"Kid?" A voice called, echoing in Scootaloo's head. Her body felt numb and weak, and her back was hot and swollen. Her back was sore but a burst of coolness, ran down her spine relieving the pain. Her eyes opened to a bright light, shining down at her face. A large stallion with yellow fur and orange mane, looked down at her with a frown. He was wearing a blue coat and mask with small goggles over his eyes. "Kid?" He asked again. "Can you hear me? Blink twice for yes." Scootaloo managed two quick blinks in her drunken state. The cool sensation down her back stopped shortly. She felt her fur become clumped and stiff.
She could not turn her head more than ten degrees in any direction. Her eyes not being able to recognize anything not blocking the light. The stallion waved his hoof behind her head and she felt a small movement underneath her body. Her feeling slowly came back as she felt her side push up against 'a pillow?' Whatever she was resting on began moving, and the blinding light faded from view. She struggled to turn her head and saw a unicorn mare walking beside her. The mare's eyes focused on something far ahead, Scootaloo did not know what. She tried to speak, but no words came out.
The mare looked down at her with heavy eyes. Scootaloo shivered as she felt her "pillow" jolt upwards a small bit. A burning pain in her back forced her eyes to clench in pain. Her body was lifted and placed on another cushioned "something". She lifted her eyelids as much as she could to see the mare still standing over her, her hooves and horn working at the surface below Scootaloo. She managed to turn her head enough to see she was resting on a white bed. The mare saw her do this and urged her not to do this, instead she told her to rest. The problem was that Scootaloo couldn't. The pain in her back was too great.
Scootaloo's face became hot as she slowly recollected on the events she had seen not long prior to that moment. 'It was a dream' she thought 'It couldn't have been real. I must've fell trying to fly and... and I went unconscious. Now I'm at the hospital' She denied any way that it could be real. She knew it wasn't, but a voice in the back of her head said otherwise. That small voice, she heard through a crowd of others saying different. 'It just, can't'
The mare standing beside her bed soon walked away, leaving Scootaloo alone with the pain. She still could not speak and she could barely move. The lights in her room shut off not long after, leaving a faint glow of a machine in the corner, its lights shining and blinking. Somehow, Scootaloo fell asleep, the pain residing as she did so.
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The room flooded with light. Scootaloo's eyelids opened to reveal a small black mare wandering about the room she was in. The room was small and had a window on Scootaloo's east. Her back was sore and felt like someone had hit her with a metal bat. She tried moving her wings but felt a sharp pain when she made the attempt. Her mouth made a small whimper noise, drawing the attention of the mare. The mare's eyes grew at the sight of the small orange filly, lying in the bed just ahead of her.
Scootaloo took a long look at this visitor. Her mane gleamed a bright violet, matching well with her black fur. Her eyes shown a light blue color, making them stand out a lot like her hair. She smiled at Scootaloo revealing her teeth as a sign of friendship. Scootaloo just stared blankly back at her. She felt almost traumatized, fore she had no idea what had occurred to need her be in the hospital, but she knew deep in her mind the big possibility.
The black mare spoke, her voice sounding like an elder trapped in an adults body. "Hello," she began. "Scootaloo...is it?" she asked the filly looking up at her. Scootaloo shook her head. "Okay." Her sentence paused right there for what seemed like minutes, then she began again. "You may not know me, Scootaloo, but my name is Sila Mocha. I am the, um, headmaster of the Equestrian orphanage out near canterlot." Scootaloo's heart shrunk. Her brain began to thump against her skull, and her breath began to catch. Her 'dream', it, couldn't be. "Do you know why I'm here?" She asked, a frown slowly making up her face. She saw the small filly's face contort as if she knew the reason.
Scootaloo raised her saddened eyes up to the mare. "Not really," she said, hoping it wasn't anything and the mare was just some psycho who thought this was funny.
"You're going to be staying with me for a while," Sila said with a sad expression on her face. "Your parents have passed on." Scootaloo's eyes grew red and dry, her mouth filling with saliva. She felt nauseous as she was told this. She tried to retaliate. She tried to say 'No! This is not true. I don't know who you are! Get out of my room!', but she knew it was true, and all that came out was a few blubbers and cries. She remembered everything the night before, memories flooding back to her. Sila held out a hoof and raised it up to Scootaloo's face. The young kid buried her face into her elder's arm, and began to cry.
A doctor walked in the room just as Sila was getting ready to leave Scootaloo's hospital room. The doctor looked at her and whispered something to her that Scootaloo could not make out. The two ponies walked out of the room giving Scootaloo a glance before turning back out the door. Scootaloo took a look at Sila's cutiemark. It appeared to be a wooden cot or shelter of some sort. 'Putting a roof over fillies heads is her talent?' She thought.
The door quickly closed leaving the two out of Scootaloo's sight. She'd been crying for nearly an hour straight at that point due to finding out about her parents and now her eyes ached because of it. Scootaloo looked around the room, waiting. She could hear slight mumbling noises coming from outside the room, though it was impossible to make any words from it. She tilted her head to the right and saw a large mirror resting on a mantle. She flipped herself over and pointed her back towards the mirror as she tried to see if she could get a glimpse of her aching back.
Her entire back was red and swollen, her wings slightly bent and matted. She had inwardly lines leading from her lower back, all the way up to her left wing as well as one leading to her right. The lines were stitched shut like a baseball and were slightly torn where she tried to move her wings previously. She was bleeding slightly but other than that, she seemed to be fine. She got back on her back which hurt to do, and looked to the opposite wall of the mirror which held three large windows leading outside.
Through the windows, she could see huge storm clouds to the north. Large snowy mountains could be seen off in the distance, hardly visible. Due to how low the bed sat, that was all she could see, but she kept staring, almost daydreaming.
It was when the kids door flung open that Scootaloo was brought out of her trance. Sila, along with a white, unicorn nurse, walked in with a small cart of supplies. The nurse levitated a small, white brace up to Scootaloo.
"Turn over please," the nurse told the small filly. Scootaloo hesitantly obliged and painfully rolled onto her stomach. She could feel as the brace was brought up to her back. The nurse placed the brace onto Scootaloo's spine which immediately sent pain rushing through her body. The brace was put into place quickly but unfortunately for her, not very gently. After a few moments the pain resided and she felt stiff and unnatural. The nurse did some thing, out of view of Scootaloo, to the brace and left the room as quickly as she had entered.
Sila opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it. Scootaloo gave her a confused look and Sila began to speak. "Sooo... like I said before, the orphanage I run is out by Canterlot. I have to get back there in two days. I was told... out there," she pointed to the door," that you need to keep that cast on for another week. I can either leave you here for a week, or you can come with me tomorrow over to your house, and pack your stuff. After that we will get a pegasus chariot ride which will bring us to the orphanage, after a few more days we will take your cast off at the Ponyville hospital. What do you want to do?" She asked this with an almost morbid frown. Scootaloo could tell that there was something she was hiding.
Scootaloo cautiously accepted the latter option which drew a small grin from Sila. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow... You'll be fine going to your house?" She asked.
"I'm... okay," Scootaloo replied. As Sila trotted out the room, door shutting behind her.
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Scootaloo stood out, looking at the house in front of her, a place where days prior, a gruesome act was done. Sila had brought Scootaloo here to gather her belongings before they were to head off to the orphanage.
"*sigh* You know, you don't have to go inside," Sila said comforting the young'n. "I can go in for you and get your stuff, you've already seen too much of this house."
Scootaloo stood still. Her eyes locked into the home. This house used to make her feel safe, as it was her and her parents dream house. The house stood at the edge of Luna Bay, the sun gently lay the home's shadow on the pool of water it stood above. The once beautiful and bright house now shown dark, uneasy and uninviting. The northern cold scraped the young filly's skin, this in turn, knocked the kid out of her dream like state.
"Scootaloo?" Sila commented. "Did you hear me?"
"Oh, um, yeah. I'll go in. I'm... fine," Scootaloo stumbled over her words as she spoke. "It's too cold out hear anyways."
"Well, from what I'm told the house is..." she paused trying to think of a good word to use. "'Clean'" she finished. "Just don't think about what happened while we are in there. Just tell me when you're ready, okay?"
"I'm ready." The pair slowly headed up to the looming house. Sila's horn lit up and the door flung open giving way for the filly to enter. A large waft of warm air hit the two as they entered, then the overwhelming smell of vinegar, bleach and other chemicals intoxicated the two and made it difficult to breathe. Scootaloo's eyes burned slightly at the smell and were hard to keep open. She turned around to see Sila coughing and chocking slightly.
Sila looked down at Scootaloo and frowned. "Sorry kid, I forgot to warn you that it was going to *cough* smell like this. That's how they 'clean'" Scootaloo nodded and continued into the house. She shed a slight tear as she passed a covered rug with small red stains on it. Sila saw her and pushed her head away. "Just keep moving," she stated. They made their way over to Scootaloo's room and Sila shut the door behind them, hoping to block out the smell. Scootaloo went immediately to work, packing her essentials and a few toys and pictures. She didn't want to be in that house any longer than she needed to be, it was an evil place to her. Don't take it wrong, she didn't want to live in an orphanage, but she couldn't stand that house with what had occurred and all.
Sila sat down on a twin sized bed in the corner of the room. She watched the small kid pack and frowned, fore it were not the first time she has had to do something like this. She stared blankly at the young child, for a long time, not saying a word. Scootaloo looked at her, it was clear that her mind had wandered somewhere else, the brace on her back itched painfully. Scootaloo poked at Sila, grabbing the mare's attention. "What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked. It was clear to her that she was definitely keeping something to herself that was desperately aching to get out.
Sila looked at the orange lump sitting ahead of her and gave a large frown. A tear shown in her eye as she spoke. "Back at the hospital," she began," the doctor who took me out of the room said some... really bad things about your, condition." Scootaloo listened close, her brain knowing that this was not good news. "He said that one of your vertebrae, I don't remember which, was cracked when they first took you in. They said that it was not mendable and that they had to remove it entirely." Scootaloo's body turned cold and her face became colorless and white, she could tell by Silas face that only more bad news was to come. That wasn't it. "He... he said that, the vertebrae that had to be removed was one that was hollowed and connected itself with the wings." The tear hanging on her eye dropped to the floor as she sighed. "Ugh, getting to the point, he said that while you can move your wings and will be able to hover slightly, it's a near impossible chance you will ever have enough power behind your wings to be able to fly." This caught in her throat.
Scootaloo's face turned to horror. "Never...f...fly!" She cried out. Her head felt dizzy and she became slightly nauseous. She grabbed her stuff and burst into tears. The chemicals in the house weren't helping the situation so she took her stuff and limped out of the house crying. She planted her face in the grass coughing and gasping for clean air. Sila came running out of the house and held her around her arm.
"Scootaloo, it's okay, calm down. Shhh!" Scootaloo took a few breaths and tried to calm down. Her ability to fly were what made her a pegasus pony, now, she may never be able to do it.
As tears strolled down her face she felt something pick up her head. Sila looked her in the eyes and hugged the filly hard. Scootaloo gave out a large, whimpered sigh. "Let's just go," Sila stated, pulling out of the hug. Sila's face held a major frown. She didn't say another word, and started up the street. Scootaloo followed slowly behind.
Author's Note
I am looking for a proof reader/editor. If interested, comment and I will try to contact.
prolougue
"Mama!?" Scootaloo cried, pushing on her mothers arm. "Wake up! Wake Up!!" She screamed tears streaming down her face. She ran around to the other side of the room, and up to her father. "Dad!? Please! Wake up!" She received no answer. Her voice was hoarse and difficult to make out through the whimpers, her heart thumping heavily. She didn't pay any attention to the pain in her back, fore her focus was only on her parents who were lying still on the floor.
A cool, night time breeze forced itself in through the broken window and to where the nightmarish scene stood. The small orange filly, no older than 7 felt the chill on her diluted eyes, making it blurry and difficult to see. "Mama! Dad! Plea-ea-ease!" She screamed as loud as her voice would allow. Her head became hot and dizzy as she screamed, and a wash of sadness and fear enveloping her thoughts. Her mind drew blank of thoughts as she pushed up against her father. "Please!" She cried. "Celestia, Please!!!"
Scootaloo knew that her screams and crying was useless, she had no magical tears or, special elixir like in her movies. She knew this was not to end with a little fix for the situation coming out of nowhere, saving her and her parents as they sing a song about what they learned. This was not a movie. This was real. Her parents were dead. She felt the pain in her back getting worse as she herself fell to the ground.
As the pain encompassed the small pony, her ears caught the sound of a door opening. Yelling and shouting swamped the room. Stallions and mares in dark blue suits busted into the room, one dropping to his knees to look at Scootaloo. Scootaloo tried to speak but no words came out, only but a squeak could be heard. Blackness slowly draped over her vision, then all at once, all the noise stopped.
