//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Reunion // Story: Tale of a Lost Scoots // by RDfan27 //------------------------------//     Scootaloo trotted downstairs from her bedroom on the second level of the house. She could already smell breakfast cooking downstairs. As she came to the bottom of the stairs, she made a right into the kitchen, which had a dining room adjacent to it. "Good morning Scootaloo," called Firefly from where she was standing in the kitchen cooking something that smelled delicious. "Hope you like pancakes!"     Scootaloo's stomach rumbled, answering the question and reminding her that she had not eaten at all the previous night. "Hmm, I dunno, do I?" Scootaloo asked sarcastically, getting a chuckle out of Cinnamon who was already seated at the table. The table was square shaped, with only four seats. Scootaloo trotted over and took a seat adjacent to Cinnamon, greeting him with a smile. "Good morning Scootaloo," said Cinnamon with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well?"     "Uh-huh!" Scootaloo said with a nod. “That mattress felt almost as good as the cloud beds back at home,” Her smile faltered, and she began to feel homesick. She snapped out of it when Firefly walked over with a plate of pancakes stacked up higher than Scootaloo had ever seen causing Scootaloo’s jaw to drop.   "Whoa!" Scootaloo marvelled, eyes wide. "That's a lot of pancakes!"     The mare gave a light chuckle. "Well, I figured you might be hungry after yesterday's events, so I made some extras. Now, eat up.”     Scootaloo dug into the pancakes, realizing that she was much hungrier than she thought. "Excuse me," Scootaloo said, after letting out a loud burp. Finishing off her pancakes, she turned to Firefly. "Thanks for the pancakes. They were delicious!"        "Oh, you're quite welcome dear," Firefly replied with a warm smile. "Come now, we’re gonna pay a visit to the hospital. It's time for me to go to work, and time for you to get a check up."     "Do I have to?" Scootaloo asked with a whine. "I don't like going to the doctor."     "Oh, don't worry," Firefly said reassuringly. "It won't take long, and then I'll walk you back when we're done."     "Okay," Scootaloo said reluctantly standing up from her spot at the table. "What about you Cinnamon?" Scootaloo asked. "Aren't you coming?"     "Nah," Cinnamon replied nonchalantly. "I don't have to be in until later."     "Oh, okay," Scootaloo replied, following Firefly to the door. "See you later."     "Bye!" Cinnamon called back as he watched the two of them make their way out of the door.     As Scootaloo made her way out of the house's front entrance and onto the street, she noticed that there were not many other ponies out today as there had been yesterday. Taking a look at her surroundings in clear daylight, the city looked exactly like Scootaloo had expected it to, with many houses just like the one they had just come from lining the streets. She could see a few of the huge things she had seen from the beach, which she now saw were buildings, rising up behind the tops of some of the houses. Not much else stood out to her though. They approached an intersection of two roads, and Scootaloo could see the hospital on the opposite corner from where they were standing. They made their way across the street and entered the hospital. It wasn’t a very large hospital, only a little larger than the one back in Ponyville, and it looked very similar to that one as well. They entered and walked up to the receptionist desk to find a dark blue mare with a multi-colored mane and tail sitting behind the counter.     Scootaloo couldn't place it, but the receptionist reminded her of somepony. She pushed the thought aside, thinking that she'd figure it out later. "Good morning Firefly!" said the mare behind the counter in a bright and cheerful tone. "I see we have a little visitor today."     "Good morning Spectrum Flight. This here is Scootaloo. We found her outside on the beach all alone last night, so I thought I'd bring her in for a quick checkup just to make sure she's okay," Firefly said, giving Scootaloo a light pat on the head.     "Oh, you poor thing," Spectrum Flight cooed, looking down at Scootaloo, a look of worry on her face. "Well, don't you worry. Firefly here is the best nurse we have. She'll have you all taken care of in no time."     Scootaloo gave the mare a small smile. "Thanks," Scootaloo said half-heartedly. It was true that Scootaloo didn’t like doctors. She was very much like Rainbow in that aspect. Neither of them liked it. The whole Doctor's office just didn't feel right, and she didn't like it. Nevertheless, she trudged into one of the exam rooms with Firefly, sighing as she hopped on to the examination table. Firefly grabbed a tongue depressor and turned to Scootaloo. “Now, open your mouth and say, ‘Ahhhhhh’...” ***     Like Firefly had said earlier, it didn’t take very long for the exam to be complete. After she was confident that Scootaloo was just fine, she led her back towards the front of the hospital. After informing the receptionist that she would be back soon, she walked out the front of the hospital, with Scootaloo following close behind. There were quite a few more ponies out now than there were before, and it made Scootaloo uncomfortable. After everything that had happened recently, and with her being in a completely new place, she felt anxiety clutching at her stomach being around all of these ponies that she had never met. Scootaloo moved a bit closer to Firefly's legs for comfort as they continued on. They walked back down the street until they finally got back to the house. Right before they were about to turn towards the front door of the house though, Firefly stopped, her eyes locked on the front door. Scootaloo noticed this and stopped as well. "What is..." Scootaloo stopped as she looked at the door and saw just what the older mare had seen mere moments ago.     Standing there in the doorway, was the last pony Scootaloo had ever expected to see, but there was no denying that it was her. The one pony that she had been missing the most. The one pony she’d wanted to wrap up into a big hug and be told everything was alright by. Standing in that doorway, was Rainbow Dash     "Mom!" Scootaloo called out, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she ran towards Rainbow Dash, not even caring who saw her cry.     Rainbow Dash took a step forward, reaching out her forelegs to Scootaloo. Scootaloo ran forward and lept into the air, reaching out to meet her mother in a hug that she had been hoping and waiting for.     As Scootaloo flew through the air towards Rainbow Dash, she expected to feel her mother's caring hooves wrap her up into a tight embrace. Instead of feeling the caring hug of her mother though, she felt nothing. That was when she realized that everything had stopped. Nopony moved, and Scootaloo stayed frozen in the air. After a few seconds, it all began to fade away. Scootaloo tried to reach out for her mother, flailing her arms out in a desperate attempt to catch the fading remnants of the image that had just stood before her. "Mom!" Scootaloo called out, fear and worry in her voice. "Mom, no! Don't leave me! Come back!" ***     Scootaloo shot up in bed. She was panting and drenched in sweat. She tried to wrap her head around all that had just happened until it hit her. "I-it was just a dream?" Scootaloo stammered as she looked down into her hooves. She felt a lump in her throat and her vision blurred. She missed Rainbow Dash more than ever now. It was different before Rainbow Dash had adopted her, when she was just her idol. But now, she hated not being able to see her. She missed Rainbow Dash's inspiring speeches and her ability to make the best out of any situation. Most of all though, she missed that sense of comfort and safety that she always felt when she was with her. As much as Scootaloo tried to be a brave pony, even she had to admit that she got scared quite easily at times, even if she would never admit it to anypony out loud. But with Rainbow Dash around, it was all different. When she was around, she felt like nothing could harm her, like she could do anything.     Scootaloo lied back down and rolled onto her side, curling into a fetal position with tears still flowing freely from her eyes. It took three hours of crying before Scootaloo finally felt her eyelids grow tired. She whispered out one more thing before finally succumbing to her exhaustion. “I miss you, Mom...”