"Doctor, are you sure?" A pony spoke softly, despite her big ego.
"Yes, I'm sure..." The doctor's voice faded out. A few hoofsteps echoed in the virtually empty hospital. Except for the two nurses on duty, the hospital was empty.
"I want to know if my daughter's okay!" A loud bang was heard from the doctor's office, followed by the clatter of something falling on the floor. "I demand to know what's going on!"
"You know," The doctor sighed softly, and grunted lightly, his hooves scraping the ground as he picked up whatever fell. "You may have a talent, some may call you a prodigy,"
"I want to know about my daughter. She's supposed to be talented, like me. She has something to grow up to," The pony's voice was becoming slightly angry. She was probably going to have another outburst.
"Why should I tell you about your daughter?" The doctor's voice was beginning to get edgy. "You haven't seen her for years! I doubt she even knows you're alive!"
"I don't give a fuck about her, I just want to know if she can join the team!"
"So you don't care about her!" The doctor was yelling at the mare in his office. "You don't care that she might never fly!"
"S-she what?" The mare's voice suddenly stopped, and she sighed. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me,"
"Sometimes," The doctor sighed, his voice getting heavy. "The child of two prodigies may take a little longer to find her talent. Sometimes,"
"..."
"Sometimes, the child just won't have the talent that she is expected to have,"
Spread Your Wings - Chapter 1 I'll Fly Higher Sky Blue Angel
"Scootaloo! Are you going to go with us?" Sweetie Belle jumped on her pegasus friend and gave her a hug.
"Nah, I'm gonna go try that new course they opened up at the Gym," Scootaloo threw her friend off before weakly fluttering her wings.
"Ah ya' sure you don't wanna go bowlin' with us?" Apple Bloom's heavy western accent often confused others. But Scootaloo understood her just fine and shook her head.
"I'm sure, Apple Bloom, Sweetie, I'm fine," Scootaloo looked at her friends, who looked back with strange looks on their faces.
"Uh, you okay, Scoootaloo?" Sweetie Belle reached a hoof out to Scootaloo, but Apple Bloom stopped her. Apple Bloom shook her head.
"Yeah, yeah," Scootaloo waved her friend off. "I'm just gonna go work out, okay?"
"Well, we'll see you later then!" Sweetie Belle pranced away from the school. Scootaloo's red-maned friend took a quick look back at the orange pegasus, before following Sweetie.
Scootaloo walked down the small road through the center of Ponyville. Her head was hung low after school, but hey, the thought of going to the Gym always cheered her up. Especially if she managed to see Rainbow Dash there. That always made her giddy and warm inside. It's not like you saw your idol each and every single day!
Feeling cheered up, Scootaloo began to trot towards the large building slightly outside of town. Thinking of Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo let her mind wander before she walked into the Gym.
She'd always thought that Rainbow was her sister. Yeah, it would be super cool to have an athlete like Rainbow Dash to be your sister! I mean, she was the coolest pony on the block! Who else would be an Element of Harmony and a Wonderbolt to boot? Scootaloo squealed and walked into the Gym, nodding to the secretary at the desk.
Scootaloo rushed to the locker room. The rows of dull, gray lockers stretched far to the other side of the massive room. Mares of all shapes and sizes changed into exercise gear. A pink, bubbly mare with a yellow head band was lying on one of the benches.
"I swear... I'm... Best... Party..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the gasping mare, and trotted onward. The orange pegasus let her mind drift as she opened her gray locker at the end of the locker room, away from the normal hustle and bustle of the mass of athletic mares. Today, she was alone, which let her mind wander.
"Poor Scoots, she doesn't know what ah' mean," Apple Bloom hung her head. "Ah feel really bad for her, ya know?"
Sweetie Belle put her hoof around Apple Bloom. "She'll be fine. Everyone's cutie marks come in sometime!"
"Excuse me, could I bother you for a question?" The sudden question made Scootaloo jump. She turned around on her hooves to look up at an older mare.
The mare was a gray color, with wrinkly skin. Her pearly white eyes looked at Scootaloo blankly. "I-I'm sorry to bother you,"
Scootaloo waved her hoof. "No, it's not a problem. I promise," She threw her school bag into her small, gray locker, before looking back at the gray mare. The are looked back at her. Her silvery gray mane was wrapped into a tight bun.
"Uh... Can you help me get to my locker? Number nine thousand four hundred and fifty-four?" The mare smiled, slightly showing her yellowing teeth. Her clouded eyes twinkled despite the white that refused to let them shine. "I'm really sorry to bother you,"
"No, it's seriously fine," Scootaloo opened the locker for the older mare. The mare's ears flicked as she heard the click of the locker.
"Thanks, deary!" The mare slowly put in her saddle bags before leaving the locker room. Scootaloo noticed how the mare's tail was cut bluntly, a mere three inches was left of her tail.
Scootaloo looked at the mare, wondering how and why she was at the Gym.
"Hey, what the hell took you so long?" Rainbow Dash fluttered in the air, forehooves crossed. "Come on, you've gotta be on time! You're two minutes late!" The rainbow-maned mare snorted before grabbing two identical dumbbells.
"I-I'm sorry, Rainbow..." Scootaloo began to apologize, but she stopped. She knew that apology wouldn't get her anywhere. If Scootaloo wanted to be a good athlete, a great pony, she would have to work harder. Apology wouldn't get her anywhere, except for taking her back to where she started.
"Lift!" Rainbow's harsh command snapped Scootaloo out of her mind's drift. She noticed the black dumbbells on her wings. "I said, LIFT!"
Scootaloo didn't like the tone at which Rainbow Dash was speaking. Is she mad at me? Am I bothering her by being here? Has something happened? Scootaloo braced herself and contracted her wing muscles, slowly lifting the dumbbells on her wings.
"Lift those dumbbells until I get back!" Rainbow turned away from the struggling filly. "And don't think about changing the weights or getting water," Rainbow glided away, leaving Scootaloo to train on her own.
Why is she so mad at me? What did I ever do to her? Is it because... Scootaloo shook her head. Just because she didn't have her cutie mark didn't change anything. Did something happen to her? Scootaloo remembered how Rainbow Dash had lost her parents, even though she didn't know when or where or how. That even sounds like me... I don't have parents... Scootaloo realized the dumbbells weren't moving. She flexed her wings, lifting the heaving bits until she couldn't move her wings anymore. Damn it, Rainbow must've picked up the wrong weights. These are fucking heavy! Scootaloo winced as she forced her wings to bear the weight. She scrunched her face, twisting her facial features, before sighing, and dropping the two weights.
"What the hell did I tell you about breaks?!" Rainbow Dash picked up Scootaloo and placed her on a treadmill. "Come on, kid!" Rainbow's voice was pleading. "Please, just keep pushing!"
Hearing the desperate cry in her mentor's voice, Scootaloo perked her ear, lifted her head, and began to run. She ran as hard as she could without fainting right there in the Gym. " Some people call me little, some people call me small," Scootaloo huffed as she ran faster and faster. "But given the chance, I'll rise up-" Scootaloo flapped her wings, giving her the one last bit of OOPH to finish the last bit of the running on the treadmill.
"Come on, kid. Let's get you cleaned up," Rainbow Dash picked up Scootaloo and carried her to the showers. Scootaloo didn't protest, but enjoyed the warm water hit her body. As the shower water washed away her salty sweat, Rainbow Dash began to talk. Something about physical examinations and flight camp.
"You know, you're going to have to get that examination sooner or later," Rainbow Dash patted the orange pegasus's purple mane. "I know you'll be able to pass it easily. You'll be the fastest flyer in flight camp!"
Scootaloo didn't hear the rest of her mentor's commitment, for she saw the same, gray mare as from before. Her wrinkly skin was sparking with a fresh layer of sweat. The mare's clouded eyes looked ahead, even though there was nothing but solid concrete wall.
"Scoots?"
"Uh, I think I'm going to head on home," Scootaloo shook out the water from her body. "I've got an essay to write for school," Scootaloo leaves a confused pegasus in the showers.
Scootaloo remembered only a few flashes of memory from the locker room. Opening the door for the blind mare, packing her saddlebags and leaving. She didn't even catch the gray mare's name, or her cutie mark.
All I know is that there's something wrong, but everypony doesn't seem to notice anything! Maybe I should just go along with the flow... I know that I shouldn't. Rainbow Dash said that I'll pass the examination. And I will. Some ponies call me little, and some call me small. But someday, I'll rise up... And stand above them all!
Breaking the Barrier - Chapter 2 I'll Fly Higher Sky Blue Angel
Scootaloo weakly flapped her wings as she walked down the quiet streets of Ponyville. The bustling town had been quiet for the better part of the day. Why, Scootaloo did not know. Maybe they were avoiding something? But what was there to avoid? Scootaloo felt a drop of water hit her snout. She shook her head, trying to get the droplet of water off of her face. Scootaloo gave up trying to shake it off and slid her hoof down the bridge of her nose.
Scootaloo looked up, glaring at the darkening sky. Dang, another rainy day... Scootaloo sighed, and trotted into an alley. The alley was tight, with a garbage bin toppled over on one side. Scootaloo turned around to make sure that nopony was following her. Scootaloo squeezed under the open bin, her wings fluttering weakly. The trash bin moved a bit, but the little filly managed to squeeze through. The small compartment behind the bin made Scootaloo smile.
In one corner, a small cardboard box was laid on its side, one of the flaps hanging over the box. Scootaloo pushed the flap away and dropped her schoolbag inside of the box. Sighing, Scootaloo pulled out a small notebook from deeper inside of the box. She flipped open the book, and began to draw with the shortened pencil in her mouth. The drawing was a simple doodle of a pegasus. Scootaloo imagined the wind tussled hair, the cool brown eyes, and the powerful wings. Scootaloo dropped the pencil and closed the notebook. She walked over to the upturned box on the other side of the small "room". The stained bricks of the building had a few marks next to it.
"Just a few more days, and I'll be able to get myself a job..." Scootaloo managed to smile. She looked around the tight place. The cardboard tables, the blanket on the floor.
Fifteen, homeless, and untalented.
But that gave her hope.
Scootaloo brushed her mane and tail with the broken comb. The orange pegasus smiled into the shard of glass that she hung up on the brick wall. Her teeth flashed a pearly white. Despite that shine, she grabbed an old brush and scraped off any dirt. Not that she ate anything for breakfast. She was tucked in by the school lunch. It wasn't that bad, considering that's the only thing you ate.
Scootaloo stretched her wings. After a few days off from the Gym, her wings felt powerful and ready to fly. Despite this, Scootaloo shook her head and told herself no. She didn't want to ruin her beautiful day. The day she could get a job! The day she might finally begin to be seen as an adult.
The day of her graduation.
Scootaloo trotted over to the schoolhouse, ready to begin. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were wearing their usual fancy getup. Glimmering dresses and veils, topped with tiaras and high heels. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. The small scarf she was wearing was enough. It was slightly tattered and lightly stained, but it was more than she ever wore. It made her feel special, despite the fact that everypony else already had bright and visible cutie marks. Apple Bloom's was a bright red apple next to a blooming flower. Sweetie Belle's was a musical note inside of a pink heart. Scootaloo's was... Well... She didn't really have one.
"Hey, look guys! It's the blank flank!" Diamond Tiara walked up to the purple-maned pegasus and sneered. "You don't deserve a cutie mark! You're not talented enough to even graduate! Ha!" Diamond Tiara spat at Scootaloo.
"You've got a lot of spunk for someone so stupid," Scootaloo spat right back at the pink earth pony. Diamond Tiara laughed.
"Spunk? Speak for yourself, you dirty little bitch," Scootaloo winced at Diamond Tiara's words. "That's right, you stinking slut!" Diamond Tiara pulled her dress up her flank to make it look bigger.
Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who both had impressive outfits. Apple Bloom was looking at the ground, hoof tracing circles in the dirt. Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo with tears in her eyes.
"Guys..." Scootaloo looked at her friends, but Diamond Tiara interrupted her.
"See? They don't even want to talk to you!" Diamond Tiara laughed cruelly. "You're just a homeless, flightless pegasus!" Diamond Tiara put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Go die!" She pushed the orange pegasus into a puddle of mud.
Scootaloo took a few moments to realize what just happened. Here she was, covered with dirt, watching as her friends left her. Diamond Tiara just told her to die, and her friends did nothing to protect her.
"Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo reached a hoof out to her yellow friend.
"Ah'm sorry," Apple Bloom turned away, her red bow flapping in the slight breeze. "M'ah mother told me to 'ta hang 'round ponies like you,"
Scootaloo looked from her red-maned friend to the alabaster unicorn. "S-Sweetie Belle?" Tears in her eyes, Scootaloo looked up.
"I'm really sorry, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle sniffed, and wiped away a tear. "But Diamond Tiara's right. As is Apple Bloom," She smiled weakly to Scootaloo. "I'm really sorry,"
Scootaloo watched as her world was crushed, her friends gone, and her dreams crushed. Scootaloo ripped off her scarf, throwing it out towards the schoolhouse, where Cherilee was starting to announce names. "They want me dead? They'll have me dead!" Scootaloo galloped away from the school, her eyes streaming tears.
Scootaloo turned towards the alley where she kept her home. She squeezed under the trash bin, and crashed into the brick wall. She curled up, her tiny wings bent at awkward angles. Scootaloo let the tears flow, the salty drops of water staining her ragged blanket. She sniffed loudly not caring who found her there, not caring whether she was going to die. She didn't want to be alive anymore. Not that she even had a family! Her parents were dead. They ere either dead or they had abandoned her. Just like everyone else had.
"So... You're saying my daughter didn't show up at graduation?"
"No, she did not. The whole thing happened before,"
"You know what? You wanna know what?"
"No, miss, I do not."
"You fucking bitch, some people put you down. Some people kick you around. But believe me when I tell you they'll be the ones to rule this town."
Depths of Despair - Chapter 3 I'll Fly Higher Sky Blue Angel
"Scootaloo, I'm quite sure your cutie mark's going to come up sooner or later," Twilight Sparkle flipped a page in her book. The library was dark, empty, and rather stuffy. The curtains were closed, and Spike was away. Twilight quickly illuminated the candles in the library and began to search through the books. Some were quite new, while others had yellowed pages and many torn corners. One of the books didn't even have a cover.
"But how much longer is sooner?" Scootaloo put her hooves on the alicorn's book stand. "I... I can't wait anymore!"
Twilight sighed, closing the book on the stand. She blew away the dust, and placed it back on the shelf where it belonged. She lifted an eyebrow, and removed the book to place it one spot over. She turned around to Scootaloo. "I'm sorry, I can't help you," Twilight trotted over to the horse head and examined it. She ran her hoof along a scratch in the face. "A cutie mark is something a pony needs to find on his or her own. You can't force a cutie mark to appear,"
"But Twilight!" The orange pegasus flapped her wings weakly, before bowing to the alicorn princess. "You're a princess! You've got to help me!"
"Look, Scootaloo!" Twilight began to power her magic. "I'm not Fate! I can't change what you're destined to appear!" Twilight's magic was a bright ball of pure white energy. "I can try, but that doesn't change anything!"
Scootaloo's eyes grew wide as a thin line of pure magic shot through her body and wrapped itself round her waist. From there, it branched off and began to weave itself around Scootaloo's legs, the magic's grip tightening every split second. The magic drifted down between Scootaloo's legs and wrapper around her tail, back legs, and flank. The magic slowly weaved up to Scootaloo's neck, where it wrapped tightly, nearly suffocating the young pony. The magic was slowly adapting the color of Scootaloo. The magic finished its path, slowly closing in on the struggling pony's face. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, and forced the last bit of magic away from her body.
The magic tickled Scootaloo's eyelids before finally covering her eyes.
"Scootaloo?" Twilight shook her head and looked at the exact spot where Scootaloo was a split second before. Only a burn mark scorched the spot in the library where the filly had been.
"T-Twilight?" Scootaloo opened her eyes. "Twilight, where are you?" Scootaloo looked around the dark depths of the abyss she was sent to. The darker clouds shifted around Scootaloo, and the abyss itself had a dark feel to it. A slight wind ruffled the young pony. She stood up, and ruffled her wing feathers. She smiled as she felt the wind hit her face, her wings, her flank.
"I feel empowered... But..." Scootaloo turned around in a circle. "Where am I?" Scootaloo trotted past the large mass of inky black clouds. The orange pegasus noticed a flash of white to her right, exactly where her blind spot should have been. She took a hopeful look at her flank. Still nothing.
"Damn it, getting all happy that maybe something appeared on my flank. It's about time, Fate!" Scootaloo waved a hoof in the air. "It's about fucking time!"
Scootaloo shivered as another gust of wind ripped through her. The wind was a lot rougher and colder than any of the other breezes in the dark cavern. Or, abyss, as some would call it. The flash of light appeared again. Scootaloo turned around to see a large cloud of black, inky smoke form into the shape of a unicorn. She let her jaw drop.
The cloud was ever changing. One moment, it was a pegasus, strong and powerful, the next, it was a unicorn, old and wise. One second it was a colt, the other a mare. But most of the time, Scootaloo couldn't notice the subtle changes in the cloud.
"Scootaloo!" The cloud boomed her name, making the pony shake in her skin. "Scootaloo! Howst dare you curse Fate!" The cloud moved forward and looked at the small, orange pegasus.
"I-I didn't curse Fate!" Scootaloo swiped at the cloud, but only to hit flesh.
"That's what they all say!" The cloud moved away from Scootaloo to come back to its original position. "You came to The Abyss to try and change thy fate!" The cloud laughed, and slowly began to diminish. "You doth not know what you hath challenged!" When the cloud was no bigger than Scootaloo, it emitted a pop and disappeared.
"Ha! You're just a stupid cloud meant to scare me! I'm not scared of you!" Scootaloo waved her hoof at the cloud again. She sighed, for she knew that ranting at a cloud wasn't going to make anything any better. She might as well be dead.
"Hey... Don't die..." A small, high-pitched voice came from behind Scootaloo. "Nopony wants you to die..."
"How the hell would you know? You don't even know what I'm feeling!" Scootaloo shouted at the ground, her wings shaking feebly. The fuck? Why am I talking to myself...
"You're not talking to yourself..." The voice came again. "You don't have to die, Scootaloo... There's someone who really cares!" Scootaloo turned around to look at a small pony.
A pegasus.
She didn't have a color. Her mane wasn't colored, nor was her body. Only her eyes glimmered white.
She looked at Scootaloo and tipped her head to one side.
"Ha! Now I'm going crazy!" Scootaloo picked up an Abyss rock and hit herself on the head. "Talking to ghosts!" Scootaloo took a few good beatings to the head with the rock before the ghost pony spoke
"I'm not a ghost, Scootaloo," The pony walked over to the orange pegasus and gently took the rock out of her hoof. Scootaloo felt heat emit from the translucent pony. Is... She really a pony?
"Well, I'm not exactly a pony..." The creature in front of her rubbed her front hoof. "I'm more of something you would call an alicorn. But that's not the proper term," The alicorn pony in front of Scootaloo shifted to one side to reveal her flank. "I'm something you wouldn't want in the universe,"
The alicorn filly lifted a wing and showed Scootaloo her blank flank.
"Y-You're... Like me..." Scootaloo looked at her flank, and remembered all of the times she had tried to obtain her cutie mark.
"Yes, I'm a lot like you, in ways you don't even know," The alicorn walked up to Scootaloo and patted her on the head. "We're almost twins, except you have something I don't."
"W-What do you mean, I have something you don't?" Scootaloo tipped her head to one side. She was genuinely intrigued by the alicorn in front of her. She had thought that the species was nearing extinction, with the four princesses remaining. Scootaloo managed to look at the pony in front of her.
"You have a family, I don't. You have a talent, I don't," The alicorn filly smiled. "You have a life to live, and I do not,"
Scootaloo looked at the alicorn, then wiped a tear from her face. "But... What about it? My family left me! My talent hasn't appeared for sixteen years! And so much for having a life," Scootaloo kicked a rock at the alicorn. "When others want you to die!"
"Your mother doesn't want you to die," The alicorn smiled weakly. "You've got an amazing life in front of you, and you're going to live through it all," She put a hoof around Scootaloo's shoulders.
"But why? Why was I chosen to come here?" Scootaloo watched another tear drip down her face and onto the dirt ground of the Abyss.
"Because you believed that you could conquer anything. You have talent. You're going to be great, Scootaloo," The alicorn gave Scootaloo a squeeze, "Tell them they can't defeat what I say."
"Why not? You're just a filly!" Scootaloo shook off the alicorn.
