The cold air gripped the small town of Ponyville and the chill of winter filled the air. Snow blanketed the town and ice sealed away lakes. Ponies dressed warm and used extra thick blankets. This was especially true for a certain pegasus filly that hated being cold.

A lump underneath the rainbow-colored covers wiggled slightly and let out a small sigh. The sun peeked into the window and laid its faint rays on the pillow and then traveled down the bed. The light landed right on the lump. It shined straight through the colorful blankets and irritated the eyes of the pony beneath the covers.

A small, orange head appeared from under the blankets. Bright purple eyes fluttered open and glanced at the window. The pony gave an annoyed look before throwing the covers back over their head and curling up. The pony squirmed uncomfortably before, once again, pulling down the blankets.

"Fine, have it your way!" Scootaloo muttered.

Scootaloo rolled out of her bed, managing to get tangled in the blankets. The three blankets wrapped her up like a burrito as she now laid on the floor. She wriggled and writhed her legs in a pathetic attempt to free herself.

Well, she thought bitterly, at least I'm not cold...

By the time the orange and purple pegasus managed to untangle herself, she had no time to go back to sleep. She stumbled to her closet and searched through the various hoodies, mittens, capes, and hats to find something warm. Finally, her purple eyes landed on a scarf and sweater. The wool scarf was red with purple dots, and the sweater was a dull blue with yellow stars.

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She trotted off to school with her scooter. The trees were no longer an explosion of crispy cool colors but were now dull, brown, and dead. The dead grass was hidden by a thick blanket of powdery snow. The snow made Scootaloo's hooves so cold they were numb and the only way she knew she was even walking was the very slight pressure on her legs and the tracks left in the snow.

The foals in the playground were bundled up in warm sweaters, mittens, and scarfs as they played. Snips and Snails huddled by the swing-set as Ruby Pinch and Zipporwhill sat on the swings. Pipsqueak and Featherweight, whose coats were so thick they looked at least 20 pounds fatter, were batting at the tetherball unenthusiastically as they had given up on stopping the wind from controlling the ball.

Scootaloo got on her scooter and searched for her filly friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She furrowed her brow; they were nowhere to be seen. She pushed off with her back leg and shot forward toward Twist, who was halfway buried in her backpack. Scootaloo skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding smacking Twist in the face.

"Oh, h-hey, Scoots!" Twist said as she briefly removed herself from the backpack. She went back to digging through the bag after about two seconds.

"Do you have any idea where the other Cutie Mark Crusaders are?" Scootaloo inquired. She kicked out her scooter's stand before sitting next to Twist.

"Well, um, uh no," Twist stammered, "but, um, I heard that there's this weird 'mystery fever' going around."

"'Mystery fever'? Twist, how much candy have you had this morning?" Scootaloo joked.

"I'm serious, Scoots," Twist's face appeared with a candy cane inside her mouth and serious look in her eyes. "It's just a fever, but still they aren't allowed to come to school."

"It's a bit hard to take somepony serious when they have a candy cane in their mou-"

Twist shoved a deliciously chewy, creamy, lemony sweet into Scootaloo's mouth to silence her. Twist then went back to searching through her bag for something. Scootaloo enjoyed finishing the confection before standing up and walking to her scooter.

She boarded the scooter and kicked off. She picked up so much speed she felt as if she could break the sound barrier. The cold air stung her eyes and caused them to tear up. She did not anticipate her vision being blurred and swerved out of control. Scootaloo released the handlebars in an attempt to bail. The scooter continued until colliding with a tree after about 3 seconds, nothing seemed too damaged.

Now Scootaloo almost wished she hadn't bailed. She hit the ground and heard a squeal, like that of terrified baby monkey or dog that just got its tail stepped on. Or even... Like the squeal of a pampered pooch that just got jumped on! Scootaloo scrambled to her hooves and clambered off of Diamond Tiara before removing her helmet.

"Sorry, Diamo-"

"Good! Because you should be!" Diamond Tiara snapped, turning up her nose at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo looked up and down at Diamond Tiara, possibly to make sure she wasn't hurt. The spoiled pony was wearing an expensive-looking, light blue fur coat and designer mittens. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Why can't that filly just dress and act like a NORMAL pony for once?

She trotted to her crashed scooter and looked it over. It looked completely rideable, which was surprising considering the speed at which the scooter had crashed. Scootaloo picked up the scooter and put her front hooves on the handle. She put her helmet back on and put a back hoof on the scooter.

"Scoots, are you okay?" Twist seemed to magically appear next to Scootaloo.

"Why wouldn't I be?" The pegasus laughed slightly.

"I saw that epic crash," Twist looked back at Diamond Tiara, "how mad did she get?"

"Actually, surprisingly, not very mad."

"Okay, well, I'm going to let you ride your scooter." Twist smiled.

Scootaloo shot off in her scooter, more carefully this time. She weaved a figure-eight around the swing-set, being sure not to hit anypony. Snips and Snails cheered her on, but she found this less motivating and more irritating. The wheels of the scooter wore a slight groove in the snow, this encouraged her to break the figure-eight and go around the rest of the playground.

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Diamond Tiara looked at the filly as she zoomed about with spiteful eyes. She growled and began to dig at the snow. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to her best friend, Silver Spoon.

"That stupid little blank flank probably thinks she can get a cutie mark from that meaningless scooter!" She fumed.

"Pfft, she'll be proven wrong soon enough," Silver Spoon replied.

"Maybe we should help her get a cutie mark," Diamond Tiara said, sickeningly, "a cutie mark from CRASHING."

Silver Spoon joined in with Diamond Tiara in a malicious laugh. Diamond strutted across the playground toward the swing set. She masked her malevolent grin with an innocent look as she approached Snips and Snails.

"Oh, would you two boys be kind enough to do little ol' me a favor?" Diamond Tiara shot the colts a pair of puppy eyes.

"Sure!" Snips and Snails agreed in unison as they hopped to their hooves.

"What is it?" Snips Inquired.

"Scootaloo wants to try anything and everything to get her cutie mark, right?" Diamond Tiara said.

"I-I think so," Snails replied.

"Well, I need you to help me get her her cutie mark," she paused for the colts nod, "from crashing."

"Crashing? I don't think she would-" Snips began, but was interrupted by Diamond Tiara.

"You mean... you won't do this favor for me?" She gave them a look of shock and hurt. "Th-That's fine, I guess..." she looked down sadly and faked a sniffle.

"Actually, no! We will! Don't be sad!" Snips nodded his head like he was a bobble head. "What do ya need us to do to help her?"

"You're unicorns."

"But our magic isn't that strong," Snails reminded, looking for any way he could get out of this.

"It doesn't have to be strong, just has to work for a few moments," Diamond Tiara assured. "You just need to make the scooter stop moving in an instant, not for very long at all."

The two colts exchanged looks. Snips gave Snails a begging look, but Snails stood strong in his opinion of this being wrong. Snips frowned and grunted. He agreed with Diamond and said Snails would also help. Before Snails could object, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon strutted away from the swing-set, making sure they were out of earshot before snickering.

"Those gullible, little babies," Diamond teased, "so easy!"

"Yeah, I bet they won't do any better than an earth-pony with their magic." Silver Spoon added.

Back at the swing-set, Snips and Snails were arguing.

"Snips, this is bad! Do you wanna be a bad pony?" Snails asserted.

"Cool it, Snails," Snips replied in a calm tone, "it won't be 'bad' per se-"

"Oh, yeah? What is your excuse!?" The yellow colt interrupted.

"It'll just be a prank! That isn't wrong, it's funny!" Snips defended.

Snails let out a defeated sigh, "Fiiine..."

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Snips and Snails spotted Scootaloo twisting and turning at high speeds on the snow. Snips nodded slightly at Snails, this was the signal. Snails knew this wasn't good, that was was wrong. He felt terrible guilt for something he hadn't even done yet! Snips noticed the concern in his best friend's eyes and the blue colt's eyes darted nervously about. He nudged Snails softly, seemingly bringing him back to reality.

Snails caved in and got into a running stance next to Snips. Once again, the stout blue unicorn nodded. The two shot off, running side by side. They pretended as though they were racing each other across the playground, shouting things like "I'm gonna win" or "I'm faster than you" as they trotted along.

Scootaloo observed the two and altered her path in a way that avoided where she thought they were running to. She assumed they would continue going straight, as for the first few meters they went straight, so she went left. When she swerved left, Snips and Snails darted forward and jumped ahead of Scootaloo.

She attempted to skid to a halt, but the scooter stopped in an instant. It was enveloped by a green and orange magical aura for a moment. This moment was just long enough for the momentum to launch Scootaloo in the air. She waved her legs desperately and attempted to flap her wings. Her wings were small and weak, the force of the air snapped them back in an unnatural position with a loud crack.

The crack was followed by Scootaloo's scream of agony. She was at the climax of the arc at about 14 feet high. She curled into a ball and awaited her inevitable crash. The wind, once again her enemy, forced her out of the fetal position, sprawling her legs out. She attempted to fight the wind and pull her legs forward, but it only made the situation worse. Her back legs were clipped by an especially strong gust, which was again followed by a crack. Scootaloo's continuous wailing turned into another high-pitched shriek of anguish. The movement of her legs caused her to begin rolling in the air like a cannonball.

She hit the ground with a loud thud. Her body now filled with an ache as she opened her eyes. Her body was covered with bruises and small cuts. Her wings felt broken and hung lifelessly from her back and her back legs felt like they had been torn off. She moaned quietly in pain and closed her eyes.

All those awful, painful things took place in just under 9 seconds. The flailing. The wings. The curl. The legs. The rolling.

Author's Note

Edited!! :D