As the distraught filly lay there crying, a figure slowly immerged from within the bakery and approached. The orange mare was so entwined in her own self pity and misery she didn’t even notice it. She only realised its existence when she felt the warm touch of somepony’s hoof on the top of her head.
Scoot jumped back in fear, landing awkwardly on her bad hoof and toppling backwards into the garbage pile yet again. The figure giggled at the sight, and that infuriated the little filly! She burst from the pile of black bags and glared at the shadowy spectre with hatred in her eyes. “So you’re laughing at me too huh?” Was all she could bring herself to say in her weakest attempt of a tough voice. Her throat was soar from her weeping, and as she spoke the supposed challenge her voice cracked yet again.
The figure’s laughter lessened slightly, and she spoke in a warm kind high pitched voice. “Well yeah, that’s because that was funny silly!” She giggled again and walked into the light. Scootalo backed away in surprise.
“Mrs. Pinkie! I’m so sorry! I’ll... uuuhhhh... I’ll be going, I didn’t mean to intrude!” The pink pony simply smiled and tilted her head to one side, there was no sign of the sad pony Scootaloo had bumped into before. Was it an act? Just to keep up appearances that everything was ok, or was she actually fine with Rainbow Dash leaving?
Scoot took a step forward, and buckled under her own weight. She called out and fell to the floor. Immediately Pinkie’s face had flashed into a serious look of concern as she rushed to help the little filly. She saw the cracked hoof and bit her lip in worry. “Now THAT isn’t funny at all!” She said as she took hold of the hoof and examined it closely.
Scootaloo didn’t want to offend the pink pony, but she really wasn’t comfortable with her being this close. Yes they knew each other, but not very well! And certainly not well enough for her to be holding Scoot’s hoof so caring and tenderly. Knowing that more pain was about to arrive, Scootaloo pulled her hoof from the pink mare’s grasp.
The sudden jerk immediately sent what felt like bolts of electricity shooting up scootaloo’s foreleg. She grimaced horribly as she bore with the pain until it passed. When it did, she looked up to see Pinkie Pie staring at her, though she was smiling warmly there was a sad sense behind her expression. Beneath the exterior, Scootaloo could tell Pinkie was in pain too.
The party mare opened her mouth and licked her lips, obviously unsure of how to begin. Scoot closed her eyes knowing what was about to be asked, and knowing that it would take another swing at her already battered heart. “So... Scootaloo, you were crying for more than that hoof weren’t you?” It was a random way of phrasing the question, then again Mrs. Pinkie Pie was always random. Scootaloo nodded without even realising she meant to, almost as though pinkie pie’s oddness was drawing the orange filly into her web.
“Hmmm” Said the mare understandingly, her eyes seemed to glisten with the chance of tears, but her eyes remained dry, and her bouncy hair still retained its shape. She reached out to Scootaloo, placing a hoof on the shoulder of her uninjured leg. “I know how you feel, Rainbow Dash was my best friend and I”-
“NO YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL!” Scootaloo yelled, she tried to shrug the leg off of herself, and yet all her strength seemed to leave her. Her limbs went limp, and even her yell sounded weak.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow, inviting Scootaloo to explain what she meant. Scootaloo struggled with her anger, she didn’t want to upset Mrs. Pinkie, like she said, and she was Rainbow Dash’s best friend. She breathed for a moment; her breath came in shaky and lumpy rasps. “You... you don’t know, I-Rainbow was...” Though she had calmed herself, she still couldn’t think straight. Half sentences and feeling flashed through her mind and simply passed through her mouth without pause.
Pinkie Pie simply stood there and waited patiently while the filly struggled. “Rainbow... was meant to take me. She was like... a sister, and now she’s gone and...” Her voice began to crack again, stopping her from finishing her sentence. Pinkie Pie’s hoof still lay on Scootaloo’s shoulder, it was so warm. The scent of cookies and muffins seemed to emanate from her fur. She smelt so nice, so comforting.
“She’s happy.” Said the party mare softly, “Why does that mean you can’t be happy too?” the obvious question infuriated Scootaloo even more. She looked up into the big blue eyes of the mare before her. Her stomach clenched hard as she prepared to voice what she had thought from the second Dash had leafed her sight. She began to shake with frustration at herself. Such a failure! Such a pathetic excuse for a Pegasus!
“I-I should have stopped her... She wasn’t that high up.” She shot a deathly glare at her wings, “If I wasn’t so useless at flying! I’d have made it into the balloon, and then...”
“You think she can’t turn the balloon around? Even if you’d have made it in, Dashie would simply have brought you back Scoot.” Though she said the words with warmth and kindness, Scootaloo felt cold and lonely as the steel edge of the mare’s words cut straight into her heart.
Her words completely disarmed Scootaloo, the little mare simply stared at the pink pony. No one ever gave her enough credit, she really was smart, she just needed a chance to show it. Pinkie lifted the little pony’s face to look at hers, she smiled widely and laughed as she comforted the miserable mare.
“You’re not useless at flying anyway! You haven’t even gotten in the air yet! How can you be useless at something before you’ve even tried?” At the strangely understandable logic of the pink pony, Scootaloo could only laugh slightly, it started as a little giggle, but Pinkie pursued it by digging her hoof in the crook of Scootaloo’s foreleg. The contact made Scootaloo tingle and she writhed as her laughter grew even louder.
Pinkie continued to tickle the small filly, making her laugh harder and harder, allowing the small pony to forget her misery and troubles... just for a moment. Pinkie always loved to make her friends smile and laugh, and this was something she herself needed. She needed somepony to help her move on from Dash’s leaving, Scootaloo was so much like Dashie, and maybe she loved pranks to! As she pulled the peice of banana peel out from the filly’s mane, she thought hard. Maybe they could spend more time together; maybe they could have more fun together than just this tickle fight!
That was when pinkie’s jaw dropped with sudden realisation! She knew what to do!