Photo Album
The Story; As It Went
By: Darkevony
"I'm still amazed you were even able to recall anything of the past." The doctor said as he walked in on Scootaloo and Featherweight. "We had to completely get rid off any of your old memory cells that were clogging up the memory part of your brain. Technically, you weren't supposed to remember anything at all. The operation was a success, but after my many years and many patients, none have ever had even the tiniest memory left. Tell me, where do those memories come from?"
With a confident smile, Featherweight turned to look at Scootaloo. "That's easy. From my heart, right?"
~~~~~~
A surge of emotions ran deep in her heart. A mixture of sadness, anger, happiness, and longing. Even trying to keep those unwinding thoughts at bay left her devastated and torn. She knew that it would be better for both of them if she just forgot, but how could she? How could he expect her to forget, after all that he'd done for her and all that he had suffered?
She had left his house in a sprint, trying to get away from it all. It was only now that she was far enough away that she slowed down, slowly coming to a halt. The moon was now beginning to ascend across the sky. Her thoughts slowly consumed her. It hurt to think of it. Too many memories in such a short time. She was trying to make sense of them, sense of her feelings.
In only an afternoon, a great revelation had befallen her. She had learned of the things he had done to protect her secret about not being able to fly when Tiara had gotten a photo of her. She had learned that Featherweight really hadn't lied about anything he'd said to her up until that point. She had learned of Featherweight's plight... She had learned that she was Featherweight's first memory, and much more than just that...
Now, however, all of it would be gone soon. How did Featherweight expect her to forget all that had happened? He had spent months of pent up feelings with the knowledge of his own condition, and when he had the courage to fight both the embarrassment and his disability, she shot him down thinking it was some cruel joke to humiliate her. At the very least Featherweight accomplished what he set out to do as his final wish before his major surgery, and that was to confess to Scootaloo.
It all really started from that one moment. A cascade of events. That one confession led to their confrontation at the bench and their eventual trust in one another. In the end, that photo album project had brought them together as if by some work of dumb, lucky or perhaps unlucky chance.
Scootaloo had been paired up with Featherweight on a school project. They were to work together to fill a photo album full of experiences and accomplishments of their own. When her prejudice, anger, and embarrassment got the best of her at the time that Miss Cherilee had paired her and Featherweight up, she panicked, searching desperately for a way to avoid it. It was Featherweight who took a bold move to say that he wanted to work alone.
Miss Cherilee, not knowing any better, still tried pairing them together. But Featherweight was determined to not inconvenience Scootaloo further, and looking to not cause more of a scene he walked out of the classroom as though it were an act of defiance. Still, she saw something else on his face then.
That was the second time Scootaloo saw something in Featherweight's expression, as much as he tried to hide it. It was a hint of sadness and hurt. The first time she saw it was when he first confessed. It led to her misunderstanding his intentions, and ultimately losing to the embarrassment of the whole class jeering at the spectacle. And while that jeering did happen again this time around, she felt more confused than angry about what Featherweight's true intentions might be. She could not mistake that kind of feeling twice. After all, she knew more about it than most other ponies.
As everyone began to dismiss themselves shortly after that ordeal in the classroom, it was Snips and Snails who approached the trio of friends to talk to Scootaloo.
"And he bailed! Oh boy, who are you gonna work with now?" Snips commented.
"That guy sure gots guts." Snails followed up.
"So was it you guys who told him to pull that trick on me?!" Scootaloo said, both furious and embarrassed trying to make sense of the events happening around her.
"What? No way, sister! Far as we know, he planned this all on his own." Snips said.
"So... you didn't set him up?" She said, now a little more confused.
"Eaynope. He sure got you good though." Snails snorted his response.
Miss Cherilee walked up to the group of ponies since the ruckus they kicked up caught her attention. "What's this about Featherweight? Did you do something to upset him, Scootaloo?"
"N-nothing, ma'am." Scootaloo said to try and hide the events from before, embarrassed that a grown-up may find out about it.
"Ha! It was nothing all right." Snips and Snails said as they laughed and walked out of the room.
"It really was nothing, Miss Cherilee!" Sweetiebelle butted in, trying to keep Scootaloo out of trouble and out of the situation.
"Be honest with me girls, what happened with Featherweight?"
"He was the one that started it Miss Cherilee!" Applebloom added.
Miss Cherilee scowled. "Oh girls... just... please don't try to upset him. He's been through a lot, and I'd appreciate it if you let him be, if he really did do something bad, try to forgive him alright?"
"But why?" Scootaloo asked.
"It's nothing I can really say, but just remember what I told you..." Her eyes suddenly turned a bit sad. She turned back to her desk and walked away. Scootaloo looked back at Sweetie Belle and Applebloom to see if they had noticed it too, but they had just shrugged it off and had gone back to talking about their projects, slowly packing their things and heading out the door.
Scootaloo watched as they left and quietly thought for a while in the silence, trying to make out the situation with Featherweight. Now she had a new variable in the equation, and something wasn't adding up. She knew that she couldn't do the photo album on her own, because despite appearances, she didn't have anything to put in that photo album at all. No photos, no achievements. She had grown up believing that she wasn't amazing at all, heck, she couldn't even fly. She had nothing to believe in herself for, no good memory. Begrudgingly, she felt like she would have to rely on Featherweight for this project.
Taking a bold stance, she walked up to Miss Cherilee on her own after everyone else had finally cleared out. "Ma'am I uh... wanted to talk to you about what happened." She cleared her throat to try and get rid of the embarrassment, Miss Cherilee's full attention now on her. "What happened was that he told me he liked me in front of everypony. They all started laughing at me, so I thought that he just did it to mess with me..." Scootaloo looked down, from embarrassment, from sadness, from guilt.
"That's odd." Miss Cherilee finally said after a few seconds of silence. "Did you talk to him a lot before he told you that though?"
"Not really. Today was the only time he ever even spoke a word TO me."
"How very odd..." Miss Cherilee stayed thinking a while. "This makes it worse..."
"What does?" First the confession, then his determined reply to work alone, and now Miss Cherilee trying to keep something away from her. Whatever was going on with Featherweight, she would have to confront it sooner or later.
"Look, Scootaloo, I'll let you work on this project alone. It's probably for the best if you let him be. It'll blow over soon, okay?"
"Okay... I guess." Knowing that she would get nothing out of Miss Cherilee, Scootaloo set out to find Featherweight.
In a fast stride, she looked around the schoolyard, watching as everyone slowly left together in pairs of two, laughing about what they could do with the project. There was no sign of Featherweight. Noticing Snips and Snails, Snips was bouncing with laughter. She got closer to overhear their conversation while staying out of sight.
"Well, I gotta say, today was prutty eventful, Snails." Snips said.
"Didn't think Featherboy was that crazy, I never even seen him talk much with other ponies. He's usually by himself. We should DEFINITELY make him part of our group."
"He didn't show up to hang out like we asked him. Think he forgot? Let's go find him and ask him, I think I saw him near the park." In agreement, they set out.
The two began to fan out to look for Featherweight. Scootaloo tagged along, careful not to be noticed. Her mind was swaying from a mixture of things. Mostly trying to remember all the small hints of details she had known of him before the whole ordeal. He was always quiet, never had many friends or people that he talked to. He was the cameraman for the newspaper at the time they had undertaken the printing press at school. After that though, she never saw much of him. Almost like he was trying to avoid her. She hadn't given him much notice to be fair, but still...
Suddenly, she heard Snails talk. "Dude, you forgot to come with us after school after you walked out of class." Snails looked over at Featherweight who had been sitting on a bench.
"But we forgive you! That was totally awesome! You showed her. Man, she was so angry." Snips said. "Radical bro. That was so awesome. Anyways, we'll see you around. Gotta get started working on the project. It's only a week deadline and we aren't very good at doing scrapbooks so see you around."
"Bye guys." Featherweight said, his tone of voice unsure and sad. Seemed Snips and Snails had forgotten to ask him to join their group. Featherweight stayed sitting down alone, looking over to a picture of his.
She took in a gulp of air and finally took her stand. "Hey, what's your problem anyways?" She saw as his body tensed up, yet still he hadn't turned to look at her.
"Huh?" He finally said after a while.
"You heard me. What is your problem? First you try to humiliate me in front of everypony, then you just bolt away from our project?"
"Our project?"
"Ugh. You are a pain. I have to put off Cutie Mark Crusading because of this? What a drag. Look, don't think because I'm here that it means anything. Miss Cheerilee is strict about this and I know she wont accept solitary work, so I'm stuck with you whether you like it or not."
She knew ever well that Miss Cherilee had already given her an okay to work alone, even pushed it on her, but by then, she was trying to find an excuse to find out what was going on.
From there, they had spent a good part of a week slowly building trust in each other as they worked on the pictures for the album and the secret flying lessons. Eventually, this all lead to Scootaloo stumbling upon Featherweight's personal photo album of his most important memories. The memories he valued most. The first page had a burnt picture of his parents, hardly visible. Some of his brother. Some of places he loved, and sights he had seen. Onward into the book, however, a vast collection of her began to fill the pages. Pictures of her accomplishments, of events and stunts she had done on her scooter. Months of what seemed like eerie admiration by Featherweight. Finally pushing an explanation out of him, she found out that those pictures weren't for a stalker's fantasy at all. Those pictures meant much more to him.
His parents had perished when he was young, in those days, he had suffered a severe head injury that caused short-term memory loss, giving up his ability to remember anyone or anything. The camera was a precious gift from his parents, and he treasured it always by taking pictures and treating them as memories. All the photos that lay about his room and all the photos that lined the book itself were of the life he once had, of the life he once knew.
"Take a picture, it'll last you a lifetime."
"But nothing will ever be worth more than a memory."
The photos of her in the album meant much more, for he explained that it was because of her that he could truly remember more of the world and more of himself. Thinking nothing much of her at the beginning, Featherweight found himself remembering Scootaloo and anything associated with her. In fear that his memories and his very sense of self would go away like they would usually have done, he began to take photos of her, of anything amazing she'd do, of all the stunts and school plays. He wanted to keep the aspect of a memory, happen he to lose it and lose himself with it. But eventually, as all things lead up to it, he began to find that Scootaloo was more than just his first long-term memory. She was also the first pony he'd begun to like, and eventually, love.
Faced with the eventual reality that he would completely lose every memory due to an upcoming surgery to fix his mental disability, Featherweight mustered his courage to tell her how he truly felt. Finally knowing the truth, Scootaloo forgave him, but after learning of the surgery, she left in a rush, distraught in the swirling thoughts of indecision and pain. Unsure of what to truly think. Unsure of what to do.
And it is where it finally led her to the moment of now, the moon now descending midst the sky, her mind recalling the memories, recalling what she had shared with him in only an afternoon's worth. How could he expect her to forget? How...? It just seemed so unfair...
Her dreams began to fill up with those memories, and then the next day came to rise.
------
She had dreamt of him again...
Waking up for another day, her mind still lay unsure. Only a small margin of time had passed, and she didn't know whether that would be enough time to think it over, but she knew now that her decision would have to come soon. Beside her bed lay the photo album that Featherweight had kept. He had asked her to use it for the photo album project since it had all of her accomplishments jotted down, and even some of his. She had forgotten the photo album at his house the day before when she rushed away with her mind entwined with hurting emotions. She went to get it the next day, only to be greeted by Featherweight's brother who had been looking after him. He told her that he had gone to get the operation and would be hospitalized until he could fully recover, which would take about a week's time.
Having gotten what she was after, a few days passed by and she devoted her time working on the photo album. No one at school truly knew of what happened to Featherweight, and though she got called out about it a few times, she promptly dismissed them and spoke of it with no one, not even her two best friends. They had even asked her to take a break from the project on several occasions to go Cutie Mark Crusading, but she was determined to do right by him and would refuse. She focused all of her time and attention on the album in order to give it her own special feel to it, even going so far as to do an all-nighter to finish it on the last day on which it was due.
The book now firmly in her grasp, she headed out to school.
Taking her seat in the now bustling room of students, everyone began to present their projects one by one. It was during lunch that Snips and Snails, along with Tiara and Silver Spoon and her own friends finally approached her about her situation with Featherweight.
"So looky here, Featherweight even ditched you on presentation day! A-class bridge troll!" Snips said, making Snails snort out a laughing response.
"Truly an inspiration to us all." Snails said.
"Well if I had to deal with Scootaloo too, I wouldn't have shown up either." Tiara said as condescending as ever, only getting a "Uhuh" in approval from Silver Spoon.
"Leave Scootaloo alone. I bet it was all his fault! She worked so hard on the photo album on her own, and he didn't even help her! He is just as bad as the lot of you!" Sweetiebelle barked back at them.
"Yeah! I reckon he even talked to Miss Cherilee to get out of it! What a lazy bum, all ya'll know nothin'." Applebloom followed up.
Up to now she had done a great job at keeping her mind busy. As strange as it sounded, pouring all her devotion into the photo album kept her feelings in check. She thought that maybe if it all finally blew over without dwelling too deep into those thoughts, that maybe she would have been able to forget. Even so, she could not avoid the conversation around her, and everyone badmouthing him was only making it worse...
"No." The restrained silence she kept and now the single-word answer she gave drew everyone's attention. Her expression gave them no room for retorts. "It is none of you that know anything. He would never do that. He poured more into the photo album than I could have possibly done in a week. He would only let me do this alone if benefited me. He isn't here because he just got operated and is recovering. So please, stop thinking that he did something wrong and leave it be." Everyone went silent. More than the seriousness of Featherweight's situation, it was hard to argue against the emotion in her voice. All they could do was feel a bit of shame for having insinuated the worst of him.
"Wow... sorry Scoots... We didn't really know." Applebloom finally said as everyone returned to their seats except her two friends.
"It's fine. After all, I thought the same way as you all only a week ago." Scootaloo couldn't be cheered up. As presentations continued, and hers being the last, the time was ticking and now Featherweight was square in her thoughts, and her emotions lay in the collateral damage of it all. Her indecision grew.
When her turn finally came, Miss Cherilee had been announcing both names of the partners who would do their photo album, but when it came to her, she only announced her name, and not Featherweight's. She got up to the front, the big book logging on her back until she lifted it onto the pedestal facing everyone. She cleared her throat and began.
"Featherweight couldn't be here today, but he asked me to present this." She pointed to the book, twice, even thrice as big as anyone else's photo album. In that instant, before she continued on, she had finally made up her mind. "Our photo album."
Though she was sure to leave out his condition, she shared some of the philosophy that Featherweight thought her the week that they had spent together. Down to the value of memories, to the greatness of imagination, to the representations of pictures, and the amount of joy she had putting the presentation and the photo album together for it's final debut.
Her choice was made. She even did something that she never dreamed she would ever do of her own volition. She showcased the pictures of her first flight. She told everyone in her class her awful truth. She told everyone of her fear of people laughing at her inability to fly. How none of it mattered anymore since Featherweight had encouraged, taught, and trained her. With a shaky voice, she ended her segment by stating how grateful she was to him.
When her presentation was over, everyone applauded in what could best be described as powerful admiration. Scootaloo had found great courage and self-worth, and it showed both in the Album that she had pieced together and in her decision to voice her fears. Featherweight had truly brought out the best in her.
She made no room to talk to anyone after classes ended and practically ran over to the hospital, taking the book along with her. Making her way over to his room, she opened the door to see him staring out the window. Without turning his head, she walked in slowly, placing the book onto a nearby chair and waiting to hear some response from him.
"So hey doc, when do you think I can eat solid food again? Soup is okay, but I've been eating nothing else since I woke up. And I hate that thing uh... what's it called... cranberry juice? Yeah, that. It's nasty. On the bright side though, I'm remembering stuff now!" He said, still without turning.
"Maybe soon I'm guessing," Scootaloo said. It was only then that he finally turned to see who the visitor was. His expression was in a slight shock, and a small silence followed afterward. Scootaloo held out a warm smile for him, their eyes locked on each other. Her eyes began to grow watery as the silence continued. She had really been hoping that he would remember her once more... "I thought maybe I'd visit you. You were out for a week, right before Miss Cherilee's photo album project. I had enough time to think it over... and I thought that maybe... even if all of your memories were gone... I still wanted to be with you." The silence only continued, and she lowered her head, trying to hide her eyes who were now tearing up.
"I awoke about two days ago, you should have visited sooner! I could have helped you on the album... Scootaloo. I hope I didn't worry you too much."
As Scootaloo looked up at him, he held that same warm smile that he had shown her when he helped her believe in herself when she first flew. The very same that she had longed for all this time apart. She hugged him tight, her tears now dampening his coat. "You... remember me..."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I? Well, you don't seem like the Scootaloo I knew from before." He said in a slight chuckle.
"I'm not the old Scootaloo..."
"So you must be the new Scootaloo then. You are still as pretty as I remember. I can't really notice the difference."
"I have to be sure... I have to be sure that you remember me. What is it that you remember?"
"Give me a moment to think." He began to focus on trying to remember. "I guess I should start from the moment I confessed, right?"