Single Wing - part 6

Scootaloo woke up with a shiver of the body from the cold air in the room. The lamp was still on, although the morning light had overtaken its role. She also noticed that she was still lying under Copperbolt's wing, though it seemed rather cold. Of course Copperbolt must have been freezing through the night, seeing as Scootaloo fell asleep while leaning up against her, so she could not reach out and grab her own blanket to pull over. It was just like her mother's kind heart to let her sleep like that, even though it meant for her to freeze herself.

The filly then looked back up at the brown mare's face to see how she was doing, smiling at how peaceful she seemed. Copperbolt seemed to sleep like a log, and judging by the wide and sweet smile on her face, she must be dreaming the most amazing of dreams. Steadily and quietly, Scootaloo dragged herself out from under the wing, so as to not wake up Copperbolt. She reached out behind the brown mare and got the blanket between her teeth, and then proceeded to cover her mother all the way up to her neck, slowly and neatly.

Letting her breath seep out between her almost closed lips, Scootaloo took a second glance at her mother's smile, wanting to see just how sweet and peaceful she looked while sleeping. True enough, she looked like the happiest of ponies, but this time Scootaloo also noticed something off: Weird stripes from the corner of her eyes, running along her face downwards and ending in a small spot on the pillow that had a darker shade than the rest of it. She had been crying, that much Scootaloo could tell, but as to why she had done it, and how she could have without waking her up, the young filly had no idea.

"Mom?" Scootaloo said with a sweet and low voice, still smiling even though she was a bit worried about the tear tracks. "Wake up mom. Did you have a bad dream?"

The mare did not react in the slightest, still lying with the same sweet smile locked on her lips. Using one of her hooves, Scootaloo gave her a gentle nudge in an attempt to physically get her up, but all that moved on Copperbolt's body was because of this very nudge. "It's morning mom. There's a clear blue sky and all. You really wanna sleep through this?"

Still nothing. At this point, Scootaloo was beginning to feel a little worried. Sure, Copperbolt can sleep deeply too, but she usually wakes up after being called out to, or at least reacts to Scootaloo's voice. "Mom? Mom, get up will you? You're starting to freak me out."

The smile on Copperbolt's face suddenly lost all meaning, while the dark tear tracers became Scootaloo's point of interest. There was definitely something wrong. Her cold body was even colder, and her fur seemed dull and bleak compared to its ordinary radiance. The filly's smile was gradually changing into an expression of panic as she began pushing harder and with two hooves instead of just one. "Mom, wake up! Please, mom, you're scaring me here! It's not funny!"

It was almost provocative how the mare's expression stayed still no matter how much she was being shaking around by the frightened filly, whose voice was becoming louder and more panicky by the second, and whose eyes kept getting more and more watery. "Mom! Mom! Please wake up!"

After a while, Scootaloo decided to stop with the showing and instead try to make the final test. She was panting, sweat running from her forehead as she looked to the chest of the pegasus. Biting her own lips, the filly finally managed to muster enough courage to remove the blanket and pressed her ear against the cold fur. She could not hear a heartbeat. She stayed like that for longer than was necessary to confirm her terrible suspicion, desperately listening for the drumming sound that was supposed to come, fruitless as it was.

"No…" she whimpered with a squeaky little voice. "No, mom… Don't do this… DON'T DO THIS!!"

She cast her hooves around the cold mare's head, screaming and letting out endless streams of her own tears, never intending to let go. "You said you wouldn't leave me, remember!!? You said there was no way you'd leave me!! Was that a lie!!? Did you lie, mom!!? Why did you lie, mom!!? WHY DID YOU LIE!!! MOM! MOM! PLEASE WAKE UP!! MOM, PLEASE WAKE UP!!"

For hours this was the mantra for the orange filly. She screamed, she cried, she pleaded and she even tried begging Celestia for help, though not even she had ever been able to bring anypony back like that. Helplessly sitting alone with what used to be her mother, Scootaloo spent the worst day of her life, sobbing.