Sacrifices

by silverthorn

Chapter Three

SACRIFICES – CHAPTER THREE

As she flew down the alley, Swift was certain that Silver Spear was heading to the opposite end of the alley. The unicorn she was in pursuit of was a low-grade hoodlum who was suspected of bringing illegal goods into Canterlot. Straight Arrow's squad had broken up a deal and the three ponies involved had ran. Due to her location relative to the three criminals she had teamed up with Silver to take down the unicorn in question. All in all it was looking to be a textbook arrest.

Swift frowned as the unicorn dived into a warehouse through a door so small that she had to land and step inside, watching for any movement. She was about to take off again when something hit her hard from the side. She felt a burst of sharp pain as something tore the barding off her side then slashed at her side. Biting back a shriek as her wing was torn into, Swift got a look at her assailant, it was a Griffon, and a fairly big one at that. She was in a whole heap of trouble.

She cried out again as the Griffon rolled her onto her back and slashed at her face. The pain from the right hand side of her face was fairly appalling. She guessed that her eye was intact but she was bleeding pretty bad and it was getting hard to focus on anything, she just wanted to sleep. The only thing keeping her conscious was a little orange and purple bundle of energy waiting for her. “I'm sorry Scootaloo”. She then slipped into unconsciousness.

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Scootaloo was sitting in Brass Flank's apartment with Straight Arrow's colts eating sandwiches. She was looking forward to the time when she would be picked up, all she knew was it was apparently two years exactly since Swift agreed to look after her and there was a surprise planned for that night.

When there was a knocking on the door Brass walked to the door and checked the peep-hole before he opened it Brass sighed, he knew that when a Guards pony arrived at the door in full armour it was never good news. His very special somestallion had been lost while serving with the Guard and he hoped that one of the foals in his care wouldn't have the same fate that night. The look on the stallion's face was enough to tell him that something bad had happened. “We had better speak outside”.

He stepped into the corridor and away from the door before asking. “What happened?”.

The stallion frowned. “It's Swift, there's been an incident”.

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Scootaloo was almost apoplectic with terror when Brass carried her to the hospital. The stallion's warning that Scootaloo might want to be there was greeted by Brass asking his neigbour to look after Arrow's colts then flying to the hospital, carrying Scootaloo in his arms.

Upon arriving at the hospital Brass noted there was four armoured guards in reception who ushered the pair into the Intensive Care Unit. Outside Straight Arrow, Copper and Black Fire were waiting.

“What in Celestia's name happened. No-one told me there was a wild Griffon in Canterlot”. Arrow was not in a good mood.

“The Intel we got was completely BUBAR, that's what happened”. Black Fire looked past Straight Arrow and nodded.

Arrow turned and winced as she saw Scootaloo, looking completely terrified. She walked over and smiled. “Hey squirt. Come here”. She picked Scootaloo up and sat down on a seat. “I know you're scared but Swift is going to be okay. She got hurt stopping some bad ponies but we stopped them.

Scootaloo looked down, not sure either to cry or not. “How bad is she?”.

Arrow looked around, smiling as Black Fire sat down next to them. “Listen to me Scootaloo. Swift is just going to have to take it easy for a while. She was asking about you as they were bringing her here”. Arrow nodded, knowing it was a lie but guessing it was for the best.

Despite his lie, Scootaloo was crying into Arrow's mane as Arrow patted her on the back. “When, when can I see her?”.

Arrow smiled. “As soon as the doctors have finished a check on her”. She looked up as a doctor came out of the ICU. “How is she?”.

The doctor smiled as he saw Scootaloo, “Ah, Scootaloo. I treated you a couple of years ago. Swift is hurt but she'll be alright in time but I have to ask that only Scootaloo and one of you goes in to see her”.

Arrow nodded. “Okay, Copper, Fire, I need you to go to Swifts apartment. There is a letter on the bedside cabinet. I need you to bring that here along with a letter that is on the desk in my office at headquarters. There's no need for this night to be a complete loss for the squirt”.

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Scootaloo was still crying when Arrow brought her into the room. Swift was attached to all sorts of diagnostic machinery and most of her body seemed, to the filly, to be covered in bandages. There was something wrong about one of her wings and one side of her muzzle was covered in a bandage.

Swift smiled as she saw Scootaloo. “Hey, Scootaloo, I'm sorry you have to see me like this”.

“What happened to you?”. Scootaloo's voice was quiet. “Who did this to you”.

Swift sighed. “You know the rules, all you need to know is that I stop bad ponies. This time I ran into a bad pony that even I couldn't handle on my own”. She grinned as Scootaloo looked like she was going to cry again. “You know me, this isn't going to stop me. I'm as tough as a mule and twice as stubborn”. She glanced to Arrow who reluctantly let Scootaloo onto the bed. Swift smiled as she beckoned for the filly to come closer. “If you stay to this side it won't hurt me”. She didn't add the 'as much', She gave Scootaloo a one hooved hug as she sat her down beside her.

Swift looked at Arrow then smiled at Scootaloo, seeing the filly had calmed down a bit. “There's something I wanted to tell you at home but I guess this will do. It's exactly two years since I found you and I know you've been scared about being sent back to where I found you”. The nightmares had been less frequent recently but Scootaloo was still having them on occasion. “Well, I contacted Foal Protection Services and they agreed that I could do something else”.

Swift smiled, despite the pain. “As of this morning I adopted you. They can't take you away from me and it means that I'm not just your carer any more. I'm your mother, if you want me to”.

Scootaloo looked up at her and smiled. “You're my mother now”. Forgetting her mothers somewhat sore state, Scootaloo started jumping up and down on the bed.

Arrow picked her off the bed and smiled. “Remember squirt, your momma's all dinged up now. Remember when you fell over and skinned your knee”. Scootaloo nodded. “It's just like that only it's going to take longer for her to get completely healed”. She smiled as she heard running in the corridor outside. She opened the door and took the two envelopes from Copper. “Thanks guys, you may as well stay here. You'll want to hear the news”.

Copper smiled as he waved at Scootaloo. “I hate to break this to you Sarge, but we all know about Swift adopting the squirt”.

Arrow glared at Copper. “That's not what I'm talking about”. She turned to Swift and pulled a official letter out of one of the envelopes. “This is date yesterday. Blah, de, blah. Meritorious service, blah de blah, oh, here we are. Private Swift Wind, you are hereby approved for transfer to Celestia's Royal Guard. You are to report to Commander Shining Armour this coming Monday morning for advanced training”.

Arrow's eyes widened as she realised a flaw in the plan. “Oh, heck”.