MINIFIC MAYHEM

In the falling, in the sky, and in her eyes searching 'cross the plains of death's glare her fate hid, waiting in follies' guise. Went the fabric on the wings, flare, flare! Went the wooden frame, burning, burning! Went the pilot, charred and broken bone. Light and life faded. The ruckus died.

"Meh, er—"

"Oh, hey, she's waking up!" a voice called out.

Scootaloo grimaced at the noise.

"Calm down, Sweetie. Shoutin' won't help."

"Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo opened her eyes to see her friends standing a leg's length away from her. She was in a medical ward somewhere, lying in a cot. Her legs felt too heavy to move under the blue linens lain over her.

Apple Bloom gave her a wan, sympathetic glance, the trace of a smile tugging at her damp face. Sweetie Belle took a few paces back. She tugged at a scarf around her neck and looked away from Scootaloo.

"They said you were going to die," Sweetie muttered. Scootaloo hazarded a chuckle, but it came out weak and without humor.

"Well, I'm fine now, right?"

"Ah, looks like you're awake," said an unfamiliar voice. The three mares looked up to see a silver-blue unicorn in scrubs walk through the door. "Hm, yes." He levitated a clipboard at the foot of Scootaloo's cot while adjusting a pair of spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "Miss-?"

"Scootaloo."

"Right, right." The unicorn sounded anxious. He replaced the clipboard and hesitated. "You're alive," he began. There was the shadow of a laugh in his eyes. "But, there's a few things you need to know."

She winced as the mechanism was cinched and ratcheted onto the stub that had once been her leg. There was a nuanced beauty in the simplicity of the steel-plated machine, in the way it was shaped, in the way it whirred.

"That should do'er," said Apple Bloom, dropping the small wrench from her mouth.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Daredevil Cyborg a go?" joked Scootaloo.

"C-M-C-D-C is a go," acknowledged Apple Bloom with a titter. Sweetie and Apple Bloom watched as their friend took a tentative step with the aid of her new leg, balancing with a few flaps of her wings.

The pegasus, more sure of herself now, leapt and glided across the field before barreling into the other two. The three shared a giggle and a hug.