It was Sunday night and you hadn’t seen hide, nor hair of Apple Bloom all day. You started to think she was purposely avoiding you. “Well, when she wants to talk, we’ll talk.” you muse aloud as you turn the page of Ocean Circulations. You really weren’t reading the book however. Your mind was going back to that kiss. It was short and sweet, but made your whole body tingle. Sighing, you realize that you can’t get any work done like this and decide to go to bed early this time. Unlike the past few nights, you didn’t have any dreams this time and this made you a bit sad. You were actually starting to enjoy them. Your mom had worked late last night and slept in, leaving you to make your own breakfast, consisting of daisies between two slices of toasted wheat bread.

With nothing much else to do before school started, you decided to wander around Ponyville to get a feel for it. A familiar voice gets your attention as you round a corner.

“YA! Nailed it!” Scootaloo says as her scooter touches down on the ground. Her purple mane was stuffed into her helmet, so you almost didn’t recognize her. She, however, smiles as you approach.

“Hey! Wanna see something cool?!?” She asks excitedly.

“Sure.”

She smiles at your answer. “Awesome! Check it!” She crouches down on her scooter before jumping into the air with it and spinning 360 degrees before landing in the same position she started in. You clap your hooves together in applause and Scootaloo takes a bow. “Thank you, thank you. So, you need a lift to school?” She asks.

You think about it for a second before shrugging. “Sure, why not?” You ask.

Scootaloo hopes off of her scooter and motions for you to get on.

“So, how is this supposed to work, with the two of us?” You ask. Scootaloo gets on behind you and wraps her hooves around your waist. “Just steer. I’ll take care of the rest.” She says. You blush at the feeling of her this close to you. “Alright, I’m ready.” You say nervously.

“BLAST OFF!” Scootaloo began flapping her wings as fast as she can. You have trouble keeping yourself on a straight path, but you finally get the hang of it and like the feeling of the wind in your mane. You’re almost sad when you see the schoolhouse approach and feel Scootaloo slow the scooter down. “Well, we’re here!” She says with a grin as she lets you off.

“That was pretty fun!” You yell with a grin.

Scootaloo smiles back. “Ya, that was! I thought we were gonna crash at that last turn! My heart was beating so fast! We should totally do that again!” You notice Scootaloo’s cheeks are flushed, but you write it off as the adrenaline rush.

Scootaloo looks behind you and smiles. “Hey Sweetie Belle! Hey Apple Bloom!”

Turing, you see the two fillies and smile. “Hey girls. How are you doing?” You ask.

Sweetie Belle smiles “I’m doing great! Rarity needed me to model for her and she said I was so helpful!” She began to go on about something, but you became distracted. Apple Bloom kept looking away from you and was blushing heavily. “Apple Bloom, are you okay?” You ask.

She jumps and fumbles for the right words. “Uh, I-I-I’m fine! Really! Fine!” She says with a forced smile. “I’ll see you in class!” She yells before running away.

Scootaloo raises an eyebrow. “What is wrong with that pony?” She asks.

It was like that through the entire class. Apple Bloom was so nervous and jumpy around you. She had even dropped her pencil and screamed in fright when you tried to give it back to her. At the end of the class, you made your move and confronted her. “Apple Bloom, this is ridiculous. You nearly hit the ceiling during class. We really need to talk about this…Us.” You say, feeling awkward as Apple Bloom looked for the nearest escape route. Sighing, she looks at you with her cute orange eyes. “I know… It’s just, I don’t know what to do or say. I really need ta get my thoughts in a row.”

You begin to frown as a begin thinking of the worst. “Apple Bloom… I’d never force you to do something that you didn’t want to do. I just don’t want you to stop being my friend. You mean a lot to me.”
Apple Bloom blushes heavily, but smiles shyly. “T-Thanks. It means a lot to me, too. I-“ Apple Bloom was cut off as Scootaloo budged in-between you two. “Come on! We’ve got some crusading to do!”

Apple Bloom jumps back and starts freaking out again. “I uh got some stuff to do actually! Apple Jack wants me to help her! Ya! Out in the field!”

Scootaloo looks a little down. “Aww… That stinks. Well, have fun!” Scootaloo yells as she waves Apple Bloom off.

“What do we do now?” Sweetie Belle asks.

Scootaloo jumps into the air. “I’ve got it! Meet me at the lake in an hour! I got to get some stuff!”
Scootaloo jumps on her scooter and takes off before you can say anything.
“
What was that all about?” you ask Sweetie Belle.

She shrugs. “I guess I’ll see you there.”

You really didn’t have anything else planned today, so you decided to go find this lake Scootaloo was talking about. Asking around for directions, you were directed to an unnamed lake a mile down the road. It was pretty big and you couldn’t help but throw caution to the wind and go for a swim. Getting out to the center of the lake, you take a deep breath and sink down. After a minute of sinking, your lungs start to ache and you decide to not risk going down any further. Surfacing, you take a much needed gulp of breath and get back to shore. “Deeper than it looks…” You gasp out.

After shaking yourself dry, you curl up by the shore and decide that now was a great time to take a nap.

Drifting off to sleep, you started to dream again.

“Cap’n! Cap’n! Wake up!” Your eyes snap open as your midshipman shakes you.

“You better have a good reason for waking us up or I’ll keel haul ya!’ You yell.
“No he won’t.” A voice says to your side. “I will.” Apple Bloom threatens as she rubs her eyes. The midshipman swallowed the lump in his throat and finally spoke up.

“T-There’s a ship on the horizon!” Sighing, you get out of bed, still dressed in your pajamas. “And you seriously couldn’t handle this without me?” You grumble “Just wave the jolly roger and they’ll go running! Works every time.”

“But that’s the problem Cap’n! The ship is flying their own jolly roger!” Your eyes go wide, realizing why your midshipman was so freaked. Pirates didn’t get along with anybody. Not even other pirates. “Man your stations!” You yell. “We’ve got company! Get the cannons ready!” You say with a sinister grin. “I want to give ‘em a warm welcome.”

“Uh, Cap’n?” One of your crew squeaks.

“What is it now?” The sailor pointed at you and you finally realize that you’re still in your pajamas. You hear Apple Bloom laugh as she steps out of your cabin. “Maybe it’ll confuse ‘em.” She teases. You can’t help but laugh.

“Maybe.”

You didn’t give the ship any chance to turn and unload their own cannons. “Fire!”

The cannons unleashed the harpoons, latching onto the enemy ship. “REEL ‘EM IN BOYS!” Apple Bloom yells. You smile and give her a peck on the check. “That’s my girl!” You yell proudly.
The ship began to get dragged towards you, but it managed to shift to its side and open fire with its own cannons. “DUCK!” you yell.

You hit the deck and feel a cannon ball whiz over your head. Normally, this would scare you, but all you could do was laugh. “IT FEELS LIKE A KEEPER! LET’S LAND THIS BABY!” You yell.

You jump back as you feel something else fly over head. “That’s no cannon ball.” You say as you look up.

An orange Pegasus with a purple mane done in dread locks stares down at you, laughing. “So this is the best the captain can muster? Some rope and a pirate in P.J’s?” She laughs again.

“I AM the captain!” You yell. You whistle to your crew and they throw you a cutlass, which you catch in your mouth. The Pegasus unsheathes her own cutlass and charges at you from the sky, ready to clash metal with me-

“Come on! Wake up! I need your help!”

You bolt upright and look around. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood over you. Scootaloo set a large saddle-bag down in front of you. “Get up, lazy bones! We got a ramp to build!”
“Ramp? A ramp for what?” you ask.

Scootaloo looks at the lake and points across it. “I’m gonna jump the lake!”

You blink a few times, waiting for the punchline, but it didn’t come. “Are you serious?”

Sweetie Belle shakes her head. “I tried to talk her out of it the entire way here! She’s dead set on jumping it!”

“Scootaloo… Are you 100% serious about this? You do know you could get really hurt?”

Sweetie Belle sighs. “I tried to tell her that, too.” Shaking your head, you begin looking out on the lake.

“You’d still do it even if I say no, so I might as well.” You say, finally breaking down.

Scootaloo jumps up and down. “Yay! Mr. Tinder let me have a bunch of planks we could use! I’m going to go get them!”

“I guess I’ll work on the design.” You say as you start to draw some sketches in the dirt.

Scootaloo took off on her scooter, leaving her wagon behind. Sweetie Belle looks at you, worried. “What’s wrong?” you ask.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I got a real bad feeling about this and I can’t shake it. She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”

You smile and nod. “Sure. Scootaloo knows what she’s doing.” Sweetie Belle lets out a sigh of relief and began clearing a spot for the ramp. You didn’t want to tell her that you had the same exact feeling.

It took a few hours, but the ramp was built. You were actually impressed by it.

“Okay!” Scootaloo said as she laid out a piece of paper. The title read “Operation Swan Glide” and the entire thing was drawn in crayon. “I’m going to go WAY back so I’m going fast enough as I hit the ramp. Once I hit the ramp, I’ll spread my wings as far as I can so I can get enough wind under them and glide to the other side of the lake. Simple!” She says clapping her hooves together. The stick figures she drew of herself were pretty comical and you couldn’t help but snicker, which sent the wrong message to Scootaloo.

“You don’t think I can do it, do you?” She asks angrily. You open your mouth to apologize, but you get a better idea.

“No, I don’t.” She looks at you, her face something mixed between anger and hurt. “So why don’t you get on that scooter and prove me wrong?” You say with a sly grin. It seems to finally dawns to her; you swear you saw a fire ignite in her eyes.

“You just watch me.” She says before getting on her scooter. You and Sweetie Belle back up a fair distance back, making sure not to get in her way. Scootaloo puts on her helmet and knee pads and makes everything is secure. She takes off at incredible speeds and hits the ramp in no time. She flies into the air and extends her wings. She looked so amazing as she flew through the air, but Sweetie Belle pointed out your worst fear.

“She’s not going to make it!” She yells. It was true. She started coming down and coming down fast. She flapped her wings furiously, but they weren’t strong enough to carry her yet. She hit the lake with sickening smack that made your stomach drop to your hooves.

“SCOOTALOO!”

It took you a moment to realize that the pony screaming her name was you and that you were now galloping as fast as you could. Before you knew it, you were already swimming across the lake to the spot where Scootaloo fell. Taking a deep breath, you started swimming down into the lake, looking frantically for her. In the murky depths, you see a shape and reach for it, dragging it to the surface. It was indeed Scootaloo, but she was unconscious, knocked out from the drop. Using your free hooves, you began to paddle your way to shore with Scootaloo in tow. Sweetie Belle helped bring her to dry land, but she said the words you didn’t want to hear.

“SHE’S NOT BREATHING!”

Oh Celestia, what do I do, what do I do? You ask yourself frantically. Time seemed to slow down.

There was nothing in the world except for you and Scootaloo. And in that instant, you remembered something. Something your father had shown you a long time ago.

“You see son, even sailors can drown, no matter how well of a swimmer you are. Honey, could you come over her for a moment? I want to show our son the kiss of life”

“Eww! Kiss?”

“Oh now, don’t be like that. You’ve seen your father and I kiss all the time.”

“Ya, but I always have a hard time stomaching it.”

“That’s enough out of you, boy! This is really important! You can save somepony’s life with it. Baby, can you lie on your back for me? Thanks. Alright, first thing you want to do is make sure they’re on their back.”

You roll Scootaloo from her side to her back.

“Okay, next, take hoof and firmly push down on their chest and count each time you push.”

“One…Two….Three…” You counted aloud as you pressed down on Scootaloo’s chest.

“Not too hard, you don’t want to break their ribs. Okay, once you reach ten, stop and tilt their head back.”

You grab Scootaloo’s head and gingerly tilt it back.

“Now, put your mouth over theirs like you’re kissing and exhale twice into their mouth.”

You let out two breaths and go back to pushing her chest. “Come on!” you yell “COME ON!”

With a final push, Scootaloo starts coughing and choking on the water in her throat. Learning her forward, you strike her on the back to force the water out.

Sweetie Belle was in tears by this point. “OH THANK CELESTIA, YOU’RE ALIVE!” She yells.

Scootaloo looked at you, utterly confused.

“You gave us both a scare. I really thought we had lost you there.”

She finally realizes what happened to her. Wrapping her hooves around your neck, she cries into your chest. “T-T-Thank you! T-Thank you so much!” She wails.

You hug her back and rock back and forth. “Please, don’t. I goaded you into it. It’s my fault.”

“N-N-No, it’s m-m-my fault! It was stupid and dangerous and I knew it! But I did it anyway!” She cries.
You didn’t say anything, but continue to hold her.

“I’m going to get someone to help!” Sweetie Belle yelled, wiping away her tears. A look of panic went across Scootaloo’s face. “No! Please! Don’t tell anyone!” You stop holding Scootaloo and make her face you. “You almost drowned, remember?!? Please, just the let somepony take a look at you! Just to make sure you’re okay!” She looked away from you and cried. Bringing a hoof to her cheek, you make her look at you in the eyes. “If not for you, then for me?” You ask.

She nodded and held onto you tighter. “Okay… Okay… But I-I want to wait here…With you…”

“Sweetie Belle, go to the Hospital and tell them where we are and what happened. I’ll stay here and watch over Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle gives you a nod before galloping off.

Scootaloo calmed down and stopped crying, but didn’t say anything for the longest time.

“My scooters at the bottom of the lake, isn’t it?” She finally asks.

“We’ll get someone to fish it out later.” You assure her.

“What are we going to use for bait?” She asks. You look at her before bursting out in laughter.

You let out at a sigh of relief when you see Sweetie Belle come down the road with an adult in tow.

“I came as fast as I could!” A white mare with a cutie mark of a red cross says.

You help Scootaloo to her hooves and let the nurse look her over. “Take a deep breath.” She says as she presses a stethoscope to her chest. “And out. And another deep breath.” The instructions cause Scootaloo to go into a coughing fit for a few seconds, giving the nurse a scare. “You sound like you’ve still got some water in your lungs, but otherwise, you seem to be fine. However, I want to take you back to the Ponyville Urgent Care for overnight observation.” Scootaloo looks at you and for a moment and then to the nurse. You think she’s going to argue that she’s fine, but she doesn’t.

“Can he stay with me?” She asks as she tries to hold you closer.

The nurse smiles softly. “Of course he can.”

She nuzzles up to you and smiles. “Thank you.”