“More painting?” Scootaloo suggested. Her and her two friends stood in the operation center, forming a triangle in front of the big table. Dinky had not shown up yet, despite having been at school on this day, but each of them knew it couldn't be long anymore until their client would arrive for another afternoon filled with attempts to get her a cutie mark. Although, and this was the problem the three Crusaders were facing right now, they had no idea what to try next, after the tragic events of the day before.
Apple Bloom shook her head in response to Scootaloo's question. “Ah don't think so, Scoots. If that would be her special talent, ah guess Dinky would have gotten her cutie mark by now.....”
“Mhm,” Sweetie Belle agreed in a simple fashion.
“What else should we try then?” Scootaloo asked her friend. “We can't just sit around here with her and do nothing.”
This statement found agreement as well, though, Apple Bloom's answer was surprising to the pegasus filly.
“Ah guess we have ta,” she said with a sigh. “At least for today. We need ta talk more with Dinky and discuss what we are trying next.”
Scootaloo scrunched her face, but nothing came to her mind to rebut this statement. “You're probably right, Apple Bloom.....”
“Now chin up!” Apple Bloom punched her in the side gently. “Ah know we're goin' ta find somethin' for Dinky! We just need ta rethink our strategy now!”
Scootaloo sighed, but then smiled at her friend. “You're right. We just need to try harder! I go and get us some snacks from the clubhouse real quick, you stay here in case Dinky shows up!”
She turned around on her hooves and dashed to the door, not even seeing the nodding responses of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle anymore. Having opened the door, she caught a small glimpse of Dinky just trotting up the ramp on the last small distance to the entrance as she began to gallop outside. Dinky flinched and closed her eyes, but Scootaloo came to a halt in front of her in the last moment. Scootaloo looked over the young unicorn carefully, checking if she had caused any damage to her, but soon found herself giggling in amusement.
The sight that presented itself in front of her, was a long strip of bandages loosely wrapped around Dinky. It went over her body in different directions; over her back, behind her flank and under her tail, then emerging again from her underside, from where it was wrapped around her neck and, finally, led up to her mane right between her ears. The end of it dangled over Dinky's face and ended right on the tip of her nose. It was a silly sight and Scootaloo did no effort to hide this fact. Holding her belly and sitting down, she finally broke out in loud laughter that could be heard inside the operation center as well.
“W-What happened to you, Dinky?” the pegasus filly finally managed to say after nearly a minute of constant laughing.
Dinky did not answer, instead, a broad grin began to spread over her face, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle left the operation center and joined Scootaloo outside. There wasn't the slightest sign of offense in Dinky's eyes.
“I did it!” she exclaimed cheerily, barely interrupting her broad grin to speak those words.
Scootaloo wiped a few tears out of her eyes, still giggling. “Did, what?” she inquired curiously and a bit confused.
It was like Dinky didn't even hear the question, but was answering it anyway at the same time. “I did it! I spent the whole evening to bandage mom and Sparkler yesterday, but nothing happened, then I thought about bandaging myself today right after I returned from school and then there was suddenly a glow from the bandages on my flank, so I pulled them down and then I saw this!” The torrent of words got interrupted by the filly turning around and holding her flank right in front of the Crusaders' faces. “I did it!” she said a third time. “I finally got a real cutie mark!”
Scootaloo stopped giggling and gasped, her wide eyes fixated on the flank in front of her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came a step closer and found themselves focusing on the same spot. There was indeed a small mark on Dinky's flank, only interrupted by the few red streaks of the wounds Dinky had caused herself on the day before. It was an unshapely form of a simple, white color, with two holes at each side. The three Crusaders bent closer to inspect it before they commented on it.
“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked after intensely staring at the picture on Dinky's flank for a while.
Apple Bloom brought her face closer and squinted her eyes. “It looks like a roll of toilet paper,” she concluded. Then looked up and ahead into Dinky's face. “Ahm not sure if ya got this cutie mark for bandagin' ponies, Dinky. Have ya tried anything else after we left ya yesterday?”
Dinky shook her head in response, still grinning. “Nothing else! Well, that, and sleeping and doing all the schoolwork this morning. But the bandages are the only thing I used since yesterday that matches it!” Happily, she swung her tail around, before she noticed that she was making it harder to see her new cutie mark and stopped again. “That's it! It's totally a bandaging cutie mark, right?” She stretched her flank out even more, allowing her cutie mark counselors an even closer look.
“Sleeping.....” Sweetie Belle said without answering Dinky's question. “Hmm..... She squinted her eyes at the mark, too, now. “It does kinda look like a pillow. Maybe sleeping is your special talent?”
Apple Bloom's eyes widened as she heard the theory. “Sleeping as a special talent, really, Sweetie Belle? But Dinky has slept a thousand times in her life already, don't ya think she would have gotten her cutie mark years ago if that would be her special talent?”
Sweetie Belle moved her face away from the flank again, looking at her friend. She shrugged. “I don't know. I does look like a pillow, what else could be her special talent?”
“And what if it's toilet paper?” Apple Bloom countered. “Nopony sleeps on a toilet!”
Scootaloo took a closer look at the cutie mark as the last one, ignoring the upcoming bickering. “Hmm, it could be a pillow. Or toilet paper.....” She cringed a little, imagining for a brief second what this could mean for Dinky's destiny. “But it does kinda look like a bandage as well.”
“Ya sure about that?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned at her with sceptical expressions.
“Uh..... I don't know. It looks so vague, it could be all of those things you mentioned!” She looked up and over to them. “But bandaging was the last thing Dinky tried, so, what would it be if not a roll of bandages?”
“Ah guess.....” It was all Apple Bloom could muster as response.
“And isn't it the most important thing that Dinky finally has a cutie mark now? We should celebrate this, we can figure out the meaning later!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
This was something Dinky couldn't agree more to. She turned and crushed the three other fillies with a tight hug. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, pure joy leaving her lips. “It's because of you that I finally got my cutie mark!” She squeezed them tighter, making them gasp for air.
“Ugh..... W-We're happy for ya, Dinky, but can ya j-just be a bit more gentle?” Apple Bloom stuttered. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn't manage to speak even just one word, so they just gurgled in agreement.
Dinky let them go. “Sorry,” she said, face red, but still grinning. “But I finally got my cutie mark because of you, you have no idea how much you helped me with this!” She gave each of them another squeeze, a lighter one this time, then dashed away before they could respond. “I need to tell everypony about this immediately!” Those were the last words they heard from Dinky in her wake.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other in scepticism.
“Did we?” Apple Bloom asked. “She was tryin' herself at bandagin' all alone, we didn't even come up with this idea.....”
Puzzled, they looked after the unicorn filly as she became smaller in the distance, then disappeared between the trees.
Dinky's first destination was her own house. In all her rush and all her excitement over having gotten her cutie mark, all she could think of was thanking her saviours for helping her with this. The urge to express her gratitude had been so big, that she had even forgotten telling her mom and her big sister about the great event. Something that she would rectify immediately.
Full of youthful energy, Dinky stampeded through the entrance door. “Mom? Sparkler? Come here, you'll never guess what happened!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, in such a volume that one would not be surprised if the house would have started to shake because of her voice.
Startled, Derpy almost let a plate fall while cleaning it. She caught it, then placed it gently in the water-filled sink, before taking a look out of the kitchen door to check what her daughter was up to. “Dinky? Why did you rush out of the house like this? And why are you back so early?” She quickly dried her hooves with a dishtowel, then trotted out to see her daughter. “What happened, Dinky, is there–” The words froze on her lips as her eyes fell on Dinky's flank.
It was not necessary for Dinky to say anything, instead, she just turned around to allow her mother a better look at her proud acquisition. Her face was adorned by the same grin she had in the operation center.
And like her daughter, Derpy did not say anything either. Speechless, she stood there, mouth opened widely. A few times her face twitched like she was trying to say something, but each attempt proved futile. As tears appeared in her eyes, then soon streamed down her face, her body language had finally taken on the job of communicating how she felt right now.
Slowly, she trotted towards Dinky, her eyes becoming more misty with each step. As she had finally reached her, she sat down and pulled her into a hug from behind, embracing her with hooves and wings alike.
“It finally happened, mom,” Dinky spoke for the first time since her loud arrival in the house. A second later, tears ran down her cheeks, too. She snuggled her face into her mother's coat, then muffled whimpers emerged from her mouth.
The world around the pegasus mother and her unicorn filly quickly disappeared for them in their embrace, their sobs of relief and the warmth of each other.
“I'm so glad somepony could finally help you,” Derpy managed to whisper into Dinky's ear between two sobs.
It was in this moment, that Sparkler came down the stairs. A concerned expression appearing on her face as she saw the heartfelt scene in front of her indicated that she mistook the situation, having not witnessed the reason for it since she had been in her room until now. And neither could she see Dinky's flank from her position.
“Mom?” Sparkler asked, coming a step closer. “Is something wrong?”
Derpy looked up at her oldest daughter, eyes filled to the brim with tears, and gave her a smile. “Everything is alright, Sparkler. Dinky finally got her cutie mark.”
Sparkler's lips twitched slightly, but there remained a sceptical expression in her face. “No way!” she said in disbelief. “Are you kidding me, mom?”
Calmingly, Derpy shook her head, then moved her wing away from Dinky's flank. The white cutie mark came into view from under it. Sparkler felt almost blinded by it.
In disbelief, the purple unicorn trotted closer, slowly, not taking her eyes off the mark. “I-Is this real? Is this a real cutie mark now?” She was in complete awe.
“You bet, Sparks!” Dinky answered now instead, looking up at her big sister and wiping the tears of joy out of her eyes. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders got me one, something finally helped!” She giggled happily, then freed herself from her mother's embrace and hugged her big sister instead.
Sparkler was still baffled, so it happened merely in a reflex that she put a hoof around her little sister.
“Are you proud of me, Sparks?” Dinky asked, noticing that her sister wasn't saying anything.
It shook the older unicorn out of her trance. Putting her other hoof around Dinky, too, now, she squeezed her tighter. “Of course I am, sis. I just can't believe it yet.....”
“Me neither,” Dinky answered.
Sparkler felt her sister shaking her head a little at her mane, as if she wanted to underline what she just said.
“We need to celebrate this, now that all of this is finally over,” Derpy spoke then.
Dinky turned around to her and nodded. “Mhm. I–” Having barely said anything, an expression somewhere between shocked and excited appeared on her face. She suddenly jumped away from her big sister completely. “But not now!” she shouted. “I have to tell Lily first!”
In her mother's face a little bit of disappointment sparked up, but it disappeared again soon. She gave her daughter an understanding smile. “Just go,” she said. “Sparkler and I will prepare everything in the meantime.”
“Thanks!” Dinky gave her mom another tight hug, then let go and waved at her sister. “I promise I'll be back as fast as I can!” she spoke, then flashed out of the house through the still open door at the speed of a lightning bolt.
Her mom and her sister left behind, the two mares smiled at each other with a peaceful serenity both of them had not seen in each other's faces for a long time.....