Fly Away, Sweet Scootaloo

Bubba closed the door and locked it behind him,  Scootaloo hung her head and cried.  She was sobbing long, deep sobs that shook her whole body.  She went over to her bed- a pile of ratty blankets thrown on the floor.  It hurt to walk, it hurt to lay down, hurt was all she knew any more and she was physically and mentally exhausted.

She lay down and cried herself to sleep.  It had been two years since her parents died, but she could still remember her mom's sweet voice singing her to sleep. She could still feel her dad blowing raspberries on her tummy.  He would NEVER do to her the things that Bubba did, in fact he would beat him up.

The next morning Scootaloo awoke to her foster mother, Beatrice, gently shaking her to wake her up.  Scootaloo obediently jumped up out of bed, groggy from sleep.  She noticed that Bea had a brush in her mouth and Scootaloo wondered if she was going to get beaten with it. She was pleasantly surprised when Bea started to brush her.  Neither of them said anything to each other.  Scootaloo was enjoying the long, soft brush strokes on her neck and down her back.  "That feels good," she said.  Bea brushed a lot of dead fur out, then untangled her mane and mop of a tail.  She sprayed something on it to make it soft and silky,  Scootaloo felt like Princess Cadance.  To her surprise Bea hugged her.

Beatrice was much less abusive than Bubba. She still had her bad days, but Scootaloo figured that Bubba treated Bea in much the same way he did to Scootaloo.  What hurt her the most was that she knew Bubba was inappropriate with her and yet did nothing. "Come with me," Beatrice said, and Scootaloo obediently followed her.  She was taken to the living room and given another hug.  "Good luck," Bea said and led Scootaloo into the living room.

There was a young couple waiting for her. Scootaloo was greeted warmly and they even stood up when she came in! Her tummy became full of butterflies. "Scootaloo," Beatrice said, "this is Lenna and Matthew. They are looking for a filly your age to adopt. Scootaloo almost peed… she couldn't believe this! They were PERFECT! She beamed. Lenna was a stunning white Pegasus with a golden mane and tail and Matthew a handsome Black Stallion. She reminded herself not to do anything stupid.

Lenna greeted her with  a soft, kind voice. "Hello." She said.  Scootaloo tried to say hello and sputtered and quickly told herself that no pony will want a filly who stutters.

Scootaloo was invited to come in and sit down. She was nervous — Bubba didn't allow her on the furniture — and was apprehensive but sat down on the corner of the couch. Lenna smiled at her. She had a pretty smile.

"HI Scootaloo," she said in a soft voice. Scootaloo hung her head and said hello.

"How old are you?" Lenna asked.

"I don't kn-know."

"When is your birthday?"

"I don-don't know."

Hmmm, Lenna thought, was her birthday not important to her foster parents?

"Scootaloo," she began, "isn't there a day that's a special day for YOU, a day where you get a cake and a present?  The day you were born?"

"N-no maam"

"What do you like to do for fun?"

"I like t-to do tricks on my sc-scooter. And I like to f-fix stuff."

"What kinds of things do you like to fix?"

"B-bikes and sc-scooters and stuff."

"Are you in Ms Cheerilee's class?"

"Y-yes. maam."

"Do you like her?"

"Yes, maam."

"Scootaloo what other things do you like to do?"

"My f-friends and I h-have a club."

"A CLUB? What kind of club?"

"The cute-cutie mark crusaders."

"Oh, Scootaloo, that's cute.  What do you do in your club?"

"We tr-try to get our cutie marks."

The three of them talked for awhile longer about this and that, here and there, and when Scootaloo's hour was up, Lenna told her that they had a few more fillies to interview and they would get back with her. Scootaloo knew that meant no. Why would they pick her over anypony else.

Lenna was already in love with this precious girl. She was so sweet, and her little voice was so soft and charming, but she could tell that this little filly was inundated with sadness.

"Scootaloo can I give you a hug?" Lenna asked

Scootaloo smiled. "Y-yes, maam."

Lenna bent over to hug her and noticed that when she raised her hooves, the little orange Pegasus flinched. The two hugged, and Scootaloo closed her eyes. A tear fell down and splattered on the floor. It felt SO good to be hugged. What a rare treat this was. She imagined what it would be like to be hugged every DAY.

Lenna noticed that Scootaloo was thin, very thin. It was difficult to tell just by looking at her but upon actually feeling her, her ribs were exposed something awful and her little bones stuck out everywhere. Lenna pulled Scootaloo close to her and held on tight. She thought she heard the filly crying.

Suddenly there was a ruckus coming from the kitchen. Scootaloo heard Bubba out there — he should have been at work. Beatrice specifically timed this meeting for when he would be gone… somehow he had found out about it and had come home to stop it. He sauntered into the room and put on his charm. He looked at Scootaloo with an evil grin and she was afraid. He introduced himself as her guardian.

"So you are interested in adopting Scoots here?" he asked.

"Yes," Lenna replied, "we like her a lot."

"You know she stutters, right? Half the time you can't understand a word she's saying."

"We can work with her, we WANT to work with her."

"She has quite a few mental issues as well.  She LIES, first of all, and also… she runs away. A LOT. She goes off to play silly filly games, and I don't mean kid games, if you know what I mean?"

Lenna looked down, uncomfortable. Scootaloo's heart sank. Bubba looked at her and her heart skipped a beat. "Go to your room," he told her and nodded toward her bedroom.  He followed her down the hall and locked the door behind him.

Bubba took the young couple outside and Scootaloo looked out her tiny window to try and hear what was being said. Bubba told them all about her wings, how there were too small and would most likely be an enormous financial burden in the future. "Before you go and start to feel sorry for her," Bubba said, "just know that she is VERY well taken care of here. In fact we are starting to think of her as our own daughter. Maybe deep, deep down, I love her and don't want her to go."

Scootaloo stomped her feet, "NO!" She yelled, "NO NO NO!"  She tapped on her tiny window with her hoof. Lenna looked up and Scootaloo put her hoof on the window and looked at her with pleading eyes. Matthew and Bubba shook hooves and the young couple began to walk away, Lenna looking up at her. Scootaloo could hear Bubba's hoofsteps coming down the hall. She cried, knowing what was coming.

The door flew open and he was on her in an instant."What the fuck do you think you're DOING?" he growled. "You are NEVER going to get adopted — never! WHY would any pony want YOU? You can't even fly, you 'll never get your mark, the only thing you are good for is pussy, and lately you're not even good at THAT." Bubba walked over to her and put a hoof on her neck. "Now come over here and give me some of that tight filly ass."

"NO!" Scootaloo yelled. Spit flew out of her mouth and landed on Bubba who became furious. He grabbed her by the head and twisted her neck, forcing her hindquarters close to his growing member.

"NO!" Scootaloo yelled. With all her filly might she bit and kicked and squirmed out of his grip and busted out the door. She ran down the hall and slipped, skidding through the kitchen on her flank.  She quickly got up and flew out the door hoping to catch Lenna and Matthew, but they were long gone.

Bubba was on his way after her, but he'd been drinking and his reaction time was significantly slowed. She ran as fast as she could, knowing that if he caught her it would be bad — real bad. She wished she had her scooter. She could get a lot further a lot faster if she had her wheels.  But she did not, so she ran with all her might. She buzzed her little wings in a mad attempt to fly. Her youth contributed to her being able to outrun Bubba, and her wings gave her added propulsion.

She ran blindly for a long time; she ran until her whole body was covered in white foam; she ran until she collapsed. Her heart was beating fast and hard. She found shade under a maple tree and lay down panting, trying to catch her breath. She collapsed, exhausted, crestfallen, humiliated , disappointed, angry.

She thought about Rainbow Dash. She wondered what she was doing right now. She would've given anything — anything at all — to live with Dash.  But you can't give anything when you have nothing to give.