Grounded
DISCLAIMER: I do not own MLP, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Stable Condition or most of the other characters in this story.
"Are you sure you wanna do this, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle questioned her orange friend.
"Yeah Scoot, it would be all good and fine if you were trying on a smaller scale. Ya might get a scratch or two if ya fall from a small height but if ya fall from this height, you'd be lucky to walk again!" AB agreed.
"Sure I'm sure! I'm the only pegasus in our grade that can't fly yet!" the spunky pegasus affirmed.
"What about Rumble?" her unicorn friend asked.
"He has AS. He'd fly if it was safe for him to." the daredevil filly replied, "Wish me luck!"
She then took running off towards the edge of the cliff. Her wings lifted her up into the air. She was actually doing it! She was flying. The orange pegasus beamed with pride in her latest achievement. Maybe she could even-
Clunk!
Her once prideful expression suddenly gave way to fear as she plummeted down to earth. Her friends looked on with great dread as her screams filled the air.
Thud!
She finished her descent with a hard body slam into the ground that was heard for miles around. Her friends quickly ran down a slope towards the crash site. When they found her laying on the ground, she was miraculously still in one piece. In fact, she survived with just a few scratches.
"Hey Scoot, you ok?" the young farm pony asked.
No response came from the orange filly. Not even a moan, mumble or nod of weak acknowledgment..
"Scoot, you alright?" the snow white unicorn asked.
She too was met with silence.
"Hey, didn't you hear us, Scoot?" the unicorn asked again.
Just as before, the pegasus remained unresponsive. Something was seriously wrong.
"Stay here! I'll go get help!" Apple Bloom ordered before rushing off to the nearby home of her adoptive sister, Rainbow Dash.
The small house was in plain view with Rainbow Dash and Caramel playing in the grass with their foals. Apple Bloom ran over to her pegasus sister.
“Rainbow!” she called, “There’s been an accident! Scoot tried to fly and she fell! Now she won’t wake up!”
Everything that led up to this was a blur. The last thing she remembered was screaming. Screaming from what, though? Scootaloo looked around the sterile white room to see Dr. Condition talking to her legal guardian, Pinkie Pie. Her caretaker’s mane was flat like a popped balloon. Something was wrong, she knew it. Pinkie's mane only deflated when something really bad happened.
"Hey everypony" Scootaloo said, alerting the two adults that she was awake.
"Oh Scootaloo, I'm so glad you're ok!" Pinkie said through tears as she embraced her young charge in her forehooves, "Scoot, there's something you need to know, but first, do you remember anything about what happened?"
"Screaming. Just screaming." the filly said as a chill ran down her neck.
"Scoot, you tried to fly again and your wings locked up.” the mare explained somberly.
“What.” Scoot asked to be sure she was hearing her caretaker correctly.
“There's no easy way of saying this." the pink pony cried softly, "Scoot, you have aero suspension. I am so sorry."
Ring! Ring!
Rainbow picked up the ringing phone.
"Hello, Dash Apple residence. How can I help you?" greeted the cyan pegasus.
"Hey, Rainbow." replied the pony on the other end of the line with a sad but squeaky voice. It was obviously Pinkie Pie.
"Oh, hi Pinkie. How's Scoot doing?" the rainbow maned pony asked.
"She's fine but as it turns out she has AS." the pink pony answered.
"I'm sorry to hear that." commented the mother of three.
"Are you still hosting the Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover?" questioned the normaly happy mare.
"Yeah, they're staying here tonight." the weather team captain confirmed.
"Ok, well I'm checking her out now and she is insisting on going." the guardian explained, "Could you please tell the other crusaders we're on our way?"
"Sure, I'll tell them." the element of loyalty agreed.
"Thanks, RD." the mare on the other end thanked.
"No prob, Pinkie. See you in a few." Rainbow said before placing the phone back on it's hook.
"Ok Scoot, if anything happens, come home right away. Make sure your friends know what's going on. You'll really need them in the coming days. And one more thing, don't forget to take your medication in the morning." Pinkamena directed as she walked her foster child to Rainbow Dash's home.
The two approached the two-story house and rang the bell.
"Come in" Rainbow called from the other side of the door.
When they entered the house, they were immediatly met by the younger of the two ponies' best friends.
"Bye, Scoot." Pinkie bid farewell before heading back to Sugar Cube Corner.
Once the baker was out of sight, the two wingless fillies interogated their orange friend.
"What happened, Scoot?" the small yellow earth filly asked concerningly.
"Yeah, you were flying great one second, falling the next?" Sweetie Belle added.
"It's n-nothing, guys! Really!" stammered the flightless pegasus nervously, 'Oh, why did they have to ask that!'
Her friends could see right through her frail excuse for a lie and knew something was really biting at her and they didn't have the full story.
"Scoot, please tell us what's wrong. All we want to do is help." Sweetie Belle assured her friend.
It was really biting at her and she could trust her friends.
"Ok, but you need to Pinkie Pie Promise not to laugh!" Scootaloo agreed on the one condition of her surrogate mom's trademark promise.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." the two interogaters promised in sync.
"Now tell us what's wrong!" AB commanded.
"Well you remember earlier when I told you about how Rumble can't fly?" Scootaloo asked and was immeadiatly by nods, "Well he has Aero Suspension. His wings lock up when he flies for more than five minutes."
"What does this have to do with your flight?" Sweetie Belle inquired.
"My wings locked up while I was flying. I was diagnosed with Aero Suspension." the little pegasus admitted somberly as she looked down.
She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to Apple Bloom's caring eyes before being embraced in a hug by her two best friends. She knew things weren't going to be easy but she was glad to know she had her friends' support. Little did they know that the overseer of their sleepover was standing in the doorway with Rumble and they had heard the entire converstation. Rumble was smart enough to know they needed a minute. Rainbow, though just as smart if not more, only waited three seconds before intervening.
"Hey girls, I hope you don't mind, but I offered to have Rumble over tonight while Thunderlane is out of town." Rainbow announced before going off to put her own foals to bed.
Rumble nervously made his way over to his peers and greeted them with a miniscule smile.
"You heard me, didn't you?" Scootaloo accused, not wanting to waste time beating around the bush.
"Yeah, I did." Rumble admitted, "It's ok, I was there myself two years ago when I was first diagnosed."
A/N: Yes I understand, boys and girls don't usually mix at sleepovers but I am pretending they haven't aged at all since the show. It is uncommon for boys and girls to have a mixed sleepover at that age, but not unheard of.
