//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Manifested Sorrow 
// Story: The Strange Case of Dinky Hooves' Cutie Mark Curiosity 
// by Fluttercheer 
//------------------------------//

	Several hours later, the clubhouse was littered with used canvas. They were strewn around across the floor and, on the table, small mountains of stacked canvas towered over Dinky and the tree Crusaders. The table didn't offer enough space to stand on since hours anymore. Instead of posing on it as models, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood behind Dinky, on the few, free spots of the floor that were left.
The unicorn filly with the cutie mark problem was still standing at the scaffold, painting on a canvas that she might have called the fiftieth one, if she would have cared to count them all. Eagerly watched by the trio of fillies behind her, she moved the brush over the canvas to finish an eye she was painting right now. It was supposed to point into a different direction than the one she had already drawn and as she was sure it did, she put the brush down, stepped back and looked at her work. There was a small smile on her face now.
Behind her, the three Crusaders looked at each other, wearing smiles as well, then Apple Bloom stepped at Dinky's side. She went over the picture with her eyes, admiringly, then gave Dinky a pat on the back. “Better!” she said.
Dinky blushed and looked away, awkwardly lifting a hoof. “I don't think it's that good,” she said, her voice quiet.
“Aww, come on!” Scootaloo stepped closer and another pat came down on Dinky's back. “You improved so much! This looks much more like a pony than the first picture did!”
“Yeah!” A pat by Sweetie Belle. The white unicorn ignited her horn and pulled out the first painting from under one of the stacks on the table, making it almost tumbling down. She hovered it at the side of Dinky's painting of her mom, bringing the differences to light. As Dinky still didn't look at her picture again, Sweetie Belle gently cast her magical grip around the hesitant filly's head and moved it into the direction of the picture. “You should look at it better!” she commented the movement.
Dinky's pupils shrunk a little as her head got forced into a different direction and she gasped, but facing the picture brought the smile back onto her face. Now that she could see the differences herself and compare the two pictures with each other, her heart started to beat faster. She could feel the blood pumping through her veins as the excitement rose in her. The picture was not perfect, that was something she could see. But it looked better, a lot.
The wings looked more like wings, even the individual feathers were distinguishable from each other a little now. The body looked much better proportioned than before and had less anatomical flaws. The mane and the tail had been painted by her exactly where they were supposed to be and the different parts of the face had some space between them, so that they weren't all clumped together anymore. It was a good picture, no masterpiece, but good, and it was hers. Hers!
Dinky turned away from the canvas to present her three supporters with her gratitude. Scootaloo was the first who got met with it, as she felt pulled into a tight hug by Dinky. During all those hours of her painting incessantly, Scootaloo had encouraged her the most. She prodded her to continue every time she wanted to give up and pointed out all the small improvements she was making. If it wouldn't have been for Scootaloo, she would have stopped hours ago, this was something Dinky could feel.
Dinky continued squeezing Scootaloo with a grin on her face until she got told to stop as Scootaloo started to run out of breath over the tightness of the hug. Dinky retreated and allowed the pegasus to get some air into her lungs again, but proceeded with hugging Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in the same fashion. All three of them wheezed slightly as Dinky was finished.
“Maybe we should try ta get her a cutie mark in chokin’ other ponies next,” Apple Bloom sputtered some words between her breaths, making her two friends erupt into a weird sound somewhere between giggling and coughing.
Dinky, though, did not join in on the amusement, instead, her face took on a baffled expression. “Next?” she asked and looked behind her. “Didn’t I–“ The words got stuck in her throat and drowned out in the disappointment that came over her as her eyes fell on her flank. It was blank as usual. Immediately, tears shot into her eyes. She turned around at her picture again. “I should have figured…..” she said, weakly. “Nopony can get me a cutie mark, it’s never going to work, never…..” Dinky slumped down on the floor, where she started to weep without restraint.
The sudden, bitter reaction caused the smile to vanish from the faces of the three Crusaders at her sides. Apple Bloom did a step closer and put a hoof on Dinky’s back, rubbing over it comfortingly. “Hey, it’s fine, no filly ever got a cutie mark over night! Ya just keep practicin’ and it will come eventually!”
Dinky looked at Apple Bloom with tear-filled eyes, then she shook her head slowly and looked back at the picture she had just finished. “No….. That’s not my special talent. W-We have to try something else.”
“I don’t think so.” Sweetie Belle inched a little closer to the distraught filly in front of her and gently put a hoof on her shoulder. “You are very good at this and–“ She stopped abruptly as she saw Dinky rising to her hooves all of a sudden. Dinky turned around at the other unicorn, her eyes now showing anger behind the streaming tears. Harshly, Dinky slapped Sweetie Belle’s hoof away.
“Ouch,” Sweetie Belle whimpered slighty. She stared at Dinky with her mouth open, shocked over it that the impact on her hoof had actually hurt quite a bit.
“I don’t care what you think, you are not even helpful!” Dinky burst into her face. She lifted her hoof again, her face more grim than it had been seconds ago. In front of her, Sweetie Belle flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, but then Dinky turned around suddenly and began to punch the picture. “It looks like crap!” she said as she let her hoof come down on it. It teared through the canvas right where her mom’s face was. “This doesn’t get me a cutie mark, nothing will, everything I want will always just disappear when I think I have reached my goals!”
Violently, she grabbed the upper side of the canvas with her other hoof. She pulled at it strongly, small cracks appearing on the surface where the traction was the strongest. A second later, it got ripped into two pieces, freeing her right hoof again that had still been stuck in the hole of the canvas until now. She threw the two pieces of canvas onto the floor of the small operation center and began to stomp on it with her forehooves repeatedly, smearing the barely dried color on it.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders just stood there with gaping mouths and watched her in disbelief, having retreated from the raging filly. Only Sweetie Belle found some words to address the situation.
“I-I think you overreact,” she stuttered, still rubbing her hoof. “Even we didn’t freak out like this while waiting to get our cutie marks.” There was a bit of disdain in her voice, but it was mostly filled with shock and fear. Her lips were trembling slightly.
Apple Bloom said nothing. She just gulped repeatedly as she watched the violent outburst of their client.
Only Scootaloo dared to come a step closer, a hoof lifted in what was both a defense mechanism and an attempt to show she didn’t want to do her any harm. “Dinky….. What’s wrong?” she asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice and to sound as calming as possible.
Dinky did not pay attention to her. Instead, it was Sweetie Belle who she turned to again. The canvas was merely shreds now, only a few, grey spots showing what was once on it. There was still so much fury in her eyes as she stepped towards Sweetie Belle that it let Scootaloo shiver. Sweetie Belle inched back in terror until her flank bumped into the wall. She began to whimper as she didn’t see a way out anymore.
Scootaloo motioned into Dinky’s direction slowly, attempting to grab her from behind and to pull her away from her cornered friend. But she only grabbed air as Dinky finally rushed forward and lunged her hooves at Sweetie Belle. The afraid filly closed her eyes and began to tremble, then she felt the hooves of Dinky tightly grasping her neck. She gasped and already began with choking sounds in expectation of what would happen, but then, she felt Dinky’s nose at her cheek. Quick, but not harsh, it brushed over it, then got buried in her mane. Dinky’s hooves felt strong as she got pulled closer to her. Sweetie Belle’s mane became wet as Dinky began to cry into it. A muffled voice emerged from her, producing something that sounded like an apology. Then the words became more clear at the second try.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Dinky repeated those words in an agonizingly heartbreaking tone.
Sweetie Belle’s former fear got washed away by a wave of sadness and empathy and her trembling stopped. Mixed in with the other two feelings was a bit of guilt. “I-I’m sorry too….. For saying this.” She put her hooves around Dinky and pulled her closer as well. “I didn’t know you are so stressed because of it.”
Seeing that Dinky’s aggressive reaction had ceased, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came carefully closer to the two hugging unicorn fillies. Dinky was crying heavily, so much even, that a few tears hit the floor, dropping from Sweetie’s drenched mane. Dinky’s crying fit was loud and racked with pain, as she weeped her sorrow into Sweetie Belle’s embrace. It let the ears of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom drop. Both of them put a hoof on Dinky’s back in a comforting gesture. But it was only Scootaloo who spoke again.
“Dinky? What is wrong?” she asked, voice ridden with concern. “This isn’t just because of your cutie mark, is it?” Scootaloo eyed the weeping unicorn worried.
“T-That’s all!” Dinky managed to press some words out of her mouth between her sobs. “I-It’s all just be-because….. because of my c-cutie marks!” More desperation overwhelmed her and her crying grew in intensity.
“Cutie marks?” Apple Bloom asked, dumbfounded. “What’s that mean?”
“She’s confused,” Sweetie Belle explained, stroking a hoof over Dinky’s mane. “I don’t think we should her ask too many questions now, Apple Bloom.”
Scootaloo came a step closer and bent forward to take a look at Dinky’s face. Her eyes were closed, the tears pouring out under the shut lids. Her cheeks looked puffy and her skin shimmered through the short coat in a bright red. Occasionally, she opened her mouth fitfully as a sob left it. Scootaloo sighed, then moved away again.
“Sweetie Belle is right. She’s not in a good condition, Apple Bloom.” Her brow was furrowed.
“But.....” Now their leader seemed upset. “But what if somethin' really bad happened ta her? We need ta know then, how else would we help her if we don't?” She did an energetic step forward, but placed a hoof on Dinky's shoulder gently. The gesture was met with frowns by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“Dinky?” she asked, making her voice soft. “We don't know what happened ta ya, but if ya tell us, then–“ Before Apple Bloom could finish her sentence, Dinky suddenly broke away from the hug with Sweetie Belle. Stampeding, she rushed past them, almost galloping Apple Bloom over in the process, and out of the operation center's door. Her sobbing hung in the air for seconds as all three Crusaders looked after her with shocked and sad faces.
As fast as her hooves carried her, Dinky was galloping home now. Ponies gave her surprised glances as she had reached Ponyville and hurried through the streets, all the way to her house, until she had finally entered it. With a bang, she slammed the door shut behind her, then stopped. She stood there motionlessly, leaned against the door, and panted, the tears still flowing. No other sound than her sobbing and the slowly vanishing echo of the door found their way into her ears. This could only mean one thing.
Dinky rubbed the tears out of her eyes, then looked around, her heart seeking comfort. “Sparks? Mommy?” she called out for her sister and her mother, but the only answer she received was the echo of her own words. Shudders went down her spine as the echo bounced off the walls and became more distant, like there were several other Dinkys deeper inside the house that repeated what she just said.
As the young filly realized that she was alone in the house, she felt her heart getting constricted and a new stream of tears started to flow from her eyes. Shaking, she started crying again, then dashed up the stairs. She bolted through the corridor to her room and flung the door of it open. Right next to the door was her pet turtle, Twee. He retreated into his shell in panic as Dinky almost ran over him, not properly paying attention to her surroundings.
Dinky plunged into her bed, slipped under the blanket and buried her face deeply into the pillow, soaking it with her tears in seconds. There were no thoughts going through her head, all she felt was a cloudy feeling of sadness and the loneliness in her heart. Both feelings made her numb to her surroundings still, as she slowly cried herself into sleep. She wasn't noticing anything, not even a faint glow coming from under her blanket, back down where her flank was situated.....