A loud rumbling sound came from Scootaloo's stomach. She sighed. Yet another day without anything to eat, aside from an apple that Apple Bloom had offered her from her own lunch. Her friends were starting to question why she was forgetting lunch so often.

Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about it, really. She didn't have anything to bring for lunch, or bits to buy it with. And she couldn't ask anypony for food. They'd want to know why she needed it, and then she'd have to go back there. And she couldn't go back.

She was desperate enough to swipe something to eat from the market right now. The trouble was, she'd been that desperate for a while. And while nopony had caught her yet, they knew a thief was around, and were watching carefully.

What's worse, Applejack had Winona out patrolling Sweet Apple Acres now. It would be really embarrassing to be cornered by Winona stealing apples, and then confronted by Applejack. She might give her some slack as one of Apple Blooms friends, but she didn't think much of thieves. She felt stealing wasn't honest. And it wasn't, really.

Also, Applejack was an adult, and adults were trouble. They always had been. She'd never let anypony close to her without problems, and adults were the worst. Though she was hungry enough that she may need to break that.

She stifled a yawn. She had slept really badly recently, and her hunger was probably the main thing keeping her awake right now. She had been sleeping in the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. Nopony ever bothered her there. But with Sweet Apple Acres being patrolled at night, she'd get discovered.

Finding other places to sleep that wouldn't be noticed was difficult. She'd thought rooftops was a great idea until being interrupted several times by passing pegasi. And spending most of the time she should be sleeping trying to get something to eat didn't help, either.

And that looked like how tonight would go as well. Pinkie Pie was off visiting her parents, so there weren't any parties she could slip into and grab something to eat. She kinda thought Pinkie was on to her anyways. She was never surprised to see her there, and always gave her more food than any of the other guests.

She supposed she could spend more time grazing on grass. After a few hours, it would stop the hunger pains. It also tasted horrible, left her feeling all bloated, and she'd feel like she hadn't eaten anything the next day. And she'd have green stains on her teeth and fur. She shuddered. She'd rather eat trash.

She wished that had been an exaggeration. Fishing around trash cans was about what was left to her, though, and it was starting to get late enough for her to do it without attracting notice. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done it. It was somewhat of a return to her origins, really.

It was times like this that she really envied her friends. They had never had to pull food out of the trash, and hope it was still good enough to eat, or look for somewhere to sleep without being hassled.

Apple Bloom may not have parents, but she always had Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Granny Smith looking out for her. And the bond between her and Applejack made her really jealous at times. Scootaloo was sure she never had to worry about her next meal, or where to sleep.

And Sweetie Belle's parents may leave town all the time and leave her with Rarity, but at least she had Rarity. They may not get along all the time, but they were sisters. What she wouldn't give for a sister that would take care of her like that. When she'd heard about Sweetie Belle declaring Rarity no longer her sister, and trying to be Applejack's instead, she'd almost offered to be Rarity's sister in Sweetie Belles place.

It was already over by then, though. Knowing that her friends were going to be occupied that week, she'd ended up just cutting class for a few days and going off by herself to mope. Rainbow Dash had rejected her flat out when she'd asked her if she would participate in the Sisterhooves Social with her. And nopony had even noticed she had been gone when she came back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did apologise for ignoring her, at least.

She knew that she'd always be alone, and no one would ever want her, though. It had always been like that, even from the first thing she remembered.

She wasn't sure how old she had been. Fairly young. She remembered she had woken up due to the old newspaper on top of her being moved. She had been at the top of a garbage can, laying on mouldy turnips and orange peels. A grim-looking stallion had levitated her out, looked at her in disgust, and kept her floating at a distance, crying.

He had dropped her off at a police station and walked off. They hadn't been able to find anypony who recognised her or wanted her there, so she ended up left with the orphanage. And she'd still be there if she hadn't gotten fed up with how they treated her a few years later.

She had no idea who her parents were or how she had ended up in that trash can, and she doubted she ever would. She just assumed, like everypony else, they hadn't wanted her.

Well, time to go back to her origins. She headed down the alleyway behind Sugarcube Corner, and scrounged through the trash, looking for anything that might be edible. Which didn't look like much, today. Everything had gotten drenched in something that smelled awful. She reluctantly backed away.

She continued checking trash cans in various alleys with no success. Now her coat had gotten really grungy, and she felt about tired enough to drop right there. She started walking down a street that would eventually get to a stream, so she could at least clean up before finding someplace to sleep when she saw it.

Near the center of the street was an old stump, and sitting on top of it was a single, delicious looking apple. She didn't think it'd been there before, but at this point, she didn't care. She trotted over to it, and gulped it down quickly, looking cautiously in all directions to make sure nopony was going to lay claim to it.

As she finished the apple, somepony cleared their throat behind her. She froze, aware of her condition and how late it was. There was no way to talk her way out of this, and she was too tired to try to speed away on her scooter. She resigned herself to whatever was going to come next.