"And since you three have demonstrated the principle of Discord so well, you can each write me an essay on the subject."
The rest of the class erupted in giggles as Ms Cheerilee finished scolding Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
They followed sulkily along with the rest of the class as they made their way through the Palace gardens. This was not turning out to be a particularly successful field trip.
"Now look what you got me into," spat the little pegasus filly, "you know I hate essays!"
"What we got YOU into?" Sweetie countered, "You started the whole fight!"
"Did not!" "Did too!"
"C'mon you two, ye're gonna get me in trouble with Ms Cheerilee again, and if I get another detention Big Mac'll yell at me fer sure!"
This gave the other two pause, they'd only rarely seen Apple Bloom's big brother angry, but when he was he had this way of making you wish the ground would swallow you whole from the guilt. As angry as they were about the essay, they had no desire to make their friend and fellow Crusader endure that.
As it happened, they didn't need to worry about that, since what happened next made them forget all about their squabble.
Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks, and her sudden pained expression elicited the immediate concern of her two friends.
"No, it's okay, it's just a cramp, I'll be okay."
"Ya sure, cos ya really don't look fine, will I get Ms Cheerilee?" said Apple Bloom, her voice full of sympathy.
"Is it, uh, that thing we learned about in sex ed?" Sweetie blushed as she spoke, not entirely comfortable with "the facts of life", as their teacher referred to them.
"No," Scootaloo shook her head and gritted her teeth, "I'll be fine, it's just a cramp-ah Ah!" She gasped with sudden pain. "Okay," she continued, taking a deep breath to steady herself as she winced, "I might need to see the nurse."
"I'll get Ms Cheerilee, stay here with Apple Bloom, okay?"
Scootaloo nodded, and Sweetie Belle ran off up ahead to catch up with the group.
Almost as soon as she left, an almost inaudible chuckle was carried on the wind from somewhere behind them in the gardens.
"Did you hear that?"
"Little busy here," Scootaloo groaned and sank to her knees in the immaculately maintained grass.
"Sounded like laughin'. Not nice laughin' neither."
"Maybe it was the god of kidney stones, because I think he just gave me a doozy."
"Hang in there, Scoots, ye're gonna be fine."
Scootaloo just nodded, her eyes closed with the effort of not bursting into tears. She felt like something way too big was trying to fit through somewhere way too small inside of her, and neither of the things involved were happy about it.
Before too long though Sweetie Belle was back, a concerned looking Cheerilee following hot on her heels.
"Come on, there's a nurse's office just off the palace grounds, do you think you can walk or do you need me to carry you?"
"I can walk, I think," she answered in a slightly quavery voice.
Cheerilee saw right through her small show of bravado and gently scooped her up onto her back before trotting as quickly as she could without jostling the stricken filly and causing her more distress.
The remaining two thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders flanked her on either side to provide an honour guard for their friend, but Cheerilee told them to meet up with the class back at the station to wait for the train back to Ponyville.
Once at the nurse's office Scootaloo was quickly laid out on the bed, and Cheerilee left to go and see to the other children now that she was in the Palace infirmary's nurse's capable hooves.
"Let's see now, where does it hurt, Scootaloo?"
"Like in my belly, but not in my belly, down below, y'know?"
"Okay, let's take a look. I must say you're being very brave, Scootaloo. Your parents would be very proud."
The filly's composure shattered in that instant and she howled in agony.
The nurse, well-trained in medical magic reacted swiftly, letting off a spell that would have the child's brain floating in dopamine and melatonin. Scootaloo's mouth curled up in a relieved smile a fraction of a second before her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out.
"Let's see what we're dealing with here... Oh, Sweet Celestia have mercy."
***
Cheerilee rapped a hoof against the door to the infirmary, only to be be met with the nurse opening the door before she could even knock a second time.
"How is-"
"She's fine. Better than fine." The nurse smiled, a slightly glazed look on her face.
"So, what-"
"She laid an egg." The nurse giggled in a high-pitched and strained kind of way.
Cheerilee blinked slowly. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you because I thought you just said-"
"No there's no mistake. She said she wants to keep it. So I let her. I mean," and she giggled again,"why wouldn't she? It's hers, after all."
A degree in education hadn't prepared Cheerilee for this sort of thing, so she said nothing. The nurse seemed to take this as a sign for further clarification. Her left eye had started to twitch.
"No signs of assault, absolutely nothing to indicate anything other than that she just one day laid an egg. She's just getting her bag, she'll be ready in a moment."
"I don't remember her having a suitcase with her..."
"Oh, that?" The nurse answered, following Cheerilee's gaze. "That's mine. I talked to some people. They think it best I take a little sabbatical. I'm going to the countryside."
"Right..." She made a mental note to talk with Scootaloo to make sure she was really okay when they were alone. The tense silence didn't last long, as the filly bounded down the stairs towards her.
"Hey, Ms Cheerilee, thanks for picking me up, my folks are busy a lot, y'know?"
"It's my pleasure, how are you feeling?"
"Great! Wanna see my egg?"
"Maybe on the train, the next one leaves soon. Thank you for taking care of my student, Nurse... Uh."
"Yes, I am a nurse." She beamed at them.
All the way back to the station Cheerilee couldn't shake the feeling that the nurse's cutie mark hadn't been a baseball and a screw the day before.
