... Why do things like this happen?
... How do they happen?
And when they happen, why is it always... Me?
I sat there and waited. And I waited for a really long time... I had to wait so long, that when I was done waiting, I had to wait some more. I waited until the sky was starting to get dark, and then I heard a voice. I knew that voice somewhere.
"... Are you finished, now?"
I raised my head, and looked up at him. "W-... Wha...?"
It was the custody pony again. He put his hoof under my chin and made my look straight at him. "My, my... Your cheeks are soaked." He put his hoof down, and my head dropped. I kept looking down, and I teared up again.
"Y-Yes, Mr. Custody Pony... Sir..." I bit my lower lip, "I-... I-..." I looked at him, "This... This was my fault..."
He stared at me, without saying a word. I tried to fill the awkward silence.
"... I... I tried to make things better... I asked for a raise... But when he gave me the chance, I just-.... I tried to do my best so he would be proud of me... And then this one package was really, really heavy, and I-... They just-... Fell... And... I-..." I started crying again, "I-I don't... Know what went wrong..."
He stood there, not saying a thing. He let me cry... And then sat down beside me.
"... Miss Hooves... Keep your head high. I'm sure Dinky will come out of that emergency room free as a bird, with her chin in the air." He softly smiled. I looked at him. I know Dinky isn't going to come out of the emergency room with her chin up like a bird or... Something... But his silly phrase made me smile. It was a little smile, and it went away after a tiny bit, but it was my first smile since this morning.
"... Thanks, Mister..." I looked over at him again. I remembered what he said would happen to Dinky if things didn't get better, and my eyes got wide. "B-But this doesn't mean I won't take care of her when she's out! I-... I-... I'll give her lots of rest, and make her really healthy food, and if she wants dessert I'll make her a healthy dessert like a muffin with fruit in it, a-and I'll make sure she doesn't hurt herself again and-... A-And I'll even take off of work to take care of-"
"Miss Hooves..." He interrupted, "That's what I'm here to talk to you about..." He sighed. "You know, I didn't come here just to see if you and Dinky were okay. There were two other reasons I came. One of them, just so happens to be to deliver some news..."
"... News?"
"... Yes. Miss Hooves, I know this may have been obvious to you, but you've been fired."
"W-What...?!" I was so worried about Dinky, I completely forgot about my job. "I-... B-But... I-I've been working there for such a long time, and-..."
"... I know, I know. Unfortunately, it's true, and they have no intention of re-hiring you anytime soon... And with your current record, I don't think anypony else is going to want to, either..."
"But-... Does that mean-...?" I sat up.
"... No money coming in, plus Dinky's current condition due to one of your mistakes... Yes. I'm afraid this is what it's come to." He let out a deep sigh, like he was getting ready for something. "... Miss Hooves..."
"P-Please, mister-..."
"... We can't keep Dinky in your custody any longer. When she's well, we're taking her to the orphanage."
I gasped, and bit my lower lip again. "But-... But you can't! We... We were doing so well, and I-..." I teared up again. He shouldn't have tried cheering me up if he was just about to tell me something so... Bad.
"Miss Hooves-..."
"Just let me try! One more time, please?" I interrupted.
"Miss Hooves, you-..."
"Please, sir!! I don't wanna live by myself without Dinky!"
"Miss-..."
"I'll take a really, really safe job, and I'll make sure she's fed even if I don't get food, and-..."
"Miss Hooves!!" He yelled at me. His voice was so loud, I got startled... He sighed. "... Miss Hooves, you don't understand. I work in an environment where we care about the lives and well-being of ponies. I work with anypony who's been stolen from, hurt, or otherwise. I'm the one next to the police department, as a detective and a lawyer, and to claim both of those positions was NOT an easy task." He stood up, and stared me with a serious look. "I'm the one who makes sure that whoever commits a crime or offense, is punished for said action. I do my best to defend the innocent. And, if and when an innocent pony is in danger from another innocent pony, it's my job to separate them and put the pony at fault in a suitable environment where they can fix their problem. Unfortunately, simply being a klutz doesn't allow us to do any more than to limit where you work, and perhaps order some natural medicine to aid your focus. Of course, when there is any kind of accidental abuse toward a child, we simply have to take the filly or colt away from the irresponsible guardian."
"... I... I'm not that clumsy..." I felt a tear fall on my hoof. "... I... I've been taking pretty good care of Dinky... Right...?" I looked at him, "I... I've been a good sister, right...?"
He looked down. "Well, there's some fair and unfairness to that... Allow me to explain. When we first got reports of what you've done to Ponyville thus far, we knew you were an accident waiting to happen. We knew that you had the capability to potentially harm somepony, but your accidents had never been serious enough for us to step in. And, after a time, we calmed down and began believing that your accidents were nothing more than simple acts of a clumsy pony. Although, after the Town Hall incident, which luckily caused no injuries, we all cringed and were now sure that you were capable of bigger accidents than just delivering a damaged package. But still, since nopony was injured and the Mayor had forgiven you, the whole situation seemed to die down, and everypony almost seemed to forget about it... Besides us."
I lowered my head.
"We knew that we needed some reason to step in and get you the help you needed, as to protect you and other ponies around you. We needed some evidence - any evidence - to make the higher-ups believe that you truly needed help. 100%. In other words, we got paranoid, and needed to ease our worries. To do this, since a few accidents wasn't enough to convince anypony we should take care of your clumsiness, we had to find another reason to confront you. Then, when we did some investigating... When I did some investigating... I found from Miss Cheerilee that Dinky had been experiencing some problems during some past months, ever since you had been demoted. Her lunches got smaller due to your financial problems, and her performance in P.E. began showing more and more symptoms of malnutrition... When we found this out, we thought, 'This is it. This is the evidence we needed.' " He paused to look at me again, but I didn't have anything to say, so he kept talking. "... And so, after gathering enough evidence, we knew that we finally had the case we needed to prove that you were capable of hurting others, and we could step in, and deal with the matter... Even if it meant taking Dinky away from you."
My mouth opened wide and I sat forward, "B-But... That's-... I-..." It was hard to find something to say. After a long pause, I thought of something. "... So that means... You too, mister...?"
"... What?"
"... You thought I was dangerous too... Right...?" I looked at him, "... Did you want to take Dinky, too?" There was also a lot of silence after that. I looked at him for a long time, but he didn't say anything. Finally I looked down, and gave up on getting an answer.
"... Actually..." When I heard his voice, my head rose. "... In the beginning... I didn't. I thought it was absurd that they were trying to 'fix' you because you weren't perfect... I was against them. I was only doing my job."
"... R-Really...?" I asked, smiling a little.
"... Yes. But..."
My smile went away.
"... But after this... After what happened with Dinky..." He looked away from me. "... I think it would be best if... If Dinky was put somewhere safer... And if you were given some kind of natural focus formula, to lower the chances of this sort of thing ever happening again..."
I don't know how to describe my face just then, or my emotions. There was a mix of different things... And I'm not really too good with words. I just know that whatever it was... It didn't feel good at all.
Finally, a nurse came out of the emergency room. "Miss Hooves?"
I turned to her quickly, "Y-Yes...?!"
She smiled softly, and nodded at me. "It was a close call, but Dinky will be fine." I smiled again, and more warm tears fell down my cheeks. "She'll need some bed rest here at the hospital for a week or so, so we can keep track of her initial recovery, but you can visit as often as you like. And remember, when she can go home again, she needs bed rest and lots of care."
"Can I see her?!" I stood up.
"Yes, just wait in the front room and I'll get to you in a moment." She walked back into the room, and I felt relieved. I looked over at the custody pony again, but he was walking away.
"Hey-... Where are you going?" I asked. "... Don't you want to check on Dinky?"
"... I already know she's fine." He answered, "Besides... I'm going to see her in 'a week or so' according to the nurse... Remember?" He walked off, leaving me by myself... I forgot that Dinky was going to be taken away right after she's out of the hospital. I looked down, and started walking to the front room of the hospital like the nurse told me... I think I'm spending the night.