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Scootaloo had always had a slight curiosity about what was beyond life. Everypony seemed to have a different idea of what happened when your mortal body ultimately gave up the fight, even the ones that sounded the same at first. Scootaloo had never really put much thought into it considering her age but always hoped it was something that let her keep seeing her friends and family. All she could think right now was that it was...Quieter than she'd anticipated.
She was in what looked like her own house, except that it wasn't. Every time she turned to look at something, it was as if it wasn't there, had never been. Anything that had been hung up on a wall vanished before she could get a good look, then reappeared as soon as she looked away. It was unnerving, it felt like she wasn't in control of, wherever she was. Scootaloo sat down put her head in her hooves, trying to keep calm. She couldn't think, could hardly breathe, had no idea what to do. Could she give up if she had no idea what she was giving up on?
"Scootaloo..."
Scootaloo yelped and scrambled back to her feet, looking round wildly for the source of the voice. Swinging around like that made her head hurt and she stopped quickly, clutching her forehead in the same place she'd whacked it. Scootaloo tensed up and groaned in frustration, stopping as she felt something touch her shoulder. She turned slowly and let out a sigh of relief, the something in question being a hoof belonging to a familiar blue alicorn.
"Princess Luna, I...It's so good to see a friendly face." Scootaloo didn't seem to be showing much concern for etiquette around a princess right now but Luna simply smiled and nodded.
"I can only imagine, being trapped within the confines of your mind is not a pleasant experience."
"Th-this is my mind?" Scootaloo lowered her hoof and looked round slowly. It made sense that she was somewhere familiar if she was but..."Does, this mean that I'm...I mean, I remember an impact against my head but, nothing else."
"I can assure you, that you are still alive. However, your mind and body are currently sedated. I was able to reach you here as your mind is as calm as regular sleep right now."
"Sedated? Why? Where am I, I mean, my body, or is it...Where am I?" Scootaloo looked back up at Luna, finding her watchful look calming for some reason.
"Right now, we are within your subconscious. Your body was taken to the Canterlot Central Hospital, I cannot say further as I have not seen you since you were removed from the stadium."
The stadium. Scootaloo's eyes widened as she started to remember what had gone down. A regular routine, lingering doubts over Quick Fix's effect on her skills, an unfocused run at a critical time, a moment of panic and then...She slowly looked round again, noticing that the items that had eluded her gaze before were staying in place. Luna nodded at the sight, waiting until Scootaloo looked back at her.
"I'm, sorry that you had to see me ruin the anniversary like that, princess." Scootaloo looked down sadly, scratching at the floor as she waited for a reaction. Luna smiled softly and put a hoof to Scootaloo's chin, gently bringing it up so they could see eye to eye again.
"The anniversary celebrations aren't just for the princesses. We try to make sure that everypony gets something from the occasion. I'll admit that, things didn't quite go to plan but I promise that nopony saw just how bad it really was. I say that and I had as good a view as anypony."
Scootaloo nodded slowly, smiling back at Luna, before looking round again. It may have just been her but the room seemed to be getting brighter. Luna noticed it as well and stepped back.
"Your mind is recovering, I cannot stay any longer. I can only say the following, do not be too harsh on Quick Fix..."
Scootaloo tried to look back to answer, but before she could get a word out, Luna had disappeared in a flash. The rest of the building still seemed to be getting brighter, her eyes unable to adjust to whatever was happening. She covered her face as it kept building up, culminating in the entire area going white as her world vanished again.
"-able, no signs of linger-"
"-tives are completely w-....-her some space."
"-firmed, she's waking up."
Scootaloo didn't recognise the voices. Everything sounded muffled right now. Her limbs felt like they were made of lead. Her eyes were heavy but slowly she mustered the will to push them open. At least, she tried, her left eye didn't seem to want to respond, that was...worrying. Her right eye slowly opened, her view fuzzy but slowly coming back into focus. Wherever she was, it was white, looked very clean, that made sense if she was still in the hospital, as Luna had said. That would also explain the bed she was in. Her eye rolled down slightly toward the end of the bed, noticing several figures likely watching her from here. Scootaloo grunted slightly as she tried to focus, her gaze drawn to what looked like an amber pony watching her, one that looked like...
"M...Mom?"
"It's okay, Scoots. I'm here, we're both here," Spring Spirit's voice was ringing slightly, making Scootaloo wince as she glanced round as best she could. There wasn't much to see right now but she could make out Fever Pitch standing next to Spring, grinning like a madman that had just seen his daughter come out of a coma. Everypony else present looked like doctors, two or three keeping tabs on her.
"N-not so loud please, feel like..." Scootaloo groaned and put her head back down, just thinking about how her head felt just made it worse. Her ears twitched slightly as she caught the sound of, well it sounded like somepony trying, and failing, not to break down in tears. She glanced back up and realised it was coming from Spring, the sound suddenly a lot more heart-wrenching. "Hey...Hey, it's okay. I'm still here."
"Exactly," Fever pitched in, managing to reign his smile in as he comforted his wife. "We've expected the worst and it's not, the last few days are gone and we've got our Scoots back."
"Days? H-how long was I out?" Scootaloo shifted slightly, feeling coming back to her limbs. She still couldn't move properly but at the least she could shift enough to get comfortable. Spring Spirit and Fever Pitch looked at each other with uncertainty before looking over at the nearest doctor. A silver unicorn dressed up in a doctors outfit, looking over a chart before stepping forward.
"Miss Scootaloo, I'm Recovery and it is so good to see you awake again," He smiled softly before sitting down at a chair near the end of the bed, trying to look reassuring. "First off, I'd just like to make sure that you're feeling alright. Do you need anything?"
"Well, all things considered," Scootaloo slowly rubbed her cheek, relieved to find her hooves were moving again. It didn't really help with the ringing though. "I-I'd like some water, and maybe if you could speak a little quieter, please."
"Of course," Recovery replied, his voice quieter than before, waiting as another doctor left before continuing. "Now, how much do you remember before you woke up? Don't try to push yourself to think, just what comes back to you."
"Well...A lot, this might sound crazy but, Princess Luna was able to reach my mind. I-I remembered the stadium, my mistake, an impact...Everything after that is a haze, or blackness." Scootaloo groaned slightly and looked back up at Recovery, not sure how we was going to react to all this. To her surprise, he was merely sitting back in thought, listening intently. A glance sideways let her know that Fever and Spring were also listening, hoping to get a better understanding.
"Subconscious dreaming, that's good. Now, before we catch you up, let's get this off." Recovery got up and walked up to Scootaloo, reaching behind her head and unclipping something. She waited as he finished and removed something from her muzzle, a ventilator mask. Scootaloo stared at it slightly, she'd been so overwhelmed by everything that she couldn't see it in front of her nose, literally. Recovery put it to one side and started on shutting the connected machine off.
"I...I needed breathing help?"
"You have to understand, Scootaloo, when you were brought in, you were in a very serious condition. We, had to induce a coma to try and prevent brain damage. It took several days of monitoring before our scans showed no lasting damage, add in the time it took to bring you off the sedatives and, well. You've been out of it for over a week. That's a lot better than it could have been, you have a very durable skull."
Recovery finished the shutdown and picked up a small mirror from the bedside table, offering it to Scootaloo. She took it carefully, making sure there was enough feeling in her hooves to keep a grip before moving it up. Her reflection stared back at her, mostly the same old Scootaloo, mostly. Bandages had been wrapped round the left side of her head, covering her eye as well, that explained that at least. She slowly moved it round to get a good look at herself, making a few faces to check everything was working.
"So...What happens now?"
"Well, truth be told, we're far from done. At the moment, there's no way to tell if there was any damage to your eye, the impact left a significant laceration very close to it. Right now, we'll just have to keep a close watch and check that your mental state remains stable."
Scootaloo sighed and nodded, sitting back as a nurse came up with her drink. She handed the mirror back to Recovery and took the glass, nodding her thanks to the nurse for bringing it and including a straw. Spring and Fever were looking a lot more relaxed now, though they knew as well as she did that there was a long way to go before this was over. At least the water was cool, she thought to herself as she took a drink, that and the staff were really caring.
She knew where the last third of her show pay check was going now.