One and A Half

After the two had left Rarity’s house, Rainbow looked down to Scootaloo. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had just been crying. Not to mention the near constant sniffling. “Scoots, are you okay?” She stood in front of her and knelt down so she was eye level with her, grabbing her wheels to make her stop. She leaned down a little, having to blow some of her technicolored hair away from her eyes.

Scootaloo, however, kept looking downward to avoid Rainbow’s eyes. She blinked a couple times, a pair of tears streaming down her cheeks. “No. No I’m not.” She said shortly, putting her hands in her lap and leaning further downward, looking at her half-leg.

Rainbow put her finger under her chin and lifted Scootaloo’s face so she could look at her. “What happened? I thought seeing Sweetie Belle would cheer you up, not leave you in tears.”

Scootaloo sighed and leaned back in her chair, wiping away the tears from her eyes and taking a couple breaths to try and calm down. Much to her chagrin, it didn’t work. “Sweetie Belle wants to hang out with me, and she asked about today and I said that I had other places to go and I was still in the hospital. And then she asked about tomorrow, and I said I start my therapy. And she groaned and pouted at me, and I snapped at her.” She started crying more, her chest heaving unevenly with a gasp of breath every so often. Tears came down her cheeks rather steadily. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to snap at her, it’s just how it came out!”

“What did you say to her?”

“I said that I was sorry that it was so inconvenient for her that I lost my leg in the accident. And that it was ruining us hanging out together.”

“She doesn’t understand the situation you’re in right now, you gotta take it easy o-“

“I know she doesn’t!” Scootaloo snapped, cutting Rainbow off. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I said those things to her! It makes me feel terrible!” Scootaloo looked back down to her lap until she felt Rainbow’s arms around her in a tight hug. She threw her arms around her neck and cried into her shoulder. “I just… I didn’t want to snap at her…”

“I know, sweetheart.” Rainbow rubbed her back as she hugged her, holding her close. She didn’t let go of her until she felt Scootaloo starting to pull back from the hug, hearing her sniffle a couple times.

“And now we have to talk to Applejack, and I know she’s going to be upset.”

“She still blames this on herself. You gotta stay strong for her, okay? And she said she’s got a few things to tell you when I talked to her on the phone last night. A couple things she thinks will make you happy.” Rainbow stood up and smiled, walking behind Scootaloo’s chair and pushing her along.

“Really?”

“Yup! She’s pret-ty dang sure that what she has to say’ll lift your spirits up!”

“Well, that’s good.” Scootaloo smiled softly, looking up to Rainbow for a moment and then back to where they were. Applejack’s Farm was still a bit of a ways away, so she felt happy that Rainbow was willing to push her for most of it. Being pretty sure that her arms would have given out (and being surprised they hadn’t already) only made her want to work on her arms strength more when her arms didn’t feel like a pair of limp wet noodles in her lap. Still, she couldn’t help but feel nervous about the whole situation before her. The fact that Applejack was going to tell her something that would apparently make her feel better did lift her spirits a bit, but not by much. Her optimism about the whole predicament she found herself in that she had this morning in the hospital had quickly left her when she saw stairs, and also her small argument with Sweetie Belle didn’t help.

The rest of the trip to Sweet Apple Acres was silent between the two, however when Scootaloo arrived with Rainbow she was nearly assaulted by Apple Bloom, who was overjoyed to see her. Big Mac wasn’t as physical as Apple Bloom was, but if somebody knew him well enough they’d be able to tell in an instant he was also very happy to see Scootaloo doing okay. After saying their hello’s and having small conversations, Big Mac took Scootaloo inside to see Applejack, who was in the kitchen finishing off an apple pie. “Hey Applejack.” She called in softly, wheeling into the kitchen and stopping a few feet behind her.

Applejack turned around, a sort of sad smile on her face. It was slightly forced, but she was happy to see her. “Howdy, Sugarcube. How’re ya holdin’ up?”

“Well, a lot better than I was this morning, that’s for sure.”

Applejack nodded and smiled, leaning back on the counter and folding her arms across her chest. “How’re the people at the hospital treatin’ ya? If y’all git any problems, you just lemme know and I’ll give ‘em what’s comin’.” She furrowed her brow, giving her a serious look before she went back to smiling. “Now, Ah bet Rainbow told ya that Ah got some good news for ya.”

Scootaloo nodded eagerly. Good news was welcome in her book. Very welcome.

“They figured out who the driver was of the other car.”

Scootaloo looked a bit confused. “Uh… Is that it?”

“No, not at all. Remember when Rarity went to the Gala with us a couple years back and she ranted and raved about how much she hated some fella named ‘Blueblood’?”

“Yeah. What about him?”

“He’s the driver.” Applejack smiled, almost sadistically. “He was drunk behind the wheel and passed out. Ah’m also takin’ legal action against him, and there ain’t no way Ah’m losin’ in court. Basically, when Ah’m done, he’s gonna be payin’ fer every single bill the hospital gives ya, as well as the prosthetics yer gettin’.”

“Prosthetics? I thought I was only getting one…” Scootaloo still was a bit confused. She could see why Applejack wanted to sue him, and also was thankful that she was in the first place, but then it all suddenly fell together. She remembered who Blueblood was now. “HE was the one who was in the other car?!”

“Eeyup. And yer getting’ one fer regular walkin’ around with, and then one for all the sporty stuff ya do. Ta make sure ya got all yer bases covered.” Applejack smiled confidently, looking back to Scootaloo. She was seething. Memories flowed through her mind of how Sweetie Belle always complained about Rarity whining about him, and all the things he had done to her. The stories in the newspapers of his antics, only to be bailed out of jail by Celestia herself, who was his Aunt, crept back to the forefront of her brain. “You uh… You okay, Sugarcube?”

“YES! I’m very okay! I’m glad you’re suing him! He deserves it! After all the stuff he’s done to other people, he should be sued!” Scootaloo folded her arms angrily across her chest, letting out a soft ‘humph’ as a result of how hard she did it without meaning to. Looking down to her lap, she heard Applejack walking over, looking up to see her as she saw her knees in her line of sight.

“Ah’m suin’ him fer what he did ta YOU. This is unforgiveable.” She removed her Stetson, and Scootaloo knew what was coming next. “And Ah’m sorry.” Her voice was shaky, her lower lip quivering. Applejack was trying her hardest not to cry, however it didn’t seem to be working very well at all. “Ah still can’t help but think it’s mah fault, and that Ah’m responsible fer this whole mess yer in. And-“

Scootaloo cut Applejack off by putting her hands on her shoulders. “You just said it yourself. Blueblood did this to me, not you.” It was a surprisingly adult thing to think, let alone say, but it calmed Applejack down and kept her from crying. However, she still wiped her hand across her face like she had been crying and put her Stetson back on top of her head like she just had. Applejack sniffled a couple times and nodded shortly.

“Yer right.” She nodded as she spoke, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Standing up straight and straightening herself out, Applejack took another shaky breath, sniffling again and chuckling softly. “Y’all can’t blame me fer blamin’ mahself, can ya, though?”

Scootaloo shook her head. She remembered Rainbow explaining the fact that Applejack did feel responsible for this in great detail, and that she had been wanting to apologize to her for quite some time.

“Ah’m gonna go visit ya soon, Scoots. With updates and whatnot of how this whole ordeal is turnin’ out. DUI’s are a big deal here in Equestria. Blueblood most likely is gonna have a very hard time getting’ out a’ this one even with the best lawyers.”

Scootaloo tilted her head at the mention of ‘DUI’. “What’s DUI stand for?”

“Driving Under the Influence. It can be while you’re flyin’ high or, in Blueblood’s case, drunk, and you’re drivin’ when ya shouldn’t be.”

“Oooooh, okay…” She thought back to AJ’s previous statement, and held out her arms towards her, to which Applejack came down and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Applejack. You made me feel a lot better today.”

“Ah can say the same to you. You’ve lifted a pretty heavy burden off mah back.” Applejack squeezed Scootaloo lightly, and after a few more moments let her go. “Ah’m sure Rainbow’s runnin’ out a things to say to Big Mac. Let’s go save her, huh?”

Scootaloo chuckled and nodded, turning around and going wheeling out of the kitchen, only to be stopped short by Applejack grabbing one of the handles. “Ah almost fergot.” She took the apple pie off the counter, putting a slice on a plate and then into a Ziploc bag for her, putting it down on her lap. “If y’all want any more, you just Rainbow know. That goes fer anything, too.” Applejack let go of the wheelchair handle after Scootaloo nodded and smiled softly, wheeling out of the kitchen and outside, where Rainbow was talking with Apple Bloom about Scootaloo’s therapy and when she might be able to hang out.

After a rather short lived conversation with Apple Bloom, sadly cut short by Rainbow ushering Scootaloo that they needed to get back to the hospital, they all said their goodbyes. Scootaloo hugged Apple Bloom for a much longer time than really deemed necessary, and after roughly a half hour they found themselves back at the Ponyville General, reception desk, being checked back in.