Equestria Copes

Rainbow coasted to a stop, her hooves slipping through the roof as she expected. Through the shingles, sealant, tar and rafters and down into the building, she poked her front hooves, then her head, then the rest of her body. Down a bit further to the floor, and she was able to stop herself from sinking through the floorboards. Cool that it worked, but she'd rather hover. Hovering was more fun than standing, and she felt that she could be a bit more expressive if she used her hooves to accentuate her words.

Rainbow looked around. She knew that Scootaloo was still hopping from caretaker to caretaker occasionally. Sure, her aunts were here in Ponyville, now, but they weren't free from their other responsibilities just because they had moved their house. Besides, as Scoots had put it, she kind of missed exploring the various minute differences in culture from family to family. So even if she didn't have to couchsurf, she was still learning something from it all, and that was making it worthwhile.

That's why Rainbow wasn't shocked to find out that Scootaloo was here, of all places, and not at home. While Rainbow would have preferred that Scoots stay with her aunts, as that would provide a bit more solid support, and likely result in her not needing help, the fact that Scootaloo was off on her own, trying to handle the situation with just her own strength was commendable.

What was not commendable was that she was failing. There was a fine line between wanting to do something under your own power and refusing the help of those who cared about her. One was independence, the other was recklessness.

"Alright, Squirt. Playtime's over. I appreciate you wanting to handle problems on your own, but it's time to let somepony else take a crack at it."

The collapsed pile of blankets in the corner barely moved. The tag on the end flipping in and out was the only indication of life beneath it.

"Come on, Scoots. Up and at 'em! I'll even be generous and show you how I overcome problems like this. Starts with a good breakfast, so let's go make some eggs and grits!"

Rainbow tried to pull back the covers, but they kept falling through her hooves. She wondered if this counted as "trying to be too forceful." Vesper had warned her that she had to be subtle. Thinking on how to be subtle, she spotted the open window, flew out, and after gaining some distance, turned and flew right back in, opening her wings to force a stop. The result was exactly what she'd hoped for. She'd created a gust that blew back the blanket.

Scootaloo whined and curled up a bit tighter. "R-Rainbow..." she whimpered, clutching whatever she held in her hooves tighter.

"That's right, Squirt! It's me, Rainbow Dash! Your honourary big sister and saviour of little fillies everywhere! And I'm here to rescue you!"

"I'm... sorry..."

Rainbow looked down at Scootaloo. She was definitely looking worse than usual. Her usual tenacity and chipper attitude was gone. Hopefully, it was just tucked away somewhere, and not lost forever. One of Rainbow's favourite things about Scootaloo was her refusal to give up, but she seemed to have done just that.

She wasn't looking desiccated just yet, but she was definitely thinner than Rainbow remembered. Her coat was pale, and a little bit dull. Her mane was thin and sweaty, and her whole body was shaking.

"Alright, now listen here, Scoots. You're obviously sick, probably with grief. I don't normally recommend this, but you're going to the hospital."

Scootaloo reached back, groping around for the blanket. She'd have found it, too, if Rainbow didn't blow it away with a strong flap of her wings.

"I can't take you there myself, but I can make it harder for you to stay here. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way!"

Scootaloo gave up her search and just brought her hoof back to what she was holding. Rainbow had forgotten to look at what it was, and she couldn't pry Scoots's hooves apart to look, for the same reason she couldn't yank off the blanket.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way..." Rainbow narrowed her eyes and planted herself in the window, flapping her wings to send in air, and blowing through her pursed lips to create a chill wind. Bare minimum, she needed Scootaloo to sit up. That was the first step. The final step in this plan was taking her to a doctor. It was all of the other steps between these two that she'd not thought through yet.

To be fair, it was working. Scootaloo started trembling, and then, shivering. It wasn't lost on Rainbow that she could potentially harm Scootaloo by doing this, and she really didn't want to, but if it had to be done, it had to be done. She wanted Scootaloo to be happy and comfortable, but she needed her to be healthy.

Scootaloo twisted and contorted around, trying to find a more comfortable spot to evade the wind, and all of her other problems, but Rainbow was resolute, keeping the gusts right across her skin.

Eventually, it worked, and Scootaloo stood up, at least to her knees. She dragged her body over to the window and yanked it closed, removing Rainbow's ability to create a gust. She then slumped to the floor.

"You're really making this difficult, Scoots. Up on your hooves!"

Scootaloo did no such thing. Instead, she pulled out the bottle she'd been cradling this whole time. Rainbow immediately recognised the smell; hard cider from Sweet Apple Acres. She tried and failed several times to swipe the bottle away, but if she did anything, it was little more than make it shake in her hooves, and that could just be the malnourishment.

As Scootaloo chugged down the last little bit in the bottle, she let it fall to the floor. It wasn't far to fall, and the bottle hit a rug, so it didn't break, but the look on Scootaloo's face was heartbreaking. With tears rolling down her face, she wrapped her hooves around her legs and started sobbing. "I'm sorry," she repeated, "I'm so, so sorry, Rainbow... I can't do it..."

That did her in. Rainbow sat down next to Scootaloo and wrapped a wing around her shoulders. She didn't know what to say, but she wanted to tell Scootaloo that everything was going to be okay, that if she tried really hard, she could do whatever she wanted, and that believing in herself was the way to start. But she couldn't.

The door swung open and Apple Bloom walked in. "Apple Bloom?!" gasped Rainbow.

Applejack phased through the door, and her eyes immediately fell on Rainbow Dash. "What in tarnation?!"