//------------------------------// // Story One: The Crinkling Sleepover // Story: The Fantastical Far-Fetched Feats of Flower 'Power' Heart // by scribe-feather //------------------------------// The Fantastical Far-Fetched Feats of Flower ‘Power’ Heart Story One: The Crinkling Sleepover By Scribe Feather As the last minutes of the school day ticked away, the students were eagerly watching the clock that seemed to purposely slow down time because they wanted this day to end. Among the eager faces was the young Flower Heart. The school bell rang and all the kids eagerly rushed out the school. Now wasn't a time to dawdle, it was Friday! Weekends were always a favorite of Flower Heart when she was a filly. A break from school meant time to hang out with friends, sleeping in, and not having to worry about homework until Sunday night. This weekend was especially exciting for the blue filly. Her unicorn friend, Moondancer was having a bunch of friends over for a sleepover. Her sleepovers were always the funnest, her parent let them stay up late and they were never short of snacks or ice cream. All her friends would be there too! Though now that Flower thought about it...Moondancer always acted a bit...weird before bedtime. As everypony got ready for bed and tried to burn off the excess sugar that would most likely keep them awake for the next ten years, Moondancer would disappear. She would return to the bedroom as everypony was just settling down for bed, pajamas already put on and a bit of a twitchy, nervous expression to her. Probably just Flower being overly suspicious. Of course, who could blame her? She needed to keep her detective skills sharp if she planned on doing something with it one day. Her teacher always said to stay curious and that's what Flower did! The sun was beginning to set on the quiet town and Flower was making her way to Moondancer's house, sleeping bag and tooth brush in tow. She was only a little bit late, but if you asked her she would say it was intentional. A rather punctual filly in most cases, Flower Heart normally came to social gathers a little bit late so she wouldn't be stuck in a room with the host and no one else. When she arrived at Moondancer's house, half of the other guests were already there. The group had gathered in the center of the living room, couch cushions taken off of the furniture to make a sort of makeshift nest. The girls gossips, joked, whispered in each others ears and even talked about a book or two that they read recently. After Moondancer's parents reminded them for the hundredth time to quiet down the party was eventually moved upstairs into Moondancers's bedroom. They were nice enough to let them carry the couch cushions up so that their nest could be rebuilt in the bedroom. Another half hour passed as two more guests arrived. Moondancer's mom peaked into her bedroom. "Hey Moondancer, why don't you come downstairs and help your father with the ice cream." "Aww, but moooom, can't he do it himself? I wanna stay up here with my friends," Moondancer called back. "No honey. I think you should go help your father with the ice cream," Moondancer's mom did some kind of weird gesture with her neck and wiggled her eyebrows in an odd manner. Parents are weird. Moondancer paused with a puzzled look before her eyes lit up with perked up ears. "Oh! O-oh right...That...Ice cream..." The white unicorn blushed as she followed her mom out of the room. Flower didn't understand why she was so embarrassed. It was just ice cream... Conversation and chatter continued as usual until Moondancer finally returned. Moondancer returned with her father with many bowls of ice cream in hoof. She seemed oddly shyer than when she left. Like she was hiding something. And to make the strange situation stranger, she was already wearing her pajamas. But Flower didn't have time to worry about that now. NOW it was time for ice cream! Bowls of ice cream were given to all the fillies who all eagerly dug into the tasty dessert. Moondancer's mom and dad were the best, they let us eat up in her room where all her toys and blankets were! The sleepover seemed to pick up when sugar was introduced. Ponies giggled loudly and hopped around the room as the desert worked into their systems. The more they played, the quicker the sugar worked through their system and in the later hours of the night all the fillies started to grow tired. Pajamas were slipped on and teeth were brushed as one by one, the guests slipped into their sleeping bags. True to sleepover tradition, Moondancer had her comfy bed to sleep in. Talking was still quite frequent, but much quieter to avoid waking up Moondancer's parents. The talking got quieter and quieter, slowing down in frequency until everypony fell asleep. In the quiet of the night, Flower found herself waking up a couple hours after they all fell asleep. Sleeping bags were always too thin for her taste. Why couldn't she take her bed with her to this sleepover? Her bed was comfier. The sleeping bag was alright, it was her favorite shade of green (which is ALL of them) for crying out loud. She could say it was comfortable...Ish. Not as comfy as her bed. Flower stared up at the very dark ceiling till her sleepiness pulled her back to sleep. Suddenly her ears started to perk at a strange noise. Some kind of rustling. A plastic crinkling. Like shopping bags or bubble wrap, but without the popping of the bubbles on bubble wrap. So mostly like shopping bags. "Oh no..." She could hear one of the other fillies say in a harsh whisper as the crinkling became louder, followed by the movement of blankets. Then there were hoofsteps, rushed ones. Whoever was moving among the darkness needed to get to where ever they were going and fast. Sounded like Moondancer after hearing the bed mattress creak about. The shadow covered pony snuck into her bathroom, closing the door very very quietly, and turned on the light. Now Flower turned her ears to super hearing mode. It was the only sense she could rely on now to figure out this little mystery. In the quiet bathroom, the plastic crinkling seems to grow louder, but the pony inside appeared to be taking careful steps to avoid any loud noises. She constantly paused, likely listening for any activity outside the bathroom. The crinkling was followed by a few minutes of silence and than some water was quietly run. Sounded like the sink. Next was more plastic rustling, but this rustling sounded heavier. Like a thicker plastic was being moved about. A bit more of that quiet crinkling from earlier was heard and then hoofsteps back out the bathroom as slowly as they came in. The shadowed filly tip toed back to her bed, obviously stepping over the mess of sleeping bodies around her. She climbed up into bed and that seemed to be it. With nothing else interesting happening in the black darkness of the room, Flower found her eyes growing heavy again. She was soon back to sleep. Almost instantaneously, the morning sun filtered through the half open bedroom window. Birds began chirping their songs as the ruffling of blanket fabrics and sleeping bag materials filled the room. Everypony was starting to wake up. Flower was the first to make it to the bathroom. The moment everypony started to stir, Flower was up on her feet, making her way to the bathroom. The door closed and locked with a couple of giggling shouts coming from the other fillies. In past experiences, it was always a hassle to get there first thing in the morning. With the door closed, Flower had a moment to herself. The whole bathroom to herself! A strange smell poked at the filly's nostrils, calling attention to itself. It was a familiar smell. A dirty smell. With her highly trained detective skills, Flower found the source of the smell almost right away. The trash can! Or more specifically, the balled up yellow thing that sat inside of it. The urine stench was heavy on this thing as the curious Flower examined the mess like a trained detective. It was a diaper! But not a baby diaper. It was more like one of those grown up diapers. Pull ups, but for big kids. Flower thought about pulling out the diaper for a closer examination. That's what detective Flower would do...But, ew, it was covered in pee! Picking it up would be gross! However, this case needed more looking into! While she still had the bathroom to herself, Flower did a little detective work. First, some snooping, but Flower never called it that. Snooping was for nosy ponies, detectives investigated. Under the sink was the first place Flower looked. Usually the ideal place people put kinda-sorta-private things that could easily be accessed, but hidden away from most. Most, except for Flower Heart, super detective. The items were rather typical. A few toilet paper rolls, cleaner, and a couple issues of Hype Feathers Monthly (only the most popular magazine in Flower Heart's age demographic.) However, digging a little bit deeper revealed a plastic package, tucked deep in the dark to hide it away. It was a pack of Dry Clouds, for ages 8-10, bedwetter diapers. Or 'nighttime protection' as Flower's heard some parents refer to them as. Flower always found that a bit confusing. Like, what if they needed daytime protection? Would they get a new set of diapers just for daytime protection? Why call them anything different to begin with? Just call them diapers, wouldn't that just be easier to say? Flower remembered when her brother wore these. Well, not EXACTLY like these. His were more...Boyish and blue. They had pictures of Wonderbolts doodled on it to make it look like real underpants. Which always seemed a bit silly to Flower. Who ever heard of real underpants that could absorb a pony's pee? This pack of 'nighttime protection' was a recently opened one. There were only two pairs of the twelve pack missing. Matching the patterns on the ones in the pack with the used one in the trash, Flower expertly deduced that that wet diaper came from this pack! She had all the clues she needed to draw a conclusion. Moondancer was a bedwetter! Case closed! There were a couple knocks on the door, "hurry up, Flower!" Moondancer called out. "Alright alright, keep your 'jamas on," Flower quickly pushed the package of diapers back into the cabinet, moving things about to hide them better. This case needed further investigation, but she couldn't raise any more suspicion by spending any more time in here. The door slowly opened, revealing Moondancer standing there impatiently. "Finally!" the red maned pony yelped, before rushing into the bathroom and pushing the door closed. Flower's ears twitched again as the sound of crinkling plastic could be heard from the bathroom. It was much harder to hear this time since most of the other fillies were awake and playing around her. She had to use her super extra hearing to keep track of the sounds. Moments later, Moondancer finally emerged, less tense than she was when she entered. The bathroom was quickly occupied by a new filly and the cycle continued until everypony was down for breakfast. Moondancer's dad was already busy with cooking everypony pancakes, placing the food in neat little stacks on plates. He expertly floated mixing bowls and cooking utensils, pouring the pancake batter in perfect sized circles every time. His horn gave off a faint, yellow glow as he worked. Flower always wondered how unicorns did that. Like, did they have to train with their magic to float things around or did they just...Know how to do it? "Morning girls," Moondancer's dad said with a smile as he floated a plate of pancakes to Flower. "Sleep well?" "Yes!" The fillies answered in unison with big smiles. Some giggled amongst themselves, retelling inside jokes that were created the night before. "How about you, Moondancer," her dad said, floating the last plate of pancakes down to where the filly sat. "Sleep well?" He did that same eyebrow wiggle like her mom did last night. "Uhm...Kinda..." Moondancer answered back meekly, quickly diverting her attention to her pancakes. The filly blushed a bit and her dad seemed to pick up on...Whatever she was embarrassed about. Her dad paused for a moment. "We'll talk about it later," her dad answered back with a soft smile. He turned back to the kitchen area and started to clean up. Everypony dove right into their delicious pancake breakfast. Between bites, the fillies chattered between each other, exchanging quick cliff notes of what happened last night. There was even talk about doing it again next weekend. With the main part of the sleepover concluded, the guests started to return home, one by one. Flower was one of the last ones, taking the longest to finish her pancakes. She said her goodbyes, thanks the parents for letting her sleepover (something that her mom would ALWAYS remind her to do), and left. Flower walked home with her sleeping bag slung over her shoulder. She replayed the events that happened during the sleepover. The ice cream, gossip, prank phone calls, and pillow fights. And most notably her diaper investigation. She was reminded of those kid detective books her mom let her read. Those stories always had a resolve of the plot where the culprit was exposed and brought to justice. Comparing her adventures with that source showed the filly that her case didn't have any of that stuff. She never exposed Moondancer's secret after all that investigating. Kinda felt like a waste of her detective powers. The filly realized that if this case were written in a book as well she'd probably call it "The Case of the Case of Diapers". It wouldn't have much of a plot resolve or an ending. It'd probably just end abruptly without a closing line or even an epilogue from the editor.