Chapter 1
"Urgh..."
Consciousness slowly crept throughout Scootaloo's body. She stretched out her legs, hooves involuntarily grasping down on the soft grass below her. As her mind trekked through the sleepy haze, she rolled onto her back. Her chest heaved as her back impacted the ground, a foal’s task now a stallion’s workload for her. Her eyes opened at a snail’s pace, gazing up at the sky. It was a pristine cyan, almost like her idol’s fur. Pegasi flew past, appearing as hued blurs. She let out a heavy sigh. While she was numb, she was content. Everything felt soft and warm. It was so quiet...so peaceful. It was as if she was hitting top speeds on a really sick ride. The surroundings would mesh together, and like a unicorn's force field spell, she created a field of her own, deafening the sounds of the mundane, leaving only herself and the buzzing of her wings ...her small ...small wings....
Suddenly, the tranquility of the moment was cut to shreds by a familiar sickening laugh.
"Nice ride, ScootaLOSER".
With that insult, the numbness was sucked out of Scootaloo's body. Now all she could feel were bruises and cuts, along with a simmering anger bubbling in her stomach. She turned her neck with a groan towards the voice, squinting her eyes. The blobs of color soon focused and the details regained clarity. The once light pink and white splotch with glints of shimmer quickly mangled itself into the alpha filly herself, Diamond Tiara.
"Ha! Good one, Diamond!" Silver Spoon appeared from behind her leader, chortling in that same toxic tone that Scootaloo had sadly grown familiar to.
'Typical crony behavior...' Scootaloo thought as she cautiously rose to her hooves. She steadied herself on what seemed to be an increasingly swaying ground. She placed each hoof flat, hissing in pain at the sudden burning sensation radiating from the pad of her hind leg.
"Aww, did the baby get a boo boo?" Diamond teasingly sneered, only prompting her henchfilly to continue her annoying laughter.
"Oh get stuffed, Diamond!" Scootaloo growled through gritted teeth, once again wincing at new found pains.
"If I wanted to get stuffed, I would have gotten a cutie mark in taxidermy." Diamond momentarily shuttered at the thought of being destined to a profession of carcasses and menial labor. She shrugged it off and sauntered closer to the battered filly, Silver Spoon following behind.
"You know what I meant Diamond." Scootaloo tried to turn her head away from the filly, only for them to redirect themselves into her path.
"You look at me when I am speaking to you." Diamond's eyes pierced into Scootaloos. Unlike the welcoming and almost magical blue that filled the sky, Diamonds eyes were like the ice that held Sombra; cold, shrewd, and hiding the evilest of intentions.
Scootaloo returned the glare, standing her ground. "What in Luna's name do you want?"
Scootaloo held back the urge to spit on Diamond's disgusting grin. Hey, if she was lucky, it would have some blood and a tooth in it.
"I just wanted to ask a question, Scoots," said Diamond, putting on a shade of faux innocent.
'Heh, the only thing that doesn't look good on you' Scootaloo thought, letting a small smirk paint itself on her face.
Silver Spoon noticed, and grimaced. "What are you smiling about?"
Scootaloo could compare Silver's voice to the lovely sounds of cats in heat, claws on a chalkboard, or the shrill cries of Cakes, waking the neighborhood in the middle of the night. However, that would be an insult to those sound creators.
"Nothing. What's your question?" Scootaloo returned her expression to her previous exasperated frown.
"I was just going to ask why you ride that dumb scooter..." Diamond emphasized "dumb" with a flip of her pearly mane.
"Well, duh, 'cause I'm awesome at it." Scoots mimicked her bully's action, painfully reminding herself of the state she was in.
"Awesome? Pfft," Diamond lazily stifled a laugh, "If you were so 'Awesome'", you would have your cutie mark by now."
'Oh Celestia, not this again...' Scootaloo groaned as Silver joined her..."friend".
"Yeah, why waste your time riding around on that stupid thing and just get your mark already?" She giggled, and commenced her and Diamonds infamous hoof shake. Every time Scootaloo witnessed this stupid song and dance she cringed. She blessed the princesses for giving her friends that weren't as vapid as these spoiled brats.
"You should be thanking us Scootaloo..." Diamond turned her head towards the orange pegasus, eyes half lidded. "We helped you get rid of that time waster."
Scootaloo's face filled with confusion, until she looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight. Her scooter, her best friend, now a mess, entangling with the roots of the tall oak tree.
"No...no no no no noooo!" Scootaloo repeated over and over, falling to her stomach, hooves gripping the mangled remains of her precious scooter. She could barely recognize it, the handle bars bent in impossible ways, wheels cracked apart from the body, itself now multiple splinter filled pieces. Hot tears streamed down Scootaloo's face as the memory of what occurred suddenly returned to her mind...
"Woohoo! Yeah!" Scootaloo grinned, bolting down the road. She performed trick after trick, wheelies, jump flips, one after another. "Okay Scoots," she muttered to herself, her speeds rendering her inaudible to anypony in proximity. "Time to wow everypony with your best trick yet!"
She allowed herself a quick squeal, shutting her eyes momentarily, but just as fast, reopened them. Her expression hardened, eyes stoically staring forward. "Okay Scootaloo...concentrate. Concentrate. Concen--".
She heard a sound stab her hull. A familiar laughter melting her concentration. Then, in an instant, something landed in front of her. However, before she could identify the obstruction, it jammed itself betwixt the axle of the scooter. Scootaloo swerved and jerked, trying to pry the foreign object, but to no avail. She looked down in fear, trying to keep her breathing from going shallow in fright. All her skill, her talent, her experience, gone. Her gaze returned forward, only to be greeted by brown. She crashed, her head impacting against her helmet. She soon plunged into a subconscious abyss, accompanied by that laughter...that familiar laughter.
Diamond stomped on one of the scooter's damaged wheels, crushing it beneath her hard hoof. Scootaloo stared up at her as she grabbed the once unknown object that caused this disaster.
"Like it? It's made of dragon tooth." Diamond shoved the obstruction into Scootaloo's face. She recognized it immediately as the baton Diamond used in her Equestrian Games audition. The unnatural pearly sheen of the rod reflected the sun into Scoots eyes, increasing her already terrible migraine.
Diamond retracted the beautifully evil obstacle back to her muzzle, huffing softly onto the surface, fogging its appearance. "I thought since I couldn't show it off at the games..." Diamond rubbed her baton against her elbow, eyes still locked with Scootaloos. "...I could still give it a use."
She punctuated the sentence by tapping the tip of the pole against Scoots' nose. Scootaloo pushed the baton away furiously, her teeth gritting tightly. She began positioning herself for an attack, but emotion took its toll. Scoots crashed into shambles among her scooter's remains and sobbed.
For once, the two bully fillies didn't know what to say, looking uncomfortably at each other.
"Uh...lets go Silver, I uh...think I heard my daddy calling".
Silver simply nodded and they quickly trotted away, leaving the warm colored pegasus to her tears.
Author's Note
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Chapter 2
"Nice ride, ScootaLOSER..."
"If you were so'Awesome', you would have your cutie mark by now..."
"We helped you get rid of that time waster..."
Scootaloo's depression was interrupted by a soft tapping on her shoulder. She jerked upwards defensively, "WHAT DO YOU...oh, h-hey, Ditzy Doo...".
Ditzy smiled softly, surveying the situation Scootaloo was in. "Oh dear..." Ditzy said, worry radiating from her voice, "what happened, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo’s ears flopped down as she looked away, her pride clouding her better judgement, “What? Im fine, Ditz! Just f--” her farce was over before it even started, the mere sight of her wheeled friend's destruction causing a new cascade of tears to run down her cheeks.
Ditzy stared for a moment, pondering what to do next. Her golden eyes lit up as she slung her empty mailbag off her shoulder and onto the ground. Scoots heard Ditzy scurry around her, but kept her head buried deep in her hooves. Scootaloo had nothing against the mailmare, not at all, but she, along with everyone in town knew there was something....off, about her. She would fly in thunderstorms, but sleep during the the most beautiful spring afternoons. She delivered the mail on time for sure, but don't be surprised if you got a complimentary muffin with it. Was it bad? No...maybe? Scootaloo was never sure. Then again, if there was anything she knew she was not getting her mark in, its reading ponies.
Suddenly, Scoot's train of thought was brought to a halt as she was lifted by a wing into the air onto the grey mares back, "Hold on."
"Hold on? What're you--"
Scootaloo's words were drowned out by turbulence as Ditzy jetted into the air, Scootaloo in tow. She wrapped her arms around Ditzy's neck, burying her face in the soft, silvery fur. Soon enough, the wall eyed mare slowed her flying to a comfortable speed, allowing Scoots to regain composure. Scoots opened her mouth wide, ready to rip the mare a new one.
Ditzy turned her head, eyes meeting Scootaloo's, "Would you like me to go slower, Scoots?" If this was some normal mare, she would've already sped off or yell of the non consensual ride.
But the care in Ditzy's tone seemed to make the filly's anger subside.
"Uh...n-no, I'm fine..." Ditzy smiled softly and started to descend, landing onto the slightly overgrown grass. Scootaloo looked around confused, "Where are we?" Ponyville was off in the distance, the buildings having as much definition as a preschoolers watercolor painting.
"Oh, this is my home." Ditzy started walking to the entrance, her hooves now clopping against the stone walkway.
Scoots felt something strange as Ditzy walked, noticing a slight limp in her step. The descent was so slow, she doubted it would cause injury. 'Then again, this is Ditzy Doo we are talking about...'
Scootaloo shook the thought out of her head as Ditzy made her way to the home's small shed, knocking the door with her free hoof.
"Turner! We have company!"
A discorded symphony of clattering metal and Celestia knows what else came from the other side, along with a muffled, "I’m coming!" Soon the noises subsided and the knob turned, revealing a pair sapphire eyes, obscured by goggles.
Scootaloo couldn't help but let out a snicker at the stallion as he flicked the oil off his hooves, "Heh; hi, Time Turner."
Turner pulled the goggles up, squishing his already messy, spiky brunette mane. "Oh, hello Scootaloo, pleasant surprise to see yo--" his eyes shifted to the scratches and cuts on her body, "--I see you were in a bit of a scuff now, eh?" His shrill, foreign accent mesmerized Scoots, whose often heard him with a normal, deep tone.
"Uh, y-yeah, you can say that..." Scootaloo fluffed her wings self consciously, looking away from the stallion.
“I thought you can help, Turner; you are a doctor,” Ditzy pointed out.
Turner looked into Ditzys eyes with a smile, “Ditzy, Im not that type of doctor…” Ditzy fluttered her eyelashes at him, making him chuckle, “Alright alright, let me see what I can do.” Turner walked over to Ditzy's side and leaned his head downwards. "Hm...a lot of cuts and bruising.." He murmured, his eyes now looking straight into Scootaloo's. Scootaloo looked back, her mind noting the almost ancient quality about them, adding it to the list of strange traits about Turner. "Can you take off your helmet?" Scootaloo nodded and took off her helmet, flinching when she saw the noticeable dent in it.
Turner took his hoof and brushed around Scootaloos mane. "Hey, what're you--OWW!" Scoots hissed, her head jerking away from Turner's touch.
"Hm, you got quite a knot there." Turner scratched his chin, "Do you think you can walk?"
"Uh, yeah, I think I can..." Scootaloo answered. Ditzy lowered herself down, letting Scootaloo slowly place her hooves onto the ground. She steadied herself and began to walk, seething in pain as the blades of grass dug into her wounds.
"You’re lucky you wore that helmet, God knows what would've happened."
"God?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh, I mean, Luna, or Celestia, you know theres also that Princess Cadence, though given she runs an empire wouldn't that make her Empress Cad--" Ditzy tapped Turner's shoulder, snapping him out of his self induced trance. "Huh? Oh yes yes, well, I don’t think she has anything an ice pack and some bandages can't fix." Turner flashed an assuring grin, "I think we have some inside..."
Scootaloo's eyes widened. While she didn't think either of the grown ponies were intending anything malicious, she definitely did not want to spend anymore time here than she had to. "Uh, thats alright, you guys; I'm sure I have some at my place." She swooped her mane out of her eyes, trying present herself as best as she could.
"I don't know, Scootaloo, it'll be easier to patch you up here," Ditzy focused her good eye on the filly, "And bringing you here took a lot out of me."
"I agree with Ditzy." Turner chimed in, "Even if you can walk, all that dirt and pests on the way could infect your cuts."
Scootaloo looked over her shoulder to the horizon. Whether she liked it or not, they weren't lying about the distance, it would be at least an hour on hoof to get back home.
The pads of her hooves stung just thinking about the journey. "What, that? I've trotted through worse." Scootaloo opened her wings in a powerful stance, masking her uncertainty. She started to march off, her the scrapes on her ankles throbbing with each passing breeze brushing against them. She gritted her teeth into a false grin, trying to fool herself. 'I'm fine, I’m fine, I’m fine...'
SPLASH
Scootaloo lifted her leg, shaking the mud off her fur. "Eww, stupid pudd--" she looked down at the perpetrator, being greeted by her own reflection. Her words died before escaping her mouth.
'I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine...'
She finally saw what she looked like, how Ditzy, Turner, and those two jerks saw her as. Her fur was littered with wood chips and grass stains, dried blood caked on the tip of her muzzle.
'I'm...fine...'
This was what they saw, this broken filly that they battered, that they injured, and what did they do? Laugh. Just like everyone else ...laughed.
”I’m fine...I’m fine…” She whispered to herself. The energy in her hind legs gave out, her bottom falling to the ground. “I’m...f-f-fine…”
A grey wing wrapped around the stunned filly. “How about we get you cleaned up?”
Scootaloo merely nodded and followed Ditzy into the house, only capturing one last glance of Turner carrying a strangely bulky mailbag into his garage.
Author's Note
Sorry it took so long for chapter 2 guys! A lot of stuff has been coming up, and it took a while to sit down and write. But here it is! enjoy!
Support my works on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/keyframeproductions
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