The Ballad of Xyclone

Ponyville, Equestria, early morning

Scootaloo sits at the front door of the local Ponyville orphanage, gazing out the window with a dejected look on her face. The supervisor of the orphanage approaches her suddenly.

"Scootaloo, why don't you get some fresh air?" she asks her. "You"ve been sitting here for days."

Scootaloo sighs and slowly walks out the door and away from the orphanage. She walks to the park to think. It's been 5 days, she thinks. Where the hay is she? Scootaloo stops at a pond and looks down at her reflection. She closes her eyes and a single tear falls down her face, rippling in the pond below. Moments later, the reflections of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle join Scootaloo's as she looks up.

"Are you okay?" asks Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah," says Apple Bloom. "We haven't seen ya around fer a couple o' days."

Scootaloo sniffles. "Rainbow Dash promised she'd adopt me 5 days ago."

"Scootaloo..." says Apple Bloom.

"A-Am I really that unbearable to be around? That she had to break another promise just to get away from me?"

"Scootaloo, come on!" says Sweetie Belle. "Don't say that!"

"Why did she do this to me?!" Scootaloo cries. "I thought she was my friend! I thought she was cool! I...I thought she loved me!"

"Scootaloo, I'm sure she had her reasons fer not showin' up!" says Apple Bloom, trying to comfort her.

"I asked everypony who knows Rainbow Dash. They said they haven't seen her for days either."

"Maybe Rainbow Dash is on a mission for Princess Celestia with the rest of her friends. That's where Applejack and Rarity are. A-At least...that's what I heard..." Sweetie Belle speaks up.

"And run off without a warning? That's typical. She's never been loyal to me. I thought she was the only one who actually cared for me, but I guess I was wrong...again. Nopony likes me. Nopony's ever liked me. I'm a loser."

"That is not true, Scootaloo!" yells Apple Bloom at her.

"Yeah!" agrees Sweetie Belle. "We're your friends! We're your best friends!"

"Yes, but neither of you are my sister!" screams Scootaloo, running off.

"Scootaloo, wait!" cries Apple Bloom, but to no avail. "Oh, Sweetie Belle...what're we gonna do?"

Scootaloo runs off, sobbing, and eventually stops at the park bench.

A short time later, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom approach her with their teacher, Miss Cheerilee. "Scootaloo, is there something wrong?" she asks. "Sweetie and Apple Bloom brought me here. They said it was an emergency."

"Please..." sniffles Scootaloo, her voice cracking. "Just leave me alone."

"Scootaloo, come on, we're here to help..."

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Scootaloo screams at the top of her lungs, her voice squeaking with sadness.

Feeling rejected, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Miss Cheerilee slowly trot off hopelessly. Scootaloo continues sobbing.

Shortly after, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approach Scootaloo, who is still sulking on a park bench. "Well, well, well," taunts Diamond Tiara. "If it isn't the homeless blank flank orphan, Scootaloo!"

"Leave me alone...please..." Scootaloo sniffs, refusing to look up.

Silver Spoon takes over the taunting. "What, you gonna go cry to your mommy? Oh, that's right! You don't have one! She abandoned you like everyone else in your pathetic little life!"

"Shut up, Silver Spoon! I said leave me alone!"

Diamond Tiara takes over again. "What, have you finally realized how much of a loser you are?"

"Shut up!!"

"What? It's the truth! Isn't that right, Silver Spoon?"

"Yep!" agrees Silver Spoon.

"Let's see..." Diamond Tiara goes on. "You're a pegasus who can't fly, you still haven't earned your cutie mark, your grades are terrible, you have no parents...you'll never amount to anything in society, you know! You're nothing but a flightless bird, a...chicken."

Scootaloo twitches. "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me. You...are...a...chicken. You're such a scared little chicken that not even Rainbow Dash will take you—"

Diamond Tiara gets blindsided as Scootaloo punches her as hard as she possibly can in the face, so hard that it knocks her several feet away.

"She's right, you know," says Silver Spoon, helping Diamond Tiara up, who now has a huge red mark on her face from where Scootaloo punched her. "Assaulting us isn't going to change the fact that you're a loser. No one cares about you, Scootaloo. If you died tomorrow, nopony would ever notice or even care. As a matter of fact, Equestria would be a much better place without social nuisances like you." She smiles maliciously at Scootaloo. Both she and Diamond Tiara trot off, laughing evilly.

Scootaloo shoots an angry look at them.

"Whoa, she really got you good!" Scootaloo overhears Silver Spoon say to Diamond Tiara as they walk off. "We better get that cleaned up before our date tonight..."

Scootaloo's look of anger quickly fades. She looks down and sighs. "They're right," she says. "I am a loser. I am a weak little chicken. The world would be a better place if I never existed." Scootaloo slowly trots away from the park. As she walks through Ponyville, she spots the tall cliff where Rainbow Dash saved that runaway baby carriage that one time. "That's it, then," she sighs, her voice quivering. She then proceeds up the tall hill leading to the cliff. When she reaches the top, she looks down at the long drop below and sighs shakily. "I'm...sorry, Rainbow Dash..." And with that, she jumps off.

During her freefall, Scootaloo begins to chuckle. "Hey...look at me, Rainbow Dash. I'm flying..."

"Oh, my Celestia, what is that filly doing?! Somepony catch her!!" A pony says in the background.

"I'm...finally...flying..." A single tear streams down her face as she crashes to the ground with a large thud.

She had never even opened her wings.

Paramedics clamber around Scootaloo, trying to get her to wake up. "I have a pulse!" one of them says. "Repeat: I have a pulse!"

I'm flying, Rainbow Dash. Do you see me? I'm...flying...

"We're losing her! Clear!"

Ah, freedom...Such sweet freedom...

"We have lost her pulse! Repeat: We have lost her pulse!! Clear! You are not gonna die on me! Not on my watch! Clear!!!"

Goodbye, Rainbow Dash...