Finding Your Family

After asking her mom to come fly with her for a bit, Scootaloo hadn't said much. She wasn't quite as fast as she usually flew, partially because of her sadness, partially because she was trying to come up with a way to start the conversation that wouldn't result in more shouting, and partially because her wing structure made her a remarkably fast flyer with little effort, and she didn't want to outfly her mom. She could probably even outpace Rainbow Dash if she tried, but just being enough to almost match was more than enough for her.

Speaking of, Rainbow Dash flew by about ten minutes into the flight, waving passively, as she was doing a synchronised formation practice with Soarin and three other Wonderbolts, one of which was a cadet. Rainbow was at the left flank of the formation, keeping an eye on the others to be better able to critique them at the end so they could improve.

Scootaloo considered asking Rainbow for help, but as she seemed busy, she just let her go on.

"She seemed friendly," commented Mane. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"She's practically family," sighed Scootaloo absently. "And if anything happened to me, she's the one we selected to take care of the kids."

"Because Spike can't be trusted?"

"Mother..." Scootaloo stopped and glared at her. "Why are you being so mean to him? What has he ever done to you that makes you think it's okay to infer that he's a bad parent?"

"You're the one who said he wasn't going to be taking care of the kids," she shrugged.

Scootaloo rubbed her claws over her face. "If something should happen to me or Spike, she's going to step in. If something happens to both of us, she's our first pick for making sure they all grow up happy and healthy."

"Why not your parents?"

"Because you don't know the kids like she does!"

"I'm still their grandmother."

"Name them." Scootaloo folded her claws. "What are the names of your grandchildren? You've met them a few times already. Start with my son. What's his name?"

"Cudger."

"Cudgel. Do you know why?"

"I assume it sounded pretty at the time?"

"It's because the dragons that took me in when I had nowhere to live were named Scepter and Mace. For ten years, they opened their home to us. I sent you pictures, mother! He was named after them as a show of gratitude." She sighed. "What about the next one?"

"Rainbow Something."

"Slash. She was named for her godmother, the very same pony who just flew by. She was there to support me when I needed it, and with her permission and in her honour, I named the middle child after her."

"The last one is Barb, I know that."

"Good. At least you remember one of them."

"Who was she named after?"

Scootaloo snorted a small jet of flame from her nostrils. "She is named after her father," she answered through her teeth.

"Why are you so angry?"

Scootaloo took a deep breath and sat down on a cloud. "Mother, since you came to Ponyville, there have been two things that I wanted more than anything. First was to sleep off a hangover, which I did eventually manage, and second was for you and dad to like my husband. At this point, I'd tolerate just being okay with him, but all you're doing is looking for any reason not to trust him."

"I'm not looking for reasons, I just keep finding them."

"In a closed box hidden under my bed, mother? In a place I wanted to keep out of sight? A place specifically chosen to make sure they stayed hidden while you tried to set me up with somepony else?"

"Somepony who bolted at the first sign of trouble," scoffed Mane. "What a coward he turned out to be..."

"That's because Ponyville is a nice place. If you don't cause problems, there aren't a lot of problems to deal with. Before I left, my whole reason for existing was to make the town of Ponyville a nicer place to be. That was always a key part of my need to be here in Ponyville, and my need to return. When I was gone, everypony worked really hard to make up for that, and nopony worked harder than Spike. Solving problems and making this a happy place are core tenets of what makes Ponyville great. All I want now is to live a happy life, making Ponyville a nice place to live, with all of my family being happy for me. Why can't you be happy for me?"

"We are happy for you, Scootaloo." Mane rubbed her shoulder. "We love you, and we want you to be happy. But Spike--"

"Wants me to be happy. He makes me happy. You may have noticed, we flew up here, mother."

"Of course we did, sweetie," smiled Mane.

"How do you think I managed that?"

"With your wings, of course."

"Right. Do you think I could have flown up here if I was a pegasus?"

"Easily. When you were born, you had very big wings."

"And they didn't grow through my entire life. When I was twelve, I had the tiniest, most malformed wings in Ponyville. Maybe even Equestria. I couldn't fly."

"Yes, but the doctors said that you may yet fly one day. There was a likelihood."

"A low one, and it was looking more bleak by the day. There was always a chance, but it was dying with each passing dawn. Then one day, just being referred to as a "cripple" hit me harder than it ever had before. Spike made me feel better, and the very next day, he gave me wings. It was the kindest, most generous thing anyone had ever done for me."

"Aside from your aunts buying a house in Ponyville so you could live here?"

"Close second." Scootaloo looked up into the sky. "Flying was something I'd always wanted to do. I wanted to be a magnificent flying ace, but now, I'm content to just be good at it. I like flying, mother, and if Spike never gave me dragon wings, I'd be stuck to the ground, still dreaming that I'd one day find that joy. I want to hold onto that happiness. Will you be the one responsible for taking it away?"