Scootaloo groaned, as her mother entered the room for the third time, "Right that's it missy, get up before you end up late for school again.
Scootaloo slowly rose from the bed and instantly pulled the covers around her as she shivered from the cold. "W W Why is it so cold?" she asked.
"Don't be daft, it's boiling," Stormy exclaimed rolling her eyes at her daughter being dramatic.
Suddenly a wave of sickness began to overtake her, putting her hoof over her mouth, she quickly rushed to the toilet, where she vomited a boatload of puke. Her mother walked to the entrance to the toilet and said, "You ain't going to pull the wool over my eyes this time, young lady. I'm not falling for it."
"But mum," Scootaloo started to say but was cut off.
"No buts Scootaloo, you are going to school and that's final," Stormy said, finishing the conversation. Scootaloo knew it was better to stay quiet than unleash a fight that she would never win against her mother. With as much strength as she could muster, Scootaloo pulled on a coat, hat and scarf. Stormy peered curiously at her daughter's sense of fashion.
Scootaloo began the long trek to school, each step threatening to make her sick. Despite having so many layers on she still felt freezing and to make matters worse, her wings began to hurt. All Scootaloo wanted was to turn back and head home and collapse into her warm and cosy bed.
Eventually, she managed to make it to school, where she was chastised for being late before being told to take a seat. As soon as Scootaloo's rump hit the seat, she laid her head on the table and fell asleep.
She hadn’t been asleep for ten minutes before she woke up to the sound of a pony’s throat clearing, looking up she saw Miss Cheerilee standing over her with a face of disappointment.
Miss Cheerilee gave her a piece of chalk and said, “Go and complete the question that's on the board.”
Scootaloo shakily stood up and took the piece of chalk and then started to walk to the board, her vision grew hazy as she tried to concentrate on the question.
Just before she could get to the front of the classroom, her vision went black and everypony gasped as she fell to the floor.
***
The world around her was a blur as she came to. She could hear distant voices, panicked and worried. Miss Cheerilee's voice was among them, sounding more concerned than Scootaloo had ever heard before. "Somepony get Nurse Redheart!"
Scootaloo felt herself being lifted, the sensation both comforting and alarming. She wanted to protest, to tell them she was fine, but her body refused to cooperate. She drifted in and out of consciousness, snippets of conversation piercing the fog in her mind.
"She has a high fever..."
"Poor thing, she looks so pale..."
"We need to get her home..."
***
Before she knew it, Scootaloo was back in her warm bed at home, she could feel her mother’s hoof against her forehead.
Stormy closed her eyes out of guilt and sadness, “I didn’t realise that she was this sick,” Stormy muttered to herself in an attempt to make excuses for not believing her daughter.
“Mum…” Stormy heard Scootaloo whisper, her voice barely audible. Scootaloo wanted to tell her mother that it wasn’t her fault, however, she felt too weak to even open her mouth.
Stormy leaned in stoking her daughter’s messy mane, while softly whispering, “I’m her sweetie, just rest.”
Scootaloo followed her mother’s advice and drifted off into an uneasy slumber. Stormy looked down at her daughter, her face filled with concern as she felt the filly shake beneath the covers.
***
The next day, upon seeing that Scootaloo’s condition had only worsened, with her appetite disappearing and her strength completely diminishing, Stormy decided that it would be best to take her daughter to the hospital.
When they arrived at the hospital Stormy was forced to carry Scootaloo on her back as her legs had given out on her. Stormy was now really concerned about her daughter.
After waiting, for what seemed like an entire lifetime, Nurse Redheart informed her that they wanted to run several tests so that they could gain a clearer understanding of what was affecting Scootaloo.
They first started with blood tests and CT scans before moving on to MRIs and magicalscans.
After the tests, both Stormy and Scootaloo, who were fast asleep, her head resting on Stormy’s lap were sat in the waiting area, waiting for the results.
Scootaloo felt small and scared amidst the cold sterile, white walls and beeping machines
The slow tick tick of the clock was slowly driving her mad. Stormy wanted answers and was about to go to the front desk and unleash Momma Bear, but she stopped herself, not wanting to disturb the sleeping filly, however, her sleeping was instead disturbed by Doctor Stable, who had come to invite them into his office.
As soon as they had sat down, Stormy knew instantly that it was bad news. “What is it, Doctor?” Stormy asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
Stable wore a sombre expression on his face and he sighed heavily as he began to explain, “I don’t know how to tell you this but I am afraid that we have some difficult news.”
Stormy closed her eyes in shock and denial as Doctor Stable told them, “Our tests have appeared to have diagnosed Scootaloo with cancer, leukaemia to be specific.”
Time seemed to stop as Stormy’s breath caught in her throat, “C- Cancer? Is… it curable?”
“There are treatments available, the good news is that we have caught the cancer early on, so Scootaloo has a real fighting chance to beat cancer. Scootaloo will have to begin chemotherapy immediately as well as possibly look at other forms of treatments. I assure you we will do everything in our power to help Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo felt like the world was spinning Cancer? She had heard about it but felt that it would never happen to her.
Scootaloo began to do something that she vowed to never do in public, she cried. Scootaloo couldn’t stop herself from sobbing uncontrollably into her mothers chest, Stormy could only stroke her daughter’s mane as she was also trying to stop herself from bursting into tears.
