooves with her wings spread wide. She had that look of determination in her eyes that Spitfire craved so much.

"You're on Spitfire." She licked her lips in anticipation. A race against the mare of her deepest desires. This was something she always dreamed of.

"Loser buys the drinks!" Spitfire exclaimed as she shot out of the hole Rainbow left in her wall.

"NOT COOL!" Rainbow shouted as she took off after her new opponent. Rainbow had no idea where the hay they were going, but Spitfire was NOT going to get there first.

Wedding Bells

Rarity was stunned at Rainbow Dash's composure. Mostly because of the fact that the commitment-fearing tomboy who was getting married was less nervous than the commitment-craving lady who was planning the wedding. In fact, the fashion pony had never seen her friend so calm.

"Rainbow, you do realize you're getting married today?"

"Yep."

"And that you're going to be settling down with somepony for the rest of your life starting today?"

"Yep."

"And that you're going to make memories today that will last you a lifetime?!"

"Yep."

"THEN HOW ABOUT YOU COMB YOUR MANE!!!"

"We're just gonna mess it up again tonight." Rainbow replied, a grin now tugging at the edges of her lips."

"Rainbow Dash, I simply CANNOT allow one of MY FRIENDS to get married with her mane in such a tangle. If you won't do it, I'll do it for you."

"Woah, hey now Rarity. This is MY wedding. You can't just-"

"Fine. I won't comb it."

"Good. Now if you'll-"

"Sweetie Belle will."

"On second thought, give me that brush." Rainbow grunted.

"That's better. I'm glad you could see reason Rainbow Dash."

"Spitfire will never let me live this down..." Rainbow Dash mumbled as she tugged the comb through her mane. She had to admit, Rarity did have a point. Rainbow did want to look good for today, and her mane was a bit of a mess. None of it really mattered though. What mattered to Rainbow Dash was that in a couple of hours she was going to be married to the mare of her dreams. No matter what could possibly stop things from going smoothly at the wedding ceremony, she would be married that night. Besides, if Rainbow didn't fret about everything that could go wrong at the ceremony, she'd be more able to laugh about everything that she knew for certain was going to go wrong. Knowing her friends, and the fact that all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were going to be in attendance, this was going to be one heck of an interesting wedding ceremony. The only thing that bothered her was the fact that her friends wouldn't let her see Spitfire before the wedding. Something about it being "bad luck." Rainbow knew there was no such thing as luck, so the idea of being held back for the sake of it really pissed her off. But she could deal with it. She knew her friends were just looking out for her.

"Ah was made aware that somepony wanted ta see me?" the orange earth pony mare said as she walked into the dressing room.

"Yeah, somepony does want to see you AJ" Rainbow replied with a smile and a warm hug.

"What'cha need Rainbow?"

"I was hoping you could try to keep Pinkie on the straight and narrow up there today. I'm glad she's gonna be up there with me today, but this is one day I don't really want her to be...her."

"Ah gotcha covered Rainbow. She'll only be Pinkie Pie if her tail starts twitchin'.

Rainbow chuckled. "Let's just hope no trees fall where I'm getting married today."

Applejack hugged Rainbow again. "Ah don't see that happenin' today Sugarcube."

"This is Ponyville. If it can go wrong, it will here. Hay, as long as me and Spitfire go home tonight as newlyweds I couldn't care less what goes wrong out there today."

"Seems like a mighty fine outlook Rainbow. Ah gotta go talk to Applebloom. Just need to make sure her and the other flower girls stay orderly today. Ah still think ya musta' spit yer bit lettin' the Cutie Mark Crusaders have any part of this as a group."

"You of all ponies should know by now that thinking ahead was never my forte'. Rainbow did have second thoughts about letting those three fillies have a part in her wedding, but it was too late. She'd break their hearts if she didn't let them do it. Especially Scootaloo's.

"I now pronounce you mare and, er, mare."

Rainbow Dash pulled Spitfire in for a passionate kiss, to which the attendants of the wedding roared in applause. The two newlyweds didn't hear any of it. They didn't care. They lost themselves in a world where only they existed. Neither of the mares were exactly the touchy-feely type, but love still found it's way to their hearts. Even after they pulled away from the embrace and opened their eyes the rest of the world didn't exist to them. It wasn't until Applejack gave Rainbow a small push to encourage the newlyweds to their carriage that they remembered they weren't alone in the world.

In the carriage, Spitfire rested her head on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Rainbow gently stroked her mane, which for once wasn't done up in it's normal style. It gave Spitfire a more mature appearance...one that Rainbow Dash vastly preferred.

"You should keep your mane down like this Spitty. It looks more natural. I like it."

"It's also a heck of a lot easier to wear. I think you're right Dashie." Spitfire replied.

"Of course I'm right." Dash replied as cocky as ever. To which Spitfire nuzzled her even further.

"I can't wait to get you out of that dress Dash." Rainbow's wings fluttered at her wife's sudden change of pace.

"Sadly we have to wait until after the reception for that. Pinkie Pie is throwing it, so it will be a lot more fun than the wedding itself." Rainbow responded.

"I wish we could skip it." Spitfire stated rather bluntly.

"So do I, but that would break Pinkie's heart. Besides, we're the guests of honor. It would be a little weird if we didn't show up."

"Good point." Spitfire smiled deviously. "We'll go to Pinkie's party and then we'll have OUR party."

"I think I'm more excited for the second part of that to-do list." Rainbow said with a grin.

"As am I." Spitfire said as she nuzzled her wife. "As am I..."

The two newlyweds practically fell on the floor of their cloud home. Tank slowly looked up, and when he saw what was going on the tortise very quickly retreated back inside his shell. Rainbow and Spitfire made their way to their bedroom kissing with a fiery passion. They didn't bother to close the door. Or crawl under the blankets.

Unwinding

Spitfire eased herself into the soft cloud couch. Rainbow let her off early seeing as she finished her weather jobs first (As usual). She had nothing to do without her "fun-loving" wife around, so she decided to just unwind a little. She thought back on the last few months. How she was now fully settled into a relationship she was initially afraid to allow the public to know about. Flying with the Wonderbolts was an amazing experience, but it was a small sacrifice to hang onto Dash. When her coach had told her that she was either going to leave Rainbow or leave the Wonderbolts...well, he decided to drop the assault charge after hanging hog-tied from the ceiling fan with a team uniform that just happened to match Spitfire's size. Spitfire grinned at the memory. Living in Ponyville and working for it's weather team wasn't exactly what she had dreamed of as a filly, but after achieving her foalhood dreams she was content to settle down. And who better to settle with than Rainbow Dash. Despite her sometimes cocky and arrogant demeanor, she was deep down one of the most kindhearted, and definitely the most loyal pony she had ever met. She thought back to that first night when Rainbow crashed into her cloud home.

"Now that I think about it, I only patched that hole...I wonder what the new owners are going to think when that opens up again. Meh, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Spitfire thought aloud. She knew that she would always remember that night in every vivid detail...

Eight months earlier

Somehow, by means that were vastly illusive to Spitfire, Rainbow Dash won the race. 'I couldn't have rigged that one any further to my advantage...How the Hay did she...'

"Spitfire, hello? If you're spaced out you can't hear me gloat about how I just left you in my wake!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, loud enough that the whole world probably heard her. It was enough to snap the defeated Wonderbolt back to her senses. Sort of.

"How did you do that?" Spitfire asked. "There was no way you could have possibly won!"

"I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria. Duh! Everypony knows that. Besides, at the pace you were going I'll bet Fluttershy could've beat you." Rainbow made no attempt to hide the challenge.

Spitfire remembered the shy pegasus...and how weak of a flyer she was.

"You're ON Rainbow Dash."

"First one to Sweet Apple Acres gets bragging rights." Rainbow Dash said as she lined up on the starting cloud.

"That's 40 miles from here." Spitfire wondered what the Hay was going on in that pony's head.

"Don't tell me you're scared of an endurance run."

"Not in the slightest."

The race to the Apple Orchard ended with Rainbow Dash in front. Again. Not only was Rainbow everything she looked for in a mare, she was a competent challenger in a race. Spitfire knew that no stallion would ever be able to keep up with her, let alone beat her in a race. Not even Soarin'. She caught herself staring as Rainbow gloated over her second victory. OK, maybe that could get annoying after a while. She sighed. As much as she wanted the beautiful Cyan pegasus she knew she could never have her. then Rainbow knocked Spitfire back into the real world.

"You know Spitty, if you really want me that bad, we could just have a race back to my place and call it good."

"Yeah...wait WHAT?!" Was Rainbow really so bold as to just insinuate THAT without ever having been on a date!?

"Woah now Rainbow, slow down there. I plan to wait until...Rainbow?" It was then that Spitfire noticed her crush rolling on the ground in a fit of laughter so powerful she couldn't stop the tears from pouring down her face.

"That was the funniest thing I've seen since I gave Twilight my patented Rain Blow Dry!!!!"

"What was funny?" Inquired a thoroughly confused Spitfire.

"You snapping back into reality and taking that comment seriously. You zone out too much. Plus that time you were staring at me the whole time. I was gonna cross my legs, but that was SO much more fun."

Spitfire rolled her eyes and dove on top of Rainbow Dash. Before the pinned pegasus could react Spitfire planted a passionate kiss on her lips.

"What do you say we pick this up tomorrow?" Spitfire enticingly inquired.

"Sounds good."

"Your place?"

"Sure."

"Good answer."

Before Rainbow Dash could react Spitfire got up and took to the skies.

"Don't you go telling all your friends about that now. I'd like to keep my job at least until I settle down."

Rainbow was too dumbfounded to even try to fly after her. Her crush just KISSED her. Without warning. And made plans for the next day. She tried to fly home, only to find that her wings were so stiff she couldn't properly use them.

"I really hope I get to dive deeper into that..." Rainbow thought aloud before relaxing in the shade of an immense apple tree as Celestia's sun set over Ponyville, replaced by the beautiful dark hue of Luna's night sky.

All Alone

Scootaloo began her long scoot back home. She was NOT eager to see her parents, but that wasn't exactly new. Her parents never wanted her to begin with, and they made that very clear every time she got into trouble. 'If they didn't want me they should have used a condom.' Scootaloo thought. She envied the other Crusaders. Applebloom may not have parents, but she had two older siblings that acted the part, and Sweetie Belle's parents, although maybe a little backward, were always very kind and playful when the Crusaders went over there. After the first Crusader sleepover at Scootaloo's her parents were awful. Scootaloo not only had to feed herself, she also had to feed her friends. And Celestia forbid they get a little too excited. Twilight was more kind to the Crusaders then her parents ever had been just by enchanting the two earth bound fillies so they could walk on clouds. Scootaloo thought she was going to lose her friends after the way her parents yelled at them. She let out a sad chuckle.

"Parents take care of their children. I take care of myself with some adult supervision." Scootaloo thought aloud. When she got to her home, she sighed, got off her scooter and sat on her haunches. They didn't even have the decency to put this particular cloud home low enough that she could get to it on her own. "Incentive to learn how to fly" her father had said. Jerk.

Now she had to wait for her parents to get home so they would hopefully fly her up to the front porch before dropping her head first onto the house.

"Would it really have been so much to ask to add some stairs?" She thought aloud.

"Yep" She said back to herself. "Stairs would have been at least an hour of extra work in building.

"I could've done it in ten minutes if I could fly."

"And manipulate the weather."

"Shut up."

"You're doing all the talking. If you don't want me to talk just stop responding to yourself."

"Sadly, you're the best conversation I have."

"And that's why we're such good friends."

Scootaloo sighed. She was talking to herself way too much if she was starting to view herself as a separate entity. But as she said in her conversation, she was the best conversation she had to offer. Her parents sure as hay weren't. She looked up at the sky and watched the weather team prepare tonight's snowstorm. It was definitely going to be a very serious storm. Of course her parents would raise their home tonight so it was above the clouds. Cloud homes aren't exactly known for their ability to survive the winter. If they get exposed to below freezing temperatures, the clouds that make up the home turn to snow. When a cloud home creates snow or rain, it falls apart. That's why her home was constantly changing elevation.

"If they're not going to put it low enough for me to get into it on my own, they may as well just keep it above where the weather team puts the clouds." She thought aloud. Before she could start talking to herself again, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey kiddo. Need a lift?"

Scootaloo turned her head to see Spitfire standing next to her.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" She asked

"Nope. Dash let me off early today."

"Why's that?"

"I finished all my jobs and she couldn't think of anything else for me to do."

"Ah. Yeah, if you wouldn't mind flying me home, that would be...awesome." Scootaloo sighed.

"What's got you down Scoot? I've never seen you sad before."

"It's nothing. Just a bad day."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not exactly."

"Alright. Well, let's get you home kid."

Upon arriving at her cloud home, Scootaloo waved Spitfire off and thanked her, and then went inside. Like clockwork, her stomach rumbled as soon as she walked in the door. She walked in the kitchen and fixed herself a sandwich. She looked at the clock on the wall of the kitchen. 4:55. Her parents would be home soon. As soon as she thought that her father walked in the door.

"Pack your things Scootaloo. We're moving."

"W-what!?" Scootaloo screamed. "No, we can't move, I finally made friends here! I like it here, we-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU UNGRATEFUL RAT! Your mother and I are moving. Whether you come with or not is up to you."

"I want to stay." Scootaloo said flatly before running to her room. Her father followed behind her. As she reached the door to her room her father kicked her through it. She rolled across the floor and hit the wall in a daze. When she looked up she was met with a hoof to her face.

"I give you a roof over your head, food to eat, and THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?! Choosing some friends over your family!? If your friends are what you want, FINE! You can have them! I should have done this years ago!" With that he turned around and kicked her through the wall of her bedroom with his hind legs. She was unconscious as soon as she hit the ground.

Two hours later

"We don't have all day! Get those clouds into position!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She was starting to regret sending her wife home early, but it was too late to change that now. She had to work with what she had, and what she had was a group of disgruntled slackers.

"Why don't you send us home if you don't like our work? Or do we have to be married to you to get that privilege?" said a worker with a sarcasm that really pissed off his boss.

"I sent Spitfire home because in her short time here she did more work than all of you have in the last hour! Now how about you show some diligence and a desire to keep your job by actually doing it!" Rainbow yelled. "If these clouds aren't in place in half an hour, you're all fired!"

"Y-yes ma'am. We'll have it done in ten minutes." With that the weather team got right down to business. 'That's better.' Rainbow thought. At this rate, I'll be home in no time. She smiled, thinking about her "plans" with Spitfire tonight. Oh did she love when the "Wildfire" spread to the end of the Rainbow. Twenty minutes later, the weather team was done preparing for the snowstorm. Rainbow was only gonna get one more chance to fly in tolerable weather conditions for a while, so she took. As she zipped through town she saw something that was out of place. She went to investigate and realized it was Scootaloo's scooter. Oddly enough, the little squirt wasn't riding it. Or anywhere near it for that matter. Rainbow decided now would be a good time to find that little filly and get her home. Nopony was going to want to be outside when tonight's storm hit. She heard a faint sound of sobbing nearby. She flew in the direction of the sound, and sure enough she found a small orange filly with a purple mane crying under a park bench.

"Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked.

"Go away."

If there was any doubt in her mind about a problem before, it was gone now.

"Scootaloo, it's me. It's Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo looked up. Upon confirming that it was her idol, she jumped up and wrapped her forelegs around her. Rainbow immediately noticed the cuts and bruises all over her little body.

"Scootaloo, what happened to you?!" Rainbow rarely felt worry for anypony, but if there ever was something to worry about it was a filly as battered as the little one holding onto her leg with a deathgrip.

"M-m-my-" Scootaloo couldn't get the words out between sobs.

"Come on squirt, let's get you back to your parents and-"

"NO! NOT MY PARENTS!" Scootaloo screamed. "NOT MY DAD! NO NO NO NO NO!"

"Scootaloo, did your father do this to you?" Rainbow asked, now extremely worried for the little filly.

Scootaloo nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Get on my back and hold on tight. You're coming home with me tonight, OK?"

Scootaloo nodded and climbed up. Rainbow took to the skies and grabbed her scooter. She had a small shed that she could put stuff in for the winter that wasn't enchanted so it could rest on clouds. That's where the scooter was going. But more important than that was the little filly on her back that just needed somewhere to stay. She wondered how Spitfire was going to take this.

Spitfire heard the door to the cloud home open. She looked up at her wife only to notice a small, battered filly on her back. She instantly recognized the filly as Scootaloo.

"Hey Spitfire. Looks like we're gonna have a guest for a little while."

And So the Story Begins

"My dad isn't exactly stable. His reaction when things don't go his way is always overboard." Scootaloo explained to Spitfire. "It's why his reaction to my desire to stay here in Ponyville instead of moving was a lot like what one could expect out of Rainbow Dash if somepony called you a 2-bit whore." Upon completing her sentence a sound emanated from Rainbow Dash that was akin to the growling of an Ursa Major, and her right eye proceeded to twitch as if she snapped.

"How did your mom deal with it?" Spitfire asked while waving a hoof in front of Rainbow.

"My mom was the most indifferent pony I have ever met. And the most helpless. She just accepted that if she didn't have dad she wouldn't be able to FIND the kitchen, let alone cook for herself. The prospect of her going against my father is a joke. It would imply that she thought for herself for a change." Scootaloo replied bitterly.

"What about you? How well can you take care of yourself?"

"I've been taking care of myself since I was old enough to speak. I may as well have lived on my own."

"Did they ever give you flying lessons?"

"Flying lessons? You do realize I still use that scooter to get around right?"

"Fair enough."

"You have any family nearby that we can take you to?" Rainbow asked.

"No. The rest of my family lives in Fillydelphia."

"Then why'd your family move here?" Spitfire asked.

"My family never stayed in one place for very long. My dad is brilliant, but his unnatural temper tends to keep him out of a solid job. It's why we lived just outside of Ponyville. He couldn't afford the tax money for the town on top of what he already owed the Princesses."

Scootaloo looked at the clock on the wall.

"Son of a Mule, I'm gonna be late for school!"

"Language Scootaloo!" Spitfire exclaimed.

The filly didn't seem to hear the reprimand.

"Rainbow Dash, can you give me a ride so I won't be late?"

"You don't have to go today if you don't want to." Rainbow said, albeit a little too late. Scootaloo was already out the door preparing to jump off the porch. Before she could, Rainbow yanked her back.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled.

Scootaloo noticed that the fall from here would be a lot harder than from her old home.

"I guess that is a little high up..." Scootaloo said. "I'm used to the ground being a little closer than that."

"You're telling me you had to jump off the porch of your cloud home every morning so you could go to school?"

"On bad weather days when we had to move the house above the clouds my mom would fly me down. But other than that, yeah." Scootaloo answered.

"Hop on up, I'll fly you to school if you really want to go." Rainbow said. But before she even finished the sentence Scootaloo had a death grip around Rainbow's neck.

"Let's go!" She exclaimed. Rainbow was puzzled at how quickly her mood changed back to that of the overly energetic filly Rainbow knew and loved.

Spitfire watched as her wife dove off the porch with Scootaloo. She had no idea what to think of what she had just been told. A filly her age going through so much. From her own family. Spitfire had no idea how to take care of a filly, but it looked like she was about to find out.

When Rainbow got back from dropping off Scootaloo she was ready for a good long talk with Spitfire. They needed to decide what to do about Scootaloo. She walked in the door of their home and was immediately greeted with a soft hug. Rainbow returned the favor. As usual, Spitfire didn't waste any time getting right to the point.

"What do we do now?" She asked Rainbow.

"I don't know." Rainbow responded. "We can't just send her to a youth home, the nearest one is in Canterlot."

"They'd be better able to take care of her there though." Spitfire replied.

"She'd just be a number on a list. She needs to know what it's like to be loved."

"We don't know for sure how honest she was being with us though. We need to talk to her parents. See for ourselves if they match her description. That beating seemed a little...dramatic."

"Spitfire, she was covered in cuts and bruises last night."

"She gets covered in cuts and bruises every time she goes "Crusading" with her friends."

"Good Point." Rainbow knew her wife was right. Scootaloo did idolize Rainbow and Spitfire and would do ANYTHING to get their attention. But this? "We never did ask where her parents were headed did we?"

"We don't know for sure that they actually moved. We should go to their house and see if anypony's home."

"Sounds like a plan." Rainbow agreed.

When Rainbow and Spitfire arrived at the house they knew without question that nopony was inside. The home was a mess, and a large pile of snow was laying under it. It looked like the storm from the night before had frozen the water in the clouds and caused the home to snow. And rendered the home uninhabitable. It was so thin that a single step could cause the floor to break.

"She wasn't lying about getting left behind." Spitfire noted. "There is no way anypony is living in there right now." Rainbow couldn't believe her eyes.

"What kind of parent just leaves his daughter behind like that?" She asked, still a dumbfounded.

"She did say her dad wasn't right in the head, and that her mom wouldn't go against him for any reason." Spitfire reasoned. Perhaps there is validity to her story."

"Let's check it out to be sure. And find out where they work in Ponyville. They could have forgotten to move the house while they were looking for her." Replied Rainbow.

"Good idea." Spitfire agreed.

"Scootaloo, what n' th' Hay happened ta ya?" Applebloom inquired.

"I don't want to talk about it." Scootaloo replied.

"You were trying out a new trick on that scooter to impress Rainbow Dash weren't you?" Sweetie Belle asked with a grin.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Scootaloo replied, a lot more angry than usual at her friend's picking. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle glanced over at each other. They both knew it wasn't like their friend to yell at them like that.

"OK, if ya'll do wanna talk sometime, just let us know." Applebloom said before taking her seat.

"And don't yell at us next time." Sweetie Belle said. Scootaloo knew they were both miffed and decided that she'd apologize after class.

"Fired his flank last night. Nopony blows up on me like that and keeps his job." The owner of Quills and Sofas was obviously displeased about talking about the hot tempered stallion. "Why do you even want to find him anyway?"

"We found his daughter alone last night and wanted to talk to him and her mother. From what she's told us and from what we've found out today it seems that he moved away and left her behind." Spitfire answered.

"You're telling me that he left his filly all alone here? Why I 'oughta shove a quill right up that jack flank's-"

"Before a sofa gets involved let's get back on track." Rainbow interrupted. "Do you have any idea where he may have gone?"

"Well, he did some ranting about finding better work in Cloudsdale, but that sounded like he was talking about before he came."

"Thank you for your time sir." Spitfire said. "We'll let you get back to business now."

"Before you go, you wanna buy a sofa?"

"Errm, no thank you." Rainbow said before following Spitfire outside the store.

"To Cloudsdale?" Rainbow asked.

"I think we should stick with sending a letter for now." Spitfire responded.

"Alright. It would probably be better to find out if they're even there before going."

"Plus, in a week Cloudsdale will be almost directly over Ponyville. It will really decrease travel time." Spitfire added.

"Ugh, I hate trying to keep up with that city's drift."

"You do know there's a Cloudsdale Drift calendar on our fridge right?"

"Yeah. You know as well as I do that just because something is there doesn't mean I read it." Rainbow replied. Spitfire rolled her eyes.

"I know Rainbow. I know."

"You know, it'll still be a while before Squirt gets out of school...we could have some time to ourselves." Rainbow said very flirtatiously.

"Wrong time, wrong place Dash." Spitfire answered, a little mad that Rainbow would think about sex at a time like this.

"Maybe next time then." Rainbow said.

"Maybe after we take care of the filly that you brought home last night?" Spitfire responded forcefully.

"I hate it when you make a good point." Rainbow responded as the couple took off and flew home.

Rules and Regulations

"Scootaloo, if we're going to be taking you in, you'll have to follow our rules." Spitfire began. "Dash and I have talked it over and feel that we have come up with a fair set of rules and tasks to follow."

"Anything you want Spitfire!" Scootaloo exclaimed. She hated rules as much as the next filly, but it sure was a lot better than being alone for a winter.

"First things first you're gonna have to learn to fly." Rainbow said. "We won't always be around to take you up here so you need to be able to do that on your own. That said, we'll start right after we finish telling you what's expected of you."

"You're gonna teach me to fly?! This is AWESOME! Can we start now? Canwecanwecanwepleeeeeeease?!"

"After you hear the rest of the rules." Spitfire said, to which Scootaloo began to listen with rapt attention.

"We want you to keep your room neat and tidy." Rainbow added. "We brought your things back from your old house. Well, everything that wasn't destroyed when the place fell apart that is. We have plenty of space for you to store everything in your room without a pile on the floor."

"Clean room, got it." Scootaloo took a mental note in her head.

"No damage to the house." Spitfire said, with a little more force behind it than she had used previously.

"This goes double if you ever have a Crusader sleepover here." Rainbow added. "And try not to get too wild. I'm all for making noise, but know the proper time and place for it."

"One last thing" Spitfire said flatly. We're going to have a face to face meeting with your parents after we find out where they are. And you're going to come with."

"W-what?" Scootaloo asked. The fear of being near them again was evident in her voice.

"Don't worry Scoot, they won't be able to touch you. We'll be right there with you. We just need to see for ourselves how they view their relationship with you before we can decide where to go from here." Rainbow reassured.

"Bu-but"

"No buts. It's going to happen. As of right now, we think they might be in Cloudsdale. We're going to check it out in a week to see if we can find them there." Spitfire interrupted.

"No! We can't! If my dad sees me-"

"It's going to happen or we aren't taking you in." Spitfire said forcefully.

"We have to know for sure if taking you in is the right thing to do." Rainbow said in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Neither of us knows anything about taking care of a filly, and we need to make sure you'll be better off with us before we can take you in."

"You guys saw what he did to me!" Scootaloo screamed, now near tears. "I'd be better off on my own than with them!" With that she ran to her room sobbing and kicked the door closed.

"That went well." Spitfire's voice dripped with irritation.

"It would've gone easier if you hadn't been so hard on her." Dash said. "Good cop bad cop does not fit in this situation."

"I wasn't gonna sugarcoat it." Spitfire replied. "She needed to know what was going to happen."

"You saw what her father did to her." Rainbow countered. "It's not a situation she should go have to go back to. I agree we need to talk to them, but we know we're not sending her back to her parents."

"We don't know for sure that any of it is true. She easily could have-"

"How much more proof do you need?!" Rainbow almost yelled. "Her family is nowhere to be found, their family home was destroyed and no effort is being made to repair it, and she was about to endure a snowstorm under a park bench last night!" Spitfire was stunned. Rainbow had never stood her ground so firmly in an argument before. She had always seen Spitfire's point and offered a good compromise before an argument started. Now she seemed almost pissed at Spitfire. As much as Spitfire wanted to deny it, she knew her wife was right. Scootaloo's parents obviously left her behind. Loving parents would sooner die than leave their filly on her own before she was old enough to take proper care of herself. So Spitfire decided this time it was her turn to give in.

"You're right." Spitfire said. "I don't want to send her back. But we still don't know enough about her to take care of her. We need medical information, and we definitely should invest in therapy for her. We don't know what she's dealt with or how she is mentally."

"I'll talk to Twilight about therapy tomorrow." Rainbow said. "She may not be a professional but she definitely understands the subject." Rainbow said.

"Good idea. I'll take her to Nurse Redheart for a check-up as well. That will hopefully give us an idea of what special attention she may need." Spitfire replied.

"Now that we have a plan for tomorrow we should go talk to her. She needs to know that we're going to be there for her no matter what as long as she's with us. She needs to know that she's gonna get some love from us." Rainbow finished and got up.

"Let's hope this one goes better than the last." Spitfire said. "I don't want any more trouble tonight."

Scootaloo had finished crying when she heard Rainbow Dash's voice outside the door.

"Can we come in?"

"Yeah." Scootaloo sniffled.

Rainbow Dash gently pushed the door open. She entered with Spitfire right beside her and sat on the bed next to Scootaloo. Spitfire opted to sit on her haunches on the floor.

"Do you understand why we want to see your parents?" Rainbow asked.

Scootaloo shook her head.

"We're not sending you back to them. We just want to know anything about you that we can't figure out for ourselves. Or at least things we'd rather not find out the hard way." Spitfire answered for Rainbow Dash. "We know we can't send you back to that environment. But before we sign adoption papers we need to know how to properly take care of you."

Upon hearing Spitfire use the word "adoption" the little filly perked up.

"You're going to adopt me?"

"Right now that's how it's looking. There aren't any youth homes near Ponyville and we don't have the hearts to pull you away from your best friends." Rainbow answered with a grin.

Scootaloo squealed and hugged Rainbow Dash.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!!!" She screamed. Rainbow was struggling to pry the filly loose from the death grip the filly had on her neck. Upon successfully removing Scootaloo from her neck, the filly latched right onto Spitfire's. With a chuckle Spitfire returned the hug, although with a lot less force.

"I do believe I promised somepony flying lessons tonight." Rainbow said. "Unless of course she'd rather wait until morning." Before Rainbow finished her sentence Scootaloo was out the door on her way to the balcony. Rainbow kissed her wife and chased after the filly. Rainbow and Spitfire knew they'd never have a child of their own, but it looked like they were going to be parents after all. Spitfire just hoped they weren't biting off more than they could chew.

Morning Errands

Scootaloo woke to a "hard" landing on the floor of her room.

"What was that about Rainbow Dash?" She asked, thoroughly confused and a little tweaked by her rude awakening.

"Time to get up. Spitfire should have breakfast ready shortly. Next time you should set your alarm when I tell you to get up at 8."

"I don't have an alarm anymore, remember? Electronics don't work well when they freeze over."

"Oh yeah. We'll have to get you one today. I gotta say that was a lot more fun though."

Although she wasn't about to admit it, that was a lot more enjoyable than her usual rise and shine ritual. However, the prospect of being thrown from her bed every morning was about as enjoyable as giving Gummy a set of dentures. The filly shuttered at the thought.

"Something wrong?" Rainbow asked.

"Just...bad mental image." Scootaloo answered.

"Errm...did you hear me an' Spitfire last night?" Rainbow asked, a little worried now.

"I don't even want to think about that." Scootaloo replied VERY quickly.

"Scoot, how does a filly your age know so much about adult matters?"

"What do you mean by 'adult matters'?" Scootaloo asked.

"In the time you've been here, you've explained a point by using the example of having Spitfire be a whore, cursed with a mouth rivaling that of Applejack when she's pissed off-on that note clean up your speech a little-and you immediately knew what I meant when I asked about how much noise me and Spitfire made last night without ever actually saying that we-"

"I DON'T WANNA HEAR ABOUT THAT!" Scootaloo yelled, then with a sigh she continued. "I wasn't exactly sheltered growing up. My parents were always very straightforward. It was the one thing I liked about them. As for the swearing, sorry. I'm not used to filtering my speech unless I'm with the Crusaders. And I only filter around them because Applebloom and Sweetie Belle don't exactly tolerate it."

"Where did you even learn to talk like that?"

"My parents for one, but more from my music. Which reminds me, I wanted to thank you for getting that back intact. I knew I put it in the waterproof box for a reason."

"You're gonna have to show me this music. It sounds pretty good." Rainbow said with a wink.

"About time you two got here." Spitfire exclaimed. "Breakfast is getting cold."

"This smells amazing!" Scootaloo said. "What are we eating?"

"The souls of little fillies from faraway lands." Rainbow said nonchalantly. "Enjoy!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire exclaimed. "You know as well as I do that I only use the souls for seasoning." With that, nopony tried to contain their laughter. Turns out that the two mares weren't stealing and eating souls, it was just a simple baked eggplant and seasoning salt. Still, Spitfire had a way with cooking that made even the simplest of meals something extraordinary.

After breakfast the three flew down to Ponyville.

"We'll meet at Sugarcube Corner in 3 hours?" Rainbow suggested.

"Sounds good." Spitfire agreed. "Alright Scoot, you're coming with me."

"Where are we going Spitfire?" Scootaloo asked. "And can we fly there? I hate walking through snow."

"Trust me kid, you don't hate it as much as Spitty over there." Rainbow teased.

Spitfire rolled her eyes.

"You know I hate that nickname."

"I wouldn't use it if you didn't."Rainbow Dash said with a wink and flew off to Twilight's library.

"Alright Scoot, let's get you to nurse Redheart." Spitfire said and took off towards town with Scootaloo on her back.

Twilight awoke to an obnoxious knocking on the window of her room.

"Wh-what? Who is it?" She asked.

"It's Rainbow Dash. Duh. How many other ponies in Ponyville would've gone straight to the window instead of the front door?"

"Good point." Twilight responded. "What do you need?"

"Actually, your therapy knowledge and possibly a book about childcare. It's a long story. Can I come in? It's really bucking cold out here."

"Knock on the front door and Spike will let you in." Twilight told her. She woke up immediately after Rainbow mentioned 'childcare.' What in Equestria did she need a book on childcare for?

"You're adopting Scootaloo?!" Twilight screamed. "Are you NUTS?!"

"She's got nowhere to go." Rainbow explained. "Her parents up and left without her."

"I know you're trying to do a good thing, but you're not the patient-motherly type." Twilight said, apparently missing everything Rainbow had just said. "And Scootaloo is gonna take a LOT of patience."

"Not really, she's actually incredibly easy around the house. Energetic, but good at following rules."

"Rainbow, this is Scootaloo. The ringleader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rules aren't exactly her thing." Twilight said. "Spike is still finding refuse from their sleepover here from a month ago."

"Twilight, she needs-"

"A month ago Rainbow. A whole month."

"Twilight will yo-"

"A MONTH ago."

"Twi-" At this point Twilight seemed to be trembling at the memory of the sleepover at her treehouse.

"A mont-"

"TWILIGHT!!!!!" The unicorn shook her head.

"Yes Rainbow Dash?"

"Her father wasn't a good parent to her. All the energy she lets out with her friends is what she couldn't let out at home."

"What are you saying?"

"You know a little about therapy right?"

"Yeah, but not enough to actually help someone. Is Scootaloo alright?"

"I guess I better get to story telling huh?" Rainbow said before explaining, in detail, the events leading up to Scootaloo's new place of residence.

"Everything checks out. What we have here is a happy and healthy filly." Nurse Redheart said with a smile.

"Woohoo, can we get out of here now?" Scootaloo asked Spitfire.

"You run along to the waiting room Scootaloo. I want to have a talk with Spitfire." Nurse Redheart said before giving Scootaloo a lollypop.

"Woohoo, free candy! Can we come here more often?"

"Waiting room Scoot. I'll be right out there." Spitfire chuckled. Scootaloo gave a comical salute and bolted to the lobby.

"Full of energy that one." The nurse laughed. "But why are you taking her to get a physical? You're not her mother and as far as I know you're not a legal guardian either."

Spitfire sighed. "This is gonna take some explaining."

Rainbow was headed to Sugarcube Corner when she spotted a familiar orange earth pony trudging through the snow. She flew down and lifted her friend out of the snow.

"Where ya headed AJ?" She asked.

"Well Ah'll be, ya givin' me a lift Rainbow?"

"Hay yeah I am. Where you going?"

"Sugarcube Corner. Droppin' off some o' mah new Apple Syrup for Pinkie to add to th' menu."

"Perfect!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I'm meeting Spitfire and Scootaloo there."

"What'cha meeting that lil' filly for?" Applejack asked, clearly confused.

"How many times am I gonna have to explain this today?" She wondered aloud. "I'll tell you on the way."

"So y'all are adoptin' lil' Scootaloo here?" Applejack said, obviously not comfortable with the idea. "Y'all sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be? I'll be living with the coolest ponies in Ponyville!" Scootaloo said, the excitement almost flowing from her mouth.

"I reckon' y'all get along just fine, but y'all don't know a darn thing 'bout raisin' a filly." Applejack said flatly. It was when she said things like that that Rainbow wasn't a huge fan of her unwavering honesty.

"Oh, and you do?" Rainbow said angrily, knowing full well that her friend was a very capable parent.

"Y'all know Ah've been raisin' Applebloom since mah folks went off to Canterlot. Don't question mah ability ta raise a filly." It was Applejack's turn to be unhappy with Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry AJ. I guess I forgot about that."

"That's OK Rainbow, I know how defensive ya can be. I think y'all are doin' a mighty fine thing here fer Scootaloo, Ah'm just not sure y'all are the right ponies ta do it."

"Nopony else is gonna take her in. Her and her friends have done so much damage around town with their "Crusading" that everypony is scared of them." Spitfire chimed in. Scootaloo failed to suppress a chuckle at this, which led Rainbow Dash to burst into laughter.

"T'aint so funny when some o' that damage was done ta yer crop." Applejack said with a glare. "Did Ah ever give lil' Applebloom an earful fer that."

"Oh relax, you've got hundreds of trees on that farm of yours." Rainbow said. "Losing a tree or two won't hurt-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a pink blur shot out from nowhere, taking Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Spitfire to the floor with it.

DASHIE! SPITTY! SCOOTALOO? Spitty, you need a new nickname! Maybe...FIERY! Or, BURNY! Or, ooh I know! WILDFIRE!" At the mention of her bedroom name Spitfire's wings fluttered and her face flushed. It didn't take long for the three to figure out they weren't getting untangled until Pinkie was satisfied with her conversation.

"Pinkie, how did you manage to glomp all three of us by yourself?" Scootaloo moaned, attempting to twist herself free of her position under Spitfire. After a short struggle she accepted the fact that she wasn't going anywhere.

"More like Two and a Half of you!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Ooh, that would be a great name for a television show! Two and a Half Mares! I like it!"

"That sounds awful Pinkie." Rainbow said flatly.

"Are you saying I'm only half a pony?" Scootaloo asked indignantly.

"You silly filly, how would that make sense? Just 'cause you're not a grown up doesn't mean you're not a whole pony! Unless of course you got chopped up! But if you were chopped up you'd probably have some trouble getting around town." Scootaloo wondered if the crazy party pony even had a brain in that head.

"Would you mind letting us get up? It's kinda uncomfortable down here." Spitfire asked Pinkie Pie.

"Okey Dokey Lokey!" Pinkie hopped off the pile and immediately turned to Applejack. The farmpony had been laughing so hard she didn't notice that Pinkie had left the pile until her face was millimeters from her own.

"You have the syrup?" Pinkie asked.

"Sure as sugar do." Applejack said, unphased be Pinkie's complete violation of personal space. She reached in her saddlebags and pulled out the bottles of golden syrup. Pinkie immediately grabbed the syrup and bolted to the kitchen of the bakery. Before any of the ponies could react she was back out with 4 plates of fresh, hot pancakes, each one smothered with apple syrup.

"How'd ya do that?" Applejack asked.

"Don't be silly, I baked them!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Is she always this random?" Scootaloo asked.

"I think you've lived in Ponyville long enough to answer that question yourself." Rainbow answered with a laugh.

"Yeah. I guess I have." Scootaloo said. As strange as this little town was, it was home. She couldn't imagine a better place to be.

Off the Radar

Scootaloo had adjusted very well in the first week with Rainbow and Spitfire. She was happy to help around the house, and she followed the very few rules that she was given to a tee. She loved hanging out with her new guardians, and the trio felt like the family Scootaloo always wanted. Every day was something new, every conversation had somepony rolling on the floor laughing and letting the tears stream down her face. Or all three of them. Then the day came that Cloudsdale was close enough to Ponyville that the three would be able to get in, find Scootaloo's parents, have a conversation and get out without missing dinner back home. The three loaded up their saddlebags and took to the sky. Scootaloo still wasn't flying well yet, so she rode on Rainbow Dash's back.

"Think they'll be registered citizens yet?" Rainbow asked Spitfire.

"I doubt it." She replied. "It's only been a little over a week. It took me almost three weeks to get registered in Ponyville and it's not even half the size of Cloudsdale."

"Cloudsdale isn't that big. If they're not registered it shouldn't take more than a few hours to find them." Rainbow said. Cloudsdale truly wasn't as large as it was made out to be. It still wasn't exactly small. It was difficult enough to keep the city together as it is, and entirely impossible to anchor with magic like the cloud homes many pegasi resided in outside of Cloudsdale and other cities in the sky. Without the magic anchor, the clouds that made up the city often drifted apart, leaving it in need of 24/7 repair efforts. It was a difficult task, but given the amount of ponies that the city was home to, it was a necessary one. Not to mention it was impossible to prevent the city from drifting around the skies of Equestria. The drift was fortunately slow and predictable so it didn't take much work to make the drift calendar that was a part of every pegasus home.

"We'll start at the mayor's office and go from there." Spitfire said. The three made there way to the center of the city. They were sure to find out something from the mayor.

The day was planned to the second. Everything was accounted for. Travel time, restroom breaks. It was almost as if Twilight had planned the trip. They did forget one thing that the lavender unicorn would not have. The line in the mayor's office. Two hours passed from the time they arrived to the time they were finally able to be seen to.

"Number 243!" An old pegasi called out.

"Is that the mare from the Best Young Fliers competition?" Rainbow asked.

"Who cares, she called our number. Let's go." Spitfire grunted.

The three walked quickly to the counter.

"It IS the mare from the competition" Rainbow noted. "I can't stand her voice."

"Rainbow, we're here for a reason." Spitfire reprimanded.

"Right."

"How may I help you young mares today?" The attendant at the counter asked.

"We'd like to know if a home here was recently bought by a certain family. We want to talk to them." Spitfire answered.

"What about?" The attendant inquired.

"Something that doesn't concern you." Rainbow replied. The attendant was now less than ready to deal with these mares.

"I apologize, I did not mean to upset you."

"Then mind your own-"

"What my wife is trying to say is that it's a personal matter." Spitfire said calmly, but shot a look at Rainbow Dash that betrayed just how pissed she was at her wife's attitude.

"Wife?"

"Yes, my wife." Now Spitfire was unhappy with the attendant. The attendant quickly caught on and decided that she'd be safer if she just did her job.

"I'll just get to finding that house. What is the family's name?"

"Crestfall." Scootaloo answered.

"First name of the head of the household?"

"Jade."

"Hmm, Jade Crestfall. According to my computer the Jade Crestfall family hasn't been anywhere near Cloudsdale in almost 10 years. Although an arrest warrant has been placed on Mr. Jade Crestfall."

"An arrest warrant? What for?" Rainbow inquired.

"Tax Evasion." The attendant replied.

"Sounds like my dad." Scootaloo said with a smirk.

"If they're not in Cloudsdale, then where are they?" Spitfire asked, mostly to herself.

"I have no idea." Rainbow answered. "You sure there's no evidence that they're here?"

"None at all." The attendant answered.

"Thank you for your help." Spitfire said to the attendant.

"Anytime." The attendant replied, her relieved sigh betraying how happy she was that they were leaving. The three mares decided to ignore it.

After a thorough search of the residential area of Cloudsdale, the trio found that Scootaloo's parents really weren't in the city. They talked about what to do next on their flight home from the city.

"I'll swing by the library tonight. Twilight is bound to have a book on this somewhere in there." Rainbow offered.

"Good idea." Spitfire replied. "I'll put dinner on."

"I like Spitfire's part of the plan." Scootaloo commented with a growling stomach. This forced a laugh out of Rainbow Dash.

"I think I have to agree with Squirt on that point." After a short flight they arrived back at their home. Rainbow kissed Spitfire and flew off to the library to see Twilight.

"It says here that if a filly is in the care of two official legal guardians for a full month with no effort on the part of the parents to find her, then the filly is considered abandoned and the parent's signatures are not required on the adoption papers." Twilight said to Rainbow.

"That's fantastic! Thank you so much Twi!" Rainbow exclaimed and hugged her friend. "It's already been a week. Just three more and she's ours!"

"Rainbow, I still think you need to think this over a little better." Twilight said. "I know you want to adopt Scootaloo but are you and Spitfire really capable of raising a filly?"

"We've been doing a good job so far." Rainbow said. "She's following the rules and helping out. And she's so much fun to have around the house."

"Could you punish her if you have to?" Twilight asked.

"Of course I could! I think you need to have a little faith Twi."

"I'm very happy that you and Spitfire are kind enough to take her in, I just don't know if you're looking at this from a long term perspective."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that I think you're to wrapped up in the moment to see how difficult this is going to be. And that you're not thinking in her best interest." As much as she loved her friend, Rainbow was not about to take that from her.

"Oh, and you know what's best for her?! Tell me Twilight, what's better for her than putting a roof over her head, food in her stomach and giving her the family she's always wanted?!"

"Putting her in a youth home where she'll be guaranteed everything she needs to get by without risk." Twilight responded flatly.

"Where she can be a number on a list and a tax write-off?! Where the only love she'll get is whatever she makes for herself?! HAY NO."

"Rainbow, would you just-"

"We're done talking about the matter. We're taking her in and I don't care what anypony says about it." Rainbow said forcefully before yanking open the library door and speeding away. She knew that Twilight was looking out for Scootaloo as much as she was, but what Twilight didn't get was that Scootaloo would be able to find food and shelter if she was on her own. But what Scootaloo needed more than anything was to be loved. No shelter was going to provide that without a close, personal relationship with the filly. Scootaloo was home with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, and the two mares quickly found themselves loving her more and more with each passing day. Scootaloo was the closest thing to a foal of their own as they would ever have. Rainbow Dash was not about to give that up.

After dinner, Rainbow Dash brought Scootaloo and Spitfire to the living room to tell them what she learned from Twilight.

"We have Right to Maternity for a month. As long as Scootaloo's parents don't make an effort to find her in that time frame, we won't need their signatures on the adoption papers. Seeing as she's been in our care for a week, we only have to wait 3 more weeks until we can get the adoption papers signed."

"How is anypony going to know that she's in our care legally?" Spitfire asked.

"When you took her to see Nurse Redheart, we were marked as her guardians. We are her official legal guardians as of that physical." Rainbow answered.

"This means that as long as my dad doesn't come looking for me, I get to stay here?" Scootaloo asked, hope evident in her voice.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Rainbow Dash replied with a smile.

"YEESSSSSS!" Scootaloo screamed. "OH YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYEEEEESSSSSS!"

"Alright kiddo, we're happy to." Spitfire laughed. "And as much as I hate to break this up, I do believe it's somepony's bed time."

"Awwwwwww. Can I stay up late tonight? Pleeeease?" Scootaloo asked.

"Not tonight. You have school in the morning." Rainbow said. "Friday and Saturday you can stay up as late as you want. But only if you're good through the week."

"Okay." Scootaloo sighed. As usual it didn't take long for her to perk back up. "Goodnight Rainbow Dash! Goodnight Spitfire! I love you guys!"

Rainbow and Spitfire looked at each other. Those were four words they never expected to hear from that filly's mouth. But in their hearts they knew they shared that sentiment with her.

"We love you too Scootaloo." Rainbow said. All Spitfire could manage was a stray tear from her right eye. With that the filly bounded off to her room.

"So this is what it's like to have a family that cares." Scootaloo thought aloud as she curled up in bed. It wasn't long before she was sound asleep, dreaming of the adventures to come with her new family.

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire walked silently to their room, their tails intertwined. There weren't any words to describe the joy they felt. They were parents. Mothers of a wonderful filly. Although it didn't work out as either had planned it in their heads, it couldn't have gone better. They were prepared to do whatever it took to give this filly the life she deserved from the start. As the two laid in bed, Rainbow broke the silence.

"So this is what having a kid is like."

"It's amazing isn't it? Neither one of us gave birth to her, but we're still treating her as if she was ours all along." Spitfire couldn't hold back her tears.

"I only hope her dad stays away. I don't want him to come and take her back. Not now." Rainbow said, gripping her wife tighter.

"Three weeks is a long time. He knows she's in Ponyville. She wouldn't be hard for him to find." Spitfire said with a hint of worry.

"Let's just keep high hopes. Worrying won't change whether he comes looking for her. No sense fretting over something we have no control over." Rainbow said. "I say we get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a big day for the weather team. We're putting together one seriously big snowstorm for next week."

"That'll be fun." Spitfire said, now with a hint of irritation. "Gotta work for a living I guess. Goodnight Rainbow." Spitfire kissed her wife.

"Goodnight Spitfire. I love you."

"I love you too Rainbow." Spitfire fell fast asleep, dreaming of a day not so long ago when she first heard those words leave Rainbow Dash's mouth. Ever since that day, her life only got better and better.

Reaching New Heights

"Now you've got it Scoot!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Scootaloo's progress in her flight lessons was remarkable. Once her wings grew to their full size she was destined to be a very strong flyer. After only a week and a half she was already able to effectively fly on her own. And to think that before she came into Rainbow and Spitfire's care she could barely hover off the ground.

"When are you gonna start teaching me to do the tricks that you can do?" Scootaloo asked with excitement.

"After your wings come in completely." Rainbow said. "Tricks require strong wings and a very experienced flyer." Scootaloo sighed. She was disappointed.

"How am I gonna learn if I don't practice?" She asked.

"You're not." Rainbow answered. "Don't worry Scoot, your wings are starting to come in now. At this rate I'll be starting you on tricks before Winter Wrap Up."

"Think I can help with Winter Wrap Up this year?" Scootaloo's undying excitement made Rainbow laugh.

"We'll see Scoot. We'll see. Come on, let's head home. We're gonna have to hurry if we're gonna beat the storm."

"I'll race you there." Scootaloo challenged. This put Rainbow in quite the dilemma. On the one hoof, she'd never turn down a challenge. But on the other hoof, this was a new flyer who had just learned to keep in the air without effort. If she gave it her all right now she'd fall out of the sky. Rainbow wasn't about to let that happen to Scootaloo.

"You're on Squirt." Rainbow said.

The two took their places on the start cloud.

"On my count." Rainbow said. "3, 2, 1, GO!" They took off. Scootaloo flew faster than Rainbow expected, but not nearly as fast as her defacto mother. Rainbow kept pace just ahead of Scootaloo. Just because she wasn't going to leave Scootaloo in her dust didn't mean she was going to let her win. When they reached the hole in the clouds that Rainbow had made sure the weather team had left, Rainbow was getting bored. She had never flown this slow in a race. Then, about 20 meters away from the front porch, something Rainbow could not explain happened. Scootaloo pulled ahead of her.

Scootaloo ran inside the house with a look of pure joy on her face.

"Spitfire! I beat Rainbow Dash!"

"Huh?" Spitfire asked.

"I raced Rainbow Dash and won! It was awesome!" Spitfire looked at her wife with a smile. As soon as she saw Rainbow her smile faded. Rainbow didn't let her win. Scootaloo won fair and square. Spitfire was stunned. Too stunned to realize that the eggplant she had been preparing began to burn on the stove top. Scootaloo turned off the stove and removed the pot from the burner.

"N-nice work kiddo." Was all Spitfire could manage. How fast was their daughter?

"Y-y-yeah. " Rainbow managed. As disappointed as Rainbow was, it all faded when she smelled the eggplant. Spitfire's cooking could do that. "Nevermind that, I'm starving!" Rainbow exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"Woohoo, victory dinner!" Scootaloo cheered.

"What happened out there? During the race? How the hay did Scootaloo beat you?" Spitfire asked.

"She hustled me." A tear escaped her eye.

"Don't you dare cry about that." Spitfire said.

"It's not that." Rainbow said. "I'm just so proud. I've won tons of races like that. She's just like me." Now Rainbow couldn't hold back. "I'm gonna congratulate her." Spitfire rolled her eyes and smiled.

"I'll be right here waiting." She gave Rainbow her bedroom eyes. Rainbow's wings snapped to attention.

"DAMMIT SPITFIRE!" She managed to put her wings back down.

"I thought it was Wildfire in these situations." Rainbow's wings snapped back up, and this time she wasn't gonna be getting them back down.

"Uggh, now I have to talk to Scoot with wingboners! Why'd you have to go and do that?"

"So I could keep you with me tonight." Spitfire said and pushed Rainbow to their bedroom. Rainbow made no effort to resist.

From her room, Scootaloo heard the tell tale grunts and giggles that could only come from "Adult Playtime." She sighed and turned up her music.

"They really enjoy that don't they?" She said to herself. "At least I don't have to worry about creaky floorboards...They're loud enough as it is."

The next morning carried on as usual. Scootaloo's alarm went off. She turned it off with a force that would destroy it if she hadn't armored it. Her morning crankyness disappeared as soon as she smelled breakfast. She ate with her family and took a quick shower. However, one thing was different this morning. Today, for the first time, she was going to fly herself to school. She was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to see the looks on the faces of her classmates. She'd be the first pegasus in her class to fly.

"Bye Rainbow Dash! Bye Spitfire!"

"See ya Scoot. Have a nice day!" Spitfire called out.

"Be careful!" Rainbow Dash added. Her words weren't heard. Scootaloo had already dove off the porch and was accelerating towards the ground. She opened her wings and tilted up, speeding towards the school. When she arrived, the first pony she saw was her friend Applebloom. Applejack was with her as well.

"Hey Applebloom! Hey Applejack!" Scootaloo called out. The two looked up and their mouths dropped open at the same time.

"Scootaloo, yer flyin'!" Applebloom explained, now with a smile.

"Hay yeah! Rainbow Dash taught me!" Heads were turning, especially among the other pegasi in the class. Every one of them was either jealous that she could fly, or embarrassed that a Cutie Mark Crusader managed to pull off a major feat of every growing pegasus before they could.

"Scootaloo, fly down here so I can give you a hug!" Sweetie Belle shouted. Scootaloo touched ground and had just barely folded her wings before her friends glomped her.

"Sweetie Belle, I will not allow my sister to act like such a ruffian in public!" A white unicorn with a well groomed white coat and purple mane shouted as she lifted Applebloom out of the tangle of fillies with her magic.

"Uhh, Rarity? Ah think ya got th' wrong filly there." Applejack laughed. Rarity dropped Applebloom and pulled her sister away from Scootaloo, again using magic.

"Uggh, look at how dirty you are!" Rarity exclaimed. "N-no STAY BACK!"

"You don't want me to be dirty sis. I won't be dirty if I rub it all off on you." Sweetie Belle had a devious grin on her face that stretched from ear to ear.

"Sweetie Belle, if you get dirt on my-AHHHGETAWAYRIGHTTHISINSTANTYOURUFFIAN!"

"What's that sis? You were talking WAY too fast. I didn't understand you." With that Rarity bolted off to Carousel Boutique, to "Open for business." Away from the dirty evil dirt that Sweetie Belle had almost tarnished her fabulous coat with. Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't try to hold back their laughter.

"Alright children, class is in session! Don't be late!" Cherilee's ever cheery voice resounded. Almost as loud as the series of groans that followed it.

"Ah'll see ya after school." Applejack said and hugged her sister.

"Bye Applejack!" All of the Crusaders shouted back, making Applejack cringe. She loved their energy, but hoo'ee did it hurt the ears. As the three fillies turned to go to class, Scootaloo taking to the sky to show off, Applejack turned and pushed her cart to the market to set up her own shop for the day.

Back at the home of Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, Rainbow was taking a long look at her old guitar. She hadn't played the thing in years, but Scootaloo sure was taking an interest. The mechanical "Talons" that every non-unicorn guitarist needed to play were much too small for Rainbow as well. But they might just fit little Scootaloo.

"Hey Spitfire, think Scoot'll like this?" Spitfire took a look at it.

"Maybe if you get it patched up a little." She replied.

"I'll have Dr. Whooves take a look at it." Rainbow said. Spitfire shuddered.

"That guy is freaky."

"Allons-y!" Rainbow shouted, to which they both laughed. The "Dr." was an awfully nice stallion, strange though he was, but he had the dumbest catch phrase they had ever heard.

"Don't laugh." Rainbow said between giggles. "Those are words of Great Power and Mystery."

"Oh shut up." Spitfire laughed and pushed her wife. "Just take the guitar to him and see what he can do." With that, Rainbow kissed her wife, dropped the guitar, talons, and amplifier into her saddlebags and flew off towards town.

Just Dropping By

The Wonderbolts flew in formation away from the arena. It had been a great show. The fans were wild, the stunts performed with perfection, and nopony on the team got hurt. It was all Soarin' could ask from a show. However, despite being the team captain, his job was losing it's luster. He loved every second of it while he was in the air, but he wouldn't complain if he could get some personal time every once in a while. He thought about his friend Spitfire. Since she had quit the team for Rainbow Dash (from the sound of things she wasn't asked nicely to do so) he hadn't even sent her a letter. The last time he saw her was at her wedding. A pang of regret entered his mind at the memory of the wedding. The look on her face when he told her he had to leave the reception early to prepare for the show was not one he was likely to forget. He saw the heartbreak in her eyes, but he couldn't do anything about it. He had a job to do.

After a short flight the Wonderbolts got back to their dressing room. After getting his gear off and taking a shower, Soarin' went to see his coach.

"I need some time off." He said.

"For?" Although Soarin's coach was brilliant at his job, he never was one for words.

"Personal time. Going to see an old friend."

"Spitfire?"

"Yes." It was buckin' creepy how well he did that. He could practically read the minds of everypony on the team.

"How long?"

"A week."

"Alright. Not a day more."

"Understood." Soarin' turned and walked out the door.

Spitfire was making dinner when she heard something that she hadn't heard in a long time. The doorbell. The only pony who ever used it was Derpy the mail pony, and she only hit it once because she was seeing double. As far as she was concerned the mailbox was tricking her. She walked to the door and looked out the spyhole. She was not pleased with what she saw. She opened the door and looked at her old friend.

"Soarin'."

"Hey Spitfire. Long time no see." Soarin' was met with a hoof to his face.

"EIGHT MONTHS! EIGHT MONTHS AND NOT EVEN A LETTER! AFTER YOU RAN OFF FROM THE RECEPTION! AND NOW, OUT OF THE BLUE, YOU'RE ON MY DOORSTEP LIKE NOTHING'S HAPPENED?!" Soarin' rubbed his right cheek. Spitfire had a powerful left hook.

"I'm sorry, Spitfire. I had every intention of getting ahold of you sooner, I just kept getting caught up at work."

"Of course you did." Spitfire said flatly. She had every intention of forgiving her friend, but she wasn't about to let him off easy. "Come on in. Rainbow will be home soon. I'd rather not let dinner burn over this conversation." With that she turned around and briskly walked back to the kitchen. "Close the door on your way in." That didn't go as well as Soarin' had hoped, but it was about as well as he expected. He knew Spitfire wasn't one to hold a grudge, but when she was as pissed as she was at him, it would take a serious flank kissing to get her to forgive him.

"Hey mom, what was all the yelling about?" Scootaloo asked. Soarin' stopped dead in his tracks. Spitfire was a mom?

"Wait, what? You're a MOM? How the Hay did you manage that?!"

"Rainbow and I adopted her." Spitfire answered.

"When?"

"Two weeks ago!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Who's this guy mom?"

"An old friend in a lot of trouble." Spitfire didn't look up from her cooking. Scootaloo examined Soarin' more closely.

"I know you! You're Soarin' right?"

"Yeah"

"In that case, I'll be in my room. Let me know when dinner's done."

"Will do Scoot."

"What, you hate me too kid?"

"Nope. I just don't want to die quite yet." With that, Scootaloo casually walked to her room. Soarin' was now far less than comfortable being in this household.

Rainbow stood outside the door to the library planning her next move. It wasn't something she was used to. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had tried. Apologies just weren't her thing. But she knew right now that she owed one to Twilight. Just because Twilight was wrong didn't mean Rainbow had to yell at her like she did. Twilight was just being Twilight. Emotions weren't her thing. If it couldn't be found in a book then there was no way in Equestria she could comprehend it. She was just thinking objectively about what would be best for Scootaloo from what the numbers game showed her. Rainbow lifted her hoof and knocked at the door. It opened and a small dragon stood in the doorway.

"Twilight! Rainbow's here!" Spike called and left the doorway. With the help of Twilight's flank as she slammed into him.

"You're pretty rough with that poor dragon Twi." Rainbow joked.

"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash. I never should have doubted your abilities to take care of Scootaloo."

"Look I just-wait, what?" Rainbow didn't understand this. Why was Twilight apologizing to her?

"I read a book about adoption, and it said-" Of course, this had to be prompted by a book. Typical Twilight. Rainbow chuckled.

"What's funny?" Twilight asked, now rather confused.

"You." Rainbow replied. "Can I come in? It's kinda cold outside."

"Yes, of course." Twilight stepped aside and let her friend walk through the door.

"The book said that adoptions are better for orphaned and abused foals because it gives the foal a set of parents who love and are able to have a close relationship with the foal." Twilight said. It sounded like she was quoting the book verbatim. Rainbow assumed she was.

"That's what I tried to tell you last time I was here." Rainbow said. "But I didn't come here for that. I came to...to...to say that...I'm...I'm sorry." Twilight was stunned. Did Rainbow Dash just apologize? What for? She had every reason to be angry with Twilight. She decided to let it play out.

"Sorry for what?" Twilight asked.

"Yelling at you. I know you were looking out for Scoot, and you were doing it in a way that is completely...well, you. I should have been calmer."

"I...apology accepted." Twilight said. "So...does that mean you accept my apology?"

"Yeah, it does." Rainbow said.

"Wanna stick around for a while? I can have Spike make tea."

"I'd love to, but I need to get back home. Spitfire's making dinner and I have a present for Scootaloo."

"What are you giving her?" Twilight asked with a curious smile.

"My old guitar" Rainbow answered. Now it was her turn to smile. "She loves her music, I'm just giving her a chance to act on that. Which reminds me, could you enchant these?" Rainbow pulled the guitar talons out of her saddlebags. "They need to be enchanted to work in sync with the user's mind or they'd be better used as paperweights."

"Are these also yours from when you were her age?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah."

"You kept them in good condition."

"No. I took them to Dr. Whooves for a checkup." Twilight shuddered.

"That guy creeps me out." She said.

"Me too, but he does a great restoration."

"That he does." Twilight agreed. "Back to the enchantment. You'll have to bring Scootaloo here sometime if you want those enchanted. I can't do an enchantment like that unless she's wearing them."

"Alright, how does tomorrow at 3 sound?" Rainbow suggested.

"Perfect. Spike!"

"Already wrote it in your schedule Twilight!" Spike responded..

"He's good." Rainbow noted.

"Yes, yes he is." Twilight agreed.

"Well, I should get going. See you tomorrow Twi!"

"Bye Rainbow!" Twilight called after her. With that, Rainbow took to the sky and headed home.

When Rainbow touched down on the patio, she could smell dinner from inside. Carrot Stew. Spitfire knew how to please her wife. Rainbow hoped her wife was up for a "Gold Rush" tonight. She had earned one for making Rainbow's favorite meal. She opened the door and the scent of the stew blasted her nostrils with a rush of pure ecstasy. But what got her attention was the familiar pegasus in the house. One that she hadn't seen or heard from in eight months.

"Hey Soarin', what's up?" She asked nonchalantly as she set her saddlebags down by the door.

"Just got a thrashing from your wife." He said.

"You know you deserve it right?"

"Yeah. I think she forgave me at some point during the end of her rant. She offered me dinner tonight and a room while I'm off work. She's preparing it with your kid right now."

"10, 9, 8, 7..." Rainbow began to count. She could begin to hear short staccato wing beats.

"Umm, what are you counting for?" Soarin' asked.

"3, 2, 1." As she hit one an orange blur slammed into her and knocked her to the ground.

"Another successful glomp by Scootaloo." Spitfire laughed. Rainbow now had Scootaloo pinned and was tickling her into a fit of giggles.

"You're starting to take after Pinkie Pie Scoot. Before long you'll be throwing parties left and right." Rainbow laughed.

"You know, being Pinkie can't be that bad." Scootaloo said. "Nopony understands her, but everypony loves her."

"I'm hoping you'll be a peg above her as far as comprehension is concerned." Rainbow said to Scootaloo. "Come on, let's eat. I'm starving. By the way I have something to give you after dinner."

"What is it?!" Scootaloo asked, excitement now welling up in her.

"You'll find out after dinner." Rainbow answered. With that, Scootaloo was at her usual spot at the table, utensils in hoof and ready to eat.

"This was mine when I was your age." Rainbow said to Scootaloo as she pulled the guitar out of her saddlebags. "I know how much you like music, so here's your chance to start making it. I'll take you to Twilight's tomorrow so we can get the talons enchanted so you can use them.

"This is AWESOME! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. Now go into the world and create awesomeness for all to hear." Rainbow said with a comic prophetic voice.

"And you can start tomorrow." Spitfire said. "For now it's time for bed."

"Awwwwwww" Scootaloo sighed and dropped her head.

"Go on Scoot. The sooner you get to sleep the sooner we can get those talons enchanted for you." Rainbow said. Scootaloo then bolted to her bedroom.

"Goodnight Mom! Goodnight Mom! Goodnight Soarin'!"

"Goodnight Scootaloo!" They all called back in unison.

"Your filly sure is energetic." Soarin' noted. "Why'd you adopt her?"

"Well, we technically haven't adopted her yet." Spitfire replied. "Her dad abandoned her here. He's not a stable stallion."

"What do you mean?" Soarin' asked intently.

"He mistreated her very badly." Rainbow said. "We're gonna put her in therapy as soon as we can find somepony close who can help her."

"And if you can't find anypony nearby?" Soarin' asked.

"Then we'd gladly take her to Manehatten if we had to."

"You two are gonna make great parents." Soarin' said.

It's Just a Dream...

"Scootaloo! I told you last night we were leaving! Why aren't you ready!"

"I don't make a lot of friends, so it's nice to say goodbye to them before I leave!"

"Get your flank in your room and pack or you're leaving empty hooved!"

"I'm going, I'm going! Don't get your panties in a wad, alright?"

"Don't you DARE talk to me like that!"

"What are you going to do about it?" With that a hoof collided with Scootaloo's face.

"You have ten minutes. After that whatever you don't have packed is staying behind." Scootaloo scurried off to her room and began frantically throwing her things in her saddlebags. She was used to this routine. Pack the few things she had and rush off to a new home in a new place, leaving behind any friends she had made. When she made any friends that is. The ten minutes rolled around and she heard her father's voice.

"We're leaving."

"I'm missing something!" She yelled back.

"Then it stays behind. Let's go."

"NO! Not until I find it!"

"NOW SCOOTALOO!"

"NO." The door to her room burst open. He wrapped a hoof around her neck and dragged her out of the room."

"LET ME GO! I NEED TO FIND THAT NOTE!" A silly preteen love note. The fact that it meant so much to her irritated her father.

"You're not going to see him again. Deal with it." He said. She wrestled free of his grasp and tried to dart back to her room, but was met with a hoof to the back of her head.

The silence of the night was shattered by a scream from Scootaloo's room. Rainbow Dash got there first, shortly followed by Spitfire. Soarin' had no idea what to do, so he stood in the doorway.

"Scootaloo, what's wrong?" Rainbow asked full of worry.

"Dad, Ice Breaker, LEMME GO!" Scootaloo was curled up in the corner of her bed. Rainbow went to put a foreleg around her, but she shrieked and backed farther away from the mare that was trying to comfort her. Tears flowed down Scootaloo's face.

"Scoot, it's us. It's Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. Everything's going to be okay." Spitfire told her.

"I, wait, where..." Scootaloo stopped crying for a second and looked around. Once she realized where she was she calmed down. "Oh. Just a dream..."

"Are you alright? Rainbow asked as she sat on Scootaloo's bed. Scootaloo leaned in and rested her head on Rainbow's shoulder.

"Yeah. Just a bad memory."

"What was it about?" Spitfire asked.

"The last day my family was in Manehatten. Before we moved to Ponyville. It was the hardest move for me."

"Why?"

"I...I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Alright. We'll let you get back to sleep then." Rainbow said calmly and nuzzled the filly."

"Want to sleep with us tonight?" Spitfire offered.

"No, I'll be okay. It was just a dream." Scootaloo responded.

"Alright. You know where our room is if you change your mind." Rainbow said. "Goodnight Scoot."

"Night Mom. Love you."

"Love you too Scoot." Spitfire nuzzled Scootaloo and walked out the door. Scootaloo laid down and tried to get back to sleep. But her racing mind was not about to let that happen. A silly preteen love note from a silly preteen romance. It meant the world to the filly. It was the only time anypony had showed her any real form of love in her before Rainbow and Spitfire took her in. Her thoughts drifted to Ice Breaker. Her only ever coltfriend, if one could call it that. Closest she had ever had to one anyway. Her heart broke as she remembered the look on his face when she told him her family was moving. Their last encounter rang in her mind...

"When will you be coming back?" Ice Breaker asked with watery eyes.

"Knowing my family, we won't." Scootaloo answered with difficulty. Tears were beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"But, what about you and me Scoot? Are we just...done?"

"We still have one more day..." Scootaloo could barely get the words out.

"One day isn't enough!" Through the tears in his eyes Scootaloo could see rage burning within. "Tell your parents you want to stay!"

"So I can deal with my dad?! I can't change him, and I definitely can't fight back if he hits me!"

"So run away!"

"I can't do that! Where will I go? How will I eat? How will I pay for school?"

"My parents will take you in!"

"We both know they can't afford that. They can barely afford to take care of you!"

"They'll...they'll find a way! Just please don't go!" He was sobbing now.

"I have to go." Scootaloo said. She wasn't able to stop crying any easier. "Neither of us can control that. We still have this last day together. Let's make the most of it."

"One day isn't enough." Before Scootaloo could react, Ice Breaker bolted away. Scootaloo could hear him sobbing. She tried to follow him, but she quickly gave up. She'd never catch him, he was too fast. She fell to the street sobbing. The only pony she had who cared about her was gone from her life. She had nothing left...

Scootaloo snapped back into the present day with a tear rolling down her cheek. She shook her head.

"It was just a silly preteen romance. I'll never see him again. I need to move on." She cringed. She sounded just like her father. Then again, she always sounded like him when she rationalized her emotions. After moving to Ponyville she completely blocked all ability to feel her emotions. For all intents and purposes, she was numb. It took the Crusaders to teach her how to smile again. And ever since she moved with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire she began to feel like she had never felt before. She had a loving family. For once in her life she enjoyed every minute she was with her family. Feeling had flooded back to her head. All the emotional discharge made her feel weak, but she enjoyed it. It felt great knowing she could just tell somepony her burdens without being told how pathetic she was and that she needed to grow up. She decided that she would tell Rainbow Dash and Spitfire about Ice Breaker in the morning. They'd understand. She could count on them for anything.

Celestia's sun poked out over the horizon. Scootaloo never fell back asleep after her nightmare, and felt like now would be a good time to get up. Not because she had a good night's rest, but because her bladder was full and her stomach was empty. After she used the restroom and got some breakfast, she went out to the porch to watch the sunrise. To her surprise, it appeared Spitfire had the same idea.

"Morning Scoot. You get back to sleep alright?"

"No. Couldn't stop thinking about...well..." As much as she wanted to tell Spitfire, it was very uncomfortable for her.

"About what?" Spitfire asked.

"Umm...It's...a little embarrassing."

"You can tell me anything Scootaloo, you know that. I won't make you say anything you're not comfortable talking about."

"It's why the move from Manehatten was so hard. There was this...um...colt. We kinda...liked each other." Spitfire knew where this was going.

"He was your coltfriend and you had to leave him behind."

"Yeah..."

"I remember my first coltfriend. He was charming at first. Turned out to be a total jerk after a while. So did the next one. And the next one...and now I'm married to a mare. I wonder if there's any correlation there..." Spitfire pretended to be lost in thought.

"Wait, you had a coltfriend?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course, I had several. I didn't always like mares. Even Rainbow had a few coltfriends growing up. We just decided after a while that it didn't feel right. Now we couldn't be happier."

"Are you saying I should like mares?"Scootaloo asked uncomfortably.

"Oh, Celestia no! I mean, it's alright if you want to, but that's your choice. Rainbow and I will be happy with you either way."

"My dad hates filly foolers. When I asked my dad if I could go to your wedding he lectured me for hours about what a sad world we live in if two mares can marry. As afraid as I was of my dad I wasn't about to consider it an option."

"In the words of Rainbow Dash, Haters gonna hate. You be whatever feels natural to you, alright? Rainbow and I will support you completely."

"Thanks Mom. That...means a lot." Scootaloo leaned into Spitfire.

"I just want you to be happy Scoot." Spitfire wrapped a foreleg around her.

"Scoot over you two." Rainbow pushed herself between her wife and daughter and draped her wings around them.

"You're up early today." Spitfire noted.

"Tank woke me up. Landed right on my face."

"He always does let you know when he's hungry." Spitfire laughed.

"That he does." Rainbow said. Just then the family pet flew his way onto to porch and landed on Rainbow's head.

"You ponies always up this early?" Soarin' asked with a yawn.

"We usually like to be up before 3 in the afternoon if that's what you mean." Spitfire replied.

"But nothing cool ever happens before 3 in the afternoon."

"Applejack starts baking at around 6 in the morning on weekdays." Rainbow countered. "And judging by how much you enjoyed her pie at the gala, I'd love to see you eat a fresh, hot one straight from the oven." Soarin's mouth watered at the memory of the delectable pie that he had ripped apart in seconds. The thought of a better pie almost made his mind explode.

"Where does she live? I'd love to get myself another of her delicious pies."

"You sure you don't want her muffin?" Scootaloo joked. The two mares next to her immediately fell over laughing.

"Wait, she makes muffins too?" Soarin's eyes lit up as he asked. The family in front of him about died. "What's so funny?" He was now more than a little confused.

"Soarin', Scoot here may be a little filly, but she has the mind of sick mare." Rainbow said when she could finally draw breath.

"I don't..." Soarin's eyes shot open when he realized what she had been talking about. "Wait, no, how do you even...YOU ARE TOO YOUNG TO THINK LIKE THAT!" Soarin' was dumbfounded.

"She fits right in here." Spitfire said with a tear streaming down her cheek.

"I'm shocked you let her talk like that." Soarin' said dejectedly.

"We wouldn't if she wasn't so bucking funny." Rainbow Dash commented.

"And yet they still don't let me swear. How is that justice?" Scootaloo asked sarcastically.

"Normally we don't swear in front of fillies." Spitfire said while glaring at her wife. "It sets a bad example for them."

"Please Spitty, we set a bad example by letting her make jokes like she just did." Soarin' opted to just watch them. As...odd as they were, they were a great family. It reminded him of his own family life growing up. Obviously these three were a little more...liberal than his own family was, it was clear that they all loved each other. He allowed himself to smile. 'Maybe someday I'll have that.' He thought to himself. 'Maybe someday soon.'

First Impressions

"Soarin', we need to take you into Ponyville today. It's time you learned about where I live now." Spitfire said.

"I'd love to! I can't wait to meet your new friends." Soarin' replied.

"You're also gonna get to meet Scoot's friends." Rainbow added.

"Are they as energetic as she is?" Soarin' suddenly was a little worried.

"Yeah, but not when they're all together."

"Really?"

"When they're together all Hay breaks loose in town." Rainbow said. "They certainly live up to the destructive aspect of their "Secret Society's" namesake.

"Secret society?" Soarin' asked.

"Yep. They call themselves the-" Spitfire was cut off as a pink earth pony with a tiny alligator clamped to her mane floated through the floor of the cloud home via a VERY large number of helium balloons. Soarin' was taken aback.

"Hey Pinkie, what's up?" Rainbow Dash was unphased.

"The sky! Duh! But more importantly I'm throwing a party for Gummy! He just seemed so sad lately and then I thought "I know how to make him happy!" So I'm throwing him a party and inviting ALL of our friends! And you better bring your family too! It wouldn't be the same without them!" Somehow she had managed it all in one breath. And she still had plenty of air in her lungs.

"Did I...miss something?" Soarin' asked. Scootaloo walked into the room.

"Hey Pinkie Pie, what's up?" She asked casually.

"Why does everypony keep asking me that? Everypony knows the sky is up. It's always been up."

"Pinkie Pie, you're so random." Rainbow noted.

"That party tonight Pinks?" Spitfire asked.

"Yeah! It's for Gummy! He just seemed so sad lately and then I thought "I know how to make him happy!" So I'm throwing him a party and inviting ALL of our friends! And you better bring your family too! It wouldn't be the same without them!"

"Did you rehearse that speech?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course I reheard it, I said it twice!"

"No, I-" Rainbow put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. Pinkie wasn't gonna get it no matter how the filly reworded her sentence. Nor would it click in her head that she only had to announce the party once.

"I have to go invite the rest of our friends! Don't tell Gummy, it's a surprise party! It's at 8 tonight!" Pinkie giggled. "Come on Gummy, let's go invite the rest of our friends!" With that, Pinkie popped enough balloons to allow herself to descend back through the floor. The clouds Pinkie displaced fell back into place.

"Bye Pinkie Pie!" Everypony said. Except Soarin'. He didn't know what to think about whatever it was he just saw.

"Wait, didn't she just say she didn't want Gummy to know about the party?" Scootaloo asked.

"She's just being Pinkie Pie Scoot. She's just being Pinkie Pie." Rainbow laughed.

"What the hay just happened and why weren't any of you as confused as I still am?" Soarin' asked.

"When you've lived in Ponyville long enough, you get to know it's resident party girl." Spitfire chuckled.

"She'll throw a party for ANY reason." Scootaloo added.

"She'll throw a party if she doesn't have a reason." Rainbow countered. "Remember her "I'm feeling bored so I'm gonna throw a party" party?"

"Basically, she loves parties." Spitfire summed it up nicely. "And what you just saw there was her method of inviting ponies to them."

"She show's up out of nowhere in somepony's home via ballons?"

"Actually that's just our place." Rainbow corrected. "She has a hard time getting the balloons through wooden walls."

"Not for lack of trying." Scootaloo added. "One time I was hanging out with the Crusaders at the farm and she kept flying straight at the barn. She was quite confused when she couldn't get in that way."

"That's Pinkie Pie for you." Dash laughed.

"Are ALL your friends like her?" Soarin' asked, obviously worried.

"He's just like you when you first came to Ponyville!" Rainbow said to Spitfire with a laugh.

"Yeah, it was an adjustment. One worth making." Spitfire leaned against Rainbow Dash. Rainbow kissed her wife on the top of her head.

"Pinkie's a one of a kind pony." Rainbow answered. "But so are our other friends here. Twilight is Ponyville's resident egghead. It makes sense, really. She's Princess Celestia's personal prodige."

"You're friends with Twilight Sparkle?!" Soarin' was stunned. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire had a personal relationship with the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! "Her ability with magic is second only to that of the Princesses themselves!"

"And don't forget the Ursa incident." Spitfire added.

"You weren't even here for that." Rainbow reminded her.

"Yeah, but from what you told me it was pretty impressive. And from what Spike tells me she might as well be a princess herself. However, it doesn't change the fact that she could do with some fresh air away from her books every once in a while."

"Moving on to Applejack." Rainbow said. "She's been my best friend here in Ponyville since I moved here from Cloudsdale. Always honest, always dependable. Unless it's Applebuck Season."

"AppleWHAT Season?!" Soarin' couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"It's what the Apple Family calls harvesting time." Spitfire said. "Their family has called it that for generations. Since long before "buck" was considered vulgar." Soarin' didn't think he would ever be able to get used to this town and he hadn't even visited it yet.

"Fluttershy is, well, shy. She tends to the animals in Ponyville." Rainbow said. "She's mild mannered, hates the spotlight, and is the kindest pony you'll ever meet." Soarin' thought he liked the sound of her.

"Until she hears a noise louder than Angel." Spitfire noted with a laugh.

"She doesn't mess around with the Crusaders though." Scootaloo cringed. "I love Fluttershy, but that stare..." Scootaloo shuddered.

"What's up with her stare?" Soarin' asked.

"To put it simply, she can stare down a Cockatrice." Rainbow said.

"I watched it happen. It was terrifying." Scootaloo cringed again.

"I'd like to see that." Soarin' laughed.

"They're not exaggerating. She really has stared down a cockatrice before." Spitfire cringed. Soarin's wings fluttered. He always had a thing for tough girls.

"She sounds tough."

"Soarin', if you start hanging in front of my daughter I will kick you in the dick." Spitfire said.

"And with that I'm off to school." Scootaloo quickly turned to leave.

"I'll be by with the guitar talons when you get out of school." Rainbow called after her.

"See you then mom! Love you!" With that Scootaloo dove off the front porch and began her flight to school.

"Last on the list is Rarity." Rainbow continued. "She's a priss, but a generous one. She's the local fashionista. Not much else to say about her except I HATE her cat."

"Everypony hates that cat." Spitfire chimed in.

"Probably because it isn't a cat." Rainbow said.

"Then what the hay is it?" Soarin' asked.

"A shapeshifting demon that happens to prefer it's devil kitty form." Spitfire answered.

"Right. Now that he knows what to expect should we show him around?" Rainbow asked.

"After work, yes. Remember the storm we have to break apart today?" Spitfire reminded.

"Oh yeah, that. Tell you what Soarin', you head into town and we'll find you when we're done. We only have to work the morning, so you can get to know the townsponies."

"Umm...I don't know-" Soarin' tried to argue but Rainbow cut him off.

"You won't get glomped. Ponyvilleians admire the Wonderbolts, but they don't worship them like I used to."

"Not to mention I've been living here for almost a year now and I never got glomped." Spitfire added.

"Alright. If I get glomped I'll hold you personally responsible."

"Deal. Now get out and enjoy the town." Soarin' couldn't find any more words to say so he walked outside and jumped off the porch. He then realized that he hadn't gotten a chance to enjoy a nice calm flight since he joined the Wonderbolts.

"Now's as good a time as any." He said to himself as he flew off.

"How long before he gets glomped?" Spitfire asked.

"I give it five minutes tops after he reaches town. Wanna go watch?" Rainbow replied.

"He won't go to town until after he goes for a flight. He always enjoyed nice easy flights and takes one whenever he gets the chance."

"So we'll get to watch a glomping in..."

"About a half hour."

"We have to be at work in 10 minutes."

"So we'll miss it I guess. We certainly endured a few when I first moved here."

"I'm surprised you lied to him like that."

"It'll be worth it."

"That it will. Come on, we don't want to be late for work."

"Race you there."

"You're on Spitty."

Soarin' decided for whatever reason he would take a flight over the Everfree. Looking down on it, the Everfree looked no different from Whitetail wood beyond the density. The bare branches of the forest's trees were covered in snow. It actually looked as beautiful as any other forest would in winter. Before he could take a closer look, he noticed a small cottage in the distance. He then saw the last thing he expected to see in this part of the world. Something that he never expected to see in his life. Something that only existed in movies. He saw the most beautiful mare he had ever set eyes on. Her bright pink mane flowed gently down her soft yellow coat. With a gentle flap of her wings she lifted off the ground and flew inside with some firewood that she had removed from a large pile on the side of her home. Not only was she beautiful, but she moved with a grace that he had never seen in his life.

"I have to meet that mare." He said aloud to himself. "I have to meet that mare..."

Another Day in Ponyville

Scootaloo waited outside the school for Rainbow Dash. It wasn't long before she saw the tell tale rainbow blur that marked her mom's arrival.

"Look's like mom's here. Gotta go. I'll see you guys tonight at the party!" Scootaloo said to her fellow Crusaders.

"Ya sure will Scoot." Applebloom said with a smile. "Have fun with yer new guitar!"

"And your new moms!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"Thanks girls!" Rainbow Dash landed with aloud thud on the sidewalk. Loud enough to conceal the landing of another pegasus directly behind Scootaloo and her friends.

"Scoot, before we get your talons enchanted you gotta see what's going on in town!" Rainbow said.

"What's happening in town?"

"I got back at Soarin' for being out of contact for 8 months." Spitfire said right behind Scootaloo. The three fillies all screamed in unison. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire fell to the ground laughing.

"Don't ya know not ta sneak up on ponies?" Applebloom scolded the mares.

"If you knew it was coming it wouldn't have been fun!" Rainbow managed through fits of laughter. Scootaloo began laughing with her parents.

"That was a good one. You scared the crap outta us!"

"Anyway, who wants to see Soarin' getting assaulted by the love of all of Ponyville!" Rainbow asked.

"I DO!" The three fillies shouted in unison.

"Climb aboard Cutie Mark Crusaders!"Spitfire crouched to let Sweetie Belle climb on her back. Rainbow did the same for Applebloom. Scootaloo flapped her wings and rose to the sky.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PRANK ADMIRERS YAY!!!!!!!!!!!" The fillies screamed in unison, causing Rainbow Dash and Spitfire to cringe and be temporarily deafened. By the time the five arrived at the scene of Soarin's misery, a gray mailmare with lazy eyes was attempting to tackle Soarin' out of the air. She wasn't doing a good job. Soarin' found that his best defense against her was to remain perfectly still and hope that she didn't make a lucky guess from the three Soarin's she was staring at.

"SPITFIRE! RAINBOW DASH! YOU TWO ARE DEAD!" Soarin' screamed while avoiding an unusually accurate attack from Derpy.

"What can I say?" Spitfire called back. "Payback's a mule and so am I!" The five ponies that came to watch laughed their flanks off.

"I hate you so much right now Spitfire." Soarin' muttered to himself as he dodged another assault by Derpy. Her attacks were getting more accurate. He needed to change tactics. He needed to-

"Y'all want a muffin?" He heard a southern voice call from below him.Immediately the lazy eyed mailmare darted toward the orange earth pony who saved Soarin's flank and took the muffin she offered. Soarin' flew down to thank her. Only to be swarmed by townsfolk.

"Now why don't y'all get away from this poor fella?" A deep authoritative voice called out. "It's obvious he don' want th' attention." Soarin' was stunned at the size of the red earth pony who said that. It didn't surprise him that all the townsfolk heeded his words.

"How ya doin'? Applejack asked. "Ya alright?"

"Yeah, I just have to kick a couple of lovers in the FLANK!" He yelled out to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. They had recently landed and Applebloom was running to her sister.

"Ya see that sis! Derpy 'bout killed that new Soarin' fella!" Applebloom couldn't stop giggling.

"RAINBOW DASH! WHAT'RE YA DOIN' FLYIN' MAH LITTLE SISTER UP THERE SO HIGH! SHE COULD'A GOT HURT!" Applejack was pissed. She was not about to hide that.

"We had it under control AJ, relax." Rainbow responded.

"Relax? RELAX! RAINBOW JUST 'CAUSE YER FILLY HAS WINGS DOESN'T MEAN ALL OF 'EM DO!"

"Applejack, we were just showing the kids a funny show." Spitfire tried to calm her down. It wasn't until immediately after she spoke that she realized how horrible her word choice had been.

"SPITFIRE! AH EXPECTED BETTER 'OUTTA YOU! ALWAYS THOUGHT YA'D BE TH' RESPONSIBLE ONE!" Spitfire cringed. When Applejack is mad at somepony, everypony knew to run away. Applejack was PISSED at Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow didn't take the hint.

"Jeez AJ, if she fell off I'd have at least 10 seconds to catch her before she hit the ground. I told you we had it-"

"DON'T YA USE YER FANCY MATHEMATICS TA MUTTER TH' ISSUE!" Applejack was pissed before. Now, well, words have a hard time describing the color her face had turned.

"Sis, calm down. Yer not helpin' by yellin'." Big Mac stepped in. "Applejack may have lost her temper a little, but she was right. Y'all were a might irresponsible there. Somepony coulda been hurt, and it woulda been one o' th' little ones." Spitfire and Rainbow knew he was right. Spitfire had a much easier time admitting it though.

"Sorry Mac. I guess we weren't thinking. It won't happen again."

"Yeah, I'mserrmagggieffferrrr" Rainbow muttered incomprehensibly. In Ponyville Rainbow's unique apology was understood. Bic Mac and Applejack accepted it, although they knew she could do better after what Twilight had told them.

"Sweetie Belle! What are you doing here!? I thought I told you to wait for me at school!" Rarity was a mess.

"Sorry Rarity, Rainbow and Spitfire showed me Soarin's welcome party from the sky!" Sweetie Belle wasn't overly sorry but she knew an apology was fitting.

"You mean they flew you into the sky?"

"Yeah! It was cool!"

"On their backs?"

"Yeah! Don't get mad, they already got yelled at by-"

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! SOMEPONY COULD HAVE BEEN-" Big Mac cut her off.

"AJ and Ah already talked to 'em." He said. "Won't happen again."

"You're right it won't." Rarity glared at Rainbow Dash. "I have a party to get ready for, and I'm absolutely frazzled after looking for Sweetie Belle."

"Oh? What party?" Soarin' asked. Everypony around him laughed.

"Pinkie's of course" Rainbow laughed.

"It doesn't start for another 5 hours..." Soarin' was confused.

"If Rarity gets a hair our of place on her mane she requires at least an hour to correct it." Sweetie Belle said with a groan.

"Just because I want to look like a lady doesn't mean you have to exaggerate." Rarity scolded her sister before correcting her. "It only takes me about 20 minutes to get a hair back in place."

"If it bugs you so much just cut it off." Sweetie Belle countered.

"Cut it - Sweetie Belle, just because you take to looking like a ruffian doesn't mean everypony should." Sweetie Belle did have a rather unkempt appearance. Ever since the Crusader's appearance in the school talent show she had taken to spiking her mane and tail like she had for the show. Spitfire had seen her without it spiked at her wedding, and thought Sweetie Belle had made the right choice in styling it so.

"I happen to like my mane this way."

"Sweetie Belle, it looks horrid."

"Just because you don't like it doesn't mean get to say bad things about it."

"I think it looks good on her." Rarity gave Spitfire a look that could only be outmatched by Fluttershy's stare.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?"

"It looks good on her. Seems less forced. Gives her a more independent look." Rarity had no argument. She couldn't if she wanted to. Most likely because her vocal cords were currently incapacitated.

"Rarity?" Applejack asked. Rarity turned around and walked home. She didn't know what else to do. Months of trying to get Sweetie Belle to style her mane and tail like a lady and now someone was agreeing with her...her...punk style? She was dumbfounded.

"Ah reckon she don't like what ya said 'bout Sweetie Belle's mane. Ya know how she gets when somepony agrees with what she sees as a 'fashion disaster'." Applejack laughed. "She'll be calmed down tonight at th' party."

"Maybe she'll even come to terms with Sweetie Bell's mane choice." Rainbow added.

"Unlikely. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt" A soft voice said behind them. Soarin' turned around. It was the mare from the cabin. His wings fluttered.

"No problem at all Fluttershy." Applejack said. "What brings ya out here today?"

"Well, I was hoping, if you don't mind, and if you're not busy, that you could come help me gather firewood today. I'm not a very strong pony and I need some help moving the dead trees and splitting the wood. If you're available."

"I can help." Soarin' saw his chance to spend some time with her and took it. Fluttershy squealed and bolted behind Big Mac.

"Soarin' here's a nice pony. It'd be good fer both a y'all if he helped." Big Mac picked up on Soarin's reaction to Fluttershy's presence.

"Umm, alright. I don't want to impose."

"I'd be happy to help." Soarin' said gently.

"Um, alright. I need to check on Angel. He's sick so he needs me to be home."

"Alright, y'all go on ahead and Soarin'll meet ya there in 'bout an hour." Big Mac said.

"OK. Umm, thank you Soarin'."

"You're welcome Fluttershy." Soarin' stared as she flew off. And received a hoof to his head.

"Y'all better watch where yer lookin'. Applejack seemed unhappy with him.

"Ya better be careful with her. She's a mighty fragile pony." Big Mac said while helping him get back to his hooves. Soarin' wondered if the Clydesdale could help him with the throbbing in the side of his head.

"I hate to break this up, but I promised Scoot I'd take her to Twilight's today. And we're a half an hour later than Twilight was expecting us." Rainbow said.

"WOOHOO! Guitar talon enchantment time!" Scootaloo jumped in the air and flew around the group.

"Come on Scoot, we gotta go if we're gonna head over there today."

"Lead the way mom!"

"I'll meet you two back home, I have some grocery shopping to do." Spitfire said.

"Alright, I'll see you soon." Rainbow kissed her wife and flew off to the library with Scootaloo close behind. Spitfire headed for the market to pick up everything she needed for dinner that night. She planned something light due to the amount of food Pinkie was bound to have at her party that night.

"They're a mighty cute family." Big Mac noted.

"Ah never expected them ta adopt a foal, but Ah gotta say they do a good job with little Scootaloo." Applejack added.

"Ah still don't know why they even have Scootaloo." Applebloom said.

"Scootaloo didn't tell ya?" Applejack was confused.

"Nope. Said she'd tell us when she was ready. Whatever that means." Applebloom was obviously miffed, but she trusted her friend.

"I wonder if it has something to do with how mean her parents were when we were there." Sweetie Belle chimed in. Applejack looked at Big Mac and sighed. She was happy Applebloom didn't ask her. Rainbow made AJ promise to keep quiet about the ordeal to anypony who didn't already know. And she wouldn't lie to her sister about anything.

Back at the library an irritated Twilight had a book open to a chapter titled "Brain Enchantments." Rainbow was a half hour late. Not that Twilight was surprised, but it still got on her nerves.

"She'll be here soon Twi, it's alright." Spike tried to comfort her.

"I know she will. I just wish she'd be on time for once" Twilight huffed. Just then there was a knock on the library door. Spike opened it.

"Hey Rainbow Dash! Hey Scootaloo!"

"Hey Spike. Twilight here?" Rainbow asked.

"I've been here waiting for the last half an hour."

"Sorry Twi. Got caught up in town."

"I'm sure. Where's Scootaloo? I have to do this quick so I can get a letter to the Princess before 4."

"Twilight, didn't she tell you not to worry about being tardy?"

"She requested a timely response on this one. I've been requested in Canterlot."

"For what?" Twilight's eyes lit up.

"The Graduation Banquet for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! I'm the special guest speaker!"

"So you're graduating? That's awesome!"

"Technically, I graduated three years ago. I was doing advanced study before I came here. Now to the enchantment. I need the talons and Scootaloo."

Scootaloo hopped forward. Rainbow Dash put the talons on her and was surprised when they fit perfectly.

"I know I had larger hooves than that when I got those...buck that guy is good." She muttered. Just then two magical auras appeared and enveloped the talons and Scootaloo's head. There was a large flash and a scream as Scootaloo fell unconsciously to the floor.

Waking Up

Rainbow Dash woke with a splitting headache. She didn't know where she was, but she knew it was night. The room was dark and she could hear the sound of ponies lightly snoring around her. She sat up and looked around the room. She thought back to the incident at Twilight's library. There was a bright flash. Then a feeling like that of a drill being forced through her skull. She had screamed, and then nothing. She saw the sleeping bodies of each of her friends. Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Soarin', Pinkie Pie (Her mane was laying flat across her face as opposed to it's usual cotton candy like puff), Fluttershy (she was laying against Soarin', Rainbow would have to ask about that) and Spitfire. Spitfire, unlike her other friends, wasn't asleep. She was sitting on her haunches staring at the little filly on the bed adjacent to Rainbow's.

"Hey" Rainbow weakly let out. Spitfire turned around and bolted to Rainbow's side.

"Are you alright Rainbow?" Worry was evident in her voice, and her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying.

"I've felt better. How's Scoot?"

"She's been out since the incident at the library, but the doctors expect her to be waking up anytime now."

"How long has it been?"

"Three days."

"Oh Celestia. I hope she's OK."

"Speaking of, the Princess made a few stops in here over the last few days. She wanted to see how Twilight was holding up as well as check on you two."

"How is Twi?"

"We can't get her to stop blaming herself. She just got to sleep for the first time since we got here tonight."

"Of course she blames herself, that's what she does. Where are we?"

"Canterlot. Closest place that has hospitals dealing with magic related injuries." Spitfire nuzzled Rainbow. "I was so worried. You could've been killed!"

"Twi's better with magic than that."

"What did the doctors say?"

"Apparently Twilight missed a step in the spell. The talons were still enchanted for your use. Twilight needed to remove the enchantment between those talons and you before enchanting them for Scootaloo."

"So what happened?"

"Basically, the enchantment ripped everything you learned about playing guitar from your brain and forced into Scootaloo's. Where all Twilight intended was to enchant the talons for Scootaloo's use, she performed a memory transfer as well as the intended enchantment. It's possible there may have been more memories transferred from you to Scootaloo. They also mentioned a peculiar side effect."

"What do you mean by 'peculiar side effect'?"

"Apparently it's possible your mind will be linked with Scootaloo's. If you two are in a close enough proximity you'll be able to pick up on each other's thoughts and even emotional and physical feelings."

"Does that mean Scoot has the same headache I have right now?"

"Only if you felt it in your coma."

"Yeah, I didn't really feel too much when I was out."

"She'll feel it when she wakes up I'm sure. The doctors said you'd have a pretty nasty headache when you woke up."

"If I didn't want to talk to her so bad then I think I'd be fine with her being in a coma. It feels like my skull is being pulled apart by a Manticore."

"So pretty much like a hangover then?"

"Pretty much. I'm feeling sleepy Spitfire. Wanna keep me warm?"

"You've been sleeping for three days. Can't you stay up for a little while?"

"I'd love to, but my body is telling me that it's naptime. You can sleep with me."

"I could use the sleep. I haven't slept since the accident."

"Then come here and enjoy my company. I know you, you'll be out within a minute." Spitfire crawled into the bed and kissed her wife. The hospital bed was certainly not made for two, but the two mares were much more comfortable in each other's forelegs than they would be alone. The two fell asleep in a tangled mess of limbs, but they couldn't have slept more peacefully.

When the two mares woke up they found their friends gathered around them. Scootaloo was still out on her bed. Rainbow spoke first.

"Miss me?"

"RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie's hair inflated at the sight of her friend waking up. Rainbow grabbed at her skull. Where she could normally handle Pinkie's volume, today her ears were incredibly sensitive, thus making her head scream as opposed to the throbbing she had been able to endure.

"Keep it down Pinkie!" Twilight hissed. "This is a hospital! Rainbow Dash, I am so sorry, I thought I could do that spell, it was so simple, I made a beginner mistake I am so so-"

"Twilight, will you shut up? It's alright, it isn't your fault. Scoot and I are gonna be alright."

"But I should've remembered to remove that-"

"Twi, stop. You're making my headache worse. Scoot and I are fine. And from what Spitfire told me last night it would appear the spell worked better than intended."

"Rainbow-"

"Twi, what Ah think she's tryin' ta say is ya don't have to blame yerself." Applejack rested a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Everypony's gonna be alright. Quit yer frettin' an' go tell the doctors that Rainbow's awake."

"I-" Twilight looked around. "OK." Rainbow looked up and saw Fluttershy leaning against Soarin'.

"Take it easy you two. You guys only met three days ago." Fluttershy's face turned a shade of red that could only be described as adorable. Her wings fluttered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Rainbow and Soarin' laughed.

"I think she's joking Flutters." Soarin' said and nuzzled his marefriend. "You'd be surprised at how close two ponies can get when their mutual friend and her daughter are comatose for three days.

"Rainbow Dash! I was sooooooooo sad when you were asleep for soooooooooo long and everypony was sooooooooo sad and I wondered how I could cheer everypony up but nopony wanted to be cheered up because they all wanted to stay here and..."

"Pinkie, it's alright, I'm fine." Pinkie didn't hear a word Rainbow was saying. She didn't stop talking either.

"Pinkie, we should go get something to eat." Rarity said. She knew that Pinkie's talking was killing Rainbow Dash at the moment. Rainbow mouthed a "thank you" to her friend as she half-dragged Pinkie to the cafeteria while she ranted.

"Uggghh, my head..." Everypony in the room looked to see Scootaloo struggle unsuccessfully to rise from her bed. "I want some food...how long was I out?" At the mention of food Rainbow realized that she was starving. Three days without any real substance would do that to a pony.

"Hey kiddo. About time you woke up." During the previous conversation centered around Rainbow Dash she had climbed down from the hospital bed. She walked over to her daughter and gave her a nuzzle.

"What happened? Where am I?" Scootaloo was very confused. "There was a light, and then..." Her eyes went wide. "Mom, why in the hay am I thinking about your flank!?" Everypony shot Rainbow Dash a glare. She shrugged and giggled.

"Sorry Scoot, that was me. How do you feel?"

"Like a Manticore is prying my skull apart. And gouging out my stomach. When can I get some food?" As she asked that a doctor came in bearing a tray boasting a heaping mass of food. Twilight walked in behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't made aware that you were both awake."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize Scootaloo was awake!" Twilight said.

"Twi, stop apologizing, she woke up after you left." Rainbow was getting annoyed. Why couldn't she stop blaming herself?

"Well, here you are Mrs. Dash. I'll have something for Scootaloo in a-"

"Give it to Scoot doctor. I can wait." Rainbow wasn't about to eat in front of her starving kid. The doctor handed the tray to Scootaloo, who practically dove into the tray. Rainbow was sure she'd do something similar when hers arrived.

"I'll be right back with some-" A burst of magic interrupted the doctor. "Or SHE'LL be right back with some food. Twilight was nowhere in sight. Rainbow always hated when Twilight teleported. It was so creepy how she could just disappear and pop up wherever she pleased. But if it meant getting her some food faster she could handle it.

"I'm sure by now the two of you have begun to notice the side effects from the accident." The doctor said.

"I got a vivid image of my mom's flank. How did that happen?"

"Your other mom was giving her a look over." Soarin' answered, to which Fluttershy giggled. Spitfire sighed.

"Are you sure you're a mare? You think about sex more than any coltfriend I've ever had."

"What can I say? I like when the 'Wildfire' spreads all over me." Spitfire's face immediately turned crimson. No one could tell if it was rage or embarrassment.

"Rainbow! In front of our friends?! In front of our daughter?!"

"Trust me Spitfire, Ah've heard far worse come outta that mouth o' yours in front o' this crowd. Nopony has a problem with it. Now if Applebloom were here ta hear that, well, Rainbow's headache would be gettin' a might worse 'bout now." Just then a blast of purple magic appeared in the room and Twilight materialized bearing another equally loaded tray on her back.

"Is this going to be enough?" Twilight asked as she set the tray down in front of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow immediately dove in.

"Yeah, it'll *nom* be *nom* great *nomnomnom* Thanks *nomnom* Twi *nom* light!"

"Uhh, you're welcome?" Twilight backed away from the tray's blast radius. After Rainbow finished Spitfire took the tray in her teeth and set it on top of Scootaloo's. Scootaloo wasn't as fast of an eater as Rainbow and had finished at roughly the same time, so Spitfire proceded to wipe the filly's face with a wet towel. Rainbow cleaned herself off and turned to the doctor.

"Hey Doc, any way we can get rid of the whole 'sharing thoughts' thing? I don't want to see and hear it in my head whenever mom gets frisky." Rainbow didn't realize until after she had finished her question that she had just translated half of it from her head and half from Scootaloo's. She facehoofed and immediately regretted it when she felt her head throb again. Scootaloo winced in pain in unison with Rainbow Dash.

"Why does my head hurt more now?!"

"When Rainbow gets herself hurt you feel it to."

"I don't want to feel when mom gets hurt! Can you separate our thoughts before my wife 'tastes the Rainbow' again?" Scootaloo's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of her head. "What the buck did I just say?!" Her hind legs twitched and her wings fluttered. Spitfire couldn't take it anymore.

"If there is anyway for you to separate their their thoughts, the sooner you do so the better! I can't hear stuff like that from my daughter!"

"Yes, it's a simple procedure. One moment." The doctor's horn glowed and enveloped Rainbow Dash's and Scootaloo's heads in magical auras. The light soon faded. "There we are, you're thoughts are seperated. I also returned all memories that detailed you and Spitfire back to the head they belong in."

"I think my brain got just got raped." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah. Did you just shove a magic dil-do down my ear canal?" Scootaloo asked the doctor. The doctor didn't know what to say to that. Spitfire sighed. She had the strangest family in Equestria. And nothing made her happier after these last three days than to see them awake and acting like nothing had happened.

It Isn't Mine

Scootaloo stirred in her sleep. Sweat poured down her face as she struggled against the forces of her own mind. She couldn't bear to be inside her own head...

Scootaloo was watching a filly, one a little older than herself. As she walked the streets of Cloudsdale she saw a familiar face. He had a beige mane and a dark brown coat. His cutie mark portrayed 3 basketballs. She smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey Rainbow Crash!" He joked. She laughed.

"Hey Sky Scraper! What's up? She gave him a nuzzle. They were obviously close. Scootaloo guessed he was her coltfriend. Suddenly the view switched to first person. Scootaloo WAS Rainbow Dash.

"Ready for tonight?" He asked with a devious grin.

"A whole night to hang with my coltfriend? Hay yeah I am!"

"Hanging wasn't exactly on my mind." She frowned.

"You know I'm not ready for that."

"It'll be fun. Come on, you and me having the most fun we can possbly-"

"I SAID NO! Let's...go for a walk." The two walked quietly through the city streets. After a while they started chatting and everything seemed to be back to normal between them. Until they came across a dimly lit alleyway.

"Hey Rainbow, I want to show you something."

"In there?"

"Yeah, come on." Sky Scraper ran into the alley and Rainbow followed suit. She lost her coltfriend.

"Sky Scraper?" She called out. No answer. Two hooves landed on her back and forced her to the street. "Hey, what the hay are you doing?"

"Getting what I want." Sky Scraper replied coldly.

"Stop! No, wait HEY!" Rainbow began to cry as he climbed on top of her. A stallion walked by the alley. He stopped to look at the two young ponies. "HELP!" Rainbow called out to him. He turned and walked away.

Scootaloo awoke with a scream. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were instantly awake.

"Scoot, are you alright?"

"GET OFF OF ME!"

"Scoot, it's us. Your family. Rainbow and Spitfire." Scootaloo cried harder and dove into Rainbow's forearms.

"Another nightmare?" Rainbow asked. Scootaloo nodded.

"What was it about?" Spitfire asked.

"It isn't mine! It's hers!" Scootaloo pointed at Rainbow Dash. "That didn't happen to me, that memory isn't mine! Nopony's ever done that to me before!" Rainbow Dash swallowed. There was no way that Twilight's spell had transferred that memory. There couldn't be. Scootaloo didn't need that. Spitfire looked at Rainbow Dash and frowned.

"What happened Scootaloo? What was the dream about?"

"Her." Scootaloo pointed at Rainbow Dash. "And somepony named Sky Scraper. He-"

"He raped me when I was just a couple years older than you." Rainbow finished her sentence. She couldn't believe Scootaloo had to see that.

"Yeah." Scootaloo sniffled. The door to their room burst open revealing two Royal Guards ready for a fight.

"Everything's alright." Spitfire told them. "Just a nightmare." The guards sighed. Staying at the Princess' castle had it's perks, but the guards were not always one of them.

"Bucking kids..." one of them muttered as they shut the door and returned to their posts.

"Scootaloo, what you saw...it happened a long time ago. It can't hurt you." Rainbow attempted to reassure the filly. How could she? She remembered when it happened. She couldn't handle it then. How could Scootaloo handle it now? It was definitely going to be a sleepless night for the filly. A gentle knock was heard at the door.

"Hello? I'm sorry, but I just heard somepony scream, and I was wondering if I could help." Rainbow recognized Fluttershy's soft voice immediately.

"Come on in Fluttershy." The door slowly and quietly swung open and Fluttershy stepped into the room.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Scoot here just had a nightmare." Spitfire said. Scootaloo had now curled up next to Spitfire. The filly was shaking badly. Fluttershy walked over to her and laid a hoof on her head.

"Hush now, quiet now it's time to lay your sleepy head..." As Fluttershy finished her song Scootaloo fell into a deep sleep.

"Thank you Fluttershy." Spitfire nodded her head and curled around Scootaloo.

"Fluttershy, can we talk outside for a minute?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure, what about?"

"Scootaloo's dream."

"I don't think I can help with that."

"Yes you can. You see her nightmare...let's talk outside."

"I'll be here when you get back." Spitfire didn't look away from the sleeping filly while she said it. Rainbow and Fluttershy walked outside.

"Remember back in Cloudsdale? What I told you about...Sky Scraper?" Rainbow asked Fluttershy.

"Oh my, that was...do you need to talk about that?"

Scootaloo just had a dream about it. She said it was my memory not hers. When she began to explain, I knew what she dreamed about. You helped me get through it when it happened. I don't get why, but I know you were the biggest help for me then.

"Rainbow, I just comforted you-"

"You showed me that I was worth something. I think that's what-"

"You always were an oblivious pony. If you don't mind me saying."

"Huh?" Rainbow was confused. That was awfully assertive of Fluttershy.

"Rainbow, she was living in a home with two ponies who didn't care at all about her existence. I know you can't imagine what that's like and I'm glad I can't, but that's all changed for her. You and Spitfire have been showing her all the love I showed you back then and more. I'd be happy to help her make sense of some of the dreams she's having if you and Spitfire can't, but you two have already shown her that she's worth everything. If you see it that way." Rainbow didn't know what to say. She just got chewed out by Fluttershy. And it was to tell her that she was doing something good for somepony!

"I...uh...thank you Fluttershy."

"You're welcome. I'm feeling tired. I'm going to head back to my room now and get some sleep. You should too Rainbow Dash. If you're tired."

You know, sleep sounds very good right now. 'Night 'Shy. Don't you get to crazy with Soarin'. Rainbow winked. Fluttershy blushed.

"Oh, my, no, we have different rooms, and we're not married, and-"

"Relax 'Shy I was just messing with you. Rainbow walked into her room and closed the door. Spitfire had fallen asleep next to Scootaloo. Rainbow wished she could take a picture of the two. She climbed into bed behind Spitfire and wrapped her forelegs around her. Tomorrow she was going to ask the magic doctor if he could take those memories away from Scootaloo. She had enough on her mind already. She didn't need more.

"Come on Doc, there has to be something you can do!" Rainbow pleaded with him.

"I have a spell I can try, but the risks are too high." The doctor replied. "I don't want to try it."

"How bad could it be?"

"If it goes wrong it will leave your daughter braindead or worse."

"What can be worse than braindead?"

"It can literally pulverize her brain, killing her. I think we both know the better alternative here."

"I...understand Doctor. I...thank you for your time."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you with this one.

"It's okay, you've helped us quite a bit over the last few days." Rainbow Dash shook his hoof and walked outside.

"Well?" Spitfire asked.

"He says there's nothing he can do without a high risk of killing her in the process."

"Oh my, that would be bad." Fluttershy said nervously. Soarin' patted her on the back.

"So what are you gonna do?" He asked Rainbow.

"Nothing. All we can do is hope the dreams stop."

"If they don't?"

"You know, I'm really feeling like staying positive here. How long do you still get to hang with us?"

"I have to head back tonight." Fluttershy's head dropped. Soarin' noticed.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Don't miss me too much."

"Soarin' if I knew that getting you a marefriend would get you to visit us I would've organized something with the bridesmaids at the wedding." Spitfire laughed.

"We were the bridesmaids." Fluttershy noted.

"I know. I was there." Spitfire chuckled.

"Come on, we have a full day in Canterlot. Let's go enjoy it!" Twilight chimed in.

"Can we start at that donut shop? I'm feeling hungry." Scootaloo finally chimed in. She was surprisingly quiet when they were talking about her.

"I say we get something healthy before we dive into donuts." Rainbow patted Scootaloo on the shoulder.

"Awww, alright." Scootaloo replied with a sigh.

"Come on, I know a great sandwich shop in town. We can eat there." Twilight said. The group happily headed toward town, eager to make their last day in Canterlot a good one.

At a nearby building a pegasus was washing windows. He hated his job but needed some form of income. He heard the voices of happy mares and looked down to see if any of them were at least somewhat attractive. However, what caught his eye was not any of the mares. Sure, there were a couple of beautiful mares below him, but what he cared about was the orange filly with a purple mane and tail. She flew up on to the cyan coated mare's back and wrapped her forelegs around her. The golden coated mare leaned her head against the other mare's rainbow colored mane. It couldn't be. His daughter was living with a couple of filly foolers.

Not on his watch.

Helpless

Scootaloo snored lightly on Rainbow's back as the group walked along. Night had long since fallen over Canterlot and the little filly had worn herself out. As the group reached the castle gates, she was shaken awake by her carrier.

"Scoot, wake up. You want to say goodbye to Soarin' right?"

"Huh, wah? Lemme go back to sleep..." Rainbow shifted and Scootaloo fell off her back. "What the hay was that for mom?"

"Say goodbye to Soarin'. It might be awhile before you see him again." Rainbow responded. Scootaloo got up and noticed that one by one the other ponies were lining up for hugs. Judging by the dirt on his coat and Pinkie's, she safely assumed her goodbye hug had been more aggressive than that of the other mares. Scootaloo walked over to him with Rainbow close behind.

"You better come back soon, alright? At least send a few letters my way." Spitfire wasn't about to forget his neglect over the last few months. "And this time if I send one, you reply to it, okay?" Soarin' gave her a mock salute.

"MA'AM YES MA'AM!" He shouted. A few of the nearby royal guards spun on their hooves and snapped to attention. When they realized that there were no ranking officers nearby they grunted and returned to their original positions. The civilians from Ponyville laughed at Soarin's disturbance.

"Yeah, if you don't send something our way I will have to beat your flank. Badly." Rainbow felt that the emphasis the extra "badly" gave was just the right touch.

"Oh, Rainbow, I don't think that would be such a good idea. I don't want anypony getting hurt." Fluttershy stepped nervously towards Soarin'.

"Don't worry 'Shy, I'll keep the part useful to you intact." Rainbow winked. Fluttershy blushed a deep crimson.

"I..don't...oh my...." Soarin' laughed.

"Don't worry 'Shy, I promise I won't make any moves on you that will make you uncomfortable." As soon as he finished, he wrapped a foreleg behind her neck and pulled her into a deep kiss. Fluttershy squeaked, but then returned the favor. When he pulled away he grinned. "Okay, just that one time. I promise, not again." Fluttershy's face grew an even deeper crimson than before.

"You better come back soon after that. Or I'll hunt you down and give you the stare." Fluttershy didn't even attempt to apologize like she usually did after being assertive. Or give him an option. And the sound of her voice was dead serious. It was unprecedented. Soarin' shuddered. He had seen Fluttershy use her stare before. It wasn't a pretty sight. He quickly regained his composure. He had nothing to worry about. Fluttershy was his first marefriend in almost 8 years. His last marefriend dumped him because he never spent time with her after joining the Wonderbolts. He wasn't going to lose Fluttershy like that.

"I'll be back before you notice I ever left." He smiled and nuzzled her. She returned the favor and rested her head on his neck. It was just then that the group noticed Scootaloo wasn't with them.

"Where's Scoot?" Rainbow asked. A rare hint of worry crept into her voice.

"Scootaloo?" Spitfire called out. Before anypony could react, an orange blur shot out of the air at Soarin' and tackled him to the ground. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise.

"If I don't see you again within two months I'll do that to you during a show." Scootaloo warned.

"Then you'll see me before the end of this month." Soarin' replied.

"Smart." Scootaloo stepped off and smiled.

"Are we tackling ponies again? That is sooooo fun!" Pinkie shot forward at Soarin' but was quickly stopped by a purple aura of magic.

"That's enough assault for one night Pinkie." Twilight chuckled.

"Thanks Twilight." Soarin' was very pleased that he wasn't about to be taken off his hooves a third time tonight.

"Anything for a friend. Pinkie, would you stop trying to get out? You're making it more difficult for me to hold on to you." Pinkie's hooves were digging deeper and deeper into the dirt as she continued to try and run after Soarin'. Soarin' took this as his cue to give Fluttershy one final kiss goodbye and take off.

"I'll see you all soon. I promise." As he said those words his gaze never left Flutterhy's. Although he truly did intend to see them all again very soon, it was her that he really intended to go back to. 'Maybe Spitfire made the right choice.' He thought as he turned around and flew towards Cloudsdale.

The door to the Dash family's room in the castle burst open. Four Royal guards stepped in.

"What the hay? It's 4 in the morning, can we sleep?" Rainbow grunted.

"Rainbow and Spitfire Dash, you are under arrest for the foalnapping of Scootaloo Crestfall. You are to follow us to Princess Celestia's throne room immediately."

"WHAT?!" The entire family shouted in response. A guard grabbed Scootaloo.

"It's alright Scootalooo, I'm here to help." He said calmly.

"GET THE HAY AWAY FROM ME!" Scootaloo kicked the guard in the face. He recoiled, and then tightened his grip around her.

"Stockholm Syndrome. She's going to be difficult."

"We did not foalnap her! We took her in after her parents abandoned her!" Spitfire yelled at the guards as they restrained her wings.

"Tell that to the Princess" the guard responded. Rainbow spread her wings and attempted to fight, but was quickly knocked down by one of the guards.

"RAINBOW!" Spitfire shouted helplessly.

"MOM, NO!" Scootaloo was terrified. She had no idea what was going on. First the ponies who she viewed as her parents were being accused of foalnapping and now they were being beaten by Royal Guards? What the hay was going on?"

All of the ponies in the nearby rooms were woken by the commotion. When they stepped outside they were horrified to see their friends being dragged away by the Royal Guard. Twilight immediately ran to the guards.

"What the hay are you doing with my friends?!" She demanded.

"They are under arrest for foalnapping Scootaloo Crestfall."

"They took her in after her parents abandoned her!"

"Her father gave us a different story. I'm sorry Lady Sparkle, but it looks like you picked the wrong friends."

In the throne room Princess Celestia was at a loss. She knew from Twilight's letters what the truth was about the monster standing in front of her. Problem was she didn't have any evidence to prove it. She hoped she would at least be able to prevent Rainbow and Spitfire from going to jail for a crime they didn't commit.

"Sorry to sound rude Princess, but how much longer are your guards going to take? I'd really like to have my daughter back as soon as possible."

"Mr. Crestfall, you're going to have to be patient. You can't take your daughter home until after I hear the case from both perspectives."

"Well make it quick then will you? I want those filly fooling bucks put away for what they did to my family."

"You will keep a decent tongue in my throne room, do you understand? And leave your bigotry at home."

"Fine, fine, whatever. I just want my daughter back home. It isn't the same without her, you know?" At that moment Princess Luna opened the door behind the thrones and stepped inside.

"You asked me to help you with this case sister?" Luna asked.

"Yes. Please, sit with me." As Luna sat on her throne a member of the Guard poked his head in through the door.

"Princesses Celestia and Luna, we have the defendants."

"Excellent, bring them in." Princess Celestia was a nervous wreck on the inside. She knew the two mares who were about to walk in through that door were innocent of the crime they were accused of and better family for the young Scootaloo than her father. But would she have evidence to rule in their favor? She couldn't break any of the laws governing court actions that she herself had written, but what if those laws worked against the innocent mares? Before the Princess could continue her train of thought the guards brought the young family in. Rainbow had a fresh cut on her head.

"Did one of you attack Mrs. Rainbow Dash?" Now the Sun Princess wasn't nervous. She was pissed.

"She attempted to resist apprehension. I was forced to-"

"Break the strict order I gave you that NONE OF THEM WERE TO BE HARMED?!" Princess Celestia finished his sentence for him. "Return to the barracks soldier. I will determine how you will be disciplined after I finish with this matter."

"Y-yes ma'am." The guard scurried off. When Princess Celestia yelled at somepony it was not a pretty sight. To be on the receiving end was far worse than to get the Stare from Fluttershy.

"Scootaloo! I was so worried about you." Scootaloo's father made a worried voice.

"Stuff it dad. I don't want to hear your voice."

"Scootaloo, what a thing to say? Those mares really made you believe that-"

"SHUT UP! YOU ARE LYING AND EVERYPONY HERE KNOWS IT!"

"You will not speak to me in that tone of voice ever-"

"If your little family reunion is done I'd like to get underway." Princess Celestia interrupted. "Now, from the letters I have received from Twilight Sparkle, Scootaloo was abandoned by her parents in Ponyville. It was then that she was taken in by the Dash family. Is that the truth Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes Princess. Plain and simple. The MULE standing over there ditched his daughter after beating her up right before a snowstorm was scheduled to hit Ponyville!" Rainbow was fuming. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"Mr. Crestfall, do you also perceive this to be the truth?"

"No. My daughter was missing when I got home from work my last day in Ponyville. I heard from a townspony that the golden one was seen carrying her away from my home while she was waiting for me to take her up to the house."

"I flew her up to your bucking house you lying sack of-"

"Spitfire, I ask that you keep your mouth clean in my courtroom." The Princess interrupted. "Mr. Crestfall, I do have to wonder why, if your daughter had been taken from you, that you didn't take every measure possible to retrieve her from her foalnappers? In fact, I have hotel records saying that you checked into a hotel in Canterlot the very night you claim your daughter went missing in Ponyville. That is very unusual of a concerned father."

"I needed to get my wife and I away from the snowstorm. We didn't have time to move the house above cloud level before it hit and I had a job interview the next day in Canterlot. It broke my heart to leave while my daughter was missing, but I did what I had to do to protect who I could in my family."

"In my experience, a father who's foal is missing will do anything in his power to find that foal and will ignore everything else in his life until he does." Celestia countered. She had never hated anypony before, not even Discord. But this stallion was the spitting image of everything wrong about a horrible father.

"I knew I would find my daughter soon enough. I missed her terribly, but I had a family to support. I still do. If I couldn't bring any money in I wouldn't be able to feed my wife."

"That is most likely the worst rationalization for your actions you could have possibly made." The Princess had no qualms about berating that stallion. "Rainbow and Spitfire Dash, I hereby declare that you are not guilty of the crime you have been accused of." Rainbow and Spitfire hugged each other and smiled at Scootaloo. "The deciding evidence in my verdict is the Right to Maternity issued to you by the mayor of Ponyville that you would not have requested had you been her foalnappers." Princess Celestia swallowed. She hated herself for having to say the next part of her verdict. But she had no choice. Never had she felt so helpless in her life. "However, there is no evidence to support the claim that she was a victim of abuse and is thus released into the care of her father, Mr. Jade Crestfall."

Nothing We Can Do

"WHAT! NO, THAT IS NOT HAPPENING!" Rainbow was not about to let her daughter back into the care of that monster.

"Rainbow Dash, I ask that you maintain order in my court." It killed Princess Celestia inside to say that, but she knew if she let Rainbow continue she would do something that would put her in jail. Her and her bucking loyalty.

"ORDER MY FLANK! NEXT TIME A GOD OF CHAOS DECIDES TO ATTACK EQUESTRIA, I THINK I'LL NEED MORE EVIDENCE OF HIS EXISTENCE BEFORE I CAN DO ANYTHING!" Rainbow could not believe what the Princess had done. She knew what that mule had done to Scootaloo, and now she was sending her back to him?"

"Rainbow Dash, I ask that you come with me. I need to talk to you about this more privately."

"Buck. You. Not without my daughter."

"Rainbow-"

"She said no." Spitfire was just as pissed as Rainbow. "Unless you can take our daughter away from that monster we have no business with you."

"Listen-"

"MOM! STOP THEM! PLEASE!" Scootaloo was sobbing. She couldn't go back home with him. Not after she finally found out what it was to be happy, not after she learned what it meant to be loved. She couldn't go back with the stallion who had made her life a living hell. The stallion who only wanted her as a means to spite her adoptive parents for their sexual preferences. Rainbow Dash charged after her, knocking every guard that got in her way aside. Just before she could reach Scootaloo, a hoof landed on her head, knocking her out cold.

"MOM!"

"RAINBOW!"

ENOUGH!" Luna was couldn't take any more of the fighting. All activity in the room stopped at the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna calmed herself. "Sister, are you sure that is a proper ruling? You know what he has done to that filly."

"No, I don't think it's right. But I can't ignore the laws I established regarding this issue. There's nothing we can do."

"You're the eternal monarch of Equestria and there's NOTHING YOU CAN DO?!" Spitfire wasn't about to listen to that. Not while she was standing over her unconscious wife and watching her daughter be dragged away screaming. "Ignore your law code and do what's right! There's something you can do!"

"Spitfire, it isn't that-"

"LIKE HAY IT ISN'T THAT SIMPLE! BRING ME BACK MY DAUGHTER!" Spitfire was about to charge after Scootaloo herself before the Sun Princess enveloped her in an aura of magic. The last image Spitfire had of Scootaloo was of her holding onto the door frame looking helplessly back at her adoptive mother. Spitfire's heart broke and she couldn't hold back the tears.

"Princess Celestia, what's- RAINBOW!" Twilight and the others ran to their friend's side. "Princess Celestia, what happened here?" Celestia sighed. She really hated herself for what she had done. She wished it had been as easy as doing the right thing. She knew she could have, but what image would that have established? Corrupted monarchs keeping a stallion away from his daughter so she could give her to friends of the Monarchy? That could lead to far more problems than the pain of the Dash family. Scootaloo's screams could still be heard in the distance. Celestia's heart broke for the filly. She was never going to be able to make up for this.

"I had no choice but to rule in favor of Mr. Jade Crestfall over custody of Scootaloo."

"What? Why in the HAY would you think to do THAT?!" Twilight had never questioned her teacher's judgement before. But this time she knew the Princess had made a mistake.

"I'm sorry Twilight Sparkle. I had to follow the laws I enacted. I had no choice."

"You did have a choice. And you made the wrong one." With that Twilight motioned for her friends to follow her. Applejack already had Rainbow on her back. A guard stepped forward.

"We have to take Mrs. Rainbow Dash into custody."

"On what account?!" Applejack demanded.

"Four counts of assault against an officer of the-"

"Stand down. She will not be punished for her actions." Luna wasn't going to let Rainbow Dash be arrested for being a good parent.

"But Princess-"

"Do as she says." At the order of Princess Celestia, he apologized to Applejack and backed off. Applejack turned to the Princesses.

"Thank ya kindly Princesses." With that, she turned away. Spitfire bolted past the doorway where she last saw her daughter but found only an empty hallway, save for a trio of guards blocking the path to where Scootaloo had been taken. She couldn't take it any more. She broke down and wept on the floor. Fluttershy walked over to her and knelt down.

"What are you crying for?" Fluttershy wasn't about to let Spitfire just give up.

"It's no use. She's gone, Scootaloo is-"

"Then prove that her father is hurting her and get her back."

"Huh?"

"Don't just fall down and cry, do something about it." Something had changed about Fluttershy. She wasn't so worried about hurting people's feelings when they needed to hear something anymore. Spitfire noticed that the change in Fluttershy coincided with Soarin's entry into her life. Soarin' always did have a way of boosting one's confidence.

"You heard what the Princess said. There's nothing we can do." A sharp pain in Spitfire's flank caused her to jump to her hooves.

"Sorry for hitting you, I just wanted to be more assertive. And what kind of parent just gives up on her daughter? You should be ashamed of yourself." Fluttershy's words hit home. What was Spitfire doing wallowing like a schoolfilly who just got dumped? She was going to get her daughter back, no matter what the cost.

Princess Celestia sat on her throne with a worn look on her face. It had taken all her strength to handle that hearing. If it had involved anypony else she would have sent it to a different judge at a later date. But anything concerning the Elements of Harmony fell under her jurisdiction and hers alone. Not even Luna could have been allowed to rule over that particular case. And as much as it tore her apart to give the ruling she gave, she knew it was the only one she could allow herself to give. Her kingdom wasn't as sturdy as it looked. Though in a time of peace, it was also in a time of discontent. The conflict with the western buffalo tribes and the settler ponies continued despite the peace at Appleoosa. Ponies wanted taxes lowered and wages raised. If a story got about about the monarch breaking her own laws for ponies close enough to her to be considered friends, all hay could break loose in her kingdom. Even if it only made it to the Equestrian Enquirer. Celestia hated herself even more for her next course of action.

"Send for the Captain of the Guard."

"Yes Ma'am." A guard replied and took flight towards the barracks. A short while later the Captain appeared. He had been ready since the arrest warrant had been placed on the Dash couple.

"Princess, I am at your service." He gave a bow.

"Make sure the mares from Ponyville return home before I raise the sun. I don't want them causing any trouble here in Canterlot. I can only protect them for so long."

"It will be done Your Majesty." With that, the guard called his troops to follow him down to the current living quarters of the Princess' guests. A single tear fell from Princess Celestia's cheek.

"BACK TO PONYVILLE!" Spitfire shouted. "HAY NO, NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER!"

"Ma'am, these orders came directly from the Princess. You have no choice but to follow them." The guard captain really wished somepony else had gotten this job. These mares were not going to give up easy.

"I think the Princess would change her mind if I gave her a Sonic Rainboom to the face." Despite having only woken up a couple minutes ago and enduring the throbbing pain of a concussion, Rainbow was fully alert and ready to fight. Two guards came from seemingly nowhere and restrained the civilian pegasi's wings.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO!" Rainbow yelled. She struggled against the guards to no avail. She wasn't strong enough to break free. Spitfire also tried to fight but she couldn't manage any better than her wife. The guards dragged them out of the castle and forced them onto an Aerial Chariot. It appeared the rest of their friends didn't make the guard's task any easier than they had. Twilight had to be restrained by the magic of Princess Celestia herself seeing as none of the unicorn guards were powerful enough to beat Twilight's counter spells. A cluster of guards were unconscious outside of Twilight's room. None of her friends had ever pictured her as one to use combat magic against another pony, but she was apparently quite capable of it. As for Applejack, applebucking sure had given her some serious leg strength. Before she was successfully restrained, three guards had their helmets bashed in and were bleeding from cuts BEHIND their bronze headgear. As for Pinkie, the Party Canon was not what the guards expected to face in combat. How Pinkie even got it to the castle completely undetected was a mystery to everypony.

"Don't expect a letter anytime soon." Twilight grunted at the Princess.

"When you get these mares back to Ponyville don't remove their restraints. Guards, set the restraints on the wings pf the Pegasi to release after two days. Twilight, you and Rarity will be without magic for the same amount of time. The restraints are magic, so Applejack and Pinkie Pie won't be able to remove them either. I'm sorry, but this is the only way to avoid trouble here in Canterlot. I know you won't make it easy for us here if we allow you to return for Scootaloo."

"I trusted you Princess. We all did. Now you send a helpless filly back to the care of an abusive father for the sake of conserving the image of the Monarchy? You're just another worthless politician." Celestia didn't show it, but Twilight's words stung her. She felt she could always count on Twilight to support her actions. But the Princess also knew that in time Twilight's loyalty would shift to the other Elements as opposed to the Monarchy. She never anticipated that it would happen so quickly, but there was nothing she could do. As the mares were loaded onto chariots and flown away, Princess Celestia had to force herself to look away. She had a country to rule. She couldn't allow herself to let her nation fall apart because of a decision she made regarding a single filly's custody ruling. Even if she was beginning to think she made the wrong choice.

He Won't Hurt Me Again

Scootaloo sobbed the whole walk to her father's house from the castle. How did this happen? Why would the Princess send her back to the man who had nearly driven her to suicide before she met her friends in Ponyville? She couldn't begin to think of what had made Princess Celestia feel that this was the right choice.

"Shut up, you're driving me crazy with all that crying!" Scootaloo knew she would regret her next course of action when she got to his house, but she didn't care.

"Buck you. I hate you."

"Talk to me like that again and you'll wish you didn't have a mouth."

"So I can prove that you've been hurting me and your wife my whole life?"

"I don't care if you don't stay in my care very long. As long as you're not with those filly foolers I'm quite indifferent as to who raises you."

"THAT'S WHAT THIS WAS ABOUT?!" Scootaloo couldn't believe it. She knew her dad wasn't right in the head, but he went this far over his hatred for same sex relationships?! "YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"I prefer naturalist. Filly fooling is an unnatural perversion of ponykind. Oh, I forgot to mention this the last time you stayed at my house, you know, when you snuck off to that perversion of a wedding. If I ever catch you with another mare I'll kill both of you. Clear?" By that time they had arrived at her father's house.

"Buck. You. You're not my father, you don't get to tell me what to do." In truth Scootaloo wasn't into mares at all, but if it meant spiting her dad a little, she could play with the idea. A hoof was brought down on her muzzle.

"I told you what would happen if you ever spoke to me like that again." Her father was smiling. He had control over Scootaloo once again. He loved it. Scootaloo ran away from him. She had no idea where she was going to go but she had to go somewhere. She found what appeared to be a guestroom. She threw the door open, ran in, kicked it closed and dove onto the bed and began to sob. After what felt like hours she lifted her head. She noticed something bouncing around in her mouth and spat it out. Laying in a puddle of blood on the floor was a tooth. She put her head down and began to cry until eventually she drifted off to sleep.

Rainbow walked quickly through the hallways of her school with her head down. She was too ashamed to look up. She felt unclean since the night Sky Scraper had raped her. She hated him for it, but even more she hated herself. She was worthless, just somepony for sex hungry colts to indulge themselves in. To satisfy their cravings that they couldn't find from somepony else. A voice interrupted her from her thoughts. The last voice she wanted to hear.

"Guys, check it out! It's Rainbow Slut!" They sure loved making fun of how she liked to introduce herself by her full name. Rainbow picked up the pace until she felt a hoof between her hind legs. "I planted my flag right there!" Tears began to fall down her face. Sky Scraper wrapped a foreleg around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Hey Sky Scraper, think I could have a turn with her?" Asked a pegasus with a deep brown coat and a barbell cutie mark.

"Sure thing Heavy Lifter! Rainbow Slut would be happy to oblige! Rainbow Dash squirmed away from Sky Scraper and bolted down the hallway. Tears were pouring down her face.

"Hey, get back here, I want my turn!" Rainbow burst through the doors of the schoolhouse and ran to the edge of Cloudsdale. She went to the only place she felt she could be alone. At this time during the drift Cloudsdale overlooked the most beautiful scene in all of Equestria. The Canterlot Waterfall. As she stared at the falling water she thought back to the last three weeks. Everyday since it had been the same. Sky Scraper and his friends had tormented her, calling her Rainbow Slut and making it out to be her decision. Everypony at school viewed her as the school slut, and the only people being remotely friendly to her were sex hungry colts looking for a date. She looked over the edge of the city. It would be so easy. She pressed her wings tight to her side.

"Just one step. One step and it's all over. It would look like I was going for a flight. No one would suspect it." She raised a hoof over the edge of the cloud. "Just one step..."

Scootaloo woke with fresh tears in her eyes. She wasn't going to let her father hurt her anymore. She quietly tip-hoofed down the stairs to the garage. She knew she couldn't run away, everypony would know where she went and take her right back while punishing Rainbow and Spitfire for taking her back in. She only had one way out of this. She thought back to the events that got here to where she was now. She was so happy with Rainbow and Spitfire. She meant the world to them, and they to her. They showed her love. They taught her to soar, both literally and figuratively. They gave her hope for a future, and a bright one at that. They fought Royal Guards for her where her father wouldn't even fight his dignity for her. She had a life with Rainbow and Spitfire. She had a family. Then none other than Princess Celestia herself took it all from her. She remembered the look on Spitfire's face while she was being pulled away. While her adoptive mother was encased in Celestia's magic she had looked so helpless. Scootaloo had fought with all her might to get back to her, but the filly was far too weak to pull away from her father and the accompanying guards. Scootaloo stepped into the garage of her father's home. She walked to a toolbench and found a long extension cord. It would do the trick. She took it in her mouth and walk back up to the room she had cried herself to sleep in. She looked at the bed she had just slept in. The dream she had about Rainbow Dash broke her heart. She couldn't think of Rainbow, one of the strongest ponies she had ever met, reduced to somepony so weak. To almost take that step. Scootaloo was very happy Rainbow hadn't. Even if she was about to herself. As she tied the cord to the ceiling fan (a relatively simple task given that this was not a cloud home) she thought deeper about what she was doing. She was about to perform the most selfish act a pony could perform. Back before she had moved to Ponyville she didn't understand what kept her from it. She had wanted to die more than anything else. Anything to get her away from her father, and that would be the quickest solution. She thought back and realized she never had the means to before she moved to Ponyville. When she finally arrived at Ponyville she made friends and had a reason to keep going with her life. Now, once again, she had nopony. Only memories of better times. She hadn't even been in Ponyville for a whole year and she knew she would never be able to live anywhere else. She began to tie a noose around the other end of the cord. Tears again streamed down her face, blurring her vision. She dragged a hoof across her face to clear her eyes. There was no turning back now. She pulled a chair under her impromptu gallows. The cord with which she would meet her death.

"I'm sorry Rainbow. I'm sorry Spitfire. Sweetie Belle...Applebloom...I'm sorry...I love you all..." As she finished her apology she stepped on the chair and slid her head through the noose.

Not Without a Fight

No. What the buck was she thinking? Scootaloo threw the noose away from her and stepped down off the chair. Rainbow and Spitfire weren't going to give up on her. She was not going to give up on them. Gone was the broken and helpless filly that wrapped that cord around her neck. The lyrics from one of her favorite songs came to mind. "You can't break me." She wasn't going to let herself break over this. "Crush the fears of yesterday." She knew what she had to do. She swallowed. She was not going to enjoy this...

"Applebloom, Ah need ta talk ta ya." Applejack wasn't going to enjoy the conversation she was about to have with her little sister. It was going to tear Applebloom apart to hear that her friend wouldn't be coming back from Canterlot. The little filly was worried enough about Scootaloo without knowing that she had been sent back to a horrible family situation. Applejack decided to spare the details. Applebloom had obviously been crying over her friend's recent absence.

"Is it about Scootaloo? Is she OK?" Applejack sighed.

"It might be a while before you see Scootaloo."

"Why? Is she still at th' hospital?" Applejack hated herself for not being able to lie to her sister to put her at ease.

"No, she ain't at th' hospital. She's with her parents in Canterlot. Th' Princess decided she should stay with them instead o' Rainbow an' Spitfire." Tears came to Applebloom's eyes.

"W-what? Scootaloo told me her dad was hurting her! That he left her behind in Ponyville all alone before a snowstorm! Why's she there?!" Applebloom was bawling.

"We're doin' everythin' we can ta get her back here. Don't you fret one bit. She'll be back here before ya know she left." This was technically not a lie. While Applejack couldn't predict the future or support her claim that Scootaloo would be home soon, she did believe it to be true. And technically, the seven mares who had been forcibly ejected from Canterlot WERE doing everything they could at the moment to get her back. Unfortunately with the restraints on the pegasi and unicorns of the group, they couldn't do bucking thing. It burned at Applejack. She wondered how Rarity was breaking the news to Sweetie Belle...

"Sweetie Belle, please. There's no need to cry. Scootaloo will be back in Ponyville before you know it."

"How do you know sis?! You told me she would come home with you and that didn't happen!" Sweetie Belle was sobbing. "You told me she'd fly home right next to your chariot and everything would be fine! You promised me-"

"Sweetie Belle, I'm so sorry. We never could have expected Princess Celestia to rule that way. It...it..." Rarity didn't hide her anger very well. "It's a travesty of justice! We'll bring back Scootaloo before you know it, I promise! This time, I'll keep it or chip a hoof trying!" As pathetic as Rarity's last statement was, it meant everything to Sweetie Belle. Rarity, promising to damage part of her carefully manicured hooves if she couldn't succeed meant she had put a task as much to heart as Applejack did every year come applebuck season. She truly was more concerned about Twilight than her carefully manicured hoof. Having her trust betrayed by her lifelong mentor had to be horrible beyond imagination...

Back in the library, Spike belched and a letter appeared bearing the Royal Seal."

"Twilight, you have a letter from the Princess. Want me to re-"

"Burn it Spike. I'm not her student anymore."

"What? Twilight, are you-"

"She just condemned an innocent filly to suffering for the sake of preserving her political image. I have no more business with her. Burn the letter." Spike was torn. Although he was technically supposed to ensure that Twilight was made fully aware of the content of every letter sent to her by the Princess, his loyalties lied with Twilight not the government. He walked to the fire he had ready for Twilight's return and uncomfortably threw it in. He knew Twilight was having a hard time dealing with Scootaloo's absence, but he had no idea she was this pissed.

"Twilight, what are you reading?"

"A forbidden spells book. I'm brushing up on combat magic."

"What kind of combat spells would be in a book of forbidden spells?" Spike was very worried. Twilight had never wanted to harm anypony before. Just the concept of forbidden combat magic usually made her cringe. Now she was studying it? He didn't like where this was going. A unicorn with her power should not be studying those spells."

"The kind that can turn a pony into pulp. Preferably a pony by the name of Jade Crestfall." Spike swallowed. Twilight was studying magic as a means to kill somepony. Spike knew he had to stop her. He began to write a letter back to the Princess when a hoof knocked the parchment out of his hand.

"Spike, you know I appreciate everything you've done for me. And I know you're trying to help. But you will not get in my way on this. And neither will the Princess. Do you understand?" Spike swallowed and nodded. Spike had no idea how Twilight had gotten to him so quickly. She was supposed to have her magic restrained. There was no way she could have teleported to him. He looked over and saw Twilight's horn glow as she turned a page in her book. She had broken the restraints on her magic. The restraints the Princess herself had placed.

"Twilight, this isn't you! You would never consider hurting anypony!"

"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Even if you don't like it." Spike swallowed. If Twilight was in a killing mood over this, he was terrified of what Rainbow and Spitfire were planning..."

Rainbow fought against the restraints on her wings. She wasn't going to let her daughter be lost like that. Not when things were starting to get good.

"Rainbow, you're not going to break the restraints. Give it up. We can go save her when they break." Spitfire was on the couch. It had never felt so empty in their cloud home. Without the energetic filly running around the house or pumping the bass from her bedroom speakers, the place just felt wrong.

"NO! I'M NOT GIVING UP! NOT NOW!" Rainbow was screaming, mostly to herself. "I...can't...hnng...give up..." She fell to the floor. She lowered her head. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, huh?" A tear slid down her cheeks. She hadn't felt so helpless since the incident with Sky Scraper. At least back it was just her. Now she had somepony to protect and she couldn't. She was stuck in her cloud home and couldn't even flap her wings. She felt a warm presence curl up against her. She leaned in to Spitfire. The two mares let there emotions pour out as they sobbed. They wished they could do something, ANYTHING to get Scootaloo back home.

"We'll get her back Rainbow. For now we have to wait."

"The waiting is what's tearing me up inside. I can't wait, I have to act."

"I know Rainbow. That's part of the reason I married you."

"Huh?"

"When I saw your undying loyalty to your friends I knew I could always count on you. I know that Scootaloo can count on you right now. This won't be over until we say it's over. We're getting our daughter back. No matter what the cost." Rainbow loved her wife more in that moment than she had at any time since their wedding. The two mares shared a kiss. Short at first, then long and passionate. As horrible as the timing was, they had to do something to help them relax. Until an unmistakable voice was heard from behind them. One that normally warmed their hearts upon hearing. One that usually brought out the motherly instincts in both of them.

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" Rainbow and Spitfire yelped and turned to look in the direction of the voice. Scootaloo stood in the doorway. She was far more battered than either of the mares had ever seen her. Moreso than any of her "Crusading" had left her, more than the night Rainbow took her home. Their jaws dropped as the sprinted to her and gingerly wrapped their forelegs around her.

"Scoot, what are you doing here? What happened? Rainbow asked. She was horribly worried for the filly in the doorway. Until a short, cliche sentence escaped Scootaloo's lips. One that Rainbow and Spitfire had only ever heard in movies. The last sentence Rainbow and Spitfire expected to hear at the moment.

"You should see the other guy."

Recuperating

Twilight sat in her library sipping on tea. She wasn't harboring regrets yet. It was the second day, the day the restraints came off. She wasn't planning on killing anypony during her next visit to Canterlot this afternoon, just apply relatively minor injuries. She had planned it down to a tee. She had been able to pull memories from Princess Celestia without her noticing while she was being restrained. Only memories involving Scootaloo's custody case. One of those memories was the address of the Crestfall residence in Canterlot. The only memory Twilight needed to carry out her plan quickly and efficiently. She was going to tell her friends her plan as soon as she could be sure that all their restraints would be removed. She could have removed them herself, but she needed time to plan every detail of her plan, down to how she would do it if she was the only pony willing to take aggressive action. During this train of thought, she heard a knock at the library door. She opened it with her magic. And as soon as she saw the pony on the other side rage welled within her.

"Princess Celestia."

"Twilight Sparkle, I received troubling news recently as to your extra curricular study activities. If you're planning to act on these impulses that are fueled by rage alone, I will be forced to place you under arrest. I do not want to do this for any reason. Please Twilight, be rational. Don't let your emotions get in the way of clear judgement."

"Is that what you did with Scootaloo's case? Use 'clear judgement'?" Twilight did not hide her anger at her former teacher. Although Twilight could never fully hate the Princess, she certainly didn't like her at the moment.

"I followed the laws I established. But that is another recent turn of events that brought me here. Scootaloo is no longer with Mr. Crestfall. As far as he is concerned, she is to be sent to the Canterlot Youth Home. He brought her birth certificate and other necessary legal documents to hand her over to them, but not Scootaloo." Twilight's anger began to fade and confusion took it's place.

"What do you mean? Where could she have gone?"

"The only home she knows. I'm here to personally escort her to the Canterlot Youth Home where she is to be put up for adoption."

"That means anypony could take her in!" Twilight was no longer angry. Her mission accomplished (though not by her) she had no reason to be angry. Guilt quickly took it's place. "Princess, we have to get Spitfire and Rainbow Dash there first, before-"

"I'll speak to them regarding the issue of Scootaloo. Now as to your recent studies. What did you think you were going to accomplish with the spells you were researching?" Princess Celestia was concerned for Twilight. Never had she thought her student could allow so much rage in her heart that it would take control over her.

"I'm...I...I don't know what I was thinking. I just wanted to make her father pay for what he did to her."

"Everypony does, but violence is not the way to go about it. I want him to pay for his crimes to, but unfortunately all I can give him is a short jail sentence. A year tops. It breaks my heart as much as yours Twilight, but you know what kind of example it would set if I don't follow the laws I require of all of you."

"But you knew what was going on with her family. I sent you all those letters about it."

"Where your word is evidence enough for me personally it isn't evidence enough for the courts I've established. I have to hear the case just like any other judge."

"I...understand." Twilight felt awful for what she had almost done. She knew why the Princess ruled as she did. Although she still disagreed with her ruling, she knew that Celestia was the ruler for a reason. She was able to make the difficult decisions when most ponies couldn't. "How am I to be punished for my research?"

"You won't be. Twilight, you have learned everything I have to teach you and more. You are more powerful with magic than I likely ever will be. I will not continue to be your teacher." Twilight was shocked. Did she just...graduate? Or something along those lines?

"I...I don't...thank you Princess. Is it alright if I continue to send you letters anyway?"

"Twilight I will always be your friend. You may keep in touch as much as you please. Now, as much as I would like to stay, I have a family to officially unite. I look forward to hearing from you soon Twilight." With a powerful flap of her wings the Princess rose in the air. Her guards quickly followed suit. After they left Twilight walked over to the book she had been reading.

"I guess now is as good a time as any to test what I've learned." She chuckled to herself. She knew that despite her anger she never would have been able to hurt anypony. She levitated the book and attempted to destroy it with the magic she had learned. Yet as powerful as Twilight's magic was, she no longer possessed the needed anger to perform any of the spells that the book had taught her. Luckily Spike still had a fire going from the night before. It pained Twilight to burn a book, but the knowledge contained within this particular book was not something that should exist in Equestria. She tossed it in and watched as it was engulfed in flames.

Scootaloo flexed her wings. The adrenaline rush that resulted from the fight with her father had allowed her to ignore the pain she felt in them after he threw her against the wall of his Canterlot home. Her wings had been opened when she hit, and given that the wall was made of wood and not clouds meant that there would be damage done to them. Rainbow and Spitfire were going to take her to Nurse Redheart after the restraints were released from their own wings. The fact that their wings were restrained was the only reason Scootaloo wasn't irritated when she found her adoptive parents making out on the floor when she walked in instead of finding them at least planning how to bring her home. She couldn't imagine being in their position right now. Not being able to fly or even flex their wings. They were essentially under house arrest. Scootaloo looked around her room. She spotted the guitar Rainbow had given her. 'Might as well give it a shot.' She thought to herself as she fitted the talons around her hooves. She picked it up and began to play. And it was as if she had been playing her whole life.

Spitfire was making lunch when she heard Scootaloo's first guitar solo. At first she didn't know what was going on. When she recognized the sound as a guitar her jaw dropped. She ran to Scootaloo's room to confirm her suspicions and was speechless when she saw Scootaloo playing as if she had been doing so her entire life.

"The doctor said you'd have all of Rainbow's knowledge regarding that instrument. He never said you'd be shredding as soon as you picked it up."

"It just feels...right. I think I'm in love." Scootaloo became lost in the music she was creating. Spitfire was expecting flames to begin shooting off the fretboard at any second. Scootaloo was amazing. Rainbow poked her head in.

"Buck kid, I never expected you to pick up that quickly." Scootaloo didn't hear her. She was lost. All that mattered to her was her music. She closed her eyes and let her ears decide how her talons would manipulate the fretboard. Rainbow and Spitfire stepped out of the room. Spitfire rested her head against her wife as they watched Scootaloo.

"You never told me you were that good when you played Rainbow."

"I don't remember being that good. I mean, I had ability, but what she's doing isn't just from what I learned. She's a natural that got 5 year's worth of lessons and practice crammed into her head. I never could think of awesome solos that easy." Spitfire kissed Rainbow.

"I have to go finish lunch. I'll let you know when it's ready."

"I'm sure I'll smell it before you tell me." Spitfire laughed and went off to finish cooking. Scootaloo played a bit slower, while still maintaining an upbeat and bright mood with her solo. A joyful tear came from Rainbow's eye. A bright flash appeared on Scootaloo's flank and a picture of a guitar with a burning fretboard appeared. Scootaloo didn't notice. All that mattered to her was the music flowing from her amplifier. As she finished the solo, she opened her eyes.

"Mom, I think I found out my special talent."

"So do I. Take a look." Rainbow pointed to Scootaloo's flank. Scootaloo looked down. Her eyes widened. Her scream was heard throughout the house. Spitfire ran to her room to see what was wrong and found Rainbow on the floor laughing and Scootaloo bouncing up and down like a filly who just got asked to prom. Tank slowly retreated back inside his shell.

"What's going-" Spitfire noticed the image on Scootaloo's flank and smiled. "I think some celebration is in order." This time Scootaloo heard her. "Lunch is almost ready. Come on, let's grab some food and we'll go to Sugarcube Corner to celebrate when Rainbow and I can fly again." Scootaloo's ears perked up. Sugarcube Corner was her favorite treat. She used to save whatever bits she could scrape together so she could enjoy a delicious pastry from the tiny bakery. As the young family sat around the table and enjoyed their lunch, the conversation drifted to how Scootaloo had gotten away from her dad. During the course of the last two days they were so happy that they were back together that it didn't matter to them just how it got that way. Scootaloo explained the night. Tears came to all three of them as she told them about her near-suicide. What came next ended up being a nice long storytelling session...

Two days ago...

Scootaloo untied the extension cord from the fan. It would come in handy for her coming encounter with her father. She knew she was going to take a beating in the coming altercation, but it was time she stood up to him. She walked to the door where she heard her father's loud snoring. She kicked open the door. Her parents jumped up in bed.

"SCOOTALOO! WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOING?!" Jade was pissed.

"I'm not living with you anymore Jade. I'm sick of the way you treat mom and me. Living with Rainbow and Spitfire taught me that I'm more than your ragdoll. I'm not going to put up with it anymore." It felt right to Scootaloo to call her father by his name. She never did view him as a father figure anyway.

"You will not use those names in my household!" Jade was losing his temper. Not exactly a feat on Scootaloo's part but she needed him to have a clouded mind if she stood any chance of getting out of this intact.

"Rainbow. Dash."

"Scootaloo..."

"Spitfire. Dash." Jade got out of bed and quickly advanced towards his daughter. Scootaloo took flight. Jade stepped back. When had she learned to fly?" His confusion gave Scootaloo the opportunity she needed to fly quickly by him and plant a hoof in his muzzle. He spat a tooth on the ground and took flight. Scootaloo's mother had cowered in the corner of the room. Scootaloo unwrapped the extension cord from it's position around her right hoof and attacked Jade with it. Blood seeped from the wound dampened his deep green coat, giving a spot of black color over his right eye. He bolted towards Scootaloo and slammed her against a wall. Scootaloo wasn't strong enough to push him away, so he was able to land several powerful hits against her before she slipped away and wrapped the cord around his neck. He struggled against her and almost succeeded in wrestling her away before she landed on his back. Her effort had only granted her momentary control. He landed on the ground and bucked her off of his back. Scootaloo recovered in the air, but she lost her weapon.

"Buck!" She muttered to herself. That was her only advantage against him. Well, save one. Agility. She sped in the air around Jade. She succeeded only in pissing him off something fierce. Until she dove straight for his head. She landed a powerful strike against his lower jaw. A very audible crack was heard before he let out a loud scream. He turned to Scootaloo with fire in his eyes. He flew after her. He caught her and threw her to the floor. He put his hooves around her neck and lifted her off the floor.

"If I ever see you again...I WILL kill you. He threw her through the bedroom window. He had suspected her wings were broken from the hits against the wall and floor, but to his dismay she spread her wings and landed gracefully on the ground outside. She began picking pieces of glass out of her skin. Blood seeped from the many wounds on her body, but she didn't care. Her face bore an ear to ear grin. She stood up to her father. She got kicked out. She could go back with Rainbow and Spitfire without any trouble. She took flight and headed toward her home. Toward Ponyville.

"And that's how I got here." Scootaloo finished. Rainbow and Spitfire were speechless. How does one react to finding out their daughter is a hard flank? Before either of the mares could speak, the doorbell rang. Rainbow opened it. When she saw Princess Celestia outside, she took a defensive position.

"You're not taking her back." She said flatly. Celestia's horn glowed bright and enveloped Scootaloo. The bandages that had covered her body fell away, and her wounds sealed. Rainbow and Spitfire were stunned. Then the Princess' magic enveloped them and the restraints on their wings released.

"I believe a couple of mares have adoption papers to sign." The Princess said, a smile appearing on her face.

It's Official

"Wait, what?" Rainbow was incredibly confused. "Didn't you just send her back to her dad?"

"I did. And I didn't even have to investigate into the matter. Before my guards could arrive Scootaloo had already wreaked havoc in the household. Judging by the injuries her father sustained, mostly to his pride, he's not going to take her back. And seeing as I personally healed the injuries Scootaloo received from her father, I have enough evidence to personally punish him for his crimes against his family. It won't be much, and I'm sorry that it won't be enough to make up for what he did to you Scootaloo, but it will be something." Scootaloo grinned.

"I think I already punished him. He knows now that he has no control over me. Just to make him squirm is punishment enough for me."

"What are you saying Scootaloo?"

"I've been to court a lot growing up with Jade. He was always in and out of community service for some broken law or another. I don't feel like sitting through another boring court case. Let him go, the damage to his pride will be more than enough to punish him."

"Scootaloo, you are very noble in your young age. No direct legal punishment will befall your father, but-"

"Don't call him that." Scootaloo knew it wasn't wise to interrupt the Princess, but she couldn't stand to hear him be called her father.

"Call him what?" Princess Celestia was irritated that the filly had interrupted her, but she let it slide. She was still a filly after all.

"He's not my father. A father looks after and cares for his children. A parent loves his child with all his heart. Rainbow and Spitfire are my parents. Not him."

"Fair enough. I'm sure your parents will be touched by that sentiment." They were. Rainbow and Spitfire's eyes welled up with tears. Scootaloo received a nuzzle from her parents. The Princess felt her heart warm in seeing them as a family.

"Come on, we have to get Scootaloo to Canterlot. She needs to be with Jade so he can release her to the Canterlot Youth Home." Rainbow and Spitfire gave a concerned look to the Princess. "Don't worry, I promise that she'll only be with him long enough to be submitted into the home. Not a moment longer. Then you two mares can sign the necessary paperwork to complete the adoption."

"What are we waiting for?" Rainbow asked. "Let's get her to Canterlot."

"If Jade sees that they're coming to adopt me, he probably won't send me to the youth home." Scootaloo was worried now.

"He won't see your parents. And even if he does, he doesn't have a say anymore. Either he gives you up voluntarily or I take you from him." Princess Celestia wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. She didn't care what evidence she lacked now. She had the power to do the right thing. That's what she was going to do.

The flight to Canterlot took far less time than normal given that all of the ponies on this particular trip had wings and were more than capable of making the trip with ease. Scootaloo surprised Rainbow and Spitfire. Just a couple weeks prior she wasn't able to even get off the ground. Now she was a strong enough flier to make the trip from Ponyville to Canterlot without any help from either of her parents. If her special talent wasn't in music, she'd easily qualify with the Wonderbolts one day. Upon their arrival in Canterlot, Spitfire and Rainbow gave Scootaloo a hug and a nuzzle. Scootaloo headed off with the Princess and the guards to the Crestfall residence. It wasn't long before Jade was walking with Scootaloo and the Princess to the Canterlot Youth Home. Rainbow noticed that Scootaloo really did do a number on the mule. Jade handed over all the necessary paperwork and signed Scootaloo over to the shelter. The Princess then called in Spitfire and Rainbow Dash.

"Scootaloo, I think these two mares are looking to adopt a filly of their own. What do you say?" The Princess winked at Scootaloo. Jade's jaw dropped. He had been set up.

"I like them. They seem like nice ponies." Scootaloo responded. She gave her own wink to Jade, confirming his suspicion.

"Wait! I want my daughter! I can-"

"Such bigotry will not be allowed in my presence Mr. Crestfall." The Princess had difficulty maintaining her composure. She was watching the most worthless pony in Equestria nearly fall apart because he could do nothing to stop his daughter who he had just given up for adoption from being adopted by two mares. It was priceless.

"What do you think Rainbow? Do you like her?" Spitfire decided to play along. Apparently so did Rainbow.

"I don't know, she seems like a handful." Spitfire kicked her. "But I think we can manage. Hand us the paperwork." The mare behind the counter handed over the necessary legal documents and they were quickly signed by Scootaloo's new parents.

"I think I like my new last name." Scootaloo said as the new family walked past Jade. "Scootaloo Dash. Yep, rolls nicely off the tongue." As the family took flight and headed home, Jade just watched. He wouldn't have the burden that filly threw on his life anymore. And according to the Princess no legal punishment. But he knew that he would be forever tormented by the one thing Scootaloo had taken from him. The most important thing in Jade's life since his youth with his own father, back at a time where he had none of it. Power. All Jade wanted, all he needed, was power. Power that his own daughter had ripped away from him. He put lowered his head and walked back to his home. He had a wife to care for.

Back at the Dash home, the family was relaxing in the living room. Scootaloo was playing a slow, flowing melody on her guitar while Spitfire and Rainbow Dash leaned against one another.

"Hey Scoot, what do you want for Hearth's Warming this year?" Rainbow asked. She had already gotten a gift for Spitfire and her other friends, but she hadn't thought about Scootaloo.

"I already have what I want for Hearth's Warming." Scootaloo responded. "You guys gave me the one thing I've wanted my whole life. The one thing I never could find."

"What's that?" Spitfire asked. She already knew what Scootaloo was going to say, but she wanted to hear her say it.

"A family." Scootaloo said. Spitfire and Rainbow looked at their daughter. They thought of where her life would lead her. She was just a filly, but she was already stronger than most of the mares and stallions they knew. They thought about the mare she would become. But above all, the only thing that mattered was what they had now. They were a family. And they were going to see Scootaloo through the rest of her life, no matter what that life threw her way.

Epilogue: Wedding Bells Part 2

Scootaloo stood in the dressing room of Carousel Boutique. She never thought she'd find herself wearing a dress, but this was a special occasion. It had been 15 years since she was first taken in by the Dash family. It felt odd that she was about to change her last name for the third time in her life, but it felt right. Like the day she first picked up a guitar. Her career in music had propelled her into a household name in Equestria. At least among the homes of ponies who enjoyed hard rock. Sweetie Belle still held the spotlight over Scoot, but that was to be expected. The lead singer always gets the attention over the other band members. Iron Pony. Initially just a joke among the band members (They had all watched the Iron Pony Competition between Rainbow Dash and Applejack) it had become their official name after receiving their record label. Applebloom was their head stage engineer. She set up all their sets and props since their first show back in Ponyville. Both her and Sweetie Belle earned their cutie marks that day, ending the "secret society" known to all as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Scootaloo, this is not the time to get lost in thought."

"Sorry Rarity. It's just been a wild ride, you know?"

"Yes, I do. Are you nervous?"

"No, actually. I'm excited. This is the start of a new life for me. I can't wait to walk down that aisle."

"I'm almost sad that I have to hand you over today. At least you found yourself a good stallion." Rainbow chimed in. Scootaloo had asked Rainbow to hand her off to her fiance because Rainbow had always played more of the 'father figure' role in Scootaloo's life after she moved in with the Dash family.

"Look at you. All grown up on your wedding day. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees you up there." Spitfire was near to tears from the joy filling her heart. She had never expected to watch her daughter get married before taking Scootaloo in. She and Rainbow had never made any plans to adopt before they found her. It was then that Sweetie Belle walked in.

"Wow Scoot, you look amazing!"

"Thanks Sweetie Belle."

"Nervous?"

"Nah. I'm going to be married after this. No matter what goes wrong out there today, I'll still be married to him tonight."

"The night after the wedding is the fun part. Frankly I wouldn't have minded skipping the ceremony and going straight for that." Rainbow chimed in.

"Yeah, frankly the whole wedding thing is sweet, but in the end I had a lot more fun tasting the-"

"Mom, sorry to cut you off, but I don't really want to hear about you guys' sexual endeavors." Scootaloo loved her parents deeply, but she wouldn't have minded if they were a little more reserved about their bedroom life.

"Anyway, I came in hear to fulfill my duty as Mare of Honor and tell you that you need to get your flank out there because everypony is waiting on you to start." Sweetie Belle had always been very direct.

"Well Scoot, I'm about to complete my final duty as your mom." Rainbow offered a foreleg. "Shall we?" Scootaloo wrapped her foreleg around her mother's. They stepped outside into the Ponyville town square. Despite her fame, Scootaloo and the band had always been able to find peace and privacy in the small town. It's why they continued to live there after they began raking in bits for their music. Scootaloo walked down the aisle and stood in front of her fiance. This was where her life had taken her. This is where it would begin anew. Fluttershy had her birds singing beautifully. She had become better at arranging music with them since she married Soarin'. But Scootaloo didn't hear it. As far as she was concerned the world was empty save for her and her fiance. This was where her life would truly begin. Everything she had endured to this point had made her the mare she was. Made her the mare that the stallion in front of her had fallen in love with. In this moment, she knew that her life was complete.

Author's note:

I never expected to have this much fun writing a fanfic. I was expecting that I would start it, get poor reviews, and scrap the idea. If it weren't for all of you who read this and kept wanting more I wouldn't have saw the project through. I want to thank all of you for coming with me on this ride. And I want to ask you to stay tuned to find out what happens in between the last two chapters. I will be releasing two sequels to Family Mares that will fill the void. I would also like to ask for some assistance. I am no artist. If somepony would like to draw me some cover art for my next two stories, please send me a private message to my account here on FIMfiction.net

With Love and Tolerance

Dylan Kern