Fluttershy's Project

Chapter 3

Fluttershy smiled as she saw Scootaloo run over to the other Cutie Mark Crusaders and start talking animatedly. Then she turned and started looking for Cheerilee. School hadn't started yet, and she was protective enough of her students that she'd probably be willing to help Fluttershy.

Spotting her, Fluttershy walked over.

"Cheerilee, could I talk to you for a moment?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course, Fluttershy. What can I help you with?" Cheerilee replied, turning to face her.

"First of all, can we keep this between the two of us? That is, for now, at least?" Fluttershy asked. She didn't want to risk driving off Scootaloo, after all.

Cheerilee gestured for Fluttershy to follow her into her office, and closed the door.

"I won't say a word. What's wrong, Fluttershy?" Cheerilee said, turning more serious.

"I'm concerned about Scootaloo. Have you noticed anything off about her?" Fluttershy said.

"Well, now that you mention it, I'd noticed her skipping lunch several times. She also tends to forget her homework, but you know how young fillies are." Cheerilee said, smiling faintly. "She has been late quite a number of times, though. I've been thinking about talking to her parents about that."

"That may be part of the problem. Do you have their address on file?" Fluttershy asked Cheerilee. If there was a good address on file, she could talk to them directly and find out what was going on. And if there wasn't...

"Yes, let me get it from the file." Cheerilee went over to a filing cabinet, pulled out a folder with Scootaloo's name on it, and, flipping through it, pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Fluttershy.

The address on the piece of paper seemed familiar to Fluttershy. After a few moments, she placed it and sighed.

"Is there something wrong?" Cheerilee asked.

"I recognise this address." Fluttershy said softly. "Rainbow Dash lived in this apartment complex for a few months after she moved out."

"Then you know where it is, at least?" Cheerilee said.

"Um, in a way, I do." Fluttershy said, even quieter. "It was torn down a few years ago."

"Oh." Cheerilee was silent for a moment. "Maybe they have moved, and didn't update the address?"

"I doubt it." Fluttershy sighed again. "At least I'm pretty sure I'm right. For the moment, you can contact me if a situation comes up where you need to talk to her parents. I'll get to the bottom of this and let you know what I find out."

While she was pretty sure Cheerilee knew where she lived, she wrote out her address on a sheet of paper and gave it to Cheerilee.

Cheerilee put it in the folder without looking at it. "Are you sure we shouldn't bring someone else in on this?" She said, a note of worry in her voice.

"I think at this point, it would make things worse. I should be able to get this sorted out." Fluttershy reassured Cheerilee.

"All right. Given your background, I'll trust you on this one." Cheerilee put Scootaloo's folder away.

"Good. I'll let you know what I find out. In the meantime, you should have your class coming in in a few minutes, so I'd better get going. I've made sure Scootaloo will be on time and have lunch today, at least." Fluttershy headed for the office door.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Fluttershy." Cheerilee called after her.

"No problem. Just let me know if you find out anything on your end." Fluttershy responded. She exited out of the office, and then the classroom, where fillies were starting to wait for Cheerilee.

She waved at them as she left, and a number waved back. She'd helped a lot of them out with their pets, and had also come in as a guest lecturer for Cheerilee several times to talk to them about the local wildlife.

Not to mention that she'd run into a number of them in more informal settings, such as when they were catching frogs in the pond. She smiled, remembering some of the things they'd gotten up to.

Her smile faded as she thought about the situation with Scootaloo, though. Fluttershy was pretty sure at this point that she didn't have anywhere to go home to. She was equally sure that there was a reason the filly didn't want anyone knowing about it.

She felt her best move right now would be to go to Mayor Mare, and get more information on what would happen if Scootaloo was turned in, without naming any names. She had a long history with the mayor, and was sure she would be willing to help her however she could.

As such, Fluttershy proceeded down to the town hall, which was typically where the mayor could be found this time of day. She trotted there at a good clip, breezing past the Carousel Boutique, and was there in no time.

Entering the town hall, a few ponies seemed to be milling around on one task or another. She saw Time Turner walking around inspecting the clocks, and the mayor's assistant seemed to be headed somewhere with some paperwork.

She continued up the stairs to where she knew the mayor's office to be located. It had been a while since she had visited. Fluttershy hesitated for a moment. What if the mayor was busy with something? Or just didn't want to see her?

Oh, stop being a silly filly, Fluttershy. The worst she'll do is tell you she's busy. Overcoming her hesitation, she knocked on the office door.

A voice called out from inside the office. "Come on in, Fluttershy, the door is unlocked."

Feeling a bit embarrassed for her hesitation, she opened the door, went in the office, and pulled it closed behind her. The room had hardly changed since the last time she was here. Filing cabinets to one side, a bunch of nooks with scrolls in them, and the mayor's desk sitting right in the middle. The mayor was behind her desk reviewing paperwork. She looked up as Fluttershy entered and smiled.

"Miss Mayor, I hope I'm not disturbing you..." Fluttershy began.

"Not at all, Fluttershy. And you don't need to be so formal if it's just the two of us." She answered.

Oh, right. Everyone always referred to her as Miss Mayor, or Mayor Mare, and she'd revered to a formal address by habit. In private, the mayor did prefer Fluttershy to call her by her given name, Ivory Scroll, though. It made her feel less like being the mayor was all there was to her.

"If I can ask, um, Ivory, how did you know it was me at the door?" Fluttershy said, genuinely curious.

"Well, with that delicate of a knock it can only mean one of two things. Someone is coming to me with a problem they don't really think I'll be happy with, or you are coming for a visit. I decided to hope for the latter, and here you are. Anything amiss? Is everything going well with the cottage?" Ivory Scroll said.

"Oh, yes! For taking care of the animals, it's in the perfect position. And it's nice and cosy. It's wonderful." Fluttershy said, though she'd said as much many times before. She had lived there nine or ten years, after all.

"Glad to hear it. I recall the previous occupant of that cottage. He was a bit of a loner, and never really socialized with anyone in town.Then he died without any heirs, and no one really wanted to live that close to the Everfree Forest. When you came along, with your talent with the animals, I knew it was a perfect match." The mayor said, remembering.

"It certainly was." Fluttershy said.

"But I'm sure that you didn't come here to reminisce. How can I help you today?" Ivory Scroll said.

"I actually had a few questions about the laws regarding a few things... if you aren't busy, that is." Fluttershy said hesitantly.

"No, just the same stacks of paperwork as always." The mayor remarked. "Here, pull up a chair, and let me get you some tea while we talk."

She poured a cup of Earl Gray tea from a tea kettle on a stand next to her desk, and refilled her own at the same time.

Fluttershy sat down, and took a sip of tea before continuing.

"First off, what would your normal course of action be if a homeless foal was brought to your attention officially?" Fluttershy asked.

"A homeless foal? Is this hypothetical, or..." The mayor asked, concerned.

"Lets just keep this hypothetical for the moment." Fluttershy said, not wanting to get Scootaloo in trouble.

"All right. But keep in mind that I can keep things on an unofficial basis if need be. I've done it on your behalf in the past, after all." She said warmly.

"I appreciate that, and may take you up on that later." Fluttershy said.

The mayor sighed. "The first course of action would be to place them with someone temporarily, until their situation has been sorted out. If they already were staying with someone, often we'd leave them there. Or if the foal and the person who reported them were willing, we might place them together. Failing that, we have a folder with addresses of ponies willing to take in foals temporarily."

"Do you have that folder around?" Fluttershy asked.

"Let me see. It's been years..." She got up, went to a filing cabinet, rifled around in it for a few minutes and pulled out a folder.

"Here we are." The mayor said in triumph, opening it. "Oh dear, didn't he die a while back?"

She started flipping through the addresses listed. "Dead, moved away, moved, in an old age home, in jail... well, these appear to be so out of date as to be useless. After pulling out the out of date forms, all that's left are the blank forms in here for anyone who wants to be added."

"Can I see one of those?" Fluttershy asked. The mayor nodded, and passed her a sheet. She quickly filled it out and passed it back.

"Thank you, my dear. At least we'll have one pony on the list." Ivory Scroll said. "Once we've placed them somewhere safe for the time being, we'll find out if they have living parents and what their home situation is. Then it's a matter of determining if it's safe for them to go back."

"Seems like that could be rather tricky to determine." Fluttershy said, thinking about her own parents.

"It can be. First step, though, is determining if the parents want the foal back. If they abandoned the foal, they can safely be assumed not to. Otherwise, we'll interview the parents and the foal separately, as well as anyone else involved. In a bigger town, there'd be a department that did that. Here, it's pretty much me, and one or two other ponies."  Ivory Scroll said.

"Assuming that the parents don't want the foal in question, what happens then?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, first thing would be to see if their temporary guardian is willing and able to to take care of them on a more permanent basis. Next, we'd run through the list again, and see if anyone else could take care of them." The mayor lectured. "Then would come a town meeting, to see if anyone *not* on the list is able to take them in, since I believe in trying as hard as we can not to make the foal in question leave town and their friends. Failing that, though, nearest orphanage is in Trottingham, I believe, so we'd have to send them there."

"Sounds like a long... complex process." Fluttershy commented.

"Well, it's been years since we've had to do it. And as you know, there are alternatives occasionally, like emancipation, if they are self-sufficient and over 14." The mayor replied.

"Yes, I'm... aware of that one." Fluttershy said faintly.

"Sorry, Fluttershy." Ivory Scroll said. "I know it's an uncomfortable subject."

"That's all right." Fluttershy said. "So, what would I need if I was going to adopt someone?"

"Well, first off, you would need to fill out this paperwork." Ivory said, handing Fluttershy some paperwork from her desk. "You would also need a letter of reference about your character. Don't worry about that, though. I'll have one for you next time you come by."

"You'll write a letter of ref- um, you don't really have to-" Fluttershy stammered out.

"I know, but I think you'd make a good mother, and I feel I know you pretty well. Unless there's someone else you'd prefer to give you one." Ivory Scroll said.

"Well- um, that's w-, um, thank you." Fluttershy managed.

"You are quite welcome." She leaned closer. "Now, unofficially, what is this all about? I'm not listening as the mayor right now, and nothing official will come of this. And I don't really need to know specifics at the moment. I'd just like to see what I can do to help."

"Well, to be honest, it's a bit early to know what the exact situation is, but I wanted to be sure of what I could do if my suspicions were correct." Fluttershy said.

"Completely understandable. How much do you know?" Ivory asked Fluttershy.

"Well, I noticed a certain filly seemed not to be eating much, and was out at all hours of the night." Fluttershy said. "I've managed to get her something to eat and a place to sleep for the night, but she seems very defensive at the moment. She claims to have parents and a place to stay, but the evidence is pointing against it so far."

"What are your plans from this point?" Ivory Scroll asked.

"Well, I gave her a note to take to her parents asking for her to come over and stay another night, and hopefully more nights after that. Next, I'm pretty much going to need to try to get her to open up to me while she's over at the cottage." Fluttershy said.

"Hopefully the note works to get her staying over with you. As far as getting her to open up, I would simply try to establish yourself as someone who can be trusted with her." She said, mulling the situation over. "Also, you could do worse than to tell her some of your own history. Knowing about your own family life may encourage her to share hers."

"I really don't like talking about it." Fluttershy said slowly. "But I think you are right. I really appreciate the advice."

Impulsively, she got up, went over to Ivory Scroll, and gave her a quick hug. Ivory returned the hug warmly.

After releasing the hug, Fluttershy finished her cup of tea. "Thanks for the help, Ivory. I'll let you know how things go."

"The pleasure was mine. Just make sure not to take so long 'till the next visit!" She replied.

Fluttershy left the mayor's office, feeling a bit better about things. Remembering a promise she had made, she made a quick detour to Roseluck's house, and made sure all her flowers were watered. After falling off a ladder, Roseluck was in the hospital for a few days for observation, and Fluttershy had offered to take care of her plants while she was gone.

Having finished this, she headed on home. Time to feed her animals, and wait and see. Hopefully, Scootaloo would come back with a response. If not, she'd give it a few days, and then she'd have to go and seek her out.