Rearing Scootaloo

Carefully, James knocked on the door with his free hand, “Scootaloo are you awake?” His other hand was carrying a half-sheet baking pan upon which rested a plate with an omelette and hash browns. Next to the plate was a glass of orange juice. He was gonna need to hold the glass or find a safe spot to put it, as past experience has assured him a bed was no place for any glasses of liquids. Luckily, he had a decent place for it.

“Yeah,” came the muffled rough response from the other side of the door.

“Can I come in? I made you breakfast and it’s best to eat when it’s still warm.”

“Sure,” came the muffled answer.

He did one last look downwards to make sure his boner wasn’t obvious from his clothing. It was nigh impossible to not be affected by what he witnessed. He was turned on, but he had nothing to direct it towards, as often was the case, so he was able to ignore it easily enough. Glad to see his boner properly constrained by cloths he opened the door with his free hand, “how’re you feeling?” He asked as he carefully walked in.

Her lamp was still on and she was laying more/less in the same spot he left her last night. Her bedsheets were kind of out of place, “who was that?” She asked and propped herself up with a hiss using her pillow. Her mane was messy as ever. He set the food on the bed and picked up the drink and put it on top the beds frame/sliding drawers just above and behind her head.

“That was Princess Celestia,” she gave him a dubious look, “what?”

“Yeeeeeah, and I'm Zap."

“Who?”

“Sheee’s won o- da omi ook eros."

“Could you say that again, this time without a face full of food, please.” James asked. He couldn’t really fault her on bad manners when he just said to eat while it was warm.

She swallowed, “ehe right,” she said somewhat sheepishly, “she’s one of the comic book heroes.” She answered then began eating again.

“I see… so, how’s your umm bottom doing?”

She held up her hoof and finished what was keeping her little mouth busy, “It really stings if I move anything back there,” she answered, then went back to it.

He wasn’t a doctor but using the word stings and being able to move would suggest she's healing, “So you don’t feel anything if you don’t move?”

She held out her hooves, “Orange juice please,” She requested. He raised his eyebrow but gave it to her anyways. He supposed she would have a problem getting it without her food potentially sliding and thus falling on her blanket. That’s not to say anything about the pain she might feel. She gulped half it down before hoofing it back to him, “I do feel a constant stinging but it’s uhh it’s not as bad as it was.”

“I’m glad to hear that your getting better,” he supplied, as she continued eating, “I was afraid I was going to have to take you to the hospital.” Her entire body shook at the mention and she stopped eating.

She gulped, “nope, I’m totally fine. Nothing wrong with me.” She urged with a forced smile.

“Uh huh, we’ll see about that,” he figures if she can’t walk around by tomorrow then she’s definitely going to get some medical help. He doesn’t care if he goes to jail. On second thought, maybe he could leave her at the doorstep with a bunch of bits and a well written note. She was eating up the last of her food, “Scootaloo we need to talk about what happened last night.”

“Whu-what about it?” she said wearily, and leaned away from him.

“Well, for starters let me apologize again for losing it. I’m really sorry, that was not any kind of acceptable behavior for anyone really. I just, when you said you were going to give Sweetie another black eye. I snapped, I guess, and as the supposed adult, I should’ve been better then that. So once again, I’m sorry.”

Scootaloo looked down in thought, “but I’m n-” she blinked several times and looked away, “whatever,” she barked, “I was being a-a brat. Sweetie is nice and I…” she looked down with an almost angry frown, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she hated me forever.”

“I highly doubt that, either way you do owe her a sincere apology.”

She shook head in agreement, “yeah.”

“Okay, next thing we need to talk about is you, -”

“What about me?” she asked before he could say anything else. She was glaring at him.

“Scootaloo last night you said some disturbing things about yourself.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she intoned crossing her forelegs.

“Fine, we won’t talk about why you feel that way as I’m pretty sure you answered that last night, but you better answer these questions honestly, and I mean it.”

She growled looking elsewhere, “only if you pay me five bits for each.”

He sighed, “fine deal. Okay, so first question. Why are you so against talking about it?”

She looked confused about the question for a moment and then brought a hoof to her chin, “...because whenever I think or talk about it, I-I start crying, and I really really hate crying. It’s so uncool.”

“Okay, umm, next question. I hope you realize that what you feel is not true?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said your worthless,” she frowned, “Well, look around you, all of this is your’s,” she stubbornly closed her eyes and once again crossed her forelegs, “go ahead look,” he encouraged. "...come on."

She let out a defeated sigh and did so.

“Would I go to all the effort of getting a ‘worthless pony’ all this stuff? The answer to that is no, for several reasons. The first being that no pony is worthless and that INCLUDES you Scootaloo you are a valuable pony.”

Scootaloo merely looked away bitterly.

“The second reason,” he continued, “is because I want to help you and I can. Call me crazy, but if it came down to it, I would die for you.” he stated, hoping to get across the point that her life means something. He meant it to. She's too young to die.

“Wow, you are crazy.”

He gasped in mock indignation, “are you calling me crazy?” he asked in mock outrage as he put a hand to his chest and smiled playfully. Scootaloo for her part turned her attention back to him clearly taken aback by the playful change in his voice, “I don’t want to go to the head doctor. The last time I did, I found out I actually was in another world!” He exclaimed in an exaggerated fashion, before realising how lame his joke was. He wouldn’t be surprised if Celestia had a paper stating she was a psychiatrist, thus making it true as well.

“Hahaha,” she chuckled to his surprise. He managed to get her to laugh. He couldn’t help but smile at that. It was nice to see someone so down on themselves laugh.

“I think that’s the first time I heard you laugh,” he commented. Her smile soon replaced with a neutral look, “oh don’t be like that,” he said grabbing the half sheet pan, and then the rest of her orange juice, “here, finish the rest of this,” he said holding out the orange juice to her.

She grabbed it and gulped it down, and hoofed it back. She then slid back under the covers and rested her head on her pillow looking away from him, “thanks,” she said quietly.

“We’re not done yet, I’ll be back in a moment.” He said getting no response.

He left the room and put the dishes in the sink.

He headed back, “Okay, now you need to take another shower,” he stated as he walked towards her and picked her up. She tensed up and was shaking like a leaf in his grip. It reminded him of when they first met not too long ago. He couldn't help but frown remembering the shape she was in, “uhh sorry," he said putting her down. She curled up into a ball, but stopped shaking, "Remember when I told you I was a foalsitter?“

Her ears shot up and she nodded her head yes.

“Well," He said petting her mane to hopefully calm her down, "I got use to foals not liking the bath and found that picking them up before they could run made things easier for everyone, even though I got good at catching them. Anyways, as such, that's why I picked you up just now," He explained. "I didn't mean to scare you.” He stated.

She looked up to him and blinked a couple times, frowned, and batted away the hand petting her, “I wasn't scared. I was just... I was cold that's all." She obviously lied.

"Oh, so you don't mind if I pick you up right now?" He said bringing his hands to her. She froze up just before they reached and he stopped, "All I'm doing is taking you to the shower because I know you won't be able to walk there," he explained as he slowly picked her up. He began carrying her to the shower.

"I'm not scared," she claimed trying to convince him or herself. Perhaps both.

He opened the bathroom door, turned on the light, and stepped inside, “If you say so. Oh hey," he said to change the subject, "check out the new bathroom rug I got. Now you won’t be ice skating when you leave the shower,” he mocked as he set her down on said rug.

“Hah. Hah.” she said unamused, “Oh, that’s soft,” she said as she stood on top of it.

“I know right?” He slid open the glass pane/door and turned on the shower, “also check out this step ladder I got for you,” he said pointing to it, “so now you can take a shower whenever.” He checked the water, “do you want me to lift you in?”

“No! I got it,” she slowly walked to the one foot high lip and carefully stepped into shower. He couldn’t help but notice she still held her tail far away from her privates. As she slowly lifted one of her hind legs to into the shower, the angle of her posterior was such that he could get a good look at her shiny, moist, and bruised rump. He looked away quickly but was left puzzled. Why was it so glossy?

It took him a moment to remember/realize that she probably still had that ointment all over her derriere, “once your done do you think you can put more of that stuff on you again?” He asked as he began closing the door.

“What stuff? Oh you mean that stuff. Umm maybe, uhh where’s the soap?”

He looked at it and realised she was in no condition to jump up to it. She could cimb there with the step ladder but that seemed like it would’ve been a slow process and painful process, “I’ll get it one second,” he stated, opening the mostly closed door. He briefly turned off the shower and got her the soap and shampoo and a brush.

“Thanks,” she said as he once again turned on the shower and left closing the door behind him.

“Be sure to clean all of that stuff off.”

“I know.”

…

“I’m done,” she said finally. He opened the door and turned off the shower. She slowly walked out then fell onto the soft bathroom rug.

He got her a towel and tossed it to her, she took it and began drying herself off. Extremely slowly when she reached her rear, “so you think you can handle this by yourself?” He asked holding up the tube of ointment.

“Yes, just let me...” She tried reaching a forehoove in between her hind hooves and grunted in discomfort. She tried bringing it around the side of her flanks with even less success. She slowly circled around like a dog for a moment.

“I can do it if you want.” He suggested.

“No, I got it,” she said. She put her back to the glass door and slowly sat down, but not completely. Using her forelegs she crawled to the glass door behind her until her hindlegs were splayed up and wide apart while her upper back and head rested on what was behind her. It was similar to her position when she was eating on the bed, except now the support came from her upper back. She also didn’t have blanket covering her lower body and her hindlegs were wide open up in the air, “See told you!” she said triumphantly.

James found his eyes travelling downward past her sleek barrel to her exposed filly bits, as her position was currently very suggestive to him, “yy-yes you did,” he said quickly looking away and blindly handed her the ointment, “try not to use too much,” he requested.

“Okay,” she agreed. Her rear was still reddish from the spanking. Some areas slightly more red than others. The sight of her bruised privates reminded him that his boner had yet to even go down after Celestia’s visit. He wished Scootaloo was somewhere else and Sweetie was here right now. The things he would do.

That aside, he also couldn’t help but note that the furlessness of her privates also included the small nubs that are her tits. It left them in the open air. Unlike Sweetie, who’s fur mostly hid them from view. The furlessness from her cute little ponut also went up to just under the base of her tail ending in a V shape with tail hairs.

“Done!” Scootaloo exclaimed getting his attention, he feared looking back to her, but did so anyway. He was relieved to see she was standing up now, holding out the tube to him. He grabbed it and put it away.

“Alright, want me to carry you back to your room?” he asked.

She slowly moved a hindleg back and forth for a moment. She clenched her teeth as she did so, clearly in pain. She looked down defeated and ashamedly, “yes please,” she said quietly.

“Nothing’s wrong with asking for help,” he said as he slowly picked her up. He carried her back to her room and set her back on her bed, “I need to do the dishes, was there anything you wanted me to get you?”

“Could you get my comic books?” She asked in a vaguely hopeful manner. He supposes she fears he would decline as part of her punishment. It seems they had more to talk about but they had time.

He nodded his head, “one second.” He left her room and went to the living room. He didn’t see them on the coffee table. He does vaguely recall cleaning it earlier today. Did he throw them away? He thought in a panic looking around the room more. To his relief, he found them next to the front door. Now he remembers, Scootaloo had tried to run away when she thought he broke his promise. He got them and brought them back to her, “here you go.”

“Thanks,” she replied quietly.

She has been behaving much more nicer. He couldn’t determine if that was a good thing or not. He did give her a good reason to actually fear him and she defiantly feared him. Either she was very good at putting on a brave face, or she only fears him when he does something she doesn't expect. This was so wrong and weird.

He sighed, “just yell if you need anything,” he said as he left to do the dishes.

=============================================================================

It was just before lunch when there was a knock on the door, which he then opened “Um, hey Rarity,” he said with a somewhat forced smile. She didn’t look too happy. Sweetie was next to her smiling up at him, despite the fact she had a black eye.

“James my dear little sister here told me you had cooking lessons planned?”

“Yeah I do, now that I actually have food in my house to cook with.” He didn’t know whether or not to pretend if he knew about Sweetie’s black eye or not. It’d look bad on him if he knew about it and didn’t escort her back to Rarity’s. His acting would be bad if he tried to pretend Sweetie got it after she left for Rarity’s. He looked at the filly in question her black eye was getting better, “how’s your eye doing Sweetie?”

“It hurts,” she complained.

“James could I speak to you in private for a moment?” Rarity asked.

Here it comes, “uhh sure,” he said gesturing her inside, “follow me.”

She did so, “Sweetie be a dear and just wait here, we’ll be just a moment.” Sweetie cheered happily in agreement.

He led her to the kitchen closing the door behind, “no doubt this about Sweetie?”

“Mm-hmm, she told me that while she was running home she tripped and fell and hit her eye,” Rarity explained, “but she had a bag of peas and wasn’t crying,” she began pacing back and forth dramatically, “I know my little sister and she would’ve been crying and she made no mention of anypony helping her which clearly was the case because she had a bag of peas. Given the fact that you were the one taking care of her at the time I must only assume you know something. So, I want to know what really happened to my sister.” She finished staring intently at him.

She had some good deductive reasoning, “well Rarity. You would be correct. You see Sweetie went to go watch a movie with a umm, new friend that’s around her same age.”

“Oh yes! I almost forgot with all this dreary black eye business, I met the dear yesterday. Scootaloo I think it was. Isn’t it wonderful,” she gushed, “my dear little sister has a friend, though the poor dears mane and tail care are,” she paused and hummed a little bit, “lacking.”

“Oh, so you already met her?”

“Why yes, I had her try on several different outfits. She certainly wasn’t enthusiastic about it. I guess fashion just isn’t for everypony,” she explained with a sigh, “but that doesn’t quite answer my question,” she commented in a more serious tone.

“I was getting to that. You see, soon enough Sweetie came crying back to me that her new friend gave her a black eye and stole the bits I gave her to use.”

Rarity gasped, “That ruffian! How dare she hurt my cute, innocent, darling little sister for some, some, mere bits! To think I was going to make her a dress!” She exclaimed in outrage.

Cute, check. Little, check. Innocent, the jury needs to debate that, “I know it’s awful, but I do have an update on the situation.”

“And whatever is it?” She urged.

“Scootaloo feels sorry for what she did to Sweetie, apparently, her parents hadn’t been taking the best care of her. Sweetie talked about her parents and Scootalo felt jealous and lost it. We had a long conversation about it.”

“Are you saying her parents have been neglecting her?” She asked with an edge to her voice.

“It’s not pretty,” he said shaking his head, “it’s also why I’ll be foalsitting her for free since her parents obviously aren't the best role models and are unable to pay otherwise.” He said vaguely. All of it was true technically. Leaving your baby in a dumpster is not taking good care of it in most normal context. Given the fact they weren’t around they wouldn’t be able to, let alone know, to pay him.

“You’re foalsitting her now? Where is she?”

“Yes I am, and she’s in one of my guestrooms.”

“I’d like to talk to her.”

“I’m gonna have to decline, she needs some time to think,” he needed to get the subject off of Scootaloo now that Rarity knew she was in the house, “so what are you going to do about Sweetie?”

“Hmm I don’t know, I have half a mind to ground her for lying to me, but I feel like it’d be unfair when she’s the one who got the black eye, unless she hit Scootaloo first?”

“After talking to both of them, It’s my understanding that she did not fight back in any way.”

“Tsk,” Rarity sighed, “I’ll talk to her later about it. I’ve spent enough time here as it is and I have much to do back at my boutique.” She said making her way towards the door, then stopped and turned around to face him, “OH! Before I go, I’ve been thinking long and hard about your proposal.”

He thought for a moment, “you mean about the herd?” His mind went to Sweetie and her on his bed making out and giggling excitedly. He was looking forward to that, getting with two hot sisters and making them scream his name.

Dammit, he needs to reign in his liabedo. He’s still going from Celestia’s little show and tell.

Rarity nodded, “mmhmm, and I came to a conclusion.”

He breathed in to relax, “do tell, my special somepony really wants you to join, and after our date so do I, though I wouldn’t be against as many dates as you want, as the way you would join our herd is an interesting one to say the least.” If she joins, he was going to have so much fun. Provided she would accept the idea of being in such a relationship with one so young and the one being so young is her sister. It was stupid and risky, but no risk no reward.

“After much thought I decided to hold it off perhaps even cancel it. You see my whole life I dreamed of a noble stallion trying to pursue my heart and it’d be so romantic. It would be just me and him happily ever after. I realize now how unlikely that dream is,” she said sadly.

He could understand that, art around romance was far to unrealistic.

“But I have not given up hope!” She exclaimed, “I’ve only just started making a name for myself. It won’t be long before some wonderful stallion will be trying to win my heart and only my heart. I know it sounds selfish and that your special somepony really wants me join, you’ve made that clear, and I’ll admit I’m very curious as to whom it is and I think I’d actually be happy in your herd, but I can’t abandon this dream just yet. I hope you’ll understand.”

‘DAMMIT!’ he thought. He was looking forward to blindfolding Rarity and having fun. He sighed, “I do and I wish you the best of luck in finding that noble stallion!”

“Why thank you.”

“I feel the need to state that my special somepony just wants you to be happy, and she thinks you’d be happy in our herd, so as long as you're happy, we’re happy.”

“Aww, so out of curiosity, what would I have to do to join your herd?”

He thought for a moment and smirked, “that’s also a secret.”

“Ohhoho, any more mysteries and I might just want to solve them.”

“I really hope you do,” he said honestly with a wink, “but in all seriousness, you’re welcome with us if you somehow don’t find what you’re looking for, which by the way, I don’t see as possible.” A very small chance but it’s one he might as well put out there.

She blushed and looked away shyly, “wa ha ha, well I don’t know about that.”

“You’re a ten out of ten.”

“Oh stop darling,” she said abashedly while punching out a foreleg. She looked back, “but do go on,” she asked batting her eyelashes.

“Too late you already asked me stop,” he said with a smirk. Her cheeks puffed up cutely in mock anger, “so, am I teaching Sweetie how to cook today or is she grounded?” He asked changing the subject.

She let out a sigh, “unfortunately I have a lot to do today, and your cooking lessons do make her oh so happy. Just make sure she doesn’t come back with another black eye.”

“Ofcourse,” he agreed.

“Very well, I must hurry back, I’m behind as it is,” she said as she left the kitchen and headed towards the front door. Sweetie suspiciously just jumping on top of the couch, “Sweetie darling I want you on your best behavior. Oh! and have her back at my place before it’s dark. Ta, ta for now.”

“Later,” he said and “bye~!” Sweetia sang before Rarity closed the front door and began power walking towards her boutique. As seen through the window once she was in its field of view.

He walked to Sweetie picked her up, sat down, put her on his lap, and petted her, “so your sister isn’t into the herd thing. She says she always wanted to be whisked away in a-”

“Romantic bout of monogamous love and blah blah blah,” Sweetie complained, then groaned in frustration, “why does she always have to be so selfish!”

“Rarity is not being selfish," he defended. "How is it selfish to want to be in a monogan-” he mispronounced, that was a word he had not heard or said in a long while, “-monogamous relationship. That’s common. I don’t understand why you have herds. Well, I suppose I can understand it in like a primitive society but you ponies are clearly past that point, so. If anything it’s selfish to expect that you’re worth more than one person, which I feel like I’m doing with you with this herd thing.”

She jumped off his lap and glared up at him. It was kind of odd with the black eye, “but it IS selfish, and it’s not about worth!” Sweetie exclaimed.

“What do you mean Sweetie? One person is equal to one person, the only reason I’m going along with this herd thing is because you really want me to and I’ll admit it’s appealing to my lesser desires but still, that doesn’t mean your sister is being selfish.”

“Yes it does!” She yelled and cutely pounded her front hooves on the couch. Clearly she felt strongly about this.

He brought the palm of his hands to his eyes and rubbed down, “Sweetie please keep it down, Scootaloo is here,” he said gesturing towards the hallway to which the door to her room resided. She looked towards it in someway it kind of looked like shock and perhaps fear, “okay, perhaps I’m missing something here? Why do you think she’s being selfish explain it to me so I can understand.”

Sweetie did the cute thing she does when she recalls a passage from a book, “On average for every seven females that are born one male is born," she went back to being upset, "that would leave six mares alone if everypony was selfish like Rarity.”

James now understood why he seemed to always be around females, “oh,” was all he could say. He no longer felt bad about the herd thing. If anything it made him feel better. He now knew why Sweetie would be so gung ho for a herd. She had such a large heart, “Sweetie you’re too good for any world,” he said picking her up and sitting her on his lap again. It meant his chances to get with Rarity were significantly higher than he thought. He wasn't sure if he should be happy about that or not. It seemed like a really messed up imbalance. Then again, he does recall Celestia mentioning that herds where in the decline. He wondered why that would be, as he idlile petted Sweetie. He’d figure it out later, for now it seemed like no pony was strictly against herds.

Sweetie began rubbing him in a very suggestive place.

He picked her up and set her beside him and she whined, “no can do Sweetie, I need to go tell Scootaloo that we’ll be making lunch, do you want to come with me?”

She sat down pouted and crossed her forelegs, “why’s she have to be here.”

“That’s something only she can tell you, but I will be foalsitting her, also she has something she wants to say to you and I think you may like it,” he said trying to encourage her.

“I don’t care,” she said looking away.

“Fine, I’ll be back in a moment.” He said as he got up and headed towards Scootaloo’s room.

He knocked on the door, “yeah?” Scootaloo responded muffled by the door.

“Can I come in?”

“It’s your house.” She responded.

He entered and found her laying down on the bed reading a comic book. Her tail still raised far away from her rear, “it might be my house but this is your room, you decide who gets to be in here.” She looked up to him, and then away and mumbled something. “Anyways, Sweetie’s here for most of the day do you want to see her?”

“No, I-no” she said as she shied away from him.

“Okay, well we’re going to be making lunch, I’ll bring it to you when it’s done.”

=============================================================================

The rest of the day went without major incident. He ended up buying a couple nightlights for Scootaloo, and put them around the house. He escorted Sweetie back to the Boutique and returned home.

It was almost night time but he needed to have a chat with Scootaloo. Scootaloo made no effort to talk with Sweetie. He wondered if she lied about feeling bad just to appease him or what.

He knocked on Scootaloo’s door, “you don’t have to knock it’s your house.”

He opened the door and stepped in, “This is your room Scootaloo, so yes I do, also we need to talk some more. I think you got the wrong idea on somethings.”

“Like what?”

He cleared away some of her comic books and sat down on the bed, “For one you're not grounded or in trouble. If anything you've been over punished and I'm sorry."

"Is that all?"

"No, can you tell me why I spanked you?”

“B-because I-I g-gave S-Sweetie a-a b-black eye,” she said as she began hiding under the bedsheets.

The fear in her voice was alarming and shocking. He felt like cuddling with her until she felt safe, but wasn’t stupid enough to think that’d work, “You’re wrong,” he said as evenly and disarmingly as possible, “I spanked you because you didn’t want to talk about what was going on and I needed to know. Then you threatened to give Sweetie another black eye and I just lost it,” he explained calmly, and sighed, “sorry about that again. My point is, I needed to know why you did what you did,” he informed, “and although you didn’t have a truly good reason to hit her, I can now understand why you did it.”

“So?”

“I don’t mind if you hit somepony in self defense or if they’re relentlessly mocking you or something but Sweetie according to you wasn’t doing those things, so how come you didn’t try to apologize to her today?”

She was still under the wonderbolts blanket so it was hard to tell what she was thinking, “...because I feel bad about it and the thought of facing her makes me feel queasy... I don’t like it.”

“You would feel better if you apologised to her and she forgave you.”

“What if she doesn’t forgive me?”

“I’m pretty sure she’ll forgive you.”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“I’ve forgiven you. Have you forgiven me?” He asked.

“...”

“Then that’s what will happen if she doesn’t forgive you, but honestly, I know she will forgive you if you apologise.”

“You really think so?” She asked hopefully as she popped her head out of the edge of the blanket. He could see she was crying a little. He couldn’t tell if it was from the fear she displayed, talking about Sweetie, or what.

“Yes, I’m sure of it. Also once again, I’m sorry for doing this to you.” He yawned, “alright I think it’s time to get some sleep. You have a good night,” he said as he got up and made sure the nightlight was on before walking towards the door.

“Wait!” She yelled stopping him, “I-I forgive you, just don’t do it again.”

He felt better, but still guilty, “I shouldn’t have done it in the first place and thanks. Was there anything you wanted before I go to sleep like a glass of water?”

“Could you, read me another story?”

“Sure thing, just let me go get it, one moment.”

=============================================================================

The next day Scootaloo was able to walk around, much to his relief. She was still recovering but seemed to be getting better as the day progressed. Sweetie got dropped off at his place once again by Rarity. Her eye looked like it healed a little.

Scootaloo avoided being in the same room as Sweetie. Sweetie seemed to like hiding behind him anytime they were in sight of each other.

Sweetie still tried to get him to ravage her, at appropeitish times. It was cute, but not productive. He kept up the cooking lessons. She was getting better at cooking believe it or not.

He got a letter from Celestia and hadn’t had the time to read it till now.

Dear James

Sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday morning and cutting our time short. I’ve already re-written this letter dozens of times in an effort to be discreet but gave up on that effort.

So I decided to be blunt. I misheard you. I thought you had asked me out on a date and I got overwhelmed with so many emotions, that I just ran away.

As soon as I popped into my room, I realised what you had actually said and I felt foolish among many other things for my hasty retreat.

What you said was very kind.

I've decided to hold the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. I look forward to meeting up with you then, unless you decide to come visit. That would be a welcome surprise.

Your friend Celestia

He felt bad for her. He thinks the S.S.C. was in about two weeks. He wondered why she gave ponies so little time to prepare. This kind of thing seems like it should’ve been planned a year in advance. Then again, she did pretty much admit she’s basically doing it in Ponyville just to have a chance to hang out with him. That’s a depressing thought. If only she wasn’t surrounded by the worst of pony society, any society really.

It was the end of the day and he knocked on Scootaloo’s door, “come in.” came the muffled response.

“How are you doing?” He asked opening the door and putting a hand behind his back to hide something he was carrying. He found her lying on the bed under her blanket, head resting on her pillow.

“I’m feeling better,” she answered, sitting up and looking towards him.

“So I couldn’t help but notice that you avoided Sweetie all day…”

“You saw her. She’s scared of me. What was I supposed to do?” she asked looking down shamefully.

“Well you know how to fix it, heck I’m sure if you told Sweetie everything you told me she’d be your friend for life. Maybe even your best friend.”

“I don’t know about that. I don’t think she’s much of a sports filly. She seems like an egghead. She asked me about a bunch of books I’ve never even heard of,” she explained, “not that anything’s wrong with that!” She amended quickly.

“That may be true but friends don’t need to have the same interest to be friends. Sweetie does like reading but she also likes doing stuff. She’s just never had any friends to do it with,” he explained.

“Oh,” she said looking off into nothing as if something clicked for her. She got a look of determination about something, before she looked back up to him, “C-Could you read me another story?”

He smiled, “I came prepared tonight,” he said revealing the book he hid behind his back. He knew she enjoyed it.

=============================================================================

The next day, Scootaloo was moving around at a normal pace, though she was clearly somewhat uncomfortable in doing so.

He wrote a letter to Celestia but couldn't find the time to send it.

Sweetie was once again dropped off and her black eye was noticeable more healed.

Scootaloo apologized to Sweetie. James wasn’t there to see it, as he didn’t want either of them to feel like he was forcing it. Sweetie naturally accepted it but was cautious. Scootaloo behaved as if she was walking on eggshells.

Some of the day was awkward and uncomfortable, up until Scootaloo asked if Sweetie wanted to play some games she knew, most of them involved a ball. Some of it was Scootaloo showing off. Sweetie seemed happy to just watch Scootaloo do so though, and even tried what Scootaloo did. Failed hilariously though, which got Scootaloo laughing, and Sweetie laughing soon after.

Eventually, the day ended and Sweetie had to go back to the boutique. She hadn’t tried to get sex out of him, though that’s probable because Scootaloo had always been present.

Once again he knocked on Scootaloo’s door, loose papers in hand, “you can come in whenever you want, you know,” She yelled muffled by the door.

He opened the door and walked in, “For starters, this is your room, but if you really mean that then I will, but just so you know you can lock the door if you don’t want me to barge in on you,” he stated as he walked up to her. He once again found her lying in bed.

“Yeah right,” she said sarcastically.

“I’m serious, this is your room. You can redecorate it if you want. You can paint the room pink. Fill it with dolls, glitter and other gir-filly things, like teddy bears, cute little-”

“Okay, okay I get it!” She interrupted clearly annoyed.

He chuckled at her outburst, “alright, fine,” he said but smiled at her devilishly.

“What?” She asked more so annoyed.

“Well,” he began, “it looked like you had some fun with Sweetie today, and here I thought she was just an egghead,” he teased.

She crossed her forearms and looked away, “she’s not just an egghead,” she responded.

“Oh, then what is she.” She said something quietly, “what was that?”

“She’s my friend.” Scootaloo answered.

“Aww, see told you she was a good pony.”

“Yeah,” she said appreciatively, “you did,” she said quietly.

“Darn right I did!” he proclaimed. “Okay,” He looked down to the papers he was holding and quickly noticed the pages were out of order, “so this is a story from my world, that I jury rigged from memory. I wrote this for a young colt around when I first started foal sitting,” he explained as he put them back in order. He probably should’ve at least clipped them together with a paperclip. He sighed internally for assuming they were in order. What if he was missing a page? He’ll find out soon enough.

As he put them back together Scootaloo stared at him intently.

He tried to ignore her when he noticed. However, it made him uncomfortable, so eventually he stared back. That seemed to snap her out of it and she looked away as if she stole something, “What’s on your mind?”

Her ears went down sadly, “it-it’s nothing.”

“It didn’t look like nothing to me, what is it?”

“It’s stupid, don’t worry about it.”

“Go on,” he encouraged.

“...”

He sighed, “well, you don’t have to tell me right now or perhaps even ever, but,” he shrugged, “I don’t know, just don’t let whatever it is get you down.”

“It’s just- stupid, I-I don't know what I was thinking, could you just read the story, please?”

“Okay, fine just give me a second,” as he went back to it.

=============================================================================

The next few days went by much the same, except Sweetie and Scootaloo were inseparable. They both made full recoveries. He was glad Scootaloo had yet to run away. He thought for sure she was going to when she recovered. She no longer seemed to be afraid of him as well.

He ended up teaching them how to cook, when they weren’t outside playing with their new scooters he got them.

He was on his way back from sending out his letter when he saw scooters on display in a toy store window. Scootaloo's name always struck him as odd because he had no clue what a scootaloo was. Inspiration struck when he saw them. He had to buy them and safety gear. He picked up on pony names and in relation to cutie marks early. Any pony he’s talked about it insist there’s no correlation, when clearly something was up.

Sweetie gave up on her scooter pretty quickly. She was content to watch Scootaloo who was unsurprisingly pretty good with it. He thought it was pretty cool Scootaloo used her wings to propel herself.

Sweetie had initially tried to include him in everything they did and he was able to find reasons not to join them. He didn’t want Scootaloo to feel like he was forcing her to be Sweetie’s friend. He also didn’t want Sweetie to be reliant on him.

He got to watch Rarity more or less threaten Scootaloo and also reassure her as a pony she could go to for help. It was kind of funny. Scootaloo soon enough stayed a night at the boutique. Sweetie was ecstatic for her first sleepover with a friend that was actually her own age.

With all this happening, James noticed Scootaloo clearly had something bothering her. He never brought it up but the one time. He could tell she had something on her mind. She had yet to tell him. He decided he would give her a week or so and if whatever it was still bothered her; he would ask. Until then he wouldn’t force the issue unless she started acting out.

One morning he heard lots of thumping from Scootaloo’s room. He went to investigate. Following Scootaloo’s previous instructions he opened the silent door and looked inside.

Inside he found Scootaloo facing her bed and dancing. She was currently doing what he would consider the robot, very well might he add. She had yet to notice him as she moved on to, moon walking and then she started to breakdance. She ended via spinning on a forehoof, “waaaa aaa,” she screamed as she fell and landed on her back.

Her hindlegs were splayed revealing her exposed filly bits. He ignored it. She groaned and rubbed her head as she got up, taking her privates out of view soon enough anyways.

James was more impressed by the dancing so he clapped, “I didn’t know you could dance,” he said cheerfully. He wasn’t aware ponies could be such good dancers, not that he was much a dancer himself.

“Huh, What are you doing here!?” She exclaimed clearly alarmed and agitated, “how come you didn’t knock!” She accused.

“You said I could come in whenever I wanted, I did tell you about the lock,” he answered.

“Oh... yeah,” she said, face turning red.

That was so cute. “D’aww. Hey, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re an amazing dancer, how come you never mentioned it?”

“Because it-it’s just something I like to do, and it’s embarrassing.”

“I see, well you’re very good at it you shouldn’t hide it,” he encouraged.

“Maybe.”

“You know, I’ve never really seen a pony dance, mind showing me what dances you can do?”

“I-it’s just...”

“Please?”

She sighed, “okay fine, but I’m still working on these, so I might mess up.”

…

She had a rough start but after she got comfortable she did some pretty good solo dancing. He wasn’t aware that the tail and wings of a pony could be used as dancing limbs but he supposed it made sense. He wasn’t much of a dancer so he doesn’t know which dances she did. He’s pretty sure she did some bellorena stuff, apparently ponies could walk on two legs somewhat easily if they wanted to. She showed him all the dances she knew.

The rest of the day went by like the others. Until it was time for Sweetie to head back to her sisters. In fact, it was almost past time for her to be getting back to her sister. He got up and put his shoes on so he could go out and look. Just as he got done tying them the door opened. He stood up just as Sweetie catapulted herself at his leg and hugged as tight as she could, “You’re the best!” She exclaimed. He could see she had somewhat bloodshot eyes, but otherwise looked very happy.

Scootaloo came in soon after, and walked up to the filly who was a couple hip movements away from making this a truly uncomfortable situation, “Sweetie you have to go before you get grounded.”

She gasped, “you’re right,” she stopped hugging just as quickly and bolted outside, “bye Scootaloo, bye James, see you tomorrow.” she yelled as she ran away.

He watched her till she got out of sight and closed the door, “what was that all about?” He asked.

“I told her everything,” Scootaloo answered.

“You mean, about your situation?”

“Yeah.”

“What did she say?” He asked.

Scootaloo smiled and chuckled, “the first thing she did was cry like a foal and nearly hug me to death.”

“Ha, hugged to death, good thing she’s not a bear.”

“It, it was actually very nice,” she said rubbing a foreleg with her fore hoof and looking away, “don’t tell her I said that,” she said glaring up at him, he shrugged, “s-she also said I could be a part of her family.”

Almost instantly, a thought came to him, “wait! did she tell Rarity yet?” He asked alarmed. Scootaloo shook her head no. If Sweetie told Rarity, things could spiral downhill very quickly depending on the laws. Celestia has been around for at least a thousand years and as near he could tell they had no religion. There’s no way they didn’t have laws for this kind of thing, that would end him up in jail. Sweetie would be devastated, “I need to stop her before she does,” he said urgently reaching for the door. If he hurries he might be able to catch her.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked hastily.

He cursed internally but also needed her to understand, “because if I don’t and she tells her sister that you’re an orphan and you’re living here I could get in trouble and you might end up back in an orphanage.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Scootaloo said nonchalantly.

“I don’t?”

She shook her head, “I had her promise not to tell anypony about- about that stuff and she pinkie promised. She said she’d use our cover story.”

What if, “did she tell you any secrets of her own?”

“No,” she answered and he relaxed. He had no doubt Sweetie was gonna tell Scootaloo sooner or later. That was going to be a mess. “But I did show off my dancing moves,” she continued.

“Oh, and what did she say about that?”

“She loved it. She wanted me to teach her. I tried but...” she trailed off.

“Yeah,” James agreed.

“Well, that and it was getting late. She said we should get some books, but I don’t know how books are going to help her get better.”

“She’s proven to me the power of books,” he’d rather not say how though, “anyways, it’s getting late. Get ready for bed,” he said.

Scootaloo nodded and headed to the bathroom. Now that she was fully recovered she could do all that stuff by herself. He went and got a book to read her. He also brought a chair from the kitchen to her room so he wouldn’t have to be on his knees. He felt stupid when Scootaloo suggested he do so.

Soon enough she came out of the bathroom after having brushed her teeth and taken a shower. Before she got settled under her bed sheets she reached across the small gap between them and tightly hugged his midsection from the bed, “thank you.”

He patted her head, “umm, okay,” he said in uncertainty.

She released and settled under the blankets, “you tell no pony I did that,” she commanded, face blushing.

“Drat, there goes my bragging rights,” he joked.

She smiled up at him briefly before looking away nervously, “umm, can I ask you a question?”

The mood of the room changed, “...is this about what’s been bothering you these last few days?” he asked.

She meekly nodded, “Would it be okay if I- can I...” She tried to say cutting herself off. He waited. She closed her eyes and her ears went down, “can I call you dad?” she blinked and stared wide-eyed at him, “I mean, I know you’re not my dad and y-you said that you wou-didn’t want to be my parent,” she explained frantically, “but I just thought that if...” she trailed off closing her eyes tightly.

James was shocked at the request. He supposes he should’ve seen it coming. He was pretty much already taking the responsibility of a parent. He also basically cemented her here and gave her no real way to find her a family. Outside of putting her back in an orphanage to maybe be adopted. She made it clear she wanted nothing to do with that. This was complicated.

“Forget it,” she said forcefully. Evidetly, he took too long in his thinking, “it was a stupid idea anyways. Just-just forget it.” She said throwing her head down on her pillow and turning away from him.

“Do you really feel like I’m your dad?” he asked softly, before she could answer he continued, “or do you just really want a dad and I happen to be close enough to fit the role?” He continued as calmly and reassuring as he could, “I like you Scootaloo, you’re a good filly but you can’t delude yourself from the truth. Is this what you really want?”

She stayed still for a long moment then dabbed the blanket to her eyes before turning back to him, “N-No,” she began, “I just really want a f-family. I want parents who’ll say they’re p-proud of me, I want to have b-birthday parties,” she blinked a couple times, and took a moment to get her breathing under control, “you and Sweetie are the closest I have to one right now. Sweetie said she would b-be m-my sister n-no m-matter what,” she blinked some more, “and you’ve given me so much, y-you even read me stories every night,” she breathed out. She let a sad chuckle, “you’ve helped me out so much, and here I am asking you for more like a- like a spoiled brat!”

Despite himself he couldn’t resist the opportunity, he got a playful smirk, “hey! don’t call yourself that, I don’t want you giving yourself a blackeye.”

She looked confused for a moment then laughed hard producing a few tears. Her laughter died down, after a bit. She laid there silently for a moment, “...what now?”

He’s been thinking about this for a while and came to a reasonable conclusion, “how about a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“Well… I’m okay with you calling me dad but only when no pony else is around, except for Sweetie I guess, and only if you truly feel that way. The other part of the deal is that you not expect me to behave differently like whatever your preconceived notions of a dad is.”

“Preconceev-preconci- what does that mean?” she asked merely giving up on trying to say it.

“It means I won’t act like a dad or whatever you think a dad acts like,” he explained.

“Oh.”

“With that said, I will do what I can to make sure you’re happy and safe regardless of what you think about me. So do you truly feel like I’m your dad?”

“I-” she paused for a moment and looked down with a frown, “...maybe, I don’t know. I need some time to think about it,” she proclaimed, “but can I call you it?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, but like i said-”

“I know,” she interrupted and yawned.

“Aww, someones sleepy,” he said giving her a slight noogie, she batted away his hand with a weak smile, “You take your time with it. I’m sure the answer will come to you when it’s the right time okay?” She yawned again and nodded her head in agreement, “good,” he picked up the book and once again dramatically opened it. He began reading.

=============================================================================

The next two days Sweetie arrived earlier than usual and took Scootaloo to the library. They were at the boutique most of the time otherwise.

Half way through the next day Scootaloo asked if Sweetie could stay the night at his place. He said yes but only if Rarity was okay with it and she was. They had him haul some stuff from Rarity’s to Scootaloo’s room. Apparently, they had plans on using them during the sleepover.

He probably should’ve asked Rarity how their first sleepover went. Scootaloo and Sweetie both said it was great. He could imagine Rarity letting her high standards on etiquette slip for the sake of her sister having a good time.

He wasn’t sure why they wanted a spotlight, record player, and one of Rarity’s mannequins, stand and all. Along with a large thick red sheet to go under it. When asked, they said it was a secret. He knows they been practicing dancing at Rarity’s these last few days, he supposed that's what the record player was for. He had to make three trips to carry all that stuff back to his house.

They then had him set everything up in Scootaloo’s room. He's glad the spotlight came with an adjustable stand, otherwise he doubts he’d be able to set it up. It was a couple hours past his usual dinner time by the time he got everything done.

The spotlight ended up almost at the ceiling just above the mannequin with the red carpet beneath. After everything was set up Sweetie shooed him out of the room and told him not to enter, locking the door behind her.

He asked if they wanted to help with dinner and they declined from the other side. He imagined what they could possible do with a mannequin, a spotlight and some music. His first thought was dresses, makeup, wigs, and stuff but they had no such things that he was aware of, let alone such things in the size of a full grown pony.

Acting out things in a play? Na, everything was set in place and would be hard to move, also that didn't seem like something Scootaloo would do. Scootaloo’s room had a lot of space but dancing would be somewhat cramped for them. It left him perplexed. Maybe they sneaked in some of Rarity’s dresses and attire and hid them?

Whatever the case he did have one concern about tonight. Sweetie was staying over and he had little doubt she’d try and sneak into his room for some fun. It’s too bad Sapphire hadn’t come up with a noise canceling enchantment yet. He’d find out later tonight for sure. If she does, he'd decide whether or not to indulge her then.

At any case he continued making dinner.