A Hearth's Warming Surprise
"Hey Scootaloo, its good to see you again," Blueberry Milkshake said as Scootaloo opened the door to the orphanage in Ponyville with a bag over her back and pushing a stroller with her sleeping daughter Storm Chaser in it. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, the CMC put together a toy drive for the fillies and colts in the orphanage," Scootaloo said with a smile as she sat the bag down. "I thought me and Stormy could deliver them here personally."
"Oh thank you Scootaloo," Blueberry said with a smile as she opened up the bag and looked through it. "This'll make the foals very happy, I'm glad you set this up."
"Well, this place was my home for a long time, I wanted to give something back to it," Scootaloo said with a smile as the foals rushed in from the other room and gathered around her.
"Scootaloo!"
"You're here!"
"Did you bring us toys?"
"Or candy?"
Scootaloo just laughed a little as she started passing out the wrapped presents to the foals. She paused a moment when she took out a pair that were labeled for two fillies in particular, and looked around the small crowd of gathered foals.
"Hey, where's Hazel and Wintergreen?" She asked as she looked over at Blueberry, Hazel and Wintergreen were a pair of fillies that she had become close to during her last few years at the orphanage and had served as their big sister like Rainbow Dash had done for her, she was surprised to see them gone.
"Oh, a new couple moved into Ponyville a few months ago and they were looking for foals to adopt," Blueberry said with a light smile. "When they found out about those two being so close they insisted on adopting them both and the paperwork just went through the other day. I guess they just hadn't gotten a chance to tell you yet is all."
"Its fine," Scootaloo said with a smile as she put the presents back in her bag, she'd give it to them whenever she had the chance to see them again. "I'm happy they found a family, but it would've been nice to know."
Blueberry nodded and smiled as Scootaloo finished passing out the gifts to the other foals. She had grown up from the young and wild filly that Blueberry had first met when she moved into the Orphanage and had become a mature young mare who had a good heart and wanted to help ponies as best she could.
It was hard to believe that Scootaloo had changed so much, but with her daughter Storm Chaser having been born just a few months before, she had to. She and Rainbow Dash had been working hard to keep the little filly happy and healthy, and Scootaloo had mostly been busy between that and her work with her fellow Crusaders.
"How are things with Rainbow Dash?" Blueberry asked.
"Oh they're doing fine, its still taking a little getting used to, but she's become a great grandma for Stormy," Scootaloo said with a smile and then frowned a little. "She's a little worried though because her parents are coming to visit for Hearth's Warming this year."
"Oh, Rainbow doesn't have a good relationship with her parents?" Blueberry asked with a tilt of her head.
"That's one way to put it, things have been getting better but we, haven't really told them about me or Stormy yet," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked down at the sleeping filly with a soft smile. "Given their, enthusiasm I'm guessing that'll go about as well as it usually does."
"Well, I'm sure everything will be okay," Blueberry said with a nod.
"Hey, are you doing anything for Hearth's Warming?" Scootaloo asked as she looked over at the Matron.
"Not really, just helping with the foals as usual," Blueberry said with a smile. "Somepony should be here for them, you know?"
"Yeah, well I've talked with Rainbow about it and we wouldn't mind having you over for Hearth's Warming Dinner," Scootaloo said with a smile. "I mean, you're Stormy's godmother, and you raised me, so that makes you part of the family, if you have time I mean."
"Sure, if I have time I'd love to be there," Blueberry said and gave Scootaloo a hug. "You take care of yourself okay? And Stormy, I'm trusting you to keep a close eye on your mommy, okay?"
The filly just giggled gently in her stroller and Scootaloo smiled before she hugged back. She was happy that everything was going pretty well. She released the hug after a moment and opened the door to the orphanage and headed back out with Storm.
00000
As Scootaloo walked back towards the cloud mansion she shared with Rainbow Dash she hummed a light tune to herself. Everything was actually pretty normal around Ponyville for once, and a lot of ponies were playing in the newly fallen snow that had been created just the night before by the weather team.
She smiled a little when she saw a couple of fillies having a snowball fight with one another, she was about to walk past them when a snowball caught her in the flank and she heard the sound of small hooves running up to her.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I'm..." the filly said and she stopped when she saw who she had hit. "Scootaloo!"
A small brown Unicorn filly with a white spot on her nose and a short tan mane hugged Scootaloo tightly and was soon joined by a light green Pegasus filly with a dark green mane. Scootaloo smiled a little and hugged the fillies back.
"Hey Hazel, hey Wintergreen," she said with a smile as she looked down at the fillies who didn't release the hug yet. "So, I heard the good news, you two got adopted huh?"
"Yeah!" Hazel said with a smile as she waved over at two mares who were sitting on the porch of their house drinking hot chocolate and watching the fillies, but they had gotten up and started walking over to the four ponies. "That's our new moms over there now."
"Yeah, they're cool!" Wintergreen said with a smile as the two mares came over to them.
Scootaloo smiled a little and gave them a nod, one of them was a peach colored Earth pony mare with a short mane and the other was a stocky blue Pegasus mare with a purple mane tied into a ponytail.
"Hey there, you must be Scootaloo, the girls have told us a lot about you," the Earth Pony mare said and offered Scootaloo a hoof. "I'm Holiday, this is my wife Lofty."
"Yeah, I'm Scootaloo," Scootaloo said with a smile as she shook the mare's hoof and looked over at Lofty who was looking into the stroller at Storm Chaser.
"Aww, who's this little cutie, your little sister?" Lofty asked as Storm cooed a little and looked up at the older Pegasus mare.
"No, she's, my daughter," Scootaloo said which made Lofty and Holiday look at her a little surprised.
"You seem a little young to have a daughter, how old are you?" Holiday asked.
"I'll be 17 next spring," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she shook her head a little. "Its a long story, but she is mine, I just didn't want to give her up for adoption or anything."
Holiday nodded in understanding as Lofty just smiled down at the filly before she turned back to look at Scootaloo. "Well, its very nice to meet you after all the stories we've heard from these two."
"Oh, I assure you they're mostly gross exaggerations," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she smiled down at the fillies. "I'm just happy that they found a loving family to adopt them, that means a lot to me after the orphanage."
"Yes, well we had always talked about adopting a foal, but when we learned about these two we just couldn't say no to adopting them both," Holiday said as she ruffled Hazel's mane gently. "What about you, they told us you found your biological mother or something, right?"
"Yeah, that's right, we've been living with her since then," Scootaloo said with a nod as she looked at the mares again, there was something odd about them, like they were familiar to her even if she had never met them before. "So why did you move to Ponyville?"
"Well we've been kind of doing our own thing out in Fillydelphia, but we wanted to settle down somewhere nice," Holiday said with a shrug. "We used to live here actually, a long time ago, but there was a bit of an incident with my younger brother and a mare. We don't really like talking about it."
"Its okay, well we should get home so a certain little one doesn't get too cold," Scootaloo said with a smile as she gave the fillies a quick hug. "You two be good for your moms, okay?"
"We'll try!" The two said in unison with a giggle.
"Oh, before I forget, we had a toy drive and we got these for the two of you," Scootaloo said as she reached into her bag and took out the two presents that were for the fillies and gave them to them. "Happy Hearth's Warming you two."
"Happy Hearth's Warming Scootaloo," Hazel said and they gave her one more hug before she walked off towards the cloud house she shared with Rainbow Dash.
00000
"Hey Scootaloo, how'd it go at the orphanage?" Rainbow Dash asked as Scootaloo came into the room after putting Storm Chaser down for her nap, the prismatic maned mare was working on getting the decorations set up for Hearth's Warming.
"Oh it went great, they were all happy to get their presents," Scootaloo said with a smile as she brushed some of the remaining snow off of her. "And I got a bit of a surprise, you remember Hazel and Wintergreen? They were adopted by a new couple who moved into town a few months ago."
"Oh really?" Rainbow asked as she looked over at Scootaloo curiously. "Well, that's great, we'll have to invite them over sometime. What's their parents' names?"
"Holiday and Lofty, like I said they moved into town a few months ago," Scootaloo said and Rainbow was caught off guard for a moment which made her miss the nail she was trying to hit and hit herself in the hoof. "Ouch, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just give me a minute," Rainbow said as she carefully nailed it into place and fluttered down to where Scootaloo was standing with a bit of a surprised look on her face. "You said Holiday and Lofty right? One of them is kinda peach colored with an orange red mane and the other is blue with a purple mane right?"
"Yeah, do you know them?" Scootaloo asked with a tilt of her head, she had never heard Rainbow talk about mares by either of those names so she wasn't sure what to make of this.
"Yeah, I did," Rainbow said with a slight frown. "Holiday is your father's sister, and Lofty was the mare she was dating when I met her."
"Wait, so that means..." Scootaloo said and blinked in astonishment. "They're my aunts?"
"Yeah, it does, I lost touch with them when your father ran out on me, but they seemed to be very nice, they always treated me right at least," Rainbow said with a soft smile and a shake of her head. "I didn't think they'd ever move back into town though, I wasn't expecting that at all."
"I wasn't expecting them to be related to me, they seemed nice enough though," Scootaloo said, she was still trying to process this new information. "Why did my father even run out on you?"
"I don't know, maybe he wasn't ready for the responsibility, maybe he was just a plothead like Cirrus was," Rainbow said with a shrug as she hugged Scootaloo gently. "But that's in the past, I don't care about it anymore and I'm not going to hold it against his sister just because he happened to run off."
Scootaloo was still in a bit of shock, she hadn't ever thought about whether or not she might have any aunts or uncles and she just found out she had two aunts. This was going to take a little getting use to to say the least, but what more could she do? Should she tell them who she was? What would they think? Would they be surprised? What was going to happen if she told them?
Then there was Hazel and Wintergreen, it occurred to her for a moment that it actually meant that they were cousins, that was something she hadn't expected to say the least. It was actually kind of nice to know she had more family out there, bu t she didn't know what she was going to do about it now that she knew.
"So what now?" She asked as she looked at Rainbow who just shrugged a little.
"Well, you could always tell them, It wouldn't do that much harm I'm sure," Rainbow said with a shrug. "They were always nice enough to me, its a shame we lost touch over the years I guess. Do you want to talk to them?"
Scootaloo paused for a moment, she was glad to have a chance to meet with more of her family. She had always kind of hoped she had family out there somewhere that would care about her and everything, but she had never thought they'd just show up like this.
Maybe this was her chance to finally really connect with her family again, and learn more about where she came from. Holiday and Lofty seemed nice enough, and maybe they'd be willing to at least talk with her.
"Yeah, I'd like that," she said with a smile as she looked up at Rainbow Dash. "So, is there any more family members out there you're not telling me about?"
"Well, there's your great Uncle Ray, he's got this weird habit of building suits of armor that he seems to think will let him shrink or something," Rainbow said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"That sounds like something out of a comic book..." Scootaloo said as she looked at Rainbow strangely. "Are you messing with me again?"
"You'll see at the next family reunion," Rainbow said with a laugh as she went back to hanging up the decorations. "So what about Sweetie Belle, is your fillyfriend going to be here for dinner?"
Scootaloo blushed a little at that but smiled, she had already invited Sweetie Belle over for dinner on Hearth's Warming Eve and to join them for presents the day after. "Yeah, she'll be here, I invited her after we finished the Toy Drive."
"That's great," Rainbow said with a smile as she flew back down and hugged her daughter. "I'm very proud of you Scootaloo, you've done a great job as Storm's mother and you've done a lot of good work to help other ponies. I couldn't possibly be prouder of you, I love you so much and I'm glad that I have you."
Scootaloo smiled and hugged her back, she was just happy that she had a family. "So, umm, if they want do you think we could invite Holiday and Lofty over for dinner too?"
Rainbow chuckled a little as she hugged Scootaloo and nodded. "Sure, I'd be glad to have them over if they want to join us."
Scootaloo smiled and nodded. Now the only thing left to worry about was to ask them.
00000
Scootaloo looked at the door to Holiday and Lofty's house with a pause as she tried to decide whether or not to knock on it. She was still a little nervous about actually telling them that they were related, she had never really imagined what it might be like to tell family that they were related.
She took a deep breath and finally knocked on the door. There was a long moment as she waited for somepony to answer the door, what was she going to say? What were they going to do? This was something that she had no idea what she was going to do.
"Hey Scootaloo, what brings you here?" A mare's voice said and she looked up to see Lofty standing there with a smile. "Can I help you?"
"Umm, is Holiday home too?" Scootaloo asked as she looked around inside, a smell hit her nose as she looked inside.
"Sure, she's just making the cookies right now," Lofty said as she opened the door more and let Scootaloo inside. "So where's the kiddo?"
"She's with her grandma," Scootaloo said with a nod as they walked inside. "I, wanted to talk to you and Holiday about something, if that's okay I mean, I don't want to impose or anything."
"No, no its fine," Lofty said with a smile as she nodded upstairs. "Hazel and Wintergreen are upstairs getting their homework done before they go out and play some more. Would you like a cookie?"
"Sure," Scootaloo said as they entered the kitchen where Holiday was taking the cookies out and gave them a smile. "Hey Holiday."
"Hello Scootaloo, can we help you with anything?" Holiday asked as she looked at Scootaloo.
"Well, umm..." Scootaloo started to say, though honestly she wasn't really sure what she was going to say still, this wasn't going to be easy to say anything. "Did you used to know Rainbow Dash before you moved out of Ponyville before?"
Holiday and Lofty blinked a little at that, they hadn't expected Scootaloo ask that to say the least. Holiday spoke up first after a moment. "Yeah, we knew her back when we lived here before, my brother dated her for a time, it didn't exactly end well..."
"Yeah, I know how it went, I kinda went through the same thing," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she looked up at her two aunts. "Rainbow Dash is my mom, I just found out a few months ago while I was pregnant with stormy."
The two older mares' eyes went wide at that, they certainly hadn't expected that news. While they had known about Rainbow Dash being pregnant and had wanted to help at the time, they had to leave town because of Holiday's parents.
"That means, you're..." Lofty said as she trailed that thought off for a long moment. "You're our niece?"
"Yeah, I am," Scootaloo said as she rubbed the back of her head a little. "Rainbow Dash just told me after we met yesterday, I'm sorry I didn't know about it before, but I really didn't find out about family until recently."
She was a bit surprised when the two older mares hugged her tightly and started to cry a little. Scootaloo smiled and hugged them back, she was a bit surprised at the reaction but she was at least happy that she had them there with her.
"We're the ones who should be sorry Scootaloo, if we had known everything that was going on we'd have gladly taken you in ourselves if we knew that was an option," Holiday said as she continued the hug with her wife. "I didn't think I'd ever get to see you."
"I didn't think I had any family outside of my mom and grandparents," Scootaloo said as she released the hug. "I'm still kind of getting used to having a family honestly, I didn't know about Rainbow being my mom for awhile either."
"Well, I'm sure she had her reasons," Lofty said and Holiday was going to say something when there was the sound of small hooves on the stairs as the two fillies came down and rushed in and hugged Scootaloo too.
"Scootaloo!" Hazel said as she hugged the Pegasus tight and smiled. "I'm so glad you're here, we loved the presents!"
"Yeah, I'm glad you're here!" Wintergreen said as she hugged Scootaloo too.
Scootaloo smiled and hugged the fillies back as she looked down at them. "So, we've got a little bit of a surprise for you two."
"Oh?" Hazel asked as her ears perked up and she tilted her head curiously. "What is it, is it more presents?"
Scootaloo chuckled a little and shook her head. "No, but as it turns out... your moms are my aunts, that makes us cousins through adoption."
The fillies' eyes went wide and they let out a squeal. Scootaloo smiled a little as hugged the two fillies, she was just glad that she had a chance to tell them and that they were family.
"You're not kidding right?" Wintergreen asked as she looked up at Scootaloo with her green eyes wide. "You wouldn't kid about that kind of thing right?"
"No, its true," Holiday said with a smile as she looked down at her two adopted daughters. "Your uncle and Scootaloo's mom were together a long time ago, but that's something for when you're older."
Scootaloo smiled a little as she released the hug and nodded. "So, I don't know if you might be interested, but we're going to be having a dinner together at me and Rainbow's house on Hearth's Warming Eve. We were wondering if you might want to join us, I mean if you don't have anything else going on that night."
Holiday and Lofty looked between each other and then down at their daughters who were trying not to jump off the walls with excitement over what was going on.
"Do you two want to go?" Lofty asked and they nodded rapidly.
"YES!" They said in unison as they bounced happily. "We'd love to go!"
"Well, we're not really doing anything that night," Holiday said with a smile as she looked at Scootaloo. "We'd love to join you both for dinner."
"Well, there's going to be a few more ponies," Scootaloo said as she rubbed the back of her head. "My grandparents and my fillyfriend are going to be there too if that's okay."
"Oh, of course that's fine, we look forward to meeting them," Holiday said with a nod. "Come on, lets all have some cookies."
Scootaloo smiled as she took a seat at the table with her aunts and cousins and some cookies and a glass of milk were set out in front of her.
"So, how's Stormy doing?" Hazel asked as she looked up at Scootaloo curiously.
"Oh, she's doing fine," Scootaloo said as she took a bite of her cookie. "Its not been easy, but I've got a lot of good ponies helping me out whenever I need it. That's all I can really ask for I guess, as long as she grows up happy and healthy."
"Is Sweetie Belle helping out still?" Wintergreen asked and Lofty looked over at Scootaloo curiously.
"Yeah, she's been doing great, she's like a second mom for Stormy," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she took a sip of milk.
"So, when are you two going to make it official?" Hazel asked with a smirk which nearly made Scootaloo spit out her milk in shock. "What did I say?"
"Hazel, I think your cousin Scootaloo is still a little too young for that," Holiday said with a chuckle as Scootaloo tried to recover from it. "Right?"
"Well, yeah, we've talked about it a little but we decided to wait until after we graduate," Scootaloo said as she finally managed to recover. "I love Sweetie, I really do and I'm willing to wait for her as long as I have to."
"Well I think its sweet," Wintergreen said with a smile as she looked up at Scootaloo. "You two make a cute couple."
"Thanks," Scootaloo said with a blush as she looked over at her aunts. "So, what do you two do for a living?"
"Well, I'm an artist, I work from home most of the time," Holiday said with a smile as she nodded to a painting that was hanging on the wall of Ponyville from a distance.
"Wow, that's really cool," Scootaloo said with a smile as she looked at the painting and nodded. "Its beautiful, where did you paint that from?"
"Oh, a little hill on the outskirts of town, I thought it was nice," Holiday said.
"So what about you Lofty?"
"I run a flight school actually," Lofty said with a light smile as she looked over at Scootaloo. "Lofty's Lifts, I've been teaching Pegasi how to fly for a few years now and its great. Maybe when Stormy gets older I can help teach her, but I'm sure you and Rainbow want to do that."
Scootaloo smiled a little at that, she had never been able to fly herself, the doctors said she had some sort of magical deficiency, but it was nice to know that they had somepony else to help with that kind of thing.
"I've never really been able to fly," she said with a sigh as she wiggled her wings a little. "But I've never really let it stop me from being the best pony I can be, even if sometimes I make mistakes. I'm just glad that everything has worked out pretty well. And, well I'm sure we could use some help if we need it at least, I'll keep your offer in mind."
Lofty smiled and nodded. "Thank you."
Scootaloo nodded and finished her snack, it was about time for Storm to get up for her nap and she'd want to be there for her. She thanked Holiday and Lofty for their hospitality and headed back out and off to the cloud house again.
00000
"Hey squirt, hey little squirt," Rainbow said as she trotted into the living room where Scootaloo was laying with a sleeping Storm Chaser on the couch. "How'd everything go?"
"Pretty well actually, they said they'd love to come for dinner," Scootaloo said with a smile as she looked up at Rainbow, but frowned a little. "I'm still a little worried though, I mean what about your parents? They did always like me, but that was then and this is now, what are they going to think of Stormy?"
"I think they're going to adore her and make up for 16 years of lost time with you," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she ruffled her daughter's mane gently. "Come on, this is our first Hearth's Warming as a family, you're going to be just fine. Do you have the, you know, special gift for Sweetie Belle yet?"
"Yeah, it came in the other day," Scootaloo said with a light smile as she looked up at Rainbow. "Are you sure about this... I mean, we could wait a little longer."
"Don't worry about it, I talked with Rarity and her parents and they said its okay," Rainbow said as she nuzzled Scootaloo gently. "What's important to me is that its what you want to do, is it?"
Scootaloo thought for a long moment and nodded. "Yeah, it is... I just have to hope that I don't mess this up somehow."
"Scootaloo, you're not going to mess it up, you're one of the most amazing ponies ever," Rainbow said as she hugged her daughter and granddaughter gently. "You're going to do just fine, I promise."
"Okay," Scootaloo said and then looked at Rainbow with a smirk. "What about you and Fluttershy?"
Rainbow blushed deeply and looked around nervously. "We're, kinda taking it slow right now... maybe after Hearth's Warming or something..."
Scootaloo laughed at her mother's antics and Storm's eyes fluttered open as she looked up at her mother curiously. Scootaloo just smiled and nuzzled the sleepy filly gently and she started crying a little and she wrinkled her nose.
"Somepony needs a change," she said with a chuckle and got to her hooves and carried Storm into the nursery to change her diaper.
Rainbow smiled a little as she watched the two walk off. While she had been worried about how Scootaloo would be able to handle it, it turned out that she was a natural at being a mother. Rainbow was helping of course and so were her friends, but Scootaloo had really done a lot to make sure that Storm was well taken care of.
She knew that Scootaloo was going to be just fine, even if there were a few bumps in the road, the filly had grown up to be a great young mare and would continue to grow. It was just a matter of time before she was ready to live on her own now, and that saddened Rainbow a little when she thought about it. She had just now really become her mom and Storm's grandmother, but she knew that Scootaloo was going to grow up eventually.
But that didn't mean she'd never stop loving her did it? Maybe it was ultimately for the best, as long as she could be there when she needed her to be.
At least she hoped she would be
00000
"So, you're Scootaloo's aunts?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at Holiday and Lofty curiously, it was Hearth's Warming Eve and everypony was arriving for dinner which Rainbow and Scootaloo were working on getting set out. "I didn't know she had any other family."
"Yeah, it surprised us a little too when we met her," Holiday said with a light chuckle as Storm Chaser crawled over to Sweetie Belle and the Unicorn picked her up in her magic and cradled her gently. "You're really good with her, you know that?"
"I try my best," Sweetie said with a smile as she nuzzled the filly who giggled. "Stormy and I have been really close ever since Scootaloo brought her home, its been an interesting experience to help raise her, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I'll bet, I'm glad Scootaloo has found somepony to help her out like that," Lofty said as she watched the Unicorn play with the small Pegasus. "Me and Holiday are still pretty new to the mom thing ourselves, but its quite the rewarding job don't you think?"
Sweetie smiled and nodded a little as she set Storm down and the small pony looked up at Holiday and Lofty curiously. "Yeah, it really is, though she doesn't make it easy sometimes, I think she's being nice to lull you into a false sense of security."
"May I hold her?" Holiday asked and Sweetie nodded and the Earth Pony mare gently picked the filly up and smiled down at her. "Hey there Stormy, I'm your great aunt Holiday, I just found out you existed a few days ago so I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were born. I'm glad to have you in my family though, you're going to do just fine."
"Hey kiddo," Lofty said with a smile as she brushed a strand of purple hair out of Storm's eyes. "Auntie Lofty here, we're gonna spend the next few years spoiling you, so that's something to look forward to."
Sweetie just rolled her eye and laughed as Scootaloo came into the room with a nod. "You two aren't giving Sweetie a hard time are you?"
"No, no of course not, why would we ever do that?" Lofty said with a chuckle . "Is dinner ready?"
"Yeah we're just waiting for..." Scootaloo started to say when there was a knock on the door. "That would be them, excuse me a moment."
She walked to the front door and opened it only to be hugged tightly by the two ponies on the other side. "Oof!"
"Scootaloo, its so good to see you again!" Windy Whistles said as she hugged the teenage filly. "Rainbow told us she had adopted you but we haven't really gotten a chance to visit since then!"
"Oof, yeah, its been a crazy few months," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she hugged her grandparents back. "How much did she tell you?"
"Just the adoption thing and that you had some sort of surprise," Bow Hot Hoof said as he looked at Scootaloo for a long moment. "Is everything okay? Are you settling in? I mean she told us you were her daughter before, that's not too hard for you to accept or something is it?"
"No, no, I'm over that now, I honestly can kind of relate," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as they headed back into the living room where Sweetie was holding a sleeping Storm Chaser and put her hoof to her lips in a shushing motion.
"Please keep your voices down, you don't want to wake her up," Sweetie said in a whisper as the two older Pegasi looked down at their great-granddaughter with a surprised look on their faces.
"Who's this?" Bow Hot Hoof asked as he looked over at Scootaloo who rubbed the back of her head a little. "Did Rainbow have another foal and not tell us?"
"No, she's, mine," Scootaloo said as she looked up at her grandparents, she wasn't sure what they were going to say and honestly it worried her a little bit. "Awhile back I was in a relationship with a stallion and I got pregnant, Rainbow and Sweetie have been helping me raise her."
"Aww you poor thing," Windy said as she hugged Scootaloo tight again. "Don't worry, I'm sure you're doing great, best mom in the world right here."
Scootaloo smiled a little, this was something that was going to take some getting used to given that she had never really had much of a family before. Now she had aunts and grandparents that were all freaking out over her and Storm Chaser and it was actually kind of, nice to know that they cared about her that much.
"What's her name?" Bow Hot Hoof asked, they were still being quiet to keep from waking the filly.
"Storm Chaser," Scootaloo said and Sweetie nodded a little.
"Hey there Storm Chaser," Windy said with a smile. "So, whatever happened to her father?"
"Shipped off to boarding school," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Honestly I kind of lost track of what happened to him, I don't really care he was kind of a jerk to be honest."
"Well, I'm sorry, but at least you have Storm Chaser," Bow Hot Hoof said with a nod. "A father who isn't there for his foal is no father at all, right Windy?"
Windy nodded and Scootaloo smiled, that seemed to be a pretty good mentality at least. While Rainbow hadn't been there for her, she understood why she couldn't be there, even if she had wished that Rainbow could've raised her from foalhood, she understood why she hadn't, probably now more than ever.
"Hey Mom, Dad, I see you've met the new member of our family," Rainbow said as she walked into the room with a light smile. "Hard to believe that you're great-grandparents now huh?"
"Yeah, we were just getting used to being grandparents," Bow Hot Hoof said with a light chuckle. "Rainbow, I'm proud of you and Scootaloo, you've done a great job together and I mean that sincerely."
"Yeah, its not been easy, but we've been doing our best," Rainbow said as she gave them a nod. "So, who's ready for some dinner? I know I'm hungry, Holiday and Lofty are getting their fillies ready and then we'll be ready to eat."
They all nodded and after a few minutes they were all seated around the table. Scootaloo had fit Storm into her high chair next to the table and smiled a little at the filly who was looking around curiously at all the other ponies surrounding her.
"Stormy, this is your family," Scootaloo said with a smile as she brushed the filly's mane back gently. "If they're anything like they are with me, they're going to drive you crazy at times, but whenever you need them, they'll always be there for you, and that's what counts. They're always going to love you no matter what, even if at times they have a weird way of showing it."
Storm Chaser babbled happily and looked at her mommy with her wide eyes. Scootaloo smiled and turned back to her own food as she looked around, this was actually really nice, it was both her and Storm's first real family dinner for Hearth's Warming, and it felt nice to be able to be around family like this.
She looked over at Sweetie who gave her a smile and a nod before they started eating. They were all family together, no matter what.
00000
"Come on Scootaloo, its time to get up," the voice of Rainbow Dash said from behind Scootaloo's door and she groaned as she yawned a little. "You're not going to sleep through Hearth's Warming are you? Or are you busy making out with Sweetie Belle again?"
"Ugh, I'll get up when I'm ready," Scootaloo said with a groan and looked over at Sweetie Belle who was still asleep on the bed next to her. She smiled a little and draped her wing over the Unicorn. "Come on Sweetie, mom is starting to get cranky if we don't get up.
"Just 5 more minutes," Sweetie said with a groan as she tried to roll over, Scootaloo just rolled her eyes and used her wing to tickle Sweetie gently.
"Come on, you don't want to miss Stormy's first Hearth's Warming do you?" She asked as she tickled more, getting giggles out of her fillyfriend who tried to push her wings away. "She'd want both her mommies there wouldn't she?"
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up, just stop tickling me!" Sweetie finally said through the giggles as Scootaloo stopped and leaned over and kissed her. "You're lucky I love you, you know that?"
"Yes, I know," Scootaloo said and kissed her again. "And I love you too Sweetie Belle, I'm glad you're here with us today."
"Me too, but we still have to go over to the Boutique later, and then to Sweet Apple Acres, I think Rarity and Applejack are finally going to make it official, but you didn't hear it from me," Sweetie said with a chuckle, her sister and Applejack had been dating for awhile and she had wondered when they'd get engaged.
"Good, took them long enough, now we just have to get mom to propose to Fluttershy," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she kissed Sweetie again. "Come on, I'll get Stormy and meet you downstairs, okay?"
"Okay," Sweetie said as she headed out of the room and Scootaloo headed into the nursery where Storm Chaser was waking up and looking hungry.
"Well, looks like somepony is hungry," Scootaloo said with a light smile as she set herself up so that Storm could nurse, she smiled a little at the filly as she continued to nurse and thought back over the past few months.
Being a mom had been a hard challenge for her, but one that she had risen to meet because she knew that here daughter was counting on her to do her best. Being a single mom had made it harder, but she had everything she needed to make sure that Storm was raised right, her family and friends were all she needed, not some annoying pain in the flank stallion that had cheated on her.
She thought about Cirrus for a long moment, had she really done the right thing by dumping him? Probably given that he didn't seem the type to change easily, she wondered if Storm Chaser would ever want to know more about her daddy, but that was not something she relished explaining to her until she was old enough to really understand.
She smiled a little as she felt Storm finish and burped her gently before she carried her downstairs to where the others were waiting around the hearth.
"Sorry, somepony decided she wanted something to eat before it was time for presents," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she and Storm sat down with Sweetie Belle.
"Don't worry about it," Rainbow said with a smile as she looked at the trio with a smile. "So, lets start with the presents shall we?"
Scootaloo nodded as the presents were passed out, Storm had a small pile of presents that had been given to her by her family and friends. Scootaloo smiled and started helping her unwrap them, they were all toys and foal's books (it was easy to guess who gave her those), and Storm was excited.
Scootaloo was just about to start on her own gifts when she heard a soft gurgling voice next to her say "Mama."
"Was that you Stormy?" she asked as she looked down at her daughter who was holding one of her new books up to her and smiling.
"Mama."
Scootaloo smiled and picked her daughter up gently and hugged her gently. She just held the filly in her forelegs for a long moment while the others opened their presents. This was the best present she could've asked for and just wanted to hold onto her for awhile longer.
"I love you Stormy," she said softly as she held the tiny pony close to her for a long moment before she gently gave her over to Sweetie Belle to hold while she finished her own presents.
When she was all done she leaned back on the couch and put her wing around Sweetie gently.
"This has been a really nice first Hearth's Warming," Sweetie said and Scootaloo nodded as she looked over at Rainbow who gave her a wink. "I don't know what could possibly make it better than it already is."
"I know one way," Scootaloo said as she gave Sweetie a smile and reached into a drawer and took out one more present, she gently took Storm Chaser back as Sweetie started to open it and looked at Scootaloo with a confused look on her face.
"What have you been planning Scoots?" She asked with a smirk as she tore it open to find a jewelry box, when she opened it she gasped.
Inside the box was a golden ring with an emerald and an amethyst stone inlaid into it with a heart made of sapphires surrounding it. She just stared at it in awe and looked back at Scootaloo.
"I know, we're still a little young for it, but I wanted to ask you Sweetie," Scootaloo said as she pulled Sweetie in close. "Sweetie Belle, you've always been there for me when I needed you, and I love you so very much, I'm glad you're my filly friend but... will you marry me?"
Sweetie just sat there in silence for a long moment as she tried to process what Scootaloo was asking her. She finally leaned in and gave Scootaloo a kiss on the lips once the shock had worn off and they held that for a long moment before Sweetie finally broke the kiss and smiled at her.
"Of course Scootaloo, I'd love to marry you," she said and Scootaloo smiled broadly. "Wait, does Rarity and my parents know about this?"
"Don't worry, we made sure they were informed," Rainbow said with a chuckle. "Why do you think they let you stay over for Hearth's Warming? We just have to wait until you're both 18 is all, they insisted."
"Yeah, what's another year?" Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she nuzzled Sweetie gently.
"Yeah," Sweetie said with a nod as she nuzzled back. "I love you Scootaloo."
"I love you too Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said, and the two stayed there for a long moment while holding Stormy. "You hear that Stormy, you're gonna have two mamas for real in just over a year."
Storm gurgled happily and Scootaloo just smiled, she knew that everything was back on track now.