To Believe

Scootaloo tossed and turned in her bed. She kept her eyes closed tightly before a voice spoke up from her bedside.

“Shhh,” she heard it say. Scootaloo’s mane parted as a hoof ran through it. She sighed in relief as it continued on.

“It’s alright, Scootaloo, I’m here.”

As the mare spoke, Scootaloo felt pure joy as she recognized the voice as none other than her sister’s. Scootaloo rolled over in her bed to face her visitor. A jovial smile spread across her face as her eyes met the magenta eyes of Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow!” Scootaloo almost sobbed, practically jumping out of her bed before Rainbow Dash placed a hoof above her and motioned for her to lay back down.

“No, no. Lay down, Scootaloo, you need your rest,” Rainbow said in a gentle voice. Scootaloo did what she was told obediently, nestling into her soft covers. The pain in her head was almost nonexistent. Her head had been throbbing since she had awoken earlier, though now, it was nothing more than a dull ache.

“I thought you left me here…”

“Of course not! I would never do that to you, Scoots!” Rainbow Dash playfully tousled Scootaloo’s mane.

The front door’s handle began to jiggle before it quickly swung open, revealing a familiar-faced doctor.

“Hello, Doctor!” Dash stood up from her stool beside Scootaloo’s bed and walked up to the doctor. “Do you have some good news about our little plan!”

The mention of a ‘plan’ made Scootaloo smile. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like it was good news for everypony.

“Yes, mam!” The doctor looked over to Scootaloo and gave her wink. “Scootaloo has fully recovered!”

“Thank, Celestia!” Rainbow jumped up in the air in joy. When she landed, she looked back over to Scootaloo. “Do you know what this means?”

Scootaloo shook her head in confusion, but she did it with a large grin splitting her muzzle.

Rainbow Dash trotted back over to Scootaloo’s bedside. She reached over to the bed’s covers and lifted them up off of Scootaloo. “We’re free to go!”

The words barely registered in Scootaloo’s mind before she jumped down to the floor. Her legs felt better than ever as she felt the cold hospital floor beneath her hooves.

“Really?”

“Yep! Come on, Scoots, you’re coming home with me!”

Scootaloo’s eyes could hardly take the feelings building up within her and before she knew it, she ran to Rainbow Dash, hugging her as tightly as she could, “Thank you, thank you!”

Rainbow Dash rubbed Scootaloo on her head, “No problem!”

A long moment passed as Scootaloo held on to Rainbow Dash’s leg, unwilling to let go until Dash began to move to the front door. Scootaloo followed beside her as they made their way to the closed door.

The doctor, Scootaloo noticed briefly, was now gone without a trace. She could swear she didn’t see him leave. Her brow raised as her gaze moved over to Rainbow Dash. She gasped loudly as her blood froze over.

Rainbow was emotionlessly frozen, locked in position like a stone statue.

“Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked before taking a step forward. As her extended hoof touched the cold floor, a huge bolt of pain ripped through her entire body. She fell over with a ‘thump’. Her head spun in circles as she tried to get back on her hooves.

“Rainbow?!”

She looked up but Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight. The once white walled hospital room was now reduced to pure darkness. Everything was gone. Everything… But her.

“-Calcium, Chlorine, Copper,” Scootaloo heard a sing-song voice echo in the distance, “Potassium, Oxygen, Silicon, Carbon,” the rhythmic voice was getting louder with every passing word.

“Hello?” she yelled out into the darkness as the voice got even closer.

“Iron,” Scootaloo tried to get up, but couldn’t, “Zinc.” Her vision blurred as she searched for the source of the song.

The voice crescendoed as it finished, “Aluminum!”

Scootaloo’s ears twitched as the song continued. She tried to move, but found her body to be in a complete mess. Every leg hurt tremendously as she tried to move them individually. Her head felt like it was going through a war, as every part of it fought the other to see just how much pain it could cause her.

Another dream… Scootaloo thought. Why can’t I just sleep forever?

“One more time, now!” Twilight sang happily as she looked down at a foal’s ‘sing-along’ book she pulled from the nightstand drawer as she sat on a bedside stool.

“No!” Scootaloo pleaded, pushing the pillow over her head to block out the sound. She didn’t care how much pain she had to endure to get the pillow around her head, she just wanted it to stop. “No more singing!”

“Oh!” surprised,Twilight quickly looked up from her book and magically placed it back on the bedside nightstand, “Sorry, Scootaloo, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Twilight let a smile edge its way onto her face, but it was clear that it was somewhat forced.

Scootaloo sighed from under the pillow, “Errr, it’s alright,” Scootaloo felt another surge of pain run through her head like a herd of stampeding minotaurs.

“My head just hurts… A lot”

“Do you need some medicine?” Twilight tilted her head sideways with a look of concern.

“Are they pills?” Scootaloo slightly lifted up her pillow to look at Twilight.

“Yes,” Twilight stated with a hopeful smile.

Scootaloo placed the pillow back over her head, “I don’t want them.”

A long moment passed as Twilight bit her lower lip while she simply stared at Scootaloo’s newly made pillow fort. Come on, Twilight. You have to bring it up sometime…

“Hey,” Twilight spoke up. “Can I talk to you about something?”

“Urrggghh,” Twilight heard Scootaloo moan from underneath the fort. Twilight nodded to herself as she took it as acknowledgement.

Twilight let out a breath before starting, “Well, I was hoping we could talk about the orph-”

BLAM! The front door swung open violently as the familiar voice of the doctor protested.

“Appointments and families only!” the fuming doctor yelled down the hall at the pony standing in the doorway.

“Back off!” Rainbow Dash retorted back as she entered the room. Before Twilight could even say a word, she heard the stomping of the doctor’s hooves down the hall.

“I’m not letting in another pony without permission! If you want to see her, you’ll have to sign for an appointment!”

Rainbow Dash turned towards the doctor, intent on standing her ground. “I brought her here, I should be allowed to see her!”

“Doctor?” Twilight tried to intervene.

Oblivious to her attempts, the doctor yelled at Rainbow Dash, “I don’t care if you want to see her, she needs her rest. This is not the time for her to have a party! She needs her rest!”

“Well, you know what?” Rainbow Dash poked his chest with a hoof.

“Doctor?” Twilight once more tried futilely to try and get his attention.

“What?” The doctor replied through clenched teeth.

Rainbow Dash yelled at the doctor, “Buck off!”

“Doctor!” Twilight screamed from between the two of them.

Both the doctor and Rainbow Dash turn to Twilight and screamed in unison, “What!?”

They stared at her, both fuming with their own brand of hatred. “Why don’t we talk out in the hall, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked as she pointed towards the front door. She then jumped to the ground from the stool she had been sitting on.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but the doctor cut her off, “That would give me time to change her bandages again,” He looked over to Rainbow Dash, who had been fuming.

“Fine…” Rainbow Dash said grudgingly. Twilight sighed in relief as Dash pushed past the doctor, “I’m not leaving though!”

The doctor groaned in frustration as Twilight exited the room, followed by Rainbow Dash, who gave him another glare.

After the door closed behind the two of them, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and complained, “Wow! What’s his deal?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and stated, “Rainbow, he’s just doing his job…”

“I don’t care!”- Rainbow Dash shook her head in frustration -“I was told to wait one whole week before coming in, and it’s been one week. I’m going to see how she’s doing even if that featherhead doesn’t want me to!”

“She’s still in a lot of pain. The doctor is just looking out for her health. And furthermore, that’s absolutely no way to act in a hospital, Rainbow,” Twilight reprimanded.

Rainbow Dash huffed, “Well, I waited a long time!”

“That doesn’t mean you barge in and scream at the doctor with her in the room. She trying to get better in there,” Twilight rebuked.

“I-I…” Rainbow Dash hesitated.

Twilight sighed and then continued, but with a much more gentle manner of speaking, “If you want them to let you in, you’re going to have to act on your best behavior, alright? I don’t mean to chew you out like this, but she needs her rest.”

Rainbow Dash fell back onto her haunches and looked at the ground in shame, “I-I’m… I’m sorry, Twilight…”

Twilight trotted over to Rainbow Dash’s side and sat down beside her. She put a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s back to comfort her.

“It’s fine, Rainbow. J-just say you’re sorry, alright? I know how much you want to see her, and I’m sure she’s going to make a full recovery. You just need to wait.”

“It’s my fault…” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

“What?” Twilight moved her head closer to try and hear Rainbow Dash better.

“It’s my fault! I was the one that hit her!”- Rainbow Dash started to sniffle -“It’s all me! I shouldn’t have hit the dumb roof! I should have looked out. It’s all. My. Fault!”

Twilight bent down to Rainbow Dash’s eye level and lifted her chin with her hoof, “Rainbow, look at me.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes glistened with tears, “It’s not your fault, if anything, it’s mine.”

“B-but I was the one who put her here…”

Twilight looked away from Rainbow Dash, “I might have been neglecting some new responsibilities since I was crowned…”

“W-what do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked as she lifted her gaze to look at Twilight.

“I might have been,”- Twilight turned her head back towards Rainbow Dash -“I might have caused all of this, and just me.”

“W-what?” Rainbow Dash cocked her head in confusion.

Twilight stood up and sighed once more, “Rainbow, can you look after Scootaloo for a bit? I just need to pay a visit to Mayor Mare.”