//------------------------------// // Jesu, Lover of my Soul // Story: Flatline // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Apple Bloom sat on the flight back to Los Angeles with a feeling of dread in her stomach. What was going on? Scootaloo had been taken ill? And how? She had been perfectly fine when she had last seen her, but now was in hospital? She frantically brought up MyStable and began messaging her friends. Apple Bloom: What happened? How is Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle: She just keeled over out of nowhere! Cozy Glow: She was fine just moments earlier! What could possibly be wrong? Sweetie Belle: We’ve been in the waiting room for the last few hours, but they won’t let us see her for some reason. Apple Bloom felt physically sick at what she was reading. What in the world was wrong with Scootaloo? She then received messages from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Diamond Tiara: Scootaloo’s ill? Why did nobody tell me? Silver Spoon: You have my condolences. Apple Bloom typed back. Apple Bloom: Thanks for the information guys. I just feel absolutely awful, that’s all. Then another message came in, from Rumble. Rumble: How’s Scootaloo? I’d heard she’d been taken ill for some reason! There then came a flurry of correspondence back and forth. Sweetie Belle: They won’t let us in to see her, or tell us what is going on. Cozy Glow: Wait a second, Cheerilee has just appeared. She looks very upset. Apple Bloom: My flight will be on the ground shortly. I’ll get to Canterlot General as soon as I can. Apple Bloom raced as fast as she could through baggage reclaim and onto a waiting train. She had caught the high-speed service, which would get her there in 2 hours. She sat there, twiddling her thumbs and looking more and more upset as time went on, due to the complete lack of information from the others. Arriving at the station, her mother was there to greet her. “How was yer trip, Apple Bloom?” she asked. “Ma, ya need ta get me ta the hospital!” Apple Bloom replied. “Why?” “Scoots’ been taken ill!” the girl replied, out of breath. “Ah need ta know if she’s OK!” “But what about unpackin’ yer stuff?” Pear asked in response. “That can wait! Ah don’t know how long Scoots has left!” Apple Bloom arrived in the hospital to see her friends, and Rumble, frantically pacing around and tears streaming down their faces. “You got here at last!” Sweetie Belle said. “What’s wron’?” Apple Bloom asked. Cozy shook her head sadly. “Scootaloo...is...is...” she broke into a fresh round of sobs rather than finish the sentence. “Gonna die,” Rumble finished. He had a better composure than most of the others, but only just. “WHAT?” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Why?” “Tumour on the back of her spine, where her skull and spine join,” Rumble explained. “It’s been there for months, it seems, and is too big to operate on.” Apple Bloom then thought back through time, to all the times when Scootaloo had acted oddly, or had odd issues. “APPLE BLOOM! SCOOTALOO!” boomed a voice. They looked over...to see Mr David approaching. They tried to move their engines out of the way, only to bash into waiting trucks. “What is going on here?” asked Mr David. “How did Canterlot yard end up in such a mess?” “It’s Sweetie Belle!” called Scootaloo. “We asked her to come back, and she wouldn’t!” “But it was you two who suggested sending her to Cloudsdale!” Mr David observed, confused. “You told me she was no help at all!” “Yeah, yer right,” Apple Bloom replied. “It’s Scootaloo’s fault!” “WHAT?” Scootaloo replied. “No, it was not! You’re just trying to reapportion the blame off yourself!” “Says the girl who just blamed Sweetie Belle, ya big hypocrite!” the farm girl shot back. “Loud mouth!” “Idiot!” “Jerk!” “Chicken wings!” ENOUGH!” boomed Mr David. “You two need to get this mess cleaned up, NOW.” “Y-yes sir!” Scootaloo stammered. “We’ll get onto it right away.” Just then, she fell back and knocked the regulator, causing her engine to shoot forward and smack into some trucks. Apple Bloom reset the reverser on hers, and crashed into some more trucks behind her. “Rumble?” Scootaloo suddenly perked up, her cheeks going red as she did so. “Yes Scoots, your crush,” Dash joked. “HEY!” Scootaloo replied. “I don’t like him that way-!” “Sure, you do,” Cozy laughed. “I recall finding the two of them kis-” “SHUT UP!” Suddenly, the station clock bonged 11:30. “We’d better be getting back onboard,” Will said, by now having joined the conversation. Scootaloo nodded, and got up-only to stop and put her hand to her forehead. Dash shot up. “Squirt, what’s wrong?” she asked. Scootaloo groaned. “Sorry, momentary dizziness.” After letting Scootaloo recover for a moment, they went to re-board the train, and sat down at the Canterlot end of the service, when suddenly a message came in over the intercom. “So that was why she slipped, or got dizzy sometimes,” Apple Bloom said. “Oh, if only Ah’d said somethin’!” And she joined the others in their tears. The doctor then appeared. “Scootaloo has requested your presence in the last moments of her life.” Apple Bloom nodded. “OK then, y’all. Time fer one last meetin’ of the Crusaders.” They got up, and walked through the corridor of the hospital to find Scootaloo lying there, the very image of death. Gone was the proud, energetic, chirpy Crusader they had once known. Before them lay a corpse, effectively kept going by the machines she was wired into. “Hey guys,” she said. “Nice of you...to join me.” She coughed, with considerable effort, and was clearly in great pain. “Are ya alright?” Apple Bloom asked, only to recall from the elbow that Sweetie Belle gave her. “Considering that I’ve got little time left on the clock, I’d say yes,” the girl answered. “These drugs they have me on are numbing the pain, but this isn’t how I wanted it to end. Lying here in a bed, totally helpless.” The three girls took seats on the left, while Scootaloo’s parents went on the right. Rumble sat closest to Scootaloo, his eyes full of tears. To say that nobody was crying would be a lie. “Please don’t leave us!” Sweetie Belle begged. “You’re our best friend!” Scootaloo smiled weakly. “Same here,” she replied. “Besides, the Crusade won’t end just because I’m gone. I’ll always be there, by your side.” She swallowed, and then uneasily started to sing. It sounded rough, out of tune, but it was a song they knew well. “We're the toughest... (cough) little... ponies in town; Got the moves, got the mojo, no harder working ponies (cough) around; We are a trio, work as a team We'll be the first ponies out on the flag-waving scene.” By this point the others joined in, and they came together for what would be the last time. “We get going when the going gets tough, We know our very best is just never enough; We're kinda short, but so what? We don't get defeated We could take a little break, but we don't need it; “We've got hearts as strong as horses! We've got hearts as strong as horses! We've got hearts as strong as horses! We've got hea-a-a-arts as strong as horses! “When we put our minds together, we can achieve; We're the Canterlot Crusaders, and you should believe; We've got determination to represent the nation For the win! “We've got hearts as strong as horses; We've got hearts as strong as horses; We've got hearts as strong as horses; “And we're playing to win, as we gallop to glory; We can conquer any challenge we're in. We've got hea-a-a-arts, hearts strong as horses Hearts strong as horses!” As the last notes sounded, Scootaloo extended her arm. The other girls laid there's on top. “Crusaders forever, yay!” Scootaloo’s vision began to slip. “Goodbye,” she said. “I’ll see you in heaven.” Her body fell back, and the room was filled with a single, loud, piercing beep. “Scootaloo Collins, Date of Death, 19th February 2014, time, 16:30 hours.”