To Believe

Scootaloo’s eyes flickered open. A sudden scorch of pain pierced through her head as she began to register her surroundings. The soft warm glow of the sun’s rays trickled in through the window behind her and reflected off the silky white bed sheets covering her.

The cake?

Her pupils dilated as she scanned the room looking for the burning candles that had just been in front of her. Spotting nothing, her heart beat quickened and she started to take frantic breathes, looking for any sign of her past.

What about the- the… the? She internally searched her memories for an answer, but it kept coming back with a blank slate.

It hit her, almost like a brick to the face. She felt herself beginning to tear up. She mustered up the strength and pride to stop before she even started and muttered, “A dream… Nothing more than a dumb dream.”

She closed her eyes once again as she brought her hoof up to her head. Scowling because of a mix of pain and confusion, Scootaloo felt something wet on her skull. She lifted a hoof and felt some sort of fabric tightly wrapped around her head. Then as she dropped her hoof, still unaware of what had happened to her, the only door to her single room began to slowly open.

“Yes, yes,” Scootaloo heard an abrupt and annoyed voice echo from the other side.

The door fully opened, revealing a dark gray mare clad in a finely-pressed black suit. Scootaloo watched as the mare ignored the voices behind her, and stomped her way into the room.

“Give her more time to rest, lady!” a stallion in a white doctor's coat walked in, practically yelling at the mare.

“I just need to get some notes down,” She stopped and turned her head, scrunching her muzzle, “It’ll take two seconds, so give me a moment!”

The doctor could only shake his head as he added, “Her friends will be here soon, so this better take only a second.” He angrily stepped out of the room, leaving the mare with Scootaloo.

Scootaloo frowned as the suited mare briskly trotted across the private room. The mare took note of Scootaloo’s frown, but chose not to care. Her job was much more important to her in every respect.

The mare moved in beside Scootaloo and quickly ripped a notebook out of one of her suit pockets. “So,” she began with a huff, “I’m going to ask you few questions, are you ready?”

The mare did not wait for a response as she picked up a feather from a table next to Scootaloo and dabbed it in a inkwell it had sat by.

Still bewildered, Scootaloo replied, “I-I. I’m no-”

The mare interrupted with a overly enunciated “Perrrffffeeecccttt…”

“But I-”

“Do you remember anything?” The mare continued her disruptive flurry of questions.

“Well, I do have some weir-”

“Yes or no.”

Scootaloo mentally sighed and resigned to conform to her strange visitor’s rules, “No…”

Jolting down her answer, she continued, “You’re from the Ponyville orphanage, yes?”

“Yes,” Scootaloo stated with a frown as she readjusted her position to get more comfortable on such an unpleasant topic.

“It was shut down on the grounds of ‘insufficient funds’?” The mare continued while lightly tapping the end of the feather against the exposed page, either oblivious or not caring about the physical discomfort her questions were causing Scootaloo.

“Yeah… They tried really hard to get the bits but it didn’t wo-”

“Were you relocated after the shutdown?”

“N-no,” Scootaloo’s eyes glistened as her memories were recalled to answer the mare’s question.

Scootaloo watched as she wrote down more notes and placed the feather back in the inkwell when she had finished.

“Hmm, well thank you for the help, errrrr...” The mare waved a hoof in front of her to try and communicate that she was asking for a name.

“Scootaloo.”

“Yes, Scootaloo, thank you.”

The mare quickly placed the notebook back in her pocket. After doing so, she turned towards the door and left without another word. Scootaloo was somewhat relieved to see her leave. Though their time together was brief, she had the urge to smack the mare in the face if they were ever to meet again for being so inconsiderate.

“Rude…”

As the door slammed closed and some muffled yelling behind it disappeared, Scootaloo moved her hoof back to her aching head. She didn’t know how long she was out, but one thing was for sure: It wasn’t where she wanted to be.

Twilight felt her muscles tense as she entered the Ponyville hospital for the first time since Rainbow Dash’s accident. It was just as she remembered, clean and lifeless. She subconsciously scanned the waiting room as she walked to the front desk.

Ponies sat quietly, waiting patiently for their turn with one of the doctors. Twilight grimaced at the various ponies and the injuries they sustained, of which included broken wings and chipped hooves. Although they were unsettling to look at, there were no injuries of special note.

She approached the desk, and the receptionist recognized her almost immediately.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle!” she donned a large grin, which Twilight mirrored back at the orange unicorn.

“Hi there,” said Twilight. “I received a message in the mail to come over here? I apparently have an appointment with somepony…”

“Hmmm,” the mare hummed as she flipped through the appointment book on top of her desk. Twilight waited a long moment as the receptionist flipped though the older pages of her book and periodically lowered her head down to the book’s level to check the small names and dates transcribed on the thin paper.

“Yes!” she finally exclaimed as she nearly hopped out of her chair, “You’ve been booked for room six, Foal Wing!”

The mare happily closed the book and used her magic to bring up a small sheet of paper that had sat below the desk, “If you could, can you please sign this before going?”

Twilight eyed the paper and tried pushing it away with a hoof, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t sign for any appointment…”

The receptionist pushed the paper back in front of her and stated, “Oh… Well, it said that you were close friends with the patient.”

“I-I” Twilight took a breath, composing herself, “Who is it?”

“Erm-” The mare frowned as she looked down at the large book in front of her and trailed off as she spoke, “I can check again, if you want…”

“No, no,” Twilight waved her hoof, not wanting to wait for the mare to flip through all the pages again. Instead, she looked down at the paper placed in front of her. With a sigh, she signed it using a provided quil without any sign of grace present in her movements.

I’m sure I’ll get my answers when I get there. Besides, visiting a sick pony won’t hurt.

Twilight smiled at the thought of giving a lonely pony in need company. To think that somepony wanted her of all ponies to comfort them gave her a feeling of happiness she had not felt in ages.

With that, she walked down the hall with a large smile on her face.

The suited mare held her chin held high as she glared daggers at Twilight. The two of them stood in the hall just outside of Scootaloo’s room.

“Are you telling me that you had no clue?” she snided.

Twilight pawed the ground nervously and looked down in shame, “Well I-”

“I’ve been called to Ponyville to investigate the well being of its foals, and what do I find?” the mare huffed in frustration, “I find the whole orphanage shutdown due to lack of funding! And the Princess, the highest ‘authority’ in this small hick town, has no clue as to why!”

Twilight’s mouth hung open as she struggled to respond, “I-I-I had no clue it was getting shut down!”

As Twilight tried to hide from the mare’s ceaseless glare, the mare questioned, “Do you know how many foals are running out in the streets, homeless, now? And from what I understand, its been going on for weeks!”

“W-weeks?” Twilight gasped, “They were outside for the whole storm?”

“Yes, and in fact, one got seriously hurt and had to be put into a magically-induced coma.”

The mare pointed a hoof at the door and declared, “The least thing you could do is go inside and say you’re going to do something. You know, while I fix your mess.”

Twilight turned to the lone metal door as the mare huffed and hastily stomped away. She trotted up to the door and lifted a hoof.

What am I going to say? I don’t think ‘I’m sorry’ is going to cut it, Twilight! I hope it isn’t too bad… Celestia, why didn’t I know? Was it really all my fault?

The flood of questions continued as she started to push on the door, hoping the sight of the hurt foal won’t be too much for her to take.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!

Twilight opened the door and stopped in her tracks as she saw the foal inside.

Oh, Celestia…

Scootaloo was laid back on a hospital bed, asleep. Twilight’s stare moved up the filly's body to the bloody bandages coiled tightly around the small filly’s head and the various scratches and scars that marred the once-lively skin beneath her dull orange coat.