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// Chapter 9: The Calm 
// Story: Aunt Millie 
// by Fluttercheer 
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Chapter 9: The Calm


From the darkness, a shrill sound rang into Dinky's ears. It was loud and agonizing, yet Dinky did not really pay attention to it. Her mind was focused on something else; something in the distance, something that was very familiar to her. Somepony, to be precise.
“Mom!” she shouted, then she began galloping again, steady and in a fast pace, through the surrounding darkness and always towards her mother who was ahead of her. She was galloping as well and, occasionally, she turned around and waved at Dinky with a smile.
“Mom, stop!” Dinky shouted louder and increased her tempo, like she had done so often before, every time her mother had turned and given her this smile. It must have been a hundred times that Dinky had tried this already, though, the young unicorn was long since past the point where she had bothered with counting. All she wanted was reaching her mom, no matter how hard it was and how many attempts she would need for it, yet slowly, Dinky ran out of hope. For too long she was already trying this and with each time she increased her tempo, her mom did so as well, making it impossible for Dinky to catch up with her. And the shrill sound that was now in her ears did not make anything easier.
It was taunting; the galloping, that now caused pain in her hooves, the smiles and waves by her mom and the constant, shrill sound. As she had finally reached the point where she couldn't take all of it anymore, Dinky sat down, exhausted. A few tears left her eyes now and ran down her cheeks. Dinky whimpered.
She could not see her mother in the distance anymore. At the spot where she had seen her last was only darkness now. Nothing but the sound around her was still present and it kept piercing through Dinky's ears. Agitated, the filly pressed her hooves down on them and yelled for it to stop. It refused her pleading and instead, just grew louder in volume.
Dinky's ears perked up again as another sound entered them.
“Dinks!”
Somepony was calling for her! The unicorn got up again and, turning into all directions, she frantically searched for the pony that had called her.
“Hey, Dinks! We are over here!” the voice emerged again from the darkness.
All of a sudden, Dinky was blinded by a bright, white light and as it had faded, Sparkler and Twee stood in front of her, just a few hooves away.
“Sparks! Twee!” Dinky shouted, beaming at the familiar faces. Now relieved, she trotted up to them, ready to hug her big sister and to give her pet turtle a gentle nuzzle. She was almost there, just a little more. But then, all of a sudden, a dark shadow got cast over both of them and she stopped in surprise
Dinky looked behind them. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock as she saw the source of the shadow.
Behind Sparkler and Twee, the head of her aunt, monstrous in size, menacingly rose from bizarre and unknown depths. The hairs of her mane pointed in all directions, sticking out of it so stiff as if they were sharp needles. Her eyes were bloodshot and a red tinge shimmered in her otherwise green pupils. And the worst of all was her mouth. It was opened wide, giving sight to rows of fangs that were crooked to barbs. In the middle of her mouth, a black tongue sat, lapping out from behind the teeth every other second. Its pointy end was directed at Sparkler and Twee, almost touching them when it left the mouth, but they didn't seem to notice anything.
As the head had risen from its abyss completely, the shrill sound Dinky was hearing for so long already grew in intensity and now, she knew its source:

It came right out of her aunt's mouth.

Dinky's face distorted in horror as the mouth with the fangs got opened even more and a suction arose out of it. It quickly got ahold of Twee and began to pull him towards the  thick, black tongue and the sharp teeth.
Suddenly wrapped in Sparkler's purple aura, he was prevented from getting sucked into the enormous mouth. Sparkler hovered the tortoise in front of her, then crouched down, covering Twee with her head and front hooves. The suction was pulling at her too now, straightening out her tail and bringing her mane in disarray. Fear and desperation coming from her eyes, she looked at her younger sister. “Dinks!” she shouted, panic in her voice. Her plea for help was barely audible over the noise the suction created and the shrill sound that kept coming from the mouth cavity.
“Leave them alone!” Dinky yelled at the monster her aunt had turned into, tears in the corners of her eyes. “You already have me, what more do you want?”
Now her aunt spoke. It felt like worms were crawling into her ears.
“Oh, not yet..... But soon I will have you all for myself!” She gave Dinky a devilish look.
The suction increased and now, it began to lift Sparkler and Twee off the ground. Helplessly, Dinky's big sister tried to use her magic to weaken the pull that brought them ever closer to their demise.
Tears ran down in thick streams over Dinky's cheeks now. She choked. “DON'T!” she yelled again. “Please don't take them away from me!”
The eyes of her aunt looked over at her mockingly. Glee and satisfaction were in her face as the suction pulled Sparkler and Twee over the last remaining distance. They got flung onto the black tongue, then the mouth closed. The suction had stopped now and even the shrill sound was suddenly gone. Then the silence got interrupted by just one other sound, as a crunch came from inside her aunt's mouth.
Closing her eyes and craning her neck back, Dinky screamed in despair. She collapsed to the ground and started to weep, covering her face with her hooves. The next thing her eyes saw was the white ceiling of her room. Fear in her heart, Dinky sat up in her bed, a shriek leaving her throat. Her heart pounding, she looked around the room, while waves of panic spread through her body. Only slowly she realized where she was; recognized her TV and her console, which was still on, and the rest of her room. Finally, she realized the actual source of the shrill sound she had heard. It was her alarm, yet due to her dream, it was not able to wake her up and so it was silent now.
A strong wheeze came from her mouth, then Dinky fell back on her pillow. Her eyes were red and tears glistened in them. She covered them with her hooves and began to cry, soaking them with her tears. Now she knew that all was just a nightmare, but it was still much too real in her head.
For about five minutes, she just laid there, crying and weeping, then a thought found its way into her mind. “T-Twee,” she whimpered and removed her hooves from her eyes. Driven by the strong urge to see her little friend now, she climbed out of her bed. As she had set her hooves on the ground, Dinky began to feel dizzy. The room started to shake around her and she had to grasp her chair to not suddenly fall to the floor.
As the sudden wave of giddiness had worn off, Dinky opened the door and made her way to Sparkler's room on wonky, unsteady hooves. Arrived, she raised her hoof and put it down on the handle.
Locked. Cold shivers of sadness and disappointment went through her body. Dinky moved her hoof up a bit further and knocked on the door weakly.
“Sparks? Are you up already? I need to see Twee.”
As no answer came, she slumped to the floor, letting her shoulders hang. A few more tears began trickling out of her eyes, but she wiped them away. Stubbornly, she stood up again, putting her hoof on the door once more, ready to give it another try.
“Dinks, hey!”
Dinky twitched over being addressed so unexpectedly, then turned around, her hoof still in the air.
“Sparks? You are awake already?” Her hazy eyes radiated confusion.
“Sure,” her big sister replied casually as she started trotting towards her. “You know how much Rarity hates it when I come late.”
Sparkler's cheery face turned into one of concern as she came closer. She opened her mouth reflexively as she noticed Dinky's frazzled mane, the bags under her eyes and the tears in them. Everything about her appearance gave her the signal that her little sister had not found a single minute of sleep. As she finally stood before her, Sparkler put a hoof under her chin, lifting it up. She took a scrutinizing look at the worn-down face in front of her. “You didn't stay up the whole night to play videogames, did you?”
Very slowly, Dinky shook her head, her sad eyes fixated on her big sister's face. Then she inched closer and wrapped her hooves around her, weeping a little. “I just had a nightmare, that's all. But it was a really horrible one.”
Sparkler felt her coat becoming slightly wet. Gently, she shifted Dinky out of the hug and looked into her face again, now seeing a thin stream of tears soaking her sister's cheeks. Carefully, she started to wipe them away.
“Is Twee alright, Sparks?” Dinky asked, her voice shuddering from the fear of an unpleasant answer.
“He's fine and locked in my room,” Sparkler calmed her. Reassuringly, she stroke over Dinky's mane, having finished cleaning her face. “Did you dream about that witch down there taking him away from you?” she then asked like she had read her mind.
“Mhm,” Dinky nodded. “And you too. She swallowed you and Twee up.” Dinky looked up at her sister, her eyes becoming watery again.
The barebones description she had been given made Sparkler laugh. “You and your overactive imagination, Dinks!” she teased her. “Not that I can't see where you're coming from.....” Her voice took on a darker tone at the last sentence as she trailed off.
“Do you think you can go to school today?” she asked then, which Dinky eagerly affirmed.
“Mhm.” She nodded again, now surprisingly fast. “My head hurts, but I'm rather at school with Lily, than trapped here with 'her'.” The tone in her voice gave away how much the imagination of being confined to her bed while at her aunt's care scared her.
“That's what I thought,” Sparkler answered understandingly. “But let's fix you up first. You look like you didn't sleep for days, sis.”
Before Dinky could answer anything, Sparkler had lifted her on her back and approached the bathroom door. In the bathroom, Dinky's eyes grew wide in shock as she looked into the mirror, hooves propped up on the basin. In horror, she realized how right her sister had been with her assertion.
As Sparkler beckoned her over, she removed her eyes from the mirror and followed her sister's call. Still swaying a bit, she climbed into the shower and sat down. A wave consisting of relief and relaxation pervaded her body as she felt the warm water of the shower trickling down on her. Smiling, she held her face into the stream. As the water stopped to flow, she felt more relaxed, her tense muscles starting to ease.
“Should I soap you up?” Sparkler offered.
Still smiling, Dinky opened her eyes and looked at her sister. “Mhm. Thanks, Sparks.”
Carefully, Sparkler spread the shampoo on her sister's coat, while Dinky just sat still and enjoyed the gentle, caring touches. Dinky felt better with each passing minute, the fear the nightmare had left in her slowly becoming replaced with newfound joy and happiness. She groaned softly.
After another stream of warm water, Dinky climbed out of the shower, feeling completely refreshed after getting cleaned-up, as the now even broader smile on her lips indicated. Outside, Sparkler was already waiting for her, with a huge towel held in her hooves. With a smirk, she draped it over her little sister and began to dry up her whole body. Dinky giggled.
As Dinky was dry, Sparkler tossed the wet towel into the hamper and looked down at her sister again, checking her face like before. Dinky still had slight bags under her eyes, but the hazy expression in them was now gone and had been replaced with the glimmer she came to expect there. “Better?” Sparkled asked her, smiling.
“Mhm, much better!” Dinky did a step forward and flung her hooves around her sister again. “Thank you, Sparks! I'm happy you're always there for me when I need you.”
The hug let something melt in Sparkler. Lovingly, she put her hooves around her little sister and squeezed her softly. “And I'm happy I can do this for you, sis.”
The two unicorn sisters enjoyed their closeness for a few minutes. It flashed up in Sparkler's mind that she was at the brink of getting late to her job, but for nothing in Equestria she would have dared to interrupt this moment or to make it shorter than it should be.
As Dinky finally pulled away on her own, Sparkler released her. She looked down at her, then gave her a boop. “How about grabbing some of the muffins I bought yesterday and leaving early again?”
Enthusiastically, Dinky nodded, not needing any words to express her agreement on that. In a fast trot, the two sisters left the bathroom. Sparkler waited a moment for Dinky to get her saddlebags, then they headed down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Millie sat on the table and was eating away at her own breakfast, which she was almost finished with. Seeing the two sisters enter the kitchen in their joyful mood, both of them trotting close to each other and Sparkler having draped a hoof over her little sister's neck, Millie grunted. Before she could say much – aside from a grumpy “good morning” which was returned by Dinky and Sparkler just because of politeness rather than anything else – they had grabbed two muffins each, with Dinky putting one into her saddlebags for later at school, and left the house.
Like on the morning before, the sisters found time for some conversation while eating their breakfast muffins before they had to part. After hugging each other a last time, Dinky continued her way to the schoolhouse, now in a more cheerful mood than on the morning before. The realization that half of the terrible week was almost over now and that she had somehow survived the last two days contributed to this. It caused a slight swing in Dinky's movement, one that had been gone for some time.
As Dinky had arrived at the school and entered it, most of the foals were already here and Lily sat at her desk. Her usual, cheeky grin on her face, she waved Dinky over. Dinky took off her saddlebags, then sat down on her own desk, right next to the desk of her pig-tailed friend. Soon, they were caught up in a happy conversation while Dinky unpacked her saddlebags and prepared herself, until Ms. Cheerilee entered the classroom and began with the first lesson.....