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Chapter 10: The Storm
Comfortably slumped into her soft chair, the screen in front of Dinky went black for a second. Then a white text appeared on it. “500 Years Later” she whispered reverently, the magical grip around her controller becoming tighter. Her eyes were widely opened and her breath went fast. The sudden end of the game she was playing right now was pumping adrenaline through her body. Then the text disappeared and made room for another scene.
Through a desert landscape, a red, cat-like creature was running fast. At its side were two smaller and younger versions of it, apparently the children of the majestic animal, who tried to keep up with their parent. In fast tempo, they ran up a steep hill. Stopping there, they let their eyes wander over the landscape beneath them. Dinky gasped loudly as a familiar sight came into her view; a round city full of futuristic buildings, but all of them were grown over with thick plants, that made it hard to recognize the former look of the city.
Once more, the screen faded to black, then the title of the game she was playing appeared. Eager to find out if anything more was going to happen, Dinky pressed A. Stars appeared on the screen, in form of a backdrop that showed the wide, open space. It looked like she was moving, the stars were rushing past her like she was sitting in a spaceship and looking outside, but nothing else happened. Dinky bit her lip in excitement. As five minutes had passed and the screen hadn't changed, she gave up and hit A again. Promptly, the game brought her back to the title screen.
Dinky's brow furrowed. “Weird.....” she said, confused. “Is there really nothing else?” She stopped her magic and let the controller fall into her lap. “What happened to the characters after all of this? And where did they go to? Has the planet really wiped out the whole species to save itself?” A million of questions soared through her head.
Dinky leaned back, her brain cells working hard as she started to ponder what she had just seen. Unfortunately, her trail of thoughts got interrupted early, as the door of her room was opened very abruptly. Immediately knowing who caused the commotion, even without looking, Dinky groaned, which she accompanied by letting a hoof come down on the soft fabric. An angry thought formed in her head. “Why does she have to come now?!”
Since she had returned from school, Millie had not bothered Dinky. Without facing any harassment by her aunt as she entered the house, Dinky could just trot up the stairs in peace, take care of the little homework she got for today and then finish the RPG she had already sat at for months. But now, her personal menace had returned, in the worst possible moment to boot. “Like the reactor to my planet,” she ironically whispered between clenched teeth as she watched her aunt entering the room, an overly cheery smile on her face. And indeed, alone by looking at Millie, Dinky felt her energy getting drained.
Inside her room, her aunt just pointed to the window, now a frown on her face. “Dinky, my dear niece, how can you stay inside when the weather is so nice? Do you really like to play those games more than playing in the real world?”
Dinky rolled her eyes and huffed. The question was not even worth an answer. Instead of replying, Dinky just silently waited until the next stream of words came down on her.
“No backtalk this time, young lady?” Millie's mouth formed a gasp of surprise. “Maybe my educational methods finally have an impact on you. By the princesses, you could really need it! I will definitely go and tell your mom about this, maybe she will finally understand what she is doing wrong. Anyway.....” She trailed off a little. Grabbing Dinky to leapfrog any protests that might still come, she lifted her niece out of the chair and put her down in front of her. Dinky grimaced, feeling treated like a little foal.
“Now you will come outside with me, Dinky! You need to get some fresh air, I can already see your skin becoming pale under your coat.”
A new feeling of hopelessnes was washing over Dinky, yet, she finally said something now. “But I need to–“
Sharply, her aunt cut her off. “And here we have the backtalk again, I wondered where it went to! At least we're making progress..... You're coming outside with me now, Dinky, no matter if you like it or not.” Scoffing at Dinky's videogame setup, Millie grabbed her hoof and pulled the young unicorn behind her, out of the room and through the corridor. Dinky had problems to follow the mare as they descended down the stairs. Taking a saddlebag from the floor with her mouth and swinging it on her back, she hastily opened the door and hurried outside with Dinky. Behind them, the door fell into its lock. It was only here that her grip around Dinky's hoof loosened a bit. Swiftly, the filly shook herself free from it and brought a few steps distance between her and her aunt.
A reaction Millie did not like, as it became apparent to Dinky when she looked into her face. “No running off, young missy,” she said sternly. “Fillies like you need to spend as much time as they can under the sun if they want to grow up properly.”
Not leaving room for backtalk, Millie gave Dinky a pat on the back, signaling her to move, then began to make her way down the street. Begrudgingly, Dinky followed her, her eyes already hinting at a desire to do things with Millie she normally would only do in some of her games.
In a steady pace, the mare and the filly trotted behind each other. Dinky sighed constantly, but other than that, no sound came from her. The winning strategy, so she had figured by now, was probably to tag along with whatever Millie came up with, to endure it and to make the best of it.
The last part became easier as Dinky noticed where they're headed. They were on the way to the playground. Not the one at the school, but the one near Sugarcube Corner. A place Lily often hang out on, sometimes Noi too. With a bit of luck, they could even meet Pinkie Pie, who often went there to play with the foals after school.
The rest of the way to the playground was brought behind them quietly, too, and as they had finally arrived, Millie proceeded to a bench at the border of it and sat down, placing her saddlebag at her side. For a moment, Dinky feared her aunt would insist that she stays with her the whole afternoon, sitting on the bench chaste and demure, like her interpretation of the perfect, well-behaved filly. Instead, Millie did the opposite.
“Now go and enjoy yourself, my dear,” she said, more or less softly. “Just stay in my sight. I will be here and watch over you.”
The end of the third sentence gave Dinky shivers, but the prospect of getting away from Millie let her breath a sigh of relief. She turned around and did a step towards the playground. Observingly, her eyes checked the whole area, until they had found what she was searching for. She beamed, then dashed forward, with the sandpit as her destination.
Lily's head shot up as she noticed her friend coming closer, her pigtails bobbing. Smiling, she waved at Dinky with a hoof and invitingly pointed at her side. An invitation Dinky followed up on immediately as she had arrived. With a sigh, she let herself drop beside her friend, then brushed a hoof over her forehead.
“Are you alright?” Lily asked her. “You look a little stressed this afternoon, Dinky.”
The unicorn nodded. “Mhm,” she just said, then she stretched out her hoof and pointed into the direction she had just came from.
Lily followed it, then she understood. “Oh,” she said. “Is this your aunt?”
“Yeah..... I just finished a game, but then she wanted me to go outside today.” Dinky crossed her arms.
“And you did not want to?” Lily gave her friend an empathic look.
“No..... At least, not with her around.” She picked up a shovel and began to poke in the sand. Her eyes catching a movement in front of her, she looked up again. “Noi?” she asked in surprise at the other filly that sat right in front of her. It was only now that she noticed the yellow earth pony. “You are here with Lily?”
“Yeah. Something wrong with this?” Noi answered, snapping back a little. Neither the tone in her voice nor her face made any secret out of it that she wasn't in the best mood today.
“No,” Dinky answered, defensively. “You are definitely better than what sits over there.” Again, she pointed into the direction of the unbearable mare. She grimaced. “At least she is over there and won't come over.....”
Coming over?” Lily's voice sounded strange suddenly. “You mean, like now?”
Horror and dread came over Dinky and she had to force herself to look to the side. Indeed, Millie was not sitting on the bench anymore and she was coming into their direction. In one of her hooves, she was holding a large, flat, turquoise object Dinky could not identify. Hectically, she shot her head into all directions, trying to think of a way to hide, but before she could find something, Millie already stood at the border of the sandpit, her eyes showing a disapproving expression.
Dinky bit down on her lip. “Please don't embarrass me in front of my friend and Noi,” she begged innerly. But as Millie opened her mouth, it was clear that her hopes were in vain.
“Dinky, you can't sit in a sandpit like this.” The pink mare shook her head.
“Why not?” Dinky asked, her voice already sounding desperated.
“Because of this, that's why!” Millie gave her a mysterious answer, pointing down at Dinky's body.
Only hesitantly, the unicorn filly looked where her aunt was pointing at, down on her flank. A few grains of sand were tangled up in her coat, but not enough to consider it as dirty. At least, not enough for Dinky.....
“Your are only here for two seconds, Dinky, and you already bring yourself into an unsanitary condition!”
Dinky facehoofed, then she blushed as Noi began to snicker a little. “It's not unsanitary!” she began to protest. “Every foal is doing this, Lily and Noi too!” She gestured at them, trying to make a point.
Millie shot the two mentioned fillies looks, first at their faces, then down their own flanks, which were covered in more grains than Dinky's flank was. Millie frowned at the sight, but then returned her attention to her niece.
“I'm talking about you, don't try to distract me like this! I don't care what your dirty friends do all day, Dinky, I'm here to ensure you won't become like them!”
To her left, Lily put down her shovel. Eyes lowered, she looked down into the pit, fixated on the tiny grains. Noticing her friend's hurt reaction, Dinky wanted to say something, but before she could, Noi intervened.
Swiftly, she stood on all four legs, facing Millie directly. Anger flared up in her eyes. “Hey, who do you calling 'dirty'?! Why do you not just go and get eaten by some–“
Clenching her teeth in panic, Dinky lashed out a hoof and covered Noi's mouth.
Millie had no clue how this sentence was supposed to end, but she narrowed her eyes at the filly. “And this is really one of your friends, Dinky? I have to say, I am shocked about you being friends with such an insolent and disrespectful foal. Maybe this is where all your behavior lately comes from, I will–“
“NO!” Dinky yelled loudly, giving her all to interrupt her aunt before she would go onto another lengthy rant. “Noi isn't my friend, I barely know her!”
Millie looked at Noi again. “Hmph,” she just said, not appearing like she was completely satisfied with the answer, but did not address Noi further. Instead, she began to give her niece orders now.
“Get up, Dinky, and clean yourself from this dirt!”
Dinky sighed. “It's not necessary, really. I've sat here often, it's not bad for my health!”
“Nonsense!” the harsh response came. “You have no idea! We are outside, ponies walk through it with dirty hooves and dogs pee into it, this is not a pit full of sand, this is a pit full of bacteria, Dinky!”
“But the town cleans it every day!” Dinky bent forward, moving her hoof over the sandpit. “See? There isn't any pee or dirt in here! It's just sand!”
Her aunt's face was like a rock. “Bacteria can't be cleaned away so easily, Dinky, they are still alive and ready to infect you with more nasty diseases than you want to find out about! Now get up finally!”
As Dinky still resisted, dead set on not moving even just one inch, her aunt reached out with her hooves and pulled her up, then proceeded to dust her niece off. Vigorously, her hoof went over Dinky's flank, her tail and her hindlegs, brushing off the sand grains.
A bright blush appeared on Dinky's face and she opened her mouth. “Aunt Millie!” she squeaked in embarrassment. “Stop it, I don't need you to clean me up!”
Another snickering from Noi, who was calm again now and back sitting at her place, didn't make any of it easier. Some other foals looked over to them, alerted by Noi's snickering, and began to point and laugh.
Dinky's blush deepened. “Millie.....” she now growled. But before she could say more, her aunt was finished.
Millie took the object she was holding all the time, which turned out as a plastic mat, and placed it in the sandpit, just were Dinky had sat a moment earlier. Then she grabbed Dinky at her shoulders and pressed her down on the turquoise-colored mat, forcing her to sit on it. “There,” she commented the action plainly. “You will sit on this mat and on this mat only, Dinky. Don't you dare to sit in the sand like this again, young lady.” With this, she turned around, and went back to the bench.
Feeling defeated, Dinky let her shoulders hang. “All the time.....” she said, voice whimpering slightly. Her face was still of a bright red.
On her left shoulder, she could feel a gentle touch. Looking up, she saw Lily smiling at her. “At least she's gone now, Dinky.”
This was the only comfort the current situation offered and faintly, Dinky smiled back at her friend. “Yeah..... I guess I shouldn't do anything suspicious so she really stays away. But it's so hard, I just want to act normal. I have no idea how I should survive the last two and a half days if it continues like this.....”
Wearing concern, Lily rubbed over Dinky's shoulder comfortingly.
Noi, though, was less calm. “We should go and smash her face!” She bumped her hooves against each other with a fierce grin.
Lily looked at her, frowning over the suggestion. “No,” she said quietly, the disapproval clearly audible in her voice. “How about a more peaceful solution? I could just lift her up and carry her around for a while.” Demonstratively, Lily grabbed Dinky, who had a smile on her face now, and with ease, she raised her into the air, holding her above her head.
Both Lily and Dinky giggled at the same picture in their heads, Millie laying on one hoof of Lily, getting carried through the town, while she screamed her lungs out in fear, begging the filly to let her down.
As a loud and shrill shriek came from the other end of the playground, though, both fillies twitched and were silent at a moment's notice. Like a bulldozer that was out of control, Millie galloped over to them in an unbelievably fast tempo. Foals jumped out of her way to get into safety, barely managing to avoid getting knocked down by the hysterical mare.
As she had arrived at the sandpit, she did a leap into it and gave Lily a jab at the chest, while almost simultaneously grabbing Dinky and pulling her off her friend's hooves. “Get away from my niece, you monster!” She tightly pressed Dinky against her.
Hit by the sudden impact, Lily tumbled in surprise and fell backwards, her back hitting the wooden plank that formed the boundary of the sandpit. “Ouch,” she whimpered. She grimaced in pain as she rubbed over her back, then looked up agonized. “I'm not a monster,” she sniffed, now a few tears appearing in her eyes.
“Don't even try to explain!” Millie answered, her voice full of rage and hatred. “I know the likes of you, freaks with a big strength, but nothing in the brain! Just like this Bulk Biceps, or how they call him! Being in your company will only hurt my niece's intelligence and turn her into a filly just as dumb!”
Another sniff came from Lily, then a whimper, before tears began to run down her cheeks.
Around them, foals had stopped playing and watched the situation, shocked and with open mouths. Even a few parents followed the events, shaking their heads in disbelief. And at Lily's side, even Noi stood there with her mouth gaping wide open.
Millie ignored all of it. Hastily, she turned around on the spot and climbed out of the sandpit, where she put Dinky down in front of her. The young unicorn had not yet fully grasped the events of the last few seconds, so fast had everything happened, but the shock was written on her face as well.
“Come, Dinky, let's leave! We need to get you away from such harmful influence!” Quickly, she grabbed Dinky's hoof, then went ahead and pulled Dinky after her and away from the sandpit. “I can't believe such a thing is happening even here. I know that not all foals in Ponyville are the best behaved ones, but finding out that such a freak lives here and that this freak is even your friend! You will not see her again, I will take care of this, and I will have a talk with Derpy about all of this and ram into her how bad this “Lily” is for you, Dinky!” In all her agitation, Millie did not even notice that she had just used her sister's name instead of referring to her as Dinky's mom.
The strong yank at her hoof finally let Dinky realize what happened. Stopping in her tracks, she braced her hooves against the force that was dragging her along. As her aunt stopped too, Dinky freed her hoof and ran ahead, positioning herself in front of Millie and facing her. It took a mere millisecond for the obnoxious mare to open her mouth again and say something, but, Dinky was faster and cut her off.
“I HAVE ENOUGH!” The filly slammed a hoof into the soil, leaving a deep mark there, and glared at her aunt with the flames of a thousand fires.
“I HAVE ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING!” Another explosion of words went straight into Millie's face. A vein appeared on Dinky's forehead. “You tell me what I should eat, you tell me how I should spend my freetime, you don't let me decide anything on my own and now you don't even let me spend time with my best friend!” She lifted her hoof, just to let it come down onto the ground again. The sound was like roaring thunder in Millie's ears.
Dinky's face became distorted in aggression even more. “You are only here for two days and you were nothing but a pest to me! And now you insulted and hurt my best friend! I'm fed up with all your crap that you are pulling on me, MILLIE!”
The last word she had screamed again and it let all the foals around her gasp loudly. But, even though the situation and all the yelling began to wear at her now, Dinky was not yet finished. Aggressively, she did a step towards Millie, which let the adult mare twitch slightly.
“I'M SICK OF YOU!” She shot a hoof at her aunt's face. “Since you are here you are doing nothing but turning my life into a nightmare and I'm sick of this! Finally stop ruining everything, you disgusting, obnoxious BITCH!”
The word lingered in the air. It made the foals gasp even louder and Millie, who had just stood there and listened silently up until now, stammer.
Dinky, though, didn't see any of this. After the last word had left her lips, she had turned around on the spot and galloped off. Now she was running home, tears flowing over her face as the anger began to subside and got replaced with desperation and grief. She had lost her nerves, completely, but now, all her energy was gone. Her last reserves went into her hooves, that kept her running and running, until she arrived at home.
Without stopping, she dashed up the stairs, into her room and smashed the door shut behind her. She leaped into her bed and buried her face into the pillow.
Nothing mattered anymore. She had finally really put Aunt Millie into place, as she had always desired. But, that's something Dinky was well aware of in this moment, the consequences for this would be dire. And still, she did not care. She was alone now, alone with her breakdown and alone with her tears.
Nothing mattered anymore.