Scootaloo stood on the top of a tall hill, on her scooter and ready and raring to go. She flapped her tiny wings a bit, doing her best to feel for the tiniest breeze in the air. Scootaloo looked down the hill to where she had set up a ramp made of old wooden boards.

"This is it," she said to herself, "I'm going to fly."

Scootaloo then pushed herself off and down the hill. The wheels of her scooter turned faster and faster as she descended down the steep slope. Within a matter of seconds, she had reached the bottom and hit the ramp dead center. She was carried up into the air, and let the scooter fall to the ground as she spread her forelegs and spread her wings as far as she could. She flapped her wings hard, trying to hang to the updraft pushing up against her chest. However, when she took a chance to look down, she saw that nothing she was doing was even slowing down her rapid descent.

The orange pegasus hit the ground and skidded over the grass and dirt. A cloud of dust was kicked up during her landing. The sting of the road rash she felt on her belly was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her heart. She lay still on the ground, her only movements were here gentle breathing, and the twitching of face as she cried.

"Why can't I fly? Why can't I?" she asked herself aloud.

"You need a fully functional pair of wings," a stallion said.

Scootaloo looked up at the approaching unicorn stallion. He was grey, with black hair. His tail was short, and his mane was well groomed and gelled into place. His eyes were brown, and he wore a black suit and tie. His Cutie Mark was a present wrapped in black wrapping paper.

"Luckily," the stallion said with a smile, "I can get you a pair."

Twilight stood watching next to the ramp.

"Here we have Scootaloo Songbreeze, age nine. A filly who wants one thing, and one thing only. A filly unaware of how much that thing will cost her - in The Twilight Sparkle Zone."

The Button Giveth. . .

"You can give me better wings?" Scootaloo asked, sounding interested but not fully convinced.

"Guaranteed," the stallion said. He then produced a rectangular metal tablet out of nowhere, and showed it to the filly. The tablet had a glowing screen on it that said the word "WINGS" in flashing letters. Beneath the screen was a hoof-sized red button.

"My role in Equestria is to give and to take," the stallion said, "I take something from one pony, and then give that something, in essence, to somepony else. Then I take something else, and give it to some other pony. And so on and so on. It is all very simple, young filly. All you have to do is push this button, and somepony, somewhere in Equestria, will lose their wings. Then, you will gain the wings you need in order to fly."

Scootaloo continued to lay on the ground. She looked up at the unicorn and asked in disbelief, "Somepony else will lose their wings?"

"Nopony you know. Nopony who knows you. Nopony you will ever meet," the stallion said.

Scootaloo looked very unsure about the whole situation. "I don't know. . .I just. . ."

"You have never flown, and you never will with the wings you currently have," the stallion said assertively, "This pony who you will never come in contact with has experience flight due to the fact that this pony's wings are healthy. I've seen this pony, although the rules forbid me from telling you anything about him other than that what this pony has would be very beneficial to you. Who deserves flight more? One who has already flown, or one who has never flown and faces a future where she never will?"

The words "never will" echoed loudly in Scootaloo's brain. She turned to look at her tiny wings, the marks of her shame, the evidence of her disability, her birth defect. The appendages that were normally supposed to be a Pegasus' pride were now the things that seemed to mock her whenever she flapped them or looked at them.

"You're thinking it over. Good," the stallion said as he gazed down at the filly with approval, "Also, you should know that you will be given wings in essence. That means you won't have wings that are too big or the wrong color. When the other pony's wings vanish to remove that pony's ability of flight, your wings will simply become the wings of a normal pegasus that will give you the ability of flight. They will be fully functional, and they will be your wings. As if you were born with them."

The stallion set the tablet on the ground in front of Scootaloo. "When you've made your decision, either go ahead and press the button, or come back here within 48 hours to return it to me. And don't worry. The button can only be pressed by your own hooves, and nothing else. Think carefully."

Then the unicorn teleported away.

Scootaloo traveled through town on her scooter, the device in her saddle bag weighing her down both literally and emotionally.

"I've never flown, and I never will fly," Scootaloo thought to herself, "Unless I press that button. . .but what about the other pony? What if they aren't ready to give their wings up. What if they don't want to?"

Scootaloo was so caught up in her thoughts that she clipped the side of one of Applejack's apple carts. She spun out of control and flew off of the scooter and back onto the hard ground.

"OW. . ." she moaned as she got up off of her sore underbelly. Out of the nearby Sugarcube Corner ran out her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

"You okay, Scootaloo? That looked like a nasty wipeout!" Applebloom said in concern.

Scootaloo still felt the pain from her earlier road rash, but she ignored it and put on a cool face. "Yeah, no big deal. That's not gonna keep me down."

"Oh good," Sweetie Belle said cheerfully, "So, let's head over to the clubhouse and figure out what we're gonna do today!"

Scootaloo's chill demeanor faded a bit. "Actually, I'm not really in the mood for Crusading today."

"What!?" Applebloom exclaimed while Sweetie Belle appeared to look almost relieved. "But you're the one who always comes up with the most insa- Ah mean, awesome ideas!" Applebloom said.

"Well maybe I got a lot of stuff on my mind right now," Scootaloo replied confidently.

"Like what?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo was silent for a minute, thinking about things. Then she looked at Applebloom and asked, "Applebloom, is being an Earth Pony. . .okay?"

Applebloom looked confused. "Huh? What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, do you like being an Earth Pony?" Scootaloo asked.

Applebloom smiled, "Well of course Ah like it! Darn tootin', there's nothing like working on the farm, making things grow, hanging out with tones of nice animals, and then taking the stuff you grew with your own hooves and turning into something ever more wonderful! Like fresh hot apple pies!" Applebloom stopped for a moment to close her eyes and lick her lips.

"Mmmmmm!" Sweetie Belle said as she imitated Applebloom.

Scootaloo didn't give the thought of pie as second thought as she shook her saddlebag a bit, listening to the sound of the device shaking around inside it. "So, if some other pony would become an Earth Pony after enjoying life one way, they'd probably enjoy living in a brand new fun way?"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gave Scootaloo an odd look.

"Is this about your. . .wings, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked.

Scootaloo huffed and turned away, "Can't a filly just ask a simple question?"

"But why are you asking that question?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, Applebloom made being an Earth Pony sound so nice. I figured if somepony got suddenly turned into an Earth Pony, then it wouldn't be all that bad! They might even be happier because of it!" Scootaloo said over her shoulder at her two friends.

"Or maybe that pony loves using magic or flying too much to let it go," Applebloom suggested.

"Well maybe I deserve it more than they do!" Scootaloo shouted. She then hopped over to her scooter, picked it up, got on, and zoomed away, leaving her too shocked friends in the dust.

Scootaloo found herself back on the hilltop. The place where it all started. She sat there, holding the device in her hooves. Staring at the flashing word "WINGS" on the screen, and the red button beneath it.

Scootaloo's moved her gaze upwards. She looked at the sky and the clouds above. Heights she would never reach. An experience she would never have. Then, just above the horizon, far off in the distance, was a tiny speck of blue and rainbow. A multicolored trail was left in the wake of the speck. The filly recalled her countless dreams of flying high with that mare in the distance. She had taken her under her wing, said they were sisters, but did that truly mean anything if they couldn't fly together?

Scootaloo looked down at her underdeveloped wings, forever frozen in their stunted state. Hot tears of shame dribbled out of her eyes. It was at that moment that a recent memory came to Scootaloo's mind:

"Says the Best Young Flyer in Equestria," Scootaloo thought in with bitterness she never even knew she had inside her. "She has perfect wings, she's gonna be in the Wonderbolts, she can do a Sonic Rainboom! What gives her the right to say that to me! SHE HAS EVERYTHING!"

Filled with an anger fueled resolve, Scootaloo raised her right hoof high, and slammed it down hard onto the red button.

The screen of the device went blank.

"Well, that was fast."

Scootaloo turned to see the unicorn from earlier approach her. He smiled and held out his hoof. "I'll take my device back now, please."

Scootaloo wordlessly handed the tablet over. The stallion checked it over, and then nodded. "Good. Good. Now, look at your wings."

Scootaloo turned, and gasped in utter disbelief. Her wings were about twice as big as they used to be. Scootaloo's shock caused them to pop open. They were an absolutely gorgeous set of orange wings. Scootaloo flapped them, and she felt the air that they pushed rush away from her. A breeze blew over her, and she could feel the slightest change in the air on the tips of her feathers.

With tears of joy running down her cheeks, replacing the tears of shame she shed earlier, Scootaloo jumped into the air. . .and flew.

With her physical disability gone, instincts quickly took over. Scootaloo soared up and up, and she touched the clouds. She spun corkscrews through the fluffy white matter, and felt the Sun on her face as she flew slightly closer to it than ever. She had yet to learn any of the cool tricks the pros did, but she wasn't worried. She knew that she had all the time in the world now.

After what felt like hours of soaring, diving, spinning, and laughing; Scootaloo finally landed back on the ground.

The grey unicorn was still standing there, wearing a triumphant smile on his face to match Scootaloo's. "I see that you are satisfied?" he said.

"I'm more than satisfied! I'm COMPLETE!" Scootaloo cheered as she jumped and pranced around in joy.

The stallion nodded, "Excellent. Now all we have to do is determine what you'll be giving up."

Scootaloo froze in mid-prance. She slowly turned towards the stallion with a look of confusion. "Huh?" she asked.

"I told you, young filly," the stallion said, still smiling, "My role in Equestria is to give and to take. I took the wings from one pony and gave them to you. Now I must earmark something of yours to give to the next pony I visit. Then I earmark something from that pony, and so on and so on."

"Bu-bu-wha- That's what you meant?" Scootaloo gasped, "I thought you were gonna just go take from someone else after I pressed the button."

A look or irritation passed across the stallion's face. "You mean you expected to get those wings for nothing? Without paying for them in some way? Young filly, nothing is free. Nothing! The pony that those wings came from got something they wanted first. I don't take without giving, but also don't give without taking. That's the way it is. That's the way life is."

Scootaloo felt a great unease grow inside of her. She gulped down a lump in her throat and said, "So. . .now what?"

The stallion levitated the tablet in front of him and stared at it. "Well, you won't actually lose whatever it is until the next pony actually presses the button. It will be a pony you will never meet, I promise you that-"

"But what is it!? What am I gonna lose?!" Scootaloo exclaimed nervously.

"Hold on, I don't know yet. It's always a random drawing. Now, let's see. . ." The stallion tapped the tablet's screen a few times. The screen flashed wildly for a long moment, until it finally stopped on something. The stallion smiled, and then broke out into some gleeful chuckles. "Jackpot!" he said, and he turned to go.

"Wait!" Scootaloo called out, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I don't know," the unicorn said carelessly, "Maybe to a hospital. An old folks home. A house with a vibe of sadness or tragedy. Or maybe even a hospice."

"What are you talking about? What am I gonna lose? Tell me!" Scootaloo demanded.

The unicorn's only response was to hold up the tablet and show Scootaloo what the flashing word on the screen was: "LIFE".

Then the unicorn teleported away.

Scootaloo stood frozen in place, but not for long. Her knees quickly gave out and she fell down to the cold hard ground hard, her road rash still causing her some pain. It was a much more welcomed feeling than the coldness she felt in the pit of her stomach, and her heart.

"Scootaloo Songbreeze was given a choice. A choice of either selfishness or compassion. Of greed or generosity. But leave it to Scoots, one of life's perpetual losers, to make the wrong choice. A filly that had it all except for one thing will very soon have nothing at all. An epitaph for a pegasus filly - in The Twilight Sparkle Zone"

Author's Note

Based on "Button, Button"- 1985 Series- Season 1 Episode 20b