Scootaloo’s Mother
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 6

Name of Biological Mother: Rosewing
Address (Current/ Last Known): 328 Cumulus Villa, Cloudsdale.

Scootaloo trembled as she stared at the information she’d been seeking all this time. Her mother, her name was Rosewing and she lived in Cloudsdale. Maybe she did something really important like run a weather office, or fly for the Wonderbolts....well that one wasn’t likely, Scootaloo had heard all the Names of the Wonderbolts from Rainbow Dash and had never heard about any Rosewing. With a shake of the head she realised that it didn’t matter what Rosewing did. She could be rich and famous, or she could work as a humble janitor, Scoots didn’t care, it would be enough to see and know her mother.

A line of block capital letters caught her attention for a second.

Name of Biological Father: UNKNOWN.

That was a little disappointing but Scootaloo was still overjoyed to finally know her mothers name.

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat, bringing everypony back to reality. “We got the address, shouldn’t we get out of here before we’re caught?”

Apple Bloom nodded. “She’s right. Babs and the others’ll be waitin’ for us. We should hurry.”

Scootaloo agreed. She snatched up the piece of paper with the sacred information on it, folded it up small and tucked it under her wing to hold.

...***...

Without any further incidents the three fillies made it out of the home and into the street. To their surprise they found the front door to be unlocked, which meant they hadn’t needed Babs to provide a distraction, they could have walked in and out without a problem.

Apple Bloom looked up and down the street, looking for their fellow crusaders. “I hope they ain’t got in trouble.”

“Not yet, but they will.” The three crusaders jumped and Sweetie Belle screamed, as the voice spoke.

Pink Lady was hovering in mid air like a pagasus only she had no wings. Once the shock of this passed they noticed other things, first they saw the cap and goggles she was wearing on her head, then they saw the rope ladder she was clinging on to. Their eyes looked up, following the ladder to its source; Pink’s airship. Hovering, the propellers barely moving, the huge purple balloon was providing all the levitation. Three faces looked over the side of the ship; Babs, Firefly and Nightshade.

“How the hay didn’t we see that?” Apple Bloom gasped.

“Youz all seemed rather busy with breaking and entering.” Pink Lady said flatly. “Get in the balloon.” She climbed— awkwardly— up the rope ladder. After a minute of hesitation the crusaders followed her.

As soon as the three climbed into the main ship Pink turned on them again. “What the hay were youz thinkin?” She snapped furiously. “Breakin’ windows an stealin’ files?” She dived at Scootaloo and pulled the paper out from under her wing. She hadn’t been fooled by the hiding place for a second. “What if the cops had got here before me, huh? Youz think about dat?” She barely even glanced at the paper before she tossed it onto the deck. Scootaloo dove and grabbed it before the wind could carry away the prize she’d done so much to claim.

The orange pegasus filly looked up at Pink. “We had to. It was the only way to get my mom’s name.”

Pink huffed in frustration. “You could have waited for the paperwork to go through and find out legally.”

“But sis,-” Babs started but Pink cut her off.

“You keep outta this. I’ll deal with youz soon enough.” She turned back to Scootaloo, her mouth opened to say more but Babs’ interruption had broken her stride. She let out a long sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hoof. “We’re going back to the apartment.” She said in a matter of fact voice. She was occupied for a second by starting the engine of the ship. The propellers glowed with stored unicorn magic then started to spin, building up speed. The air balloon rose up into the air, over the tops of the buildings and into the clear sky. Pink seemed to know where she was going, she tilted a huge wooden wheel, turning the balloon in the right direction.
“Nightshade, Firefly, you’ll go home. Babs, you’re gonna stand by and tell mom and dad what youz guys were doin’. And as for youz guys,” she looked to the Ponyville CMC. “Youz is goin back to Ponyville tomorrow.”

“But cousin, Pink-” Apple Bloom started but Pink cut her off.

“Don’t, ‘Cousin, Pink,’ me.” She snapped. “Youz is all lucky I ain’t takin youz to the police.”

“You wouldn’t snitch on us!” Babs gasped.

Pink rounded on her. “This ain’t like skippin’ a class or sneaking a cookie before dinner, Babs. Youz guys done a crime here tonight. Youz coulda got in serious trouble is you were caught.” She huffed and snorted as she tried to remain calm. She was failing in that task and she knew it. “You think bein’ grounded or detenshun is bad, try goin’ ta court, or bein’ inside a police cell. What would mom and dad think if they saw youz arrested, Babs? It’d break their hearts.”

Babs hung her head in shame. The other crusaders did the same as the weight on their actions finally sunk onto their shoulders. Pink took a deep breath and managed to regain some composure. She decided she’d said more than enough so she turned her attention back to steering the air ship.

With the quiet of the night the silence in the ship seemed to have weight. It pressed down on all of them. Pink slowly became away of a sound over the gentle hum of the propellers. At first she wondered if something was wrong with the engines. Then she recognised the sound; the stop, start gasps, the gentle sniff and muffled sobs of somepony trying to cry silently. Pink bit her lip and sighed. Perhaps she had been a little too harsh.
“Babs,” her sister looked up at her; with dry eyes. If Babs wasn’t the one crying, then who?

Pink looked from one pony to the other until she saw Scootaloo. The little orange pegasus had her head hung low, her mane flopped down to hide her face. Her hunched shoulders shuddered as she sniffed and sobbed. Something dropped from the tip of her nose, it shone in the light of Luna’s moon for a fraction of a second before landing on the deck. A slowly growing puddle of tears was emerging around Scootaloo’s hooves.

Pink kicked the engines into hover and the ship stopped. All anger was forgotten now as she approached the filly. “Scootaloo, I’m sorry.”

“No,” the young pony sobbed. “you’re right. It was wrong. We shouldn’t have broken in and we shouldn’t have stolen...” She became impossible to understand as a fresh sobs racked through her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were there in a flash. They wrapped their legs around Scootaloo in a tight and comforting embrace. The other ponies stood around awkwardly.

It was some moments before Scootaloo calmed down enough to talk again. “I’m sorry,” she muttered miserably. Gently, with no malice or anger in her actions, Scootaloo shrugged off her friends hugs. “you’re right, Miss Pink. We shouldn’t have done it. But...I...you have your family around you. You got your mom and dad and your sister. And your cousins like, Apple Bloom and, AJ and all kinds of other family, all over Equestria. I got nothing.” she looked up at Pink, the mare saw Scootaloo’s eyes were red and puffy. Her tears had been brief but intense. “I don’t have a mom, or a family. I don’t know who I am, where I’m from, or anything. How can I know who I am if I don’t know where I’m from? Or who my family are? But it’s all here,” she tapped the paper in her hooves. “Everything I’m looking for. My mother, my family, my whole life...” fresh tears began to fall. “you...you can’t let me get so close then just send me away; send me home. It....it’s not fair,” she wiped her eyes furiously, “I have to know...I just have to.”

Pink lady sighed and placed a reassuring hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “I understand, Scootaloo. Really I do.”

Scootaloo just shook her head and backed away from Pink Lady until she hit the wooden side of the ship. “No you don’t. None of you can.” She lay down on the deck, her back to all of them.

Pink Lady sighed. She felt like she should say more but she couldn’t think of any words that seemed right. She’d speak to Applejack as soon as they arrived, perhaps her cousin would have some ideas. They were going back to Ponyville in the morning, there was no avoiding it. The train tickets had been bought, AJ had to get back to the farm and the three fillies had to go back to school. Their journey had come to an end, whether they liked it or not.

Taking her place at the wheel Pink knocked the engines out of hover and turned for home again.

They day you discovered the world couldn’t always be happy endings where everything worked out for the better was a hard lesson for anypony to learn, especially in ponies so young. Scootaloo had tried, but her attempts hadn’t worked out the way she wanted to. All she could do now was try and move on from that and live her life the best she could.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat by her friend. Babs wondered if she, Nightshade and Firefly should try to say, or do, something to comfort their friend and fellow Crusader. She was deciding against it because they didn’t know Scootaloo as well as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did. If anypony could make the poor pegasus feel better it would be her best friends.

Apple Bloom sat down and looked at Scootaloo’s back. “Your wrong ya’know.”

Sctooaloo’s ears pricked up and she turned her head to stare at her friend.

“About not havin’ any fam’ly,” Bloom continued without prompt. “Family ain’t just them you’re related to by blood. Family is them who knows you an’ wanna see y’all happy and would do anythin’ to make sure y’all stay safe. It’s them that loves you and you loves back.” Apple Bloom placed a hoof on her friends shoulder. “So y’all have got a family. You got me and Sweetie Belle, you got AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, even Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight and all the other ponies in Ponyville. Includin’ Lyra and Bonbon,” she noticed Scootaloo flinched at the names of her adoptive parents. The farm pony chose not to bring attention to it. “Even if they didn’t have that adoption form I’d say they were your family most of all. They love you so much they took you into their home and raised y’all like you was their own.”

Scootaloo managed a weak ghost of a smile. She felt moderately better for the sweet things Apple Bloom had said. She wasn’t sure if she believed every word but it was nice to heart them all the same. How sure was Apple Bloom about her words? Family was one of the most important things for an Apple; surely the biological parent had some kind of special meaning no other sibling —no matter how close a sibling they were— could take the place of?

Pink called out, breaking the three Crusaders out of their discussion. “We’z here.”

The air ship was hovering above the apartment building, slowly lowering down toward the roof. Applejack and Apple Dumpling were waiting for them. They didn’t look happy. They couldn’t have heard what happened, surely? Pink Lady had no way of telling them.

“About time, Pink,” AJ called up to them as the ship touched down. “We been freezin’ our flanks off out here for half an hour now.”

Pink lady nodded. “I told youz not to wait for me.”

Apple Dumpling shook her head. “C’mon, you think we’d just sit around playin’ cards while youz is out doin’ all the work? Forget about it.”

Pink slid a gangplank into place on the side of the air ship. One by one the fillies and one colt started to disembark. Babs, then Firefly, Nightshade, then Apple Bloom, then Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo came last but a hoof reached out and stopped her before she even set hoof on the gangplank. The confused filly glanced up at Pink, who just smiled and winked.

Some parenting instinct flared up in both Applejack and Apple Dumpliung. Something was going on and it wasn’t going to be good. They both looked up at Pink Lady and Scootaloo. “Pink,” Dumpling began but her eldest daughter cut her off with the action of bucking the gang plank clear of the air ship. She then jumped to the wheel and pushed the engines into full.

The down draft that blew off the propellers threw the foals off their hooves. The engines were not meant to be on full power so close to the ground for that very reason. The air-ship shot upwards into the sky with a burst of speed that would have made Rainbow Dash proud.

Apple Dumpling screamed up into the air, “PINK!”

Pink Lady cranked the wheel and turned to the west; the direction of Canterlot and, eventually, Cloudsdale.

Scootaloo leaned her head over the side of the balustrade, watching her friends shrinking away into the distance. She couldn’t hear them so she wasn’t certain, but she thought she saw the crusaders —both Manehatten and Ponyville— cheering for her.

Only when they had travelled so far that even the apartment building was a tiny toy on the horizon did she turn her attention to Pink Lady. The mare had slid the goggles over her eyes, which sparkled with excitement, a mischievous grin was spread on her face.

“Why?” Scootaloo asked. Pink didn’t glance at her; keeping her eyes ahead for any low flying Pegasi or storm clouds.

“Maybe I just got an overwhelming urge to see Cloudsdale,” she smirked. “I’m not against taking passengers. Since you wanted to go to Cloudsdale and I happened to be going that way, maybe I thought I could take you with me.” there was a pregnant pause. “Or maybe I’m a nice pony who can’t stand to see a filly cry. Only Celestia knows.”

Scootaloo’s grin was so wide it looked like it going to split her face in two.

Author's Notes:

Rosewing (AKA Scootaloo's mother) is a background pony, who sat in the crowd at the Best Young Flyers Competition. She appeared in Sonic Rainboom (S01E16).
Since she was a background pony and even her Cutie Mark was covered I'll be making up the finer details of her life.