//------------------------------// // Could you do that for me? // Story: Keeping your Promises // by RaylanKrios //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash flew to Sugarcube corner, feeling at least temporarily at ease. The whole issue of whether she had official responsibility for Scootaloo hadn’t been decided, but Misty seemed willing to at least work with her, and that wasn’t nothing. She opened the door to the bakery/ice cream parlor to see Pinkie behind the counter and Scootaloo tepidly licking a chocolate ice cream cone a few feet away. If it was possible for a filly to look troubled while eating ice cream, Scootaloo certainly looked the part. Not that it stopped her from taking a big lick when she saw Rainbow enter the shop; she just didn’t seem all that happy about it. “What’d she say?” Scootaloo asked nervously as Rainbow approached. Rainbow gave a cursory wave to Pinkie and sat down in front of the distressed filly. “She told me that you could come home when you were ready to, and that until then you don’t have anything to worry about.” “That’s kinda what she said to me too,” Scootaloo said as she looked up with wide eyes. “Do you think she means it? Adults sometimes say things they don’t really mean,” Scootaloo mumbled, a now familiar distressed look adorning her face. “I think she meant it Scoots,” Rainbow said, making sure to look Scootaloo in the eyes as she spoke. “Whaddya say you finish that ice cream and we head on home?” Scootaloo nodded and took another lick of her chocolate cone, this time seeming much happier about it. They weren’t home for more than a few minutes when Rainbow heard a knock at the door. Unsure of who would be visiting her, she opened the door only to find a midnight purple pony standing at the door. Behind her stood two stallions, each carrying a load of black cases on their backs. “Rainbow Dash? I’m Raven Feather. Dr. Splint may have mentioned me?” the pony said. Was that today? I’ve got to do a better job remembering this stuff, Rainbow thought. Luckily for her she had been home with Scootaloo when Dr. Feather had arrived. She could only imagine the dressing down she would have received from Dr. Splint if she hadn’t been. “Oh, yeah, thanks for coming,” Rainbow stammered. “What’s with all the boxes?” Raven Feather spoke at a brisk pace, her words clipped and precise. “You don’t get to be head trainer for the Wonderbolts without being very good at your job. If this were something simple, like muscle weakness or a stress fracture, Dr. Splint would have diagnosed it and, quite frankly, I wouldn’t have been asked to travel three hundred miles to make a house call. Since he called me for a consult, I’m forced to conclude that the answer we seek may be a little harder to determine. So, give me and my techs a few minutes to set up some equipment here and we can get started.” Her tone wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but it lacked any discernible warmth; however, if she could help Scootaloo fly, Rainbow was more than willing to put up with her lack of bedside manner. Dr. Feather and her techs walked inside the cloud house and began to set up their makeshift examination room. Scootaloo watched with no small degree of fear as boxes of machines, some sinister looking, were unpacked, hooked up and turned on. “What’s that?” Scootaloo asked nervously, pointing to a large half cylindrical tube that was being attached to a computer. “Portable fMRI.” “Are you going to use it?” Dr. Feather nodded offhandedly, keeping her attention focused on the readouts flashing across the monitor she was examining. “Will it hurt?” Scootaloo’s question caused Dr. Feather to look up and blink a few times as the realization that her patient was not a trained athlete who was used to being prodded dawned on her; she tried to smile reassuringly. “Nope. It’s basically a big fancy camera.” “Do I have to smile? I look sad if I don’t smile in pictures.” Dr. Feather couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I’m going to use it to take a picture of your wings, so I guess it doesn’t really matter if you smile. You go ahead and do whatever you feel like.” “I’m going to smile, just in case. What’s that one?” Scootaloo asked, pointing to a different monitor with wires branching out. “That’s an electromyogram machine.” “Electro-what-gram?” “It monitors electrical activity; I’m going to use it to make sure your wing muscles are working properly.” “Neat.” “Any other questions?” “Umm, I don’t think so.” “The machines need a few minutes to warm up. Is it okay if I take a blood sample?” Dr. Feather asked, looking up from her clipboard. Scootaloo was surprised by the question. In her experience, usually doctors just told you what they were going to do; it hadn’t occurred to her that she could say no. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash who gave her a nod. Reassured she, still somewhat reluctantly, nodded at the doctor and raised a foreleg. Scootaloo winced as the needle pierced her flesh, and watched with horror and wonder as the tube filled up with deep red liquid. The next two hours were spent hooking up Scootaloo to various machines and taking measurements that neither Scootaloo nor Rainbow could make sense out of while Rainbow looked on apprehensively. The procedures appeared to be relatively painless, and Scootaloo seemed to be enjoying herself as much as possible considering the circumstances. After detaching the latest series of electrodes from Scootaloo’s wings, Dr. Feather walked over to Rainbow Dash and spoke in a soft whisper, lest the filly overhear her. “That’s all the equipment I’ve brought with me. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to take a bone marrow sample, a muscle biopsy, and a spinal tap, to take back to Manehattan with me.” Rainbow hesitated. She had had a bone marrow aspiration done once, and it hurt. She hadn’t undergone the other two procedures, but she knew that they both involved large needles being stuck very deeply into the patient. Her instinct to protect her sister kicked in, and she was about to say no, when Dr. Feather spoke again. Seeing the concern on Rainbow’s face, Dr. Feather spoke softly. “I’ll give her a topical anesthetic for the bone marrow aspiration and muscle biopsy, and some painkillers for when I’m done with the spinal tap. If you can deal with her being loopy for a few hours, she should be fine by tomorrow morning.” “Is all that really necessary?” Rainbow asked, hoping to avoid causing Scoots any pain. Though it was for a good cause, Rainbow couldn’t help but feel like her one job was to avoid things that might hurt Scoots. “I’d rather take them now than have to come back here if I need them later. The more information I have, the better chance I’ll be able to make an accurate diagnosis.” “And this will tell you why she can’t fly?” “This isn’t an exact science Mrs. Dash, but like I said, the more information I have the easier it is for me to see the big picture.” “Okay,” Rainbow Dash replied reluctantly, unable to come up with a valid objection. Approval granted, Dr. Feather turned to Scootaloo. “I need you to lie down and curl up in a ball. Can you do that for me?” Scootaloo nodded and did as she was told. Rainbow Dash grimaced when she saw the needle that one of the techs was preparing behind the now curled up Scootaloo. She sat down in front of her sister and placed a reassuring hoof on her head. “Hey Scoots, did I ever tell you about the time Pinkie cloned herself and there were like twenty Pinkie Pies running around?” “No way! There were twenty Pinkies?!” “Yeah it was kinda crazy-” Scootaloo let out a sharp cry of pain as she felt the needle dig past her flesh and into the recesses between her vertebrae. “Hey look at me kid, everything’s fine,” Rainbow said as she stroked the mane of the whimpering filly. “You couldn’t have used an anesthetic for that?” Rainbow snapped at the doctor. “It’s generally a bad idea to inject drugs directly into a patient’s spine. The next two should be easier,” Dr. Feather said with more professionalism than Rainbow would have under similar circumstances. True to her word, the next two procedures went fairly quickly with somewhat less discomfort for Scootaloo, thanks to the lidocaine one of the techs rubbed on the orange filly (“Cold,” said Scootaloo). What Dr. Feather lacked in bedside manner, she made up for in efficiency, and within fifteen minutes Scootaloo was sporting a couple of bandages, relieved at being done with being poked and prodded for the day. Still hurting from the spinal tap, Scootaloo quietly curled up on the couch, letting out a soft whimper. “Here. Give her this,” Dr. Feather said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small vial, shaking a single pink pill out from its container. “What is it?” “Fentanyl,” Dr. Feather said with a deadpanned stare. “You’ll need to keep an eye on her for the next few hours.” “You don’t think giving serious painkillers to a child is a bad idea?” “I’m only giving you one pill. You want her to feel better? Well, that’s why they are called painkillers.” Seeing Scootaloo grimace made up Rainbow’s mind for her. Rainbow walked over to the couch and knelt beside Scootaloo. “Here kid, take this,” she said giving her the pill. “It’ll make you feel better.” Scootaloo nodded gingerly and slowly shuffled off to the kitchen for a glass to wash the medicine down with. “So do you know what’s wrong with her?” Rainbow asked, turning her attention back to the doctor. Raven spoke with the tentativeness of someone who wanted to cover their bases. “I want to check her labs, but on her CAT scan I noticed she has a mass at the base of her wings.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s possible that it’s interfering with her magic.” “A mass? She has cancer?!” Rainbow shrieked. Dr. Feather shook her head before Rainbow could go into a level five meltdown. “The mass is most likely benign. its shape is too regular to be a tumor. A lot of pegasi get them, and I believe unicorns can develop similar masses. Anyway, for most pegasi they aren’t an issue; but in unicorns they can reduce the flow of magic from the horn to the rest of the body. If Scootaloo has an analogous problem it would be consistent with her problems taking off.” “How come nopony’s noticed this before?” “It wouldn't show up on an x-ray, and even on an CAT scan a lot of doctors would dismiss it as a shadow. Like I said, it’s rare that these masses cause problems in pegasi, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. I want to confirm with her labs before we start talking about treatment.” “Umm, what are the treatment options?” Rainbow asked. “I’d really prefer to confirm my diagnosis first,” Dr. Feather said attempting to shut down this line of questioning. “Doc, I need to know what we’re looking at here,” Rainbow replied, her voice cracking. The desperation in Rainbow’s voice cut through Dr. Feather’s stoic exterior. She let out another sigh. “I’ll be blunt; this isn’t good. That mass is located almost on top of her spinal cord, between her wings. Surgery there is very risky, there are a lot of nerves and arteries in that area. I know that some unicorns have had success with intense therapy designed to strengthen their magic, but the numbers aren’t good and there hasn’t been any serious work trying to adapt that therapy for pegasi. I’ll be able to recommend a course of action once I see her labs and have a college look at her MRI with me.” Dr. Feather’s tone of voice convinced Rainbow not to ask any follow up questions. “Okay. Thanks doc,” she said half heartedly. “I have to say I’m curious about one thing. Most of the time, in flightless fillies, the problem with making a diagnosis is that they suffer from muscle atrophy. You say Scootaloo can’t fly, but her wing muscles are in excellent shape. Does she do physical therapy?” “I don’t think so. We practice flying sometimes. Could that be why her wings are in good shape?” “Only if you did it for two hours a day, every day. Flight practice with a filly who can’t fly is unlikely to build wing strength.” Rainbow’s hoof shot in the air excitedly, “Her scooter! She pushes herself around on her scooter all the time. That’s got to be it.” “Huh, ground based propulsion as a wing strengthening regimen for flightless foals. I do believe that might be a new protocol.” “Told ya she was awesome,” Rainbow said with a grin. “That you did. I need to get back to Manehattan. I will let you know as soon as her lab work gets processed.” “Thanks for coming all this way doc.” Dr. Feather offered a brief smile and nod and proceeded to leave the house, her technicians and their equipment in tow. Rainbow shut the door and noticed Scootaloo was groggily stumbling back toward the couch in a narcotic induced stupor. “Hey Rainbow?" she asked as she hopped up on the couch. “Yeah kid?” “Your mane looks like a Rainbow! That’s why you’re called Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo’s face lit up as she unlocked a secret that she was certain nopony had ever realized before. “Yeah, I think that probably had something to do with it,” Rainbow replied with an amused grin. Scootaloo grinned happily and closed her eyes again. A few seconds later they popped open. “Hey Rainbow Dash?” “Yeah squirt?” “If you put pancake mix in a waffle maker what would happen? Like, would the universe explode?” “I think you’d just get waffle shaped pancakes.” Scootaloo frowned and scrunched her face; it couldn’t be that simple. This would require further investigation. Suddenly another thought hit her. “Hey Rainbow, what’s soylent green? It’s in the dog food that Apple Bloom feeds Winona, but neither of us knows what it is.” “I think that’s enough questions for now Scoots. Why don’t you go to sleep?” Rainbow said, giving Scootaloo a quick nuzzle. Scootaloo weakly grabbed at the warm muzzle as it grazed her own. There was something important about it. She wasn’t sure what, but even in her drug induced haze she recognized that it held significance. “Will you be here when I wake up?” Scootaloo asked unsteadily. She frowned as the warm muzzle withdrew, but then smiled again as she was encased in familiar warmth. It was soft and feathery, but there was something else comforting about it, a feeling of security as though the universe meant for her to be here. She heard a soft whisper, which set her addled mind at ease. “Yeah kid, I’m not going anywhere,” the voice said. Soon Scootaloo was fast asleep thanks to the sedative powers of narcotics, and Rainbow found herself serving as a pillow and blanket set. Unable to reach any reading material, and unwilling to turn the tv on for fear of waking her charge, Rainbow contented herself by having a one sided conversation. “Y’know Scoots, a few months ago, if you had asked me to sit on a couch and do nothing when I could be out flying, I’d have said you were crazy,” she started, making sure to keep her wing wrapped around Scootaloo. “And now, here I am being a glorified blanket set,” Rainbow playfully groused. In response Scootaloo twitched and weakly pulled the wing up closer to her. “You’re kinda the most awesome thing ever, Scoots. I hope...I hope you realize that someday. Could you do that for me? Please?” In response Scootaloo absently began to chew on a wing feather of Rainbow’s that had drifted too close to her mouth. Rainbow gently pried it away. “Ah, what do you know. You’re high on painkillers.” Rainbow made sure her wing was secure around her sister and resigned herself to doing nothing for the next few hours. Rainbow was enjoying the sensation of a peaceful Scootaloo snuggling lightly against her as soft snores escaped when their tranquility was interrupted by a shout from the ground. “Hey RD,” a familiar twang called out through the window. Rainbow gently pried Scootaloo off of her and covered her with a blanket, before going outside to see what demanded her attention. “Consarnit Dash, it ain’t like I can grow wings and knock on your door,” Applejack shouted up at the cloud house. “Hey keep it down. I got a sleeping filly up there. What are you doing here anyway? You gonna yell at me again?” Rainbow said as she landed in front of the earth pony. “Ah ain’t lookin for a fight. Ah came to say ah’m sorry,” Applejack said quietly. “What was that?” Rainbow asked, unsure if Applejack had actually said what she thought she heard. “Ah said ah’m sorry,” Applejack repeated louder and a little surly. “Ah was talkin’ with Bloom the other day, and maybe it ain’t the worst thing in the world if Scootaloo has her very own bodyguard champin’ at the bit to defend her. Ah ain’t saying you were right, but ah shouldn’t have yelled at ya like I did.” Rainbow stood there stunned. Applejack admitting she was wrong was about as rare as, well, Rainbow admitting she was wrong. “Thanks AJ,” Rainbow said, still more surprised than anything. Applejack continued her apology. “And ah want you ta know that I meant it when I said I ain’t ever been anything but proud to call you my friend. Ah wouldn’t want a little fight to get in the way of that.” “Okay, getting a bit too sappy down here for my taste.” Rainbow nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. Applejack grinned from beneath her stetson. “You’re still a stubborn, rash, braggart, who’s never met a fight she wouldn’t pick, and doesn’t know the meaning of the words slow down.” “I’m stubborn? You’re practically part mule!” “That’s rich comin’ from somepony who once snuck into a hospital because she didn’t want to admit she liked readin’!” “You once ran away from Ponyville because you only won a bunch of medals and not all of them!” Applejack threw a hoof up in surrender. “Fine, so we’re both a bit stubborn. How’s bout you and Scoots come over for dinner tomorrow night? It’ll be like a family thing.” “You’ll open a cask of cider?” Rainbow asked hopefully. “Ah’ll open a cask of cider,” Applejack responded in mock resignation. “Sweet we’ll see ya tomorrow.” Applejack offered a tip of her hat and trotted away, leaving Rainbow to head back up to the house, and the precious cargo it held within.