Scootaloo fell through the sky, wind whipping her mane into her face. She ignored the slight stings brought on by the impacts and continued her fall. She thought of only one thing. Her wings, and the price at which they were bought. She could fly. She was finally... free! She wasn't stuck to the ground, she wouldn't disappoint Rainbow Dash anymore, she could do so much with her life now. But Sweetie Belle had paid for it... with her own sight.
Scootaloo spread her wings seconds before impact with the ground She pulled up and flew through the clouds, enjoying the slight moistness brought on by her flying through them. Her flight had been bought several years ago. She had been diagnosed with a rare disease that ate away at her wing bones, so they never grew, taking away her ability to fly. Sweetie had ventured into the forest... Scootaloo had forgotten the name of that horrid place... to retrieve a certain herb to help Scootaloo fly. While she had been mostly successful, she had been attacked by some sort of monster, and had been rendered blind.
It had taken Scootaloo many days to get used to her friends blindness... she kept forgetting Sweetie couldn't see the picture Scoot had drawn, or the trick she had pulled off...
Several years had passed, and still, nobody was doing anything to help her, save helping her cope. Scootaloo had felt terrible these past few years, knowing she was off, flying around while her friend sat confined in her room because she couldn't see what was going on.
She banked hard and flew towards Carrousel Boutique... she was just checking up on Sweetie Belle. She always flew in whenever she could, just to try and make her friend feel better.
She landed with a thud in front of the store/house. Normal dust would have been flying everywhere from that landing, but a recent rain had matted all the dirt down. Instead, only a few clumps of mud were flung into the air. Scootaloo folded her wings and was about to take a step in when she stopped.
Scootaloo looked at her hooves, spotted with some mud. It wasn't anything, really, but Rarity would go crazy over it, and that would make Sweetie upset. So Scoots wiped her hooves off on the welcome mat then stepped inside.
The shop bell rang to announce her arrival. Rarity looked up from a dress she was sowing with a smile on her face.
"Hello Scootaloo. Are you here to see Sweetie Belle?"
Scootaloo nodded. "Yep."
"She's in her room." Rarity pointed up the stairs.
Scootaloo smiled and walked up the stairs. Down the halls, she found the door leading to her destination. She knocked lightly, not sure if Sweetie was awake or maybe preoccupied.
"Come in" A soft, melodic voice answered.
Scootaloo pushed the door open and stepped into the room. She found it was completely tidy, not a single bit of mess to be found. With Rarity always cleaning up for her sister and Sweetie Belle never doing much... it wasn't a surprise. She liked it. It gave the sad figure on the bed a more majestic look.
"Hey Sweetie Belle."
Sweetie smiled and turned her head in the general direction of her friend. "Hey Scoots."
Scootaloo could tell that tears had recently rolled down those cheeks, Sweetie's pillow was evened stained with those crystal balls of sorrow.
"How are ya doin'?" Scootaloo managed to say without crying.
Sweetie smiled. "I'm doing fine. Why wouldn't I be? I have all these friends and my family to h-help take care of m-me."
Her voice started to crack on those last few words. "I mean..." She paused for a second and Scootaloo saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I-I have all you ponies... who are w-willing to help a p-poor, helpless pony l-like me..."
Her tears began to roll down her cheeks. Two, then three, then four, then soon she was crying. She just sat there, sobbing on her bed. Scootaloo couldn't hold it anymore either, she let her tears roll. She never cried. ever. But her friend, sitting her so weak, so helpless... so broken...
Scootaloo let her sorrow, pain, anger, and frustration all melt into one thing. Determination. She would help her friend. It was the least he could do. If there was an herb that could kill diseases eating your wings, then there had to be a cure for blindness? Maybe a magic of some kind?
With her will set, she turned her attention to comforting the poor mare in front of her. Together, they wept for Sweetie's pain and her loss. Scootaloo held her close, trying to give the sense of being safe, trying to show her she was and always would be here, but she had the feeling she was failing. Sweetie cried her heart away, until the day grew dark. Scootaloo was surprised she had cried that long, despite herself having cried a good deal of the day as well.
They pulled out of their tearful embrace, still sniffing back those that threatened to let loose. The sun was setting, Celestia making room for Luna's moon. The last rays of it's golden glow drifted through the window and painted themselves on Sweetie's face. Scootaloo looked at her friend, the bravest of them, and the sorrow in her eyes. But then she saw the hope, cast by the sun, the possibility that there was a chance, a way to fix this...
Scootaloo got up. "Uh, Sweetie?"
"Mmm hmm?" Was her reply.
"I, uh... I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Sweetie Belle lay down and rolled over, away from Scootaloo. "Sure."
Scootaloo flew through the dark skies. The wind was almost non-existent. She had to flap hard to stay aloft, without the wind to aid her. This didn't bother her, of course. She had trained with Rainbow Dash, and she was able to fly through any weather... rain, snow, wind, storm, didn't matter.
She flew through Ponyville, over the homes of those sleeping at night. She should be in bed right now, sleeping away her troubles, but she wasn't. She couldn't. She wouldn't catch anymore sleep until she had cured her friend. Sweetie Belles tears had been the final straw. She new her friend was upset, but today she saw just how upset she was. Now she could finally repay her for her sacrifice those years back.
She flew over the trees of Sweet Apple Acre. Her friend would be asleep, but she could wake her up, it didn't matter to much.
She landed outside her friends window with a soft thud. Taking a deep breath, she savored the apple scented air here... she loved hanging out here, with her friends, when they used to go crusading, and she would think of all these crazy different ideas and they would try to go along, but it always ended in disaster...
She closed her eyes before the tears came back and picked up a rock. With a grunt, she tossed it at her friends window...
Or maybe she threw it... it crashed through the window, sending glass everywhere, as well as eliciting a startled cry from a certain pony inside. Scootaloo cringed, certain she had awoken Apple Bloom's family.
The rock came sailing back out the window, landing on her head. "Ow!" She cried softly.
In the moonlight, Scootaloo saw a cream yellow head stick itself out the broken window. "What in tarnation did ya do that for?" The country accent was clear, despite her whispering.
"Sorry!" Scootaloo called, as loud as she dared. "Come down here! I need to tell you something!"
"One sec."
After a few minutes, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were in the apple orchard, sitting under a tree. The cool, summer wind had returned, softly teasing their manes, sending stray wisps to dance in the air. If Scootaloo hadn't had pressing matters on her mind, she would have sat there in silence with her friend, in the wind at night, simply enjoying each others company.
Apple Bloom broke the perfect silence. "So... you need to tell me something."
Scootaloo sighed. "Yeah... so I've been thinking... we need to do something to help Sweetie get her sight back. She helped me, I think it's in order to help her."
Apple Bloom sat in silence. She seemed to be thinking it over. What, was she hesitating?
"Come on!" Scoots cried. "We have to do something! We can't just sit here as she suffers!"
Apple Bloom brought her hooves up. "Calm down. Ah know, Ah've been thinkin' the same thang for a while, but what're we gonna do?"
The orange filly blushed at her mistake. "Oh. Well, I was thinking we could talk to Zecora first... I'm kind of surprised that no one has yet."
"Okay, so there's a start. But what about, like supplies? And when do we leave?"
"Lets go now. The sooner the better!"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "No, we need a plan. As much as I hate to say it, Sweetie left without a plan, and now she's b.." She choked on the last word. "B-Blind."
Scootaloo was enraged at that remark. "How dare you! She gave it all for me! I'd d the exact same for her!"
"But do ya think she'd be to happy 'bout you going an losing something, like yer wings, to help her? After what she did for you?"
Scootaloo calmed down. "Oh... yeah..."
"Okay..." Apple Bloom took a deep breath. "Tomorrow, we'll meet up here again, pack some supplies, like a lunch an maybe some rope or somethin'. We need ta be prepared."
Scootaloo nodded. "Okay... I'll do that."
They hugged and parted ways for the night, Apple Bloom to go to bed and Scootaloo to continue planning how she would help her friend. She had to. She couldn't live with her self if she didn't. But what could be done?
Hopefully Zecora would have some answers.