Sacrifice

by Balastis

Getting ill

Time dragged on and on for an eternity, but Scootaloo was determined to stay no matter the waiting, because she wanted to assure herself that Rainbow was going to be alright.

After some time she even considered visiting the hospital herself, but that thought was quickly dismissed, because Scootaloo dreaded hospitals above all. The worst moments of her life took place there, and she couldn’t help but to shiver every time she thought about that place.

Spike and her friends accompanied her in her waiting for some time, but after two hours Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to head home to avoid punishment, since it was getting really late for them to be out. Truth to be told neither of them really wanted to enter the furious downpour again, but there was no going about it, so Scootaloo was left only with spike as her conversation companion.

He was really sweet, kind and caring, but being a baby dragon, he still didn’t understand most of the nonverbal messages Scootaloo gave him, and persuaded topics she really wasn’t fond of talking about.

Fortunately, Spike was apprehensive, and once Scootaloo said clearly that she didn’t want to talk about a certain thing, he picked a different one to discuss. Sadly though, he was prone to picking the topics Scootaloo generally disliked the most.

Twilight returned into the library after another hour of waiting. By that time Spike was lying on the couch next to Scootaloo, having fallen asleep. It was very kind of him to stay up to give Scootaloo a support in her anxiety, but he simply wasn’t used to being up this late.

“Scootaloo,” Twilight said as soon as she spotted the sleepy filly on her couch, “I thought you would still be here, even though you would have done better to head home an hour ago.”

“I know; I am going,” Scootaloo replied impatiently, “Just tell me how she is.”

Twilight only smiled and grabbed her little dragon assistant in her telekinesis, saying: “She’ll be fine. Doctors have done enough tests to be sure of that, even though they still don’t know what exactly hit her.”

“Wasn’t it the lightning?!” the little filly asked confusedly, watching the purple unicorn gently carrying her assistant upstairs.

“It was, but her injuries say differently,” Twilight nodded and slowly ascended the staircase, “She is burned rather seriously, but there is not even a residual trace of any shock whatsoever, which is strange.”

Then Twilight disappeared upstairs with Spike in her grasp. Scootaloo could still see her, since there was no ceiling in the lobby, but remained silent to leave Spike undisturbed. Instead she started thinking about what she just heard, but being herself, she quickly dispersed any more complex theories and simply cherished the fact Rainbow was alright.

“You should probably head home, Scootaloo,” Twilight suggested upon descending the stairs and giving a clock a quick glance, “Your family will be worried about you.”

There was only silence in reply, but Scootaloo’s frowned look cast upon the ground was somehow expressive in itself. Twilight realized, that she might have stirred a topic young filly didn’t like.

Whatever her reasons were, Scootaloo slowly went to the door. Twilight followed her with a frown of her own, but despite her curiosity she wouldn’t ask any unwanted questions.

“Thanks Twilight, for telling me,” Scootaloo said and opened the door into the storm and thunder, “Tomorrow I’ll go and see her for myself, so maybe we’ll meet there. See you later, then!”

Scootaloo said and rocketed into the storm. Closing the door, Twilight looked out of the window at the setting sun above the clouds. It was already pretty dark, but not enough to get lost, so Twilight retreated into her study room, choosing not to worry over the little filly’s safety.

Scootaloo ran, because as much as she loved rain she hated being wet, for it meant just more mess for her to clean up. Naturally, her aching muscles didn’t allow her to assume the same pace she maintained when running into the town, but luckily this wasn’t a Running of the leaves competition.

The streets were dark, because the setting Sun was hidden above the thick layer of clouds which blocked almost all of its light. The furious downpour also drove everypony inside their cosy homes, so the streets were empty as well.

She didn’t envy them though, because her feathers represented a perfect protection from both water and the coldness it brought. The only annoying thing for her was the water tickling her in her nostrils and eyes.

While running, Scootaloo was trying to sort her feelings, but to no avail. She felt a mixture of frustration, shame, and worry for one of her closest friends, but there was also a relief that nothing really terrible happened.

The rain and running guided her mind away from the helplessness she felt earlier that day, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop scolding herself for snapping and showing it in front of her friends after how hard she tried to build up her image.

Everypony would falter in a situation like this one, Scootaloo knew that well, but she still couldn’t stop blaming herself. Perhaps she believed that her friends will make fun of her now, or maybe she just wanted to look undaunted just like Rainbow Dash. She wasn’t sure herself.

Thanks to the huge heart every pegasus had, she soon exited the city and followed the much muddier supply road to Sweet Apple Acres. Rain would always turn this one road into a muddy pond, but nopony was particularly interested in fixing the issue.

Soon she ran pass the schoolhouse on her left, but she didn’t even notice it thanks to her head being full of thoughts. Usually Scootaloo would recall and ponder about her days while falling asleep, but it was really rare for her to purposely replay the past happenings of her life.

Slowing into a mere walk upon reaching her house’s avenue, she tried to catch her breath a little. She wasn’t exactly breathless, but running this far would take its toll on everypony.

The house was dark, and the door was closed just like she left it, so there didn’t seem to be anypony home, just like always. Scootaloo didn’t think about it though, because her mind was already busy at that time.

She entered the kitchen through the main door and instinctively started fumbling on the wall on her left for the light switch, since the room was really dark, and she couldn’t see a thing.

After a short while she found it just a little below the spot where she was searching for it, and the light finally shone throughout the room, illuminating every curve and chasing away all shadows.

Scootaloo gave herself a quick and mindless glance. The water was dripping from her in long and fast strands, creating a dirty pool under her. She knew she had to dry herself up quickly, lest she would have even more work cleaning this mess up than she had before.

So she looked up to scan the room for any of the towels she brought for her friends before, but instead she saw something that really broke her train of thoughts- Her brother.

Her brother, Chain Iron, was green eyed, twenty years old stallion, even though his behavior didn’t sometimes match his actual age. His cutiemark was three chain links connected to a line, which was rather fitting to his name. His light green coat and short cyan hair were not something one could often see on a unicorn, but it weren’t his colors what made him so strange.

He was very friendly to every mare and filly in the town in a desperate attempt to find himself a relationship of any sort, but he didn’t know a thing about courting, and so he always ended up in a dead end.

Perhaps he still had something to learn when his mother departed, because otherwise he would know that ponies didn’t use courting to endear somepony they liked. It was one of the reasons for Scootaloo to make fun of him, but in the same time she was trying to help as best as she could, being a filly herself.

“Hi, Iron,” she said in a tremulant voice, because she suddenly realized the chance of being punished for her tardiness, “What are you doing here so early… and in the dark?”

“Waiting for you,” he replied with an exhale and scanned his sister’s unusual expression, “You were supposed to be home a long time ago.”

“Ehm… Really?” Scootaloo said, giving a clock on the wall behind her a quick glance and snapping out of her initial surprise.

It looked like she was about to add something else up on her defense, but she wasn’t able to come up with a suitable excuse. It was hard to fool her brother, because he usually knew much more than anypony would have guessed.

“I was worried!” Iron said slowly walking towards her after he got up from his chair, “One accident a day is more than enough.”

The mention of the accident took Scootaloo by surprise, because it once again threw her into the thoughts she was dealing with before, even though she couldn’t yet understand their meaning. The effect of this surprise was greater by the fact that she didn’t expect the news to spread so fast, so she quickly tried to hide her face behind the serene façade again, but her brother saw through the mask.

He walked over to the heating under the kitchen window, and using his telekinesis, he levitated a pair of nice, warm towels, which he subsequently wrapped around his little sister.

Then he walked around her and knelt just a few inches before her, so that he might look directly into her face. He wanted to find out what caused the blink of an expression he saw, but even though his intentions were good, Scootaloo felt rather uncomfortable.

It wasn’t fear or anxiety, but she knew her brother well enough to know he was about to start asking questions. That, in itself, wouldn’t be anything horrid, but combined with his caring look, it meant an upcoming torment.

“I can see something is bothering you,” he started exactly the way Scootaloo feared, “I can see that what happened today hit you pretty hard.”

Scootaloo replied the only way she always has – by silent starring onto the floor while hoping for her brother to catch the message.

“You know, I will always be here if you needed to talk about anything,” he tried to both assure her and nudge her to open herself.

“I know,” she replied, looking for something more to say, but her effort resulted only in quietude.

She hated talking about such topics with her family, because she really didn’t want to lie to them, but she also couldn’t tell the real truth; she had already caused enough problems, so why add any more.

“You don’t wanna talk about it, heh?” he suggested after a while of a thoughtful silence, and she nodded in agreement.

Iron actually felt like a fool for thinking he could actually untie her tongue and get her to open up a little bit, even though he knew that Scootaloo never talked about her feelings or problems with anypony. Regardless, he had to try to help her, and he would keep trying, because she was still his sister, no matter how stubborn she was.

“Alright then,” he said with a genuine smile on his lips, “Just think it through, and if you ever wanted to tell somepony, I will be here to hear it.”

Scootaloo hated doing this to him, because she knew he took this whole big brother thing really seriously. These situations were always loss no matter who, or how played them with her.

“Yeah… I am sorry,” she said in a guilty tone and, still wrapped in the towels, went upstairs, “I will be in my room if you need me.”

All of her muscles were burning, and she couldn’t even describe the feeling of bliss she felt when she finally collapsed onto her bed and closed her eyes. The towels did a great job soaking the water from her feathers, but they needed yet a little longer to absorb it all.

It sure was one tough day behind her with all that falling, worries and bad feelings. It was all so dreadfully familiar, and that only made it feel stronger, but Scootaloo just wanted to leave it all be once and for all, because Rainbow was alright.

And the more she relaxed, the more her feelings and thoughts started to finally make sense to her… She lived them once already… Long ago…

•

The Sun shone brilliantly through her bedroom’s windows, setting everything it touched alight with its gentle pink aura. Clouds that were still hanging over the town lend the rays a dimmed feeling of comfort and clarity, but unlike others, Scootaloo couldn’t fully enjoy it.

She unwillingly rolled in her bed and opened her eyes to reveal the source of the annoying light, but seeing it was morning already, she only gave a defeated sigh and let her head collapse back onto her pillow. This was certainly the worst night sleep she has ever had in her life.

Ever since she lay down to finally relieve herself, she was feeling rather strangely. At first it was just minor and insignificant twitches, but later it intensified into full scaled cramps and pangs of pain all over her body.

She felt better now, even though all of her muscles were stiff, and every inch of her body hurt. The exhaustion also brought along a nasty headache, which rather complicated thinking on all levels.

Despite all this Scootaloo kicked her covers onto the ground and clumsily climbed down her bed, still waking up. It was Friday, so Scootaloo had a school duty amongst others she wanted to carry out, but she wasn’t even as enthusiastic as she usually was.

As difficult as it was with her shaking hooves, she gathered all of her things and stashed them into her saddlebags. Being done quickly, she decided to take a quick look at her grammar homework, but sight of the first page changed her mind entirely; she didn’t have the time to do it, anyway.

Carrying her saddlebags, which felt like full of concrete now, she clumsily descended the staircase and headed straight into the kitchen. To her big surprise her brother was already awake and reading a book titled: ‘Magical devices’.

“Hello there, sister,” he said with a bit of a chuckle, not putting his book down, “Did you decide to sleep in today?”

Scootaloo just put her saddlebags onto a chair on his left and left towards the bathroom, saying: “I haven’t even fallen asleep.”

“That’s not wise,” he said with a smile and put the book down onto the table, “Rarity keeps telling me that a good amount of sleep is the key to the natural beauty.”

“Yeah, good amount of sleep and half a ton of makeup,” she uttered before washing the night off her face.

“What was that?” her brother called from the kitchen.

“Nothing!” she called back and then took a long stare into the mirror.

The filly she saw wasn’t familiar to her at all; she had large bloodshot eyes with huge dark circles under them, ruffled feathers all over her face, and her mane was sticking in all directions.

“Where is dad, anyway?” she called after a while of silence as she was brushing her mane.

“He is at work,” Iron replied, making some breakfast, “It’s rain season, remember?”

“And what about you?” she kept questioning, “Shouldn’t you be still asleep with the collage opening at nine.”

“Why, aren’t you happy to see your big brother?” Iron stirred away with his sense of humor.

“I see you every evening,” Scootaloo objected, not following his thoughts, “Are you supposed to have a test or something, because you are obviously planning on skipping your classes today?”

Iron took a while to consider the answer; it wasn’t as if Scootaloo would actually snitch on him, especially since it was her who taught him to be truant, so he replied: “Physics experiments… I hate them!”

“I thought you’d love them with you being an inventor and all,” she expressed her confusion with her brother’s motives from across the house.

“It’s not an experiment as long as you know how it will end,” he objected and carried a few bread slices back onto the table, “It’s boring.”

“Suit yourself,” Scootaloo replied plainly, because her headache was getting really nasty.

She brushed her teeth and tamed her mane so she looked presentable again. Still, the remnants of her sleepless night scarred her face, and it was certain they wouldn’t disappear anytime soon.

So she sighed, put away the hairbrush and departed back into the kitchen in her clumsy and slow pace. She thought of sitting down for a moment, but a quick glance on the clock told her she should better go.

“Are you alright?” her brother asked her in a suddenly concerned tone, “You look kind of sick.”

“Sick, are you kidding?!” she replied with a snort, “I am not sick; I just overstretched my muscles yesterday and didn’t get enough sleep, that’s all.”

“I am afraid it might be more than that,” Iron insisted despite his sister’s annoyed look, “Maybe you should go and see a doctor.”

“I am not sick!” she repeated once more with a force in her voice, recovered her saddlebags, and headed for the door, “Besides, the doctor would surely tell me to stay in a bed for a week! That’s totally not cool, not for my big pegasus’ heart.”

“Why do I keep trying?” Iron said ironically and rolled his eyes while biting down on his breakfast.

Scootaloo left the house without having anything to eat, because despite her claims to be alright, her belly actually felt like afloat. With every step she took, it felt she was closer to throwing up, but she still thought she was absolutely healthy.

Closing the door behind her, she gave her scooter one long and sorrowful look. Her wings were too sore to be able to propel her scooter on muddy roads such as those the rain created, and thus she had to walk all the way to the school on foot.

Needless to say, she was very discouraged by the thought of having to drag her sore body all across the Ponyville outskirts, but she knew this day was going to be a challenge the moment she woke up. So she departed towards the school, leaving her scooter behind with one last wishful glance.

A glorious dawn was graced upon the town she saw just below the hills she stood at. The humidity in the cold air was bending the orange and golden rays of the Sun, making the town sparkle like the glittering dust in the moonlight.

The sight was truly magnificent, but even more so was the landscape around; trees and fields gladly accepted the water rain provided and were much greener than before thanks to it. The scent of ozone hung low above the ground, and combined with the moisture and cool air it succeeded to lead Scootaloo’s attention away from her condition.

Her track to the school was quickly passing by, even though she couldn’t get rid of the aching and tingle in her limbs. It didn’t take long and she heard familiar noises of foals playing on the playground in front of the schoolhouse, waiting for Miss Cheerilee to begin the classes.

Scootaloo put on the best expression she could, given how tired and destroyed she felt, and was making her way around the building in order to get to the playground and finally sat down to relive her trembling legs. But putting most of her energy into looking and walking as normally as possible, she entirely overlooked a heavy ball heading in her direction with a speed of the thunder.

The accurate hit into her ribs really hurt a lot, but also threw Scootaloo off balance and sent her collapsing onto the ground. It wasn’t any huge surprise to hear an eruption of laughter from a certain pink filly and her grey companion as their evil intentions came to a successful end.

Diamond Tiara was the pink earth pony filly with pale purple and white hair, a silver tiara as her cutie mark, and eyes blue as the purest waters of the northern seas.

Despite her look, she was malevolent and malicious to every foal in the school, seemingly because she thought that her cutiemark, and family, had made her a better pony compared to others. She wasn’t afraid of bullying foals regardless of their age, gender or tribe, but worst she treated ponies with no cutiemark.

She was always accompanied by Silver Spoon, a grey earth pony filly of white hair braided on the left side of her neck, cutiemark in shape of a silver cutlery, and deep violet eyes hiding behind large blue glasses.

Silver Spoon almost never took the initiative to cause evil, but she was always in for whatever Diamond Tiara was doing. Nopony could tell what reasons she had for following her pink companion, but nopony particularly cared for as long as she acted evil.

“Ops, sorry,” Diamond Tiara called while giggling, “I didn’t see you there. I hope I didn’t break any bones in you fragile tiny wing.”

If Scootaloo had any energy, she would have transformed it all into a furious defense, because she knew far too well that Diamond Tiara actually did it on purpose. Unfortunately though, she could barely move, and so she just looked at her two tormentors and then let her head fall back onto the cold and wet grass.

“C’mon Silver Spoon, she obviously needs some time alone,” Diamond Tiara said in giggles, seeing that Scootaloo won’t be any more fun today, and then they left with their noses high.

This was a little surprise to Scootaloo, because usually Diamond Tiara loved arguing about all sorts of things, especially with her. Other foals were always avoiding conversations with her, because they knew she was saying things just because they hurt, however Scootaloo, and sometimes even Apple Bloom, were too proud to hold back against even petty insults.

“Scootaloo, are you alright?” she heard Sweetie Belle’s timid voice from behind her, “I can’t believe she did that!”

Scootaloo elevated her head with a great effort to see Sweetie Belle’s white silhouette slowly approaching her in a caring manner. It was rather obvious that she saw what happened, but wasn’t brave enough to step up to the two bullies all on her own.

“Yeah, I think I am fine,” she grunted as Sweetie Belle helped her back onto her feet, “Though, being hit by a giant ball into my side isn’t exactly the most pleasant thing that happened to me today.”

“It is a shame they took it with them, because if they hadn’t, maybe we could throw it back at them!” Sweetie Belle giggled dusting Scootaloo off.

“That wouldn’t be a good idea,” the orange filly objected in a hoarse voice, “She would tell her father we tried to kill her or something, and of course he would believe her word over anypony else‘s, no matter what.”

“I guess…” the unicorn filly said and scanned her orange friend with a gradually concerning look on her face.

“Scootaloo, are you sure you are alright?” she said in a caring tone, still scanning her ruffled friend, “Because you seem to look rather beaten today.”

Scootaloo just shook her head dismissively and illuminated her satiation to Sweetie Belle: “Trust me, I am fine. I just didn’t sleep very well today, because of all my muscles deciding to take a revenge on me for putting them through so much stress yesterday.”

Sweetie Belle didn’t seem to be entirely convinced, but she knew better than inquiring Scootaloo about her health state. So instead she helped her gather her things, and both of them slowly walked around the building to finally reach the playground.

Playground was just in front of the entrance to the school, which was good for the foals, because they didn’t have to go far to discharge their energy. It consisted of a few benches placed around the schoolhouse, climbing frames, a sand pit, and a few outdoor tables near the benches.

It wasn’t much, but every foal in the school was grateful to the town hall for donating the school with money necessary for construction of this little place for them, and they made it very obvious by the noise they were making.

Numerous foals were running in every direction, chasing one another, playing many games, and many more activities Scootaloo couldn’t even think about at that moment. It was bound to get even crazier though, because some of the foals were yet to show up.

Scootaloo spotted Diamond Tiara circling around the playground like a hungry vulture, seeking more trouble she could cause, so she decided to leave Sweetie Belle outside with Twist and rather retreated into the school where she believed to be safe, but she was unpleasantly surprised second the stepped inside the small building, because air inside was stinky, still, dry and much warmer than she would like.

In a second she realized that spenting the following several hours in here would certainly be a challenge for her given the fact that she already felt her headache intensify.

•

Other foals were already leaving the school, thrilled by the vision of the free weekend ahead of them, only Scootaloo was having slight problems packing her things into her saddlebags.

Once again her hatred to Fridays proved justified, when her headache turned into a full scaled migraine supported by nausea and dizziness of a kind Scootaloo didn’t like one bit. In addition, all of her limbs were trembling and aching as if they were aflame, her head was spinning, and she was even sweating which was utterly strange for a pegasus.

It was only good the classes were over and she could quickly carry out the rest of her chores to finally get some extra sleep, because she was exhausted to the limit.

She clumsily threw the rest of her things into her saddlebags, not caring for their arrangement, and stood up to leave the classroom. It was a real challenge for her just to walk straight without crashing into anything, but fortunately the years of scooter practice have mastered her balance.

Her friends were at the door, having thought she was already outside, so it was a surprise to them when Scootaloo actually called them from behind. They both turned around and measured her with caring looks she didn’t like at all.

“Shall we get going? I still have some things to do, and I would like to get them done before it starts raining again,” she suggested impatiently, because standing on one place was making her head spin faster.

Both fillies nodded in unison, turned around, and slowly set on the way towards the supply road to Sweet Apple Acres. They tried to act as if nothing was going on, because they knew Scootaloo was probably just as stubborn as Apple Jack, but they still felt compassion.

“Finally it’s weekend, everypony!” Apple Bloom said in her southern accent to emphasize just how happy she was, “I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!”

“I didn’t know that farm ponies such as yourself have any time to sleep in,” Sweetie Belle objected with a smirk.

“Oh, it’s nothing but a widespread myth,” Apple Bloom illuminated with no small amount of amusement, “In fact my sister loves sleeping in; some days we can’t get her out of the bed until half to six!”

Sweetie Belle only raised an eyebrow, knowing that the farm filly was making fun of her. Rarity was generally a very reliable source of misinformation for her, because she liked the gossip so much and didn’t care for the validity of its claims.

“Sleeping in means waking up at noon,” Sweetie Belle clarified in a bit of a bitter tone.

“Waking up at noon?!” Apple Bloom gasped so much that she nearly tripped over, “What meaning does waking up at all has then?!”

“Apple Bloom, would you quiet down a little bit, because you are louder than a train!” Scootaloo had to scold her earth pony friend, because the sudden shriek nearly tore her head asunder.

“Sorry,” Apple Bloom replied in a little bit intimidated tone, because Scootaloo too used a little bit too much volume.

“Do you still have the headache?” Sweetie Belle asked after a short while in an appropriately quiet voice.

“Yeah,” echoed a similarly quiet, regretful answer as Scootaloo realized that she might have been a little unpleasant, “It’s gotten even worse, I am sorry for the shouting.”

“I don’t want to upset you, but maybe you should go see a doctor,” Sweetie Belle suggested, already bracing herself for an onslaught they usually received upon making a regard on Scootaloo’s health, hygiene or eating.

“That’s actually where I’m heading just now,” Scootaloo tried to reply in as normal voice as possible, given her condition.

“Really?!” both fillies asked in unison, because neither of them really believed.

“Yeah,” she replied, totally unaware of the issue, “Rainbow Dash is in the hospital, so I am probably gonna see a lot of doctors today.”

“I see,” Sweetie Belle said, having understood her friend’s actual train of thoughts, “Maybe you should also talk to them about… y’know… your condition…”

“My condition, what’s wrong with my condition?!” Scootaloo asked uncomprehendingly.

“Nothing, she just meant the headache,” Apple Bloom intervened with a look of resignation on her face.

“Aha. Well, I could certainly use a painkiller right now,” a much calmer quote sounded back afterwards.

“I don’t trust medicines. They aren’t natural,” Apple Bloom mumbled under her breath as she was looking at the approaching crossroad in the distance.

“Earth ponies and their traditionalistic medicinal methods,” Scootaloo taunted her gently.

“What’s that tone supposed to mean?!” the earth pony filly defended her stance, “I haven’t been sick in years!”

“Me neither, probably because I have never drunk a single sip of those smelly teas your granny makes to improve your health,” Scootaloo explained with a hint of the smile for the first time that day.

In the first moment it looked like Apple Bloom would fiercely defend the traditions of her kin, but when she thought about what Scootaloo said, she relaxed a little bit and said instead: “Me neither. I mean I really wanted to try, but most of them just taste like mud, they often even have the same consistence.”

“An honest lie,” Sweetie Belle said with her head pointed forwards with a little smile on her lips.

“I guess,” the cream filly admitted, feeling a little bad for concealing it from her granny, “When granny brings me a cup, I just pour it into one of the flowerpots to avoid drinking it.”

“So that’s why you have new plants in the farmhouse every time I come by!” Scootaloo suddenly realized the connection and a full scaled smile spread across her face.

“Not even the flowers can digest it,” Apple Bloom added with a chuckle of happiness over her friend’s smile, “I wonder how she can.”

They all giggled for the short while they had left before reaching the crossroad and then they stopped. Just as every other day, a moment of awkward silence took over as none of them really wanted to say good bye first.

“So, do we have any plans for today?” Sweetie Belle asked out of curiosity, because she herself had no plans for their group.

“Nope,” the other two fillies replied almost in unison.

“Alright, so I guess I’ll see you girls tomorrow then,” she reacted and slowly set off towards the town, “Bye!”

The other two fillies waved her back, turned around and departed in an opposing direction towards Sweet Apple Acres. They talked only a little after Sweetie left, mostly because Scootaloo found it difficult to keep up the Apple Bloom’s pace and talk at the same time.

That didn’t matter though, because in a few minutes they reached the avenue leading to Scootaloo’s house, and so their ways parted once more after a friendly valediction.

Scootaloo slowly ascended the small hill her home stood on and opened the old wooden door. The house was still and silent just as it has been for years, but Scootaloo minded it not, for she was used to being home alone after all that time.

The quietude seemed so embracing after the entire noisy day spent in the school, but she knew it was not to last, because she yet had to pass the bustling markets of Ponyville that day. At least for the moment she could savor the whistling in her ears and the slow withdrawal of her migraine, which seemed like a divine blessing for her.

Not wasting more time than necessary, Scootaloo walked into her room and put her saddlebags onto the bed, without any further thought of where it actually belonged.

Then she walked back downstairs and into the kitchen. She was heading for one of the cabinets above the kitchen sink, in which many various medicines were stored, painkillers amongst them.

The light pink circular pills looked really nice and tasty, but Scootaloo knew far too well about their bitter taste that always made her face twist in the disgust. On the other hoof, Scootaloo had to admit that, unlike other pills, these actually represented no danger to little foals, because of the unpleasant flavor.

Wanting to avoid the disgusting taste, she quickly swallowed the pill, but as she did so, she accidentally inhaled a part of the gulp and coughed for a several minutes to come. Still, it was worth getting the pill down her belly without having to deal with the bitterness.

Scootaloo knew it would take about half an hour for the pill to start working, and she definitely didn’t want to go anywhere near the town marketplace with a migraine, so she decided to finally have some meal after an entire day of fasting. She still didn’t feel hungry, though.

Simple bread with butter satisfied her appetite for the moment and also consumed enough time for the pill to start working, allowing Scootaloo to finally head into the town to finish what she had to do as fastest as she could do it.

She placed the dishes into the, already full, kitchen sink and then thoughtfully looked at the entrance door on her right. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that was urging her to stay home in the warmth and comfort, instead of going to that accursed place, but Scootaloo knew she couldn’t leave Rainbow Dash alone in that very place alone the entire day.

So, regardless of her inner spite, she slowly walked towards the door and stepped outside. There, taking one slow inhale, she closed the door again and slowly set on her way towards Ponyville general.

Probably everypony in the town knew of Scootaloo’s aversion to hospitals, but they all mistook her reasons for it; since Scootaloo always said almost the same things about hospitals Rainbow did, everypony simply assumed that she adopted the cyan mare’s opinion, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

Although every pegasus would agree that staying put on the hospital beds was a mean of torture unimaginable to other tribes, it was hardly a cause for such a strong hatred Scootaloo felt towards that tall white building. The truth was she didn’t have a single happy or even a neutral memory of that place, and all those sad ones filled her heart with detestation deeper of any known seas.

Swimming in the waters of her old memories, she soon reached the crossroad leading to the schoolhouse, but she could no more hear the joyful voices of her classmates who had left the building when she got within earshot of the school grounds.

It was no surprise, because the foals were always most eager to get home on Friday afternoons, only Miss Cheerilee stayed in the class late though, to take care of her teacher business. On one hoof, Scootaloo pitied her, but she knew the magenta mare enjoyed her work greatly on the other.

Five more minutes of walking on the road placed between the fields and gardens of Ponyville earth ponies, and she reached the edge of the town and the first houses.

Needless to say, there were many more ponies walking by, but Scootaloo paid them almost no mind, mostly because her mind was occupied by her aching legs.

The commotion here was rather annoying, but it was still nothing compared to the Ponyville market which was rapidly approaching, and whose noises could be heard even from such a distance.

When she left her house, she decided not to think about her history, but she found it rather difficult with the presence of her goal. The closer she got, the more she wanted to turn around and run home, but Rainbow taught her never to leave her friends hanging, and she never would.

The marketplace was a lucid definition of the hell itself for anyone who had at least a bit of a fantasy; the crowds were slowly flowing between the stands in density that would make even lead blush in shame, ponies were shouting over one another with a volume of a thunder just to be able to communicate, and to top it all there was mud everywhere, because nopony waited long enough for the ground to dry up.

Scootaloo immediately assessed that making her way through the crowd would be a challenge she definitely didn’t want to undertake now, so there was no chance but to walk all the way around this busy, overcrowded, and noisy place, forcing her way through the mud, and bearing the ruckus with crestfallen expression on her face.

Hanging her head low and shutting off the outer world, she slowly set on her way around the circular area full of stands and tardy ponies. There simply was no energy left to be angry anymore in her, and she surrendered herself to the cold resignation without fighting back.

The only good thing this upsetting experience brought was that all the noise, mud, and bad air finally drove her mind away from her former thoughts, allowing her a sweet moment of ignorance before she would have to face the hospital in flesh.

When she reached the other side of the market place, it was not more than ten minutes of walk through the hilly terrain of the Whitetail Wood away, but first Scootaloo had to leave the town by the northern road.

During the walk Scootaloo stumbled across a thought discovering that the entire trip would have taken her no more than five minutes, if it weren’t for the Everfree forest blocking the direct way. She quietly cursed the trees and kept on going in her silent suffering.

The forest was much more welcoming than town could ever be; the air here was fresh and smelled of tree resin, the temperatures were also a little bit lower, and the lack of the direct sunlight filled the air with humidity.

The quietude broken only by birds’ chirping, creaking of the branches and rustling of the leaves in the light breeze ensured that Scootaloo really enjoyed this part of the trip even though she had to slow down to relieve her legs.

The hospital building stood on a small hill just in front of the Whitetail wood, overseeing the town from the distance. It was surrounded by the wood, natural streams, and green meadows and fields, which gave it a tinge of divinity.

However, Scootaloo didn’t let the visage of this place fool her; a lovely façade wasn’t nearly enough to make her forget, and it surely wasn’t enough to hide what was lurking within its walls.

She stopped in front of the entrance door and measured the tall white building with sorrow and disgust in her eyes before she finally pulled the handle and bitterly entered the main lobby.

It was a nice and warm place with many plushy seats along the wooden paneled walls. The seats were of white color which nicely contrasted with the darker brown paneling of the walls and the floor while the blue ceiling was supposed to add calmness into the feeling.

On each of her sides were large swaying doors which led to the rooms in the first floor, and in front of her was a staircase ascending to the second floor. There was a booth in the corner between the staircase and the door on her left, and Scootaloo could see nurse Redheart in it.

Nurse Redheart was a bright white earth pony mare. She had a pale pink mane and tail tied into a bun and her cutiemark was a red cross with four hearts around it.

She was rather young to be a nurse, but she was kind, devoted and caring, so nopony particularly cared about her age, although being young and having such an attractive body colors could sometime prove to be an obstacle in her work, especially when tending to male unicorn patients.

Since the week was ending, she had an awful lot of paperwork to do, and so she failed to notice the small orange filly until she was standing right in front of the small booth she was in.

“Oh! Scootaloo, you scared me!” she said amidst light giggles, “I knew you would come, and yet you managed to startle me.”

“I am sorry; I didn’t mean to do that,” Scootaloo said simply, letting the weight of this place befall her, “I just wanted to know which room Rainbow Dash is in.”

“It’s alright, no harm done,” burse Redheart replied with a kind smile, “She is in the room three-hundred-eight in the third floor.”

Scootaloo nodded and aimed for the staircase, saying: “Thank you, Miss Redheart.”

“You’re welcome,” a quick answer echoed throughout the vast and empty corridors.

Having ascended into the third floor, Scootaloo took a turn left where she knew the sought room would be, and truly the eighth door in the hall bared the tag with the desired number.

The door was closed and nothing could be heard from beyond them, which made Scootaloo consider an option that Rainbow might have actually been asleep. That wouldn’t be a surprise, since the cyan mare was always dozing at this time of the day.

Three timid knocks on the door echoed through the empty and lifeless hall followed by a very long creaking of an old hospital door. Scootaloo peeked into the room, only to see Rainbow Dash’s curious expression starring the door down in expectation of seeing who was coming.

“Squirt, I knew you were coming!” Rainbow blurted out as soon as she recognized the little filly’s head peeking in through the half-opened door.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said and confidently entered the room, while Rainbow Dash was struggling to sit up on her bed.

“You have no idea how glad I am you are here,” Rainbow said in an overly happy tone, “I haven’t been here a single day, but it feels like months already.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” Scootaloo agreed while she slowly made her way to the side of Rainbow’s bed, “The time feels as if it has stopped, and you can’t prove otherwise.”

“Exactly!” Rainbow said with a great nod, “But the worst thing is that I don’t even know why I ended up here.”

“Probably because you were so stupid as to take off into a lightning storm,” echoed a suggestion in a mildly critical tone.

“Yeah, they told me how it happened, but I don’t remember why I did it,” Rainbow said reaching for the memories that weren’t there, “It’s nothing but a blur since the beginning of the storm.”

Scootaloo wasn’t actually angry with Rainbow Dash for getting herself into the hospital, since she did a lot of stupid things in the past with a similar result, but she had to admit that seeing her falling down from the sky was a shock for her.

“Some things are better forgotten,” she uttered as she was sitting down next to the bed.

“Come now,” Rainbow noticed the glum tone and tried to both investigate, and cheer her friend up, “Memories shape who we are; even the bad ones.”

“Does it hurt?” Scootaloo said to steer the topic elsewhere and pointed at Rainbow’s wing wrapped entirely in a slightly glowing bandage.

“I can’t feel a thing,” she replied, well aware of the maneuver the orange filly just pulled off, “Nurses say it’s been scorched black, but they also assured me that their bandages should be enough to heal the damage.”

“What about your feathers?” Scootaloo asked again in her hoarse voice, “Will they grow faster too?”

“I am not sure about the speed, but Doctor Whitecross told me that one of the magical modules in the bandages speeds up skin recovery, including coat and feather growth. So, I think the answer is yes.”

“Well, at least you won’t be grounded for so long,” Scootaloo said and attempted for a smile, but it looked rather unnatural on her frowned face.

“Yeah, at least…” Rainbow said, measuring Scootaloo with an inconspicuous eye, “Scootaloo, I have a feeling that something is bothering you. Care to tell me?”

Scootaloo’s eyes slowly shifted down to the floor, because her weakness has just been exposed in front of the very pony she wanted to conceal it from: “I think I overstretched my entire body yesterday, because it hurt so much I couldn’t even get a proper night sleep.”

“And…” Rainbow nudged her to continue, even though Scootaloo wanted to stop there.

“…I hate hospitals…” she admitted in a quiet voice.

Rainbow extended her forearms and said in a compassionate tone: “Come here. It’s been so long and you still remember it, heh?”

Scootaloo grew apathetic to her memories long ago, but even though pain might have been gone, other feelings still remained in the shadows of her memory: “Some things are better forgotten…”

•

Three hours later Scootaloo was finally walking through the Whitetail wood again, but this time in the opposite direction. Rainbow was rather reluctant to let her leave and was trying to delay her by talking just about everything that crossed her mind, because Scootaloo was the only distraction she had.

So, Scootaloo learned, inter alia, that Thunderlane is incredibly grumpy in the mornings, that Cloud Chaser becomes gradually lazier and lazier, and that her brother visits Rainbow every now and then without any sound reason.

Rainbow also remembered a few flashes from her accident, but they didn’t clarify why or how it happened; she just said she remembers a feeling of drowning, bright purple light, and warmth spreading all across her body like gentle flames. Scootaloo eventually concluded that her cyan friend must have simply been hallucinating, though she didn’t say it aloud.

The Sun already began its descent on the sky, and the weather ponies were assembling yet another storm according to their rain season schedule, but there still was at least an hour of time before the rain.

That was good, because Scootaloo had yet one more place she wanted to visit before finally retiring to her cosy and welcoming bed. However, she didn’t say the whole truth in the hospital, when Rainbow Dash asked her about her next destination.

The truth was that place was on no map, nor did anypony know of its existence, and Scootaloo wanted it to stay that way, because that place has become sort of her sanctuary over the years she has been visiting it; only there she could really let go of everything troubling her heart, without having to worry whether somepony could see her or not, and at this particular day she could certainly use the magic of that place.

The painkiller she had taken when she left her house started to fade away, and her migraine was once more returning to plague her consciousness with dizziness and confusion in its wake.

She even began sweating which was a rather unfamiliar, yet not entirely negative, experience for her. That however could not be said about its cause - a burning fever that further supported the migraine.

To deepen her already bad state, a nasty nausea joined the game and caused Scootaloo’s belly to rotate in place with a wildness of a twister, but Scootaloo minded it only little over all the pains that had spread across her body.

The only fortunate thing was that she lost sensitivity in all of her limbs, probably thanks to all of her strolls that she had taken that day. It was rather strange to be walking around without feeling her legs or wings, but to Scootaloo it was the least of her worries, because she finally started to realize that all those symptoms combines could only be a result of a very nasty sickness. And that poisoned the rest of her cheerfulness with bitterness, because, no matter the actual reason, she still hated being ill.

The place where she was heading was actually a small glade, lying in the Everfree forest beyond the northern orchid of Sweet Apple Acres. The proximity of the Apples’ farmhouse abashed all of the dangerous woodland creatures, while it still allowed for a stealthy passage.

Scootaloo passed the sign welcoming ponies, coming from the woods, to Ponyville and thought of the distance she had yet to walk. Normally it would be nothing but a nice, long stroll for her, but now just getting home presented her with a challenge, let alone walking all the way to the Sweet Apple Acres and then half that distance back.

However, Scootaloo was naturally stubborn just like anypony in the town when it came to their routines, so she decided to temporarily switch her mind off and surmount the distance just by automatically putting one hoof in front of the other.

Diving into this state, the time itself seemed to lose its importance, since Scootaloo reached the main gate of Sweet Apple Acres without even noticing she had left the town. However, at this point of her stroll she needed to start paying attention to avoid being spotted.

The immediate return of her former condition made it really hard to keep up her guard, though. Fortunately, northern orchids served only as a supply of apples for cider seasons, so only scarcely one could see an Apple there, checking on the trees’ condition.

Upon passing the main gate, she furtively took a quick turn right and continued on a small pebble road around the orchid. She was walking alone in an absolute silence broken only by a mild breeze in the treetops.

On her left were small hills littered with apple trees of all shapes and sizes, casting one big shadow on the road Scootaloo was taking. On her right was much messier and much darker Everfree forest, whose trees towered much higher than any of the apple trees in the orchid, but none of them looked nearly as appealing.

Scootaloo always thought the Everfree forest was affected by some ancient curse that turned it into this dreadful, dark place. Ponies were afraid of walking anywhere near its borders and traded terrifying stories of monsters living there.

Pegasi had their share of those stories represented in many various legends they heeded so much, and so Scootaloo was always filled with mixture of recognition and anxiety when she saw the tall, wild trees.

After five tremendously long minutes she reached a little turning with a long, white fence on her right and followed it until she saw its more worn part where she usually entered the forest.

On the other side of the fence was a precipice covered in low-growing bushes and bracken, but it wasn’t too steep for Scootaloo to slip. She still had to be careful, though.

She reached her little spot and inconspicuously looked around herself to ensure she wasn’t being watched by any prying eyes, and then she leaped over the fence as quickly as she could, almost immediately disappearing in the low bushes.

Over the years she has been walking here, she created a small path amongst the trees, thorny bushes and the vines that were better to be evaded, but she always had a little trouble finding it, since the forest was growing much faster than anything else she had ever seen.

Her trip through the forest took her another ten minutes of a painful reality, since her symptoms were getting worse by the minute, and since her lack of concentration caused her some pretty deep cuts on her sides and neck. But neither of those could prevent her from reaching her goal now.

Clearing the last trees, she finally spotted what she yearned for the most - the little glade with trees around it in a perfect circle, and a small, peaceful waterfall filled with cool, fresh water just in front of her.

Scootaloo slowly walked over to the small lagoon the waterfall created, thanking the goddess for giving her the strength to make it here. The short grass, barely reaching her ankles, felt like a smooth carpet, muting the clapping of her hooves as she walked.

Scootaloo wasn’t exactly an order-heeding pony, but she never hesitated to devote an hour of her time to eat the grass here a little bit, or to remove a broken branch from the nearby trees to preserve this little place as best as she could.

Truth be told, she often felt tempted to share this big secret of hers with her friends or family, but she never tried to tell them again since her brother told her to keep those greatest secrets for herself.

Walking slowly in front of the lagoon, she already fixed her senses onto the mass of falling water in front of her; its sounds, colors, smell, touch of water droplets forming on her face, was like a catalyst that immediately blew away every weight from her heart.

She lay on her belly just at the edge of the lagoon and finally closed her burning eyes, letting the serenity of this place free her from all the frustrations and troubles she felt, even though she knew it didn’t have the power to cure her cold.

The grass was softer of any blanket she ever held in her hooves, and it too intensified the feeling of relaxation to the point Scootaloo’s head emptied itself of any thoughts, and she almost fell asleep.

The water started soaking her feathers, since her fever fluffed them all up, but she couldn’t complain about it, because the vaporizing water actually took away most of her body heat and thus eased the fever a lot.

Lying on the shores of the little lagoon, she slowly drifted away, leaving even her distressed condition out of the reach of her mind, but eventually an intensifying thirst pulled her back into the word of wakeful.

Her throat was sore, so it probably wasn’t the best idea to be drinking from the ice-cold lagoon, but it was still better than thirst in any way imaginable. Scootaloo decided to take just small sips and to warm the water in her mouth before swallowing it, but the water was actually even colder than she thought, so she quickly took a just few gulps instead.

As she was drinking, she suddenly heard a sound of cracking branches somewhere from behind her. Immediately she perked up and scanned the area the sound originated from, but she could see nothing.

Usually, she would relax after a while, thinking that the sound was nothing but the breeze in the treetops, but this time she had a weird feeling of being watched.

Feeling it at school was absolutely normal with Diamond Tiara around, but here, amidst the trees with nopony to watch her, it was rather upsetting to notice that the feeling have persisted.

Slowly she let her guard, but she didn’t dare to take another sip from the lagoon, or to close her eyes again. The feeling could have been weak, but ponies learned to trust their instincts over the ages.

Once again she relaxed, even though she chose not to reach the same level of relaxation as before. It was still enough for her to release the tension in all of her muscles, but it wasn’t to last much longer.

In a few minutes a powerful sound of thunder startled her almost into jumping up in fright as she didn’t expect to hear it so soon. This place always made her to ignore the time, but she usually didn’t mind it… Now she did.

With dread in her eyes she looked up onto the dark skies, where the storm was already prepared and about to start raining down tons of cold water onto everything that wasn’t shielded from its outrage.

The thunder usually meant last ten minutes before the rain, and Scootaloo would really hate to get wet with her feathers all fluffed up like this, so, loosing no time, she stood up as quickly as she could and ran home, giving the glade one last glance.

Despite running as fast as her legs allowed her to, she still wasn’t fast enough to make it before the storm began. As a result, she entered her house breathless, soaked, and in pain of sort she never thought she could withstand.

Her legs were shaking furiously, but she couldn’t feel them anymore through the coldness; she was breathing like crazy, but she couldn’t fill her lounges with enough air to ease the burning in her chest; her heart was buzzing to supply all her muscles with oxygen she couldn’t get, and her belly was floating through her body, making her dizzy and nauseous.

If she had doubts before, she was absolutely sure of being sick now. There simply was no way this could end up with a simple cold or anything similarly harmless. And that only made her angry at herself for being unable to watch the time.

Bitterly she limped to the bathroom to wash the mud and water off herself and to warm up with some hot water. She had showered or bathed hardly a few times in her life thanks to her feathers, but luckily she still knew how to use a bath.

After she got out of the shower, she dried herself up and then proceeded to much less tempting task of drying the floor in her house she had stained when walking to the bathroom. Fortunately, neither her brother nor her father was home yet, and so she was in no danger of being punished for it, at least.

Half an hour after her arrival home, she crawled into her room and gratefully collapsed onto her bed, closing her burning eyes with feeling of bliss that spread all across her body. The dripping of the water lulled her to sleep in just a few seconds; she didn’t even pull the blanked over her.