Let Me know When To Say Goodbye.
Silence.
Silence rang throughout the world, drowned out by the beating sound of her own heart. Adrenaline causing the usually steady pulse to rise in its frequency. It hurt so much.
Mouths of the ponies around her moved but the sound was swallowed by the deep grievance that took hold of her trembling form. It was like living in a ghost town. No noise, no comfort and no escape from her thoughts.
She was alone.
Well, as alone as you could feel within a outdoor restaurant full with dining ponies. They all sat, blissfully unaware of the new situation that presented itself to one lone customer that had once been as chatty and cheerful as the pony on the table next to her; or even the one next to her!
Her breathing became hard and uneven as words struggled to form, hitching in her throat as a result. It couldn't of happened. Not yet!
The small letter slid from her hoof to the ground below, covering the white sheet with a thickening mud. In response, the paper absorbed the dark brown colour making it unreadable to any others.
'I have to go!'
Hoofsteps added a new percussion to her already racing heart. She had to outrun it. She had to make it.
"What ya doing there squirt?"
Scootaloo smiled up at the cyan Pegasus before shirking back in realisation of her current situation.
lying on her stomach, she gazed down at herself. Her body was drenched with mud, sweat and tainted with bruises. She looked like she had been in a fight. She looked awful.
"Oh um... hi Rainbow Dash!" She smirked snapping away from the mess she had made of herself. Maybe, if she tried to ignore it and acted casual, Rainbow would too! "What's up?"
"What happened kid?"
Or maybe not...
"Oh this, this is nothing I just... I just..." Trying to rapidly think of anything that was less embarrassing than the truth, she stammered under the curious gaze from the Pegasus.
After a while of just 'ah' and 'um's from the young filly, Dash landed next to her little companion. "How about the truth Scoots?"
Taken aback by Rainbow's words, Scootaloo snapped her gaze up to meet two magenta eyes looking back. The two, usually fiery eyes looked calming and comforting to the younger Pegasus. These eyes spoke of trust, and an unspoken vow that she would be taken seriously.
"I was trying to fly..." She mumbled into the muddy ground below. Embarrassing as it was, even after achieving her cutie mark, she still hadn't gotten around to learning how to fly like she had expected. With all of the free time she had now, she thought that she was sure to get it. But, alas, the ground stayed attached to her hooves most of the time.
Biting down on her lip hard, she took another gaze at the rainbow maned mare. Rainbow was looking at her with an expectant smile on her face. The kind you see on a mother's as they ask how their child's first day of school had been.
"And?..."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean and?..."
"Did ya do it?"
"What?"
"Fly!" Rainbow giggled.
"What do you think?" A bitterness resided in her voice that was not intentionally displayed for Rainbow to see. It was weird for Dash to have Scootaloo talk to her like this. She was normally quite happy or if something was wrong, quite sad; never had she seen her quite so angry. The one thing that Rainbow asked herself was: 'is it anger at me, or anger at herself?'
The orange filly let out a frustrated sigh and turned her gaze to meet the ground confirming the second theory to be true. It hurt to see Scootaloo so distraught.
To comfort her, Rainbow draped a wing over Scootaloo's back, pulling her closer and sharing the heat between them. "I could always help ya know."
This caught the younger ponies attention.
"But you have the Wonderbolts now! You have to focus on that and... and you can't have me as a distraction from that! You have been working for it since, like, forever! I don't want to take up any of your time with my puny problems..." Pent up frustrations and worries started to creep though into her speech. "You don't have time for me any more! You'll probably be so famous soon that you'll forget about me and your old life! Maybe you'll have a family and live in Cloudsdale in years to come! You'll leave like everyone else I ever loved to go and love your 'new family'! Then I'll find out that you didn't really love me at all!" Tears streamed down Scootaloo's face at this point.
All of her worries over the past few months that Rainbow had been training had come out. Some were admittedly a lot more exaggerated than others but, when your alone with your mind for long enough, it can become scarily real.
Taking a moment to recover from the whole situation, Rainbow pulled the filly closer and rested her chin on her head. No matter how the filly resisted, she held her grip tighter. Tears of her own joined the embrace as the time apart from her friends and little sister suddenly dawned on her. But she would never let any of those things come between them.
"Don't ever say that Scootaloo!" Rainbow cried into the fillies mane. Her hoof found its way to the fillies chin and lifted her head up to meet her eyes. "Don't you ever say you don't mean a thing to me. I love you like the little sister I never had. I don't have much time anymore, and I'm sorry but I would never just leave you in the dust."
"But what if you do move up to Cloudsdale? What if you do want to leave and start a family?" She replied in a hopeless tone.
"Then I'll have to take you with me!"
Blinking in quick succession, Scootaloo looked at Dash with her jaw hitting the floor. Did she just say what she though she said? "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Rainbow said slowly. "I know that you have been through a lot with your family, but, cause their not around any more, you can be part of mine." She said smiling down at her sister.
"But if you want me to come stay with you in Cloudsdale, I need to learn to fly." Scootaloo giggled slightly, wiping away what was left of her tears.
"Well, it just so happens your talking to one of the best fliers in Cloudsdale! I can help you fly quicker than you can say 'Sonic Rainboom'!"
The memory resonated in her mind as her wings shot out from her sides. The no longer tiny wings lifted the adult Pegasus into the sky with such speed and power, any flying team would be jealous.
The wind tore at her body begging her to stop but she just powered through. Rainbow had succeeded in giving her the gift of flight. She was not about to give up on her now.
Flying towards the large cloud mass known as Cloudsdale City Hospital, she threw the doors open to see a pony behind a small polished desk.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"
"I'm here to see Rainbow Dash." She said in a panic.
"Oh dear, um... room 107 on the second floor. You'd better hurry!"
"Ok, thanks!" Blasting off, she made her way to room 107.
"Hey Rainbow..."
"Yeah squirt?"
"Will you ever leave me?"
"Well... yes and no..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No, I will not ever intentionally leave you squirt."
"But then, why would you say yes too?"
"Because... there comes a point in everypony's life where they have to say goodbye."
"I don't like goodbyes..."
"Ha ha! Me neither."
"Rainbow?"
"Yah!"
"When the time comes, will you let me know whether it is goodbye?"
"Yes, I'll let you know."
"Good."
"But promise me something in that case."
"What?"
"When the time comes, you need to tell me when you are ready to let go."
"Ok, I promise."
Room 107. This was it. Scootaloo held her breath as she stepped inside the room.
A single bed lay in the centre of the room, in the light of the window. The walls were pure white along with the flooring, bed cloths and uniform of the nurse leaning over the bedridden pony.
Upon her entrance, the nurse looked sadly up at Scootaloo and gave a small smile. "She is still with us, for the moment."
"I got the message, it said she had taken a turn for the worse?" Scootaloo asked, tears running down her cheeks as the medical pony nodded in response.
"You know, she's probably hanging on for you. You're all she used to talk about. She is quite the fan." The nurse chuckled before returning to a sad smile. "I will let you talk to her now. Make it count." With that, the nurse left the room.
Approaching the bed cautiously, she peered at what remained of equestrian great flier. Tubes and wires were attached to every part of her body and a steady beeping signalled that the Pegasus was still hanging on. The bedsheets were neat and flat as if there was no pony sleeping within them. It all looked... unnatural.
Scootaloo grabbed a hold of her cold hoof.
"I guess this is your way of telling me huh?" She said in a whisper. Her heart was breaking to see the pony who had guided her through life and loved her as her own in this state. It was almost unbearable.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"I just wanted to say, I uh... I love you." She choked out. Her hoof trembled as she tried to get a tighter grip on the pony of whom she called a sister.
Beep.. Beep.. Beep..
"I love you n-now and forever. You have been there for me throughout t-thick and thin and loved me when no-one else would. You t-took me into your home and taught me how to fly. I could never repay you for everything that you have done for me."
Beep... Beep... Beep...
"So as your sister,"
Beep.... Beep.... Beep....
"And your biggest fan,"
Beep..... Beep..... Beep.....
"You can go now."
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
The heart monitor flatlined. She had finally gone.
With a wail, Scootaloo rested her forehead against her elder sisters.
She had gone to sleep.
Author's Note
I know it's very fast paced and rather crummy but I wanted to write this story in honour of my Grandmother who passed away recently. As you can see, I haven't really got my writing head on at the moment and am really tired as I have not been able to sleep for a while but let me know what you think and... Yeah
R.I.P Grandma, I love you so much and I am so sorry I couldn't be there for you when it happened...