//------------------------------// // Multicoloured Care // Story: I Dream to Fly // by MrDynasty //------------------------------// Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked across the bed that she was on. The bed was placed in an unfamiliar room; the room was very institutional and functional in design. She looked to the side to see a metal stand holding two bags of clear liquid that were connected to her arm by a small tube. Is this the hospital? At the foot of the bed she saw two mares sitting on chairs, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. “She’s waking up! Maybe you should talk to her first Rainbow.” Rainbow got up from the chair and moved slowly towards Scootaloo. She placed her hoof on Scootaloo’s leg that was under the covers of the white bed sheets. “Hey, how you doin’ Squirt? Long story short, you fell and landed on your head. But now you’re in the hospital, safe with us.” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head and cringed from the stinging pain that she felt. Rainbow quickly grabbed Scootaloo’s arm and placed it back down onto the bed. “Don’t touch your head, it needs to heal. You touching it won’t make it better, may even make it worse,” she said. Scootaloo was trying to talk, but the noises that came out of her mouth were far from being words. She could hardly think. “Squirt, you okay? Do I need to get a doctor?” Rainbow said with her eyes full of care for the filly. Scootaloo placed her hooves on her face and nodded slightly. Rainbow trotted over to the door to the hallway and stuck her head and arm out. Twilight walked over to Scootaloo with a smile on her face. “You’re very lucky to have a friend like Rainbow, she did everything she could to help you. The doctors seem pretty confident that you will make a full recovery.” Twilight placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder, it made her feel comfortable and yet she was still confused. She had many questions that had not been answered, but she could not ask them. Rainbow trotted over and went to the other side of the bed, along side of her was a unicorn stallion with a light blue coat, a brown mane and tail and a white doctor jacket on. “So it looks like you have finally woken my dear. You gave us all quite a scare when you arrived,” said the doctor. He picked up the small clipboard that was at the end of the bed, on it were papers describing Scootaloo’s current condition and all of the information they had on her. “Let’s take a look here, now. You took quite the blow to the head, kiddo. I was the one who did the operation to patch you up. It was difficult, but I wouldn’t let a little filly like you down.” The doctor’s care was comforting and made Scootaloo smile. She knew that this doctor tried his hardest to help her. “So, Scootaloo is it?” the doctor continued. “You seem to have a serious concussion and a minor cerebral contusion that was caused by the hit to your head. It’s basically a bruise on your brain; this is what’s causing you some trouble with talking. Your brain has already begun the process of repairing the damage.” Rainbow was holding Scootaloo’s hoof, trying to comfort her. Rainbow was more worried than she’d ever been before. “Would you like me to go over what happened?” the doctor asked Scootaloo, trying to be calm and comforting. Scootaloo thought for a moment; she couldn’t recall anything about her accident. In fact, the last thing she remembered was leaving her house with her scooter. She nodded her head and stared over to the doctor as he gathered his thoughts and read over the clipboard. It only took him a couple of seconds to begin talking again. “From what I’ve heard, you fell nearly ten metres and landed head first onto the ground. Judging by the extent of the injury I believe that you probably landed on a rock or some other hard ground material. Afterwards, Miss Dash found you and tried to give you as much support as she could before contacting the paramedics.” The doctor paused and placed a hoof on his chin before continuing. “You were then rushed to the hospital and were given immediate treatment to address your blood loss and fractured skull.” After the doctor said that, Scootaloo reached for the back of her head before being stopped by Rainbow, who pulled her hoof down again. “You were then taken to an operating room where my team carried out the operation and mended you back together. You were in a terrible state by the time you got here.” The doctor gulped and looked over to the two mares that were beside Scootaloo. “I’m not going to lie to you; there was a very real chance that you weren’t going to make it. I never gave up though; I wasn’t going to let such a small filly with so much potential fade in front of me. We got your head sewn up and you were put into an induced coma so you wouldn’t have to deal with the pain and to give your brain a chance to begin repairing itself. That was about three days ago.” Scootaloo looked over to Rainbow’s arm and noticed a patch on it. Rainbow noticed Scootaloo looking down at her arm and smiled at the small pegasus. The doctor began talking again. “You needed blood and quickly. We were looking for some, but we didn’t have enough on-hoof to fully fill your body. That’s where Miss Dash came in; she offered to donate some of her blood for you.” Rainbow smiled at Scootaloo and pointed to the patch on her arm. Scootaloo stared at the patch before looking back up to Rainbow, after that, she weakly leaned towards Rainbow and hugged her tightly. Rainbow hugged her back and nuzzled her softly. “I’d do anything for you Squirt. I’d even risk my own life for you. When I heard that you needed blood, with no doubt in my mind, I offered to give you some of mine.” Scootaloo’s eyes welled with tears as she hugged Rainbow Dash. The doctor and Twilight watched as the two shared a moment in their life that they would never forget. The doctor looked back down to the clipboard and examined it one last time before placing it back on the end of the bed. “You will make a full recovery, you just need bed rest and also to be kept healthy and active.” Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow and smiled as hard as she could. Rainbow just hugged her harder, trying not to squeeze her too tight. “I tried my best squirt; I did as much as I could for you. I did everything to try and help you; I was so scared that it wouldn’t be enough.” She barely choked out the last bit as tears began rolling down her face. The doctor smiled at Rainbow and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Scootaloo is lucky to have a… sister?” Rainbow shook her head and whispered, “Friend.” The doctor raised an eyebrow at her and switched between the two, looking at them. “You two seem awfully close to being related you know? But anyway, Scootaloo, you are very lucky to have her as a friend. I’d say that you could never get someone as caring as her.” Rainbow looked over to the doctor and smiled. “Thanks, I’d do anything for this little filly.” The doctor nodded and began to trot out of the room. “I’ll be back a little later to check on you, Scootaloo.” Rainbow gazed over to Twilight, who was standing at the other side of the bed. “You seem awfully quiet Twilight, what’s up?” “Nothing, I’m just happy to see Scoots well and okay,” she said, before turning to Scootaloo. “You were in a pretty bad shape when Rainbow barged into the library, but I can assure you, she was doing everything she could to help you. She was by you the entire time, in fact, she has been since the accident.” Scootaloo smiled, laid her head back and slipped deeper into the covers of the hospital bed. She still couldn’t speak, and her head was beginning to get sore. She reached for her head again and she was again stopped by Rainbow Dash. “Squirt, you can’t touch your head, it will only make it worse, and it’s already in a pretty bad shape.” Scootaloo smiled and moved back down into a laying position. Scootaloo looked back over to Rainbow and eyed her mane; it was torn slightly and looked like some of it was pulled out. She remembered she couldn’t talk, so she just pointed towards Rainbow’s mane, hoping that Rainbow would get what she was pointing to. “Oh, this? Don’t worry about it squirt, when I was laying you down, you slipped and grabbed onto my mane. My mane tore and some of it came out, but I didn’t care, having you safe was the most important thing to me.” Rainbow nuzzled Scootaloo and hugged her. She then trotted over to the chair she was on when Scootaloo first woke up, dragged it over to the side of the bed and sat on it when it was right next to Scootaloo. “I’ll be here for your entire recovery, well, I’ll try. They probably won’t let me stay overnight; after all, this is a hospital.” Twilight did the same as Rainbow and moved a chair over to the bed using a telekenesis spell then sat on it when it was next to Scootaloo. “Also Squirt, the rest of us are coming either today, or tomorrow. I think Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and your friends are coming over.” Twilight didn’t talk at all, she seemed quite content to just stare at Scootaloo and occasionally, over at Rainbow Dash. Nothing was happening, so Scootaloo tried to talk. She was only letting out small groans and puffs before she became frustrated and gave up. She looked over to the table at the other side of the room; on it was a pencil along with some paper. Scootaloo pointed towards the items on the table. Twilight noticed what she was pointing at and floated both items over to Scootaloo, who grasped the pencil in her mouth and the paper in-between her hooves. She started writing on it, it seemed much more difficult than usual and took a lot longer than normal. Eventually she lifted the note up to Twilight. On the paper were the words ‘Thank you.’ “Don’t mention it Scoots, in fact, I brought it from the library for you. The doctors told us that it may be a while before you regained your speech.” Scootaloo smiled and looked over to Rainbow. Only now, she noticed that Rainbow had bags under her eyes and she looked exhausted. Scootaloo started to write onto the paper again. She wrote ‘Have you slept?’ onto the paper and handed it over to Rainbow Dash. “Nope!” Rainbow exclaimed with her normal prideful exuberance showing. She quickly deflated and quietly continued, “I’ve been awake for three days straight, by your side; I’ve been here since they brought you in. The only reason they let me stay overnight those days was to give the doctors information about you. You know, let them know if you’re allergic to anything, stuff like that.” Scootaloo was handed the paper back and started to write onto it again. She then handed the paper back to Rainbow, this time it said ‘You go sleep, I’m fine.’ Rainbow thought for a moment before handing it back to Scootaloo. “I’ll wait and see if I can sleep here overnight. I’ll stay awake until you doze off; I don’t want to leave you here alone.” Scootaloo looked over to the clock on the wall. The time was late, she couldn’t fully make it out, but it looked as if it was close to 9PM. She prodded Rainbow and pointed to the clock on the wall. “The visiting hours last until 8:30 Squirt, the time’s 8:12. I’m going to talk to the doctor to see if I can stay here with you overnight, I want to be here for you.” Rainbow placed a hoof on her chin and rubbed it slightly. “I think I should go ask now before they kick me out. I’ll be right back Squirt; you can talk to Twilight while I go talk to a doctor or receptionist.” Rainbow got up from the chair she was sitting on and trotted out the door. Twilight was looking over at Scootaloo with a smile on her face. “So, how are you Scoots? You took a pretty hard fall… or so I’ve heard.” Scootaloo reached over the bed to the paper and pencil and started writing on it again. Not long after, she handed the paper over to Twilight. On the paper said ‘I’m okay, still dizzy.’ Twilight handed the paper back to Scootaloo. “Dizzy? Hmm, that’s a symptom of the concussion, but I’m sure whatever they gave you to make you sleep isn’t helping the dizziness go away any faster. It will pass soon enough, no need to worry Scoots.” Scootaloo smiled and placed the paper on the table beside the bed. She lifted her hoof up to her head, only to find that she had no mane. Twilight did not attempt to pull Scootaloo’s hoof down as Rainbow Dash had and hesitated somewhat to tell her what had happened to her mane. “Yeah, they had to shave you in order for your skull to be repaired. Don’t worry about it; your mane will grow back in no time.” Scootaloo was still feeling the prickly stubble on her forehead where her purple mane once resided until she stopped and put on an awkward smile for Twilight. Rainbow Dash trotted in with a smile. “Good news Squirt! I talked to the doctor and he said that he could let me stay for you. He says that you need as much support as you can get.” Rainbow trotted over to her chair and sat back on it. She was looking at Scootaloo’s smile and then looked over at Twilight. “She just found out her mane is gone,” Twilight said. Rainbow patted Scootaloo’s forehead and smiled at her. It was beginning to get dark outside, when suddenly, a bell rang and a nurse trotted trough the door. “Visiting time is over, come back tomorrow.” Twilight and Rainbow got off their chairs and trotted towards the door. Rainbow let Twilight pass, they both waved to each other and Rainbow started to walk back over to her chair, when she was stopped by the nurse. “Visiting time is over,” said the nurse, reinforcing her previous statement. Rainbow turned around to face the nurse. “I’m aloud to stay here tonight; I’ve asked one of the doctors and explained to him why I need to stay. This filly needs me by her, she needs as much support as she can get.” The nurse shook her head and pointed towards the door. Rainbow pulled her outside the door rather forcefully and whispered to her, “I’m her idol okay? Her idol being here for her is the most important thing she needs right now. If I’m here, I can help her...” Rainbow began to plead to the nurse, “Please? Look, I’ll pay you if that’s what you want.” The nurse rolled her eyes and sighed. “Okay, you can stay, just don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to have my flank on the line for doing this.” Rainbow smiled and gave her an awkward hug, she then trotted quietly back into the room. Scootaloo was lying under the covers, looking over at Rainbow as she sat back down on her chair next to the bed. “The nurse said I can stay, not sure for how long, but I’m guessing over night. You should try and get some rest; I’ll sleep once you’re asleep.” She patted Scootaloo’s forehead and started to stare out through the window. Not long after, Scootaloo began to grow tired and shut her eyes. She fell asleep shortly after shutting her eyes, knowing that Rainbow Dash would be there made her comfortable. Rainbow noticed that Scootaloo was sleeping and decided to try and drift off herself. After a couple minutes of trying to sleep, she opened her eyes and looked back at the hospital bed. She saw Scootaloo, sound asleep. Rainbow got off her chair and leaned over to the bed, she then kissed Scootaloo’s forehead and stood there for a moment. “Good night. Love you kid”