Her eye lids were sent a flutter, immediately annoyed by the amount of dust on them upon her wake. She shot up, but quickly fell back down in the bed she was unknowingly in. It felt as if all the strength she originally had was depleted. She tried once more and fell on the marble tiled floor of the room. The first thing she noticed was the floor as cracked and weathered slightly. She shrugged it off thinking it was just, simple put, bad maintenance of the building which she now identified as a hospital of sorts due to the equipment in the room and the withered flowers on the nightstand next to a knocked over lamp.
She focused back on regaining her balance and standing on all four hooves when she suddenly realized something. The mare focused her attention on the withered flowers, they were brittle and a coagulated blood color. They were roses at one time, but now they were a distant memory of what they once were. She pulled herself up on the bed to get a better look at them, which proved to be a heavy task to put on someone with the arm strength of a newborn foal at this point. She made it up there, and flung open the card attached the flowers plastic wrapping.
"Dear Scootaloo," She began out loud in a hushed tone, due to the fact that was all she could muster. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I never meant for this to happen! Please forgive me when you get out kiddo! Please!" She read. "Love, Rainbow" She finished. She knew the mare in the card, it was her older sister, by four years to be exact.
She got back up again, the strength in her legs slowly regaining. She wobbled over to the closet where she assumed they kept her things. Flinging it open revealed a layer of dust and mold along with a duffle back flung on top of a pile of boxes. Scootaloo grasped at it and trotted back over to the bed to open it's contents with some comfort. It has a wonderbolts cadet outfit, and a pair of goggles in disrepair. The left goggle was cracked and stained with grass and what looked like dry blood, and the right goggle seemed to just be completely shattered. Despite them being broken, she fixed them atop her head and changed from the hospital gown she just realized was her apparel and put on the suit. It was a little tight for some reason, but her nimble figure still fit in perfectly with it.
She slung the duffle bag over her backside and trotted slowly over to the nearest door she could find that looked like an exit. Her first try was correct, due to it being more distinctive than all the wooden doors in the room. Pulling it open caused a mass collapse in dust and grime to occur, Scootaloo coughed and dusted herself off. She looked around and was suddenly frightened at what she saw. The rest of the building was in worse condition than the room she was in, which was room zero-something-seven. She walked down the halls which had the tiles completely removed, lights hanging barely on the hinges, and tiles from the plaster ceiling missing. Hospital equipment was either left to collect dust or shattered and damaged. She sighed as she walked through it all.
The rooms were desolate, the hallways were destroyed, and it was overall lonely. The power being out and the general atmosphere gave Scootaloo the chills. A hospital, the only one in Ponyville, was empty and ruined. She got to the elevator and scoffed, she knew the damn thing wasn't going to work. She searched the area for a red door of sorts, or anything that said 'Emergency exit'. After a quick scan of the room, her gaze was locked on a doorway without a door, the hinges were torn off the door and there was what seemed like a trail of blood leading into the mystery room.
She trotted over the doorway, closer inspection brought two things to light; One, the room was actually a stairwell, and she was on the top floor, and two, the blood was fresh. She was taken aback by the sight. Fear and curiosity flooded her mind. She cautiously made her way down the staircase, following the blood trail. She didn't care about getting out anymore, but simply wanted to find the pony that was injured. Once she hit the first floor, she stopped. The trail led further down into the basement, but her exit was only a couple feet left from her. She let out a raspy groan, then continued down the stairs. Her vision getting obstructed by darkness, not enough to render her blind, but enough to remove her ability to establish detail just by glancing at something.
A loud gunshot rang from the basement, causing her to jump and take cover behind a pile of rotting oak wood crates. She heard a loud, in-equine screech followed by hoof steps coming towards her direction. Scootaloo's heart started to race when suddenly they stopped and she heard a familiar voice.
"Sc-Scootaloo?!" The mare voice rang from ahead.
The mare spun her around and embraced her. Her fuchsia eyes twinkled with tears in her eyes. Scootaloo winced, but she quickly released who was holding her.
"R-Rainbow Dash!" She cried, holding her tightly.
They held each other for minutes on end before letting go. They finally got a good look at each other. Rainbow Dash was wearing a red scarf and cracked wonder bolts goggles, her mane was scruffy and uncombed. She appeared to lack sleep and she had a rifle hanging on her saddle bags. Scootaloo, now a full grown mare, was rather scrawny due to the time she spent comatose. Her tattered wonderbolt cadet suit was dusty and her goggles were cracked and shattered.
Rainbow sighed. "Come on, Scootaloo follow me, you need something to eat and a new change in clothing."
Scootaloo raised her eyebrow. "What's the matter with my suit now? Besides the tears, I mean. Also, since when do you care about fashion?"
Rainbow Dash face hoofed. "You smell like black mold and sweat."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. They maneuvered through the building with ease, thanks to Rainbow Dash's map. Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped at the front door of the hospital. It had been boarded up but was still able to open due to somepony's breaking and entering.
"Er... What's the matter?" Scootaloo asked.
"Scootaloo..." Rainbow began. "Equestria isn't exactly how it was before your accident."
"Accident?" Scootaloo mimicked confused.
"I'll tell you about it when we get back to the cloud, just, follow me and you'll see what I mean." She told her, solemnly flinging the doors open. A bright blob of sunlight covered the door way. Scootaloo expected the beautiful meadows and tall trees she was so used to. But the Ponyville she knew was now an arid, silt covered Savannah with ruins that were once called homes and trees that have been scorched. Her world no longer existed, and she was forced into this nightmare.
This Hell...
