“Rainbow Dash, you’ve been waiting three days since you got back to talk to Scootaloo, why are you procratinating?”

“Ugh,” Rainbow groaned, “Twilight, I’ll get to it when I get to it; I’ve been really busy with scheduling winter preparations and teams, I’ve been practicing stunts, and I’ve just been busy doing stuff on the farm.”

“Rainbow,” Twilight said taking a seat next to her, “look around this library and you’ll see I have every little thing in order. It’s only a matter of prioritizing, but I don’t think that’s why you’re not doing it. Are you afraid of what she’ll say?”

“What?! I’m not afraid of talking to a filly about becoming,” Rainbow paused and gulped, “her mother.”

Twilight smiled warmly as she bumped Rainbow with her shoulder. “Being a mother isn’t all bad. I’ve even thought about it with my new stud.”

“Ew,” Rainbow reacted, twisting her face to disgust and sticking out her tongue, “you mean that guy you met, rutted, then you cursed the whole town trying to make it up to him?”

Twilight frowned. “That was an accident and you know it, but,” she closed her eyes and cleared her throat, “this isn’t about me and my Sunny D-”

“Sunny D? I thought his name was Sun Struck, or something.”

Twilight grinned. “He has a sunny personality and I love his D-”

“Okay! I get it… Just, weird. One day you’re a filly fooler, the next you’re banging and planning a baby with some random colt you just met.”

“Well, love happens when it happens.”

“Twi, speaking of love; have you seen Fluttershy lately? I haven’t seen her since the party… Wait, Pinkie too. Are they okay?!”

“Oh, I saw Pinkie a couple days ago. She was walking a bit funny, but with those two who knows what happens in private.”

“I might have an idea,” Rainbow replied quietly. “Anyway, I’ve got a thing to do and…”

“No, you’re waiting here until Scootaloo gets here and I’m going to make sure it all at least happens.”

“Ugh, but she’s late!”

“You were an hour early, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight giggled, “a bit more excited than usual too.”

“What?” Rainbow tried to dismiss the comment, “I thought we agreed to two, not three.”

Rainbow stood and began to pace the center of the library.

“Rainbow, you need not be anxious, simply sit and relax.”

“‘Need not’? What’ve you been reading?”

“Oh, a book on grammar of the last age! Simple transposition of certain modern words can-”

“Egghead.” Rainbow said flatly as she glance back and ruffled her wings.

Twilight scowled again. “Stop calling me that. It’s a hurtful phrase. I’m well read.”

“Rhymes with egghead.”

A knock on the door stopped them from beginning an argument. “And there she is!”

Rainbow gulped and opened her wings, preparing to fly away, anywhere out of the library tree and to hide in the clouds. With a snort Twilight pointed to her horn glowing lightly, then the floor beneath Rainbow as she turned to open the door.

Rainbow looked at her hooves and grunted; magic covered her hooves, sticking her to the floor. She closed her wings and suppressed the trembling her body was doing, forcing an awkward smile at the still closed door.

The door opened with a pale purple glow.

“Scootaloo, thanks for coming over. I’m glad to see you’re on time.”

“Oh, it was no problem, Twilight. I don’t have much happening today so… Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash! I didn’t think I’d see you here,” Scootaloo beamed a smile at Rainbow, “so, um, what’s the big deal?” she asked looking to Twilight who closed the door and released Rainbow before Scootaloo could notice.

“Uh, hi, Scoots. How’s it going?” Rainbow started as she trotted over to Scootaloo, smiling again.

“Oh, well, it’s good. I got outta school early but AB and Sweetie had to do chores and I, uh, had to too,” she said softly, rubbing her foreleg on her other, “then here I am.”

“ScootalooIwannaadoptyouandbeyourmomandyoucanlivewithmeand-”

Scootaloo snorted a laugh as Twilight hopped between them.

“Woah, woah! Slow down, Rainbow. Breathe, and let’s talk this over a cup of tea.”

“Um, do you have juice?” Scootaloo asked.

“Grape juice?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh yeah! I’ll take a glass of that!”

“But I don’t have-”

“Apple juice?”

“No, Scoots, I have too much as it is. Orange?” Twilight rolled her eyes at the pegasi debating juice options.

---

“I can’t believe you only have tea and guava juice. What’s a guava anyway?”

“It’s a fruit and it has juice. Drink up,” Twilight urged, smiling as the mare and filly sniffed their juice. “Well, Scootaloo. I asked you to come here because Rainbow and Applejack had a question for you, which Rainbow blurted earlier.”

“Yeah, that was funny. You were all ‘blahblurg-a-blooba’. It was a great Pinkie impersonation.”

“Uh, yeah. About that. Well, you see,” Rainbow felt herself blushing as she looked to Twilight, who nodded slightly in encouragement, “Why don’t you drink first and tell me how it is.”

“Um, okay? Is that why I’m here, to drink this guaba juice?”

“It’s pronounce goo-ah-vah, and no,” Twilight corrected, “you’re here for something much, much more important.”

Scootaloo shrugged and took a sip, licked her lips and shrugged again. “It’s not bad. But the way you were talking it was like Rainbow Dash was gonna ask to by my mom, or something… I didn’t mean that!” Scootaloo shouted as she nearly dropped her cup onto the table.

“I do!” Rainbow shouted, knocking her cup over, spilling the juice and wincing as the glass shattered on the floor.

Twilight growled at the mess and teleported out of the room, leaving the pegasi alone in a deep, awkward silence that was broken only by the slow drip of guava juice from the table to the floor.

Scootaloo gulped loudly as she stared at Rainbow, across from her at the small table.

Rainbow Dash stared, wide eyed at Scootaloo then noticed her wings were laying limply behind her. She turned and looked to them, they didn’t raise when she tried to move them. She looked back to Scootaloo and saw the corners of the fillies mouth twitch.

“Uh, S-Scootaloo, um,” Rainbow stuttered rubbing behind her ear with her hoof.

“W-what do you mean, Rainbow Dash?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’?” replied Rainbow with some confusion.

“You know what I mean! When I asked you what do you mean, what did you mean?” she retorted with a growing depth to her voice.

“I mean, what I meant. I,” Rainbow felt the words stop in her throat as she clapped her hooves together and began to rub them in small nervous circles.

“You, what?” Scootaloo asked softly, her voice taking an edge to it.

“I wanna be your… mom.” Rainbow said looking at her hooves.

“What makes you think my mom’d be okay with joining your herd?” Scootaloo said looking intently at Rainbow.

“Wait, your mom, in our herd? AJ and me don’t have a herd. Just us.”

“For now. Any pony can start a herd, just need a couple more.”

“Wait, wait. Your mom? What the?” Rainbow asked, opening her wings, “I, we, thought…”

Scootaloo hesitated then laid her chin on the table. “I am.”

“...You are what, Scoots?”

“An outcast from my family, my herd, my life. Until I learn to fly, which isn’t going to happen.”

Rainbow leaned over the table, placing her hoof on Scootaloo’s head. “You’re not an outcast. Tell me what happened.”

Scootaloo sniffled and grunted. Years of keeping her past a secret, she finally decided to tell somepony besides her best friends. “Fine, but don’t tell anypony.”

Rainbow smiled and gave a Pinkie Promise, listening intently for the pink mare to shout something or pop out of the oven. Nothing happened.

“Fine. I was a foal. My mom was taking me on a trip from Pegasopolis to when she said an explosion happened in the sky. A rainbow hit her, as silly as that sounded, it was your rainboom from when you were a filly.

“I slipped from her back and fell...”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry Scoots.”

“...I was high enough so she caught me, but she’d caught me by my left wing,” she said fluttering them both, “pulling a tennon, so I can’t fly until it’s healed.”

“...But, that shouldn’t be a big problem to fix or even heal.”

“I know! What happened was that my moms were so ashamed of having a daughter that couldn’t fly,” she shouted, slapping Rainbow’s hoof away, “that they dropped me here to learn to fly from the best flier in Equestria! Only,” Scootaloo hesitated.

“Only what, Scoots?” Rainbow asked, calmly.

“I, I, I kinda love you like a mom and don’t wanna go back. Rainbow,” Scootaloo said, tears forming in her eyes, “I don’t like them. They abandoned me here and I’m supposed to go back when you teach me to fly.”

“That’s awful, Scoots! I’d be honored to be your mom, even if I have to fight them for the right! They don’t deserve a filly as awesome as you, their loss! What a herd of grass eaters!”

Scootaloo blushed as her eyes widened. “I’ve never heard you talk like that! You,” she lowered her voice, “used tribalism.”

“Meh, when you’re as awesome as,” Rainbow paused and thought of what Applejack would say and feel. “What I said was wrong, don’t do that, okay? We’re all awesome in our own ways.”

“Right on!” Twilight shouted from the doorway before pulling her head back out of the room. A small towel levitated into the room and onto the spilled juice before the glow around it faded and Twilight cleared her throat before the sound of her hooves clopping indicated her leaving them alone.

With a snicker Rainbow took to the air, hovering toward Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded and hopped into Rainbow’s forelegs and together they left the library.

---

“Scootaloo, do you like the idea of being a member of our little family? Me and AJ, that is?” Rainbow asked as they settled into the cloud they were on.

”Well, I don’t know. I guess you know how I’ve been living the last few years?”

“Well, most of the town has rumors. Most of them are that you’re a wild and reckless young mare,” Rainbow joked as she lightly punched Scootaloo in the shoulder. “Some of the others are not as nice.”

“Like?” Scootaloo ruffled her wings, letting them flap on their own for a second.

“Well, the better ones are that you’re a drifter and you’ll vanish one day, never to be seen again. The worst one I heard… Was that you were a demon spy, sent to watch us.”

Scootaloo laughed at that one. “Oh, wow. Like that’d scare you, right? You almost got me.”

“No, I was scared,” Rainbow said sternly, “for you. Some ponies were talking about performing a cleansing ritual. If it was true you’d be gone forever. If it wasn’t, you’d never trust the town again. It’s not only cuz you’re my number one fan, Scootaloo,” Rainbow poked the cloud they were on.

“Then what? If you don’t think of me only as your fan, what am I?”

“Well. I kinda thought of you like the sister I never had, only I didn’t know I wanted you, but I did, only… I don’t know how to say what I mean,” Rainbow huffed, “why does talking have to be so hard?”

“Well, I think I get it, Rainbow Dash. But, if you want me as a sister then and a daughter now, does that mean you, um, love me?”

Rainbow felt her heart race as she looked into Scootaloo’s eyes. “As a daughter, I guess, I guess I do.”

Rainbow felt her neck being squeezed tightly as Scootaloo nuzzled into her mane.

“You’d make the best mom for me, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow returned the hug. “And Applejack, she’s a part of my life too, now.”

“...Wait,” Scootaloo pushed back and looked at Rainbow intently, “I have two things. First, none of that loud adult stuff. I’ve heard rumors, too.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow giggled, “and the other thing?”

“If I’m gonna be your daughter, then when you finally marry Applejack, I’ll be Apple Bloom’s sister, so…”

“So?”

“Can I have sleepovers whenever I want?”

“Uh, that’s something AJ has to answer. She kinda makes most of the rules.”

“Well, I’ll have to have a talk with her. I bet I can get a couple sleepovers a week,” Scootaloo said puffing her chest.

“Yeah, let’s worry about how to handle that stuff when it happens. Right now, I’ve gotta listen to Twilight grumple over us not cleaning that mess. Wanna tag along?”

Next Chapter: Meeting Sunny D Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 16 Minutes