Scootaloo stayed in bed all day the next day. Candy Mane decided not to push the matter of Scoot's friends or the fact she needed to go to school on the poor filly, though she did mention that this was the last "un-sick" day that Scootaloo would be taking. A mumbled non-reply came from under the sheets, and Candy went downstairs to call a foalsitter so that she could go to work.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to come over and look after Scootaloo today, Fluttershy."
"Oh, um. It's no problem Ms. Mane. I'm always happy to help..." Fluttershy gave Candy a quiet smile.
"Well, I really appreciate you coming over on such short notice. Scootaloo's probably still in bed upstairs, she's feeling pretty down and most likely will want to stay there all day. Don't worry about getting her to come out, she's pretty stubborn when she wants to be.
"Just make sure she eats something, won't you? There's some celery and carrot soup in the fridge, you're more than welcome to heat that up for the both of you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be very late for work if I stay to chat much longer." Candy took a quick glance at the clock, looking a bit nervous and prancing a little on the spot.
"Okay, Ms. Mane. You go on to work, I'll just, um... I'll go say hi to Scootaloo!" Fluttershy gave Candy her most sincere smile and with this dismissal, Candy shot off to work as fast as her hooves could carry her. Fluttershy stood inside the doorway and waved until Candy could no longer be seen. She then shut the door and flew upstairs. She guessed, rightly so, that Scootaloo's room was the one with the muffled sobbing coming out of it.
Wow... Ms. Mane said that Scootaloo was upset, but I never could have imagined that she would be this bad.
Fluttershy walked up to the door and knocked.
"Scootaloo? It's Fluttershy. Uh, your mom asked me to foalsit you today, so can I come in? Um, if that's okay with you, I mean..." Fluttershy bit her lip. The crying had turned down a notch, but otherwise there was no response to her request. She braced herself.
"O... okay then. I'm coming in..." Fluttershy pushed open the door but didn't see the filly right away. She was a little distracted by all the artwork of her friend Rainbow Dash plastered against the walls and didn't see the orange muzzle peeking out from the white bedspread in the corner right away. Only when Scootaloo let out a particularly large sniff did Fluttershy turn around to see her. She walked up to the bed and sat down next to the large lump in the sheets.
"Uh, hi there. How are you, Scootaloo?" Sniff.
"I... um... like your drawings." Another sniff.
"Scootaloo, have you eaten anything yet today?" At this, Scootaloo poked her muzzle further out of the sheets and shook her head. Fluttershy smiled and wrapped her wing and foreleg around the bundle of linen.
"Your mom said that there's some celery and carrot soup in the fridge, do you want that?" Another headshake. Fluttershy realized that this was going to be difficult. Suddenly, an idea dawned on her.
"If you promise not to tell your mom, I saw a cookie jar while I was down in the kitchen. Do you want me to get you one?" At this a fresh wave of wails erupted and Scootaloo pulled her muzzle back under the sheets. Fluttershy was beginning to panic: she wasn't good at dealing with other ponies, and even though she loved the Crusaders it was still difficult to understand them sometimes; Scootaloo was no exception.
"Shhh, shhh. It's okay Scootaloo. It's fine. Is there something you do want to eat that I can get you?" Fluttershy was beginning to grasp at straws: fillies were almost tougher to understand and deal with than adult ponies and she was feeling at a loss.
Oh, I should have just told Ms. Mane that I was busy today... What am I going to do...?
Scootaloo, though still crying, managed to choke out, "I ju-just... I just wanna be a-alone right n-now, Flu-fluttersh-shy."
"Okay, Scootaloo. I'll come back later with lunch, okay? Just take all the time you need." Fluttershy gave the sobbing filly one last nuzzle before getting up off of the bed. Lunch was a ways away, she'd be able to think of something by then to make Scootaloo happy. But to do so, she might need a little backup.
"... And she's been crying all morning and I just don't know what to do! Oh, I'm a horrible foalsitter..." Fluttershy was sitting on a cloud, talking to none other than Scootaloo's idol. She'd hated to leave Scootaloo home alone, but Fluttershy had needed to talk to somepony, and Rainbow Dash was the best somepony she could think of. On the cloud next to her, Rainbow was stretching her wings, preparing herself for the execution of some new trick.
"You worry too much, Flutts. Scoot just needs a little time to herself, she'll come out of her room when she gets hungry enough." With a strong flap, Dash lifted herself off her perch on the cloud and hovered slightly above it.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash! I couldn't let Scootaloo just starve herself! That wouldn't be--" Fluttershy got cut off as Dash suddenly rocketed off, a multi-hued blur spinning over, under, around, and in between clouds the vibrant pegasus had set up in some sort of aerial obstacle course. Fluttershy gave a quiet sigh, settled herself a little more on the cloud, and waited for Dash to come back. Thankfully, Dash never took very long.
"Yeah, 8 seconds flat! That's like, 20% faster than last time! Awesome!" Dash settled back onto the cloud next to Fluttershy. "Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh, um. Like I was telling you, it wouldn't be very fair to Scootaloo to just let her get that hungry. It isn't very good for her health." Fluttershy blew a lock of her mane out of her face and looked at Rainbow Dash pointedly. Dash puffed out her cheeks in response, more interested in figuring out how to do a Double Rainboom. The Young Flier's Competition was coming up again and she wanted to do something cooler than an ordinary Sonic Rainboom. But she knew Fluttershy wanted her help on this, and while Dash could be many things, she would never refuse to help her friends. It was part and parcel of being the Element of Loyalty, she supposed. It was also why she had let herself be coerced to watch that lame butterfly migration with Fluttershy a while back, though Dash was trying to forget about that.
"Okay, fine. I'll help you get the little Squirt to eat something. But you gotta promise that you'll practice cheering for me for the Competition this year. Your efforts last year were pretty disappointing."