//------------------------------// // The Visit // Story: The return of Gabby Gums. // by Blonde Blue Eyes //------------------------------// There was already a large crowd gathered around Applebloom as she lay in the street motionless. Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were crying pools of tears at the sight of their friend in such a condition. Applejack and the rest of the Mane six came running out after having to fight there way trough the crowd inside the Manehattan Times. They had seen Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo running under the crowd and came out to see why they were even here. They saw more than they wanted. All of them except for Twilight were crying now as well. Applejack huddled around her little sister as if it were freezing out. Twilight moved over to look at Applebloom carefully. Her horn glowed brightly. Scanning through Applebloom's body she checked for any signs of life threatening injuries. "She's gonna be ok. She only has a few broken ribs as well as her back left leg." Twilight told Applejack in an attempt to comfort her. Applejack remained silent, her eyes closed as she guarded her sister. In a few minutes the ambulance carriage had arrived. Despite Applejack hounding on them to be careful, the ambulance ponies quickly loaded Applebloom in. Applejack hopped in beside her sister and the carriage took of as fast as it could safely. Sweetie Belle tried to follow but was stopped by Rarity,s magic. "You have much to explain Sweetie Belle. Come, we are going to a hotel where you two will wait while we go see Applebloom. Babs, we will return you to your mother and explain to her what happened." Rarity said with a firm, intent tone. -------------------- "She can't seriously think were going to stay cramped up in here while our best friend, is in the hospital." Sweetie Belle said with rage behind tears. "There's nothing we can do. They had somepony posted at the door to keep us in. At least the police ponies stopped Jake from ever doing those mean stories anymore." Scootaloo replied. It was already the next day and the mane six had not returned from the hospital so they knew something was wrong. Sweetie Belle paced the room multiple times before her vision began to clear. She ran to the window to see if anypony was watching them. Sure enough there was a grey pegasus flying in place beside the window. "Rrrgghh!" Sweetie Belle said. "We have to see her." "Hey, look." Scootaloo said pointing a roof to the upper corner of the wall. There was a rather large vent there. "How the hay are we supposed to get up there." Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo thought for a moment. She then proceeded to approached the wall. Putting her hooves up against the wall she said, "I got it!" As happy as she was at her brilliance Scootaloo still couldn't bring herself to smile. "Hop on my shoulders." She said standing as tall as she could. Sweetie Belle walked over to her friend looking confused. Reluctantly she squatted down before jumping up on to Scootaloo's shoulders. "Hey, take it easy." Scootaloo said. "Sorry." Sweetie Belle said. After minutes of prying Sweetie Belle gave up. The thing was screwed in tight. She jumped off Scootaloo and looked around the room for anything that could undo the screws. She opened drawers and dressers but found nothing she looked at the table in the center of the room. There was an empty bowl there with a fork, spoon, and butter knife laid next to it. "Aha." "What?" Scootaloo asked upon hearing Sweetie Belle's remark. Sweetie Belle grabbed the butter knife and proceeded to the wall again. "C'mon Scootaloo." She said. Scootaloo hesitantly made her way to the wall and stood against it again. More carefully this time Sweetie Belle jumped on Scootaloo's shoulders and began attempting to unscrew the vent. The first one came out rather easily followed by the second. The third one was much more stubborn so she skipped it to the last one. Just like the rest it came out fairly easily. Without even undoing the third she swung the vent open with the cover hanging sideways by the screw. Sweetie Belle looked into the vent to see it was dusty but surprisingly clean. When she tried to pull herself up into the vent her hoof gave out from pain. "Ow." she exclaimed. "What's wrong Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked as she looked up to see Sweetie Belle holding her hoof. "My hoof. That's what's wrong. That big, dumb, unicorn hurt it so I can't lift myself up." She replied. Suddenly Sweetie Belle found herself being lifted. As soon she was level with the vent Sweetie Belle slipped in. It was just barely big enough for her to turn around and poke her head back into the room. "Wow, how did you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I don't know. But I would do anything for a friend." Scootaloo replied as she began to hover just enough to grab the edge of the vent and pull herself up. "Let's go." she said lightly pushing Sweetie Belle. There were numerous tunnel that led to the vent covers of other rooms. Looking through each one the came across an empty room on the opposite end of the hotel. "Ok, let's see if I can do this." Sweetie Belle said as she turned around and swiftly bucked the vent cover as hard as she could. Sweetie Belle collapsed over her hoof. The vent was somewhat knocked out of place but it still was firmly in place. "Together." Scootaloo said as she motioned for Sweetie Belle to ram it with their shoulders. "One, two, three!" The two ran into the vent cover as hard as they could and weakened it further but it was still secure. "One more. Go!" They ran into the vent cover once again. This time it came out of place. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed the vent cover to the floor. Without even a moment's celebration they continued for the window. looking outside they saw it had an old metal staircase leading to the alleyway. Sweetie Belle struggled to lift the wood window. Scootaloo immediately noticed this and moved to help. Together they managed to lift the window just enough so they could squeeze out. As they began down the stairs the whole thing began to creak and moan under their weight. Scootaloo was the first to notice it. She looked up trying to find the source of the sounds. "C'mon Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle beckoned to her friend. Scootaloo shook the thoughts out of her head as she quickly began down again after her friend. They reached the bottom of the staircase to fin it had a ladder that reached the ground. Scootaloo gently kicked the ladder and it reached to the ground with a loud *Clang*. Reaching the ground they began in the direction of the hospital. -------------------- The hospital was huge. It had about twenty stories which made Sweetie Belle have a few nervous thoughts. What had happened with her friend elicited these thoughts. She chose to ignore those thoughts however, her friend was much more important to her. "Let's go." Scootaloo called from the top of the stone stairs to the entrance. "Oh, coming." Sweetie Belle called back. They ran inside only to find the waiting room and a cafe/restaurant in the entrance. There were two elevators to their left. Scootaloo pushed the button to call the elevator. The door opened immediately because the last users must have gotten off here. They ran inside and scanned the button labels. There was one label patient care so they chose that one. As the door opened they left the elevator and approached the receptionist behind the desk. "Do you know what room our friend Applebloom is in?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Just a moment." The receptionist replied as she began searching through her patient logs. "Oh." she said with a grim look spreading across her face. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo knew something was wrong and Sweetie Belle's eyes began to water. She's on floor sixteen in the ICU. They didn't even stop to thank the receptionist before running back to the elevator. They opened the doors again and pushed the button for floor sixteen. The elevator slowed to a stop and they saw Applejack and the rest of the mane six. They ducked down as quickly as they could so they couldn't be seen from behind the ICU waiting room chairs. "How could this have happened." Applejack said behind tears. "I don't know. But it's going to be alright. The doctors said she was stable. We can go in to see her now before they move her to ponyville long term care facility. She's in room thirteen." Twilight said hugging her friend. "I juss don-know if ahm ready to see her that way." Applejack said turning to look out the window. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took that chance to bolt past the chairs to the door leading to the patients rooms. There were nowhere near as many rooms in this hall than the patient care. They looked over all the rooms. They then came across the room labeled thirteen. There was a clipboard next to the door with Applebloom's name on it. There was another word next to it. A word that they dreaded. They didn't know what to think. It read "Diagnosis: Coma Injury Condition: Injuries stabilized. They hesitated before opening the door. As they expected there was Applebloom laying on the hospital bed, she wasn't moving except for her chest. Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo began to tear up again upon seeing there friend wrapped here and there with bandages. They hopped carefully one at a time up on the huge bed and laid next to their friend on both sides. "Why did it have to be a com-m-ma." Sweetie Belle stuttered behind her tears. "I don't know." Scootaloo replied almost stuttering as well. "This is all my fault. I should have paid attention to where I was running and this never would have happened. How could I be so stupid." Sweetie Belle said as she gently whacked her head against the hard plastic headboard on the back of the bed. Scootaloo just remained silent as she focused on breathing properly. Sweetie Belle laid her head down. And thought about the events that had happened the day before. "Don't blame yourself. It's not you fault. We know that, your sister is just upset at what happened. There's no way you could have known." Fluttershy's familiar soft voice said from behind. Sweetie Belle spun her head around to see Fluttershy sitting in a chair in the room. "What are you dong in here?" She asked as a salty tear fell into her mouth. "The doctors needed an assistant to help stabilize her injuries. I help all the little critters all the time so everypony said I was the best choice." Fluttershy said as she approached the bedside. Sweetie Belle just laid her head back on the big pillow and looked at her sleeping friend. She felt Fluttershy give her a gentle hug. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo closed their eyes as they waited. "Wake up Applebloom." Sweetie Belle whispered. In moments they were asleep. Only in their dreams they felt comfort as they dreamed of Applebloom waking and them being able to Crusade as they always did.