"Blank flank! Blank flank!" The taunting calls rang out, piercing the sunny day. The clouds were perfectly puffy and plump, thanks to Rainbow Dash. She had worked all night to prepare the perfect sunny day. Luckily, she was getting paid fifty extra bits for her hard work.

"Shut up!" an orange Pegasus filly cried. She gave the two ponies who were taunting her a steely glare. "I've heard all of your insults! Don't you ever come up with anything new, you two?" The Pegasus, known as Scootaloo, gave a bored yawn.

Her best friend, Apple Bloom, nodded vigorously. "Yeah," she said in her Texas drawl. "Don't ya'll ever think that we're tired 'a yer borin' insults?"

The third one, Sweetie Bell, just looked nervous.

Scootaloo looked at herself in Rainbow Dash's mirror. Luckily, Dash had recently decided to adopt Scoots. After the initial euphoria, Scoots had tried to play it "cool and awesome" around her idol. She stared in the mirror some more. She saw a filly with a colt-like purple mane cut, orange fur, and small wings. She turned to the right and sighed. Her shoulders slumped. "I'm just a blank flank," she whispered. Of course, she wouldn't say these glum things out loud to her friends. Scootaloo was supposed to the confident one. The tomcolt.

She sat down on the wooden floor and began to cry bitterly.

Rainbow Dash heard the tears and came in. "Hey, squirt." The words were gentle and kind. "Watcha cryin' about?"

"It's n-nothing," Scootaloo sniffed. "I mean, nothing you'd care about. It's nothing cool."

"You can tell me, kid," Dash said, pulling the orange foal into her lap. "There, there. Not everything has to be cool all the time."

"I'm a blank flank!" Scootaloo spit the vile words out for Dash to see. She sobbed loudly. "We've tried everything, Rainbow! I'm not good at being a reporter, I'm not good at woodworking, I'm not good at creative writing, I'm not an actress; I'm not a good swimmer!" She got louder and louder.

"Hey," Dash soothed, running a sky-blue hoof trough the whimpering filly's mane. "I'm not good at any of those things either. Do you know how many times I felt horrible because I wasn't good at anything? I wasn't destined to be a good singer like Octavia or Lyra. I wasn't going to be able to make delicious candy like Bon-Bon. It took a lot of time, but I finally found out what I was good at."

"That's what everypony always tells me," Scootaloo grumbled. "I've tried to get my cutie mark from being fast and awesome, like you, but I can't do it. I can hardly fly!"

"How about we spend the afternoon trying a few things?" Dash asked.

While Scoots certainly wasn't in the mood for anymore failure, she knew that Dashie was really trying. She might not get another opportunity like this. "Okay," she agreed.

After a long, tiring afternoon, Scootaloo lay in bed, defeated. She wasn't going to be an electrician, she wasn't especially good at reading, she couldn't bake, and animals weren't her thing… The list went on and on. She began to sing quietly, something she did only when she was alone.

" Everypony says it's easy.

Everypony is so wrong.

They say it took them just as long!

But it didn't.

Look at all my classmates.

They've gotten them from reading and debates.

They've gotten them from writing and singing and baking and even dinging…

Bells!

And look at me,

As blank as can be.

Just a non-important little filly."

Scoots sighed and turned over, ready to sleep, but she felt something different. Her legs felt sort of tingly. She got up cautiously, walking over to the mirror in the dark. She flipped on the overhead light quietly, and gasped.

There was a cutie mark, right on her flank. She looked to the left, and screamed, "RAINBOW DASH!"

"What?" Dash flew into the room. "Are you hurt?"

"No!" Scoots was crying with relief. "Look!" On her flank, was a microphone. "I got it for singing! I've got a cutie mark!"

"Oh, squirt!" Rainbow cried, hugging the little filly. "I'm so proud of you! Your entire life will be different from now on! Maybe you can grow up to the famous like Lyra Heartstrings! I know how much you love her!"

Scoots gasped. "That'd be amazing! Thank you, Dash! I can't wait to tell my friends!" They rejoiced a little more.

"Well," Dashie yawned. "I'm gonna be napping for all of tomorrow. I got about an hour's sleep last night, and I was up today enjoying my handiwork. I'll be napping all day. How about you tell me about how everypony reacted to your cutie mark tomorrow evening?"

"I will!" Scoots cried. She yawned. "And it's a Friday! Plus, we have a three day weekend! This'll be the best day ever!" Dash tucked her back into bed.

Scootaloo proudly walked to school the next day, swaying her newly decorated hips. "Hey!" Twilight Sparkle, the librarian, said. "Scootaloo! You've got your cutie mark!"

"Yep," Scoots grinned happily, "it's for singing."

"Congratulations," the purple Unicorn smiled. "If you ever need any help with singing, you can come to me for lessons."

"Really?" the filly asked. "I didn't know you sing."

"I used to, when I was just a filly," Twilight said this somewhat sadly. She looked down. "Before I got my cutie mark for magic, I was sure it was going to be a microphone or something." She looked up again with a smile on her face. "But hey, I still know a thing or two about singing. I could give you free lessons."

"Thanks!" Scoots shouted, running off. She trotted happily into Sugar Cube Corner. "Hi, Miss Pinkie Pie!" Scoots grinned. "It okay if I order my lunch here?"

"Sure!" the pink Earth Pony grinned. "What'll you have?"

"Today's a special day," Scoots said quietly. "I'll have…" She looked at the menu. "Hmm… how about three red velvet cupcakes with extra frosting."

"Somepony's goin' all sugary!" Pinkie smiled. She put the three cakes into a bag. "So, anything else?"

"Got any apples or something?"

"Yep." Pinkie added two golden delicious apples to the bag, along with a water bottle. "You've got to be a little healthy!" she winked. As she handed the paper sack down to the orange filly, she beamed suddenly. "Oh, Looie! You got your cutie mark!"

"Don't call me that," Scoots grumbled with a smile. "But yeah, I did. Thanks for the food!" she grinned, handing Pinkie five bits.

Pinkie pushed the bits back to Scoots. "Hey," she grinned good-naturedly, "ponies that've just gotten cutie marks don't need to pay!"

Scoots trotted jauntily down the street, grinning from ear to ear. "Dah-ling! Congrats!" Rarity cried from her dress shop.

"Lookin' snazzy!" hollered Applejack from where she was selling some cider.

She was stopped by her secret idol, Lyra Heartstrings. The short-maned sea-foam Unicorn smiled at Scootaloo. "Hey," she grinned easily.

"Um…" Scoots balked. "Oh, my! I mean, hi! You're my… my… idol," she stammered.

"Scoots, right?" the Unicorn smiled.

"Yeah!"

"I see you've gotten your cutie mark. Singing?" Lyra asked.

"Yes," Scoots smiled. "I wasn't good at anything but this."

Lyra smiled. "Only the best ponies don't know their true talents. If you live your entire foalhood knowing what you wanna be, it's no fun." She checked the clock tower. "Oops. I'm gonna be late for yoga." She trotted away. "Congratulations, Scoots." She turned around. "I'll be seeing you."

She got noticed like this all the way to school. Suddenly, her happy day was shattered. "Blank flanks, blank flanks! Where's your little tomcolt friend this time?" The voices were that of Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

"Ah dunno!" It was Apple Bloom's voice! "But we don' need 'er to protect us! Ya'll are gonna need a medic where we're through with you!"

Sweetie Bell whimpered. "Apple Bloom, I don't want to fight!" she moaned.

"Ha!" The cry was that of Diamond Tiara. "It's two on one!"

Scoots knew this would be the perfect time to save Bloom's hide, and show off her new cutie mark. She dashed into the middle of the almost-brawl, flashing her cutie mark at the two mean fillies. "You leave my friends alone!" she shouted. Her voice was strong and tough. "Forever!"

Silver Spoon gasped, looking at Scoots's flank. "You… you've got your-"

"You bet your stinking hide, I do!" Scootaloo roared. "Now get out of here before I-" Before she could finish her threat, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ran away as fast as they could.

"Wow," Apple Bloom gasped. "Dang it all, Scoots. Ya'll really spooked those nasty fillies!"

"You betcha!" Scoots grinned.

"What did Silver Spoon mean when she said, 'you've got your-'?" Sweetie Bell asked. "Got your what?"

Scoots turned carefully toward the girls. "I got my cutie mark," she said.

Apple Bloom gasped. "Awesome! Look, it's a microphone! Oh, Scoots! Ah'm so proud 'a you!"

Sweetie Bell grinned from ear to ear. "I'm so happy for you!"

Scoots shrugged. She grinned wickedly. "Did you see their wimpy little faces?" she asked devilishly, mimicking the mean filly's faces.

Bloom giggled so hard, Sweetie Bell couldn't help joining in.

"Oh, Scootaloo!" Miss Cheerilee cried. "You've gotten your cutie mark! Look everypony! Scootaloo, please come up to the front and tell us a little bit about it."

Scoots trotted up to the front of the classroom and flashed her flank. "So, as you can tell, it's a microphone," she said. "I'm actually a pretty good singer. I really wanted to be a good singer in the talent show, but I was bad. Since then, I practiced in secret. I practiced so hard, my voice would give out sometimes. But I loved singing. One day, when I was so tired of being made fun of, I broke down. It was horrible. I sang a little song, and suddenly… I had my cutie mark."

The class clapped and stomped their hooves. "You look really nice!" a colt named Pipsqueak said. "It looks really pretty on you!"

"Thanks," Scoots blushed. "Um…."

"Welcome to the cutie mark club! I'm tho happy for you!" Twist lisped. "Thingth will be a lot different from now on, trutht me."

"Thanks," Scoots grinned. "I'm really happy too, now that I've found out what I'm good at."

The first lesson the class did was math. Scoots found in easier, and less frustrating. She got all of the questions right when the class corrected it. "I'll collect the papers," she declared happily. As she collected Diamond Tiara's paper, she saw angry X's over most of the problems. "You know what?" she asked smoothly.

"What?" the pink filly snapped grumpily. "Come to gloat? Well, get it over with."

"Nope." Scootaloo shook her head. I would but… I'm too good for that. You don't deserve it." She happily snatched the mostly-wrong paper.

The next period was reading. The class was reading a book called "Pony Jackson." Scoots finished the chapter first, so she got to silent read her own book. It was a book about a pony that couldn't get his cutie mark, no matter how hard he tried. Originally, Scootaloo had picked it out because she felt similar to the character, which was named Handiwork. Scoots finished it just as the lunch started.

Scoots handed each of her friends a cupcake. Apple Bloom snapped it up in four bites, getting pink frosting all over her yellow muzzle. She licked it off, giggling. "Yer lucky Miss Pinkie gives ya'll these cupcakes for free!" she laughed.

"I think it was just for today," Scoots said, crunching her apple. She finished it, then started on the other one. "Gotta be a little healthy," she laughed, gulping all of her water in one go. Finally, she ate the cupcake in just a few bites.

Sweetie Bell poked at her cake with her hoof. "I'm not very hungry," she smiled.

"Ah'll eat it!" Bloom cried, snatching up the cake. She stuffed in her cheeks. "Oh… sorry," she said, mouth full. "Prob'ly shoulda given this to Miss Cutie Mark."

"No prob," Scoots grinned. "I'm full. Hey, you guys wanna go play kickball?"

"Sure!" Bloom cried, jumping up. "Ah'm done with m'lunch. Sweetie? Ya'll wanna play?"

"Sure!"

When Scootaloo got home, there was a note taped to the door. It was on a pink sticky-note. It read, "Hey Looie! Guess who? This is one of my clues! You'll find something special, from Miss Pinkie Pie. Follow the clues exactly, or YOU'LL DIE! (Just kidding!)"

Scoots laughed. "Oh, Pinkie," she chuckled, opening the door. There was another pink note on the floor. It read, "The first one was on the door. This one is on the floor. Love in French is amour! Here's a hint for little Looie, just a teeny tiny clue-y: what is your fave desert?"

Scoots thought for a moment. "Hmm…" she murmured. "Well, I love cupcakes."

"CUPCAKES! SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie screamed, jumping up from behind the couch. "Come out everypony!"

A dozen or so ponies jumped out from behind furniture and doorways. "It's a party!" Pinkie smiled. "You like it?"

Scoots lay in her bed, talking to Dash. "It was the best day of my life," she grinned. "In school, everypony was nice to me! I got all of my math problems right, finished the chapter of our book first, and got an A-plus on my report on Filly the Kid!"

"I'm so proud of you, squirt," Dash smiled gently.

"And then there was the party-"

"I was there!" Dash laughed. "Remember?"

"Oh, yeah!" Scoots grinned. "Oh, yeah…" She yawned. "I just don't want it to end, you know?"

"Well, my little pony," Dashie smiled. "Even the best things have to end sometimes. Goodnight, squirt." She turned out the light, and murmured, "I'm so proud of you."