Something a little different. Scoots is such a woobie
 
Crusaders of the Lost Lunch

The night had settled over the forest and outside a cold breeze cut through the air, gently rustling the leaves in the trees. The last trails of smoke twirled around from the campfire that had been put out some time ago. It was starting to rain and the raindrops sizzled on the still hot rocks of the fire pit. A small tent sat crooked in the shade between two trees to the side of the clearing, three saddle bags thrown to the side of the entrance.

And in the dark of the tent, a filly groaned.

“Scootaloo, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Sweetie Belle said. A flash of magic lit the lantern hanging overhead, bathing the inside of the tent in a flickering and swaying pale yellow light.

Sweetie looked at the filly hunched in the corner of the tent with a blanket drawn tight over her and her arms wrapped around her body, head pushed to her chest. The bundle hiccuped a little and Scootaloo groaned.

“I’m fi-” the filly started, stiffing a burp. “Fine. I’m fine”.

“Ya don’t sound fine,” Apple Bloom said, pulling the covers aside and revealing a very pale, shivering filly. “Don’t really look that fine either, if ahm’ honest.”

For normally being such boisterous filly, now Scootaloo seemed to try her best to disappear into the shadow. She clearly wasn’t her usual self.

“Maybe ya just need to, ya know, throw up?”

Scootaloo shivered again, but didn’t say anything.

“Scootaloo?”

“I’m not going to be sick.”

She had been feeling a little weird all day and it had been getting worse. At first she had tried to lie to herself that it was nothing and that she could make it go away but deep down she had known that she was coming down with something. The horrible feeling came in waves, every time getting a little worse and leaving her shivering with a cold sweat.

“I’m… I’m just not. Okay?” Scootaloo said, slumping under the covers a little.

Or at least she was going to fight it to the last moment, she’d do anything to avoid it. Just the thought of it was enough to make her stomach squirm - which was arguably a kind of vicious cycle. There was a word for it: scared.

No, she wasn’t going to puke, she could hold it. She had to hold it.

Just as she though it her belly twitched again and she could feel something try to sneak its way back up. It took everything she had to swallow it back down.

“Scoots,” Apple Bloom said, hurriedly pulling out a plastic bag and opened it up beside Scootaloo’s head. “Y’all feel a lot better if ya jus’ let it out. Everypony gets sick sometime, we’ve all had it. Ain’t nothing to be ashamed about.”

“Yeah,” Sweetie added. “Don’t be so stubborn about it.”

“It’s not that,” Scootaloo whimpered. “I- I don’t like it.”

“Scoots’, nopony likes being sick.” Sweetie said.

“No, I mean I… I’m scared, OK?” Scootaloo said finally and sank back.

“Scared?” Apple Bloom said. “About throwing up?”

“YES!” Scootaloo had shouted a little harder than she probably should have. Her hoof shot up to cover her mouth and her cheeks puffed out a little, but she managed to hold it. After her belly had settled down a little, she continued “I hate it. It’s the worst thing I know.” Her voice shook as she was on the verge of tears. “I- I don’t want to…”

Neither of the other fillies had seen Scootaloo like this before. The usual tough exterior was all but gone, revealing the vulnerable, scared filly inside.

“Oh, Scoots,” Sweetie said, brushing Scootaloo’s mane aside. “It’s okay, we’ve got you,” she continued, looking into her friend’s eyes. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

“Yeah, we jus’ want ya to feel better. We’ll take care of ya.”

Scootaloo was silent. Her heart was pounding and her body tingled with dread. It was going to get a lot worse before it got better. She looked at her friends, who were looking back at her with concern.

“Do you promise?” Scootaloo finally said.

The other fillies nodded. “Of course,” Apple Bloom said. “What are friends for?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie added, leaning to Scootaloo’s side. “We’re not going to leave you.”

“O- okay,” Scootaloo said with a voice dripping with apprehension. “Ugh… Guess we’re… doing this.” She propped herself up on her front hooves and immediately realized she wouldn’t have made it outside anyway.

Her hooves shook like crazy and she felt like she was going to faint. Sweetie pushed herself to her side to keep her upright. Apple Bloom lifted the bag up while Sweetie ran her hoof up and down her back.

“Jus’ let your tummy do what it needs to do,” Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo didn’t answer anything. She was at the same time mortified that she was going to do this in front of her friends and incredibly thankful that they were there. A small waterfall of drool dripped into the bag as she opened her mouth wide open. It was impossible to stem the rising nausea and growing twitch in her throat. The hiccups started again and everything in her belly was turning upside down. Every possible fear she had ever had was going through her mind at the same time, but at least she wasn’t alone.
 
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