Dizzy Twister just sighed, this was hardly the first time she had to have a talk with her daughter about her behavior. Being a single mom meant that you got used to having to lecture your child quite a bit.
"But Mom, it's not my fault," Scootaloo complained. "Diamond Tiara wouldn't stop making fun of me because I can't fly yet."
Dizzy Twister tried her best to sound firm, while not sounding too upset. "I know that, Scootaloo. But that doesn't mean you had a right to start attacking her," she scolded. "Sometimes fighting back is necessary if somepony else attacks you first. But when you throw the first punch, you become the aggressor."
"I didn't attack first!" Scootaloo protested.
"That's not what Miss Cheerilee told me," Dizzy Twister said, shaking her head "She told me that several students saw you lunge at Diamond Tiara, and you kept going even after she begged you to stop."
"So? It was her fault for making fun of me," Scootaloo replied "That brat got what she deserved!"
"Scootaloo!" Dizzy Twister said angrily. "I did not raise you to behave like that! If Diamond Tiara was causing trouble, you should've told either Miss Cheerilee or myself about it. We would've talked with Filthy Rich and made sure that Diamond Tiara was properly punished."
"And then she'd just go right back to making fun of me," Scootaloo snorted. "Maybe I did go a bit too far, but as far as I'm concerned she was asking for it."
"Regardless of who said what, you still owe Diamond Tiara an apology," Dizzy Twister told her daughter. "Filthy Rich and I talked it over, and Diamond Tiara is going to apologize for teasing you. Filthy Rich has also assured me that Diamond Tiara will be punished appropriately for what she's done."
"What's he going to do?" Scootaloo asked eagerly.
Dizzy Twister simply shook her head "It's not my place to say. Diamond Tiara is Filthy Rich's responsibility, and however he decides to punish her is up to him."
Scootaloo said nothing, she just pouted slightly.
"Scootaloo, I hate having to argue with you just as much as you hate being lectured by me," Dizzy Twister continued. "But I love you very much."
"I know, Mom," Scootaloo replied. "I love you too."
"So then, what are you going to do when you see Diamond Tiara?" Dizzy Twister asked seriously.
Scootaloo sighed. "I'm going to apologize for attacking her." she said reluctantly.
"Good." Dizzy Twister said with a smile.
"Can I please go now?" Scootaloo asked. "I don't want to be late for my meeting with the other Crusaders. We're gonna try and get our cutie marks in fishing!"
"Of course you can go," Dizzy Twister replied. "Just make sure to be back by sundown. Remember, tonight is a school night."
"I won't forget!" Scootaloo called as she raced out the door. "See you later, mom!"
Dizzy Twister watched as her daughter hopped onto her scooter and sped away. All the while, she just smiled happily. "Scootaloo is the best daughter I could've ever asked for," she thought to herself.
Fishing turned out to be a bust, but Scootaloo didn't seem to be too upset. She had a very interesting story to tell when she came home. "There was this humongous fish that suddenly leaped up and ate my entire fishing rod!" she told Dizzy Twister. "I didn't know fish could grow to be that big!'
"Well, it sounds to me like you had quite the experience," Dizzy Twister said kindly. "Dinner will be ready shortly. Please make sure to wash up."
"Okay, Mom." Scootaloo replied, and headed upstairs to wash her hooves. Dinner passed uneventfully for Scootaloo and Dizzy Twister, and after it was finished Scootaloo went up to her room to work on homework.
"Alright, Scootaloo, it's time for bed." Dizzy Twister called as she appeared in Scootaloo's room. Scootaloo was playing with some miniature Wonderbolts action figures.
"Ah! Already?!" Scootaloo complained.
Dizzy Twister tried her best not to giggle "Yes, I'm afraid so my little angel."
"Can't I just stay up for a few more minutes?" Scootaloo pleaded.
"You're a growing filly, Scootaloo. You need your rest if you want to grow up big and strong." Dizzy Twister said sweetly, as she tucked her daughter in.
Scootaloo couldn't argue with that; she wanted to grow up to be an awesome flyer like Rainbow Dash. "Good night, Mom." she yawned as she closed her eyes.
"Goodnight, Scootaloo." Dizzy Twister replied, kissing her daughter lightly on the forehead. She then turned off the light, and closed the door.
The next day, Dizzy Twister walked Scootaloo to school to make sure that the filly apologized to Diamond Tiara for what she had done. Filthy Rich was doing the same thing with Diamond Tiara.
"Well now, I believe you have something you want to say. Right, Scootaloo?" Dizzy Twister said, lightly nudging her daughter.
Scootaloo sighed and looked Diamond Tiara in the eyes. "I'm sorry I attacked you yesterday." she said.
"And what do you have to say in response?" Filthy Rich asked Diamond Tiara, lightly nudging her.
"And I'm sorry I teased you." Diamond Tiara apologized.
"I accept your apology." Scootaloo said reluctantly, almost unwilling to make eye contact with Diamond Tiara.
"Same here." Diamond Tiara replied, seeing no reason to say anything else.
"Now then, I trust there will be no further problems between you two. Right?" Filthy Rich asked. Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara both reluctantly nodded in approval, and then went their separate ways.
"Hopefully they'll at least agree not to get into fights all the time," Dizzy Twister said to Filthy Rich. "Do you think this truce will last?"
"Perhaps," Filthy Rich shrugged. "It wasn't easy finding a suitable way to punish Diamond Tiara for her bad behavior."
"Tell me about it," Dizzy Twister sighed. "It's so hard to find a way to properly discipline your child without going too far or not doing enough."
"Well, if you ever need more advice, feel free to come and talk to me." Filthy Rich replied, and he and Dizzy Twister parted ways.
After returning home, Dizzy Twister didn't see Scootaloo again for several hours. Even after school let out, Scootaloo didn't come home. Dizzy Twister started to get a little bit worried. Scootaloo knew her way home, it wasn't like her to get lost.
Dizzy Twister waited and waited. She washed and dried some dishes, dusted and mopped, folded some towels, and still Scootaloo did not show. All the while, Dizzy Twister grew more and more worried. What if something bad had happened to Scootaloo?
At last, Dizzy Twister ran out of patience. "Scootaloo had better not have gotten into another fight with Diamond Tiara," she thought to herself as she scribbled down a note and headed out the door.
Surprisingly, it didn't take Dizzy Twister long to find Scootaloo. She found her daughter at Sweet Apple Acres, where she and her friends were currently trying to hose themselves off. Twigs, branches, and sticky tree sap all but covered the three fillies from head to hooves.
Dizzy Twister breathed a much needed sigh of relief, but at the same time she knew what she would need to do next. She marched straight up to Scootaloo. "Where have you been all day?!" she asked.
"I was just hanging out with my friends," Scootaloo responded, before turning her attention back to hosing off.
"And why are you so dirty, and covered in tree sap?!" Dizzy Twister went on. "Just what have you three been up to?"
"We were trying to get our cutie marks in sky divin'!" Apple Bloom explained.
"It didn't turn out quite like we'd hoped." Sweetie Belle said with a sigh.
"Well, at least now we know that Pinkie Pie is willing to let us borrow her balloon from time to time." Scootaloo added.
Dizzy Twister was absolutely shocked at what she had heard, her mouth hanging wide open, much to the surprise of the three fillies standing in front of her. "Sky diving?!" she exclaimed. "Are you out of your minds?! That's dangerous, especially for fillies like you!"
"But we're totally fine," Sweetie Belle replied. "Well, unless you count all the stuff that's currently attached to our coats."
"And you didn't tell anypony about this?!" Dizzy Twister asked furiously.
None of the fillies said anything. They realized now that they had forgotten all about doing so in their excitement to get their cutie marks.
"I was just about to ask that question myself." Said a voice that Dizzy Twister and the CMC knew all too well. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gulped when Applejack and Rarity appeared a second later. And in Applejack's case, she was accompanied by Big Macintosh and Granny Smith.
"We've been worried sick 'bout you!" Applejack said seriously.
"Do you three have any idea how worried we were?!" Rarity added. "I turned my entire boutique upside down looking for you, and yet this whole time you were skydiving with your friends!"
"You youngins' could've gotten yerselves hurt! Ain't that right, Big Macintosh?" Granny Smith asked.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied. The look on his face was enough to make Apple Bloom feel like a bug under a microscope.
"But nothing bad happened," Scootaloo protested. "We just missed the target we were supposed to land on and got tangled up in the trees."
"You're lucky that's the worst thing that happened to you three," Dizzy Twister scolded. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all tried their best not to look too guilty.
Nothing more was said for a moment, until Rarity finally broke the silence. She approached Sweetie Belle, grabbed her by the hoof, and took her home. "Just wait until mother and father hear about this," Rarity said to Sweetie Belle. "They will be anything but pleased."
Apple Bloom went home with her family a second later. Nopony needed to say anything for her to know that she was in big trouble; the silent treatment took care of that.
Scootaloo and Dizzy Twister made their way home in relative silence, although Dizzy Twister still took the time to talk to Scootaloo about her actions. "I spent an entire afternoon worrying that you might be hurt, and the whole time you were trying to skydive with your friends?! Haven't I told you to ask me before you go off on crusades?" she asked crossly.
"Well, I wanted to tell you, but-" Scootaloo began.
"But what?" Dizzy Twister asked.
"You would've said no!" Scootaloo replied.
"Because skydiving is incredibly dangerous, even for a pegasus that can fly!" Dizzy Twister scolded. "I know a pony that went skydiving once, and she ended up hospitalized for weeks."
"So? That was just one pony," Scootaloo shrugged. "It couldn't happen to me."
"It very well could, because the pony I was talking about was me!" Dizzy Twister explained. "My friends pressured me into skydiving, and instead of backing out, I went along with them. When I jumped, a wind gust blew me off course and caused me to crash. I thought for sure I would never be able to fly again."
Scootaloo was speechless; she never would've believed that her mother had actually attempted skydiving once. "Now I'm starting to wish I hadn't brought up the sky diving idea in the first place." she thought to herself, as she neared her home.
Once Scootaloo was inside, Dizzy Twister closed the front door. She quickly disposed of the note she had written (there was no need to keep it around now that Scootaloo was safely back home).
Scootaloo felt incredibly nervous as her mom led her upstairs. They stopped just outside Dizzy Twister's room, but only for a second while Dizzy Twister opened the door.
As soon as the door was opened and Scootaloo stepped inside, she was surprised at what lay before her. Tucked into one corner was a package of some sort. Upon closer inspection, Scootaloo realized that they were diapers. Nervously, she turned to her mom and asked, "What's with the diapers?"
"Scootaloo, what you did today was incredibly foolish!" Dizzy Twister said seriously. "In fact, I would say it was outright foalish! And since you chose to act like a foal, that's what you're going to be treated as!"
Scootaloo gulped, she knew what that meant. "You don't mean-" she began.
"I'm afraid so." Dizzy Twister interrupted.
"Do I really have to wear diapers?" Scootaloo pleaded, hoping beyond hope that her mother was joking.
"Of course you don't have to, Scootaloo," Dizzy Twister replied. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief, relief which only lasted until her mother continued. "But the alternative is being grounded for a whole month. That means no crusades with your friends, no Pinkie Pie parties, and no spending time with Rainbow Dash. It's your choice, whichever punishment you choose is the punishment you'll receive. No ifs, ands, or buts." Dizzy Twister explained.
Scootaloo pouted and crossed her hooves across her chest. Neither punishment sounded good, and regardless of which one she picked, she knew she wouldn't like it. If she picked the diaper punishment, she would still be able to leave the house for things besides school. But her mom would almost certainly treat her like a foal. On the other hoof, if she chose to be grounded, she wouldn't have to be treated like a foal. But that would mean she would probably miss out on a lot of flying lessons with Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie threw a party almost everyday, and each one was a blast.
"This just isn't fair!" Scootaloo thought unhappily to herself, before she sighed and settled on a punishment. "Fine, I'll wear the stupid diapers if that's what you want," she said to Dizzy Twister, who smiled happily. "But I'm not gonna use them, just so you know."
"I never said you had to." Dizzy Twister replied, and instructed Scootaloo to lay down on the bed. Scootaloo reluctantly complied, and tried her best to hold still while her mom proceeded to diaper and powder her.