//------------------------------//
// I just wanted to help you. 
// Story: Pinkie's greatest Challenge. 
// by Lethrael 
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Pinkie heard a strange sound. She laid on her side, and hugged a warm creature very closely. Her vision was blurry, she heard ringing in her ears and she felt so groggy that she had to shut her eyes. 
She pressed her nose close into a warm coat and sniffed, the smell surprised her. She inhaled a mixed odour of fresh sweat and, more subtle, a very cheap shampoo. 
It wasn't a bad scent, but just strangely off. Pinkie wrinkled her nose and nuzzled the warm coat quickly. At the same time she heard another muffled sound. Somepony tried to push her away with two hooves and the same pony floundered in her hooves.
She didn't let her go and nuzzled her coat a little bit more. She came back to her usual state of mind finally and realised what the sound was.
Words, whispered words from a filly.

“I...I'm sorry, Pinkie.”
The filly tried to push her away, but Pinkie wouldn’t let go, snuggling up to the smaller filly. She reopened her eyes and raised her head. 
She stared directly into two big purple eyes and a wide smile spread on her face. 
She lost it almost immediately, as she looked further over the filly's body and saw which filly she snuggled and how much Scootaloo struggled against it. She bounced back onto her hooves, pulled Scootaloo with her and brushed over her side. She glanced over the filly a few times and glanced back to the ground again, avoiding her inquiring eyes. 

She spotted the letter on the ground and turned pale. A drop of sweat ran down her brow, trickling down her cheek. She pushed Scootaloo to the other side, so she wouldn't...
“Say Pinkie, did you find a letter from Cloudsdale recently?”
The filly's low voice stopped Pinkie's thoughts and the inquiring expression finally caught her glance. A nervous giggle escaped the mare and she grinned anxiously. She started to shake her head, but as Scootaloo cocked her own, she sighed.
“I...we...”
She tried to roll the letter up with her back hoof to push it under her tail, but she couldn't.  She rolled her eyes with a sigh. The only thing she was actually able to do was to draw Scootaloo's attention on the letter itself. The filly leaned over, looking to the pawing hoof and ignored the stammering mare. 
She cocked her head even more.
“Oh, there it is. Did you want to...”

Scootaloo saw that the seal was missing and went silent. She licked her lips, waved over her mane and looked away. Pinkie was finally able to push the letter under her tail and smirked widely at Scootaloo. The smaller filly avoided her gaze and drew circles on the ground.
“Did you...read it?”
She sounded low, but accusingly at the same time. Pinkie took a deep breath. She tried to smile, but it was impossible . She nodded and opened her mouth, but Scootaloo had her beat.
“But...but...you...”
Scootaloo thumped with both front hooves on the ground and raised her voice.
“You hadn't. You shouldn't. You..
This wasn't meant for you. The letter.
You can't...can't”

A few adult ponies turned to the pair and stared. They even whispered and pointed at them. Pinkie put on an apologetic smile, but Scootaloo blushed and bit her lips to keep quiet. 
She didn't react to the smile on Pinkie's face, but stared into her face with an almost angry expression. She ducked down a little bit and flinched away. They began to whisper again and Scootaloo frowned. Pinkie sighed and it started a new triad from the filly.
“I thought you were my friend and you would keep an eye on my stuff.
After all...after all...”
There was more sadness and frustration than anger in the words and Pinkie hissed. She opened her mouth to speak , but Scootaloo was faster once again. The filly tried to push her away from the letter, but the mare was way too strong for that. 
So she tried harder, laid a second hoof on her chest, pushed with her head and tried it with her whole body at last, but there was no way to move the mare even in the slightest. Coming to the resolution that this was impossible, she yelled and leaned on Pinkie's chest.

“How could you read my letter?”
“It wasn't yours.”
This low spoken sentence stopped Scootaloo's yelling. She ducked down very surprised. A quick cry escaped her mouth and she shook herself. She started to speak again, almost in a whisper.
“But...but it was about me and...”
“How do you know that?”
Pinkie spoke so calm and almost not like herself that Scootaloo was stumped. The filly glanced at her confused and snuffled quickly as another sob tried to escape her snout. She snorted and stamped her hoof on the ground. She raised her head and let her wings buzz once.
“I...I have seen it, okay?
There was my name in the letter and...”
She stopped again and had to cover her nose, so the sob would stay as low as it could be. Scootaloo sounded so upset and confused that Pinkie just raised her hoof and tried to hug her. The filly jumped away from her with a shout, banged into somepony and bounced back again. She bumped into Pinkie's hooves, unhinging her and the mare almost tripped over. 
Two little hooves grabbed her with a surprised yelp and held her in place. Scootaloo held her for a moment and nestled her shivering head against her fluffy chest, till Pinkie came back to her hooves and smiled.

“I just want to see, if somepony, anypony would be my...”
The filly whispered so shaky and as low as she could. Pinkie felt something wet on her coat and looked down. Scootaloo let her go almost immediately, stroked her mane over her eyes and turned her head away. A creaky sound came out of her mouth and Scootaloo turned away completely from Pinkie, who tried to hug her again. 
It was too late, she flinched away, elbowed her way through the few ponies on the street, and ran. Pinkie wiped the letter up with her tail, followed Scootaloo, but wasn't able to crawl under the other ponies, like her. She had to jump on the backs of the other ponies to follow the filly. She called after her.
“Scootaloo...Scootaloo please wait.
I...just wanted to help...wait...”



The filly didn't stop, even as Pinkie screamed her lungs out, Scootaloo just got faster. The mare had soon trouble to elbow her way through the ponies. They were crossing the market and many ponies were doing their weekend shopping. 
Even the jumping over their backs was getting more and more difficult and she had to apologize to many of them. She jumped on the roof of the next building and ran on the rooftop instead. That was the right call, fortunately she had seen Scootaloo on her way through the ponies and was able to spot her. She caught up with her and called again. 
“Scootaloo, please.
I just want to...”
The filly turned away from her, breathed heavily and galloped away quickly.
She left the streets of Ponyville and sped up even more. Pinkie sighed again, jumped after her, landed on a tree, and bounced from branch to branch. Finally she jumped off to another tree and red fruits were falling to the ground. These were apple trees. Where the hay did the filly run off to? Sweet Apple Acres?
Right, but why?




Pinkie sighed again, as the filly sprinted under the oldest apple trees she had seen and only her deep and loud breaths were audible. The filly tried to hide from her, but she was way too tired. Pinkie saw her finally stumble and jumped off the tree to catch her, landing in front of her. Scootaloo jumped slightly, but stayed on the ground, and panted heavily. 
Her hooves trembled and her eyes glanced over the surroundings. They finally caught Pinkie Pie and locked on her. Scootaloo sweated heavily and tried to get back on her hooves in spite of that, but she couldn't bring her hooves to work and had to stay. The mare wasn't so warm out like the filly was, she just breathed a little bit faster and grinned.
“You're a really fast filly, you know?”
Scootaloo nodded with a approving gasp and put both shivering front hooves under herself. She tried to push herself back on her hooves, but she couldn't stand up. She simply couldn't, so she stayed down and tried to catch her breath. 

Pinkie didn't have such trouble, so she could easily speak to the filly.
“You know...I didn't want to read the letter, really.
But Gummy had chewed on it, you know.
Do you actually know who Gummy is?
He’s my pet and he loves edible paper, but he always mixes it with...”
Pinkie stopped as Scootaloo stared at her confusedly and cleared her throat. She cocked her head and laid down beside the filly. Scootaloo scooted away before Pinkie was able to hug her again. So she just drew a line on the ground.
“Well I have read the letter, who you have taken from Caring, right?”
Pinkie spoke lower and lower as she saw how Scootaloo reacted. She took a deep breath, piped down and pulled a face. She turned her head away and bit her lips once before she needed more air and breathed in quickly. She still avoided Pinkie's glance and rubbed her eyes.

“I...I...”
Scootaloo couldn't say anything however hard she was trying, her breath was way too fast to speak, so her voice faded away. She rolled her eyes.
Pinkie raised a hoof, but Scootaloo flinched away even more and the mare sighed. She put the hoof back on her side and stroke her mane with the other. She smiled finally and cocked her head.
“I'm awful snoopy sometimes too, Scootaloo.”
The filly snorted and get back on her hooves finally. She had calmed down enough to answer. The filly frowned at Pinkie and bared her her teeth.
“There was my name, Pinkie.
I don't read letters, who aren't addressed to me!
There was my name!”
The filly hit the ground with a low thud. She tried to raise her voice again, but coughed, lost her voice, and gasped.
Pinkie smiled apologetically and tried to hug Scootaloo again, but the filly flinched further away. She bumped into a tree with her haunches and squeaked surprised.
Scootaloo tried to jump around it and wanted to run off, but her hooves were shivering so heavily, that she had to lean against the warm bark. She stared to glare at Pinkie and snorted again.

“I really didn't want that, Scootaloo.
It was just an accident. Really!
You know, at first I thought when it was open and Gummy was so fevered, that I...”
Pinkie fell silent as she saw how little the filly believed the excuse. She hadn't changed her pose or her expression in a slightest, even with how apologetic Pinkie sounded. Instead Scootaloo was able to finally raise her voice and she raised her hoof too. She nudged Pinkie, yelling louder and louder.
“But this doesn't mean, that you should read it, Pinkie!
I mean...”
“But you shouldn't take it either, should you?”
Pinkie stopped Scootaloo again and this time, the filly fell silent with a huff. She stared at her opening and closing her mouth and tried to mumble something. Pinkie stood up, cocked her ears, and put on a hesitant smile. The filly fell silent again, drooped her head, and sighed. She drew circles on the ground and avoided Pinkie's glances once more. 

The mare cleared her throat and started to speak as the filly remained silent.
“The letter is for Caring at least and you took it and...”
Pinkie tried to hug her, but as Scootaloo heard this sentence she reacted. She clenched her teeth, smacked away her hoof, and yelled.
“There was my name. My name!
I just needed to know.
To know...”
Pinkie approached the upset filly and tried to smile, but the filly flinched aside and sighed, annoyed. She pranced to the left, thumped louder on the ground, and buzzed her wings furiously.
“What's that to you?
You didn't know me at all.
You don't have any rights to tell me off or say what I should or shouldn't do. 
So leave me alone!”
Again Scootaloo became much louder than before as well as angrier and sadder. She turned away from Pinkie and wiped away a few tears. 



Pinkie jumped after her and raised a hoof, but a louder yell from Scootaloo stopped her.
“Leave me alone!
I don't want to see you ever again.”
Pinkie stared at the galloping filly, her eyes widened. Nopony ever had said that to her with so much anger and sadness and she didn't know how to react
Her thought lingered around this sentence and it ripped through every little lovely image of her little Scootaloo. 
Everything she wanted to do, everything she wanted to say, everything she wanted to... She shivered and wiped away tears. 
She shut her eyes, bit her lips, and finally started cantering after the running filly. She mumbled to herself,
“But...but I just wanted to help you...”