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

Support my works on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/keyframeproductions

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpRLi63Nu9KZuEFvHvdGprQ

Deviantart: http://cosmicchrissy.deviantart.com/