A Perfect Day
~Two hours before Incident~
"We have to do something!" Scootaloo practically shouted; the fillies on the other side of the table merely stared back at her in confusion.
"Hang on just a minute, Scoots. What's going on exactly?" Sweetie Belle asked, pushing away her half empty milkshake glass.
They had chosen to meet up at Sugercube Corner for reasons Scootaloo didn't know. Scootaloo had only been half listening when Apple Bloom suggested it. She had thinking about last night. She had hardly any sleep and spent most of the night pacing round the clubhouse. Her only plan of action was to get him out of the house, even if for just a short while.
Scootaloo facehoofed, "Look, you're just going to have to trust me on this one." No matter how important it was that they know, she couldn't bring herself to speak about what she had seen. In all honesty, Scootaloo wasn't entirely sure it what she saw had happened. She knew that denial about this wouldn't end well but never wanting to abandon her theory completely, hoping against hope that it was nothing more than a bad dream.
"I don't understand why ya so gung ho on getting him ta hang out with us?" Apple Bloom asked, empty glass pushed to the side.
Scootaloo looked away from them both and off into the distance, "I have my reasons." Scootaloo stated cryptically. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other, a confused and curious look on both their faces.
After a moment, they shrugged, "Okay, let's do it!" Sweetie said. Scootaloo turned back and looked at her friends. She looked to Sweetie Belle who had an adventurous smirk, then to Apple Bloom who gave her an affirmative nod and a gentle smile. Scootaloo's confidence was soaring, she could do this.
They had to part ways for bit first. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both had things their respective sisters had asked them to help with, something to do with a gathering or something at Fluttershy's. Scootaloo was used to this type of thing, just because she had no responsibilities didn't mean her friends had none. So she asked them to meet her at the split in the path near Fluttershy's cottage. They agreed and went off, Scootaloo had nothing to do now so she'd just go and wait for them. She walked slowly through town, her mind busy with more important matters. For instance, how she was going to explain to him how she knew where he lived. She sighed; it didn't matter if he was her friend or not as long as he was safe. She had never felt that way before, but then again she had yet to be put into a situation in which that decision had to be made.
Scootaloo trotted through the park, passing families playing together. Usually, such a sight would make her feel lonely and full of longing for a family of her own. Today, however, the chatter and laughter was nothing more than background noise for the focused little filly. Scootaloo did her best to take it easy, but somehow made it to the split faster than she anticipated. Her mind was in such frenzy that it felt as if time was sent to fast forward. Scootaloo took a deep breath and let it out through her nose slowly. After repeating this process several times, she was calm (well, calmer than she was a few seconds ago) and could think about what comes next.
"Ok," Scootaloo thought aloud, "We go there and ask to see him. No, that's no good. What if we wait for him to come out and we invite him with us. Hmm, yeah. We could hide a little ways away and when he comes out, we walk towards his house. That way he doesn't have to know I was there. Ok, that sounds good. Now, how to-" Scootaloo's planning aloud was cut short by the sounds of rapidly approaching hooves from behind her. She turned around to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle galloping down the path from Fluttershy's. They quickly closed the gap.
"Hey, how long have you sitting there?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Not sure, how long were you two gone?"
"Almost somethin' 'long the lines of two hours." Apple Bloom answered.
"Then something along the lines of two hours." Scootaloo replied with smile.
The sun had pasted its peak some time ago but there was still awhile till evening officially began. The trio trotted carefully down the path, Scootaloo leading the pack. There was a silence between them, but it was far from comfortable. It was more unnerving if anything. Sweetie Belle decided the silence needed to be put back in its place.
"So, Scoots. What's the plan?"
"We get there, we get him, and we get out. Simple."
"Well, of course it'd sound simple if you phase it like that."
Scootaloo chuckled, "I suppose so. Look, it's real simple like I said. No complications or anything."
Sweetie relented, "Ok, could you tell us what bought us to this point in time?"
Scootaloo sighed, "Something...happened last night. Something that... well, that shouldn't have happened. I couldn't stop it. But maybe we can prevent it from happening again; even if it's just for a day." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom exchanged glances.
The pace they were walking at was slow, more from Scootaloo's apprehension than anything else. Soon, the house was in sight. Their pace slowed further. Scootaloo didn't see the colt outside which worried her. Now she was going to have to explain why she was here. She stopped and moved off to the side of the path and took a seat in the grass, the others followed her lead.
"I thought we were gonna go get 'em." Apple Bloom asked.
"We are, once he comes out." Scootaloo eyed the house, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach not helping her confidence. Something was wrong, she could feel it.
A loud crash came from the house followed immediately by yelling from who Scootaloo could only guess was Midnight Star. She stood up quickly and galloped toward the house, past the old tree and straight up to the doghouse. She pushed it and turned it making it parallel to the window above. The yelling continued as Scootaloo's hesitation reached its peak. She didn't want to look, she didn't want see him hurt again. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had already begun climbing the doghouse up to the window, leaving a space between them for her. She began to climb. The climb was slow as she dared not to look up, but with the loud slamming thump continuing to increase in volume she found herself quickly at eye level to the window but couldn't bring herself to look in. She turned to each of her friends, maybe nothing was happening. A theory debunked by their expressions of shock and fear. She slowly began to face to the window, to see what was going on.
Time slowed to a crawl as Scootaloo saw inside. The surrounding world dropped away as she looked at the beaten colt, helpless. The colt struggled to his hooves slowly only for his brother to buck him in the face. The colt rose once more but was bucked in his side so hard he was flung across the room toward the kitchen, his body hitting the wall while his head whipped around the frame of the kitchen entranceway. He struggled to get up; he raised his head and opened his eyes. Scootaloo stared at the colt as he turned his head and saw her. His eyes widened as his amber eyes connected with her violet ones only to be slammed shut in pain as his brother bucked him again. Over and over and over again. One buck was straight into the colt's face, whipping his head against the wall that his eyes fluttered and slid shut. He was unconscious. Scootaloo continued to stare, unable to break away from the sight before her. She heard nothing. She didn't hear her friends whispered shouts, nor their trotting away. She didn't even hear the rapid flapping of wings and clop of hooves as help finally arrived.
~~~
Pain. All throughout his body, he felt only pain. Noises assaulted his ears but he paid them no mind. He began his pain filled reentry to the world of the living the same way he had every time before; with his checklist.
His hooves ached to the bone, a feeling he was more familiar with than he would've cared to admit. Despite that, he slowly slid his forelegs around and felt both the soft sheets beneath him and the heavy, itchy comforter strewn atop him. "Ok. Sense of touch, check," He thought. He quietly smacked his lips; tasting something faintly copper he checked taste off the list. Next, he inhaled deeply only to be greeted by the stinging scent of medical disinfectant and bleach. He let it all out with a soft sigh, "Smell, check." Now at that point in the checklist, he listened to the noises, doing his best to focus through a massive migraine. The sound he identified first was an out of place beeping coming from his left, he had no idea where he was but the beeping still felt out of place anyway. The next things were voices, who they belonged to remained to be seen because he had yet to open his eyes. He assumed they were talking about him and felt a massive amount of relief that he could tell that it wasn't his brother or father but had no idea who they were. Something he decided should now be corrected.
He cracked one eye open ever so slightly and closed it just as quickly. The light of the room slammed against his already pounding head. He took a minute, stealing himself for the second assault. He cracked his eye open once more, now the light wasn't as intense, and opened both eyes fully. He was apparently lying at an angle. He made a mental note that he couldn't feel his back and decided he would investigate that later. Above, he saw a ceiling fan spinning at slow speed. The rest of the ceiling was covered in white panels. There was a wall to his left that was also white but that wasn't all. To his left was the source of the beeping sound, it was a heart monitor. Wires sprouted from the machine and trailed to under his blanket and some into his grey coated chest. With that, he realized that he also couldn't feel his chest. "This just gets better and better." He turned his attention back to his left where he saw the source of the voices. On the wall were x-rays of somepony, presumably him, and gathered around them were three mares and stallion. The stallion had a tan coat and a hazel mane. He wore a long white coat and carried a stethoscope round his neck. He figured that must be the doctor but the mares were a mystery to him. The one closest to the x-rays was a unicorn. She had a lavender coat and a dark blue almost black mane and tail, each with a strip of purple and pink side by side. She also had some kind of star for a cutie mark. The one next to her was a yellow pegasus. She had a pink mane and tail and a trio of pink butterflies as her cutie mark. Lastly, there was a cyan pegasus. Her mane and tail were rainbow in color. Her cutie mark was a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud. She seemed the most familiar to him. They all stood there listening intently to the doctor as he spoke.
"As you can see, he has several broken ribs and one of those may have punctured his lung. We can't say for sure at the moment. When you brought him in here, we removed his clothes and found he was already bound in bandages," the doctor spoke as calmly as he could but he was clearly distressed about something. Perhaps about something he was about to say. The doctor sighed and continued, "We can only see so much from an X-ray, and from what we think those bandages may be all that's holding the poor colt together. We need more information before we can try any form of treatment. Look here," the doctor pointed to the center of the X-ray at some bones that were practically dust behind the rib cage, "These shattered bones are bizarre, especially for an earth pony."
"I'm not an earth pony."
The four turned around quickly to see the colt they had rescued sitting up and looking back at them, "I'm a Pegasus."
The doctor studied the colt intently for a moment before giving a look back to the X-ray, "That explains it," the doctor spoke in a grim whisper. The doctor turned to the colt and slowly trotted to the colt's left side of the bed. The colt kept his eyes locked on the doctor as he got closer. The beeping of the monitor spiked and that didn't go unnoticed by the medical professional. He stopped where he was and put on his 'It's okay, I'm a friend' smile.
"Hello."
"Hi,” the colt rasped.
"My name's Doctor Brace. I'll be your doctor while you're here."
"Nice to meet you. Although, could you tell me where 'here' is exactly?"
Doctor Brace arched a brow but his friendly smile was left unbroken, "You're Ponyville Hospital, the Intensive Care Unit to be exact."
"Hmm, I see."
Doctor Brace switched to professional face in an instant, "Now you should know that we haven't begun any treatment. We need more information about, your medical history, so on and so forth. We've gotten some info but we want to hear it from you.”
"Sure thing," the colt responded. He knew he wasn't going to like this.
"Let's start with your name," the colt's heart rate went up and he took his gaze off the doctor for the first time. He turned to look to the right and saw the windows that took up the upper half of the entire wall. Outside he could all the way into town. He could barely make out ponies milling about at the market. Doctor Brace saw this behavior and thought it best to move on for now.
"Ok, next thing. Could you tell us what happened?"
Everyone in the room stared at the colt; he turned back round to see the four sets of eyes piercing his soul. This was the first he was able to see the three mare's faces. It was clear that each had cried at least a little. The yellow one's eyes were the most red. Her eyes could've easily been mistaken for apples. The lavender one was in the middle on the redness scale. The cyan pegasus eyes were the lightest with only a slight tint of red. The colt was confused as to what they had been crying over. He looked in the doctor's eyes and saw that this was one question he couldn't avoid.
"I, uh, fell."
"You fell?" Doctor Brace repeated in disbelief.
"Yes, I was climbing a tree and I fell. I should have been more careful," he said trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone.
Doctor Brace couldn't hold back his disbelief. The mares had told him everything about what they saw and put a stop to last night. He knew the colt knew that fact too. That the colt would defend those that did this to him was absurd on levels the good doctor couldn't comprehend. He looked back the mares and saw the yellow one break into tears and excused herself. The lavender one did the same, "Do... You remember anything about yesterday?"
The heart monitor increased in speed but not a lick of it showed up on the colt's face, "I remember. Aside from the falling, it was a perfect day."
Now the cyan one excused herself, he face holding a rage the like the colt had only seen his father have. Was she going to beat him too? He didn't know but hoped since she was probably one of the one's that helped him that wouldn't happen. Doctor Brace couldn't believe his ears. He'd have to get it out of him later, "W-well, I'll leave then. Your blood work should be back soon. If you need help, that red button will call in a nurse. If you get hungry or thirsty don't hesitate to ask."
"Will do, doctor," he said glad to have an end of the questions for now.
"Also, you have a visitor."
The colt froze, heart monitor went through the roof, "W-who?"
Brace was surprised that even though he lied, the colt still showed fear, "Don't worry. It's not one of them. She's a friend of yours."
The door cracked open a bit but the colt couldn’t see anypony coming in. The sounds of small hoofsteps seemed to echo off the walls of the room. The colt shifted as the steps approached the right side of his bed. Round the bottom edge of the bed walked a small orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail. The colt let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “Scootaloo,” he whispered.
Scootaloo looked tired; everything about her seemed to be in more disarray than normal. She had small yet noticeable bags under her eyes, her mane and tail far more tangled. She walked slowly, carefully, as if stepping on the floor too hard or in the wrong way would make the room explode. Her eyes were locked on the floor until he called her name. Scootaloo looked up, her eyes red and becoming wet with a fresh wave of tears. Trembling she continued her approach till she stood right next to the head of the bed next to him; her eyes never left his.
The colt’s heart rate dropped back to normal levels, “Hey, nice to see you.”
“Remember: if you need anything, just press the red button,” Doctor Brace reminded him. And with that, the doctor left leaving the foals to talk.
Time didn’t speed up nor slow down but seemed to stand still as they stared at each other; the silence only broken by the beeping of the colt’s heart monitor though that hardly went noticed. They sat there for who knows how long, her on the tile floor and him in the raised hospital bed; their eyes unmoving, unblinking. Violet into amber. Amber into violet. As though if they stared long enough, deep enough, they could see into each other’s hearts and unlock each other’s secrets. After a long while, the colt gave her a bright smile, “It’s nice to see a familiar face.”
Scootaloo seemed to be dealing with some sort of internal conflict of perhaps emotions or thoughts, he couldn’t say. Finally, one thing won out and escaped her at a near whisper, “You’re alive.”
The colt chuckled despite the pain it caused, “That I am.”
“But, you’re okay.”
“Well, I don’t think I’d use that word,” the colt sighed, “In fact, I don’t think I’ll be able to for some time. I’d suggest intact but even that word doesn’t seem to really apply. I mean, look at me.”
She looked at him for the longest time. Not like that stare they had just shared before she slumped, hanging her head and cast her gaze to the floor, “I’m so sorry.”
The colt laid back and watched the ceiling fan spin. He wasn’t sure what to say. Ask what she had to be sorry for? He knew she felt sorry for what she had seen. Ask how she was? She was a wreck. Ask what happened after he was unconscious? He really didn’t want to know, let alone make her go back through that night. So he chose something else entirely.
“What are your parents like?”
Scootaloo’s head shot up, “W-what?”
“I’m just a bit curious. You know a bit about my family so I’d like to know about your family; really, any family that isn’t mine.”
She sat there, silent, for a moment as if gathering her thoughts, “Well,” she began, “I only have my mom and my dad. They’re adventurers, always gone somewhere far away.”
The colt sat back up and nodded for her to continue. She give a sigh and looked out the window, “They’ve been all over the world, never striking it big but managing well to send money for bills back home to be taken care of. Most of the time, I just stay at the clubhouse to keep the bills down and…,” she paused, searching for the right words before she pushed on, “…and being alone in a house full of pictures of them off in far off lands with random people, big smiles on their faces. Far happier than they’ve ever been with or could be with me around. It’s not something I like to be reminded of constantly, you know.”
“I do. I really do,” The colt nodded in agreement.
She turned back to him with a small smile. They both saw that their situations were different but the pain, physical in one and mental in the other, was there either way. The colt returned his friend’s smile and looked out the window and she did the same. There they sat in silence; that comfortable silence that seemed to be the pair’s ever present companion.
“Trash.”
“What?” Scootaloo asked confused.
“That’s my name. Trash,” he said with a smile, “Nice to officially meet you Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo stared at him, tear welling up in her eyes, “L-likewise.”
Evening was fast approaching and casting the white room into grey and orange shades. The sky turning shades of violet and amber as the sun descended.
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4575403 so its been long ass time and no new chapter
6403093
If it is to chapter 4 you are referring then I agree. Sadly that is still in the works as I hope to have both 4 and 5 done and post both within a few days of each other as something of an apology for the time it's taken to get the words together
Except the new I posted back in June.
6404642 don't be dead
6512078
Its not dead. I promise.
6531255 thank god you not deader than disco
7367503
...maybe.