Author's Note

You could consider this an accusation fic as well since it's aimed at addressing some valid criticisms of Snap and Mane's method of parenting. Though I feel like fans who call them the worst parents in the show are ignoring far more obvious examples that are infinitely worse.

As for why I used Trottingham for Holiday and Lofty's location, the show never provided a definitive answer. "A few stops from Ponyville" doesn't really narrow it down even with a map. Trottingham just seems like it fits the bill for being far enough away from Ponyville to require travel by train.

And again, I want to show that for most people within the AB/DL community, what they want the most is understanding. They want people to accept that it's part of them and that it's usually not harmful to them or anyone else.

Seeking Answers

Despite having to lug all those foal supplies with her, Scootaloo kept on running. She didn't really care who saw her so long as she was as far away from her parents as possible. "Why didn't I just move all that stuff somewhere safe until the move?!" She thought to herself as she was running through town, bound for a destination already clear in her mind. "Of course Mom and Dad had to find it all! Of course they wouldn't understand how they caused me to develop the interest in the first place!"

Fortunately, the tomboyish filly had managed to bring a couple of bits with her. When she reached the platform of the Ponyville train station she immediately tossed a few bits to the counter of the ticket window. "One one way ticket to Trottingham, please." She called with her eyes stained red from all the crying she'd done. She didn't want to seem weak or have anypony pity her though, so she'd forced the tears to stop even though all the filly wanted to do was cry.

The ticket pony didn't ask questions, he simply hoofed the ticket to the filly and told her. "The next train will arrive momentarily. And, about your... er... 'baggage'."

"Don't worry, I'm taking everything with me!" Scootaloo declared. "I just didn't have time to pack, that's all."

"Well, alright, but that means if anything gets lost, stolen or damaged we won't be responsible for it." The ticket pony advised.

The train pulled into the station exactly a moment later, and after presenting her ticket to the conductor pony, Scootaloo was allowed onboard. Only once the doors of the train cars closed and the locomotive began to pull away from the station in a cloud of steam, did the filly finally allow herself to relax. She tucked all her supplies underneath her seat and clung tightly to the one thing that wouldn't attract unwanted attention, her Rainbow Dash plushie. "Looks like it's just you and I now, Plushie Dash." She said to the stuffed version of her idol and honorary big sister.

Several stops later, the train arrived at Trottingham Junction and Scootaloo departed with her supplies in tow. The Trottingham countryside surrounding the small junction was absolutely beautiful, she could see why her aunts had chosen to live here.

In fact, that was exactly who the tomboyish filly was going to see. Very few ponies knew about her secret, her aunts chief among them. "They won't be bothered too much if I have to stay with them for a while," She thought to herself. "I'll make sure I'm not much of a burden."

And so it was that Scootaloo made her way to a lovely little cottage atop a small hill. It was where her Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty lived whenever they weren't foalsitting her. She soon reached the front door and raised an orange colored hoof to knock on it.

Aunt Holiday opened the door, soon greeted with the sight of her favorite (and only) niece. "Scootaloo!" She gasped as she brought the filly in for a big hug. "What a nice surprise."

Auntie Lofty then appeared in the doorway as she declared with a wink. "And now I have a surprise for you," She proceeded to unfold a quilt that depicted various cutie marks instantly recognizable to Scootaloo, each belonging to a separate square with the badge that the Crusaders all had in their cutie marks taking up the center. "You know that quilt I was having trouble completing? Well thanks to those wonderful friends of yours I got inspired, I decided to make it Cutie Mark Crusader themed," When Scootaloo sighed the elder pegasus was quick to add. "O-of course it's still a work in progress."

But Scootaloo hung her head. "No, Auntie Lofty. The quilt's great, I love it."

Holiday, suspecting something was wrong, inquired in a worried tone. "What's the matter, Scootaloo? You look like you've been to Tartarus and back."

Lofty then took notice of something with her moderate opal eyes. "Hey, are those your special foal supplies, slugger? I thought we agreed you're not to have them out in public."

Scootaloo had to resist the urge to cry again. She had to be strong. "Well I couldn't keep them at my house any more, not now that Mom and Dad know." She confessed.

Holiday blinked in surprise as she looked across to Lofty. "Little bro's back, and he brought Mane with him? That's odd, nopony told me that. Did you know about this, Lofty?"

Lofty shook her head. "I'm just as in the dark about it as you are, dear."

"Oh, I think the mail pony delivered your letter to my house by mistake. Happens all the time," The tomboyish filly concluded, before she told her aunts. "So Mom and Dad came back, and they told me they're moving to Shire Lanka. Except when they say moving they mean the whole family's moving, me included. I've spent the last few days trying to convince them otherwise, and then when I came home this evening they showed me that they'd found the supplies. They didn't take it very well."

"Did they kick you out, Scootaloo?!" Holiday questioned with worry. "Even if they were upset with you for your secret, they didn't have any right to do that! And I'll see to it that I give them a very stern talking to. I know my brother and his special somepony are better than that."

Scootaloo protested. "No, I ran away from home."

Holiday and Lofty both gasped as Lofty exclaimed! "Slugger, what were you thinking?! Don't you know better by now than to run away from your problems?"

The little pegasus just sadly confessed. "I didn't know what else to do. Mom and Dad got really upset, and I got upset too and I... well I said some things I probably shouldn't have said. I yelled at them for always being on their adventures and not caring about me, even though I know they didn't take me on their adventures because they didn't want me to get hurt. And I know they always made an effort to stay in touch, even if it wasn't the same as having them around," And she then pleaded. "So can I please stay with you two, just for a little while? I can start earning an allowance again or even get a job if I have to."

"I suppose you can stay with us here in Trottingham for a couple of days," Holiday declared. "Lofty and I will have to make some arrangements, but I think we can manage. Make no mistake, though. We're not going to hide you from your parents if they come looking for you, and eventually we're gonna take you back to Ponyville or to Shire Lanka. They're your legal guardians, not Lofty and I despite how often we foalsit you."

As Scootaloo brought her foal supplies into the cottage, she asked. "Well, on the subject of foalsitting, I was wondering if..." She trailed off as she appeared to adopt a set of puppy dog eyes.

"Well, we don't really have a nursery for you and we'll have to get your room set up," Lofty told the tomboyish filly. "And of course, there's the usual house rules: You have to eat whatever Holiday and I feed you, take baths and go to bed when you're told, and of course you have to agree to diaper inspections and potty breaks."

Scootaloo quickly agreed as she gave both her aunts a big hug. "Thank you both so much! I really hate to ask, but right now I just need something, anything really to take my mind off of what's happened over these past few days."

Holiday gave a warm smile to her niece as she led her upstairs. "It's alright, Scootaloo. As long as you understand that you can't do this all the time. Everything's bad in excess."

Back in Ponyville, Snap and Mane were left in a state of disbelief when their daughter up and ran away. They didn't know what to think at first. And by the time the shock of it all had worn off it was already too late, their daughter was gone.

The two followed their daughter's hoofsteps down to the train station, and a quick inquiry of the ticket salespony indicated that she'd already boarded a train out to Trottingham and that the next one wouldn't be arriving until tomorrow at the earliest.

Reluctantly, Snap and Mane realized that they weren't going to get any answers from their daughter about her strange behavior. And they returned to the house that night still trying to process what had happened.

"I just don't get it, hun," Snap Shutter grumbled as they entered the house. "Our only daughter's a bloody bogan. There's just no other explanation I can think of for why she'd wanna dress up like and be treated like some overgrown foal. No way are we gonna start changing diapers again!"

Mane Allgood was more concerned about Scootaloo's absence, especially in light of what the filly had said. "She obviously had to be going to great lengths to keep this secret from us, and probably from other ponies as well. I just wish I knew why. Sure, she's probably missed having us around. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the times when our careers didn't require us to go halfway across Equestria and leave Scootaloo safely in the care of others."

Snap just frowned. "My big sis has always been the maternal type, and it's only increased since she fell in love with and married Lofty. But if she really wanted foals so badly she could always adopt, didn't need her to start treatin' Scoot like a foal instead."

"Honey, we don't know that's why Scootaloo would take up such an interest," Mane cautioned as she let out a sigh. "Look, these past few days have been very stressful for us and for Scootaloo. I know we're upset about the diapers and the other supplies, but we need to figure out why our daughter would ever want any part of all that foalish stuff. It can't just be because of the move."

Snap sighed back as he realized what his wife was implying. "I suppose we're gonna have to postpone the move, and probably say goodbye to that job offerin' that was part of it. We're gonna have to spend some time askin' Scoot's other foalsitters if we're gonna get to the bottom of this."

"I just hope Holiday and Lofty are keeping her safe in the meantime," Mane nervously commented. "Scootaloo is still our daughter, even if this new interest of hers makes it hard to love her."

Sleep didn't come easy to either parent that night, and all the way in Trottingham Scootaloo didn't sleep very well either. Yet all three still did sleep for at least some part of the night.

The next morning dawned sooner than any would've liked even though Scootaloo believed herself to be safe in the care of her aunts for the time being.

Snap and Mane woke bright and early, only barely bothering to compose themselves so they wouldn't seem destitute or overly desperate. They knew of three ponies they would need to ask before the inevitable confrontation with Holiday and Lofty: Rainbow Dash, Rarity and the Cakes.

As fate would have it, Rainbow Dash was already flying overhead when Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood departed the house to look for her. "Oh, it's you two," Rainbow realized almost immediately. "You're Scootaloo's parents, right?"

"Yeah, that's us, mate," Snap nodded as he took off his hat. "Name's Snap Shutter, and this here's my lovely wife Mane Allgood. Ain't she a beaut?"

Mane smiled for a brief moment. "Scootaloo's always been gushing about you in her letters, how you've been like a big sister to her," Her smile faded as she commented. "In fact, that's kind of what we wanted to talk to you about."

Rainbow seemed to flinch and step back. "If this is about the whole Washouts fiasco, I did ultimately step in and save your daughter from blowing herself sky high. And I don't think Lightning Dust is gonna be recruiting any ponies into the Washouts anytime soon."

"Oh no, it ain't about that. We appreciate you bein' there for our daughter when we're not around," Snap commented. "And we're more than happy to have your folks be friends with her and look after her. What we need your help with is something more important. Happened just yesterday."

"The kid's missing, I already know," Rainbow Dash declared as her attitude started to change. "You two were the last to see her, right? Did she tell you where she was going?"

Mane sighed as she explained to her fellow pegasus. "Well, actually, we got into an argument last night after we found out a certain secret of Scootaloo's. One that she obviously wanted to keep hidden from even us, her own parents."

Snap then questioned the brash speedster. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? About a little secret of hers?"

Rainbow shook her head. "No I haven't. Whatever secrets Scoot may have, if it's something I need to know about she'll tell me. I don't make it a habit to pry, that's what her aunts are there for," And she then snorted. "You know, she used to talk about you guys a lot when you weren't here. Even while I still had a delicate relationship with my own parents, I could tell it was really eating the kid up inside. And now I can see why. How can you just come back to Ponyville and demand Scootaloo move away with you?! Don't you have any respect for the roots she's put down here?! You can't possibly expect to pull her away from the town where she's made such a big difference in."

"Look, we realize now that the move to Shire Lanka probably wasn't the best idea. We wanted our family to be together, and Snap and I thought it would work out for all of us," Mane explained. "We'd still get to be adventurers, but Scootaloo would be with us since she's old enough to take care of herself."

"You don't get it, do you?" Rainbow sternly scolded. "Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty can only do so much to fill the void you two left behind when you were off to Celestia knows where on your adventures. And then you come back to town just to tell her she has to move away with you, and she doesn't even get a choice in the matter. What did you honestly think was gonna happen? Good intentions or not, you were letting the kid down."

Snap put his hat over his head as he willingly admitted. "You can be mad at us all you want. We weren't exactly the best parents we could've been. Letters weren't enough to make up for not physically bein' there when our daughter needed us. But right now there's something about her we need to understand. Why she'd even take up such a bizarre interest in the first place."

The brash speedster could only shrug her shoulders. "I can't help you there. Whatever it is I don't know anything about it. I didn't even foalsit her all that much, it was hard to fit into my busy schedule and after I became a Wonderbolt it wasn't like I could just bring her up to the academy to stay with me. Rarity was a foalsitter way more often, especially when Scoot had sleepovers with her friends. Try asking her." And then she flew away.

The adventurer duo made their way over to Carousel Boutique not long after Rainbow had flown away, since they knew this was the most likely place they could talk to Rarity (and also hopefully the most private given what the conversation would likely include).

Rarity greeted her guests at the front door of the boutique with the usual welcome, before realizing who they were. "Scootaloo's parents! Sweetie Belle told me about you two."

"Has she also told you that Scootaloo isn't in Ponyville?" Snap questioned.

Rarity nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. She and Apple Bloom were quite alarmed when Scootaloo didn't show up to their clubhouse this morning," And then she frowned. "I assume you two have something to do with that?"

Mane nodded back as she confessed. "Unfortunately, yes. We got into an argument with our daughter after we discovered an unusual interest of hers, one that she'd been keeping hidden from us."

"We were hoping that you might know more about this.. uh... interest or whatever it is," Snap tried to explain. "Why anypony could take interest in something so... well, I guess foalish will have to do since I can't think of a better way to describe it."

The young fashionista didn't seem to know what the parents knew. "I'm afraid that's rather vague and unhelpful. I may have foalsat for Scootaloo more than a couple of times when her aunts were not available to do so, but if she had any sort of unusual interests or secrets she never shared them with me. And ever since a certain incident with a school paper I've made it a habit not to become too nosy in the affairs of other ponies."

"Then I guess you're not gonna provide us with the answers we're seeking," Snap Shutter glumly remarked. "It feels like we're hittin' dead ends left and right. Like wrestlin' a cragadile that keeps gettin' away before you can wire its mouth shut."

Mane Allgood lamented. "Why are we so good with animals, but so bad with our only child?"

Rarity turned to face the parents as she told them quite firmly. "I wouldn't say you're bad parents, at least not to the extent of a lot of examples I can think of. My parents have basically taken a completely hooves off approach to raising Sweetie Belle, I've had to all but raise herself on my own even when she was still in diapers. And the less said about a certain rich pony's approach to parenting, the better. You two are leagues above such parenting, you at least were responsible enough to leave your daughter in the care of those who could be trusted."

"A lot of good it did us when we could never be there for her. We sure mucked things up when it came to parenting." Snap unhappily sighed.

"What's important is that you regret what you've done, and you want to try to resolve this rough patch you've found yourselves in," Rarity pointed out. "Your jobs as adventure ponies were important, but as parents it's just as important to make time for your children. They're only young once, you know."

Mane reluctantly nodded in agreement. "We never even got to see her get her cutie mark. Our little Scootaloo was growing up, and we missed out on it."

"Still doesn't explain her... er... foalish interest," Snap pondered. "Just don't understand what could drive a pony to seek comfort in things they're far too old for."

Rarity shrugged her hooves. "Again, darlings, I'm afraid I can't really help you on that front. Most of the time I was only foalsitting Scootaloo when she was with her friends and having sleepovers. The few times I foalsat her at her own house, I was never aware that she might be housing any sort of secret. I always told her she could tell me anything and trust me to keep it to myself. She always said she understood, but she never told me anything and I never got the impression that she was trying to hide something. If it wasn't her aunts who were looking after her at her house, it was almost always the Cakes. Try asking them."

Snap and Mane left Carousel Boutique and went straight to Sugarcube Corner. They were quite lucky to find that both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were available and that the sweet shop had only a few customers to tend to. Pinkie Pie was more than happy to take over so that the Cakes could go upstairs to talk with Scootaloo's parents.

"So that's basically what happened," Snap concluded as he finished relaying his account of what had unfolded the night before, though he'd left out some of the more "personal" details. "Haven't seen the kid since. We know she's probably in Trottingham with her aunts, but there's somethin' we're tryin' to understand about her before we have the reunion."

Mrs. Cake asked the two. "And what would that be?"

Mane tried to press for information. "You and your husband were basically watching Scootaloo whenever her aunts couldn't and whenever she wasn't having sleepovers with her friends. Did either of you ever know or suspect that Scootaloo was keeping a secret interest from you?"

Mr. Cake nervously looked at his wife. "Sugar plum, you're more of an expert on these sorts of things. You tell them what we know."

Mrs. Cake was hesitant for a moment, but then she told the two adventurers. "As a mother, you learn how to pick up on certain things. Kind of like a sixth sense of sort. Scootaloo never said anything, but it wasn't hard to get a sense that she might be housing an interest. One that she obviously didn't want to talk about."

"So, what did you do?" Snap pressed further.

Mr. Cake then spoke up. "We ended up stumbling upon it by accident, although we kind of suspected it a lot sooner with the way Scootaloo kept looking at the twins. She'd start smuggling the twins' old foal supplies from time to time, usually just toys they didn't play with anymore."

"The poor dearie was clearly torn up by your constant absence from her life," Mrs. Cake explained. "Seeing how much love and attention our babies got after they were born made her feel jealous. She wanted to have that kind of care and affection too, though even I wouldn't have guessed it ran so deeply."

"Were you the ones who told her aunts? Because they had to have figured it out somehow," Snap commented. "Reckon that's why my sister-in-law made that plush version of Rainbow Dash for my daughter to snuggle with now that I think about it."

The plump baker shook her head from side to side. "We offered to help her keep it in the dark, but she declined. Eventually, we stopped catching her stealing any sort of supplies from the twins. And I know their old diapers couldn't have fit her. She probably told Holiday and Lofty on her own terms, Holiday in particular strikes me as the type of pony who never pries unless she absolutely has to."

"So it's all because she wants to feel loved and cared for?" Mane realized. "It seems rather odd to ask for attention in such a way."

Mr. Cake commented. "Well, it's probably different for different ponies. Cup Cake and I don't really know much about it beyond what Scootaloo told us. If you ask me though, Scootaloo doesn't just want your love and affection. And she doesn't just want you to care about her either. She wants you to accept that secret side of her, even if that's hard to do."

"You mean, just accept that she likes to dress up like and act like a foal? Seems like a pretty hard thing to accept," Snap frowned anew. "Don't know if we can do that, at least not fully. Right now though, we just want our daughter back so we can hopefully try to work things out."

"Well, that all depends on how Scootaloo feels," Mrs. Cake advised. "It's going to take more than just words to convince her that you're ready to admit to your mistakes. And it's going to take more than just words for her to believe you're going to try to accept the secret side of her."