After being saved from an early demise by Spike, Scootaloo slowly starts to see him in a new light.
She's an aspiring Pegasus with dreams of fame and fortune. He is a dragon who wanted to change the world and bring all races together in harmony. Although they are old friends, a dangerous accident brings the two closer than they could ever imagine, and even more than they expected.
Spike rolled his eyes as he gazed at the dark clouds above outside the window of Sugarcube Corner, the nuzzling and pet-talking that Apple Bloom and Rumble were doing next to him was starting to get annoying.
Sweetie Belle trailed her hooves on the table in tiny circles, feeling very uncomfortable and Tender Taps along with Pipsqueak and Dinky were looking everywhere their eyes could except for the couple that were oblivious to their friends awkward shuffling and doing their best to finish the snacks that they had bought.
Spike gave a low growl watching Rumble nibble Apple Bloom's right ear gently making her giggle as Spike himself slowly grabbed the large strawberry milkshake in front of him with his left claw, taking a few sips out of the bendy straw while Tender Taps looked over at Sweetie Belle, raising a hoof to hold her own on the table as she only shook her head with a grimace looking at the affectionate teenagers in front of her with a bit of disgust.
"Why did I think coming to a couple's outing was a good idea?" Spike asked himself with a claw over his face making Dinky chuckle beside him.
"You didn't know we were all going to be here as couples. You just wanted to hang out with some friends, besides...Scootaloo doesn't have anypony yet." She answered with a small grin causing Spike to blush at the unicorn's words, his throat suddenly dry at the prospect of making any sort of move to his crush.
"Can we at least get them to stop?" Pipsqueak whispered to his girlfriend, pointing a hoof at the two who appeared as though they were going to start getting naughty in public if something wasn't done soon.
"You want to give Rumble blue balls, be my guest, Pip. Where is Scoots anyway?" Spike asked turning his eyes from Pipsqueak to Dinky who was reaching for another chocolate chip cookie on the table with her hoof as she carefully nibbles on it with a shrug.
The bakery was nearly empty save for the seven of them, Spike looked around him watching Pinkie Pie clean tables with a rag in her hooves and a bucket of soapy water on the floor next to her as she hummed quietly to herself, Carrot Cake was counting the money they had received so far in the register making Spike wonder what Cup Cake was up to, perhaps doing paperwork or watching over the twins if he had to guess.
Spike noticed Pinkie Pie's adopted daughter, Screwball sitting at a table doing what he had to guess was Equinish homework as her brow furrowed in concentration biting the pencil in her mouth before moving her head forward and writing down an answer, a rather large glass of chocolate milk next to her, as he wondered where Discord was at the moment.
Rain began to pelt the windows making everypony and the lone dragon save for Apple Bloom and Rumble who probably didn't even notice look at the small droplets of water hitting the reflective glass before Tender Taps cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of them all.
"Well everypony and dragon this was...awkward, I'll admit. But I had fun, I better get home before the weather gets any worse. Want me to take you home, Sweets?" Tender asked with a nervous smile which made her giggle looking back at Apple Bloom and Rumble with a blush before she nodded.
They quickly finished their brownie and strawberry shortcake as they stood and told their friends they would see them later, waving goodbye to Pinkie Pie and Screwball who waved back with a large smile on their face as they walked out the door.
Spike rubbed the back of his head with a yawn while Dinky and Pipsqueak made some sort of excuse to leave and see them another time as they waved them off, only leaving the drake, the earth pony and pegasus as he snickered with a shake of his head.
"Since I doubt you two are hearing anything, I'm going to bail and leave you with the bill for making us have to witness you basically dry humping each other in public, see you guys later." He spoke with a sadistic grin before sliding out of his seat and with a wave telling the three earth ponies that he'll see them next time as he walked out the door, a dark chuckle came out of his mouth hearing Apple Bloom's scream of rage to Pinkie giving them the bill.
Spike stepped outside Sugarcube Corner, eyes turning to the sky as it soon began to pour. He sighed and looked around once more for any sign of Scootaloo, not seeing any, he spread his large, leathery draconic wings and prepared for takeoff.
With a flap of his draconic wings, he was launched swiftly into the stormy sky, setting a path for the crystal castle he called his home.
A few minutes into his flight home, he spotted some movement in the corner of his vision. He turned his head and saw Scootaloo flying towards him through the onslaught of rain. He smiled and switch directions quickly to meet up with her.
When he was fifteen feet away from her, it happened. Lightning arced up from the ground and stuck Scootaloo mid-air. He saw her eyes roll into the back of her skull as her body convulsed before going limp, falling through the air towards the ground far below them.
Spike shouted her name and quickly went into a vertical nosedive, keeping his wings pressed tightly against his abdomen as he raced towards the falling pegasus. His heart-beat quickened as the ground became closer and closer to them, time was running out.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as he focused solely on reaching Scootaloo. In that moment, nothing else seemed to matter to him. With the ground quickly approaching them, he stretched out his arms. In a few seconds, it'd be upon them.
He shut his eyes tightly as he felt her fur beneath his claws. He snapped them open and pulled her to his chest, his wings shot open at the last moment.
The force of him pulling up from the nosedive was too great, before he could register what was happening, he heard the snapping of his wings behind him. He turned himself before he crashed hard into the ground to protect Scootaloo. His wings dragged uselessly behind them as he tumbled on the ground for twenty feet before coming to a full stop.
Spike's vision was hazy, his fangs had nearly bit his tongue off and he groaned as he slowly pulled Scootaloo up to his chest, his nostrils catching the scent of burnt flesh and her fur was smoking as he tried to stay awake seeing a few ponies farther ahead gallop towards them.
"Oh my gods!" He heard someone shout as he attempted to check if the pegasus was breathing.
His wings were snapped nearly in half, the pain coursing through his body was enough to make him roar as he glanced at his right leg and saw a large amount of blood with a bone piercing his scales while he held a claw to Scootaloo chest, the claw ran over her right teat on accident as he dragged his arm up which would have made him blush but he didn't have time to be embarrassed by the action with his friend's life in danger.
"S-Scootaloo, can you hear me? You're going to be ok, you got that. You're going to be...fine." He croaked out, his mouth tasted like copper and his body convulsed in pain as he watched the ponies get closer to their position.
"Spike, Spike?!" He heard a voice shout as he could only blink slowly before his vision turned dark and he curled the pegasus closer to his chest before he blacked out from the amount of pain his body was in, his life in the hooves of those more qualified to aid them now.
Celestia sat calmly in a meeting room in her castle. She sighed heavily, hearing the nobles around her drone on and on about frivolous bills they wanted to pass. Bills that banned certain foods, or bills that banned non-ponies from the city. The last of which infuriated her to no end.
Her magenta eyes fell upon the document in front of her. It was a bill from Jet Set and Upper Crust, two of the worst ponies she had the pleasure of knowing. Within her magic aura, she grasped a red stamp and slammed it down harshly upon the document.
"Denied."
Jet Set and Upper Crust both blanched at her blunt words and stuttered angrily about it being unfair that she denied all of their bills because she favored Fancy Pants more than them.
She let out an elongated sigh and set her gaze upon them.
"My little ponies, I assure you I do not favor any one of you over the other. I simply do not think that passing a bill that promises to ban," She paused to read the document once more, "Parties from Canterlot entirely would be appropriate, and definitely not because of the 'pink earth pony menace'. While my dear friend, Fancy Pants, has given me bills that actually make some form of sense. But I do not want you to think that I'm favoring him over any of you, believe me when I say that there have been many bills of his that I have denied." She finished.
Everypony in the room seemed satisfied with that answer before they all began to move onto the next item of discussion. Before any of them could get into an in-depth discussion, or 'heated debates' as Celestia called them, the doors to the council room swung open and in galloped Celestia's aide, Raven Inkwell.
Without any hesitation, she ran right up to Celestia's side.
"Your Majesty, I've just gotten word from Ponyville that your son is in the hospital, it doesn't look good. You need to leave immediately." She whispered very quickly into Celestia's right ear as she bent down to listen.
Her heartbeat quickened and she nodded her head, her alabaster wings fluttering behind her softly. She cleared her throat before speaking.
"I'm sorry, but something regarding Princess Twilight Sparkle has come up in Ponyville. I'm afraid I will have to cut this Day Court short for now. If any of you have any questions talk to my aide, Raven Inkwell." She motioned idly with one of her wings towards her assistant, who simply nodded a quick greeting to the council ponies in front of her.
Many of the ponies in the room muttered to themselves about what could be happening with the newest of the Alicorn princesses. Celestia ignored them for the most part and trotted quickly out of the room. Not bothering to call for a carriage, she headed straight for a nearby balcony and took off like a phoenix towards Ponyville. Her baby boy was in the hospital.
In only a few minutes she managed to close the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville at a speed that even rivaled that of the Element of Loyalty. She landed with a soft thud outside of the Ponyville General Hospital, kicking up a small cloud of dirt in her wake.
She practically galloped full speed into the waiting room, stopping by the receptionist for only a few moments to get the number of the room he was staying in. As she ran off down the halls at a steady pace, she faintly heard the receptionist say something about a mare. She paid no mind to it, at the moment it wasn't important to her. All that she wanted to do was make sure her baby was okay.
She kept on going through the pristine white halls of the hospital before she finally reached the room her son had been admitted to. With some minor hesitation, she opened the door.
Her eyes immediately went to the draconic figure lying in one of the beds, ignoring everything else in the room she teleported to his bedside. She stroked the moderate harlequin spines that rested atop his head.
It was only a few seconds later when she felt a hoof poking at her side, that she realized she hadn't been alone when she entered the room. Surrounding the comatose dragon, were Twilight and the other Element Bearers, each of whom were looking at her with a range of expressions.
"Uh, Princess. I don't mean to sound rude or anything," Dash started, approaching from behind the curtain that separated two beds, catching a glimpse of an orange pegasus mare as she did so. "But why are you here? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot attending to some 'royal business'?"
Internally, Celestia began sweating and searching her mind for any plausible excuse she could come up with without giving away the fact that Spike is her son. Externally, however, her expression never shifted from one of concern.
She took a deep, hesitant breath and spoke.
"Each of my little ponies is special to me, you six more than most. That includes Spike here. If any of you were injured as bad as he currently is, you needn't doubt that I would show up at your bedside too." She spoke softly, her words calming down a few of the mares before her and leaving a degree of different emotions for others.
Twilight slowly dug at the tile marble floor with a hoof, nodding at the quick lie her ruler had told as well as her friends accepting the answer before anything more could be said Rainbow Dash's parents barged into the room.
Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof were panting as they entered the room, surprise etched on their faces at seeing Princess Celestia before them making them bow and hug Rainbow Dash tightly, tears falling from their faces seeing their adopted daughter.
A Doctor walked in almost immediately after they had rushed into the room, he was carrying a clipboard and gazed at each of the ponies in the room.
"I suppose that you all must be their friends or family, yes?"
Each of the ponies nodded quickly, affirming his notions.
"So, on their condi-"
"How's my baby girl doing?!" Windy Whistles interrupted the doctor, who glared at her.
"I was getting to that, be patient. Please." He rolled his eyes and shook his head, looking over the clipboard once more.
"Your daughter, Scootaloo, has a few fractures in her front and hind legs. She's also sustained a few lacerations to various places over her body. The worst of her injuries are the various second-degree burns that are covering most of her body."
Her adoptive parents nodded quickly, looking at their daughter with worry etched across their faces before turning back to the doctor.
"Wha-what caused the burns?" Bow Hothoof asked, eyeing the unconscious drake in the next bed. Catching his glare, Celestia gave one of her own that nopony seemed to notice.
"From the looks of it, a lightning strike. She was in the middle of that storm last night. They both were. From what I can tell, seems like she was struck while flying and Spike over there saved her. Without him, your daughter wouldn't be here today."
"What about Spike? What's his condition like?" Twilight spoke up before Celestia could say anything that might give away too much information.
"His condition is...." His gaze fell upon the comatose dragon. "Much worse than Scootaloo's I'm afraid. Both of his wings are...." He paused, sparing a glance at each of the pegasi in the room.
"We've had to amputate both of his wings." He said simply.
Rainbow Dash, who had been hovering in mid-air, soon plopped onto the ground, her jaw hanging open as her eyes turned to pinpricks. Many of the other winged ponies held the same expression, save for Fluttershy.
Not hearing any more questions, the doctor cleared his throat before continuing. "He also broke his right leg badly, we've had to put it in a cast. He also had a punctured lung and a broken rib. Which thankfully we've been able to fix with our magic. So we won't have to worry about that. For now, both of them are in magically induced comas' to help the recovery process. Now if there aren't any more questions, I have a few other patients to get to."
After making sure none of the ponies in the room had any remaining questions, he took his leave. Leaving the clipboard behind at the request of Twilight, who wanted to look over it for herself a few times.
Applejack was angrily trotting back and forth, her tail swishing as she opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, Pinkie has tears running down her face covering her face with a hoof while Rarity could do nothing more but look at Spike, obviously heartbroken at what had to be done to the young drake.
Fluttershy walked towards his bed, placing a hoof on the dragon's face who didn't even twitch as her lips quivered.
"Can Discord heal him, Pinkie?" She asked emotionless which caused the pink party pony to swallow back the saliva in her throat as Pinkie looked towards her friend, wanting nothing more than to summon her mate and cry in his fur as she slowly shook her head and answered.
"Discord's chaos magic can warp reality, reverse and stop time, cause destruction the likes of which we could never imagine and even heal minor injuries. But chaos magic can't heal completely...it can't save. It can't repair that which was once lost. It doesn't work like that." She stuttered as she sobbed, her voice barely being heard before Rainbow Dash angrily kicked a chair near her.
"Buck!" She screamed before she stomped out of the room, Celestia and Twilight didn't even flinch as Fluttershy ran after her and Bow and Windy were huddled around their adopted daughter, their tears not pausing for a moment.
"The gods really are cruel then." Rarity whispered coldly, Pinkie glared at her wanting to retort until Rarity's mate, Thunderlane came rushing into the room, panting as his eyes locked into his marefriend's and he walked forward and hugged her tight.
At that contact, she broke down completely and wailed into his chest, the stallion using all his strength to hold her upright as she wept, trying to hold back his own tears looking at his friend.
Twilight was going through the details of the injuries for a fourth time before she angrily threw the clipboard against the wall and walked out the door. Screaming back that she was going to find a way for her little brother to have his wings back, even if it killed her.
Applejack left without a word, obviously far too emotional to be of use and leaving the grieving parents to wallow in pity and shame and Thunderlane was forced to drag Rarity out of the room, lest she do something to make matters worse.
Pinkie curled up into a ball and cried, screaming out Discord's name loudly enough to force the god to come to the aid of his mate as he looked over quickly at his friends and with a snap of his fingers made Pinkie and himself vanish to no doubt help her calm down, looking at the dragon who he considered a dear friend before they were gone from sight.
All that remained in the room were Celestia, Windy, Bow, the broken pegasus, and lone dragon.
Celestia felt tears run down her face as she cradled her son's head in her chest with her forehooves, hiccupping as she hummed an old lullaby her mother once sung to her.
The poor drake may have lost his real parents, the respect of those who thought of themselves as real dragons, and now he has lost the only thing that could be considered worthy in the eyes of the old dragons, but Celestia would be damned if he was going to fight this battle alone.
He would never recover emotionally from the loss, his heart already in shambles from being rejected by Rarity in place of Thunderlane and he was struggling with controlling the meat structured diet that his species went through as they grew older, but even among a land full of herbivores, he was a strong, kind, and patient dragon and Celestia would die before she sent him out of Equestria like the nobles of her court wanted her to do.
He was her son, there was nothing more important in her eyes than him.
There was nothing but silence as Celestia slowly petted Spike's spines and Windy and Bow sobbed looking at the state their daughter was in before they slowly moved the curtain to see Celestia alone with the dragon.
Their minds clicking into place that Spike meant so much more to Celestia then she let on as they slowly bowed their head once she caught them staring, a vow was made without words that they would not tell anypony about what they witnessed, parent to parent.
An hour later a guard came and whispered in Celestia's ear that she was needed back in Canterlot for an important meeting that slipped her mind as she bid Scootaloo's adopted parents farewell and told the doctors that Spike's medical bill was to go directly to the crown, along with Scootaloo's as she left and posted a guard to watch over them.
With a nurse coming to check on both the dragon and orange pegasus the two parents felt it was time to leave and swore they would come to see Scootaloo tomorrow, praying to the gods for once in their lives that they would wake up soon.
Nightfall came soon after and other than Luna physically entering the room to tell her nephew that she loved him and hoped he would recover soon before she took her leave, all was silent.
A graveyard shift nurse looked them over, changed their bandages and emptied their toilet pans before departing. As soon as the door had shut there was a flash of white light that went unnoticed by the guard outside the door who yawned and was given an unoccupied room next door to sleep in, even flirting with the nurse a bit as Rainbow Dash and Discord stood silently in the room, watching through the door as the guard and nurse left.
"You sure we should be doing this, Discord?" Rainbow Dash whispered to the god who ignored her to float over to Spike's bed as she went to the opposite end of the room and sat in a chair next to Scootaloo's hospital bed.
"Hey, little sis," Dash said softly, her breath catching in her throat at the state of the young pegasus before her. Her eyes closed and her breathing deep as Rainbow forced herself to continue. "You're going to be ok, alright? T-the doctors will take good care of you and Spike...gods, I should have been there, should have warned you, should have...done something." She blinked as the last words came out so quietly that she hardly acknowledged having said them in the first place.
"Some big sister I am, huh? No, no. I can't...I won't give up, you're not dead. They said you'll recover soon and I know you will...I...have to believe you will, Scoots. You're strong. So much stronger than me and have so much potential. You're going to be a name that history remembers, Scootaloo. There's not a doubt in my mind about that..." She couldn't hold her brave façade anymore as she broke down for the second time and cried, long, hard sobs as tears matted her fur and she tried to quite herself with a hoof near her mouth.
She didn't know how long she was there for and she didn't even feel Discord's lion paw on her shoulder until he looked right into her eyes, but she hugged him tight as she sobbed into his shoulder and for the second time that day the God of Chaos had to comfort a mare.
"I never believed in the gods, my family is not religious. Just because I'm hugging you don't expect me to start worshipping you or anything, Discord." She hissed half-heartedly as he chuckled with a nod.
Nothing more needed to be said as he allowed her to release all her pent up rage and sorrow into him. It wasn't long before she stopped to stand up, took a step forward, and kissed Scootaloo's forehead with a small smile before turning to Discord and nodding as he grinned and snapped his fingers, erasing all traces of them being in that room to begin with and leaving the two creatures in their magically induced comas to fight for their very lives and the pain of what was to follow when they awoke.
It was as though even the gods themselves waited with bated breath for the results.
