Worthless. Good for nothing. Dumb. Stupid.

These words echoed in Scootaloo’s head as she walked to school, her lunch box hanging on a wingtip. Her best friends were laughing, comparing cutie marks. Scootaloo glanced at her flank, hoping that anything would appear in the span of ten seconds. Nothing.

She was officially the only pony in her grade without a cutie mark. Even Babs Seed up in Manehatten had a cutie mark. Scootaloo was the last Crusader left.

If only there was a cutie mark for being useless, Scootaloo thought with a sigh. I would have gotten mine the second I was born.

“Scootaloo, did’ja get one yet?” Applebloom asked, her voice cheerful. The hammer and measuring tape tattooed on her flank caused Scootaloo’s heart to sink. She wanted her mark.

“Not yet.” Scootaloo tried to be cheerful, but her ribs suddenly spazzed out in pain. She winced and Sweetie Belle’s horn sparked.

“Are you okay?” she squeaked. Scootaloo’s eyes lingered on the bell surrounded by music notes on Sweetie’s flank.

“Yeah,” she lied. “I just fell off my scooter last night.” Another lie. She hadn’t fallen. She never fell.

~~~

“Even that Earth Pony has a cutie mark!” Razor Wind shouted. His grey mane was wild and his powerful wings flapped angrily. Scootaloo cringed away from the orange stallion, waiting for him to leave so she could go to her room and avoid looking at her mother glaring at her.

Breezy Skies stared at her daughter, her purple eyes filled with loathing. Scootaloo wondered how she could have those eyes that stared with such intense hatred. She wondered how the small yellow Pegasus could hurt Scootaloo so much with just her voice.

“Stupid kid,” Razor snapped, beating his wings against his side. “You’re a Pegasus that can’t even fly. How do you expect to get a cutie mark? I wish I had that Rainbow Dash for a daughter. I can be proud of her.”

“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo cried. “I’m trying so hard!” Scootaloo felt her father’s wing slam into her side, forcing her into the wall behind her.

“You aren’t trying enough!” he yelled. “If you were, you would have your Celestia damned mark already!” Scootaloo began to cry. For years, her father had yelled at her. He had put her down and made her feel useless, but he had never struck her. The pain in her ribs pulsed through her body and she tried to stand, but her father’s powerful wing beat her again.

“Fly,” he commanded.

“I can’t!” Scootaloo protested, her wings buzzing in a failed attempt to escape her father.

“Fly you useless little shit!” Razor again hit his daughter, always striking her rib cage. Scootaloo cried out in pain.

“Fly and I’ll stop,” he promised, pulling his wing back. Scootaloo cowered in the corner, bracing herself for the hit. There was silence and then Razor was on his hind legs, his wing lashing out and striking Scootaloo in side. Scootaloo screamed as his wing made contact, and she heard her ribs crack.

“Get out,” Razor snarled. “If you can’t fly tomorrow, I’ll hit you again. Maybe you’ll finally get something in your stupid head.” Scootaloo took the chance while his back was turned to dash from the room as fast as her cracked ribs would take her and curl up under her bed. She cried for as long as she could and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

~~~

Scootaloo kept her wing pressed to her side all day, trying to hide the angry swelling bruise that was forming above her ribs. Cheeriliee glanced over a few times, but said nothing. The teacher assumed it was another of Scootaloo’s silly ideas as to how she would get her cutie mark.

The orange Pegasus was silent all day, not even bothering to reply when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon taunted her about her blank flank. Maybe they would hit her next. Maybe her friends would turn against her too. She dreaded the moment she had to return home and tell her father that she still couldn’t fly.

What did he expect her to do? How could a pony learn to fly in a day? That was like asking a unicorn to learn to teleport between cities in an hour, or telling an earth pony to run 500 miles in twenty seconds. It was impossible. She stood outside her door, preparing herself for what was sure to come.

~~~

Scootaloo sat in class, hoping the dress Rarity had given her would cover her flank enough to hide the fact that she still didn’t have a cutie mark. Every single pony in her class had one, and here she was, almost a teenager and still a blank flank.

“Alright class, settle down so we can get started. We’ve got a new student for you today!” the teacher beamed. She stepped aside and a grey Pegasus that Scootaloo had seen around stepped forward. He smiled, radiating confidence.

“This is Rumble. His brother, Thunderlane, is on our weather squad. He’s transferring to Ponyville because the school in Cloudsdale is overpopulated.” Rumble nodded and looked around for a seat.

“You can sit here!” Sweetie Belle waved a hoof at the seat behind her. Scootaloo looked over to the empty seat on her right; the only empty seat in the room. Rumble’s wings rustled as he made his way to the back of the room. He smiled at Scootaloo and her eyes darted to the ground.

“You don’t…” she stopped talking, her eyes resting on Rumble’s flank. Where a cutie mark should have been, there was a blank patch of grey fur.

“I’m a blank flank,” the Pegasus confirmed. “Thunderlane told me I would never get my mark because I can’t fly, and everypony in my family is part of the Weather Crew, but I’m sure it’ll come one day.” Rumble shrugged and faced the front while Scootaloo thought of her own blank flank.

That’s different. He knows he has something to do in life. I’m useless. She thought with a sigh. She stared blankly ahead, no longer focusing on the lesson. Instead, her mind wandered to her house.

Her father had stopped worrying about keeping the place clean. Breezy Skies had left long ago, no longer wanting to share a house with her disappointment of a daughter. Scootaloo stayed out as late as she could without getting extra beatings.

“Scootaloo, go out and see your friends! You’ve been sitting there for ten whole minutes!” Scootaloo shook her head and blinked.

“Oh, sorry…” she left the room, her wings buzzing feebly. She walked out with her head down, not wanting to be outside.

“Hey, Scoota-loser,” a high pitched girly voice cooed. “Isn’t that the same dress you’ve been wearing all week?”

“Leave me alone, Tiara,” Scootaloo snapped.

“Aw, is somepony still trying to hide her blank flank?” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed, not noticing as Scootaloo made her way to the bench under a large oak tree. She sat there in silence, watching all the other ponies hang around in groups. She longed to be one of the happy ponies. She wanted to be able to flit from group to group, contributing to the lives of others. She didn’t want her secret looming over her head.

“Having trouble?” a voice asked, pulling Scootaloo from her thoughts.

“Just tired.” The orange Pegasus sighed. “I have a lot going on at home.”

“Wanna talk?”

“Not really. I just wanna be alone for a while.” Scootaloo hoped that Rumble would leave, but the grey stallion just sat next to her, watching the others.

“Don’t you have friends?” Scootaloo asked after a while.

“I just wanna sit,” Rumble replied. “Is that a problem?” Scootaloo couldn’t find anything wrong with him just sitting, so she kept her mouth shut and continued to stare out at the others. Rumble didn’t say a word, and the orange pony found that slightly comforting. The calm silence was something that Scootaloo had been hoping for for years; a relieving contrast between the stormy silence she had at home.

“So you can’t fly?” Scootaloo asked, wanting to break the silence.

“Not very well,” Rumble replied. His wings buzzed and he hovered, but he was on the ground before long. “See?”

“I can’t fly either,” Scootaloo replied. Her own wings buzzed for a moment and Rumble smiled.

“You’re also a blank flank.” It wasn’t a taunt or an insult. He was just pointing out yet another thing they had in common. Scootaloo looked at the ground, the dress she was wearing squeezing her awkwardly.

“How did you…?”

“I heard that pink pony talking about it.” There was silence again, but Scootaloo nodded slowly.

“I’m kind of useless,” she muttered. “That’s what my dad says.”

“Well your dad is wrong. I can’t fly, and I’m a blank flank, but I know that I’m good at something. I just have to find it.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever find what I’m good at.”

“You will, one day. I can help you! We’ll look for our marks together!”

“We’ll be the Cutie Mark Crusaders 2.0!” Scootaloo cheered and a genuine smile crossed her face.

“Meet me here early tomorrow morning, and we’ll start looking for our marks.” Rumble returned her smile and his light purple eyes twinkled. A bell rang and the older ponies came outside, laughing and talking as they made their way home.

“See you tomorrow!” Scootaloo beamed as she made her way back home. Her wings flittered, lifting her off the ground slightly. She only hovered for a moment, but it was a moment longer than she usually hovered. She hoped her father would see that as progress and maybe he would only shout at her a bit.

~~~

Scootaloo tiptoed through her messy house, trying to stay silent so her father wouldn’t wake up. Razor Wind lay snoring on the couch a Scootaloo made her way up to her room. She shut the door, cringing at the loud clicking noise it made when it closed. When she could still hear her father snoring, she collapsed on her bed, grateful that her room had avoided the whirlwind of garbage that littered the rest of her house.

The orange Pegasus strained her wings, flapping them as hard as she could to pull herself off the ground. She used the rare times that her father was asleep to practice flying, thinking that she could improve enough to avoid a beating. She stopped straining when her head hit her ceiling. Her wings fell into a steady rhythm and she found that she didn’t need to use as much effort to keep herself in the air.

“I can fly,” Scootaloo whispered. She pushed her window open and soared outside, shooting upwards and through a cloud. Her wings continued to cooperate, keeping her soaring through the skies. She snapped her wings shut and sped higher and higher, flying for hours, stopping when she found herself above the clouds.

“I can fly!” the orange mare shouted. She lowered herself and landed on a cloud, almost shouting with excitement as it held her weight. She jumped up and down and then collapsed, rolling on the fluffy white cloud. If only her father could see her now.

Her father.

Scootaloo sped downwards, eager to find her father and tell him the good news. He would be so pleased that his daughter could fly. He would stop hurting her. He would stop yelling at her. He would finally love her.

The Pegasus tumbled in through the window, landing on her bed in a fit of giggles.

“Where were you?” an angry male voice asked.

“Flying!” Scootaloo said excitedly, not realizing how angry her father was. “I can fly, Dad! I can really—” Scootaloo was cut off by Razor’s wing hitting her hard on the nose.

“You’re told come home from school. Not go for a joy-fly!” Razor shouted.

“But…Dad, I thought you wanted me to fly?” Scootaloo rubbed her nose with her hoof, surprised to see that her nose was bleeding.

“I want you to obey!” He hit her again. “I don’t want some rebel daughter. I want obedience.”

“I’m sorry!” Scootaloo cringed as her father attacked her with his powerful wings. Blow after blow slammed into her, his body taken over by the hatred of his daughter.

“Who cares if you can fly if you can’t obey?” his wing beat her flank. “Who cares if you can fly if you still don’t have a cutie mark?” his wings smashed her ribs. “Who cares if you can fly if you’re still-” a wing to the leg. “Bucking-” a wing to the cheek. “Useless!” Razor Wind rose up on his front legs and kicked his back legs out. His hooves bucked out and collided with Scootaloo’s chest. The orange mare cried loudly as she flew backwards, her head slamming hard into the wall behind her.

Scootaloo heard snippets of the insults her father threw at her, her eyes trying to focus on the window. She could see the neighbor’s lights shut off and a mare with a dual-colored mane disappear from the window. The Pegasus wanted to cry for help, but there was no use. Nopony would help her. Here in Ponyville, where ‘love and tolerance’ was the strongest, nopony loved enough to reach out and help. Nopony loved Scootaloo. Nopony would try to save her.

Black spots began appearing in Scootaloo’s vision and breathing became harder. She coughed and a spray of blood covered her carpet. She heard her father scream that she was useless and weak. She felt his wings beat her. She felt his hooves slam against her.

“I can fly, Dad,” Scootaloo muttered weakly. “I can fly.” She didn’t know if her father heard her, but she didn’t care. Her vision went black as her father’s hooves slammed into her head. She didn’t feel pain. In fact, she felt bliss. She no longer had to worry about pleasing her father. She didn’t have to worry about finding her cutie mark. She was going to a place without worry. She was going to be loved.