“I’m glad you all were willing to help me finish repainting the boutique today,” Rarity thanked her friends. It was an early morning during late fall, about the time most foals were going to school.

Young foals were being walked to school by their parents, who were starting to get frustrated at their arguments. Various phrases such as “I don’t wanna go” or “I went yesterday” could be heard. Older foals were walking to school with their friends, chatting about what they had eaten for dinner the last night.

One thing was the same with everypony outside, though- they all dressed warm. Everypony had scarves wrapped around their necks, keeping them toasty. They bore many different colors, some red, some blue, and some multi-colored. Some were decorated with simple patterns and pictures. Some ponies found themselves scratching their necks like crazy, while others found their scarves making it easier to simple fall asleep.

“It’s no problem, Rarity. We’re glad to help,” Twilight said in between strokes. Her tongue was sticking out as she spread the paint evenly, trying not to miss any spot on the wall.

The others were quick to agree to Twilight’s statement.

“I think we’re done up here!” Rainbow Dash shouted from above. “Do you guys need some help down there?”

Rarity paused to examine the walls. Her eyes scanned for any large unpainted spots. There wasn’t much unpainted. Her mind measured how much everypony would have to paint. Figuring Rainbow and Fluttershy had done their share of work, she finally responded.

“At the rate we’re going, I doubt it will take much more of our time. Would you two mind heading inside and serving the hot chocolate for us? It’s quite cold out here.”

“No prob! I’ll have it done in a jiffy!” Rainbow flew inside in a flash, quickly getting to work on the hot cocoa. The door nearly broke off its hinges, but Twilight quickly caught it in her magic, hardly diverted her attention from her painting.

Fluttershy slowly followed Rainbow inside, glad to help make hot chocolate. She gently opened the door and stepped through, slowly shutting it behind her.

“Oh, Fluttershy?” Rarity turned from her work. The brush floating above her threatened to drip paint on her. Fluttershy stopped. She turned around in the doorway and peeked out at her friend.

“Yes?”

“Could you remind Sweetie Belle that she must go to school?”

“Oh, of course,” Fluttershy replied. Her head slipped back through the door as she closed it behind her.

After a few minutes, they finally finished painting. The four mares backed away from the exterior of the building to inspect their work. The paint was evenly spread across the wall. There was not a clump of paint to be found, nor a single spec of unpainted wall.

“Good job girls! You can head inside for now, I’ll bring in the paint buckets later,” Rarity told her friends.

“Oh boy! I can’t wait for our hot chocolate! I loooove hot chocolate! It just tastes so yummy and chocolaty and sugary and amazing! Man, I thought we would NEVER finish painting!” Pinkie Pie continued ranting as she bounced up and down in glee.

“What was that, Pinkie?” Applejack asked.

“I think it was something along the lines of ‘space-thing,’” Twilight guessed.

As the other three went in, Pinkie continued her rant as she bounced up and down. The hoof gestures she made were wild and all over the place. Suddenly, she went silent.

“Oh, they all went inside… WAIT FOR ME!” She galloped after them, knocking over a nearby bucket of paint in her rush. Her hooves beat against the ground as she ran toward the door only a few feet away.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle popped out of the door. Her eyes went wide as she saw Pinkie Pie skidding to a halt. She curled up into a ball and covered her head with her hooves.

Pinkie felt the friction of the ground scraping against her hooves burn into her bones. She had to have scraped off at least 2 layers of skin. She slowly lifted her right forehoof up so she could see the bottom. All of the fur had been scraped off.

Sweetie Belle looked up from her ball. Seeing that Pinkie had stopped, she stood up and brushed herself off. “Jeez, Pinkie! You scared me!”

“Sorry, Sweetie Belle. I just realized I forgot to go inside, that’s all,” Pinkie explained in a monotone voice, her eyes still glued to the bottom of her hoof.

“Um… Is something… wrong?” Sweetie asked.

Pinkie Pie shook her head rapidly, closing her eyes as she did so. Dazed, she answered. “N-no. No, everything’s fine!” She was back to her normal self again. Sweetie moved to the side to let Pinkie in, and she trotted through the door, slamming it shut after her.

As Sweetie continued glaring at the door, Scootaloo pulled up on her scooter, Apple Bloom riding on the back.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle! Need a ride to school?” Scootaloo asked.

“Sure, thanks!”

“Hop on!” Of course, by this time, Sweetie had already jumped onto the scooter, securing herself to her friends with her hooves.

“Hey, Sweetie, did ya hear what happened to Diamond Tiara yesterday?” Apple Bloom asked.

“No, what?”

“Apparently, she slipped in some spilled paint and broke her hoof,” Apple Bloom told her.

“Oh no, really?” Sweetie Belle asked, concerned. Despite the awful relationship she had with Diamond Tiara, her heart was still easily broken when she saw a sad pony.

“Nah, Ah just made that up,” Apple Bloom answered, giggling a little.

“Wait, if she didn’t break her hoof, then why did she have to get Silver Spoon to help her walk home?” Scootaloo asked.

“Ah don’t know. Probably just lazy.”

“Huh,” Scootaloo pondered. Deciding to ignore it, she grabbed onto the handlebar and got into place to start the scooter. Without securing her helmet strap, she pushed at the ground with her hind hoof.

The scooter started off slowly, but once it got going, it was much faster than walking speed. Scootaloo could feel the wind blowing through her tail, and her heart could practically explode out of her chest out of excitement. That was one of the main reasons she loved riding her scooter so much. The excitement just felt so amazing to her. She saw everything near her whizzing by. Anything that would happen to be chasing her when she started would be far behind once the scooter picked up speed, unless the chaser happened to be Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo looped around the Carousel Boutique a few times. She was going so fast, she could most certainly feel the force pulling her away from the building, resisting her circles. The force was so strong it ripped her helmet off, but she knew she could escape it.

She leaned violently to the right when she suddenly felt some sort of liquid underneath the scooter. Immediately, she knew what had happened.

“Jump off!” Scootaloo shouted to her friends.

“Why?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Just do it!”

Tired and not in much of a mood to argue, her friends did just that.

Scootaloo let the scooter go a few more feet before she jumped off as well, not releasing her grip on the handlebars. The scooter didn’t stop. Instead, the scooter swung up and smacked Scootaloo in the head.

Scootaloo fell over.

Shocked and worried, Sweetie Belle rushed over to her friend. She needed to see if she was alright. What she found was not what she had hoped. The scooter had hit Scootaloo harder than they had thought.

“Is she alright?” Apple Bloom asked. She was reluctant to look for herself. She feared what she would see.

“N-no...” Sweetie Belle said weakly, feeling lightheaded. “There’s blood everywhere!”

Scootaloo was lying on her left side. Her right forehoof was stretched behind her back, slightly farther beyond where it should have been able to bend. Her left forehoof was underneath her body. Her hind right hind hoof was slightly in front of the left, as if she was trying to walk on two hooves. The scooter’s handlebar had fallen from her right hoof, but was still held by her left. The back wheel had still been spinning and had gotten tangled into Scootaloo’s mane.

There was a fairly deep gash across Scootaloo’s forehead, right where a unicorn’s horn would be. There was blood dripping out of it.

Sweetie Belle fainted.

As Apple Bloom saw what happened, she panicked. She knew she had to get Applejack. She would know what to do.

Apple Bloom sprinted into the building at her top speed. Twilight and her friends all turned from their drinks. They had been discussing various news topics in Equestria.

Apple Bloom ran up to Applejack and told her what had happened as quickly as possible. The group gasped collectively and all rushed outside. When they saw it for themselves, they all gasped.

“Scoots!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She flew over to her as fast as she could and started to pick her up. She stopped when she felt her mane tugging. She turned to see the scooter. Realizing it was stuck, she rushed inside to find scissors.

Rarity ran over to her sister and gently picked her up in a forehoof. Sweetie Belle opened an eye and peeked up at her. “Rarity?”

Rarity didn’t respond. She simply hugged her. She didn’t ever want to lose her.

“Rarity? What happened?” Her just-awoken mind still struggled to remember. She had been facing the other way the whole time.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go to school,” Rarity spoke softly, finally releasing her from her embrace.

“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah?”

“You go with Sweetie Belle. Don’t worry about her.”

Obediently, the two fillies walked off toward the schoolhouse. Sweetie Belle walked at a normal pace at first, until she suddenly remembered what had happened. Her pace dropped rapidly, along with her head. Apple Bloom wrapped a hoof around her friend, trying to comfort her.

“We have to get her to the hospital!” Twilight exclaimed once she was sure the foals were out of hearing range.

“But the scooter is stuck in her mane. We can’t possibly bring it to the hospital with her!” Rarity argued. Immediately, Rainbow Dash burst out of the building, a pair of scissors in her hoof.

“I found ‘em!” she announced. Rarity directed her attention to the scissors in her friend’s hoof. Suddenly, her eyes went wide.

“You can’t use those scissors!” Rarity exclaimed, rushed over to her friend to take them.

“Why not?” Rainbow asked. The group was confused as well.

“Those are my sewing scissors! They aren’t meant to be used to cut manes!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rarity, this is an emergency. We have no idea how major this injury is! And in order to find that out, we have to get her to the hospital, which means that scooter can’t be caught in her mane!”

“Oh, alright,” Rarity sighed, handing the scissors back to Rainbow. “But just this once. And be careful!”

Rainbow took the scissors and rushed over to Scootaloo. She eyeballed about where she had to cut and began cutting through. It didn’t exactly cut like butter. If it did, the butter certainly hadn’t been out of the freezer for long. Rainbow had to push down with all of her might to get the scissors to cut through the mane. She could feel a drop of sweat fall down her face. Finally, the tuft of hair fell to the ground, bring the scooter with it.

Rarity walked up to Rainbow to retrieve her scissors, which were now bent and full of hair.

Rainbow picked up Scootaloo in her forehooves as she started beating her wings. “I’ll bring her to the hospital. You guys let her family know what happened to her.” Rainbow flew off in a blur toward the hospital.

The mares simply stood there in silence for a moment. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball, shaking violently. If you listened closely enough, you could hear her sobbing softly. Pinkie Pie’s mane had gone straight, and she was practically crying waterfalls. Twilight and Rarity were hugging each other, both crying loudly. Applejack was simply staring off into the distance after Rainbow Dash, letting the tears flow silently.

“Ah sure hope she’s alright,” she whispered to herself.

Author's Note

I'm getting better. I started this yesterday, and I just now finished it.
Still, I think it's loads better than Rafting Against the Current when it comes to pacing and description.
I know, the pacing isn't perfect. In fact, it's far from it.
Let me know what you think of it in the comments below. Leave a like if you liked it, a dislike if you didn't like it, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.
What do you guys wanna see in the future for this story? I think I have a few ideas, but maybe you have a good one that I don't. I'd really like to hear them.