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Chapter 6: Morning Business
On the next morning, Dinky awoke as she felt something touching her nose. She stirred and grumbled. With her body not quite able to properly recognize her surroundings yet, the feeling gave her a weird sensation. Dinky yawned and turned to the other side. She grabbed her blanket tightly and pressed it closer to her chest. “Just one more minute,” the young unicorn muttered sleepily.
Now the feeling was on the back of her head. Something poked against it, softly, yet as tired as she still was, it felt unpleasant to her. Dinky tried to ignore it, focusing her mind on the dream she had, which was full of cotton candy and chocolate treats. Her mom and Sparkler were there too and even Twee had been with her in the weird, but wonderful, sugary paradise.
There were trees made of chocolate, with cotton candy growing on them instead of leaves, and small, round-shaped bits of chocolate as their fruits. They were dotted over a beautiful landscape of lush, pink cotton candy grass that was traversed by alleys of solid chocolate cobblestones. In the middle of everything was a big chocolate lake. In her dream, they had spent hours exploring this land of cotton candy and chocolate. They had climbed on the trees, taken naps in the grass, eaten the tasty chocolate fruits, which turned out as being filled with blueberry jam, and swum in the lake.
She was just at the part where she jumped off of the shore and did a dive into the chocolatey goodness as she felt the poking against her head again, throwing her out of her thoughts. Dinky groaned and lit her horn, aiming her magic at whatever was interrupting her reminiscence of the peaceful dream she had, and lifted the disturber in front of her face. As she opened her eyes, she saw Twee, who was smiling at her. He poked her nose with his head again.
“Twee.....” Dinky muttered surprised, a feeling of warmth spreading out in her chest. She inched a little closer to him and nuzzled his head. “Did you want to wake me up?” she asked, a weak smile on her face.
A snort came from Twee and he nodded. Now reality was flooding back into Dinky's mind. Her eyes lost their hazy glance and became clear. Dinky gasped. “I need to go to school!”
Hastily, she sat up and turned to the left, looking at her alarm clock. It was five minutes past the time she usually woke up at. The memories of last night entered Dinky's mind again. After all that happened, she had forgotten to set the alarm for today!
Now in hurry, Dinky threw the blanket off of her body and jumped out of her bed, then rushed for the door. As she put her hoof on the handle, Twee snorted again, alerting and louder this time. Dinky turned around to him. “Do you want to join me, Twee?”
He nodded in anticipation, accompanied by more snorts.
Giggling happily, she put Twee on her back with her magic, then unlocked the door and rushed outside. Her first destination was the bathroom. It was just opposite of her bedroom, a little to the left. Dinky hurried up to it, opened the door and locked it as soon as she was inside. Continuing her rush, she galloped up to the shower and entered it, closing the door of it behind her.
Dinky turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, then took position under the warm stream of water. She groaned comfortingly as the water washed away the rest of her sleepiness and the sweat of the night. Lifting her head and looking directly into the stream, she let it flow over her face and her closed eyes, carrying a happy and satisfied expression.
Twee climbed up on her head to catch more of the warm water. He lied down on top of her mane and stretched out all of his four legs. Cheery little snorts emerged from his throat.
As her body was soaked enough, Dinky hovered Twee off of her head and at her chest. She lifted a hoof and, holding him there for a moment, gave him a soft kiss on the head. Then she hovered him into a corner of the shower, turned off the water and swiftly grabbed a grey bottle from the other corner. She opened it and, hovering it in front of her now, squeezed something of the slick substance inside of it on her hooves, then proceeded with shampooing her whole body.
Covered in shampoo from the tip of her horn to the end of her tail, she turned on the shower again, grumbling as she had to adjust the temperature again, then began with washing the shampoo off.
She held her mane under the stream, then her face, then she turned around to let the water flow over the rest of her mane, her back and the upper side of her tail. Halfway through the process, she turned to face the stream again and got up on her hindlegs, making sure the water would reach the lower part of her chest, her underbelly and her lower abdomen. Finally, she turned around a last time, bent down a little and raised her flank. Lifting her tail out of the way, she let the water stream over her rear, then turned off the shower and got out of it, hovering Twee behind her.
Standing on the rug dripping wet, Dinky reached for a towel from the shelf to her left, wrapped herself in it and rubbed her body dry, then she hovered it to Twee and dried his shell and body too. She tossed the towel into the laundry hamper and left the bathroom, Twee sitting on her back again.
Dinky felt refreshed as she trotted the few steps through the corridor up to Sparkler's room. Founding it still unlocked, she opened the door and slipped inside quickly, then approached Twee's terrarium. Carefully now, she lifted him off of her back and inside his little home. Having arrived there, he gave Dinky a melancholic look, which let her ears drop a bit.
“Don't worry, Twee, I'll be back soon!” she reassured him, a tiny trace of sadness in her voice. She petted over his shell lovingly and closed the terrarium door. Dinky got up and smiled at him, then returned to the exit of the room. Standing at the door, she turned around before leaving, waving at her friend with a bright smile, then went outside and closed the door.
In the corridor, Dinky increased her tempo to a gallop, that she only slowed down as she had reached the stairs. Trotting down on them, she could already hear the voices of her big sister and her aunt coming from the kitchen.
“–the last chance to remove those fatty killers from the table and serve her my healthy muffins now, Sparkler,” the concerned voice of her aunt rang into Dinky's ears.
Dinky rolled her eyes, feeling disbelief over the fact her aunt was still at it.
“I couldn't care less,” her big sister replied and that was exactly how her voice sounded. It also sounded slightly muffled, like Sparkler was munching on something.
A sigh came from her aunt, then Dinky heard the sound of hoofsteps on the kitchen floor.
Having arrived downstairs and with the kitchen now in sight, Dinky could see Sparkler sitting at the table through the entrance, a muffin wrapped into her purple aura and her eyes fixated on a magazine in front of her while she was chewing on her breakfast.
Dinky's face brightened as she saw her big sister and she returned to her gallop as she approached the kitchen. Sparkler looked up as she went through the entrance.
“Hey, morning, Dinks!” She let her muffin drop and got down from her chair, giving her little sister a hug, which Dinky reciprocated gladly. “How was your night, Dinks? Did you have nice dreams?”
The memory of the crazy, but wonderful, dream returning back into her memory, Dinky laughed. “Yeah!” she answered. “Full of cotton candy and chocolate!”
Over at the fridge, a twitch went through Millie's body, but she did not say anything.
Sparkler and Dinky released the hug, looking at each other.
“Your dreams are way better than mine, Dinks. I wish I would still be a filly.” Sparkler ruffled her sister's mane, then returned back onto her chair and beckoned Dinky over.
The younger unicorn moved past her sister's chair and took seat to her left. Smiling smugly, Sparkler hovered a muffin over to her sibling. On a plate in front of her were the rest of the muffins from last night, just enough for breakfast. “Here, Dinks, eat one of mom's tasty blueberry muffins!” she said, intentionally loud.
Another twitch from Millie, stronger this time, but she didn't comment on Sparkler's remark.
Millie closed the fridge, then came towards their direction; her usual, strict expression, but also an unhappy frown, on her face.
Noticing how Dinky gave her aunt a shy glance, hesitating to take the muffin for just a split-second, Sparkler smirked at her. “Now start eating, Dinks! We want you to grow fat and strong, I mean, big and strong.”
Producing a bang, Millie put her plate on the table and sat down without saying a word.
After Sparkler had said this, Dinky was finished. Grasping the muffin with her own magic, she held a hoof in front of her face and giggled; first quietly, then louder, then she broke out in full laughter. Sparkler chimed in quickly. For a few minutes, the kitchen was filled with the sound of two very strong laughing fits. As their fits faded out, the two sisters snickered gleefully.
Only Millie had been quiet. She was giving them angry, disapproving glares until their laughing had stopped.
Millie swallowed, making her mouth free. “Even if we disagree, Sparkler, I don't appreciate you making fun of me like this,” she hissed.
Sparkler looked at her, unimpressed. “Yeah, so what? You made my sister sad yesterday, so now I'm making her happy at your expense. That's justice.” Demonstratively, she took a bite out of her blueberry muffin.
Dinky looked at her admiringly, her mouth once again open from fascination over how easy her big sister dealt with their aunt.
Out of arguments again, Millie just lowered her eyes and returned her attention to her breakfast.
But Sparkler was not finished yet. “And speaking about sad, I need to leave soon, so it's time for you to give me that money you got for Dinky's games, so that I can get them back later.”
Millie's face darkened like the sky before a storm.
“To destroy more of her brain cells and turn her into a bonehead,” she hissed again.
“If you say so,” Sparkler replied sarcastically, her voice sounding noticeably more aggressive now. “Guess me and Dinks head to the police station first then, I know Rarity will understand if I'm late and I'm sure her teacher won't mind a delay either once she tells her everything.” Sparkler's face was deadpan.
She looked at Dinky, her eyes showing a mix of strictness and encouragement. Dinky's own face taking on a similar strict expression, she looked over to her aunt and nodded affirmatively.
Dropping her muffin, Millie got up instantly and headed to the exit of the kitchen, snarling her teeth. As Millie returned, her hoof was full of banknotes. She slammed them on the table.
“Here,” she said, audibly upset. “Get back those mind destroyers and waste your little sister's intelligence.” Millie sat down and began to stuff herself with her breakfast, not giving the two unicorn siblings another look.
Before Millie could change her mind, Sparkler snatched them up with her magic. She opened her saddlebags from the distance, hovered out her wallet and let the money disappear in it, then placed the wallet back in the bags and closed them.
Sparkler looked up to the clock on the wall, then she turned her attention to Dinky.
“Wanna leave early today?”
Dinky smiled widely at her big sister. “Yeah, let's leave!”
Simultaneously, the two sisters each enveloped one of the remaining muffins into their aura and got up. Sparkler tossed her saddlebags onto her back and they left the kitchen. Neither of them said goodbye to Millie.
As they had arrived in front of the entrance door, Dinky remembered that she still needed to get her own saddlebags from upstairs.
“Have you brought Twee into my room yet?” Sparkler asked.
Dinky nodded. “Mhm. We took a shower together, but then I did before I came downstairs.”
“Awesome!” Sparkler replied. “Can you lock the door for me?” She tossed Dinky a key and the filly caught it with her magic.
“Sure!” she said and bolted up the stairs.
Like a flash, she was at Sparkler's door, inserted the key into the lock and turned it, then went into her room and equipped herself with her saddlebags. Less than a minute had passed as she was downstairs again. She returned the key to her sister, then both of them left the house.
Outside, a wave of relief washed over Dinky. Now that she was away from her aunt, at least for the morning, a burden was off of her back. Greedily, she sucked in the fresh morning air around her, then took a bite from the muffin that was still hovering at her side.
The two sisters sat themselves into motion. For a while, none of them said anything. Dinky was busy with her muffin and Sparkler did not want to disturb her while eating, knowing that it was the last of the blueberry muffins. Quietly, the older unicorn began to eat her muffin too. Only as both of them had finished the rest of their breakfast, the silence between them was broken.
“Now all the muffins are gone, except for mine.....” Dinky said sorrowful, dropping her ears.
Sparkler's ears pricked up, though. “You're hiding muffins in your room?” she asked in surprise.
Dinky nodded. “I took five when she arrived. She never noticed. The rest was thrown away by her.....”
“Fits her,” Sparkler said taut and huffed. Then she lifted a hoof and placed it on Dinky's mane, ruffling through it gently. “Don't worry, Dinks, as long as I'm here you won't have to eat Millie's cardboard muffins! I suck at baking, but I'm going to buy a batch from Sugarcube Corner on my way home.”
Dinky smiled over the gesture. She wrapped her big sister into a spontaneous hug.
As they had separated again, Sparkler continued the conversation. “So, how's Lily doing?”
“She's doing great!” Dinky answered. “I couldn't talk with her anymore when we left school yesterday, because I wanted to be at home before Aunt Millie arrives. I can't wait to meet her again today!” She reared up a little from joy.
“Sounds swell!” Sparkler shot her an answer.
There was more Dinky wanted to talk about with her big sister, but as she looked ahead, she saw a familiar turn. “We're already there.....” she said quietly.
“Yeah, it's time for me to head to the boutique now,” Sparkler replied, then bent down to her sister, wrapping her hooves around her. “Don't worry about Millie, Dinks! I got your back and if she gets out of control again, I'll be putting into her place like I did yesterday!”
Dinky squeezed her older sister, then they broke up. Sparkler gave Dinky a pat on the back. “See you in the evening, Dinks!” Then she took the turn to the right, heading to Carousel Boutique.
“Bye, Sparks!” Dinky said melancholic, then waved at her when Sparkler turned around a last time. As she was out of sight, Dinky took her own turn and made her way towards the schoolhouse.
The way to the school was a quiet one. The streets were empty, there were no other foals except her and, of course, no sight of Lily. Right now, she was probably still getting prepared for school, Dinky figured. The young unicorn was buried in her thoughts while trotting to school, which lead to her not noticing how much time passed. Before she knew, Dinky stood in front of the red and white building. Looking around, she could confirm that she was the only foal at the school this early in the morning.
Using the advantage, she went into the schoolhouse, took off her saddlebag and prepared everything for the first lesson. It took her mere minutes to do so and when she looked at the clock above Cheerilee's desk, she saw that it was still fifteen minutes until the first students usually arrive.
Not knowing what else to do, Dinky went outside and sat down on one of the swings. Bored, she began to rock it slightly. “Being so early at school is really weird,” she thought.
In front of her, the wind blew a scrap of paper over the playground. It was howling loudly while it did so.
Dinky shuddered. The schoolgrounds felt eerie so early in the morning, she realized. The cold morning chill only contributed to this atmosphere. She felt a bit of fear rising in her chest.
The schoolgrounds being so empty and her all alone, no other pony around..... It reminded her on that one episode of “The Trotting Dead” she had secretly watched in her room some time ago. It was a show she was not yet allowed to see, of course. And she didn't have any desire to watch it again after that night. The places she saw in this episode were as empty as the playground was right now. There were never any ponies anywhere, aside from the relatively small main cast; a bunch of ponies consisting of former police officers, outlaws and farmers, who were fighting their way through Manehattan in hope to find a safe place. The rest were just zombies; ponies who died long ago and had returned from death, for a reason Dinky couldn't fathom with her limited knowledge of this show. It was a scary show and very violent, so much that she almost had to vomit after finishing the episode. It did not take Dinky long to understand why her mom and Sparkler didn't want her to watch it and she had no idea how they could find pleasure in it.
Dinky's mind drifted off as she continued to rock slightly, her eyes looking over the emptiness around her. “Just as empty as the streets on the way here.....” she muttered. Then her eyes grew wide and her heart began to beat faster. “The streets were empty!” she exclaimed. “Could it be that–“
Before she could finish the sentence, she noticed something moving in the corner of her eyes, something yellow. Alarmed, her head shot into the direction and she slid off of the swing, ready to gallop in whatever direction she could.
At the entrance of the schoolhouse, Noi was slowly moving up the stairs, her saddlebags almost bursting from books. She was carrying some more on her back.
Dinky breathed out. Feeling her heart returning to normal speed, she sat down on the swing again, where she shook her head at her overimaginative mind. “It's just Noi, she always comes to school earlier than the rest of us,” Dinky explained to herself. “That nerd!” she brashly added then, in an attempt to further calm herself.
Still a bit panicking after the shock she had brought upon herself, Dinky did not notice the movement behind her. All of a sudden, she felt grabbed by two hooves from behind, hooves that instantly closed around her throat and started to pull her off the swing. “NO!” Dinky yelped in newfound panic, struggling against the attacker and trying to get off the swing to flee.
After just a few panic-filled seconds, Lily's familiar giggle sounded into her ears. “Got'cha!” she said happily. Then she let her victim go.
Dinky breathed in and out heavily, trying to regain her calm, while simultaneously cursing herself for watching “The Trotting Dead” that night.
“T-That wasn't funny, Lily!” she scolded her friend as Lily stepped in front of her, her face one big grin.
Lily giggled again. “I'm sorry,” she said. “But it was too tempting, Dinky.” She reached out with her hooves and pulled her unicorn friend down from the swing and into a quick, apologetic hug.
“Why are you here so early today?” Dinky then asked, as they had released the hug and she had calmed down somewhat.
“I was worried about you after the things you told me yesterday and wanted to see you as fast as I could,” Lily explained, her voice full of concern now. “Are you okay?” she added.
“Mhm,” Dinky nodded. “Somewhat. But a lot of things happened, it was much worse than I thought it would.”
Quickly, Dinky gave her friend an overview of the events; from the moment when she had returned home yesterday, until the events of her breakfast at home earlier this morning. While she spoke, Lily's eyes grew ever wider.
“I feel sorry for you, Dinky,” she then said as Dinky had ended. “You don't deserve this.”
Lily gave Dinky another hug to comfort her, then she nuzzled over her cheek. Dinky blushed over this gentle gesture and looked to the ground sheepishly. It felt sappy to her.
Lily laughed over this reaction, with Dinky joining in a second later. As they stopped laughing, they finally exchanged a hoofbump. Then they looked to the school's entrance, alerted by the sound of many hooves on the ground. Their classmates had arrived, which gave the two fillies the signal that it was soon time for their first lesson.
“Should we go inside?” Lily asked her friend, who answered with a nod.
The two friends turned around. Trotting at each other's side, they made their way towards the other foals and the entrance of the schoolhouse and entered it together with the rest of their class for today.