Legs
A/N: Human!AU drabble about widdle Scooty~ She's a freshman in high school.
WINK WONK ENJOY
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When she awoke, the first thing she noticed in her groggy haze was the lack of pain.
She blinked, her violet eyes half focused on the plain hospital ceiling. They rolled to the side, finding a nurse adjusting a bag of something wet hung up next to her bed.
"Oh, you're awake!" the woman chimed sweetly, turning and grabbing a clipboard and a pen, "How are you feeling?"
Scootaloo's eyes rolled back to the ceiling and she grunted as she placed a weighted arm across her forehead.
"Heavy," she mumbled, rubbing one of her eyes to get the sleepies out.
"That's natural; it'll take a few hours for the anesthesia to wear off completely," the nurse hummed as she scribbled on her board. "Any pain?"
The teenager rolled her head from side to side, inhaling deeply as she moved to rub her other eye. "None at all."
"Good. Feel free to give us a buzz if you feel any. We've started you on a low dose pain killer but if we have to prescribe you something stronger we can." The nurse dropped the clipboard into a plastic slip at the end of the bed. "Would you like visitors now?"
Scootaloo stared back at the ceiling, blinking mindlessly as the nurse's words caught up with her. "Yeah. Yeah I wanna see my friends."
The kind-faced woman smiled. "I'll see them in."
And as the nurse left, Scootaloo watched the swish of her lab coat. She followed it's motion to the door, and when it was opened, she followed it out. But before the door closed, she also spotted something on the all-glass door across from hers.
Recovery Ward
Recovery….?
A thick, heavy brick of dread and anxiety dropped onto her chest and rolled down to her abdomen. She started, her eyes going wide and her grogginess disappearing all together as the memory of the last few days raced through her mind.
The out-of-state track meet.
Tripping and cutting her ankles open on the rocks.
The infection.
Her foster mother telling her to suck it up.
Not being able to walk by the time she got to track practice.
The red and the purple and the black and the holes.
Rainbow Dash running her across campus to meet an ambulance.
The doctors
The scans
The tests
The diagnosis
The cure-
Scootaloo flew into a sitting position and stared down at her covered legs, eyes wide and searching as they combed over the lumps in the sheets before her. The anxiety began to ease as her situation came to full realization in her mind, replaced by a heavy cloud that caused her eyes to sting and water.
With a trembling hand, she carefully peeled away the fabric.
The tears fell immediately and without abandon.
In her distress she wound her fingers in what she could of her short plum hair and pulled, her body wilting as she tried to cry as quietly as she possibly could. She knew it had been the only way. She knew it was all there was to be done and even though she'd been strong and okay with it before, once it had become reality…
She chewed into her lip.
Everything had changed.
"Scootaloo!"
Her head flew towards the door, where she found Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Worry and fear lined their faces as they stepped over to the bed. Sweetie Belle immediately reached over to run her thumbs over Scootaloo's wet cheeks, while Apple Bloom grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight.
"What's wrong, sugar?" The pink-haired teen asked softly, bringing her friend's hand to her lips. "Aren't you alright? Wasn't the cure a success?"
Scootaloo nodded stiffly, trying even harder now to fight back the tears.
"They're gone," she choked out, burying her face against Sweetie Belle's hand.
"Who's gone Scoots?" the other girl inquired, brushing the fingers of her other hand against Scootaloo's ear.
Scootaloo whimpered softly, then pushed the blankets down the rest of the way. The gasps her friend's emitted at the sight made her feel disgusting.
"Sugar pea-"
"The only 'cure' was cutting off all the infected tissue," Scootaloo sobbed, leaning back from Sweetie Belle and rubbing her leaking nose. "The infection was too strong to kill. The only option was removal."
The was a short silence between the friends, and thought it was startled it wasn't uncomfortable.
Apple Bloom reached out cautiously and grazed her fingers against the white bandages around her best friend's knee. When Scootaloo flinched, she withdrew quickly.
"Does it hurt?" she asked gently.
"No," the recovering teen sniffed, "Not physically."
Sweetie Belle smiled softly, blinking back the pooling of liquid against the edges of her eyelids. "You're still our amazing Scootaloo."
"How am I amazing?!" Scootaloo snapped, pulling away from her friend's gentle touch. "Running was the only thing I was passionate about! I was going to be fast and great and amazing like Rainbow Dash and now I can't even walk!" She wilted back down into a laying position. "I'll never be amazing."
"Why do you have to be like Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom grumbled, "You're awesome the way you are now, you don't have to have calves or feet to be Scootaloo."
"Following in Rainbow Dash's footsteps made me feel like I had a purpose, like I was working towards a goal and someday I'd run alongside her as an equal," Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom, "How would you feel if you suddenly lost the ability to cultivate plants? Or if Sweetie Belle lost the ability to sing?"
She sighed and covered her still streaming eyes.
"I thought I knew what I was supposed to do and now…" She looked at her legs, lifting one slightly to see just how far below the knee they'd amputated. She guessed an inch and a half max.
"I was so wrong about my future that I literally have to start from square one."
Sweetie Belle gently climbed up onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Scootaloo's neck, sniffing loudly into her shoulder.
"But no matter what happens you're always going to be our amazing Scootaloo," she said, smiling softly as she pulled back, "We're going to stay right here with you and help you down this road together, okay?"
"Yea!" Apple Bloom chimed, climbing up onto the end of the bed. "This is just a minor setback, we just gotta do more crusadin'! We've got hearts as strong as horses, remember? And that includes you! You'll get through this and whenever you need a shoulder we'll be waitin'!"
Scootaloo cracked a smile to her friends, letting the tears fall at full force again. She felt warm.
"I don't deserve friends like you," she cracked, laughing softly.
"There's our favorite Scoot-a-smile!" Sweetie Belle giggled, patting her friend's cheeks.
As Scootaloo laughed softly through her tears, for the first time since this had started she felt like maybe she actually had a chance when it was over. She wasn't going to do it alone; she'd have her friends. Maybe losing her lower legs wouldn't be the end of the world.
Maybe it was just a new beginning.