Pinkie Pepper pulled the plug out of the sink and watched as all the dirty dishwater drained away. The clean dishes sat on the draining tray next to the sink ready to be dried.
“All done Mama” said Pinkie Pepper.
Mama Pepper came over and gave Pinkie Pepper a hug. “Good girl’ she said. “Now, since you have finished your chores you can go and play with the goats. But be back in time for dinner.”
Pinkie Pepper ran to the back door and put her boots on. Then she stomped down the stairs and ran across the yard to the fence that separated her house from her neighbour’s house.
She could see the goats walking around in their pen nibbling on grass and generally doing goaty things.
Pinkie Pepper crossed the fence carefully, making sure she didn’t catch her dress on the wire. She liked her dress and didn’t want to tear a hole in it.
When she came to the goat’s pen they walked over to her and began nibbling on her boots and snuffling in her pockets looking for carrots.
Pinkie Pepper laughed as one goat butted her gently as if to say, “Where are you hiding the carrots?”
“I didn’t bring any carrots today, sorry” said Pinkie Pepper as she patted the goat on the head.
It didn’t believe her and walked around to snuffle in her other pocket.
Just then Pinkie Pepper saw a new goat, one she didn’t recognise. It was a bit bigger than the other goats, and it had a crooked horn.
She walked over to it and patted it and said “Hello new goat. What’s your name?”
“Maybe” said the goat.
Pinkie Pepper looked at the goat and asked “Are you supposed to be here?”
“Maybe” said the goat.
Since this goat was bigger than the others goats, Pinkie Pepper thought it might be a bit more fun to ride. So she said “I’m going to ride you New Goat. Is that aright with you?”
“Maybe” said the goat.
Pinkie pepper decided that maybe meant* yes*, and swung her leg over the goat’s back, and hopped on her other foot until she was sitting on the goat, riding it like a horse. She grabbed his fur and hung on tight as the goat began walking.
It walked faster getting up to a trot that bounced Pinkie Pepper up and down making her teeth chatter.
“Do you think you could run a bit smoother?” she said as she was nearly jiggled off.
“Maybe” said the goat.
Then suddenly Pinkie Pepper wasn’t being jiggled and the goat was running smoothly. But when Pinkie Pepper looked down at the ground, it was a long way down.
She was flying on the back of the new goat!
“Oh” she said. “You’re a magical goat!”
The goat turned to look at her, and it seemed to wink one eye as it said “Maybe.”
They flew on through the sky, bouncing over fluffy white clouds until the goat sailed back down again and landed with a soft bump.
Pinkie Pepper got off the goat called Maybe and looked around. This was a very strange place. There were lots of trees and flowers in bright colours. Even the grass was a bright colour.
The only problem was the grass was bright pink! The trees had orange trunks and branches with blue leaves that sparkled in the sunlight. Around the base of the trees were flowers that had polka dots and stripes!
“What a strange place” said Pinkie Pepper.
“Maybe” said Maybe the Goat.
Pinkie Pepper started walking across the pink grass with the goat following along, nibbling on the grass as he went. She could hear the sound of running water, as if there were a small stream nearby.
So she began to weave her way through the flowers that were very large. Some of them were even taller than her, with huge petals. She didn’t want to think about how big the bees must be here. But that got her to thinking, I wonder what colour they would be?
The sound of water was very close now, but her view of it was blocked by some flowers that looked like bright blue tulips with red stems. She reached out to touch one, as it looked so soft, she just wanted to see what it felt like. As her finger touched the petal it shrank away instantly into its stem.
All of the other blue tulips around it did the same thing, and suddenly Pinkie Pepper could see the water.
There was a little pool surrounded by mossy rocks. Each rock was a different colour, with all the colours of the rainbow there.
The sounds of water came from a small waterfall that poured water into the pool on the far side from Pinkie Pepper.
And under that waterfall was a face that looked a little familiar.
Squinting to get a better look, Pinkie Pepper said “Runaway Rabbit, is that you?”
The rabbit stopped scrubbing its back with a small scrubbing brush and looked across the water at Pinkie Pepper. Its ears pricked up, filling full of water which made the rabbit sneeze and shake his head.
“Do you mind?” he said indignantly. “I’m having my bath.”
Oh” said Pinkie Pepper. “Sorry. I thought you were a friend of mine.”
“Well I may be a friend of yours after my bath. But right now I’m just a rabbit that is trying to get clean. So if you don’t mind…”
With that, the rabbit reached over and rubbed the stem of a tulip and the flowers returned to their open state, hiding the rabbit and his bath.
Pinkie Pepper walked back out to the pink grass and carried on walking towards a group of giant red and blue trees.
Maybe walked behind her, still nibbling on things as he walked past.
In the distance Pinkie Pepper could see large purple clouds dancing. They didn’t look like they were coming closer, so she wasn’t too worried.
She went under the trees and found a small narrow path to follow. It disappeared under some drooping ferns that seemed to glow in the dark. Not that it was dark in the forest. It seemed quite bright, but the light wasn’t coming from the sun.
The ferns and trees and flowers seemed to glow. Pinkie Pepper continued walking and Maybe continued nibbling as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest.
They had been walking for a while with Pinkie Pepper looking at all the different glowing trees when Maybe butted her and looked at a small hill and said “Maybe.”
Pinkie Pepper looked at the small hill, curious about what had caught Maybe’s attention. It was covered with small light blue plants that twinkled. They looked a lot like the tops of carrots that Pappa Pepper grew in the garden back home. But his ones didn’t glow in the dark.
“Do you want a carrot?” asked Pinkie Pepper.
“Maybe’ said the goat nodding his head and butting her again.
Pinkie Pepper laughed and walked over to the small hill. She grabbed one of the carrots by the stalk and pulled. It was stuck in the ground pretty hard, so she pulled again. Still it didn’t want to come out.
“I don’t think it wants to be your lunch” said Pinkie Pepper. But she decided to give it one more good pull. She planted her feet one on each side of the carrot, and reached down with both hands and grabbed the stalk. Then she pulled as hard as she could, and made a grunt just like her dad does when he gets out of his chair.
Suddenly the carrot popped out and she fell backwards, sitting on her bottom. Pinkie Pepper laughed as Maybe came and walked over top of her to get to the carrot. He began munching on it as soon as his mouth was close enough to take a bite.
Pinkie Pepper stood up and dusted herself off, and watched as Maybe devoured the carrot.
It was a strange carrot. The carrots that her dad grew were orange. But this carrot had green and red stripes running all the way down it. Maybe didn’t seem to mind the stripes. He munched it happily, even eating the carrot top.
He had just finished when the first spots of rain started to fall.
“Oh no” said Pinkie Pepper. “I didn’t bring my jacket. I’m going to get all wet.”
Maybe said “Maybe.”
Then he trotted back to the path and waited for her to catch up. He led the way between the trees, trotting quickly along the path until they came to a very tall fern that had strange, huge leaves.
Maybe walked under the fern and waited for Pinkie Pepper to join him.
Then he butted the fern three times, and it flipped its leaves over and formed a tent, like a tepee, to keep the rain off.
Pinkie Pepper laughed as she sat with her arm around Maybe and watched the rain fall down. They were quite nice and dry under the fern tent.
The rain didn’t last very long, and soon it stopped and the fern stood back up and let them out. All around them the forest dripped silver raindrops, going plunk, plunk, plunk as they dropped into small pools.
Maybe walked ahead of Pinkie Pepper leading her through the dripping ferns to a small clearing where she could see a whole new valley.
It sparkled and shone like it had just come out of the wash. There were lakes and rivers and trees and mountains and birds flying, everything you needed for a magical valley. And in the sky, everywhere she looked Pinkie Pepper saw purple rainbows, lots and lots of purple rainbows.
“Wow” said Pinkie Pepper. “That’s so beautiful”.
“Maybe” said Maybe.
“I wonder if there is a pot of gold at the end of one of those rainbows” said Pinkie Pepper excitedly.
She turned to Maybe and asked “Do you think we can find a pot of gold?”
Maybe looked at the rainbows and cocked his head to one side, then said “Maybe.”
Pinkie Pepper shook her head at him, laughing. Then she looked around to find the closest rainbow.
There was one quite close that looked like it finished in a field of big yellow mushrooms with pink and purple dots.
“Come on” said Pinkie Pepper as she ran over to the mushrooms. Big, orange butterflies with deep blue and green wings flapped into the air in front of her and then came whirling back around to circle her head, chattering excitedly.
“Hello butterflies” she called and waved as she ran. They responded by chattering even louder and as she came closer to the mushrooms they turned and flew back to the flowers they were resting on before.
Pinkie Pepper walked into the mushrooms that towered over her head looking for the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold. But she couldn’t find it anywhere. She came around the stalk of another large mushroom and there in front of her was a wee man, dressed in scarlet and green.
He had a hat made from a blue leaf and he was sitting on a toadstool writing in a notebook and mumbling to himself. It sounding like he was adding things up, and not doing very well.
Pinkie Pepper walked up to the little man and said “Hello. I don’t mean to bother you, but I’m looking for the end of the rainbow. Do you know where it is?”
The little man looked up and said “It’s ‘ere init.” Pinkie Pepper frowned.
“You mean I’m at the end of the rainbow?” she asked.
“Aye” said the wee man just now noting that a goat was nibbling on his shoes. He stared at Maybe, and for his part the goat stared back, and continued nibbling.
“Oh” said Pinkie Pepper. “I’m looking for the pot of gold. Can you help me find it?”
“No” said the colourful man, shaking his shoe away from Maybe. The goat just poked out his tongue and laughed and walked over to a toadstool and began nibbling on that instead.
“I’ve already got the gold and sent it to the guild. So you can’t ‘ave it. You’re too late.”
“Oh” said Pinkie Pepper. After a moment of thought she asked “What’s a guild?”
The little man considered for a moment, scratching his whiskery chin. “A guild” he said “is a group of people who all do the same thing and they get together to do the same thing together. And then they tell me what to do.”
He winked at her. “I’m a leprechaun you see. So the guild I sent the gold to is the Leprechaun’s Guild. Makes sense dun’it?”
“I guess” said Pinkie Pepper.
“What are you then little girl?” asked the leprechaun.
“I’m Pinkie Pepper’ said Pinkie Pepper proudly.
“Maybe” said Maybe with his mouth full of toadstool.
“Nice to meet you Pinkie Pepper” said the little man. “Now I must be off. There’s plenty more rainbows I ‘ave to visit and it’s getting late.”
And with that he vanished with a small pop, leaving Pinkie Pepper and Maybe all alone in the field of mushrooms.
“It is getting late” said Pinkie Pepper. “And Mama Pepper said to be home in time for dinner. So we should head back I think.”
“Maybe” said maybe.
Pinkie Pepper climbed on Maybe’s back and grabbed hold of his fur, and then said “Take me home please.”
Maybe tore off a piece of toadstool to eat on the way, and then trotted into the air with Pinkie Pepper hanging on tightly to his back.
She hung on all the way home and didn’t let go until she was safely back in the goat pen with all the other regular goats, next to her house.
“Thank you magical goat” she said, then bent down to give him a kiss. “Can we go exploring again tomorrow after I’ve done my chores?”
“Maybe” said Maybe.
Pinkie Pepper laughed and ran across the yard and took off her boots before going inside. Mamma Pepper was just setting the table for dinner and she looked up as Pinkie Pepper came in and gave her a big hug.
“Well Pinkie Pepper” said Mamma Pepper. “Were you a good girl today playing with the goats?”
Pinkie Pepper looked up at her mother and smiled her cheeky grin.
“Maybe” she said.
Mama Pepper laughed and sent her off to wash her hands and get ready for dinner.
Pinkie Pepper saw that they were having carrots for dinner.
“Next time I’ll bring my dad back some striped carrots and we can have those for dinner” she said.
“Yeah, next time.”
Follow me for more Little Peppers adventures and see where they end up next?
Will it be fun?
Maybe.
Are you new to Steemit and trying to figure out what it's all about?
Head over to: https://www.steemithelp.net/. It's the best place to get a handle on what the platform is all about.
| Steem Power | Curation | Reputation | Posts | Powering up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |
Get your own badges from: @elyaque