//------------------------------//
// Waiting for A Waking 
// Story: My Mother 
// by MailleMaker 
//------------------------------//

   Jolting awake, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and saw a white ceiling above her. "Huh, where am I?" she asked nopony in particular. Then, sitting up, and looking around, it all came flooding back to her: skydiving, letter, Scootaloo, hospital.  The one thing she didn't understand was why she was in a hospital bed herself. Hearing the door open, she saw Applejack and Rarity coming in. 

"Hey sugar cube, how ya doin?" asked Applejack, "you were in pretty bad shape yesterday. After Ah found a nurse, Ah came back and found ya crumpled on the floor asleep. Nurse Redheart let us put ya in the bed so we wouldn't have to try to get ya home since ya were just plain conked out."

It took Rainbow Dash a minute to comprehend what was going on before she let out a big yawn and a sleepy, "I'm feeling better." 

"That's good darling. I suppose you would like to see Scootaloo?" asked Rarity. "The doctor said she may have a good chance of waking up. Thankfully, the brain damage was to a lesser extent then the doctors originally thought. I was talking to Sweetie Belle this morning and she said that she was able to cast a small levitation spell on Scootaloo before she hit the ground which caused the impact to be less severe." 

During Rarity's speech, Rainbow Dash had gotten out of the bed and was now standing next to Applejack. "What are we waiting for!" Dash yelled. "We gotta go see Scootaloo."

"Ah know that ya are excited, but take it down a few levels. Not everypony wants to hear ya this early," shushed Applejack, although she was smiling, glad to see Rainbow Dash back to herself again. Unfortunately, her happiness ended abruptly as the trio walked into Scootaloo's room.

"Scootalaloo, Scootaloo, are you awake yet?" whispered Rainbow Dash while tapping her good foreleg. All she got as a response was the monotonous sound of the heart monitor beeping. "Aw man, I was really hoping she would be awake," sighed Dash, "but I guess I was wrong." Tears started forming in her eyes as she realized that Scootaloo wouldn't wake up for a while. "All I want to know is that she is okay, I was supposed to protect her but I had to go and break my promise. How does that represent the Element of Loyalty?" 

"Darling, don't worry, we've all messed up before," said Rarity. "There have been times when my old selfish nature took over and I had to ask a certain pony for forgiveness. The Elements represent our qualities that allowed us to bear them in the first place. Twilight explains it way better that I can, so you may want to talk to her about it."

"Thanks Rarity," said Dash, "I'll go see her now. Promise me that you'll stay here and get me as soon as Scootaloo wakes up. Please. I need to talk to  Twilight."

"Go ahead sugarcube. We'll make sure to get you the moment Scootaloo wakes up," promised Applejack. "Now go see Twilight."

Rainbow Dash flew out the window in a tornado of colors and quickly made her way to Twilight's castle. When she arrived, she flew through the open balcony doors and straight to where she knew Twilight would be, the library. "Twilight!" she yelled, startling the lavender pony. 

"Oh Rainbow Dash, where'd you come from?" Twilight said, trying to compose herself. Once she recovered from the scare, she continued, "How's Scootaloo?"

Immediately Dash's face fell, "She's still in a coma right now."

"That's terribly, I thought she would have already woken up," Twilight said with a frown. "Wait a second, I think I have a spell that might wake her up."

"You do!?" yelled Dash, who quickly realized her question about the Elements could be asked later. "Can it heal bones too," she asked, "because she broke one of her legs and quite a few ribs."

"I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before. But it's honestly just a healing spell, but I'm sure that if combined with a rousing spell, it might work. The healing spell on its own requires quite a bit of magic. Combined with the effects of the rousing spell it will make the spell rather trying. Even if I am the Element of Magic AND an alicorn it doesn't mean I have an endless supply of magic. Magic runs through everypony even if-"

"That's real neat and stuff (not), but can we get going? The sooner the better," said Rainbow Dash, having become antsy during Twilight's lecture.

"Oh, sorry," Twilight grinned sheepishly, "I just need to let Starlight and Spike know what's going on."

After briefly explaining to Starlight and Spike what was going on, and firmly denying Spike's pleas to come, both ponies were soon on their way to Ponyville Hospital. Upon arriving, Rainbow Dash led Twilight to Scootaloo's room and they went in together.

"I'm back," Rainbow greeted Applejack and Rarity who had been watching Scootaloo. "I brought Twilight too. She said she had a spell that would wake Scootaloo up."

"That's great! But are ya sure that it's safe Twilight?" asked Applejack. "Ah'm glad ya found something that will wake Scootaloo up, but what about the brain damage? Will the magic affect it at all?"

"If my calculations are correct, and they almost always are, then it should do partial healing to most of the injured areas, but I can focus on the brain being the main area to receive the healing," Twilight explained.

"Okay, if ya say so," Applejack reluctantly agreed.

"Yes darling, as long as it's safe it's okay," added Rarity. "What about you Rainbow Dash, what do you think?"

" I agree that you should do what's  safe, but can you do it faster?" Dash said, getting a bit impatient.

"Okay then, here goes," said Twilight, enveloping Scootaloo in her magic. 

Slowly raising Scootaloo, and being as gentle as not to disturb the broken bones, Twilight charged her horn up. The next instant, a white flash nearly blinded them all. As they blinked away the white spots lingering behind, and, seeing no change whatsoever, they all sighed.

"I-I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash, I-I thought for sure that it would work," panted Twilight, who had sat down as the use of the large quantity of magic took its toll.

"What was that?" asked a startled Nurse Redheart who had just happened to walk in.

"Well," panted Twilight, "I just performed a healing spell on Scootaloo, but it didn't appear to work. Though I'm not sure why."

"I'll check Scootaloo to see if your little 'spell' did anything," stated Nurse Redheart, obviously doubting the ability of the spell. But after a lengthy examination including x-rays and brain scans, she turned to Twilight. "It appears that your spell actually was of some help," she said. "It managed to mend her ribs and almost completely heal her foreleg which only has a slight, slight crack now. As for Scootaloo being in a coma, it appears that she is now sleeping. Although I'm not sure why she didn't wake up when you first performed the spell."

Frowning, Twilight pondered why her spell didn't work and, finally coming up with a conclusion after much contemplation, said, "Maybe it's because-"

"Ughn..." Scootaloo moaned, cutting Twilight off before she had a chance to finish and causing Dash to dash over to the bed.

"Scootaloo, Scootaloo, Scootaloo. Can you hear me?" asked Rainbow Dash, barely speaking above a whisper.

"Rainbow Dash...?"