Scootaloo's Demise

chapter 2

Scootaloo snapped her eyes open. She was looking up at a brilliantly white ceiling constructed of plaster tiles and metal framework. There were two long strip lights above where she lay and they spread brilliant light onto her surroundings. It took mere moments to remember what happened, the fall, the crunch, the pain and the end. Slowly she lifted her head and examined her predicament. She was lying in a hospital bed in a small room. In front of her was a white door, with a blue curtain across the window. To her left was a bed side table. On the table were numerous cards and a selection of flowers. To her right stood a machine covered with buttons and lights, a small arm drew a line on a piece of moving paper. From the machine came wires and tubes. she followed these tubes. Scootaloo jerked her body then winced in pain as she smacked her head on the iron headboard. Her lower body was encased in an intricate weave of shining metal, held together with chunky bolts. Hundreds of pins were pushing into her skin and they were topped with small wing nuts all set in various combinations. she looked up her body to her wings. One wings was wrapped in gossamer bandages which were clean and fresh. Her other was encased in a hunk of plaster and was held in a network of metal struts which pinned it to the soft mattress. Into her chest ran tubes and wires, held in place by strips of surgical tape. Running between the tubes was line of stitches, running from the base of her left wing to her right. The stitches were surrounded by a patch of shaved skin. Scootaloo remembered her bleeding eye and groped with her aching foreleg for a mirror on the bedside table. She studied her face. One of her eyes was normal, but the other was bloodshot and irritant. She closed the eyelid and saw a Network of intricate stitches, making her eyelid seem like a patchwork blanket. Her hair was shorter than it used to be but it was also neater. Some pony had been caring for her. Scootaloo began to look around for some means of contacting a nurse but could not see even a bell.

"Hello? Is there anypony around?"

Her voice was hoarse and her throat dry but clearly somebody heard her. From outside she could hear the clop of hooves on the tiled floor. The door swung open slowly. In the door way stood a lime green pony with a shimmering blue mane. She wore a small, white and rounded nurses cap on her head.

"Hello young lady. Finally awake i see. Are you feeling ok?"

Scootaloo new this was the question everypony was asked when they woke up for the first time, of course she wasn't ok, half her body was encased in metal and plaster, the rest covered in stitches. Scootaloo answered a stupid question with another stupid question.

"Where am I?"

"Canterlot hospital" rang out the nurses soothing voice.

Huh, what was she doing in Canterlot. She knew she was in hospital, that much was obvious, but she did not expect to be so far away from the orphanage.

"What am i doing in Canterlot? I crashed in Ponyville."

The nurse expression turned from a calming smile to a more serious, business face.

"The extent of your injuries were to great for Ponyville general. You were carried to Canterlot in a high speed carriage and were taken into surgery straight away. You were lucky to make it, but the surgeons managed to save your life. Your spine was broken and your legs were paralyzed from the accident. Lucky for you one of princess Celestia's own students was on a visit to the hospital at the time, i believe you know her as Twilight Sparkle?. Anyway, she overheard the situation and proposed that she attempted an experimental nerve binding spell to attempt to re-mobilize your legs. It worked and we secured your legs and lower body to allow the bones and nerves to heal fully. We repaired your wing and eyelid and stabilized you in a magic induced coma. Its been around three weeks since you fell. "

Scootaloo took a few minutes to take everything the rambling nurse said, but she still was mesmerized by one thing.

"Why did you operate on my chest?"

The nurse reeled back slightly for no apparent reason. She was evidently nervous and she backed into the corridor looking from side to side for help.

"I'm not at liberty to say. Mrs Hop Field is making a visit later today. That information falls under her jurisdiction. Now, I'm a very busy Pony. Is there anything else you want before i go?"

Scootaloo was livid. They had cut into her chest for no apparent reason, and they wouldn't tell her why.

"Yes, you can tell me why you cut into my chest." Said Scootaloo as she watched the nurse shuffle away. With this the nurse walked quickly from the doorway and let the door swing shut behind her. Once again Scootaloo was cut of by somepony she didn't know. Somepony, she didn't know.

"SCOOTALOO!"

She snapped her eyes open and jerked her head up. Before her stood her two best friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They were stood at the end of her bed smiling with delight and excitement to see there friend awake, but more so alive.

"Guys? What are you doing here?"

"We came here with Mrs Hop Field when she got the message that you were awake now" Said Applebloom.

"Is it true you fell 100ft?" Inquired Sweetie Belle in her usual dumb but cute tone of voice.

"err, yeh, i fell pretty far."

Scootaloo was uneasy. Her friend's were quite happy to see her but she didn't really want to talk to them about what she did. She nearly died and it was stupid. She new now her legs worked and her wing was fixed that things could go back to normal and she could forget the incident.

"Girls, would you step outside for a moment"

Mrs Hop Field walked through the door and smiled at Scootaloo.

"Why?" Chanted all three fillies in chorus, followed by giggles for there sync.

"I need to speak to Scootaloo in private, it will only be for a few minutes"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle hung there heads as they ambled out the door.

"Mrs Hop Field, I'm sorry for-" Started Scootaloo, but Mrs Hop Field cut her off

"Now now, whats done is done, but there is something i need to talk to you about. I take it you've noticed the stitches on your chest."

"Yeh, the nurse wouldn't tell me about it and looked really scared, is it something bad."

"No my dear, but I think its time i tell you about what type one victim means."

Scootaloo ears pricked up and her eyes opened wide. Finally she would now what happened.

"In Coltnobyl, where you came from, there was an accident. They were experimenting with new ways to make power and they devised a way to harness a dangerous magic called magicka. Anyway, there was an accident and one of the conversion chambers exploded releasing all the magicka into the air, earth, and ponies. Some Ponies far away received little magicka and just suffered a rise in illness, these were type three victims. ponies closer to  Coltnobyl suffered from serious illness and some birth defects, these were type two victims. And ponies who lived in Coltnobyl, like you, received enough magicka to mutate and deform there internal organs. These were of course, the type one victims. Type three and type two victims were evacuated from the area and treated for there illness's, but the government felt that type one victims were a danger to uneffected ponies and so they were sent off on separate trains to isolated camps where they lived out the rest of their days. You got lost in the confusion dear, you were somehow placed on a cargo train at a transit that was bound for Equestria, and Ponyville."

Scootaloo was baffled, all this time she should have been dying in a camp. She understood why nopony wanted her now, they were afraid of what the government said about type one victim's.

"So.....I'm dangerous?" inquired Scootaloo, suddenly sounding scared and confused

"No dear, it was hysteria."

"Huh?"

"Hype dear." laughed Mrs Hop Field

"But, whats this got to do with the stitches in my chest?" Asked a now utterly confused Scootaloo

"Well, when they were reconnecting the bio-hydraulics in your wings to the flight drum-"

"The what?"

"The thing which gives you the required balance and magic for flight dear" Replied Mrs Hop Field, slightly impatient from the interruptions.

"They found out that the magicka had mutated and deformed your flight drum, so they performed a transplant from a cadaver."

"And all of this means.....?" Asked an also impatient Scootaloo

"Scootaloo, you will be able to fly"