"Why are we here, Pinkie?" asked Scootaloo as the two ponies approached a large waterbed. A lake, as any other pony would have called it, but Pinkie referred to it as 'her home'. A small tree provided just enough shade for them.
"Isn't this amazing? You can see all that little sparkling thingys juuuust floating on top of the water. It's magic!" exclaimed Pinkie with a large smile plastered across her face-- a somewhat difficult sight to see with her huge hair blocking half her face.
Scootaloo managed to see it though. There was a smile, not ecstatic, over-joyous, or jubilant. But there was a smile. She saw a smile unlike Pinkie's smiles. It was reassuring. It was calm. It was happiness.
"I love spending my evenings here when I'm not busy with my friends. Or planning parties. Or planning parties with my friends," said Pinkie as she took a step and pointed forward. "Sometimes, I feel like they don't want me here."
"They?"
"The sparkly creatures! They can hear everything we say!" whispered a grinning Pinkie. "The sun has barely set, but sometimes, during this time of the day, I can feel the cold seeping into my heart. It's like the sun is telling me, "I have to go now, and you should too!""
Scootaloo placed a hoof over her heart, and felt it thump. Once. Twice. But her hoof felt hotter as she laid it there.
"Then sometimes, I would watch Celestia lower it, and watch Luna slowly raise the moon. I can almost hear them talking to me again, like they're telling me, "We need the sun!", but then I talk to them and tell them that it will return."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but nodded her head anyways.
"And when it returns, every pony will be all sparkly once more! Isn't that great?"
"Uh, yeah, sure?" asked a puzzled Scootaloo. "But you told me you were going to show me your home. I thought you lived with the Cakes. Everyone thinks that."
"I do live with the Cakes, you silly filly, but this is my second home! Right under this tree!" said Pinkie as she leaned against it. "It's where I feel happy all the time! And when you're at home, you should never feel sad! You should always be smiling!"
"Huh." Scootaloo walked towards Pinkie. "So it's kinda like your... tree-house. Like the one we have over at Applejack's."
"Mhmm."
"Except that there's no... house."
"Don't be silly! It's right here!" said Pinkie as she formed the outline of her house with her hooves. Dotted lines somehow traced the movement of her hooves until the shape of a house was formed. "The door's kinda small, but any pony can fit in it!"
A quizzed look had been smeared across Scootaloo's face, but that didn't hinder Pinkie from giggling. "I don't get it, Pinkie. Why are you always so happy?"
"Because my friends make me happy, and I love to make my friends smile!"
"Yeah, but what happens when you're alone?"
"Don't be silly, again! I'm never alone!" said Pinkie as she wrapped a hoof around Pinkie. "Even when I'm here, I'm surrounded by my sparkly friends! I can always smile, knowing that I have someone to talk to!"
"Geez, Pinkie, I've never seen it... that way before. I always thought you were sorta..."
"Crazy? Yeah, I get that a lot." Pinkie smiled triumphantly. "Don't let the naysayers hurt ya!"
"Hey, Pinkie, you must be an expert on being happy, right?"
"I could be, should be." Pinkie first bore happiness, but it quickly switched to suspicion. She leaned towards Scootaloo's face with downward-sloped eyebrows. "Why?"
"I... I don't know. I mean, my life's amazing and all. I have great friends, a great sister. I'm recently learning how to fly, and I'm getting better at it."
"Good, good." Pinkie nodded her head, but her eyes never left Scootaloo.
"But why am I feeling like s--"
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Pinkie screamed as she covered her ears. "Don't say it!"
"I mean...
"Dont you..."
"AHHH! FLAMING CHICKEN NUGGETS!"
There was a brief period of silence. Neither party knew how to continue the conversation, and instead let the sound of a gentle breeze trickle into their ears.
"Uhm."
"Uhm."
"I'm... I'm sorry," said Scootaloo as she she sighed and turned away.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
Scootaloo bit her lip. There were so much in her mind that she needed to get off, yet at the same time, the orange pegasus deliberated. Can I tell her? But she already knows! Agh, this is fustrating!
"Pinkie... how's it like back at your farm? I remember that you told me your family wasn't all... happy."
"Are you kidding me? My family's the most fun I've had! Except their smiles. They never smiled. But they were happy!" Pinkie began bouncing around. "You don't need to smile. Sometimes, some ponies don't even show that they're happy."
"Were they happy when you left?"
"That..." Pinkie stared blankly at the open fields. "I'm not reaaaally sure. Part of me tells me that they are, the other part of me tells me that they'll miss me. How about you Scoots? How does your family feel?"
"Feel?"
"Yeah, you know. Are they funtastic? I'm sure they're really, really great to hang around with! Ooh, ooh, maybe after this, you can show me where you live!"
Sweat broke down on Scootaloo's forehead. She looked away, gave a long sigh, and rest her hoof on her elbow. "I'm... I'm not sure. Rainbow Dash tells me that they'll always be with me wherever I go. I guess they must be happy enough to wander around... me." A small tear was shed. An attempt to brush it off was played, but Pinkie had caught the sight of it.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Scootaloo shriveled up her tears and coughed. "It's just... just..."
"Yes?" Pinkie's faced inched towards Scootaloo, albeit a little too close for the tiny pegasi's comfort.
"I... I don't know. I wanna do great things! I wanna fly with Rainbow Dash, and eventually the Wonderbolts." Scootaloo slumped to the ground, her right hoof now scratching her left. "But I can't seem to be able to do it. I can barely lift myself off the ground. I thought that... if I could be with Rainbow Dash, my life would be much happier! But it's all the same. I thought that if I could practice hard enough, I could be... ya know... happy! But... I don't know--"
"Stop saying 'I don't know', you silly filly! Of course you know! You just need to figure it out!" Pinkie reached for Scootaloo, but stopped short.
"Figure what out? The three of us crusaders always try new things, but we never seem to get anywhere. Maybe... maybe I wasn't destined for great things." There was a slight pause as rustling leaves serenaded the two little ponies on the hill.
"Were you... were you feeling depressed all this time?" Pinkie's voice lowered to a small hush. She gently nudged Scootaloo, and the smile of hers began waning.
"M-maybe... I don't know..." said Scootaloo with a large sigh.
"It's okay, I understand. I really do," said Pinkie as she gently placed her hoof on top of Scootaloo's shoulder. "Pa and Ma wanted me to be the very best geologist ever, so that I can grow up and carry on rock farming. I thought to myself, "I don't want to be doing this, but I don't want to make them sad," so I compromised. I threw a party for them to cheer up, and be the very best party planner there is. You can ask any pony anywhere about that!" Pinkie allowed herself a smile, but nothing more was said for a short period of time as they allowed themselves to soak in the limited rays of the disappearing sun. Even the sparkly friends of Pinkie's seemed to have hushed themselves, allowing a private, serene moment for those two ponies.
Scootaloo turned her attention back to Pinkie. "I..." She was to speak, but instead, she just simply stared at Pinkie's face. Strand by strand, she watched as the hair on Pinkie's head fall flat, until Pinkie looked like she was just out of the showers. Her face might have darkened, partially due to the dimming of the sun. Even with the downcast appearance, Pinkie continued smiling.
"Your hair."
"I know. It never really bothered me. Sometimes, when you gotta let go, you gotta let go. All of it."
"Hey, I have more questions."
"Ask away!" said an excited Pinkie. "I love questions!"
"Are you... ever sad, Pinkie?"
"I hate questions!" This time, Pinkie shied away, but only for a brief moment. When she swung her head back, her smile still lingered.
"Most of the time, but you can't tell that, can you, Scootaloo?" Pinkie's smile continued to shine in the fading darkness, yet Scootaloo's heart was getting colder.
"Are you feeling sad now?"
"Now? No. Later? No. Two weeks, three days, sixteen hours, five minutes and ten seconds later? Still no."
"But how can you be so happy all the time?" asked Scootaloo with a raised voice.
"I am not happy all the time! I mean... there are times where I'm alone--"
"Agh! But you just said that you're never alone-- forget it, I'm going home!" Scootaloo brushed Pinkie's hoof aside and lifted herself off the ground.
"Wait!" The smile on Pinkie's face disappeared in a flash. With quivering lips, she held out a hoof. "Don't go."
Scootaloo stopped in mid-flight as if something tethered her to the ground. There were two options, none of which were easy to decide. Her confused brain made it even much harder to, and her threshold was on the verge of breaking.
"Please."
There was a moment of hesitation. A sigh and a frown later, she flew back down beside Pinkie and glanced towards the ground. "Sorry, Pinkie, I don't kno--"
"Shh." Pinkie interrupted her with a hoof over her mouth. "I understand."
Scootaloo looked up at Pinkie, and still saw the smile on Pinkie's face. "How are you still... smiling?"
"Smiles are easy; happiness is hard," said Pinkie. "Sometimes, you really just got to do what you can, and hope it's enough. For me, I try to make my friends smile. To laugh. So that I can smile. And laugh. Just hope."
"Hope?"
"It's a powerful word. Pa and Ma use to tell me that it's all just a fantasy, but I got it. I got hope. If you wanna be happy, you must always keep hope in your heart." Pinkie clenched her hooves and nodded. "Never lose hope! It's your best-est, most super-ific friend you'll ever have! Keep hope, but never lose faith, that's what I always say!"
"Well, what can I hope for?"
"Like you said, hope to be the best you can be! Like Rainbow Dash!"
"So..." Scootaloo touched her lips with a hoof and hunched forward. Deep in thought, she gently tapped her lower lips. "If I can work super, extra hard to be like Rainbow Dash, and hope, I can be happy?"
"Weeelllllll, you can't be some other pony, you silly filly," said Pinkie as she rubbed on an annoyed Scootaloo's head. "You got to be yourself! Find out what you're really good at!"
"Yeah, no cutie mark yet." Scootaloo frowned and pointed at her blank rump. "Ya think if I hope hard enough, I can get my cutie mark?"
"Psh. I know you will. Just hope, and never look back from not hoping!"
"So... hope, huh." Scootaloo turned to face the sunset. The last rays of sunset disappeared as the sun dipped past the horizon. Her heart immediately grew colder, like Pinkie's sparkly friends were telling her, "Hey! We need the sun back!"
But Scootaloo just smiled and said, "Just hope."