Pinkie's greatest Challenge.

by Lethrael

The Sleepover.

The rest of the sleepover was after this miserable start not far away from a total fail. Scootaloo soon moved away from Pinkie’s side of course, hold sill as the mare began to take care of her bruises and blushed deeply.
She didn’t look in the mare’s eyes and tried to put on another fake smile. She continued to avoid every little eye contact for the rest of the evening.

Even as Pinkie tried to cheer her up with a game, Scootaloo just played half hearted.
She lost the pillow fight, without even hitting Pinkie once and lost well everything else too.
In the Yahtzee she wasn’t able to fill more than half of the sheet with numbers. But she didn’t even mind and thought about something else.
She grabbed the dice cup not until Pinkie demanded a rematch in her favour. Even then she just rolled the dice more half hearted than before.
Pinkie just could sit beside her, heavily trying to cheer her up and thinking of, how or better if she should ask her out about it.
Since she has taken care of her injuries, the filly appeared to be different and distracted.
Time and again she raised her head, glanced to Pinkie and cocked her head. She seemed to eye her up closely and tried to evaluate something.
After Pinkie won another round of dices, she changed the game.

Of course she asked Scootaloo, what she would like the most, but the filly didn’t answer. So the mare had to decide and looked over her options quickly.
She grabbed a deck of cards, shuffled it with lot of experience. Finally she dealt the cards out and started the game.
She won the first round of the game without any effort to do so and changed the game after the even more unsuccessful rematch to a board game.

But again the filly lost after twenty minutes of Marenopoly. It was a total victory by Pinkie, who got all of the filly’s money.
But Scootaloo didn’t react, like Pinkie would think she would, but rather stayed calm and just sighed.
She drooped her shoulders and her head at the same time and looked down to the game without any further reactions. Pinkie couldn’t suppress her question much further.
“Well, Scootaloo. Spill it out! What’s the matter with you?
You’re well a party pooper!”

Pinkie smiled softly and whispered the last words in an clear attempt to make a joke. Scootaloo’s reaction was unsuspected at best, she jumped back onto her hooves and tried to put on a wide, but for Pinkie fake and even forced, smile. She looked to the stammering filly and cocked her head.
“No, no Pinkie.
It’s...fun.”
Scootaloo whispered the last word with an insecure expression on her face. She pressed her ears flat against the head and looked down the the game again. She sighed and reached out to the dices.
Pinkie thought about what to do next, sighed on her own and her mane lost a little bit of fluff. She raised a hoof, but Scootaloo turned her head away from the game and looked to her saddlebag like she would find the needed strength to say what she had in mind.
After a few moments, where she just stared to it and drew lines on the ground, she slouched her shoulders even more and sighed.
Scootaloo took her first step closer to the saddlebag and drooped her head lower on the way to it. She looked to the window and saw, that it became dark already.
She sighed again and slunk closer.

Pinkie stood up slowly too and followed her a little bit faster. She sounded so gentle as she could and the mare embraced the filly with one hoof.
“Do you want go home?”
Scootaloo turned her head quickly away from the window, shook it and cleared her throat. Pinkie waited for an answer, who just didn’t come.
The filly opened her mouth, but closed it soon again and avoided the mare’s smiling face. She didn’t flinch away as Pinkie stepped closer and hugged her. The mare pulled her closer and nudged her encouraging. She sat down and Scootaloo nestled to her for a few minutes. Pinkie had to fight down a yawn and closed her eyes for a moment.

Finally Scootaloo cleared her throat and started to speak with a raspy voice.
“I know it sounds strange, but can we go for a walk outside
I want...”
The filly stopped and had to swallow another lump in her throat. She wiped over her mouth with a hoof quickly and continued brushing over her mane with it. Pinkie let her loose and nodded. She looked to the clock and Caring’s voice returned again in her mind.
“Please, don’t let her stay after ten a clock, will you?
Oh and bring her back for lunch, tomorrow and first of all...”
Pinkie shook the voice away and focused back to the clock again, it was ten a clock already. First she opened her mouth,
but Scootaloo’s grin, a real one this time, or at least a not so forced and really thankful one, convinced her to agree with her.
The mare walked slowly to the stairs, listened downstairs and smiled widely.
“We have to be a little bit quiet, okay?
The foals are surely trying to sleep and we don’t want to wake them, do we?”
Scootaloo nodded quickly and sneaked aside Pinkie. She followed the mare as silent as she could muster the creaking stairs down.

The way out of Sugarcube Corner and over the empty place before it was very easy.
Scootaloo took a deep breath, as she stepped out into the warmth air and her ears went slowly upwards.
She turned to Pinkie and asked with a firmer voice.
“Do you think we could go for a walk?
Maybe to the hill, where we saw that meteor shower, please?”
Pinkie breathed in with a sharp hiss and stared at Scootaloo for a long time. She raised her head to see the moon, who stood high over them and pondered about that.
Finally she approached the filly and took another deep breath. Pinkie shook her head and cleared her throat.
“This would be a little bit far off, right?
Don’t you think...”

Scootaloo drooped her head, sighed and turned the head disappointed away finally. She looked so pleading, that Pinkie fell silent.
The mare licked her lips, sighed on her own and wanted to nod, but she could fight it back again.
That wasn’t a good idea at all and the filly wouldn’t go there with Caring or even alone.
Pinkie took another deep breath and stepped closer to the filly. She didn’t think it through and shook her head.
“No Scootaloo.
We would be way to long on track and I think Caring would...”
The filly frowned and stopped Pinkie. She sounded somehow strangely familiar. Pinkie could have swear, that she heard Rumble.
The mare looked to the filly and tried to ensure herself, that she talked with Scootaloo again.
“But she didn’t have to know and we’re doing actually something,
That she wouldn’t like at all.”
Pinkie eyed the filly up, who answered with a sullenly expression. The mare cocked her head and tried to smile.
Something was strange here. Why did Scootaloo’s mood change so quickly?
And why did she act in such a strange way? Pinkie cleared her throat and stammered an answer, before she had ordered her thoughts.
“So, I think we can go around Ponyville for a while.
And Caring didn’t forbid such a thing, you know?
But...”
Pinkie bit her lips, before she could speak out her last thought. She turned the head away from the filly and sighed.

Scootaloo frowned again and sighed very bugged.
“I want...”
Pinkie stamped her hoof on the ground and looked directly into Scootaloo’s eyes.
She kneeled down in front of her, a trick who her father had suggested, cleared her throat
and spoke up as firm as Limie had recommended.
“Scootaloo, please. We can’t go the whole way to the hill!
What’s gotten into you?
First you’re really distracted, than you’re making a strange suggestion.
But as you’re outside you want something totally different and expect, that I would agree with it.”
Scootaloo frowned angry first, but as she raised her head to disagree she saw Pinkie’s confused expression and stopped.
Pinkie hadn’t finished yet and continued in a faster speed.
“I just don’t understand.
Why do you want to take this long way with me?
You can get tired on the way there and we have to go the whole way back.”
Now Scootaloo was able to mumble a hushed answer and frowned miffed.
“I’m not getting tired...”

Pinkie sighed again and looked directly into the filly’s eyes, something her mother always does.
She spotted an odd expression in it. A mixture between confusion and something else.
She couldn’t tell clearly what it was and spoke along with a firm voice.
“We can’t go to the hill tonight.
I don’t think...”
Scootaloo tried to turn away her head, but Pinkie stopped her with one hoof.
The expression in Scootaloo’s eyes had changed and now Pinkie was able to tell, what this expression meant.
It was an inextricable mixture of sadness, the before mentioned confusion, a little bit home sickness and deeply hidden anger.
Scootaloo repelled her hoof blindly with her own hoof and jumped away. She even snapped her tail once in Pinkie’s direction.
“I just wanted to the hill, because...because I wanted to run away for a while.”
She shouted and ran away.
Pinkie bounced back on her hooves quickly and galloped after Scootaloo.

The ponies crossed an empty Ponyville. The night was warm, but the pegasi had brought a few thin clouds in the air and a light rain drizzled down here and there.
The silver moonlight was caught in a few drops and sent down glittering streaks to the ponies.
At first it felt really nice, but the longer they were galloping through the thin silver haze, the colder the droplets became and the more dense they seemed to fall.
Scootaloo was just a few steps ahead and seemed to let it stay that way. She wasn’t speeding up and didn’t want to outrun Pinkie.
The filly left Ponyville as fast as she could, but slowed down once she had left the village behind.
She looked back to Pinkie who had almost caught up to her when she reached the Point where the way forked at the foot of the hill where she paused and seemed to reflect for a moment.
The filly thought for a few moments, but took the way back around Ponyville and slowed down her pace once again.
She just walked through the decreasing rain and shook her head to dry her mane even a little bit.
Pinkie bounced aside her, faced her and tried to understand, what got into her.
But the filly just sped up once again and changed into a trot, so she could be a few nose lengths ahead.
At the same time she cried something.
“I just wanted to run outside.
Because I do that every day.”
Pinkie sped up too and bounced aside her. The filly slowed down again and looked back to the hill.
“I usually run a round around the hill.”
Pinkie gazed at the filly, who slowed down again and started to breath in worn out. But she managed to say some more words.
“It’s...helping me.”
She jogged beside Pinkie, looked to the moon and stopped her walk. The filly stroke her mane, sighed and laid the ears droopy against the head.
“But usually I’m alone.
And it doesn’t help today.”
She looked quickly to Pinkie, rubbed her eyes absent minded, shut them close and yawned.
The mare could see a tear went out of her eyes and the filly trembled.
She looked quickly to the moon, as the blushing filly sobbed and tried to turn her head away .
“U...usually I can fight back the feelings quite easily.”
She couldn’t stammer much more words and tried to gallop away.

Pinkie caught her after a few steps, pulled her close and hugged her firmly. She whispered a question.
“I thought, well you’re happy, when we’re hugging each other.”
Scootaloo nodded quickly and rubbed her face on the mare’s plashy chest coat.
“But...I didn’t want that you think, that I dislike your sleepover, you know?”
Pinkie snickered a little bit and hugged Scootaloo tighter. She nuzzled her mane and nudged the filly encouraging.
“Just because you’re a little bit sad?
So...in the past I would think that, you’re right.”
Scootaloo gasped, raised her head and stared to Pinkie. She even held her breath and her ears twitched.
“I...I didn’t want...”
Pinkie shook her head and nuzzled Scootaloo’s cheek very apologetic.
She sniffed tentative, caught the smell of the filly. Neither smelled it wet, nor was she cold. Strange.
“When you’re feeling bad, or you’re sad you should really tell my, okay?”
A sentence from Miss Cake came in Pinkie’s thoughts and she just copied it.
“We’re both in a very unfamiliar new situation.”
Scootaloo couldn’t suppress a giggle, as she heard, that Pinkie’s voice changed.
She rubbed her face on the mare’s chest again and sighed almost bugged,
“You’re strange, Pinkie.
Caring couldn’t bring me to...”
Scootaloo blushed deeply and turned her head away. She whispered a few sentences at the same time.
“I...want to live with you somehow.
I...want, that you became my..
Well my...”
The filly stopped heavily blushing with a lump in her throat and snorted once.
Pinkie just waited, if she would say something more, but the filly just shook herself, faced the starry sky and kept silent.
Pinkie joined her side, looked up and pondered what to say next. But she couldn’t find one word.
Why did it happen so quickly? She looked down to Scootaloo and began to stare at her.
Why did the filly open up so quickly? Why?
Scootaloo took a deep breath and winced, as a she spotted a falling star on its way over the sky.
The filly mumbled something inaudible and raised her voice a little bit after that. But she sounded at the same time like herself and not like herself.
Something was off here. Pinkie put on an inquiring expression, as she could hear Twilight’s tone under Scootaloo’s voice.
“Could we speak with Caring tomorrow?
I want to move as fast as possible...”

“Say, Pinkie?
Do you think... Hey Pinkie!”
A hoof touched her cheek and the mare startled. She opened her eyes and looked around.
She laid cuddled up with Scootaloo on the floor of her room and tried to find out, how she ended up here.
Scootaloo petted her cheek very gently and woke her up in that way.
The mare looked to the clock and she saw which time it was, ten to ten?
Scootaloo followed her eyes, ducked under Pinkie’s embracing hoof and pushed it away.
“Were you falling asleep, Pinkie?”
The mare could hear a reproachful undertone and smiled apologetic. She just nodded and Scootaloo sighed bugged.
She yawned on her own and looked to her sleeping bag. She mumbled another sentence.
“It’s late, isn’t it?”
Scootaloo stretched herself and get back on her hooves. She rubbed her eye and yawed again.
“We should go to b.. Uhm sleep soon, don’t we?”

Pinkie yawned too and stood up. Se nodded quickly and looked to the window.
“So you don’t want to run a round around the hill? Phew.
And you don’t want to...”
Pinkie stopped as she saw the confused expression on Scootaloo’s face and shook her head.
She sighed and forced a smile on her face.
“Of course not.
Well then we have to brush our teeth and put on the pyjamas.”
Scootaloo nodded, yawned again and followed Pinkie downstairs as silent as she could.
She didn’t want to wake up the foals on the way to the bathroom. Pinkie remembered the whole dream and shook herself.
Her smiled widened and she sighed again.
“That was just a dream, Pinkamena.
Just a dream!”

Scootaloo headed first into the bathroom and put on her pyjama there. Pinkie waited in front of the door and tried to shook away the dream images.
She tried to find out when she had fallen asleep. But this wasn’t so easy, the dream images were mixing up with real events and Pinkie was just halfway awake,
so she failed on that impossible task. Finally Scootaloo came out of the door and Pinkie went in the bathroom herself.
She was so busy thinking about it, that she totally missed Scootaloo’s yellow pyjama and her question.
“Should I wait for you, or can I...”
Pinkie closed the door in the middle of the sentence.
The mare needed a few minutes to get back on track. She washed away the sleep with a few hoofful of warm water,
brushed her teeth and tried to realise, what was actually the dream and what was the reality.
She had fallen asleep shortly after her question, right?
Or not?

Finally she got an idea.
“I could ask Gummy.”
This brought back a relieved smile to her face and she opened exhilarated the door. She bounced out and stopped.
Scootaloo didn’t got an answer, so she just stayed and waited in front of the door.
But unfortunately it was around her usually bed time and the long waiting in a dark kitchen didn’t help either.
She seemed to get so tired, that she just couldn’t resist much longer and nestled down in a flour sack and fell asleep quickly.

So Pinkie found Scootaloo relaxed and sleeping and could just smile about it.
She looked at the filly for a few moments and yawned on her own, as Scootaloo yawned too and snuggled closer to the floury pillow.
The mare giggled and picked up the filly carefully. She petted over Scootaloo’s mane and cocked her head.
Why didn’t she go upstairs?
The mare shook her head and placed the filly gently on her back. She would ask her tomorrow.
Hopefully she wouldn’t wake her up, when she put her in the sleeping... Pinkie stopped and shook her head, as the filly nuzzled her neck and smacked her lips.
Well she would rather bring her to bed.
Pinkie smiled and sneaked upstairs.
She turned her head, nuzzled the filly gently and whispered.
“Goodnight, Scootaloo.
Sleep tight.”

Author's Note:

Hello fellow readers,

I hope you have enjoyed my next chapter of Pinkie's greatest adventure.
I think I'm on the halfway point, so please answer one question.
Do you want a little skip here, so we can go to the actual adoption,
or should I write it on a slower pace?

As always, feel free to comment and have a nice day.

Comments

[Leo1811]

I would like if you could keep the story at a slow methodical pace please don't jump straight into the adoption make it feel real OK thank you

[Texus]

I would say that you should write at a slow pace, I don't want it to end to soon, if it does let something left for a sequel or something, maybe there is not much left to create the same kind of emotions but I think there should be a bit more happening between them even after the adoption before the story really ends.