Big Day Tomorrow
The next day passed by in a haze for Rainbow. As far as she could tell Scootaloo’s biggest complaint was that she wasn’t allowed to eat anything, thanks to the no eating for 24 hours before surgery rule. Despite the potential ramifications of what she was going to do, there was very little that Scootaloo needed to do by way of preparation. If she were older, she might have spent time preparing a will or otherwise assuring that her affairs were in order, but she was a child, and children didn’t really have affairs. She spent some time with the crusaders, and an afternoon with her mom, but neither of those events seemed out of the ordinary.
Rainbow couldn’t be sure what the mood was like during those times, but when they were together Scootaloo appeared determined to act as though this was no big deal. And so Rainbow made it her goal to play along, no matter how much she believed the opposite.
Though Dr. Splint had offered the operating bay in the Cloudiseum, after some thought Dr. Feather had deemed it prudent to use the surgical ward at Ponyville General. Although the surgical bay in the Cloudiseum was a fully functioning operating theater, it was also in the clouds. Since the doctors were going to be operating very near Scootaloo’s wing, which was where the magic that prevented her from falling through the cloud floor originated, Dr. Feather deemed it wise to just avoid the risk that Scootaloo fell through the table, and then the floor altogether.
But the risk of Scootaloo falling through the floor was the least of Rainbow’s reservations about the whole thing.
Sooner than she would have liked, Rainbow found herself tucking Scootaloo in, as though it was just another night. “Big day tomorrow, kid,” Rainbow said softly, after she had finished checking that Scootaloo was all snug under her blankets. Scootaloo nodded but didn’t say anything. “You want a bedtime story?” Scootaloo shook her head. “Would it be okay if I slept in here tonight?” Scootaloo nodded and made some room in the small child sized bed. Rainbow gingerly got in the bed and kissed Scootaloo on the forehead. She ruffled the soft purple mane and wraped a wing around her sister.
“You promised that we’d go flying the day after tomorrow, right Scoots?” Scootaloo nodded weakly and the pair snuggled in for a fitful night of sleep.
All too quickly, morning arrived and Rainbow flew Scootaloo down to the hospital. Rainbow never really liked hospitals, her time spent recovering in them saw to that, but today the nondescript white building felt extra ominous.
Waiting inside were the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Misty, and Rainbow’s five best friends. Rainbow checked Scootaloo in while Scootaloo hopped up on the gurney waiting to be wheeled into the prep area. Before she left for prep, the nurses gave everypony one last chance to say something to Scootaloo.
Rainbow’s friends went first. Rainbow stood back and watched as one by one they offered Scootaloo quiet well wishes, accompanied by a quick hug or pat on the back. The crusaders went next, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle approaching as a pair. Rainbow couldn’t hear what they said, but it elicited a big smile and laugh out of Scootaloo. The fillies lingered for a moment longer before reluctantly joining their big sisters in the hospital waiting room. Then Misty came forward. Rainbow couldn’t hear what she said either. She and Scootaloo appeared to have a short conversation that concluded with a long hug. Finally it was Rainbow’s turn. She briefly considered grabbing Scootaloo and bolting out the door, then she contemplated just bolting out the door herself.
But looking at Scootaloo sitting on the hospital bed, seemingly smaller than usual, steadied her nerves. She reached down and drew from that well of strength that mothers took from when their children were threatened, or that young colts used when trying to impress a filly. That internal fortitude that all ponies possessed. For the longest time, her well was fueled by Fluttershy. I need to do this for ‘Shy was a common refrain from her past that she said to herself whenever she felt doubt. Now that well was powered by her all her friends, but Scootaloo had taken her place as Rainbow’s primary motivation.
Rainbow approached, trying to act as though this was just another bedtime situation. She sat down near the edge of the bed and let a hoof rest near her sister’s head.
“I’m scared,” Scootaloo whispered, looking towards Rainbow with the kind of heartbreaking fear that she had sworn to guard against.
“Well I’m not,” Rainbow replied, with the most bravado she could muster.
“You’re not?”
Rainbow shook her head; it was the hardest lie she had ever had to tell. “Nope. My little sister made a promise, and I know she always keeps her promises,” she said with a grin.
Scootaloo tried to be reassured by Rainbow’s comments, but seeing as how she was the one that made that promise, Rainbow’s statement did little good.
Noticing the distress still plainly evident. Rainbow tried again. She leaned in close and looked Scootaloo straight in the eyes. “Hey kid. I’d never let anything happen to you, okay? So you don’t have to be scared, ever,” she said moving her hoof to the top of her sister’s head.
Those words appeared to have the effect she wanted because Scootaloo instantly seemed more at ease. “Hey, Rainbow?” she said looking up with wide purple eyes.
“Yeah kid?”
Scootaloo bit her lip and rubbed her head against the soft hoof. “If something happens, will you...will you take care of my mom for me?”
Rainbow frowned. “You can take care of her yourself.”
“Please Rainbow?”
The plea was heartbreaking. How could she possibly say no? She wanted to; it felt too much like tempting fate to acknowledge that “something might happen”. One of the first things Rainbow learned about flying was that you didn’t think about crashes, because once you allowed those negative thoughts to enter your head you were inviting them into reality. Her next words came out barely as a whisper. “Okay kid, I promise.”
Scootaloo smiled weakly but didn’t say anything else. The pair sat there for a few minutes, with Rainbow gently stroking Scootaloo’s mane until a nurse politely tapped Rainbow on the shoulder. No one said anything, but the nurse began to wheel Scootaloo toward the prep room and Rainbow could only watch helplessly as her sister receded from view.
Rainbow walked back out into the waiting room and sat quietly in front of the doors to the surgical ward. The double swinging doors loomed ominously in front of her, literally keeping her from the one place she wanted to be more than anything. She felt a wing drape around her; its yellow color and familiar feel told her it was Fluttershy’s without having to look up.
“Thanks for coming girls, but you don’t have to stay. You’re not her family, “Rainbow murmured staring at the ground.
“What a terrible thing for you to say, darling.”
“Huh?”
Rarity smiled and leaned in so she could make eye contact. “Whether you like it or not, we are your family dear.”
“Yep, and Scootaloo’s your family too. And that makes her our family,” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
“And family stays,” Applejack finished, accompanied by murmurs of agreement.
Rainbow wasn’t really sure what to say, or even if she was capable of speaking. Fortunately for her, a reassuring squeeze from Fluttershy negated the need for her to say anything else. The five friends sat in a sort of semi circle around Rainbow and settled in for a long wait.
After a minute or so of silence, Pinkie got up. “I’ll be right back.”
Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy watched as Pinkie Pie walked over to Misty. They couldn’t hear what Pinkie said but from Misty’s reaction, it appeared to be obvious. Misty nodded and followed Pinkie back to where Rainbow and her friends were all huddled. A few brief hellos and nods were exchanged but nopony said anything of substance.
And so the seven ponies waited together.
.
Six hours passed, the scheduled surgery time. Then a seventh hour, then an eighth. Rainbow grew increasingly nervous and at one point had to be restrained with a magic field, courtesy of Twilight, from barging into the operating room.
Finally Doctor Feather emerged from the operating room, a grim and exhausted expression written plainly on her face. The seven ponies stared at her, Misty covered her mouth with her hooves, and Rainbow started shaking.
The doctor sighed, “She’s stable. She’s lost a lot of blood, but we managed to stop the bleeding.”
“I want to see her!” Rainbow practically screamed.
“She’s in a coma. I can take you to her, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” the doctor replied.
“I want to see her.” Rainbow repeated her voice quieter but no less hostile.
Dr. Feather led the group to hospital room 2A. When the group reached the door, the doctor put out a hoof to stop Rainbow from entering. “She’s stable,” the doctor said, repeating the phrase she had first used to describe Scootaloo’s condition.
Rainbow glared at the doctor, attempting to push past the hoof that was keeping her away from her little sister, but the hoof held firm.
“I think we should listen to what the doctor has to say,” Twilight whispered loud enough to be sure Rainbow heard her.
Dr. Feather delivered the news with a professionalism befitting her stature. Her voice was even, calm but still laced with understanding. “We removed the mass. It hadn’t metastasized to her spine, but it was caught up with the base of her wings, including one of the major arteries. When we removed it, it ripped a tear in the brachial artery open. We clamped it shut and transfused two liters, but she still lost a lot of blood. The shock is what put her in the coma.”
“What does that mean doctor?” Misty asked.
“It means that, if she’s going to be okay, she needs time to recover.”
“If? What do you mean if!” Rainbow shrieked.
“She’s not getting any worse; that’s a good sign. All we can do is wait.” Doctor Feather looked to see if anyone had anything else to say but no one said anything.
The doctor lowered her hoof and Rainbow walked into the room. She promptly felt her knees buckle. Scootaloo lay unconscious in her hospital bed, an IV sticking out of her foreleg and a tube shoved down her throat, held to her mouth with a haphazard looking piece of medical tape. A large portion of her back had been shaved, leaving the area around her wings devoid of its usual orange fur. Instead, an ugly red scar, accented with black stitches, ran up the length of the bare skin. Rainbow crept to the edge of the bed. “Scoots?” she whispered, but the little filly didn’t even stir.
“Would it be okay if I was alone with Rainbow for a minute?” Misty asked, turning to the other five ponies. They all nodded and proceeded to back out of the room, leaving Rainbow and Misty alone with an unconscious Scootaloo.
“I’m sorry,” Rainbow whispered, her voice ragged and broken. “I…I shouldn’t have let this happen.” Her confession delivered, she found herself unable to even look at Scootaloo’s mother as hot tears started to fall down her cheeks.
“I remember the first time she told me about you.”
Rainbow forced herself to look up. “Really?”
Misty nodded, wiping at her eyes. “She burst through the front door, talking a mile a minute about the coolest pegasus ever, who told her she ‘had moves’,” Misty replied making air quotes with her hooves.
Rainbow smiled at the memory, hazy as it was. She couldn’t recall it as anything special, but she did have some recollection of seeing Scootaloo flying through the air on her scooter before they went camping. That such an insignificant gesture on her part clearly meant so much set off another wave of self loathing. “Heh, yeah. Umm she never really told me much about you.”
Misty shrugged. “I’m not surprised. I know I’m-what’s the word Scootaloo would use? Kind of lame.”
“You’re not lame,” Rainbow protested.
Misty smiled sadly and rolled her eyes before returning her gaze to the orange filly in the hospital bed. “I’m an accountant, I’m a member of a knitting circle and I don’t like spicy foods. I know Scootaloo loves me, but I’ve never been what you might call cool.”
Rainbow tried to think of a counter point, but nothing came to mind. “Yeah, I guess that’s kinda lame.” Rainbow also looked down at Scootaloo and then back toward Misty. “She made me promise to take care of you if something were to happen.” Rainbow fought back a fresh wave of tears. “That was the last thing she said to me.”
Instead of choking up like she was, Rainbow was surprised to hear a soft chuckle emanate from Misty. “She made me promise to take care of you.”
“Why’d you bring balloons Pinkie?”
“Hospitals are sooo boring. When she wakes up I want there to be happy things in the room.”
“Thanks Pinkie, I’m sure she’ll like them.”
“How ya holdin’ up sugar cube?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me that? I’m not the one ponies should be worried about,” Rainbow said with a snort.
“Well, if Scootaloo could answer, I reckon I wouldn’t have to pose it to you.”
Rainbow just grunted as Applejack sat down next to her.
“You need to fix this Twilight.”
“Rainbow I can’t-”
“Fix it! You’re Twilight f’in Sparkle. Since when is there something you can’t do?!”
“I can’t fix this Rainbow,” Twilight whispered.
Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t care what it takes. Write to Luna, Write to Celestia, go into that scary section of the library you’re always trying to avoid. Heck, Discord owes us a favor.” Rainbow glared at Twilight and growled. “Fix. This.”
“You have to eat something.”
“Scootaloo’s not eating anything. Besides, I’m not hungry.”
“Rainbow, she wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself.”
“She also wouldn’t want to be breathing through a tube, so let’s maybe worry about that before you start lecturing me about what I should or shouldn’t be doing!”
Despite her general lack of impulse control, there existed a failsafe when it came to Fluttershy. Even at her worst, Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to get to upset at her childhood friend. That failsafe prevented Rainbow from verbalizing her suggestion about exactly what Fluttershy could do with the piece of fruit she was presently holding.
“Eat this apple, please?” It was phrased as a plea but it may have well been an order for all that Rainbow was able to refuse.
Rainbow reluctantly took a bite of the apple. It tasted like failure, but she finished it anyway under Fluttershy’s watchful gaze.
“You look awful, dear.”
“I’m fine.”
Sometime around mid afternoon on the third day, Rainbow blinked her eyes. Time didn’t really have any meaning for her anymore, but from the harsh glare of the sun she guessed it was sometime past morning. She stole a glance at herself in the mirror. Rarity would recoil in horror if she saw how greasy her mane looked, but Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to care. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a little orange hoof twitch. She darted to Scootaloo’s bedside just in time to see her little sister’s eyes flutter open.
She coughed weakly, a response to a tube being shoved down her throat. “Hey Rainbow Dash.”
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....If you had killed her I would've cried so hard
If you did kill her I swear to god.... I would've done nothing more than leave this story alone.
If you had killed her, I would've done my darnedest to reach through this laptop screen and strangle you.
Just sayin'.
Awesome, looking forward to the next update :-)
The chapter came out great. I just wish I didn't have to wait longer to find out how the operation actually went. Is scoots all right? Can she fly now? Is she paralyzed? Can she feel her toes? Crap, she can't feel her toes! Where did they go?
If you had killed her, I would have been sad and then gone back to work.
5854518 Scootaloo is a pony. She hasn't really got toes.
5854566 WHAT? THE OPERATION TURNED HER INTO A PONY? WHAT KIND OF WHACKJOB HOSPITAL IS THIS?
5854576 What, no one told you about the Conversion Bureau hospitals?
5854644 Wait, this is one of those? Ok, that actually makes sense XD
5854652 Not at all. I was joking. All characters have been ponies this entire time.
5854752 Me too. I wrote the first comment about her toes disappearing as a joke.
Is it bad of me to have kind of wanted Scoots to stay in that coma for a while until Rainbow had truly devolved into madness...?
5855359 an earlier version of this had Rainbow going a bit crazy, but I decided that didn't cover any new ground.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/15/e7/8c/15e78c789d0fa37b75ce6d230ef3bef9.jpg
*Grabs tissue and dries eyes after reaching the end*
If Scoots had died... I'm fairly sure Rainbow Dash would hunt down Death and beat the shit out of him to get her back.
5854477 Agreed!
yay i'm glad Scoot came outta her coma, i woulda cried if she'd passed on like she did in Sister Mikes' story the receptions been cancelled
You do plan on crippling her at least, right? Tragedy makes better sequels!
Good compromise. Killing her would have been - well, pretty much the end of the story - or at least, would have turned it into a rather grim read watching Rainbow collaspe[1] (though a good author, like a good DM, has to be able to cheerfully pretend you might, else, as you say, there'll be no tension).
Equally, after heavily underlining the risks repeatedly, having her come through smiling would have been straining of the suspension of disbelief. You could spun it out a bit longer, I suppose, but I don't think it would have added much, watching Rainbow wallow in guilt.
[1]Also, people would be likely complaining that's not what they signed up for because tags can be viewed by some people as a hard limitation, rather than a guideline. Of course, really evil authors *whistles innocently* can cheerfully occasionally use tags as misdirection to add to the genera switch impact...!
5853224
Wow, I wasnt meaning that in a bad way :( Geez...I just wanted to ask...For the record, I only take the time to ask on stories I kinda like..so..yeah..that..
Had me scared for a bit, actually. But I'm glad everything's gonna be fine
And title drop...
Now
Your driving us crazy, with the constant suspense, man! 
Either way, im loving how you mess with my head and keep me up at night wondering whats going to happen! Im so eager every day to check my library and see if there's an unread chapter. When I saw you had updates, I kiiinda freaked out.
Also, man I hate cliffhangers
Keep up the good work!
5854566
th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2014/076/7/a/that_s_the_joke_by_masemj-d7amagb.png
5855616 Thank you.
5856212 Hey now. I briefly considered having Rainbow step out of the room, and then a doctor comes running up to her saying something like "You need to come with me." and ending the chapter there.
5856040 Hmm we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. I get a little sensitive when people bring up wait times, I didn't mean to be rude, I only meant that asking when the next chapter would be incoming is considered a bit of a faux pas. If I was going to abandon a story I'd at least mark it canceled.
DON'T DO THAT I REALLY THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO END WITH SCOOTS DYING
.....if you had killed her, my reaction would be something like *point gun* you better find a good way to bring her back!
but since scoots alive, you may live.
5856857
Its fine, I understand. I honestly hesitate asking sometimes because I never know when someone is going to want the question or not. No hard feelings.
OOOoooooooooooooohhh the tears !!!!!!!!!
Pie
_________
Ha! I never once considered that you would kill off Scootaloo.
Well, considering how I breathed a gigantic sigh of relief at that last sentence, I think it's safe to say you did a hell of a job. Phew. Now, Pinkie, Surgery Success Party please!!!
5958040
Well, that actually answers my question, and I'm sorry for not being more precise with it I guess? Usually I'm TOO precise if anything.
5958632 True Very true
Although this would crush rainbow
She loves scoot and that love will always overpower that crushing
But in reality that love doesnt fix the fact that it would break her
Not being able to fly
No clouds
And Its what she does for entertainment
Life would be alot more complicate for the boths
Just so scootaloo could fly
And scootaloo as said would feel guilt
No matter how strong rainbow presses the point she shouldnt
Here come the waterworks.