Moving Forward

by RuinQueenofOblivion

Rating: everyone
Tags: Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance, Drama, Original Character, Apple Bloom
Length: 17379

After graduating from high school with her friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are getting ready for their wedding in a month. However, there are still more surprises to come before they can get their happily ever after.

Its been a couple of years now since Scootaloo gave birth to her daughter Storm Chaser. She and her friends have just graduated from high school and she and Sweetie Belle are getting ready for their upcoming wedding, all is pretty good all things considered.

But when an unexpected face from Rainbow Dash's past shows up at their house, the Dash family has to figure out what this is going to mean for their future. Can they move forward and will everything be okay?

Published 2018-03-15 16:50:07 UTC
Last updated 2019-05-12 23:05:37 UTC

Graduation

"Scootaloo," principal Swift Rise said as she held up a diploma and Scootaloo walked across the stage in the park at the high school and took the diploma with a smile. "Congratulations Scootaloo, I knew you could do it."

"Thank you," The Pegasus said with a smile as she took her diploma and headed back to her seat next to her fiance Sweetie Belle who gave her a smile before she was called up to the stage next.

Scootaloo smiled a little as she watched Sweetie take her diploma. It had been a crazy time at high school given that she had become pregnant just three years prior. She looked back behind her towards the crowd where Rainbow Dash was sitting along with a small light blue filly with a two toned purple and light blue mane.

It hadn't been easy to figure things out ever since Storm Chaser had been born but she had managed so far with her family and friends. Just that past Hearth's Warming she had proposed to Sweetie Belle and they were set to be married in just a few months.

Scootaloo smiled a little and put her hoof on Sweetie's as the white unicorn sat down next to her. "How do I look?" Sweetie asked softly as she brushed her mane back under her hat. She had been the valedictorian for the class and was still a little nervous after having given her speech. "Did I do okay?"

"You did fine Sweetie, and you look beautiful," Scootaloo answered as she leaned over and kissed her fiance gently on the lips. "I love you Sweetie Belle, more than anything else in Equestria."

Sweetie smiled and kissed her back as she nuzzled the Pegasus gently. She had loved Scootaloo ever since their Freshman year in High School and with everything that was going on she had been unsure if she would ever even get a chance with the Pegasus, but here she was, getting ready to marry her in just a few months.

As the graduation ceremony came to a close they headed back towards the crowd to meet up with Apple Bloom, Rarity, Applejack, and Scootaloo's moms and daughter.

"You looked great up there Sweetie," Rarity said as she hugged her little sister.

"Yeah, yah did great," Apple Bloom said as Scootaloo gently picked up Storm Chaser who hugged her.

"So how does it feel to have graduated finally?" Rainbow asked with a grin as she ruffled Scootaloo's mane. "I knew you could do it, I'm so very proud of you."

"Thanks," Scootaloo said as she hugged Storm Chaser back gently. "Its hard to believe that we made it out of this crazy past few years though."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't trade it for anything," Sweetie said as she kissed Scootaloo gently on the cheek. "And I wouldn't trade you and Stormy for anything, I love you both more than anything."

"Mama Sweetie," Stormy said with a giggle as she looked between Sweetie and Scootaloo.

"Yep, that's right," Scootaloo said with a giggle as she nuzzled her daughter gently. "I know everything's been hard for the last two years, but I have the best family in Equestria right now. I love you both and I'm glad that I have you, all of you."

"We're glad to have you part of the family too darling," Rarity said with a smile as she put her foreleg around Applejack gently. "We all consider you part of the family even though you haven't married Sweetie yet, right Applejack?"

"Right," Applejack said with a nod. Scootaloo smiled a little, Applejack and Rarity had gotten married to one another the year before at around the same time Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had gotten married. "Which means ya'll should came ta tha Family Reunion this year."

"Oh, I've got a fantastic idea, why don't you two get married on the Summer Sun Celebration?" Rarity suggested and looked between the couple. "I mean that's when the Family Reunion too, so it could welcome you into the family as well. What do you think?"

Scootaloo thought for a long moment, she hadn't really thought about the possibility of getting married on that day. That would only be the next month and they had done a lot to prepare already but they hadn't settled on a day.

"What do you think Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked as she looked over at her fiance. "I wouldn't mind doing that, do you think we'll be ready for the wedding that soon?"

"Well, we're getting pretty close to ready," Sweetie said with a nod as she looked down at Stormy. "And I'm pretty sure Pinkie has been planning this for even longer knowing her."

"That's right!" Pinkie said as she bounced by.

"How did she... never mind, I don't want to know," Scootaloo said with a groan and shook her head at the strange pony as they headed out of the park and off towards Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo's house.

00000

Scootaloo sighed a little, there was a party going on downstairs to celebrate graduation and honestly she wasn't sure if she wanted to be down there right now. She smiled as she tucked Storm Chaser in for her nap and looked down at her, she was sleeping so peacefully.

"Is she okay?" Sweetie Belle asked softly as she came in and looked down at the sleeping foal.

"Yeah, she went to sleep without much problem," Scootaloo said as she put her wing gently over Sweetie Belle. "She's a good filly when she wants to be at least."

Sweetie giggled a little as she kissed Scootaloo a kiss on the cheek. "You're a really good mom Scootaloo, I couldn't be happier to have you as my fiance."

Scootaloo smiled as she pulled Sweetie in closer. "I try my best, and it helps that I have one of the most amazing ponies in Equestria as my fiance. I don't know what I'd do without you or Rainbow Dash."

"Probably go crazy," Sweetie said with a quiet giggle before the two of them headed downstairs towards the living room where the party was. "I think Pinkie's still disappointed that she's not going to be able to use her party cannon again."

"Well, she'll live and I'd rather not have to put her back down to bed," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as they headed into the living room.

"Hey, there's the happy couple," Rainbow said with a smile as the two entered the living room. "How's Stormy doing?"

"She's doing pretty well," Scootaloo said with a nod as she looked at the other ponies. She smiled a little, her friends and family including her moms, aunts, and her little cousins had all come for the party and she smiled a little as Hazel and Wintergreen came over and hugged her.

"Hey you two, how's it going?" She asked with a smile as she hugged the fillies back. "Are you still being good for your moms?"

"Maaaaybe," Hazel said with a giggle. "We're so glad to see you again, congratulations on graduating, you too Sweetie!"
Scootaloo smiled a little as she looked over at Holiday and Lofty who gave her a smile and a nod. Everything was going pretty well all things considered, she had a family, friends, and she was happy that she had a chance to do this.

"Thank you both," Sweetie said with a smile as she looked down at the two.

"So, have you two figured out anything more about your wedding?" Holiday asked as she looked at us curiously. "I mean you've been planning it for awhile, right?"

"Yeah, we're thinking about maybe next month on the Summer Sun Celebration," Sweetie said as she looked over at Scootaloo with a nod. "I just hope that we'll be able to get everything together in time."

"Don't worry , you'll do fine and we'll make sure everything is ready!" Pinkie said happily. "In the meantime lets all just have fun okay?"

Scootaloo smiled as she went to mingle with the guests. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon waved to her before they headed over to meet up with her. She smiled a little, the two had become closer to the crusaders while Scootaloo had been pregnant and had become more or less members of the group themselves.

"Hey Scootaloo," Diamond said with a smile. "How does it feel to be a High School Graduate finally?"

"Pretty good," Scootaloo said with a shrug, the two earth ponies had graduated the year before. "So, what about you two, anything new going on?"

"Well, I came out to my parents a little while ago," Diamond said as she placed her hoof on Silver Spoon's. "Dad was pretty much okay with it and Mom is slowly coming around to it, at least I hope she is."

"Well, I'm glad everything seems to be working out for the two of you," Scootaloo said as she looked back at her own mom who were talking with Rarity and Applejack. She smiled a little, while she had spent most of her life in orphanages she had come to live with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy when she later moved in.

"So, what are you and Sweetie Belle going to do after the wedding? Do you have a place you're going to move in yet?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Well, we've been looking into a few places but there's not much we can afford right this moment," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Now that we're out of school though we should be able to work on that."

"Well, you could always move in with us," Diamond suggested. "We've been talking about it and all you'd have to do is pay part of the rent and we'd be glad to have you three move in, if you want."

Scootaloo was a bit surprised by the offer. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shared a fairly large house outside of town and it actually would be the perfect place for them to live. She hadn't ever expected them to offer that.

"I'll talk with Sweetie Belle, if nothing else comes up we might take you up on your offer," she said with a nod.

"So, where's Blueberry Milkshake?" Silver Spoon asked as she looked around for the orphanage's matron that had raised Scootaloo. "I thought she'd be here by now."

"Oh, she'll be here soon, she just had to..." Scootaloo started to say when there was a knock on the door. Everypony else was here already so she figured that was probably Blueberry. "That should be her now, I'll go answer the door."

"Okay," Diamond said as she went back to talking with Silver Spoon as Scootaloo headed off to answer the door.

"Hey, we were wondering when you were..." Scootaloo started to say as she opened the door and stopped in mid-sentence when she saw who was on the other side. Standing there was an Earth pony stallion with a light orange coat and light blue eyes that was dressed in the armor of a member of the Royal Guard. "Uh, can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Rainbow Dash," the royal guard pony said as he looked at Scootaloo curiously for a moment. "Is she home?"

"Uh, yeah," Scootaloo said as she looked back behind her. "Mom, there's a Royal Guard here who wants to talk to you about something."

"A Royal Guard?" Rainbow asked as she walked into the foyer and stopped in her tracks. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Rainbow," the stallion said with a soft sigh and looked towards Rainbow Dash with a sigh. "Holiday talked to me about what's going on and I wanted to try and talk to you again. I know what I did wasn't something that can be easily forgiven, but I want to at least try and talk to you, can you at least give me that?"

Rainbow looked between the stallion and Scootaloo before she sighed a little. "Okay, we can talk upstairs in my room. Scootaloo, if you want to go check on Stormy I would do it now."

Scootaloo just blinked and looked at her mom as she tried to figure out what was going on as she headed upstairs with the strange stallion.

"What's going on?" She asked as she looked at Fluttershy. "Who was that pony?"

"Umm... that's something for you to ask Rainbow," Fluttershy said nervously. "She'll tell you when she's ready, okay?"
Scootaloo sighed a little and nodded before she headed upstairs to check on Stormy. The 2 year old filly's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at her mom with a smile.

"What wrong mama?" She asked as Scootaloo gently picked her up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just kind of wondering about something that's going on," Scootaloo said as she nuzzled her daughter gently. "Come on, lets go downstairs so that everypony can see you."

Scootaloo placed the filly gently on her back before they headed downstairs together. She took one last look back towards the door to Rainbow and Fluttershy's room as she wondered what might be going on.

00000

Rainbow sighed and looked back at the stallion who had removed his helmet at this point revealing a short light purple mane. She hadn't ever expected to see this stallion again, especially given what he had done to her, but here he was in her house.

"Look, Rainbow, I know that..." the stallion started to say before he got a glare from Rainbow Dash.

"Traveler, I know what you're going to say but I don't want to hear it right now," Rainbow said with a sigh as she brushed her mane back. "You ran out on me after you found out I was pregnant, you could've stayed here and helped me out. What explanation do you have for your actions?"

"I... admit I don't have one," he said with a shake of his head. "When I found out you were pregnant I was terrified of the idea of being a father. I didn't think I was going to be a good father and my family was moving out so I wound up leaving. I'm sorry Rainbow, I shouldn't have left you behind like I did."

"You're right you shouldn't have," Rainbow said with a sigh as she looked at Traveler and shook her head.

"That mare who greeted me at the door, she called you mom, is she..." Traveler started to say and shook his head a little. "Our daughter?"

"Yeah, she is," Rainbow said with a sigh. "After you left I couldn't handle being a single mom so I put her up for adoption. I adopted her a few years ago because... well that's a long story in itself. Her name is Scootaloo and I'm very proud of her for everything she's done, but sometimes I'm worried about her."

"Well Rainbow, I'm glad she turned out okay at least," Traveler said with a shake of his head. "I'm just came here to apologize and try and do what I can to make up for everything I did."

Rainbow sighed a little and looked at him. Should she actually give him a second chance after everything that had happened?

"What brought this on?" She asked as she looked at him for a long moment. "This seems kind of random for you to suddenly decide to come in now."

"Well, Holiday mentioned that she reconnected with you and our daughter," Traveler said with a shake of his head. "She also mentioned that she was getting married and..."

"You wanted to try and connect with her right?" Rainbow asked and he nodded a little. "Okay, I guess that's understandable but I still kind of wish you had given me more of a notice."

"Well, I'm on leave for a little while from the Guard," he said with a nod. "Princess Luna seemed a bit worried about what had been going on here for some reason so Celestia gave me leave for as long as I needed or as long as she didn't need me."

Rainbow sighed and looked down at her hooves. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, while she had certainly hoped that Scootaloo would forgive her for having given her up, but could Rainbow forgive somepony for something similar?

She sighed a little and looked back out the window for a moment and closed her eyes as she thought over her options before nodding. "Okay, I'll give you a chance but I'm happily married so if you want to..."

"Oh, no I understand that you've moved on with your life," he said with a nod. "I just, want to get to know my daughter if she wants it."

"Okay, I'll tell her and we'll see what she wants to do," Rainbow said with a sigh as she brushed her mane back. "There's something else you should know though... we have a granddaughter."

Traveler blinked a little and looked at her in surprise. "What happened?"

"Scootaloo was in a relationship with a colt a few years ago and she got pregnant," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Its why I wound up adopting her and I've been helping take care of the filly.

"Where's the father? I'm guessing he's not the one she's marrying," Traveler said as he narrowed his eyes.

"We don't really know..." Rainbow said with a shake of her head. "Right now she's just trying to manage the best she can. And no, she's marrying her childhood friend that she started dating around the same time."

Traveler sighed and nodded. "I'd like to meet her, if that's okay."

Rainbow sighed and nodded. "Okay, lets go downstairs," she said and the two headed downstairs to join the party.

Conversations

Traveler and Rainbow headed down the stairs towards where the party was going on. Rainbow smiled a little when she saw Scootaloo talking with her friends again with Stormy close to her. Stormy was already used to a lot of the ponies that were here, she couldn't imagine what might happen when they went to the Apple family reunion next month.

That was a crazy thing to think about, Rainbow was going to be part of the extended Apple Family. Sure they weren't related by blood, but she had seen the kind of bond the Apple Family had and that didn't matter to them. They were going to be family, and that was actually kind of nice.

She had never had much family outside of her parents until Scootaloo was born, and even after that she was still pretty much on her own. Her friends had become sort of her second family, and that was something at least. She gave Rarity a wave as she looked at Traveler.

"There sure are a lot of ponies here, who are they?" He asked nervously.

"Well, some of them are classmates, others are ponies the CMC have helped throughout the years," Rainbow said with a light chuckle. "Scootaloo's a good kid, she's always been more interested in helping ponies than anything else. I, didn't really think that all of this would happen."

Traveler just shrugged as they walked forward over to where Scootaloo was talking with Sweetie Belle. "Hey Scoots, there's somepony here you should meet," Rainbow said and the orange Pegasus looked at Traveler curiously.

"Oh hey, you're that guard from before," she said with a smile as she looked at him. "What's up? I'm not in any sort of trouble am I?"

Sweetie looked at her and then at the two older ponies nervously for a moment. She couldn't put her hoof on it but something about this whole thing seemed weird to her as she gently took Stormy in her telekinesis and held her close.

"Scootaloo, I..." Traveler started to say and took a deep breath as he looked at his daughter and tried to put the words together. "I'm, well... my name is Traveler and..."

"What?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the stallion, she didn't get any weird vibes from him, but there was something familiar about him. Maybe it was his coloring, or maybe it was just her imagination.

"I'm your father," he finally said softly and looked down at his hooves. "I'm here because, well, I wanted a chance to meet you and see everything that you've done."

Scootaloo froze up for a moment, her father? She hadn't ever imagined that she'd meet her father, especially given everything that Rainbow had told her about him. Even though Holiday and Lofty were nice, they didn't seem to want to talk about her father other than what she already knew.

"Hello Traveler," a voice said from behind them and they turned to see Holiday standing there with Lofty and the fillies back a ways looking nervous. "I didn't think you'd really have the guts to show your face here, even after I told you what was going on."

"Well, err..." Traveler said and gulped nervously as he got a glare from his older sister who just shook her head. "I wanted to set everything right, you know? She's my flesh and blood, shouldn't I have a chance to try and reconnect with her?"

"Then why did you wait until now?" Sweetie Belle asked as she shot him a look. "You've had 18 years to try and connect with Scootaloo. Heck, she met Holiday and Lofty 2 years ago, why couldn't you come here then?"

Traveler actually paused at that and looked at Scootaloo and then down at the 2 year old filly next to the Unicorn's hooves. "I... I don't have a good reason. I'm a deadbeat dad, I admit it, I abandoned my duties because I couldn't own up to them and be the father I needed to be. I'm sorry, and I don't expect you to forgive me for what I did, but I just want a chance to try and make up for it."

"Its, your choice what you want to do Scootaloo," Rainbow said and looked over at her daughter. "You're old enough to make choices on your own. If you want to talk with him and let him be part of your life, then that is your decision."

Rainbow shot Traveler a look that made the Earth Pony stallion flinch, he knew what that look meant. He couldn't mess this up, if he hurt Scootaloo or her daughter then Rainbow Dash would hurt him, badly.

"I'll, give him a chance," Scootaloo finally said with a sigh. "Yeah, I know he should've come here sooner than this, but he's here isn't he? If I held a grudge for my parents leaving me then I would've left Rainbow Dash years ago."

Rainbow Dash flinched a little at that but she had to admit that Scootaloo was right. She had left Scootaloo up for adoption, essentially abandoning her in hopes that she'd be able to get an even better life than what Rainbow could give her. It hadn't gone according to plan, but everything had gone pretty well all things considered.

"Alright," Sweetie said with a nod as she leaned in and gave her fiance a kiss on the cheek. "Well, if Scootaloo thinks you can be given another chance then I'll trust her judgment. But, I would like to be there with her while you talk, okay?"

"Alright," Traveler said and looked at the Unicorn curiously. "You're her fiance then? Curious, I wasn't expecting you to be a..."

"Mare?"

"No, no, I have nothing against that kind of thing," Traveler said dismissively. "I just wasn't expecting you to be a Unicorn is all. I've, not had great experiences with Unicorns outside of the Royal Guard, but if Scootaloo loves you that's good enough for me."

Scootaloo smiled a little and nuzzled Sweetie Belle gently before she looked back at Traveler. "So, umm, how about we enjoy the party and then we can talk some?"

"Of course, so, where's this granddaughter Rainbow said I have now?" Traveler asked and looked down at Storm who tilted her head curiously at the stallion.

"Well, umm, Storm Chaser this is your grandpa," Scootaloo said as she moved next to Sweetie Belle and the filly. "Dad, this is Storm Chaser, she's my daughter. Stormy, this is, I guess your grandpa Traveler."

"Hello," Storm Chaser said and looked up at the stallion curiously.

"Hey kiddo," Traveler said and looked down at the filly with a smile. "Its nice to meet you, I heard about you from your Grandma Rainbow."

"Hello, Grandpa?" Storm Chaser asked as she tried to process who this strange stallion was and tilted her head curiously. "You look like mommy..."

Traveler chuckled lightly, it was true that Scootaloo did kind of take after him more than Rainbow Dash in terms of looks. Still, she had that same determination and drive in her eyes that Rainbow had all those years ago.

"Yeah I do, well I don't want to keep your mommies from their party," Traveler said and looked back at Rainbow and Holiday before back at Scootaloo. "I'll just go talk with your mom and aunts, have a good time."

"Alright, come on Stormy," Scootaloo said with a nod as she put the toddler on her back before heading off to find her friends with Sweetie Belle.

"Is she okay?" Traveler asked as he looked over at Rainbow. "I mean, it couldn't be easy on her with everything that's going on."

"She went through a lot when she found out, but, she's going to be okay now," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Still, there are days that I wish I had been there for her from the beginning. I did everything I could to try and help her growing up, but I'm just glad that she's doing as well as she is."

"You did fine Rainbow," Traveler said and they both looked over at Scootaloo who was talking with her friends.

"Yeah, I hope I did," Rainbow said before walking off, leaving Traveler standing there for a long moment.

He sighed and looked outside for a moment before he headed out again to go to his hotel. He still had a lot to think about right now, and he'd come back when he figured some things out.

00000

Scootaloo laid back on the bed and smiled over at Sweetie Belle who was going through the invitations for their wedding next month. She smiled a little at the beautiful Unicorn mare who looked back at her and smiled back as she set the invitations down for a moment.

"What's got you smiling Scootaloo?" She asked as she put the papers together neatly.

"Oh, I'm just thinking about everything," Scootaloo said with a smile as she sat up and gave her fiance a kiss on the cheek. "About how lucky I am to have you as my special somepony for one."

"Mmm, you better know that," Sweetie said with a giggle as she nuzzled Scootaloo gently. "But really, I'm just glad that I got the chance to be with you. I mean everything's been so crazy lately and, well I know we're kind of rushing into things, do we even have a plan for where we're going to be married?"

"I was thinking the farm, I mean its going to be coinciding with the family reunion anyway, so why not?" Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Unless you have a better idea."

"No, no, that's fine, we'll just have to get everything set up is all," Sweetie said and shrugged a little. "All things considered, I'll just be happy to have this done. I've never been so nervous about getting everything just right, and we have to get all our family there too."

"Have, you heard from your parents about whether or not they'll be there?" Scootaloo asked softly, and Sweetie flinched a little at that. Sweetie Belle's parents had been, pretty absent for as long as she had known the Unicorn, having basically dumped her on Rarity while they did Celestia knew what. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no its fine, they'll be here, they said they would," Sweetie said with a smile that felt just a little forced. "Its not like they haven't said that before and failed to keep their word. Remember what happened at Rarity and Applejack's wedding?"

"Oh yes, when they showed up 10 minutes before the ceremony and we had to rush her father out on the aisle," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "Your parents are a bit... flighty."

"Yeah, I know," Sweetie said with a sigh. "Sometimes it feels like Rarity has been more of a parent to me than my actual parents. I don't even know what to do Scootaloo, I want them to be there, but, I don't know if they're going to mess it up or not, you know?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "Maybe you should..."

She paused and let that thought trail off for a moment. It was a rather strange idea, and she wasn't sure if Sweetie Belle would agree with it.

"I should what?" Sweetie asked with a tilt of her head. "I should just not invite them? They're my parents, I want them to be there."

"No, no, they should be there," Scootaloo said with a nod. "But, I was thinking, maybe you should ask Rarity to walk you down the aisle instead of your father. I mean, you said it yourself she's been more of a parent to you than they have, it, might not be a bad idea."

Sweetie actually looked like she was thinking it over for a long moment before she shrugged. "Its an idea, and not very traditional, but I'll talk to Rarity about it and see if she'd be willing to. Speaking of my sister though, she's trying to get me to convince you to wear a dress again."

"Really, I was hoping she'd have given up on that already," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "But Sweetie, if you want me to wear a dress at our wedding, I'll do it. Its not about what I want, its about what makes you happy."

Sweetie looked at her fiance surprised for a moment. Scootaloo for as long as she had known her hated wearing dresses and would never willingly wear one. Not that Rarity hadn't tried on several occasions, but Scootaloo had managed to get out of it every time.

Now she was saying that she'd do it if Sweetie Belle wanted her to? She wanted her to be happy, that was the kind of thing that made Sweetie love the Pegasus mare as much as she did. But still, she had already made up her mind and just shook her head.

"No Scootaloo, you're going to wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing," Sweetie said and used her telekinesis to pull the orange Pegasus in close. "Its not just about my happiness you know, its just as much about yours and I want you to be happy, because I love you. You're the mare I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and I don't want you to be unhappy just for me. I love you no matter what you wear at the ceremony."

"Okay, what if I wanted to wear a Wonderbolt uniform?" Scootaloo asked with a chuckle which just made Sweetie Belle laugh.

"We'll see, but I think you'd look better in a tuxedo," she said with a chuckle as she kissed Scootaloo on the nose. "I mean, remember that one you wore to our prom? You looked beautiful in that."

"Right, the prom we had to leave early because Stormy got sick," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "And then I lost the deposit on the tux."

"Yes, but you left because you love your daughter and you wanted to help her when she needed it even if it meant we had to go back home," Sweetie said.

"Weeks of dance lessons for nothing," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head.

"I don't think it was for nothing, besides we had a nice little dance that night, and you were amazing," Sweetie said and kissed Scootaloo gently. "I love you Scootaloo, and nothing you do could ever change that. I've never been happier than when I get to spend time with you and Stormy."

"Not exactly the fairy tale romance you imagined when we were fillies huh?" Scootaloo asked with a chuckle.

"Are you kidding? You're brave, dashing, loyal, and you do everything you can to help ponies," Sweetie said with a laugh as she shook her head. "You're my knight in shining armor astride a scooter. You are my fairy tale romance in your own way, and I love you for every little bit of it."

Scootaloo sighed happily and closed her eyes as the two laid down on the bed together. She smiled at Sweetie and draped her wing over her gently as they rested comfortably on the cloud mattress. She knew that she wanted to spend every night for the rest of her life like this, and wake up every morning next to this Unicorn.

"I love you too Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said with a smile as she nuzzled her again. "I just wish that I could do more to show how much I love you."

"Scootaloo, you do enough to show it," Sweetie said with a smile. "Besides, I'm just glad that you were willing to let me into your family. You're trusting me with your daughter, and I know that she means everything to you so that is enough for me."

Scootaloo smiled a little and rest her head on Sweetie's chest. She sighed and took a deep breath as Sweetie smiled and ran her hoof through the Pegasus' mane. "I don't regret what happened, but maybe if I..."

"Scootaloo, you should know better than to dwell on the past," Sweetie said as she covered her mouth with her hoof. "You did everything you thought was right at the time. You thought Cirrus loved you and its not your fault that he turned out to be a jerk. Besides, you have a wonderful daughter, mother, and future wife because of it. If all of that came out of what happened three years ago, then maybe it was what was supposed to happen."

Scootaloo blinked a little, she had thought about it before but had never really thought about it in that way. Was it possible that everything was supposed to happen like this because of her choice? It wasn't that she regretted what happened, but sometimes the thought of what her life could've been like if she had just realized her feelings for Sweetie sooner might have been like.

"Plus, I think Apple Bloom would've been disappointed that she didn't get to tease us until we finally got together," Sweetie added with a chuckle which just made Scootaloo laugh as Sweetie put on her best country accent. "Dag nabit, Ah wanted ta tease ya'll some more until Ah convinced yah ta start makin' out or whatever!"

"Yeah, she's never gonna let us live that down," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "So, we just have to worry about sharing a house with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon now. That should be interesting, right?"

"Yeah, knowing them its probably a really nice house too," Sweetie Belle said with a chuckle and then paused a little. "Wait, are we going to be able to pay our part of the rent? What if its really expensive?"

"I don't think they would've offered it to us if we couldn't," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "Come on, lets just relax a little and get some sleep, we can worry about all of this in the morning."

The two mares yawned as they snuggled with one another and closed their eyes. Scootaloo smiled as she felt the warmth of her fiance's body against her's and just enjoyed the moment as they drifted off to sleep.

00000

"Sounds like those two finally got to bed," Rainbow Dash said as she laid back on her cloud bed next to Fluttershy in the next room over. "I guess they're still figuring a lot of this stuff out."

"Are you okay Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked as she looked at her wife. "I mean, you've been kind of on edge ever since Traveler showed up at the party earlier. Is everything okay?"

"Honestly Flutters, I don't know," Rainbow admitted as she laid back in her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Its not just him either, I guess its just kind of sinking in that Scootaloo and Stormy are going to be moving out soon. I guess I just have gotten so used to having them around its going to feel kind of empty here without them, you know what I mean?"

"I think somepony is suffering from empty nest syndrome," Fluttershy said with a chuckle. "A little early, but you never know. Maybe, someday we can have another filly or colt running around here, getting into trouble..."

"Maybe, but I'm still kind of nervous about this whole thing," Rainbow admitted with a sigh. "And Traveler coming doesn't help matters. He seems to have shaped up, but I don't know if I believe him. There's just something incredibly odd about
the fact that he picked today to show up and I don't know what it is."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but for now he doesn't seem to be causing any problems," Fluttershy said with a shrug. "Once he gets a chance to settle in maybe you should try talking to him again. He's not going to be here forever, and you should try to patch things up. What's the point of holding a grudge, right?"

"Yeah, I know, and I'm not exactly about to tell him to leave without a reason," Rainbow said. "I just, wish I knew what was going on right now. Something about all of this feels weird, maybe I should send a letter to Princess Celestia at some point, she might be able to shed some light on his mindset."

"Come on, lets just get some sleep," Fluttershy said. "We can figure that out in the morning, and, I think we can find some things to occupy our time in the meantime."

Rainbow smiled and leaned over and kissed her wife deeply. She wasn't going to let everything that was happening keep her from spending time with the mare she loved the most.

00000

A few hours later Scootaloo snapped awake in bed when she heard the sound of crying coming from across the hall where Storm Chaser was sleeping. On instinct alone she got to her hooves and ran through the door and opened the door to her daughter's room where the small filly was crying.

"Shhh, Stormy, calm down, mommy's here," she said and gently picked up the small pony and held her close as she sat down in the chair next to the bed. "What happened, did you have a bad dream?"

Storm sniffed and nodded a little as she buried her muzzle in her mother's chest fur. Scootaloo smiled softly and stroked the filly's mane gently. Storm had a few bad dreams lately and she wasn't sure why, and it worried her a little so she had been checking on her every night like this.

"Was it the same one?" She asked and Storm nodded softly. "I'm sorry Stormy, I'm here for you, mommy is here for you."
Stormy sighed in relief and closed her eyes as she snuggled up to Scootaloo and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you Mommy... can I sleep in your room with you and Mommy Sweetie tonight, please?"

She looked up at Scootaloo with the biggest purple eyes the mare had ever seen and she smiled softly as the door opened again and Sweetie Belle came inside.

"I'm sure that can be arranged, don't worry," Scootaloo said and nuzzled the filly gently before she nodded to Sweetie. "Sorry Sweetie, she had another nightmare."

"Aww, poor thing, that's the fourth one this week," Sweetie said and looked at Scootaloo. "Maybe we should talk to Princess Luna, see if she can help any."

"Maybe," Scootaloo said softly as she looked down at the quivering filly. "I just hope she'll be able to help, I'll talk to Twilight tomorrow and see about getting word to her about it."

"Come on, lets take her back to our room," Sweetie said and kissed Storm lightly on the forehead before they picked her up and carried her into their bedroom.

"Good night mommies, love you" Storm said and snuggled up under the covers between them as she drifted off to sleep.

Scootaloo smiled a little as she nuzzled her daughter gently and then leaned over and nuzzled Sweetie Belle. She sighed happily and draped her wing over the two most important ponies in Equestria to her.

"I love you Sweetie Belle," she said softly as Sweetie smiled over at her.

"I love you too Scootaloo," she said before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Scootaloo smiled and drifted off to sleep finally as she closed her eyes. Right now she didn't care about the wedding plans or what had happened that day, right now she just wanted to spend time with her family.

00000

Traveler looked up when there was a knock on the door to his hotel room and then an envelope was slipped under the door. He made sure the curtains were closed before he picked the envelope up and opened it carefully.

He nodded as he read it over and put it in his bags. He'd stay in Ponyville for a few more days before he had to deal with this. He didn't like lying to them, but he was doing a job and had to make sure that he did everything just right if he didn't want to get in trouble.

He glanced out the window towards where Rainbow Dash's house was and sighed a little. "Sorry Scootaloo, I wish I could be the father you need..."

He sighed and sat back down on the bed and started to plan out his next move.

Home

Author's Note

The last scene of this

Home

The next day Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had left to go and look at the new house that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were offering to share with them, which left Storm Chaser in the care of her grandmothers.

"Come on kiddo, you're doing just fine," Rainbow said with a smile as she watched Storm try to flap her wings but didn't get very far off the ground.. While there was no guarantee that she would be able to fly, they had been curious to see if she would. At the very least, she was trying. "Aww, don't worry Stormy, you'll get it next time."

"I don't think you should be rushing her like that Rainbow," Fluttershy said as Rainbow shrugged and picked her granddaughter up with a smile. "I mean, she's only two years old, you never know how long it'll take for her to be able to fly, you shouldn't pressure her."

"Yeah, I know," Rainbow said with a chuckle as she hugged Storm. "But I'll bet she'll be the second fastest Pegasus in history when she grows up, behind her grandma Rainbow of course. What do you think of that Stormy?"

"Faster!" Stormy said with a giggle as she shook her head which just made Fluttershy giggle a little.

"Oh, you think you're gonna be faster than your grandma huh?" Rainbow said with a teasing grin.

"Yep!"

"Then you better practice Stormy, you're not gonna get that fast overnight," she said and tickled the two year old filly with her wings sending her into giggles.

"She's definitely your granddaughter Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. "We'll see I guess, I think she can be whatever she wants to be."

"Yeah," Rainbow said with a smile as she ruffled Storm's mane a little. "Stormy, whatever you grow up to be I know you'll be awesome at it. With me and your mom, you can't be anything but awesome."

Storm giggled a little and hugged Rainbow gently with her tiny forelegs and Rainbow smiled as she looked down at the small filly. She hadn't gotten to raise Scootaloo or even see her like this, but she was glad that she at least got the chance to spend this time with Storm.

She looked over at Fluttershy and thought about the conversation they had the night before. Maybe they should consider adopting a filly or something, it would be nice to have another foal around after Scootaloo moved out. She sighed a little, right now wasn't the time to think about it, but she couldn't get it out of her mind.

"Hey Stormy, what do you think of having a little aunt or uncle around here?" She asked and the filly's ears perked up curiously. "I mean, its just something... I dunno."

"Rainbow Dash has been left speechless at the thought of trying to talk to her granddaughter about the idea of us adopting somepony," Fluttershy said with a giggle as she moved next to the two. "What brought this on Rainbow?"

"Well, I was thinking about what we were talking about last night, you know? I'm not so sure that we should rush into things of course, but I'd love to raise a foal with you someday. If, you think that we can do it of course, I'm not that good with foals..."

"Don't be silly," Fluttershy said with a chuckle. "You've been a great help with Stormy and I've seen how you are with the foals at the orphanage. You'd make a great mom, right Stormy?"

"Right!" Storm said with a nod. "Grandma Rainbow is awesome!"

"From the mouth of babes," Fluttershy said with a chuckle. "Believe me Rainbow, I wouldn't be considering this if I didn't think you could do it. We should think about this though, its a big responsibility and we still have a lot to worry about right now with the wedding."

"Yeah, I know," Rainbow said with a sigh as she looked down at Storm. "And with Traveler back in town, I don't even know what I'm going to do. Things just seem to be getting more and more complicated and I don't know why."

"What does Traveler do anyway?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Rainbow admitted. "We lost touch after he left me, I think he's in the Guard and he did have the armor, but... well I don't know. Something about all of this feels weird, and I'm sure he's got some reason for being here that we don't know about."

"Yeah..." Fluttershy said and kissed Rainbow gently on the cheek. "Come on Rainbow, lets just try and relax and have some fun with our granddaughter. We can worry about these things later, everything is going to be just fine."

"I hope you're right," Rainbow said and looked at Fluttershy and then back down at Storm. "I really hope you're right, because Celestia only knows what might be waiting for us out there. I don't want anything to happen to my family, you know?"

"I know," Fluttershy said and kissed Rainbow. "But we're going to be just fine, I promise."

Rainbow nodded and the three ponies just held that pose for a long moment as they remained close. Rainbow smiled and looked between them. They were her family, the most important ponies in Equestria to her and she was going to do everything she needed to do to keep them safe.

Even if it meant having to deal with Traveler and whatever he was up to.

00000

"Wow, this is, really nice," Scootaloo said in surprise as she looked at the two story house that Diamond Tiara had led them to. It was a decent sized house and it looked big enough for everypony. "How many bedrooms are in it?"

"Well, three, I was thinking you two could share one and me and Silver could share the other one," Diamond said. "Plus one for Stormy of course."

"Are we even going to be able to afford rent on this place?" Sweetie asked nervously. "I mean, we've got enough to get by but I don't know how much this is going to cost..."

"Don't worry, we're going to handle most of the rent," Diamond Tiara said reassuringly. "We just want the two of you to pay for a small part of it and don't worry about the rest."

"Well that's, really generous of you," Sweetie said surprised. "I mean, we're grateful to be sure, but we weren't expecting it to be this nice."

"Of course, don't worry about it," Diamond Tiara said as they headed into the house together. "We've already started to move in, I'm sure that once you get everything together it'll be fine."

Scootaloo smiled a little as she looked around. This was nice, especially given everything that had happened with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when they were fillies, she was glad that they were their friends now. She looked over at Sweetie Belle who was looking around curiously.

"Its, really nice," she said with a smile as she looked over at Diamond, it was obvious that she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. "So where's Silver Spoon?"

"Hey you two," Silver Spoon said as she walked in as if to answer the question and gave the couple a smile. "I'm glad you like it. Is everything going okay after yesterday? I mean, we kinda overheard everything that was happening."

Scootaloo sighed a little and brushed her mane back before she looked back at the two. "Yeah, it was kind of unexpected for my dad to show up like that, and honestly we're still kind of processing the whole thing. I don't know a lot about him still, but, I don't know there's something about him that feels weird. Still, I get the feeling that there's something more to all of this that we're not seeing."

"Like what, he's got some secret or something?" Diamond Tiara said and Scootaloo nodded. "Interesting, I thought he was just a Royal Guard. How is Stormy taking it?"

"About as well as you can take it when an unexpected member of your family shows up at that age," Sweetie said with a shrug. "I think she's more curious than anything else, I probably would feel the same way if I was in her position. I just wish that he would be more candid with what he's been doing."

Scootaloo sighed and looked at her fiance and then back at her friends. She had to admit that she wondered a lot about what kind of pony her father was like, she had ever since she heard about him. There wasn't a lot of information on him right now given everything that was going on except for what Rainbow had told her, and she didn't really know a lot about him either.

Maybe he really was just part of the guard and there wasn't anything to worry about. But why would he be acting so strange? Come to think of it, why hadn't he stayed at the party yesterday? He had just kind of vanished after she had talked to him with no real explanation.

She shook her head, she'd worry about that later, right now they just had to get familiarized with the house.

"Come on, lets go check out our room," she said to Sweetie and gave her a smile as the two of them headed upstairs.

00000

"So, how was it?" Rainbow asked as Scootaloo and Sweetie returned home that evening and they were sitting down for dinner. She added jokingly, "Let me guess, it looked terrible and you've changed your mind about moving out and will be staying here after all."

Scootaloo chuckled and rolled her eyes as she started to feed Stormy. "Nothing like that, actually it was really nice. We're going to move in at the end of the week, or at least that's the plan, we just have to get our first part of the rent paid for."

"Thankfully, that's the easy part," Sweetie added. "We just need to make sure that we get everything in place and we have enough furniture that we'll at least be able to get everything together. Its, hard to believe that we're moving out of here already."

She looked around, she had actually only lived in the Cloud House for a short time ever since she and Scootaloo had turned 18 and Rarity and her parents had said it would be okay. Still, there was a lot of good memories here, especially relating to Scootaloo and Storm and she'd actually kind of miss living there.

She smiled and looked over at Scootaloo who gave her a nod. She smiled a little as Fluttershy started to set the food out for all of them. They smiled a little as they started eating while Scootaloo finished feeding Storm and smiled a little at the filly.

"More!" Storm said as she looked up at her mom.

"You've had enough Stormy," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she turned to eat her own food. "So, did anything interesting happen while we were gone?"

"No, not really," Rainbow said with a shrug. "We've been talking about some things, but that's something for another conversation."

"Good, did you behave for your grandmas Stormy?" Scootaloo said and gave her daughter a grin.

"Maybe," the filly said and giggled a little.

"Don't listen to her, she was a perfect angel," Fluttershy said with a chuckle.

Scootaloo laughed a little at that, that didn't exactly fill her with confidence given that Fluttershy had a rabbit named Angel who was nothing but trouble. She smiled a little and took a bite of her food and looked back at her mothers. "Thank you for taking care of her so much, that means a lot to me."

"Hey, no problem Scoots," Rainbow said with a smile. "She's our granddaughter after all, what else would we do? If you ever need a babysitter, don't hesitate to ask us."

"Well, one advantage to this family is that we have a lot of potential babysitters," Scootaloo added with a chuckle. "So, did you have any luck with your attempts to get Stormy to fly?"

"You know about that?"

"Yeah, well, she's been practicing pretty often so I suspected," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "But really, she seems to be making progress and building her wing strength up. I, do wish that I could be here when she flies for the first time though, but thanks for at least trying."

"See, I told you it was okay," Rainbow said with a chuckle. "She's a good kid, I'm gonna miss having the three of you around, but you know that our home is always open to you, right?"

Sweetie smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, of course, this is still our home even if we're not going to be living here. Home is where your family is, where your heart is, that makes this place our home and anywhere else that you live."

"Yeah," Rainbow said with a nod as she looked at Scootaloo. "So, are you two going to be able to afford the rent on that place?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, we've already gotten something worked out with Diamond and Silver," Scootaloo said with a nod. "And hey, its not that far away from here so coming to visit won't be that hard. I'm, just kind of worried about Stormy really, she's never lived anywhere else but here so I don't know if she'll be able to settle in. And, then there's the nightmares."

"Oh dear, are they getting worse?" Fluttershy asked as she looked at her step-granddaughter. "Have you talked to Princess Luna about it?"

"Well, yeah we asked Twilight to send her a message, but we don't know if she's going to answer it," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "I'm worried about her, what's going to happen if even Luna can't help her? I don't really know what to do in that case."

"Don't worry, she'll help," Rainbow said with a smile. "And we'll figure something out, I think she's going to be okay as long as we have everything worked out.

I, just hope that she's going to be okay is all."

Storm looked between them as she smiled a little. She wasn't really sure what the big ponies were talking about, though they sounded a little worried about something and they were talking about her.

Scootaloo picked Storm up gently and held her close as she finished eating. She smiled down at the filly and nuzzled her gently. "Well kiddo, you might be getting a visit from Princess Luna tonight, what do you think about that?"

"Pwincess Woona?" Storm asked cutely.

Scootaloo nodded and held her daughter close to her as the rest of the family finished eating. She smiled as she felt the warmth of the small filly as her heart beat was felt against her chest. She held the filly close and stroked her mane, humming a light tune to her as she looked down at her.

She didn't regret everything that had happened, she had a wonderful daughter and was lucky given everything that could have happened. She smiled and patted her on the back as Storm closed her eyes and sighed happily.

Storm seemed to feel safest when she was close to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, being close to her mother made her feel safe and comfortable. It was why she never felt scared or had nightmares when she slept in the same room as her and Sweetie Belle, but still, it seemed like there was a lot that was scaring her right now.

Scootaloo just smiled as she stroked her daughter's mane and looked at Sweetie Belle who was smiling broadly. "What?"

"You're just really good with her," Sweetie said with a smile as she leaned in and kissed Scootaloo gently on the lips. "You really are a great mom Scootaloo."

Scootaloo just smiled and nuzzled Sweetie as she looked back at Rainbow and Fluttershy who nodded in agreement. "Thanks, all of you, I wouldn't be the pony I am today if it wasn't for you. Rainbow, I may not have always known you were my mom, but you were there for me whenever I needed it the most, that... means so much to me that I can't even put it into words. Fluttershy, you've always been there to ground Rainbow and you're there for me when I need you like you always have been, you're a great pony and I'm glad to call you mom too."

"Of course Scootaloo, we're glad to have been there for you," Fluttershy said with a smile.

"So, what am I then?" Sweetie asked with a smirk, it wasn't that she didn't know, but she still wanted to hear Scootaloo say it.

"You're the first friend I've ever had," Scootaloo said with a smile. "I love you more than anything, you're my inspiration and the mare that I've given my heart to. I've made mistakes, but you still love me no matter what and that means a lot."

Sweetie nodded and leaned in and kissed Scootaloo gently as Storm giggled as she looked up at the two.

00000

"Hello Scootaloo," a calm voice said as Scootaloo looked around for the source. She had drifted off to sleep that night and found herself in her dream world again.

"Hello Princess Luna," she said with a smile as she looked up at the Princess as she appeared before her before bowing a little. "I, wasn't expecting you to be here, I mean we sent word asking for your help..."

"I know, and I have looked into what you asked me to," Luna said and sighed a little. "Scootaloo, do you know what it is that is bothering Storm Chaser at night?"

"I, honestly don't know all the details, she says something about monsters or, something," Scootaloo said with a sigh as she flattened her ears a little. "She's never really been that clear about what it is, and I'm worried about her especially given how often they've been coming."

"Indeed, I'd say there are monsters," Luna said and looked at Scootaloo for a long moment as if she was trying to decide what to say. "I've tried to do everything I can to help her, but the truth is that there are only two ponies in Equestria that can help her right now. You and Sweetie Belle."

Scootaloo blinked a little in surprise, what was Luna talking about? Yes Storm was their daughter but would she be able to help? Helping her in the real world was one thing, but this was the dream world and anything could happen in it, she just hoped that she was going to be able to do what she needed to.

"Why us?"

"Because you are the ponies that she's closest to," Luna said with a soft smile. "You said that she isn't as afraid when she's with you, that may help us here. I know that it is a longshot, but it is the only thing that I think will work, will you do it?

Scootaloo didn't have to even think on it, she spoke quickly and decisively. "She's my daughter, I'm not going to leave her to the nightmares if I can help her."

Luna smiled and gave her a nod. "Very good Scootaloo, I had no doubt that you would be willing to help your daughter. Are you ready to go?"

Scootaloo looked around for a moment and then nodded. "I'm ready," she said as Luna opened a portal and they headed through it and into Sweetie's dream.

Scootaloo was a bit surprised to see that Sweetie's dream was of a simple bedroom with Sweetie laying on the bed dressed in a nightgown. She looked up and smiled before realizing that Scootaloo wasn't there alone.

"Oh, Princess Luna, I was expecting... something else..." she said with a deep blush as she got to her hooves and bowed. "What's going on? Did you help Stormy already?"

"I, want both of your help, there are things that only you can truly help her with," Luna said softly. "You two are her family and what she connects with in the real world. She needs you more than anything right now, and it might finally give her some peace at night."

"It might?" Sweetie asked.

"I wish that I could guarantee things, but we are going into uncharted territory here," Luna said with a shake of her head. "I am sure that it will help though, hopefully that it will last until she is older."

Scootaloo and Sweetie looked between each other as Luna formed a new portal. They weren't really sure what to do at the moment, but they nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we'll go," Sweetie said.

"Very well, then come with me," Luna said as she lead the two mares through the portal and into the final dreamscape.

00000

"Stormy, where are you?" Scootaloo called out as they stepped into the dream world which looked more like a purple void that swirled around them. "Where is this?"

"This is her dream, it is a shapeless void of the unknown," Luna said softly. "She is still young so she does not know the world around her as well. I tried to reach her, but she needs her mothers. I think that if you come into her dreamscape then it should be enough to lessen or even stop the nightmares once and for all."

"What if it doesn't?" Sweetie asked softly.

"Then we will have to figure out what to do from there," Luna said with a shake of her head. "But this is our best chance, she is your daughter after all. I am sure that this will work though."

Scootaloo was about to say something when she saw a translucent pony-like figures flying around them and could hear a whimpering sound. They started moving in the same direction as the whimpering and saw Stormy curled up as the strange creatures kept swarming and terrorizing her.

"Stormy!" Scootaloo said and rushed forward as the creatures blocked her way, grinning menacingly at her. "Get out of my way, I'm not letting you hurt my daughter!"

She turned around and kicked the creatures as hard as she could, sending them back as she ran forward and picked Storm up in her forelegs and held the filly close as she cried. "Shhh... its okay, we're here... you're going to be just fine..."

Storm's cries started to die down a little as the nightmarish creatures started to close in on them again but a green shield dome formed around them and Sweetie hugged them both. "We're both here Stormy, you're going to be just fine."

Storm sniffed and looked up at her two moms and smiled a little as her heartbeat started to slow. Scootaloo smiled and nuzzled her daughter gently.

"Thank you mommies," she said with a soft sigh as Scootaloo wrapped her wings gently around the two of them.

Luna smiled a little as the dreamscape changed into a filly's bedroom. She turned when she heard a small voice calling over to her.

"Thank you for bringing my mommies Pwincess Woona," Storm said and waved cutely to the retreating Alicorn.

"You're very welcome Stormy," Luna said and left through a portal to let the family enjoy their night together.

Mommy

Rainbow quietly opened the door to Storm Chaser's bedroom the next morning. She smiled a little when she saw her granddaughter sleeping with a soft smile on her face, she sat down and looked at the small filly and sighed a little as she stood there for a long moment.

She couldn't be prouder of Scootaloo for everything she had done, she was a brave kid and a good mom, better than Rainbow had ever been. While she had done her best to help Scootaloo over the years, and Scootaloo had forgiven her, there were times that she wished that she could've been there to raise her from the beginning.

Still, she was glad that she had set enough of an example for Scootaloo that when she was in the same situation, she had done everything she could to be a good mom to Storm Chaser. Rainbow had been the best grandma in turn, and she knew that maybe that was enough to make up for her past mistakes.

She smiled as she gently woke the filly up and she yawned a little as she looked up at Rainbow Dash. "Gwandma Wainbow?"

"Hey kiddo, how'd you sleep?" Rainbow asked with a smile as she brushed her granddaughter's blue and purple mane back.

"Good," Storm said with a smile.

"You didn't have any nightmares?" Rainbow asked and gave Storm a soft smile and the filly shook her head a little. "That's good."

"Pwincess Wuna and my mommies helped," Storm said with a smile as she looked up at Rainbow.

"Well, then maybe we should do something to thank them," Rainbow said with a smile and ruffled the filly's mane a little. "You know, today is a pretty special day."

"Really?" Storm asked as she looked up at her grandmother curiously. "What's that?"

"Its Mother's Day, for the last couple of years you've been too young to help, but me and Fluttershy thought that maybe you could help a little," Rainbow said and smiled a little. "Would you like to do something to help celebrate your mommies?"

"Yeah!" Storm said with a smile as she hugged Rainbow as she picked the small filly up.

"Come on, lets get downstairs before Grandma Fluttershy decides to get start without us," Rainbow said with a chuckle before she raised her hoof to her lips. "Just make sure you're quiet, this is a surprise for your mommies."

Stormy nodded and giggled a little as she mimicked Rainbow's motion and they quietly headed out of the bedroom and down the hall. They quietly walked past Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's door, making sure to not disturb the two mares as they slept.

00000

"Hey Gwandma Fluttershy," Storm said as they walked into the kitchen downstairs.

Fluttershy was working at the stove to make breakfast. She smiled as she turned to look at Rainbow and Storm Chaser and gave them a nod. "Hello Stormy, Rainbow."

"Hey Flutters," Rainbow said as she leaned in and gave her wife a light kiss on the cheek. "So, what do you want us to help with? Maybe I can help cook some..."

"Lets, not do that," Fluttershy said with a giggle. "The last thing we need is for the smoke to wake them up instead of us. How about you two work on wrapping those presents over there?"

She pointed over at a couple of boxes that were on the kitchen table along with a pair of scissors and wrapping paper. Rainbow smiled a little as she walked over with Storm and they started to work on wrapping them up. She smiled a little at Stormy who was looking at the boxes curiously.

"What are these?" She asked as she looked up at Rainbow curiously.

"Well, your mommies are very special to us, so we wanted to get everything together for them," Rainbow said with a smile. "So just like when its your birthday you get presents, we're getting them presents. We picked them out the other day, and I think they'll like them a lot."

Storm nodded a little as Rainbow started to wrap the boxes starting with Scootaloo's, she smiled softly as she looked at it for the longest moment. It really was going to feel weird not having Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Storm in the house, but she knew that wouldn't really change how they felt about her.

She looked at Storm who was playing with a bow and smiled a little. Storm was a great kid, she probably didn't completely understand everything that was going on, she was just a foal right now. Rainbow smiled as she finished wrapping the present and put a bow on it.

She smiled a little and chuckled when she looked at her granddaughter who had a bow in her mane. "Aww, are you a present now Stormy?"

"Pwesent for mommy!" Storm said with a giggle as she got hugged by Rainbow.

"Yes Stormy, you're a very special present for all of us," Rainbow said with a light chuckle as she looked down at the filly.

It was funny, if it wasn't for Storm they wouldn't have been a family. Her birth had brought them all together, and she couldn't be happier. She really had been a present for all of them in a special way. Storm looked up at her curiously but hugged her back, not quite understanding what was going on.

"I love you Stormy," Rainbow said softly.

"I love you Gwandma Wainbow," Storm said as Rainbow smiled and stroked her mane gently.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy said as she looked over at her wife and granddaughter and smiled. "I'm about done here, you should get Sweetie's present wrapped whenever you get a chance."

Rainbow chuckled a little and got to work on wrapping the other present. She actually kind of had to wonder if Scootaloo and Sweetie had something planned for her today, but for now she just wanted to make sure that they had a happy mother's day.

She smiled as Fluttershy finished cooking and she finished wrapping the present. "Come on Stormy, lets get upstairs," she said as she and Fluttershy carried the trays upstairs with the small filly running up ahead of them.

00000

Scootaloo yawned a little as she woke up and smiled at the sight of Sweetie Belle lying on the bed next to her. She gently nuzzled her fiance and draped her wing gently over the Unicorn as she pulled her in close and snuggled with her. She smiled and closed her eyes again, just enjoying the first moment of being together with the mare.

She was happy that Luna had been able to help them get through to Storm's dreams. The dream had certainly been unsettling, it was terrifying to think of anything going after her daughter like that. But she was going to do everything she could to keep her daughter safe, and she knew she could trust the rest of her family to do the same.

She smiled at Sweetie Belle as she opened her eyes again and looked at the mare. She wasn't sure how she had been so lucky to have fallen in love with and gotten engaged to this wonderful mare. She was lucky no matter what, she just had to hope that they were going to have a good life together.

"Good morning Scootaloo," Sweetie said which surprised Scootaloo a little bit as she looked down at her and smiled as she saw the Unicorn's green eyes. "That was quite the experience last night, I mean I've been in dreams before but..."

"But never a dream like that?" Scootaloo asked and she nodded. "Yeah, I know, but I'm glad we were able to help. I've been worried about Stormy, I just hope that everything's going to be okay now."

"I'm sure it will be," Sweetie said as she kissed Scootaloo gently. "I love you Scootaloo."

"I love you too Sweetie," Scootaloo said as she nuzzled and kissed her back.

"So, you know your moms are probably planning something for Mother's Day right?" Sweetie said with a chuckle and Scootaloo just laughed a little at that. "And Rarity's going to be coming by with Applejack to help Stormy while we go do... what are we doing tonight anyway?"

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure something out," Scootaloo said with a chuckle. "Really, I would've been content with just spending Mother's day being a mom, you know?"

"I know, but they think we need a "break from worrying about family, the wedding, and moving," in their words," Sweetie said with a chuckle. "I don't think its that bad, where do you think we should go tonight?"

"Well, I was thinking that new restaurant in town," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "I've heard its really nice."

"Yeah, that works," Sweetie said with a chuckle. "I still can't believe its not going to be that long before we're going to be married. It feels like only yesterday that you proposed to me."

"Yeah, I'm glad I did," Scootaloo said with a smile as she nuzzled Sweetie gently. "Do, you really think we're ready? I mean we kind of rushed into this whole thing."

"Scootaloo, I love you and Stormy," Sweetie said as she shook her head. "You wouldn't have asked me before if you didn't feel the same about me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and that's what matters to me."

"Yeah, me too," Scootaloo said with a soft nod. "So, how is the wedding preparations going?"

"Well, we're about ready now of course," Sweetie said. "But lets not worry about that today, this is our day with Stormy."

Scootaloo nodded a little as she leaned back and wrapped her wings around Sweetie gently. "So, what should we do with what time we have before they decide to come and interrupt us?"

Sweetie just giggled as she leaned in and kissed Scootaloo again just as there was a knock on the door. "Well, that answers that," she said with a giggle as she leaned up. "Come in!"

The door opened and Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Storm Chaser came into the room with the trays and two presents. The trays had pancakes and orange juice on it, Scootaloo smiled a little as they sat up in the bed.

"We weren't interrupting anything were we?" Rainbow said with a smirk as they placed the trays down on the bed so they could eat.

"Oh, no we were just talking," Scootaloo said and blushed a little at the insinuation as Storm climbed up on the bed between them. "Hey Stormy, how's it going? Has your Grandma Rainbow been giving you any trouble?"

Stormy giggled a little and shook her head as Scootaloo leaned over and kissed her daughter. "Happy Mommy's Day Mommies, I love you."

"I love you too," Scootaloo said as she looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Thanks for breakfast, we would've made breakfast for you but..."

"Don't you remember what happened last time?" Fluttershy asked with a giggle. "Trust me, we're fine with making breakfast for the two of you."

"Oh yes, we don't want to repeat that," Rainbow said with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it, we're glad to do this."

"Do you know why Stormy is wearing a bow in her mane?" Sweetie asked as she took a bite of her pancakes.

"I'm a pwesent!" Storm said with a giggle.

"Yes, you certainly are," Scootaloo said with a giggle as she started eating too. "You're the best present I could ever ask for Stormy, I love you."

Stormy giggled a little and yawned a little as she closed her eyes and snuggled between her two moms. Rainbow and Fluttershy watched and set the presents down on the bed.

"Oh, dang... I'm sorry, we've been so busy with everything we didn't have a chance to get you anything," Scootaloo said and facehooved a little at her own mistake.

"Don't worry Scoots, this is a day for the two of you," Rainbow said and gave her daughter a nod. "We'll just leave the three of you alone. Come downstairs whenever you want."

Scootaloo and Sweetie nodded as they finished eating as the older mares left. Sweetie moved the trays off to the side as they laid down next to Storm and nuzzled her gently.

"Were, you two really in my dream?" Storm asked and looked between them.

"Yeah, we were," Scootaloo said. "Princess Luna wanted us to help with everything, we were happy to be there. I love you Stormy."

"I love you mommies," Storm said and gently drifted off to sleep again as the two nuzzled her gently and smiled a little.

"Well, lets see what they got us," Scootaloo said as they took the boxes and opened them carefully. Scootaloo smiled a little when she took out a locket that when she opened it had a picture of her with Storm and Sweetie Belle in one half and a line of text engraved into it.

"For many more happy Mother's Days in the future."

Scootaloo smiled as Sweetie held up her own locket and they leaned in and kissed each other gently on the lips. They smiled and looked down at Storm and then back at each other and nodded.

They knew that they were going to have many more.

00000

"So, did you two enjoy your gifts?" Rainbow asked as Scootaloo and Sweetie came down with the still sleeping Storm on Scootaloo's back.

"Yeah, thank you," Scootaloo said as she looked back at Storm. "And thank you for breakfast, you really have made today special. I just wish that I could've done the same for you."

"Don't worry, we're just happy that you're happy," Fluttershy said with a smile as she saw the lockets around their necks.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll figure something out to try and make it up to each other," Rainbow said with a giggle and winked at Fluttershy and Scootaloo blushed a little.

"Mmm, what's goin' on?" Storm asked as she looked up.

"Oh we're just about to head out," Scootaloo said as Storm climbed off her back. "You took a little nap, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Storm said and yawned a little.

"Alright, well today we're going to have fun," Scootaloo said with a smile as she nuzzled her daughter gently. "Whatever you want to do."

"Really?" Storm said and her wings buzzed a little.

Scootaloo was about to say something when she blinked in surprise, Storm hadn't set back down like she usually did. Instead she was staying up in the air, much to the filly's surprise.

"Stormy, you're flying!" Scootaloo said and reached over and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Really?" Storm asked and looked up at her mom with big eyes. "I was flying?"

"Yeah, and I'm so proud of you..." Scootaloo said softly as she hugged her daughter who hugged her back. Tears started to stream down her face a little, she was just happy that she had been here for it. "And I'm so proud of you."

Storm just smiled and hugged Scootaloo back.

Mistakes

Rainbow stretched out a little, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were off with Storm who had a check-up today and Fluttershy was with her animals so Rainbow had the whole house to herself right now. She figured she could get a quick snack before she had to go work out the weather schedule with the rest of the weather team.

She smiled a little as she picked up a picture of her and Scootaloo when she was younger. She had surprised her that day with a trip to the newly opened amusement park in Cloudsdale, it was the last summer before Scootaloo had started high school before all of this had started.

She smiled at the memory as she put her hoof over the picture of her and the younger Pegasus. She had wanted so badly to tell her the truth back then, maybe if she had then things would've gone differently. Not that it really mattered, she loved her granddaughter, and she knew that everything had happened the way it should have.

Still, she had to wonder what might've happened if things had been different. She set it down and picked up another picture, this one had been taken a few days after Storm Chaser had been brought home, it was of the five of them, her, Scootaloo, Storm, Fluttershy, and Sweetie Belle together.

As a family.

That was all she really needed to know.

She was about to head into the kitchen when she heard a knock at the door. She got up and answered it and was surprised to see Traveler standing there. "Oh, uh, hi Traveler, I didn't expect to see you here so soon," she said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Rainbow, I, just wanted to talk about some things," Traveler said as he rubbed the back of his head a little and looked at Rainbow nervously. "Can I come in?"

"I, guess," Rainbow said as she held the door open for the stallion to enter.

"You really do have a nice place," Traveler said as he entered the cloud house and looked around. "Look, I've had a chance to talk with Holiday and Lofty, they told me a bit more about what's been going on. I'm, really sorry that I wasn't there for you like I should have been."

Rainbow sighed a little as she looked away from him. "Neither of us was really there for Scootaloo when we should have been," she admitted sadly. "I should've raised her from the beginning. But, well, I didn't think I was ready to be a mom."

"What changed?

"Scootaloo got pregnant, I knew I couldn't let her go it alone, so I did everything I could to help, including taking her in," Rainbow said and shook her head. "Still, kinda feels weird now that she's going to be moving out again. I'm sorry, I'm going on about myself, what did you want to talk about?"

"It may be hard to believe, but I wanted to make up for what I did to you and Scootaloo in the past," Traveler said with a shake of his head. "I've made a lot of mistakes and hurt ponies, so I wanted to try and make amends for what I've done. I know that leaving you as I did probably isn't forgivable, but I wanted to at least try and reach out to you. If there's anything I can do to make up for it, just let me know."

Rainbow paused a moment, she wasn't that surprised but still, it was weird to actually hear him say it. She had been a little bitter about it for a while, but she had never really decided what to do if he ever came back, she sighed a little and looked at him and then back out the window for a moment.

"I don't know if I'm in any position to forgive you," she finally said. "Even if you weren't ready to be a father, I wasn't ready to be a mother either. Maybe we both have a lot to make up for, but for right now just let me think about it okay?"

"Okay," Traveler said as he let out a sigh and shook his head a little. "I don't blame you really, but I'll be in town a few more days if you change your mind and want to talk more."

Rainbow nodded as he headed out. She sighed a little and watched him go before she looked out the window towards where Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had left for.

Scootaloo had forgiven her, should she do the same for Traveler? She sighed a little, she still had a lot to think about right now, and she had to make sure that she made the right decision.

If she didn't, maybe she wasn't much of a mother after all.

00000

"Well, looks like you're a healthy little filly," Nurse Redheart said as she finished checking over Storm Chaser's physical exam results. "So, she's flying now you said?"

"A little bit yeah," Scootaloo said with a nod.

"Good, good, we weren't sure if she would be given your, uh, condition," Redheart said with a shake of her head. "But she's going to be just fine."

"Okay good," Scootaloo said with a smile as they finished up and headed out of the room together and down the hall to where Sweetie Belle was waiting for them.

"What's the word?" Sweetie asked as she looked up at the two.

"She's fine," Scootaloo said with a nod as she ruffled her daughter's mane lightly. "Sorry that you had to sit in the waiting room."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Sweetie said with a nod as they started out. "So, we've still got time before we have to meet up with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon again, what do you want to do Stormy?"

Storm looked between her two moms and had a cute thoughtful look on her face. "Ice Cream!"

"Well, you were good for the Doctor so I'd say you've earned a little treat," Scootaloo said with a chuckle as they started towards Sugarcube corner. "What kind of ice cream do you want?"

"Chocolate," Storm said with a giggle as they entered the building where Pinkie was working behind the counter.

"Hey, you three!" The excited Earth Pony mare said with a big smile as she saw them come inside. "What can I get for you?"

"Three chocolate ice cream cones," Scootaloo said as she looked at Sweetie Belle who nodded in agreement and they took a seat at one of the tables.

Scootaloo smiled as she placed her hoof on Sweetie Belle's and they looked at Storm who was propped up so she could get to the table easily. It had been a tough couple of years, but Sweetie and her family had helped her through it no matter what.

Now they were about to make the biggest step of their life and become a family. Scootaloo couldn't help but wonder what the future might hold for them now, after all, they still had many things to do. What would Storm be like when she grew up? What did the future hold for all of them?

"Hey, Auntie Holiday!" Storm said as she waved at a familiar peach colored mare who had come into Sugarcube Corner. Holiday smiled and waved back at her as she picked up her order from the counter and headed over to the table.

"Hey you three," Holiday said with a smile as Pinkie came over with their order. "How are things going with you?"

"Pretty good," Scootaloo said with a nod. "Stormy here finally flew earlier, so we're kind of celebrating after taking her to the doctor's office. Not really anything else going on."

"That's good," Holiday said and gave Storm a smile as she ruffled the filly's mane gently. "I'm glad to hear you're flying Stormy, Wintergreen is taking lessons from your great aunt Lofty, maybe you can do the same when you're older."

"Can I?" Storm asked as she looked up at her mom.

"Maybe, we'll see," Scootaloo said with a chuckle.

"Oh come on, we'll charge you only half price, family discount," Holiday said with a laugh which just made the three younger ponies chuckle lightly. "So, how goes the wedding planning?"

"I never realized how much work goes into it," Sweetie Belle said with a shake of her head. "And I still have to write my vows, this is going to take forever..."

"Don't worry Sweetie, just make sure that whatever you say comes from your heart," Holiday said with a smile as she gave her a nod. "You two have something special, I'm glad after everything that happened Scootaloo was able to find such a wonderful pony."

"Me too," Scootaloo said as she gently placed her hoof on Sweetie's. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Sweetie just smiled and nodded a little as they shared a kiss. Holiday smiled a little as she looked out the window and saw Traveler walking past, though he didn't stop.

She sighed a little, she hadn't talked with her brother in years before he had shown up at the graduation party. They had seen each other on occasion at family events, but they had never said anything to one another. She honestly had always been angry at him about what had happened with Rainbow Dash, and normally he didn't seem to even care about reconnecting with his sister.

At least until when he came to visit her and Lofty. He had met the foals for the first time and he actually seemed to do pretty well with them. She sometimes wondered what it might've been like if he had actually stayed. At the same time though, maybe things worked out for the best.

She shook her head, there was not really any point on dwelling on this kind of thing.

"Is everything okay Aunt Holiday?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the Earth Pony mare.

"Everything's fine Scootaloo," Holiday said with a soft smile. "You know, you haven't met your father's side of the family yet, well other than me and Lofty. Maybe, you wouldn't mind doing that sometime?"

Scootaloo blinked a little, she hadn't even thought of that. She knew her mom's side of the family, but she hadn't really thought that much about her dad's side. She thought about it for a long moment before nodding a little.

"Maybe sometime, sure," she said with a smile. "I'd say invite them to the wedding, but Sweetie might go crazier than Pinkie Pie if we do that."

Sweetie just laughed a little at that and shook her head. "And you'd love me anyway."

"Yes, yes I would," Scootaloo said with a laugh as she nuzzled Sweetie gently. "But really, its something to consider. Then again that would probably make for an awkward invitation, 'Hi, I'm your (insert family member here), we've never met but I'd like to invite you to my wedding.' Yeah, that would probably be a great way to introduce myself."

"You never know until you try," Holiday said with a shake of her head. "Actually I've told them about you already, well not everything but I've told them that I found my niece and that she's a good pony. Some of them are interested in meeting you too."

"Huh, maybe," Scootaloo said and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Do you think we should? I'd really like to at least get to know my family."

"Yeah, I think we can work something out," Sweetie said and then chuckled a little. "Besides, we're already going to need a big space just for my family. I think that's why it's taking me so long to write the invitations, lots of Apples to invite."

"Oh Dear Celestia, I almost forgot about how massive the Apple family was..." Scootaloo said with a groan. "But still, we'll manage, though at least since we're doing it at the same time as the reunion they're going to be there anyway."

"True, but still, its kind of a pain," Sweetie said with a shake of her head. "What do you think Stormy, do you want to meet your new Apple family?"

"Yes!" Storm said with a giggle as she smiled at her moms. "Like Auntie Apple Bloom?"

"Yep, just like her, only weirder at times," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head.

"Says the mare with a cousin that plays lead guitar in a punk rock band," Sweetie said with a chuckle and Scootaloo didn't say anything after that as she just laughed.

"Really?" Holiday asked and looked at Scootaloo strangely for a moment.

"Oh yeah, you haven't met my extended family on Rainbow's side," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "Trust me, everything is fine. I'm just glad that I get the chance to marry the mare of my dreams."

"Same here," Sweetie said as she nuzzled Scootaloo.

"So, how are Hazel and Wintergreen doing?" Scootaloo asked as she looked back at Holiday. "They're probably glad to be on Summer break finally."

"Heh, yeah," Holiday said with a nod. "Things are getting a little weird with Traveler showing up, but they're warming up to him pretty well."

Scootaloo smiled a little at that. She was still trying to get used to her father being back in her life, it wasn't really the same as Rainbow Dash since she had always been there since she was young, but still, it was weird.

"If he's willing to try and connect, then the least you can do is give him that chance," Sweetie said with a nod. "Maybe at least get to know him."

“Maybe,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she shook her head a little bit. “I don’t know honestly, I’m still kind of nervous about the whole thing. I’ll, at least give it a try I guess, let’s just hope that is the right thing to do.”

“It is, I’m sure of it,” Sweetie said with a soft smile as she leaned over and kissed her fiance on the cheek. “What do you think Holiday?”

“I think Traveler would like to get to know Scootaloo better,” Holiday agreed. “But he also doesn’t want to force anything. If you want I’ll tell him to wait a while longer, it’s really up to you.”

“Alright, just tell him that I might be willing to talk to him, but right now we have a lot on our plate,” Scootaloo said with a slight smile as she looked back at Sweetie and Storm. “After all I’ve got the kiddo to look after and a wedding to plan.”

“Yeah, I know,” Holiday said. “Just let us know, okay?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said. “We should probably get back home.”

“Alright, it was good seeing you again,” Holiday said with a smile as she watched the three get up and head out of the store. “Take care you three… I just hope that you’ll be okay with what Traveler has to tell you.”

00000

“So, how did the doctor’s visit go?” Fluttershy asked as the three headed into the house together.

“Well Stormy’s a healthy filly and her being able to fly is a good sign,” Scootaloo said with a soft smile as she ruffled her daughter’s mane gently. “Right Stormy?”

“Yep, I’m gonna be as fast as Grandma Rainbow,” Storm said with a giggle.

“Uh-oh, she better look out then,” Fluttershy said with a laugh. “Well, I’m glad she’s doing okay. So did anything else happen while you were out?”

“Oh, you know, we ran into Aunt Holiday at Sugarcube Corner,” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “She’s doing well, I’m just… you know, nervous about the possibility of meeting with Traveler again.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy said as Storm and Sweetie Belle headed upstairs. “But you’re going to have to reach out to him eventually.”

“Yeah, I know but I’m still kind of figuring out how,” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “Maybe I should make a list or something of what I want to say to him or... Oh great, now I’m sounding like Twilight aren’t I?”

“A little,” Fluttershy giggled. “But it’s not a bad idea. But really, I would just talk to him and hear what he has to say. Who knows, it may be enough. Just do whatever you think is best, okay?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a soft smile. “I’m worried though. But, I’ll do everything I can to figure this out. I guess that’s the most I can do.”

“So how is the moving in process going?” Fluttershy asked as they headed to go find Sweetie Belle and Storm. “How do you think Stormy is going to take it?”

“Yeah, this is the only home she’s ever known,” Scootaloo lamented as she looked around at the cloud house. “It’s going to be weird for me too you know. I know we can visit whenever we want, but it just feels weird to leave this house.”

“Home is where those who love and care about you are, this will always be your home,” Fluttershy said as Rainbow came in and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey Rainbow.”

“Hey Flutters, Scootaloo,” Rainbow said with a smile as she nuzzled Fluttershy gently before looking back at her daughter. “Scootaloo, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I guess I’m just thinking about everything that’s going on,” Scootaloo said as she brushed her short mane back a little. She smiled a little as Sweetie and Storm came in “So, what are we going to do now?”

“I think for now we just need to get back to work on moving and the wedding,” Sweetie said as she levitated Storm up and gave her a slight hug. Storm smiled a little as she hugged the Unicorn back. “Come on kiddo, you need a bath before dinner.”

Storm nodded as she headed up with Scootaloo and Sweetie headed upstairs together. Rainbow’s smile only faltered after the three of them were out of view.

“Is everything okay, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked as she placed her hoof gently on the blue Pegasus’ shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about everything with Traveler still,” Rainbow said with a sigh. “He came by earlier to talk to me about it. He seems like he’s trying to change, but sometimes…”

“You’re not sure what to do either?” Fluttershy asked and she nodded. “Scootaloo feels the same you know. She wants to talk to him but she doesn’t know what to do or say. Maybe you should go talk to her.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Rainbow said with a slight nod. “We’re both in the same situation from different sides. We really are in this together.”

“I know you’ll both do the right thing,” Fluttershy said as she kissed Rainbow Dash gently on the lips. “Come on, let’s just enjoy some time together, what do you say?”

“Sounds perfect to me,” Rainbow said as she rubbed noses with her wife. “We’ve got a lot to do right now.”

Fluttershy smiled and giggled a little when they heard the sound of splashing somewhere above them. They knew they had a little bit of time as they got up and Fluttershy got to work on cooking dinner.

00000

“Hey Scoots,” Rainbow said as Scootaloo looked up from where she was laying on the couch that night. They had already put Storm to bed. She had her wings wrapped gently around Sweetie who had fallen asleep.

“Hey mom,” Scootaloo said quietly as she looked up at her mother. “What’s up?”

“Oh, I just wanted to talk to you about something,” Rainbow said as she took a seat across from the couple. “You know, about your Father. Fluttershy said you weren’t sure how you were going to handle that.”

“Yeah, I know,” Scootaloo sighed. “What am I supposed to say to him? I never even met him until a few days ago. All the questions I’ve ever thought I’d ask him, they vanish from my mind when I think about it.”

“Scootaloo, maybe you should just listen,” Rainbow replied. “He has his reasons for being gone, I’m not sure what they are but I think you should at least try to talk to him. I’ll be there with you the whole time if you want.”

“I’d like that,” Scootaloo said as she looked down at Sweetie. “I’ll try to talk to him tomorrow I guess. But tonight, I just want to spend time with Sweetie.”

“Yeah, I can understand that, I’ll tell Traveler in the morning,” Rainbow said with a slight smile. She didn’t really know what she was going to do about all of this, but she was glad that Scootaloo was open to the idea.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a nod as she stroked Sweetie’s curled mane gently. “Thanks, mom, for everything.”

Rainbow smiled and walked back to give the couple a chance to relax. Scootaloo closed her eyes and just enjoyed the moment.

00000

“I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be this soon,” Traveler said as Scootaloo took a seat across from him. Rainbow Dash was on the other end of the couch from her watching the two. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“As sure as I’ll ever be,” Scootaloo replied. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of ponies,” Traveler said as he eyed Rainbow for a moment. “When I was with your mother back in school I was young and stupid. I got her pregnant, and at the same time, I did things. I got into drugs and alcohol, and that was why we eventually had to leave.”

Scootaloo paused a moment as she looked at him. She had never thought of him like that and this confession surprised her. He looked and sounded like he was being sincere at least, and he gave her a soft smile.

“I’ve been sober for a couple of years now, but there was one thing that I never had the courage to do honestly,” he said. “In the program, we’re put through the twelve steps. I made a list of everypony I had ever wronged, and the ninth step involved making amends with those ponies, but you two…”

He closed his eyes and bowed his head a little as he tried to put this into words.

“You two are the ones I probably wronged the most,” he said quietly. “Rainbow, I left you behind when you needed me the most. Scootaloo, you weren’t even born yet. I don’t expect either of you to welcome me into the family. If there’s anything I can do to make amends for what I’ve done, then I’ll gladly do it.”

“Well, this is something we’re going to have to think about,” Scootaloo said softly as the stallion looked up at her. “But I do know that I can’t hold a grudge forever either. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive you, but I just want to think about it.”

“Okay, I understand,” Traveler said.

“But, I would like to get to know you better at the same time,” Scootaloo said with a nod. “You’re still my father, you’re still family. I’d like a chance to get to know where I came from.”

“Alright, ask away,” Traveler said.