Photo Album
The Story; As It Went
By: Darkevony
"I'm still amazed you were even able to recall anything of the past." The doctor said as he walked in on Scootaloo and Featherweight. "We had to completely get rid off any of your old memory cells that were clogging up the memory part of your brain. Technically, you weren't supposed to remember anything at all. The operation was a success, but after my many years and many patients, none have ever had even the tiniest memory left. Tell me, where do those memories come from?"
With a confident smile, Featherweight turned to look at Scootaloo. "That's easy. From my heart, right?"
~~~~~~
A surge of emotions ran deep in her heart. A mixture of sadness, anger, happiness, and longing. Even trying to keep those unwinding thoughts at bay left her devastated and torn. She knew that it would be better for both of them if she just forgot, but how could she? How could he expect her to forget, after all that he done for her, after all he had suffered, after he made her like him...?
She had been running, trying to get away from it all. It was only now that she slowed down, slowly coming to a halt. The moon was now beginning to ascend across the sky, her thoughts slowly consuming her. It hurt to think of it. Too many thoughts, too many memories in such a short time. She was trying to make sense of them, sense of her feelings.
In only an afternoon, he had thought her how to fly. In only an afternoon, she had come to know of the things he had done to protect her, keeping her secret that she couldn't fly from everyone. He had been the one to take the picture of her stuck in the mud, her wings flapping uselessly. He had also been the one to convince Tiara that she could actually fly, keeping her secret still a secret. In only an afternoon, she learned that she was Featherweight's first memory, and much more than just that.
Now however, all of it would be gone soon. So how was it that he expected her to forget all that had happened? He had spent months of pent up feelings with the knowledge of his own condition, and when he had the courage to fight both the embarrassment and his disability, she shot him down thinking it was some cruel joke to humiliate her.
He did accomplish what he wanted to do then. It wasn't just to tell her that he liked her, it was Featherweight's last wish before his first memory would have become his last. Though she had been planning to confront him about his confession to her right after school had ended and they had time alone together, not truly pursuing the matter further than wanting to confirm what he had said, the photo album project that Miss Cherilee had thrown in a new situation that had led to this.
In the end, Scootaloo had been paired up with Featherweight on the project. They would have to work together to fill a photo album full of experiences and accomplishments of their own, whether those experiences were together or alone, that was up to the students. When her prejudice, anger, and embarrassment got the best of her at the time that Miss Cherilee had paired them up and she panicked, searching desperately for a way to avoid it, it was Featherweight who took a bold move to say that he wanted to work alone.
Miss Cherilee didn't say anything. His tone of voice and eyes fixated on her were determined to go it alone to try an not inconvenience Scootaloo, without waiting for her to say anything, he calmly walked out of the classroom, though not pulling any flags as it was early release to give the students a head start on their projects, he however had been the first to leave. Still, she saw something else between his determined expression. She could tell that he was hurt, after all, she had experienced that herself much too often. In that moment, he had reminded her of herself.
As everyone began to dismiss themselves after a few minutes as the ordeal calmed down, it was Snips and Snails who approached the trio of friends to talk to Scootaloo.
"And he bailed! Oh boy, who are you gonna work with now?" Snips yelped.
"That guy sure gots guts." Snails followed up.
"So was it you guys who told him to pull that trick on me?!" Scootaloo said, both furious and embarrassed.
"What? No way sister! Far as we know, he planned this all on his own." Snips said.
"So... you didn't set him up?" She said, now a little confused.
"Eaynope. He sure got you good though." Snails snorted his response.
Miss Cherilee walked up to the group of ponies since Scootaloo had raised her voice again as she had been talking to them. "What's this about Featherweight? Did you do something to upset him Scootaloo?"
"N-nothing ma'am." Scootaloo said to try and hide the events from before, embarrassed that a grown up may find out about it.
"Ha! It was nothing all right." Snips and Snails said as they laughed and walked out of the room.
"It really was nothing Miss Cherilee!" Sweetiebelle butted in, trying to keep Scootaloo out of trouble and out of the situation.
"Yeah, and even if it was something, it was him that was trying to mess with me." Scootaloo followed up.
Miss Cherilee scowled. "Oh girls... just... please don't try to upset him. He's been through a lot, and I'd appreciate it if you let him be, if he really did do something bad, try to forgive him."
"But why ma'am?" Applebloom asked.
"It doesn't really matter, since it won't matter in a few days. Just remember what I told you..." Her eyes suddenly turned a bit sad. She turned back to her desk and walked away. Scootaloo looked back at Sweetiebelle and Applebloom to see if they had noticed it too, but they had just shrugged it off and had gone back to talking about their projects, slowly packing their things and heading out the door.
Scootaloo watched as they left and quietly thought for a while in the silence, trying to make out the situation with Featherweight. Now she had a new variable, beyond the confronting him, which she couldn't exactly do in the first place because he walked out so profusely. She knew that she couldn't do the photo album on her own, because despite appearances, she didn't have anything to put in that photo album at all. No photos, no achievements, she had grown up believing that she wasn't amazing at all, heck, she couldn't even fly. She had nothing to believe in herself for, no good memory. She would have to rely on Featherweight for this project.
Taking a bold stance, she walked up to Miss Cherilee. "Ma'am I uh... wanted to talk to you about what happened." She cleared her throat to try and get rid of the embarrassment, Miss Cherilee's full attention now on her. "What happened was that he told me he liked me in front of everypony. They all started laughing at me, so I thought that he just did it to mess with me..." Scootaloo looked down, from embarrassment, from sadness, from guilt.
"That's odd." Miss Cherilee finally said after a few seconds of silence. "Did you talk to him a lot before he told you that though?"
"Not really. Today was the only time he ever even spoke a word TO me."
"How very odd..." Miss Cherilee stayed thinking a while. "This makes it worse..."
"What does?" First the confession, then his determined reply to work alone, and now Miss Cherilee trying to keep something away from her. Whatever was going on with Featherweight, she would have to confront it sooner or later.
"Look, Scootaloo, I'll let you work on this project alone. It's probably for the best if you let him be. It'll blow over soon, okay?"
"Okay... I guess." Knowing that she would get nothing out of Miss Cherilee, Scootaloo set out to find Featherweight.
In a fast stride, she looked around the school yard, watching as everyone slowly left together in pairs of two, laughing about what they could do with the project. There was no sign of Featherweight. Noticing Snips and Snails, Snips was bouncing with laughter. She got closer to overhear their conversation while staying out of sight.
"We should invite him to the group! That guy has guts, I tell ye Snails." Snips said.
"Then that would make us a trio! Do you think Miss Cherilee could let us work in a trio?"
"Let's go find him and ask if he wants to be in a trio first. I saw him go over to the park." In agreement, they set out.
The two began to fan out towards the park. Scootaloo tagged along, careful not to be noticed. Her mind was swaying from a mixture of things. Mostly trying to remember all the small hints of details she had known of him before the whole ordeal. He was always quiet, never had many friends or people that he talked to. He was the cameraman for the newspaper at the time they had undertaken the printing press at school. After that though, she never saw much of him. Almost like he was trying to avoid her. She hadn't given him much notice to be fair, but still...
Suddenly, she heard Snails talk. "Dude, you forgot to come with us after school after you walked out of class." Snails looked over at Featherweight who had been sitting on a bench.
"But we forgive you! That was totally awesome! You showed her. Man, she was so angry. Making her angry twice in a day, now that is a record that we can only hope to achieve." Snips said. "Radical bro. That was so awesome. Anyways, we'll see you around. Gotta get started working on the project. It's only a week deadline and we aren't very good at doing scrapbooks so see you around."
"Bye guys." Featherweight said, his tone of voice unsure and sad. Seemed Snips and Snails had forgotten to ask him to join their group. Featherweight stayed sitting down alone, looking over to a picture of his.
She took in a gulp of air and finally took her stand. "Hey, what's your problem anyways?" She saw as as his body tensed up, he hadn't turned to look at her.
"Huh?" He finally said after a while
"You heard me. What is your problem? First you try to humiliate me in front of everypony, then you just bolt away from our project?"
"Our project?"
"Ugh. You are a pain. I have to put off Cutie Mark Crusading because of this? What a drag. Look, don't think because I'm here that it means anything. Miss Cheerilee is strict about this and I know she wont accept solitary work, so I'm stuck with you whether you like it or not."
She knew ever well that Miss Cherilee had already given her an okay to work alone, even pushed it on her, but by then, she was trying to find an excuse to find out what was going on. That is where it had began. As they talked more in that while, Featherweight came to realize that Scootaloo couldn't fly. Although embarrassing, Scootaloo later accepted his proposal to let him teach her how to fly.
Sharing an afternoon together and finally learning, Scootaloo had fallen on her first real attempt at flying, and though it had depressed her that the thought of being much too far from being as good as Rainbow Dash, Featherweight was able to console her. Finally reaching a mutual agreement, Featherweight invited her to his house. In that moment, he had been able to remember his way home, and it wasn't until she had been inside his room and seen the life long collection of photography that he had taken with his weathered old camera, that she had learnt of his condition, and of much more.
Stumbling upon a photo album that he had been working on more profusely than the photos around him, the book itself held the most important memories of Featherweight. It was all the memories he valued most. The first page had a burnt picture of his parents, hardly visible. Onward into the book however, a vast collection of her began to fill the pages. Pictures of her accomplishments, of events and stunts she had done on her scooter, months of what seemed like eerie admiration by Featherweight. Finally pushing an explanation out of him, she found out that those pictures weren't for a stalker's fantasy at all. Those pictures meant much more to him.
His parents had perished when he was young, in those days, he had suffered a severe head injury that caused short term memory loss, giving up his ability to remember anyone or anything. The camera was the first and only gift of his parents, and he treasured it always, taking pictures and treating them as memories. All the photos that lay about his room and all the photos that lined the book itself were of the life he once had, of the life he once knew.
"Take a picture, it'll last you a life time."
"But nothing will ever be better than a memory."
The photos of her in the album meant much more, for he explained that it was because of her that he could remember anything at all. Thinking nothing much of her at the beginning, Featherweight found himself remembering Scootaloo and anything associated with her. In fear that his memories would go away like they would usually have done, he began to take photos of her, of anything amazing she'd do, of all the stunts and school plays, he wanted to keep the aspect of a memory, happen he to lose it. But eventually, as all things lead up to it, he began to find that Scootaloo was more than just his first memory, she was also the first pony he'd begun to like, and eventually, love.
Faced with the indecision of having to get operated in a day's time, Featherweight mustered his courage to tell her how he truly felt. And he was shot down. It had been his last wish before the operation would completely take away any and all memories that he may have had, and that would have included Scootaloo. Finally knowing of his true emotions, Scootaloo forgave him, but after knowing what he would do the day after, she left in a rush, distraught in the swirling thoughts of indecision and pain, unsure of what to truly think, unsure of what to do.
And it is where it finally led her to the moment of now, the moon now descending midst the sky, her mind recalling the memories, recalling what she had shared with him in only an afternoon's worth. How could he expect her to forget? How...? It just seemed so unfair...
Her dreams began to fill up with those memories, and then the next day came to rise.
She had dreamt of him again...
Waking up for another day, her mind still lay unsure. Only a small margin of time had passed, and she didn't know whether that would be enough time to think it over, but it was only now that she knew that her decision would have to come soon. Beside her bed lay the photo album that Featherweight had kept. He had asked her to use it for the photo album project since it had all of her accomplishments jotted down, even some of his. She had forgotten the photo album at his house the day before when she rushed away with her mind entwined with hurting emotions. She went to get it the next day, only to be greeted by Featherweight's brother who had been looking after him. He told her that he had gone to get the operation and would be hospitalized until he would fully recover, which would take about a week's time.
Having gotten what she was after, the week passed by and she devoted her time working on the photo album. No one at school truly knowing of what happened to Featherweight, and though she got called out on the situation only a slither amount of times, she promptly dismissed them and spoke of it with no one, not even her two best friends. They had even asked her to take a break from the project on several occasions to go Cutie Mark Crusading, she would object then, focusing all of her time and attention of the album to give it her own special feel to it, even going so far as to do an all-nighter to finish it on the last day in which it was due.
The book now firmly in her grasp, she headed out to school.
Taking her seat in the now bustling room of student, everyone began to present their projects one by one. It was during lunch that Snips and Snails, along with Tiara and Silver Spoon and her own friends finally approached her about her situation with Featherweight.
"So looky here, Featherweight even ditched you on presentation day! A-class bridge troll!" Snips said, making Snails snort out a laughing response.
"Truly an inspiration to us all." Snails said.
"Well if I had to deal with Scootaloo too, I wouldn't have shown up either." Tiara as condescending as ever, only getting a "Uhuh" in approval from Silver Spoon.
"Leave Scootaloo alone. I bet it was all his fault! She worked so hard on the photo album on her own, and he didn't even help her! He is just as bad as the lot of you!" Sweetiebelle barked back at them.
"Yeah! I reckon he even talked to Miss Cherilee to get out on it! What a lazy bum, none of ya'll know nothin'." Applebloom followed up.
In all that time, she had wanted to forget. As strange as it sounded, pouring all her devotion into the photo album kept her thoughts of him at bay. She thought that maybe if it finally blew over without dwelling deep into those thoughts, that maybe she would have been able to forget. Even so, she could not avoid the conversation around her, and everyone badmouthing him was only making it worse...
"No." She finally said, everyone turning to look at her. Her face now held a serious but determined expression. "It is none of you that know anything. He would never do that. He poured more into the photo album than I could have possibly done in a week. He would only let me do this alone if benefited me. He isn't here because he just got operated and is recovering. So please, stop thinking that he did something wrong and leave it be." No one said anything for a while. They all looked ashamed of themselves. It was a prejudice that she herself had felt, the very same that she had first held out for him. They all felt what she felt, but none of them knew him the way she did.
"Wow... sorry Scoots... We didn't really know." Applebloom finally said as everyone returned to their seats except her two friends.
"It's fine. After all, I thought the same way as you only a week before." Scootaloo couldn't be cheered up. As presentations continued, and hers being the last, the time was ticking ever more so, and her emotions lay in the collateral damage of the events before her, the indecision becoming stronger.
When her turn finally came, Miss Cherilee had been announcing both names of the partners who would do their photo album, but when it came to her, she only announced her name, and not Featherweight's. She got up to the front, the big book logging on her back until she lifted it onto the pedestal facing everyone. She cleared her throat and began.
"Featherweight couldn't be here today, but he asked me to present this." She pointed to the book, twice, even thrice as big as anyone else's photo album. In that instant, before she continued on, she had finally made up her mind. "Our photo album."
Though she was sure to leave out his condition, she shared some of the philosophy that Featherweight thought her the afternoon that they had spent together. Down to the value of memories, to the greatness of imagination, to the representations of pictures, and the amount of joy she had putting the presentation and the photo album together for it's final debut. When her presentation was over, everyone applauded in awe and admiration. It had been far better than she had anticipated, and the pictures themselves were awe-inspiring, vivid, and joyous. She found herself smiling warmly by the end of her presentation. Featherweight truly had done a better job than she could have ever done. Before she had presented the book however, she did make sure to leave out one picture that she now kept for herself. It was the last one that Featherweight had added to it. The only picture that wasn't any of her accomplishments, but rather, of her smile.
She dismissed everyone after school and walked over to the hospital, taking the book and the picture along with her. Making her way over to his room, she opened the door to see him staring out the window. Without turning his head, she walked in slowly, placing the book onto a nearby chair and waiting to hear some response from him.
"So hey doc, when do you think I can eat solid food again? Soup is okay, but I've been eating nothing but since I woke up. And I hate that thing uh... what's it called... cranberry juice? Yeah, that. It's nasty. On the bright side though, I'm remembering stuff now!" He said, still without turning.
"Maybe soon I'm guessing." Scootaloo said. It was only then that he finally turned to see who the visitor was. His expression was in a slight shock, and a small silence followed afterwards. Scootaloo held out a warm smile for him, their eyes locked on each other. Her eyes began to grow watery as the silence continued. She had really been hoping that he would remember her once more... "I thought maybe I'd visit you. You were out for a week, right before Miss Cherilee's photo album project. I had enough time to think it over... and I thought that maybe... even if all of your memories were gone... I still wanted to be with you." The silence only continued, and she lowered her head, trying to hide her eyes who were now tearing up.
"I awoke about two days ago, you should have visited sooner! I could have helped you on the album... Scootaloo. I hope I didn't worry you too much."
Scootaloo looked up at him, he held that same warm smile that he had shown her when he helped her believe in herself when she first flew. The very same that she had longed for all this time apart. She hugged him tight, her tears now dampening his coat. "You... remember me..."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I? Well, you don't seem like the Scootaloo I knew from before." He said in a slight chuckle.
"I'm not the old Scootaloo..."
"So you must be the new Scootaloo then. You are still as pretty as I remember. I can't really notice the difference. I missed you..."
"I have to be sure... I have to be sure that you remember me. What is it that you remember?"
"Give me a moment to think." He began to focus on trying to remember. "It went a little something like this..."
