Our Girl Scootaloo

Part 3 of 3

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“I still can't believe they're all goin' along with this.” Applejack muttered to herself as the elevator took her up to the floor where Applebloom was staying. The doors opened and she stepped out alone, studying the signs for a moment before heading off to the correct room on her left. The curtains were drawn, and the lights dimmed, so she opened the door quietly, and stepped inside.

Faith's parents were still asleep on their bed together, and Faith had turned over in the night wrapping her arms around Sweetie Belle with her head tucked under Scootaloo's chin. Watching them sleep, Applejack couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

She could hear someone muttering in the bathroom, and momentarily she heard a flush as Applebloom emerged with a confused expression on her face, glancing back at the facilities. She turned, and her eyes widened as she caught sight of Applejack waiting for her.

“Come on little sis.” She whispered as she turned and quietly opened the door. Applebloom glanced at her friends, then as though steeling herself for an argument, shook her head and followed AJ out the door shutting it behind her.

“Come on Applebloom, we're going home.” Applejack stated as she led the way to the elevators.

Turning around, she found Applebloom glaring at her with an expression of deep anger tinged with sadness. “Is it true what Ms. Scott said? That she told you she needed volunteers and you refused?”

Applejack felt her own hackles rising at the implicit accusation. “That's no business of yours, Missy. Now let's-”

“No business of mine?!” Applebloom almost shouted as tears formed in her eyes, “Faith is dying! They said you could have saved her, but you wouldn't!” She wiped her eyes with a hoof as she hung her head and continued very quietly. “Is it true Applejack?”

“I refused to help these humans” she replied coldly “after what they did to us. After seeing what they do on their farms.” She turned away again. “Now lets get the next ride outa' here. You've got school in the morning and-”

Applebloom took a deep shuddering breath and a single tear splashed on the hard tile. “I'm not coming with you.” The finality of the statement stopped Applejack in mid stride. “I didn't wana believe her when she told me... but now that you done admitted it...”

Applejack had turned back again, but seeing her sister in tears only stoked her anger. 'The humans butchered those cow, ground them up and fed them to me! And after all that, they lied about it to my sister and tricked her into helping them?! To being poked and prodded like an animal so more of them can live?!'
Applejack looked around and found what she was looking for under the arm of a nurse who had paused in her rounds to watch them. “Hey! Leme borrow that computer of yours.”

Startled at suddenly going from spectator to participant, the nurse handed over the tablet with a questioning look. Applejack looked right at the computer and growled. “Show me the video of Fluttershy and the calves.” The video popped to top of the list, and began playing as she presented it to Applebloom and behind her the nurse gasped.

The result was immediate and predictable, and when the video ended two minutes later Applebloom was crying openly as her older sister smiled grimly. “That's what they did to us. That's what humans are like.” She sighed and wrapped a comforting hoof around Applebloom. “I'm sorry sis. I didn't want you to know anything about this... I tried to protect you, but it sounds like they didn't even tell you they ate meat.”

The nurse who had watched this all with mounting disgust spoke up as she took her tablet back. “No, of course not! Only a tiny number of people ate meat made that way even when it was still legal! Most of us never think about where our meat comes from, and a poor kid like Faith would probably never have know!”

“So she didn't know...” Applebloom asked out loud as she tried to reconcile the girl she knew with the horror her sister had shown her. Her eyes were still red from crying, but as she looked up at Applejack they hardened. “But you did.”
The anger faded from her tone as she continued sadly. “You knew she had nothing to do with this, but you still...” She pulled away from Applejack's embrace with a shudder. “I don't know how you could do this...”

Applebloom glanced from the darkened room to her sister and fresh tears dripped on the tiles as she spoke.

When Applebloom woke next, it was to a squeal of joy. Faith had finally woken, and found herself snuggling with the three sleepy ponies.

Sweetie Belle wrapped her hooves around Faith. “Of course we did, we couldn't leave you all alone!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo affirmed, “You're a cutie mark crusader now, and we take care of each other!”

Applebloom had just woken and felt like laughing and crying, but managed simply. “A true friend helps a friend in need.”

They held on to each other for some time, and were soon joined by Faith's mother and father as well. After a long while they broke the silence and asked the obvious questions.
“How are you feeling sweetie?”

Faith thought about it. “My head really hurts, and I feel kind of sore all over...” She looked scared as she figured it out. “I had another seizure didn't I?”

Her father answered in a pained voice. “Well, yes sweetie, but we knew they were only going to get worse...”

She turned to the crusaders. “I'm so sorry girls! I didn't scare you did I?”

They all exchanged a confused look before Applebloom answered. “You're worried about scarin us?”

She nodded nervously, her downcast eyes and quavering voice betrayed her feelings as she answered. “I really didn't mean to scare you... It's just... I've always wanted to be your friend. And I guess I kind of forgot to warn you that I was sick.”

“Don't worry about it, we weren't that scared.” Scootaloo said, trying to puff herself up.

“Horseapples we weren't!” Applebloom retorted with a shaky glare at Scootaloo, “We were really worried that something had happened to you!”
All the pent up fear and anger of the last day came bursting out as she continued. “And now they're tellin' us that you're diein'?! You're just a little foal like us! Please Faith, tell us its not true!” She finished as she started to cry again.

Tears were forming in Faith's eyes as well as she leaned forward and hugged the poor quivering pony. “Oh Applebloom, I'm so sorry.”

Sweetie Belle couldn't help it, and was trying not to sob as she asked. “Then you knew? All this time, you knew you were...?” Faith just nodded again as Sweetie Belle broke down. “But why?! You said you would be back! That we could have more time together next time! Why would you say that?!”

Her mother and father cringed at this and looked away as Faith pulled Sweetie Belle close. “I will be back Sweetie. I promise.”

Faith smiled kindly and stroked her friends mane. “After I die, if I've lived a good life I get to go to Heaven, and when I get there, we can all get back together, and have all the fun we want.”

Before they could ask any more questions, the nurse on duty bustled though the door, smiling when she saw Faith was up.
“Good morning! It's good to see you're awake, how are you feeling?”
Faith answered truthfully, holding her poor head as the nurse took her vitals and added more information to her chart.

“Okay dear, now you know what's next. Do you want your friends to wait outside?”

The nurse waited a moment, then shrugged and shooed the ponies off the bed as she pulled back the sheets revealing Faith's hospital gown and diaper. Faith did blush a little as the nurse explained. “They're needed because of the seizures. Waking up from one of those is bad enough without having to change your pants every time.”

She helped Faith roll onto her side, the removed the wet garment and replaced it with the speed born of long practice. Next she helped her to sit up against the pillows and started the morning checks. “Okay, wiggle your fingers... Good. Now press your hands against mine... push back against me... hard as you can... good girl. Okay, now wiggle your toes...”

“Okay, dear, I need you to wiggle your toes.”The nurse asked again, her good humor faltering under a cloud of apprehension.

“Um... how about you just move your legs, okay? Just move whatever you can...”

The crusaders looked nervously from one to the other as Faith held her breath and strained, putting all the effort she could into trying to shift her legs.

Her mother hugged her father, sobbing quietly into his shoulder as he tried to console her.
The nurse grimaced, but quickly forced a smile. “Okay dear, its all right. We knew the tumors would probably squeeze off the nerves to someplace before long. Here, what's the lowest place you can feel?” She asked, gently prodding Faith's belly and working down.

Faith had tears in her eyes as she found she couldn't feel the pokes below the belly button.

Her parents held her while she cried, and the three ponies quickly rejoined her on the bed, each of them terrified, but doing their best to comfort their friend.

A doctor's training can make a person, or pony in this case, extraordinarily resistant to jet lag, and that morning found Ms. Scott awake early as she hopped a cab through the morning fog to the hotel where the others were staying. While some of them had woken early and made their way downstairs to enjoy the lavish breakfast, Rarity and Applejack were notably missing.

The elder Scootaloo joined them for breakfast, and struck up a conversation with the three of them.

“I wanted to stop by this morning and personally thank you all for your help last night. The contributions you've made will help a lot of people and we won't forget this.”

Rainbow looked a little embarrassed. “Oh, it wasn't really that big a deal...”
“See? Isn't that just what I told you?” Dashie retorted.

“I found it absolutely fascinating!” Twilight exclaimed. “They explained what each test and sample was for, and how everything worked. I learned so much!” Her mood fell a bit as she continued. “And sometimes about things I really didn't need to know...”

Ms. Scott raised an eyebrow.
“What happened? Did you look through one of the encyclopedias of disease? I explicitly warned you not to do that if you'll remember.” she added flatly.

“No, it wasn't that...” Twilight said nervously, rubbing her hooves together as the other two each looked uncomfortable. After an expectant moment, she sighed and continued. “The speculum... And the stirrups...”

Ms. Scott looked surprised. “Well surely you must have gynecologists in Equestria?”

“Uh... Not exactly...” Rainbow said rubbing the back of her head.
“Yeah! My dad never took me to a doctor like that...” Dashie amended “Though, technically, he never took me to a doctor at all...”

Fluttershy seemed to be trying to sink into the table as she mumbled very quietly. “It's... um... most of us don't ever go to a doctor like that unless something is wrong... and that doesn't happen to most ponies...” She added, flushing bright red.

“I almost thought they were up to something.” Twilight added, “But then I looked up a few articles about problems with the human reproductive system.” She blanched visibly. “I had no idea there were so many ways things could go wrong! I don't say this often, but I'm really glad I'm a pony!”

The others nodded agreement as Ms. Scoot looked amused. “Well, I can't say I've ever given it much thought. I've been getting exams like that each month for many years now, though you'll have to show me how it works in your world the next time I'm over there. I'd be interested to see how your culture deals with these issues.”

“What issues are those?”
The question came from Rarity, who had just emerged from the elevator with a hung-over looking Applejack trailing behind.

“Oh... It's not important. Just shop talk about the exams we all had last night.” Twilight answered with a blush.

The sunlight streaming through the windows made Applejack wince as she tried to suffer through her hangover. Ms. Scott took one look and fetched a Gatorade and pulled two aspirin from her prosthetic. “Sorry AJ, but you look awful. Swallow these, and wash them down with all of this. You should start to feel better in a few minutes.”

Applejack tried to object, but just found herself wincing in pain, and with a groan she conceded the point and did as the doctor ordered.

Rarity spared a moment to frown disapprovingly at Applejack as she chugged the bottle, but AJ didn't seem to notice.
“At any rate, do you think the girls will be awake yet? They stayed up awfully late last night, and I wouldn't want to wake them, but... I really need to make sure Sweetie Belle is all right.”

Ms. Scott frowned. “Well, it can take a while to get used to the time difference, but let me find out...” Her face took on that blank stare as she pulled up a connection and called the nurse on staff to find out. A moment later she snapped back to the present with a grimace. “Well, they're awake all right, but Faith isn't doing so well... We aught to get over there as soon as we can...”

Since their joyful awakening that morning, things had been going rapidly downhill for the crusaders. The same tumor that had pinched off the nerves in Faith's spine and paralyzed her from the waist down was also squeezing other nerves and the pain that had been dulled with drugs before, and unicorn magic during the trip had come roaring back with a vengeance.

The four of them had talked about their past adventures, the fun with Babbs after her change of heart, even the qualities of earth sodas that the nurses kept them supplied with, but as the morning wore on they noticed faith wincing and squirming as the pain became worse.

Finally, Applebloom couldn't ignore it anymore. “Faith, are you feelin' okay?”

The little seven year old squirmed again and squinted her eyes shut as she pulled the yellow pony's head close to whisper in her ear. “Could... could you please make sure my Mom's asleep?”

Applebloom looked uncomfortable as she checked to see that her Mother was in fact napping in her chair across the room while her father had stepped out to get lunch for everyone.
“Uh, yea, she's asleep alright... what did you want to-”

Faith cut her off in a raspy whisper. “I don't want to go Applebloom! I don't want to go, but it hurts so bad!”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked pained as they snuggled up to faith and held her little body which was shaking despite her best efforts to conceal it. “What er you talkin' about? Ms. Scott said you still had at least a few days left!” Applebloom pleaded.

Sweetie Belle felt something wet on her cheek and looked up to see tears streaming from Faith's closed eyes. “It just hurts! It hurts so bad!”

“I'll call the Doc to give you something!” Scootaloo said as she got to her hooves, only to feel Faith's hand grab her right hoof in a death grip.

Faith shook her head fiercely. “I'm already getting as much as I can and still be me... When they give me more I... I go away... and I don't remember anything after.”
The ponies looked on in shock as she little girl squirmed and tried to cry silently.

“But... but what can we do?” Applebloom whispered back, her voice beginning to crack.

“I don't know... But if I go again I... I don't think I'm going to come back...”
The crusaders all held on to Faith as squeezed them back. “And I don't want to leave you girls yet!”

When Dr Scott entered the room an hour later she found three scared looking foals still sharing the bed with a comatose little girl. A quick glance at the charts showed the nurse had been in half an hour ago and administered another dose of pain killers that apparently put Faith right to sleep, leaving her friends to wait with her, just as they had through the night.

“Girls? Could I ask you to please come with me for a moment? I promise this won't take long.”

The three of them shared a pained look as they all rubbed their eyes. “Well... Okay, but only for a minute...” Sweetie Belle answered, shakily stepping away from their sleeping friend.

Ms. Scott lead them down the hall and around the corner to the lobby where the others were waiting. An embarrassed silence followed as the red eyed foals stared at their sisters and mentors.

After a moment, it was Applejack who stepped forward.
“Applebloom... I reckon I owe you an apology. I did a lot a thinkin' last night, and... and I went and volunteered too.”

For the first time in a day something like relief appeared on the crusaders faces, though Applejack, still looking at the floor didn't see it.
“Everypony else here did too... I know it ain't enough to save your friend, but-”

The sound of hooves warned her just in time to look up and catch Applebloom as she threw herself into her arms. Behind her, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were each clinging to Rarity and Rainbow as their walls came down and the tears flowed openly for the first time.

Behind them Sweetie Belle hugged her big sister with all her might as the tears ran down her muzzle and across Rarity's shoulder.
“She's dying Rarity!! She's in pain and she dying and I don't know what to do!”

Rarity didn't respond, in words but just held her sister close as she cried. Even little Scootaloo had given up any pretense as Rainbow held onto her and sobs shook her little form.

It took some time indeed, but eventually tears were dried, apologies made, and the tearful group made up before following Ms. Scott back to Faith's room.

As they entered, Faith was once more awake and she, her mother and father were holding their hands together in prayer. Despite her best efforts to concentrate on the sentiment tears were already running from her closed eyes as she cried again from the loss and returning pain. As they all gathered around, the crusaders hopping up onto the bed and joining her family in a group hug, already tearing up themselves as they felt sobs wrack Faith's small frame.

“I love you all so much!” She sobbed into her mothers shoulder. “It hurts so bad but I don't want to go!”

“Yeah... We'll be seein' you... real soon.... don't you worry bout us...” Applebloom choked out.

Even the grown ponies were trying not to cry as her parents tried to reassure her. The soft hum of the morphine drip went un-noticed by most, though little Faith heard it and only cried harder as she felt her mind slipping away again.

When her parents had tucked her back in once more, Ms. Scott spoke up in sad tones.
“This is probably it. If you like we could bring her up one last time to say our goodbyes, but she's in a lot of pain right now, and it may be kinder to just let her sleep...”

Applebloom looked up from the bed where the crusaders lay cuddling Faith. “What... what do you mean?? I thought... I thought she had a few more days!”

Rainbow turned on Ms. Scott, her fear and sadness flashing to anger. “Then why? Why are we saying goodbye if there's still time?!”

Ms. Scoot sighed, her tail and mane drooping as she wiped her eyes with a hand. “She does have several days left Rainbow. She might even have a week. But you saw how much pain she's in. She's suffering. Most parents... don't want their little one to suffer any more. We have the drugs to keep her out... until the end. It's often the kindest thing we can do.”

Ms. Scott walked slowly from the room to leave the parents and children in peace as the others followed her out into the hall.
“You should probably start planning for the funeral... your sisters probably haven't had to deal with this yet, and it isn't easy to say goodbye. We have counselors who can assist if you need-”

A loud stomp of hooves on tile cut her off and Rainbow yelled. “How can you say that?! How can you just give up on her like this?! She's still here! She's still alive!” Her anger obviously waring with grief as her words took on a pleading tone.

When Ms. Scott spoke again her voice was hard.
“Rainbow, we are out of options. In your world, everyone gets second chances, no one suffers, and little kids don't die in their parents' arms. Your world has safeguards. You have a system that takes care of you, that cares for you. We don't. Every kindness, every comfort that poor girl has had was invented by humans, built by humans and given to her by humans because if we don't do it no one else will.”

Into the silence Dashie asked softly; “Even her faith? Did humans build that too?”

Scootaloo seemed to deflate as she wiped her eyes and sniffled before answering. “No, Dashie, we didn't. But she isn't the first sick kid I've cared for, and I learned long ago that by the time praying for them is your best bet, they're already lost to us.” She sniffed again and tried to compose herself. “I do have faith... but outside of Equestria it is a very rare and special day indeed when a prayer like this is answered... and of the dozens of children I've watched die... it hasn't happened yet.”

Applejack, of all ponies, closed the distance between them and put her hoof around the elder Scootaloo, holding her close as she finally let down her doctor's walls and softly shed her own tears.

Scootaloo gave Applejack a grateful smile as she steadied herself once more, but further conversation ended as the one of the research doctors came running up to the group, excited and obviously out of breath.

“Dr. Scott! I wanted to be the first to give you the news; We just got the word back that they have the first version of the new cure available for testing. Our team and others have been working on what Pinkie gave us and we have reconfigured the cure in a way that might work.”

As their faces lit up, Ms. Scott looked back with furrowed brows. “What version is it? Alpha? Beta?”

The researcher nodded but forged ahead anyway. “I know it's not protocol, but they've made an exception for your current patient. It might not work, but it doesn't sound like she has much time left anyway.”

Ms. Scott looked torn, but after a moment she made up her mind.
“Very well. Get all the supplies and people you need and meet us at the gate room facility. If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right. I'll see you in Equestria.”

Our Girl Scootaloo 3 of 3

by Cozy Mark IV

Ch 3.26 The Cost of Specism