Xenophilia: Shotglass Oneshots

by TheQuietMan

20: A Mother’s Care by StarSlinger

A Mother’s Care by StarSlinger

*****************************

In the stale light of the hospital, Lero sat, watching the two forms sleeping in the recovery room across the hallway.

“How is she?” asked Lyra, the mint-green unicorn walked up and nuzzled his shoulder in greeting.

“Who?” Lero asked, a teasing note in his voice. “The patient or her insanely-protective guardian?”

“Well,” Lyra replied, playing along “I was quite aware of Rainbow Dash’s state of mind when I left, especially since I mostly agreed to go personally in order to appease her.”

Lero chuckled, “yeah I seem to remember that.” Earlier, Rainbow Dash had been like a drill sergeant, barking orders and fanatically trying to destroy any complications that arose in the care of the hospital’s newest patient. She had even personally flown over and “recruited” a specialist doctor, dragging the poor stallion away from his home in Cloudsdale on his day off and giving him a front row seat to a Sonic Rainboom.

The human continued, “I had to stop the hospital staff twice from trying to sedate her. No telling what she would have done in her state of mind if the staff had tried to jump her… probably gone into attack mode. I managed to get her to calm down just a bit, and she then pretty much collapsed from exhaustion.”

“I can’t say I can blame her,” Lyra replied, “the poor dear still looked absolutely dreadful when I left.”

“Yeah…” sighed Lero, the memory killing his desire to keep up the light-hearted banter with is herdmate. “Anyway, to answer your first question, other than the various scratches and bruises, Scootaloo suffered a concussion from the branch she hit while trying to make that jump on her scooter, and a broken hind leg and wing from her fall.” Lero paused, stealing a glance at the heavly-bandaged orange filly laying on the hospital bed. “The most serious injury was actually the broken leg” the human continued, his voice soft. “The bone broke the skin and the wound was bleeding pretty badly. If Dash hadn’t gotten worried and gone looking for her, she might have bled to death at the bottom of that ravine without ever regaining consciousness.”

As Lyra put a comforting hoof on her stallion’s leg, he continued. “Of course, the other concern was her wing. Scootaloo must of landed on it when she hit the ground. Even if her pegasus magic saved her life, it evidently can only stop so much momentum. The break was a complex one, and the doctors here in Ponyville were concerned they didn’t have enough experience with pegasus wings to set it 100% right. And, of course, if it isn’t set perfectly, the wing could become deformed if the bone healed wrong… hence Dash’s kidnapping spree.” Lero finished with a small grin.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Everything is fine now, she will be in a cast and on the ground for about three months, even with healing magic, but the wing specialist assures us that the injury will not impact her flying once it completely heals. We are pretty much waiting for her to wake up now… as well as discussing the other issues…”

This time is was Lyra who sighed, “Yes, the other issues.” Her face took on a steely professional expression, the one she used for when she stepped into her Guard role. Even now, Lero was not used to her in this mode, so different it was from how she usually acted with her herd.

“Well, first off, we found them, the Sponge sisters. They had evidently decided to take a spontaneous daytrip to a spa in Baltimare that ‘somehow’ ended up lasting ten days and counting. According to them, they had left Scootaloo quote ‘plenty of canned cream-of-hay soup and a whole two bits for expenses, more than enough for the silly little foal to get by on.’ They then launched into a rant on how noble it was to be a foster-herd especially when their charge was so ‘out-of-control’ and how the stipend they get from the Crown is so little they can barely afford their spa trips which they need to keep their sanity, Scootaloo being SUCH a handful and probably a future hooligan.” Lyra actually gritted her teeth. “I then asked them if that is why they locked their foster-filly out of their house while they were gone, incidentally preventing access to the ‘food’ they had left her. Their answer: ‘We didn’t lock her out, we just do not want her to have a key, if she would of just stayed indoors, she never would of gotten stuck outside!’”

“That would explain why the other Crusaders said it looked like she had been living in the tree house for the last week.” Lero said.

“Yes, that would make sense” Lyra said, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Anyway, for some reason those two mares kept injuring themselves as we escorted them out of the spa, the floors being so slippery you know.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed that myself, being a professional masseuse and all” Lero said drily, giving his love a sideways glance.

“Anyway,” the unicorn continued. “The Sponge sisters will most likely be brought up on filly abandonment charges and stripped of their foster-herd status. Normally they could drag things out in court, contest the facts of the case, etc., but in this instance… having multiple Elements of Harmony speaking against you, one of which sent a literal book of instances of neglect to Princess Celestia herself…“

Now it was Lyra who glanced into the recovery room, looking at her rainbow-mane herdmate. “You know,” she said softly. “I have always considered myself the most patient of our herd in all things. But I don’t know if I could have observed everything that was happening behind the scenes with Scootaloo and just kept a log for when things finally went too far. If it was me, and especially if it was someone with the temperament of Rainbow Dash, I would have fully expected those two nitwits to end up in traction somewhere.”

“But then they could have simply moved, taking her with them,” Lero responded quietly. “They just saw her as a way to collect wealth, and people… and ponies do not surrender those things easily. And until now, they had the right to relocate Scootaloo anywhere they pleased. Dash understood that, maybe it reminded her of her own childhood, and she has been taking Scootaloo under her wing ever since. Trying to negate the bad… create some awesome memories for her…” The human chuckled “I guess we can’t blame Scootaloo for becoming a little obsessed with her.”

Lyra chuckled long quietly with her human stallion. However, her face quickly became somber once again. “The big question now is, where does Scootaloo go once the hospital discharges her? The Sponges will never be allowed near her again, in fact they have been informed that they are officially not welcome in Ponyville anymore, mayor Mare has seen to that. If they show their faces, they are likely to be set upon by both official and vigilante forces. The only other official foster-herd in town are the Cakes. But after all these years with Pinkie Pie and now raising two foals of their own, I think they are finished with the foster program. If we want Scootaloo to remain in Ponyville, we might need to convince another foster-herd to relocate here.”

“Twilight and I may have found a solution for that” Lero replied. “She is off researching the details, but she thinks all it would take for our herd to be given temporary guardianship of Scootaloo is an endorsement from a high-enough government official. Especially since the filly in question is injured and the hospital cannot afford to keep her for her entire recovery. Evidently mayor Mare’s endorsement would probably be sufficient, however Twilight is certain that with the properly worded letter, Princess Celestia could be persuaded to handle everything from her end.”

“So for the time being,” the human continued, “we are going to be taking care of Scootaloo. Long-term… well, we will just have to wait and see.”

Lero looked again into the hospital room that contained Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, both ponies sound asleep for very different reasons. The cyan mare sat beside Scootaloo’s bed, her head leaning against the headboard. Perhaps unconsciously, one of her wings had stretched out, protectively covering the sleeping filly.

“Besides,” Lero continued, gazing at the pair, his voice quiet and suddenly thick with emotion. “I think what Scootaloo needs most right now is a mother’s care.”

Comments

[Obsidian]

Ug... the feels!

[BenRG]

I think a lot of authors agree that Rainbow Dash, blood relation or no, is going to end being the closest thing to a mother that Scootaloo ever knows.

[moguera]

Is it me, or is there some suspicious correlation between what a pony is named and what they end up doing with their lives?

I mean, Sponge sisters...really?

[Playpony]

I'm liking this idea.

More?

[Minalkra]

I like this. The Cakes are the bestest foster parents, monogamists or not!

[warpd]

2680873
Mrs. Cake has that motherlyness about her. Oh and the hips.

[Grahf]

great story

[TheAlmightySage]

Brilliant.

[Pilgrims Progress]

2680858

I think it was a reference to James and the Giant Peach, wherein the horrible caregivers are named Spiker and Sponge.

If this makes Rainbow the horse equivalent of the strange man who gives the protagonist a collection of glowing mutagenic worms, so be it.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Sad it had to come to this, but at least we get a good end for Scootaloo. Though I can only imagine how much this is going to magnify the herd's Crusader-related headaches.

2681164
Scoots and the Giant Apple?

[StarSlinger]

2681164

Got the reference in one, bravo

Although moguera's interpretation works as well.

[Kitsuja]

MY FEELS!!

[True_Pein]

‘We didn’t lock her out, we just do not want her to have a key, if she would of just stayed indoors, she never would of gotten stuck outside!’

Should be "would've".

[TheQuietMan]

2681366
As it's a quote then if the character said 'would of' then it's 'would of'... grammatically correct or not.

EDIT: I will admit that 'would of' bugs me as well when I see it.

Also, one that really gets my goat is "intensive purposes" where "intents and purposes" should be.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/for_all_intensive_purposes

[True_Pein]

2681482
I see your point. Didn't think of it like that.

[TheQuietMan]

2681701
The official guide book i think.

[Zuka]

2681220 Very pleasant read. Momma Rainbow is always a wonderful thing to see.

[TheAlmightySage]

2681720
Hmm I'll look into that.

2682238
Thanks.

[Banchoking]

Awww!

[Genesis1212]

momma dash is best dash

[Aunoraux]

The bone broke the skin and the wound was bleeding pretty badly.

That's called a compound fracture when the bone juts out of the skin like that.
(Sounds pretty bad, but not nearly as painful as a spiral fracture!)

[Nyerguds]

She had even personally flown over and “recruited” a specialist doctor, dragging the poor stallion away from his home in Cloudsdale on his day off and giving him a front row seat to a Sonic Rainboom.

-"I need your help. Filly with a complex wing fracture."
-"But it's my day off!"
-"You don't understand! Those ground doctors don't know anything about wings! We need to get there before they inevitably mess it up! I'll probably even need to do a sonic rainboom to get there in time!"
-"A... sonic rainboom, huh? Well, what are we waiting for?!"

but the wing specialist assures us that the injury will not impact her flying once it completely heals.

Not like she ever managed beyond a hummingbird-hover anyway

2681220
Got some remarks and corrections:
> “The most serious injury was actually the broken leg” the human continued
In a "s/he said" construction, the quote needs to end on a comma.
> Scootaloo must of landed on it
If there is a world where "of" is a synonym of "have", I want no part of it "Must've" is correct, but "must of" isn't.
> hence Dash’s kidnapping spree.” Lero finished with a small grin.
Again, that quote needs to end on a comma.
> “Yes, that would make sense” Lyra said
> “Yes, I’ve noticed that myself, being a professional masseuse and all” Lero said drily
And, yet again. The rules for quotations and "s/he said" constructions are in the writing guide, which you can find under "FAQ" in the menu at the top of the page.
> being a professional masseuse and all
"masseur"! The word "masseuse" refers to a woman that is a masseur.

[Nyerguds]

2681482
This is not true, since it's simply an incorrect transcription of what the character meant when saying that, which is "would've". Intended grammatical character quirks are one thing. Homophone transcription errors, however, are all the writer's responsibility.

[Flutters Is Shy]

Sponge sisters.

Good thing they managed to save Scootaloo in time, what with those rumors about how their last foal Jams Peach, mysteriously went missing.

All the sisters care to say on the subject is 'a rhino took him'.