Dinky and the Blanks

by GrassAndClouds2

Ruby

Dinky ran as quickly as she could down the path, leaving the town of Moonville behind her.

She was scared, more scared than she’d ever been since Corona had returned and taken her away from her mother. The branches and roots of the Everfree trees whipped at her coat as she galloped down the old path, and somewhere in the distance an owl hooted. Or maybe it was a monster. Hadn’t Scootaloo once told a ghost story about huge owls that carried off foals and—

No! She couldn’t panic. She had to force herself to remain brave. She would stay calm and be focused and she would find her way home. She was already out of Moonville, she reasoned, and the Everfree wasn’t impossible to get through. After all, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were always running around in the woods in search of some new adventure, and Snips and Snails went bug-hunting every weekend, and they’d never gotten eaten by anything. So she’d be fine. Probably.

And so she ran for five, ten, fifteen minutes. Moonville was behind her. When she slowed down, starting to breathe heavily, she didn’t hear the sounds of celebration anymore. It was just the empty forest.

“I’ll get home,” she said, mostly to reassure herself. “I’ll get home, and I’ll say sorry to Momma, and she’ll make me a big pot of soup and maybe she’ll even let me sleep in tomorrow.” She smiled, imagining the scene. “And I’ll say sorry to Miss Cherilee too, and she’ll tell me that it’s okay and she knows I won’t do it again. And she won’t even assign me any makeup homework.”

She trotted down the path, forcing herself to continue the fantasy. “And then tomorrow I’ll tell Scootaloo what a big adventure I had – oh, wait, Mitta asked me not to talk about Moonville. Well… I’ll just say I went through the Everfree at night. Cause I am.” She grinned. “And they’ll all say how brave I am, and…”

She turned a corner and bumped into a fallen tree.

It was a big oak, rising higher than Dinky even lying on its side, and stretching completely across the path. And it wasn’t the only one. The moonlight was still weirdly dim, but Dinky saw that there were more trees, piled up behind and on top of the first, forming a huge barricade.

“No! That – that’s not fair!”

She tried to climb the first tree, but the oak was slippery with moss and rot, and her hooves couldn’t find a good purchase. She fell on her flank and could only stare at the massive pile of trees.

“Mitta said this was the way back to Ponyville!” Dinky sprang up and began trying to climb the pile again. This time, she managed to scramble on top of the first fallen tree by climbing on a couple of branches. She braced herself, then began climbing onto the second.

The wood splintered beneath her hooves.

Dinky cried out as the seemingly-solid tree before her splintered like a cheap toy, and then she was falling into the pile of trees. Her leg slipped into a crevice between two of them, and then she felt it catch on something. She tried to step away, but her leg was caught fast.

“Let go!” Dinky began to cry as she tried to force her leg out, but with no success. “Let go, let go let go!”

And then she began to cry. She couldn’t help it. She was trapped, only fifteen minutes gallop from Moonville, and there was nothing she could do. She was helpless, and no other ponies were around that were able and willing to help her. Even her mother was back in Ponyville, probably worried sick by this point, and even though she was the best mother in the world she couldn’t help Dinky either.

The thought of her mother gave Dinky pause for a moment. Dinky wondered, briefly, what her mother would do were she in this situation. And then it was like she was besides her, so clearly could Dinky imagine her mother’s voice. Calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Don’t panic; that won’t help.

Right. Panicking wouldn’t help. Dinky shut her eyes – she couldn’t try to calm down while staring at the rotting wood or her own trapped leg – and forced herself to take several deep breaths. That would help calm her, her mother had taught her, and prepare her for whatever she had to do next.

Slowly work your way out of the problem. Don’t try to do everything at once.

Dinky began to softly tug her leg upwards. It moved a few inches, then caught. Dinky wiggled it around, trying to find another angle, and managed to do so after about a minute of wiggling. She began to pull upwards again and got another few inches.

Just keep working at it. You’re an amazing daughter and you can solve any problem if you just try.

Dinky slowly, methodically worked her leg free of the trees. There were a couple of tense moments when it felt like she couldn’t go any higher, but she just kept trying and straining and she was eventually able to continue on.

And then it was over. Her leg was out of the trees, and with nothing to hold her on top of the slippery wood, she felt herself tumbling to the bottom again. It hurt, but at least she wasn’t stuck in the trees anymore, and Dinky couldn’t help but feel a little better.

The foal looked around and tried to figure out her next move. Trying to climb the pile of trees was clearly not a good idea. The forest was thick and imposing; wandering off into it to try to get around the trees could just result in her getting lost. But the only place the path led was right back to Moonville, and she didn’t want to go back there. What else was there?

She saw a flash of grey to her right.

Dinky was startled enough that she almost stumbled over her hooves. She’d forgotten all about the grey pony that she’d followed into Moonville. What if, she thought, that foal had also just fled Moonville? Maybe she really was some new pony in Ponyville who had made the same mistake Dinky had, wound up in Moonville, and was now running away.

“Hey—“ Dinky began to call. But the other pony had already moved into the woods along what looked like a very old, almost completely overgrown forest trail.

Dinky hesitated. She wanted to keep trying to find a way home. The other pony might have just been an illusion; sometimes, she knew, stressed ponies saw things that weren’t there (Trixie had done that, once, although she’d been what her mother’s friend Lyra had called ‘wasted’ instead of stressed. Dinky still wanted to know what ‘wasted’ meant.) Or the other pony might exist, but might be some mean pony from Moonville who wanted to bring her back.

So she should probably keep running. She knew that would be what Trixie would say, or Raindrops, another friend of her mother’s. They would tell her to keep going, to try and find a way around or past the trees.

But what if it really was some other foal from Ponyville who was lost and cold and scared?

Dinky’s mother would never leave another pony in that kind of position. And Dinky knew that she couldn’t either, even if it might be a trap. Because if she went away, and it wasn’t a trick, the other pony was going to suffer. Dinky knew that, though she might not say anything, her mother would be very disappointed in her if she found out that Dinky had done that. And Dinky also knew that she’d be very disappointed in herself too.

So she turned and began to follow the grey foal. “Come back!”

The foal didn’t run nearly as quickly this time, and Dinky was able to catch up with her just as she exited into a small clearing in front of an old quarry. The foal was standing at the edge of the quarry, looking up at the moonlight. She sighed, turned, saw Dinky, and froze.

Dinky blinked.

The foal looked weird. She had a grey coat, a bright orange mane, and glowing yellow eyes. Dinky realized that she had no pupils, and that she was faintly transparent. As in, Dinky could dimly see through her. It wasn’t a bad weird, it was just unusual.

The grey foal looked away. “Hi,” she managed.

“Hi,” said Dinky. And then, not knowing what to say, she continued, “I’m Dinky Doo. What’s your name?”

“R… Ruby.” The foal blinked a few times. Then she said, “You’re not scared?”

“Scared?” Dinky was scared – of the town, and the forest – but she didn’t think that was what Ruby meant. “Of you?”

Ruby nodded.

“No,” said Dinky, as if it was obvious. What was there to be scared of? She wasn’t being mean like Grey Hoof or anything.

“Really?” Ruby smiled a little. “I kept trying to make friends for the longest time, but they all got scared when they saw my eyes.”

Dinky nodded sympathetically. “My momma has the same problem sometimes.”

“Your momma?”

“She has stra-bis-mus. So a lot of ponies don’t like her eyes.” Dinky frowned. “But I think she has really beautiful eyes, and—“

She paused. Ruby was grinning. And this wasn’t like Grey Hoof’s, which Dinky could now recognize as being dishonest. Ruby seemed thrilled. “You really mean it? You’re not scared?”

“Nope.”

“YAY!” Ruby bounced up and down. “You’re the first pony I’ve met in two hundred years that wasn’t scared!”

“Two hundred years? That’s older than Granny Smith!” Dinky looked at the pony. She looked no older than Dinky herself, though she had a cutie mark – a little magnifying glass. Dinky thought it looked neat.

“Oh… right. That’s, uh, that’s how my eyes got like this.”

“How?”

“Um. I’m… I’m dead.”

Dinky wasn’t sure what to say to that. Her mother had taught her a lot about being polite, but this situation had somehow never come up. She went for the best thing she could think of. “I’m… sorry you’re dead?”

Ruby smiled again. “Don’t worry. It was a really long time ago. I’m not… I mean, I was really upset at first, but I’m not now.”

“But if you’re dead, how are you still here?”

“You’re really not scared at talking to a ghost?”

Dinky shook her head. “You seem like a nice ghost,” she said, after a moment of thought. Between Moonville and Ruby, Ruby seemed a lot less likely to hurt her. Besides, one of her favorite stories as an even younger foal had been about Canter the Friendship Ghost.

Ruby looked pleased. “You’re really nice too, Dinky. Anyway, I’m still here because… well, I don’t want to leave yet. There’s some ponies I care about very much, and I don’t want to move on without them.”

“I didn’t know ponies could do that.”

“Usually, ponies can’t. But because it was a special case, I was able to stay.” She sighed. “I really wanted to help my friends, but they can’t see me.”

“I could try to talk to them for you,” said Dinky, quickly.

Ruby’s smile softened a little. “My friends,” she said quietly, “Are the Moonville ponies.”

“…oh.”

“I guess you followed me back here?” Dinky nodded. “I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t mean to lead you here. I was just so bored… I’ve been a ghost so long, and I don’t have any friends to talk to. So when ponies are in the Everfree, sometimes I watch them. I really didn’t want to bring you to Moonville.”

“It’s okay. I’m not upset,” said Dinky. She really wasn’t; she knew that her situation wasn’t Ruby’s fault. “I just want to know how to get home.”

“You’ll need to go back through Moonville. The path here’s blocked off.”

“But Mitta said—“

“Mitta didn’t know,” said Ruby quickly. “She hasn’t left town since I died. She wasn’t trying to lead you astray or anything.”

“Oh. But… but I don’t want to go to Moonville again. Especially not during that party. I don’t know what Grey Hoof wanted, but he looked really mean.”

Ruby nodded. “I can explain it to you.”

“Really?” Dinky’s natural curiosity was piqued.

“If you’re waiting for the party to be over, you have some extra time, right?” Ruby smiled. “I can explain to you everything that happened, then. And then… if you’re really not scared, or mad at me for bringing you here, maybe you can do something for me.”

Dinky considered. She wanted to go home. She really wanted to go home. But if Ruby was right, Dinky would need to wait until the party was over before moving on anyway. And besides. Ruby seemed to really need a friend.

“Okay,” she said.

Ruby led Dinky to the edge of the quarry. In the clear moonlight, Dinky could see water near the bottom.

“That’s where my body is,” said Ruby.

Dinky looked down. “Aren’t you… uh, I mean… your body…”

Ruby giggled. “Either one is fine.”

Dinky was glad that the night hid her embarrassed blush. “I could ask some ponies from town to bury you,” she managed.

“That’s okay. There’s not much left for that. But thank you.” Ruby looked into the pit. “Now… first, please, don’t be too mad at the Moonville ponies. They were scared, and it wasn’t all their fault.”

Dinky nodded.

“It used to be that there were two pony towns in the Everfree, Moonville and Star Town. Both towns were founded at about the same time, and we grew really close to them. They had unicorn ponies instead of earth ponies, so sometimes we would ask them for magic help and they would ask us to help them with some tricky crop. We didn’t have much contact with any other villages except for them, but they were all we needed. It was a really pretty town.”

“Moonville or Star Land?” asked Dinky.

“Both. Although I think we were just a bit prettier.” Dinky giggled at that. “But then, one day, a few unicorns came into town. They looked like they were really hurt. Star Land had been destroyed.”

Dinky said nothing, but was paying rapt attention.

“Have you ever heard of something called the ‘cutie pox?’”

“Nurse Redheart said that it’s a disease that causes foals without cutie marks to suddenly get a whole bunch of them. But then they start having to do all the things their cutie marks say they can do. She said it’s dangerous, ‘cause what if your talent is breaking stuff or playing with monsters or something?”

“Yeah!” Dinky noted that, even if Ruby had been a ghost for hundreds of years and sounded as knowledgable about some things as a full-grown mare, she still had the energy and enthusiasm of a foal. “But a bunch of foals from Star Land decided to try to get their cutie marks by eating some weird plant. But they didn’t just get one mark, they all got the pox. And they wrecked the town.” She shuddered. “I only found this out later, of course, but from what I know it was really bad. There were foals tearing down houses, ripping up crops, causing all kinds of weird weather… and they were all unicorns, so they could use magic too. One foal summoned a lion to town to tame it, and it got out. Another summoned this monster called an Ursa Minor, and—“

Dinky blanched.

“You know what those are?”

Dinky nodded. “That sounds awful.”

“They all had to leave. Star Land was completely destroyed,” said Ruby. “And after that, the ponies in Moonville became really scared. They began calling cutie marks ‘curse marks,’ and thought that any curse mark would lead to that kind of disaster.”

“So what did they do?”

“They found… some way to remove or hide their own cutie marks. I don’t know how. The ones that wouldn’t were forced to leave. Since then, any pony who got a cutie mark in Moonville was exiled immediately. And, a hundred years later,” she glanced at her own flank, “I learned I was really good at finding stuff.”

“So they made you go away?” Dinky winced. That sounded awful. She was suddenly grateful that she lived in Ponyville and had a mother who would never make Dinky leave, no matter what.

“None of them even knew why the marks were bad, it had been so long and all the original ponies who knew the story had died. They just knew that the marks were evil. I got mine at the town’s anniversary celebration. Grey Hoof saw it and immediately had me thrown out.”

“I’m so sorry,“ began Dinky. It struck her just how strange this all was; she’d just come from a town full of ponies, yet she felt safer now than then – even though ‘now’ involved her talking to a ghost in the middle of the Everfree forest. But Ruby’s speech didn’t have any of the weird ‘patter’ that Grey Hoof’s had. Even if she was a ghost, she seemed sincere and kind. Friendly, even.

“Don’t worry about it. They’ve… they’ve more than paid for it.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I guess I was supposed to take the path until I got out of the woods, but I screwed up. I ran into a kelpie.”

“Kelpie?”

“They look like ponies with black coats, red eyes, and a lot of teeth. If you touch one, you get stuck, and then it drags you into water and drowns you.”

And just like that, Dinky’s sense of peace vanished She frantically began looking around. What if kelpies were lurking in the bushes?

“Don’t worry! I haven’t seen that kelpie since it got me. It died a long time ago, when the curse was still new.”

“Curse?” Dinky was still a bit nervous about the kelpies, but forced herself to remain calm enough to hear the rest of the story.

“Well… since then, the Moonville ponies are kelpies for half the day. From just before dawn until the evening. And they can’t age or die… they’ll be like this forever, until they move on. It’s their punishment.”

Dinky would have expected her to be mad, but she sounded really sad. “Their punishment is… just being kelpies?”

“They can’t leave the town. And the day ‘starts over’ every twenty-four hours. Every dawn, it’s just like it was on the day they drove me out of town. So they can’t do anything that’ll last for more than a day.”

Dinky recalled all the ponies talking about how they’d set up that huge party in one day.

“They’ll repeat that same day, forever, and as kelpies for half of it, until they get past the curse and move on. It’s not even hard – they just have to want to do it, and understand that they did something wrong when they threw me out. But they won’t admit it. They just throw the same party every day, so they don’t need to think of it.” Ruby looked downcast. “I kept trying to tell them that I forgave them, but they can’t hear me.”

“I think Mitta knows it was wrong,” offered Dinky.

“She… she’s different. She knows it was wrong, but doesn’t want to move on, because that would end her punishment, and she doesn’t think she deserves that. She thinks all she deserves now is to be punished forever.”

“That’s stupid,” said Dinky, without thinking. Then she realized that Ruby might have known Mitta. “I mean, uh—“

Ruby laughed. “I agree. I just… I really want her to be with me. Even more than the others. She was my mother, and I just want to talk to her and tell her that I forgive her. But… well. There’s always tomorrow, I guess. Especially for us.”

“What did Grey Hoof want to do to me?”

“He can’t admit he was wrong, so he can’t admit that throwing me out was a bad thing. So, he thinks that saving foals from getting curse marks is always good. After the party, once every other pony there was a kelpie, he would have made you make a choice. You could become a kelpie too, and stay here forever. Or he’d kill you. Then you could never be cursed.”

Dinky didn’t know what to say. After a while, she managed, “He could make me into a monster?”

“Not directly. But the way they all became kelpies was because they let me be drowned. So what he’d do is wait until another pony showed up – probably one looking for you – and then drown that pony while you watched and didn’t do anything. And then the next day, you’d be a kelpie. He’s done it a few times, although none in a hundred years – no ponies have been by since then, except for you. I guess the world finally forgot about us.”

Dinky looked down. “I never did anything to him. I bet the others didn’t either.”

“He’s… he won’t admit that he’s wrong. Dinky, I’m so sorry I led you here. It was selfish of me—“

“You wanted a friend. There’s nothing wrong with that. What Mr. Hoof does isn’t your fault.” Dinky smiled. “And I’m glad I met you, even with all the, uh, other stuff. You’re the nicest ghost I’ve ever met.”

“…aren’t I the only ghost?”

“Oh!” Dinky blushed again, hoping she wasn’t insulted. “No, I mean you’re really nice, and—“ But Ruby was grinning. And then they were both laughing, and despite everything, Dinky felt happy.

“What can I do to help?” asked Dinky. She remembered Ruby saying that she wanted to ask Dinky a favor.

“When you get back to wherever you live, get some friends together and help the Moonville ponies,” said Ruby immediately. “Help them understand, and break the curse.”

“I will.”

“But – but don’t just say there’s monsters here,” said Ruby. “Please. Because then your friends wil just want to send them all to Tartarus or build a huge magic wall or something. And, and I know they tried to trap you and everything, and you probably hate them, but please don’t just say that there’s monsters here that need to be destroyed.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” said Dinky, as if it were obvious and settled. “I’ll tell them exactly what you told me. That there’s ponies here who need help moving on, and understanding what they did. I know a really great illusionist who can make ponies see anything – I’m sure she can help!”

“Thank you.” Ruby nodded her head. “Thank you so much, Dinky.”

Dinky looked at the moon. It had moved… rather a lot, actually, since the last time she looked. “Does time move really fast here?”

“It does that, sometimes. If you want to run for it now, it’s probably a good time… if they stay on schedule, now’s when the opening talks are done and they’ll all be at the games and stuff. It shouldn’t be too hard to sneak through.”

“Will you come with me?”

“I can’t go into the town itself,” said Ruby, sounding sad. “And I can’t leave the Everfree. But I’ll go around and meet you on the other side. Then I’ll find you the way out.”

“You know it?”

“Well, it changes.” Ruby grinned. “But I’m very good at finding things.” And she gestured at her cutie mark again. “I’ll be waiting for you at the town entrance.”

“Thanks, Ruby.” Dinky paused. “Oh, uh, can I ask one other thing?”

“Sure.”

“If you’re a ghost, can you go through stuff?”

Ruby paused. And then she leapt over to a tree, walked around it, and poked her head through. “Boo!”

“That’s really cool!” Dinky clapped her hooves. She bet that Trixie would have loved to have a power like that; sure, she could use illusions, but being able to walk through walls herself would make for awesome tricks. “When this is all over, before you move on with the others… maybe we could talk a little more? You’re really friendly.”

“If it’s at all possible, I’d love to.”

Dinky smiled, and then turned to go back the way she’d come.

Dinky poked her head around the post signaling the rear entrance to Moonville. It was just the right time. The ponies were at the games and food tables, none watching the back. She could sneak through in the darkness. Then she could get home and be safe.

So she took two steps through the rear entrance.

And then it was noon, and Dinky got to see for herself exactly what a kelpie looked like.

Comments

[GrassAndClouds2]

I liked writing this chapter. Dinky and Ruby talking together just seems impossibly cute. One of the nicest foals from the series, and a friendly ghost who just wants all her friends and family to be free of the curse so they can move on.

The whole scene with the trees was a late addition; it wasn't in the earlier drafts. Instead, Ruby just told Dinky that the path doesn't work. But that seemed anticlimactic, and besides, I wanted Dinky to panic a little before thinking of her mother

The stuff about cutie pox is referencing the original fanficization of the game. Given all the chaos Applebloom caused when she took the Heart's Desire, I bet if, say, a whole class of foals did it at once as part of some bet or dare, the results would be catastrophic. Especially if they're all unicorns.

So it looks like Dinky will get to see kelpies next chapter. Hopefully, they'll be as friendly as the ghost she just met. But probably not. :-)

[DreadedCandiru2]

I just hope that it doesn't end with

Trixie: "Die, bad monster ponies, DIE!"

[jar'o'mayo]

Awww, No Hermit Twilight.

[Emeral Bookwise]

Oh my, this can't end well. Anyway, more thoughts and considerations for you. I have no Idea why I consistently feel the urge to be so helpful this story. If I ever start to come off as too pushy or overly critical though, please tell me.

After all, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were always running around in the woods in search of some new adventure
Not so sure this would be true in the Lunaverse. Scoots can be pretty reckless but Sweetie always seemed sensible enough to at least keep them out of the Everfree. As I see it, in the mane-line it is their friendship with Apple Bloom that pushes them into the Everfree, since as a result of her experience with Zecora she's somewhat more comfortable roaming the Everfree than a typical foal. Also not so sure about snips and snails either. We only have a single canon example of them doing so, and it was specifically so they could see the Great & Powerful Trixie in action against an Ursa. Still I can't say any of that with absolute certainty either. More something to think about than anything that needs fixing.

Anyway, on a lighter note I loved Dinky reassuring herself with a fantasy scenario. The whole thing is a bit unrealistic and even a little out of character, but it suits the mindset of a panicked child desperately trying to cling to anything that will keep their mind off the awful situation they are finding themself in. Then it all comes crumbling down when her path is bared. You sire are a terrible person, and that's exactly what this story needs.

and get her ready for whatever she had to do next
Maybe replace "get" with "gotten", or just replace the whole underline with "prepared her".

Trixie had done that, once, although she’d been what her mother’s friend Lyra had called ‘wasted’ instead of stressed. Dinky still wanted to know what ‘wasted’ meant.
No problems, just loved this part.

“R… Ruby.” Ruby blinked a few times.
Probably better not to use her name twice in a row like that, consider replacing with "the foal/filly" or just "she".

“No,” said Dinky, as it was obvious
Did you maybe mean "as if"?

I kept trying to make friends of the longest time
"for"

She has strab-is-mus
I think Dinky is familiar enough with this word to pronounce it correctly, unless she was specifically trying to enunciate for Ruby's benefit. If that's the case though, you should probably mention so outside the quotes, and also the correct syllable divides would be "stra•bis•mus", or "struh-biz-muhs" if you really want to stretch it out.

“Um. I’m… I’m dead.”
Not a requirement, but I think a descriptor of her tone like, "flatly", "bluntly", "plainly", or some other such would really help here. Also, there seems to be some extra blank spaces between this line and the next. If that's intentional to express a pause or beat, consider adding a line with just ellipses (...) in between so that it doesn't look accidental.

“Okay,” she said.
Nothing wrong with this line, but again it has empty space after it. If it's purely to facilitate the partial scene transition, that would seem unnecessary, as the following sentence suffices nicely on its own.

Dinky poked her head around the post signaling the rear entrance to Moonville
Again, nothing with this line itself, just more of those blank spaces before it. This time it's a pretty solid scene transition spot so a dashed line would be a good choice to form a break.

[GrassAndClouds2]

725161: Fixed the grammar stuff, thanks.

I kind of like the spaces the way they are now and were in the previous chapters; an extra space indicates a scene change or a longer pause. I'll probably keep them this way for consistency.

Ruby is nervous when she tells Dinky that she's dead, because she's afraid of scaring him. That's why the ellipsis is there.

Drunk Trixie is always a winner. :-) Especially drunk, hallucinatory Trixie.

[Emeral Bookwise]

Ruby is nervous when she tells Dinky that she's dead, because she's afraid of scaring him. That's why the ellipsis is there.

Kinda my point. Without any additional descriptors, it's rather easy for readers to misinterpret a character's intended tone, and I think that's something very important to avoid on that particular line.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Dinky and Ruby are fifteen kinds of adorable... but oh, no!

[Walabio]

I suppose the ghost Ruby this is why the story is noncanonical:

In S01E09 “Bridal Gossip”, Twilight Sparkle states that ghosts do not exist. Indeed, in the show MLP:FIM, which takes place in the CelestiaVerse, we have no indication of continuity of consciousness after death. Still, this is a nice story.

[Luckysweep]

I know this is fic is old, but I think there is a bit of a continuity error here.

Dinky poked her head around the post signaling the rear entrance to Moonville. It was just the right time. The ponies were at the games and food tables, none watching the back. She could sneak through in the darkness. Then she could get home and be safe.

The fact that she is sneaking through the darkness suggests that this is happening at night or close to it. This is further backed up by how Dinky entered Moonville after a school field trip, which sets the time to be somewhere in the afternoon. Furthermore, when in the Everfree she hears owls, who usually have their hooting time closer to the beginning of the evening.
So therefore:

And then it was noon, and Dinky got to see for herself exactly what a kelpie looked like.

It should not be noon or anywhere close to midday.

Edit: Okay, I read the next chapter and realized it was just unclear that time had magically passed. Read like it was stating the time of the ceremony.