//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: Fucking Bootleg Christmas and Shit (End of Arc 2) // Story: Papers, Ponies, and Attitude // by Yellowtail //------------------------------// It’s the next day, and I’m at my ‘trial’. It’s almost six in the morning. The courtroom looks exactly like the courtroom in Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney. The judge is rubbing some sleep off his eyes. To the right of the judge, sits the prosecution. The prosecutor sits next to the two guards that arrested me two days ago. Across the room, I sit with my public attorney. Yeah, I could easily afford an attorney, but everyone knows I’m innocent, especially with the evidence I’ve given to my lawyer. I can see a couple familiar faces in the background. Whisk, Spearhead, and Segway are all sitting in the chairs, with the rest of the creatures that are here to watch what happens. I can also see a very well dressed Guard, having golden armor with many different engravings. He seems to be giving the prosecuting guards a stern glare. A glare that seems to make the guards flinch. Especially since he looks angry. However, right now, I’m giving masterful banter to convince the guards to call off the trial. “You ain’t gon’ do shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!” I call loudly. As I said, masterfully constructed words will surely convince them to abort. “You, ain’t, gon’ do shit, you ain’t gonna do it~,” I start chanting/singing. This apparently does not work, only serving to make the prosecution angry. However, they don’t say anything, settling for glaring at me. “Order, order,” the judge calls. He smacks his lips before taking a deep sigh as he reorganizes his desk. “Right, uh, court’s in session... I believe this is Corporals Snapper and Ticker against one individual known as Anonymous the Human. Prosecution, do you swear to tell the truth?” “Yes, your honor,” the prosecutor says. “The question now goes to the Defense.” “Yes, your honor,” my attorney says. “Very well, let us start the trial. Will the prosecution please come to the stand to declare what the defendant is being accused of?” The prosecutor gets up and swiftly walks up to the stand beside the judge. As he talks, my attorney leans over to me. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” he mutters with a wink. I give a half assed thumbs up. “... and thus, wish to charge Anonymous the Human on grounds for treason of the highest degree.” The prosecutor does not look comfortable, as if he understands the position he’s in. I pity him. “Do you have any evidence to back up such an accusation?” The judge asks. Before the trial could go on, the court room’s doors fly open, and Celestia walks in. She looks tired and annoyed. “Excuse me, but might I go ahead and end this pointless trial?” She asks, walking over to sit with me. The judge nods and picks up a mug of coffee from under his stand. The Guards look very confused, but the fancy guard seated in the audience stands up. “Princess, if I may, I would like to formally apologize for-“ “General, I already saw your letter, it’s the reason I’m here,” Celestia says tiredly. “You’re fine.” Celestia directs her attention to the Guards again. “Corporals, I appreciate your loyalty to your commander, but both him and myself have specifically requested the both of you to abstain from interacting with Anonymous in this manner.” “But he committed treason in a time of crisis!” One yells. “And who are you to tell me that he committed treason on the grounds of a rather sensible argument,” Celestia says. “And that’s not to mention about how he earned the Medal of Honor that I had awarded him.” Celestia sighs. “Look around you, what do you see?” Before they could answer, Celestia quickly answers it for them. “Civilians. These are civilians who were saved thanks to Anonymous’ big mouth. Do you know how many soldiers had even thought to stay and protect them before Anon’s speech? None. Not a single one. Would you like to know why? Because most of them thought someone would take their place to defend Manehatten. So please, forget about your pride, you’ve already lost it.” Everyone stares at Celestia in silent shock. No one’s ever really seen her as disapproving of her own guards after all. “... The fuck was that about me having a big mouth?” I ask. Everyone looks at me with horror while Celestia deadpans at me. “Anon, shut up,” she says tiredly. She turns back to the surprised crowd and smiles. “By royal decree, Anonymous is innocent of any crimes he is accused of. Court is dismissed.” “Yeah, what she said,” says the judge, hopping down from his chair. He takes a long sip as everyone awkwardly looks around. Whisk walks up to me, grabs my hand, and walks out with me in tow. “What do you want to eat? McDonalds sound good?” She asks. “If the ice cream machine’s working, sure. I could really use a milkshake,” I say. Celestia sighs and teleports out as everyone, including me and Whisk, shuffles out the courtroom door. As we walk into the street though, I feel a tug on my shirt. I look over, never stopping, to see the apparent General from earlier. “Mister Anonymous, I would like to apologize on the behalf of-“ “Wait, are you one of the generals that made the decision about Manehatten?” I ask. He sighs, nodding. “Cool, don’t do that dumb shit again you balless sack of shit,” I say. He flinches as I berate him. “I mean, for fuck’s sake, what prompted you to make a dumbass move like that?” “Like I was trying to say, I would like to formally apologize for the events that took place recently, it will not happen again.” “I’d like to believe that,” I say, turning to continue follow Whisk. However, the General runs up and walks alongside us. “Anonymous, please allow me to make it up to you,” he says. Whisk doesn’t acknowledge him, so I answer. “Do I look like a politician?” I ask. “Erm, no?” “Then fuck off you thirsty thot,” I say, shooing him away. “... Very well. Again, I apologize for what has transpired recently.” With that, he walks off. Whisk and I simply keep going to wherever the nearest McDonald’s is... It’s December eighteenth, and I keep Whisk in my lap as I sit and watch television with her. It’s been a good while since the incident with the Guards. Bacon and his family came over to visit us during Thanksgiving. Whisk’s parents also came over. Her dad was certainly healthier than the last time I saw him. Last time, I could smell rotten pig carcasses off of him, but now he just smells like dead rats, which is better. I should know, I’ve smelled them when I lived in an alleyway for a week. Anyway, he’s been better about his gambling addiction. He tried to ask me for gambling money, but Whisk stepped in. She’s really good at convincing people to stop doing something when she’s angry. Funnily enough, her dad got onto me for my smoking habit. I merely told him to fuck off. Just like that, we got along even better than before. Maple’s feathers are starting to get more vivid colors, but the color seems to stick with a lighter red than Bacon’s. It’s not pink, but it’s close. I managed to sneak some pocket money into the travel bag he started carrying. The bag is more like a messenger bag. Bacon says he has a good feeling about it. Back to the present, Whisk and I merely sit in the living room as we watch television. We finished decorating the house for pony-bootleg-Christmas. There’s a row of Christmas lights lining the rooftop of the house, there’s a tree in the living room with candy canes and various ornaments, and I’m wearing a Santa hat. Why Santa hats exist in a world without a Santa, I don’t know. Anyway, Whisk and I are currently watching a movie called ‘Hearthwarming Vacation’. Yes. It’s just Christmas Vacation, but ponies and griffons. To say it’s still funny to see a redneck pony pouring radioactive sewage down a gutter to clean their shitter is a god damn understatement. “At least this world has the classics,” I say, chuckling. “Oh? What do you mean? Did your people have a movie like this?” Whisk asks. I nod. “Yep. Called it Christmas Vacation. The vacation where everything goes wrong. A classic,” I say. “I think they did a sort of reboot slash sequel to it, following the protagonist’s now grown up son with his own family, but I never managed to find it or watch it.” “Aw, I’m sorry,” Whisk says. “... Oh! When did you see the first one then?” She asks excitedly. She occasionally gets excited about my world, interested in all their version of sci-fi stuff I had experienced. I grimace. “Well, it was good when I first saw it, I just wish it was under better conditions at the time,” I say. “What does that mean?” Whisk asks with a quirked eyebrow. I sigh. “My ex,” I answer simply. “O-oh, sorry,” Whisk says quietly, immediately trying to drop the subject. “No, it’s okay. I had eleven years, I’m over it,” I say. Sometimes, Whisk would kind of remind me of my ex, in a good way. I don’t like thinking about it, but it’s not as much of a sore subject now. Especially compared to the time I was ran out of Ponyville. Which reminds me... “... Hey Whisk,” I start, getting her attention. “... I’m thinking about going to Ponyville.” “Huh?” Whisk asks, turning to face me with a confused expression. “I’m sorry, what?” “Ponyville. I’m gonna visit Ponyville,” I say nonchalantly. “Hold up,” Whisk looks me over for second. “Didn’t you hate that town?” “Well, yeah, but I’ve calmed down a bit about it,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I uh, also kinda want to visit Applejack and Derpy. It’s been a while since I saw them, I figured it’d be nice to drop in and say hi for the holidays.” “... Uh, alright. How long will it be until you get back?” Whisk asks. “Mm... about a day. I won’t be staying for a night. I’ll leave tomorrow and come back around night time, I already phoned in a sub for my job.” I bring Whisk closer, like I was hugging a big teddy bear. “I just wanted to let you know.” “So, wait,” Whisk says, hugging me back nonetheless. “You’re leaving tomorrow morning, how long did you plan for this trip? Do you even have anything to bring them? It’d be kinda awkward to pop in for a quick hello.” I chuckle. “Yep. I’m gonna stop off at a couple place tomorrow morning before leaving for the train. I remember Applejack telling me about some bakery her sister saw in Manehatten when she stayed over at our place.” I laugh a little. “I was sitting around, I kinda realized I wasn’t really in the mood to go to work tomorrow, and I kinda missed AJ and Derpy. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to them much for the past few months, and it’s the holidays, so why the fuck not?” I ask. Whisk smiles warmly at me and sighs. “Guess I won’t see you until you get back?” She asks. “Actually, do you want to come as well? Ponyville’s a nice place when the residents aren’t bigoted assholes,” I say. Whisk starts to refuse, but stops. She looks up in thought for a moment before shrugging. “Sure, why not? I was the only one coming into work tomorrow anyway, and no one really comes around during Hearthswarming. It might as well be closed for the day,” she says. She leans into me, laying her feathery head on my chest. “Screw it, why not?” I grumble as Whisk is still laughing while we sit in the train heading for Ponyville. “The one fucking time they’re not open,” I mutter. The bakery I had hurriedly planned to visit was closed due to family emergency. Whisk just started laughing because she knew this would happen. However, when we got our train ticket, we barely had enough time to quickly scramble to get something for Applebloom and Dinky. “It’s okay Anon,” Whisk says between laughs. “I don’t see what’s so funny,” I grumble. “The- the face you had was so-“ Whisk stops to laugh a little more. I merely look at her laughing figure for a little bit before cracking a small smile. “Uh huh, yeah, keep laughing, I still remember when Luna went to your bar the first time,” I point out, making Whisk laugh a little harder. “Oh Celestia, don’t remind me!” She says. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen her laugh. The war was kinda stressful for everyone, including her. The laughs she had during the war weren’t nearly as natural as it is now. I look down at the paper bag I got for carrying the foals’ treats, one is a watering can for Applebloom, and one is an adventure book for Dinky. Applejack told me that Applebloom’s taking a big interest in gardening, even having her own garden patch of flowers near their barn. Dinky’s been really busy studying lately, but Derpy can tell she still loves books. Apparently, Dinky’s almost as bad as Twilight. I chuckle at the thought of that. My smile lessens at the thought of Twilight. I’m not entirely sure about whether or not I want to talk to her. Our weekly chats kinda tampered off before the war. Nowadays, the last time I talked to her was a long while ago, I don’t even remember what we talked about. “... Anon, are you alright?” Whisk asks, breaking me from my train of thought. I look over to see her concerned face, which makes me sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking,” I say. “Attention passengers, this is your conductor speaking,” a voice over the comma says. “This stop is Ponyville, and we warn you to quickly hold on to something.” As Whisk and I look at the speakers above us in confusion, the train lurches like when someone floors the breaks in a car. Whisk and I almost fly out of our seats and land on the floor with a thud, along with various other passengers in the train. “Fuck,” I groan in pain. I stretch as I get back up. “Nothing like a shit arrival to remind me of the wonderful times I had in this town.” “Hey, don’t get too snappy Mister, you wanted to come here,” Whisk says. “Well, yeah, but I still want to complain about this shit,” I say. Whisk and I step off the platform of the wooden train station, and I take in the sights of this God-forsaken town. I can still just barely see the Everfree Forest over the horizon of snow-covered medieval houses. From what I can see in the distance, the top of Sugarcube Corner is candy-like, which means... it’s still a fucking gingerbread house. Oh, and I can see the crystal castle. To me, I don’t really like it for how out of place it looks. It’s like if Trump Tower was built at the head of a normal neighborhood in the countryside. Way to keep flexing on them Twilight. “Welp, if my sense of directions are correct-“ I am immediately interrupted by the sound of a familiar gasp. “Shit.” “Anon!” Pinkie yells, seemingly teleporting onto my leg in a hugging fashion. I kinda chuckle and pat her head with a bit of hesitation. “Don’t worry, I don’t have the cannon!” She says without looking. “Oh, okay. Hey Pinkie,” I casually greet. “... Can you get the hell off now?” Pinkie slides off cartoonishly and chuckles sheepishly as she stands up. I look at Whisk to see that she’s anything but amused. “Rather touchy,” she notes dryly. I snicker before rolling my eyes. “Anyway, do you know where Applebloom is?” I ask. I might as well get directions from her, she’s as reliable as the most complex GPS in the entire world. “Nope!” And just like that, she’s the shittiest complex GPS in the world. “What do you mean ‘nope?’” I ask. “Don’t you keep tabs on everybody?” “What do I look like, Facebook?” Pinkie asks. My eyes go a little wide. I recompose myself and quirk an eyebrow. “As funny as that is, how the fuck do you know about Facebook?” I ask. “Don’t you remember? You told me about it when you were super duper angry at me for following you for a day!” Pinkie says, reaching into her mane to pull out a sketch book. She opens it and flips to a page with a picture of her happy, smiling face, leaning to the side to show my angry, yelling face in the background. I just deadpan at no one in particular as I remember that day. That was not a good day. “Wow, you look pissed,” Whisk says, cracking a smile. “Yeah, anyway, I guess we’ll try to head over to Sweet Apple Acres,” I say. Whisk nods, following me as I start walking down the dirt path towards the town. “Alright, I’ll follow you.” I calmly walk through the town, undisturbed by the nervous stares and hushed whispers. Yep, this is Ponyville. Whisk stays close to me as we walk, looking around at the anxious ponies in confusion. “Uh, Anon, didn’t you say this was a friendly town?” She asks. “Yeah. They’re all nervous because they remember me,” I say. Whisk nods as realization hits her. “Right, the uh, incident...” We continue our walk, passing by house after house, before we start nearing a marketplace. The marketplace is a bunch of stands and stalls, all tightly squeezed together while offering various merchandise, souvenirs, food, you name it. Ponyville might be ‘the sticks’, but it’s certainly famous due to the various escapades Twilight and her friends went through. Funnily enough, Ponyville is apparently the most accepting of different races, with me being a very heavy exception. “Hey Mr Anon!” A familiar voice calls. I look up to see Derpy flying down, towards me. “Uh oh,” she says, quickly and accidentally ramming right into my chest, sending us into the ground. “Ooooowwwww,” I groan out weakly. “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Derpy says. Whisk snickers and helps Derpy off of me. “Honey, I’m starting to question your decision about visiting here more and more,” Whisk teases. I get up, groaning slightly. I look into the gift bag that I somehow miraculously didn’t give damage to. “Well, I’m not, and that’s good enough,” I say. I look up at the embarrassed grey pegasus before smiling and lean over to hug her. “It’s good to see you Derpy, how’s the little kiddo doing?” I ask. Derpy smiles and returns the hug before breaking it to face me. “Oh, she’s been doing great!” She says excitedly. “I was just talking to her the other day, and she started talking about opening a library!” Derpy looks giddy as she talks about her daughter. It’s heartwarming. “I told her that if she thinks she can do it, she should go for it, but I’m not really smart enough to know how to help her,” she laughs nervously. “Eh, I’m sure she’ll be-“ Our nice conversation is interrupted when an explosion goes off in the distance. Everyone looks down the dirt road to see a small dark mushroom cloud in the distance, near the Sweet Apple Acres farm. My immediate reaction is terror, but I immediately calm down to the point that I actually deadpan at the explosion. If anything, Applebloom and her friends probably just tried something new, like usual. Most of the time, it involves loud crashing and explosions. “... Probably nothing,” I say simply. Derpy shrugs and everyone goes back to doing what they were doing. “Anyway, as I was saying-“ “Anon, that was an explosion!” Whisk yells. I look at her for a second, merely blinking in confusion. “Uuuh, yeah?” “W-well why isn’t anyone worried or panicking!?” She asks. It finally hits me that Whisk isn’t used to Ponyville norms. “Let’s put it this way. Whenever an explosion, crash, monster attack, or apocalyptic event is going on, one two two things goes through everyone’s mind here. One, it’s normal. Two, if it’s not normal, Twilight and her friends will deal with it,” I say, shrugging it off. Whisk’s jaw drops. She pinches the bridge of her beak and sighs. “Are you telling me, that over the past ten years you lived here, explosions and monster attacks are either normal or pushed onto someone else to deal with?” Whisk asks. I nod. “... So, why were you terrifying to these ponies if your only threatening quality is yelling at them?” I start to stop to respond with a logical explanation, but I can’t. “Well, Uh... well...” I scratch my head as I try to think about it. “... I dunno, I’m tall?” Whisk quirks an eyebrow at me. “Bull,” Whisk says. “Bull? Where?” Derpy asks. “Uh, figure of speech Derpy,” I quickly say. Derpy looks at the sky and gasps. “Oh my goodness! I have to run! I’ll be late!” Derpy quickly starts galloping past us and towards a direction. I’m not entirely sure if it’s the right way to the post office, but I’ll let her trust her instincts for now. Whisk and I give her a smile and a wave as goodbye for now as Derpy flies off. I enjoy the silence Whisk and I’ll probably miss in the next few minutes as we walk down the dirt road to the Sweet Apple Acres farm. We’re still passing a long, white wooden fence that seems to have been painted recently. The Apple trees lining the orchards are covered in snow, with no fruit. It’s quite nice to see, after seeing nothing but stone, brick, and concrete buildings for a few years. Whisk, on the hand, is not as thrilled. She kinda has a scrunched up face whenever she steps in mud. The first time it happened, I merely pointed at my shoes with a smirk. I don’t know why she’s walking, she has wings for fuck’s sake. Actually, now that I think about it, my shoes are getting pretty old and worn out. There’s definitely signs of wear, if the faded color or splotches of mud are anything to go by. They used to be a nice pair of leather shoes, even if it wasn’t as shiny as I’d like it to be. Suddenly, I hear a set of hooves galloping towards me. I spin around just in time to catch Scootaloo in mid air as she tried to ambush me... with a hug. “Darn it! So close!” Scootaloo laughs as she futilely tries to wrap her forelegs around me. “Eh, you’ll get me next time,” I say. Scootaloo plops down and looks up at me before frowning slightly. “So uh, you didn’t see any-“ “I saw the mushroom cloud Scootaloo,” I deadpan. Whisk giggles as the now-embarrassed pony chuckles nervously. “Yeeeeaaaaaah, uh, totally Sweetie Belle’s fault,” she says. She looks at me with a ‘convincing’ smile. “She thought a cannon would fire a lot better if there was more gun powder stored!” She starts looking excited as she thinks back to the event. “So of course, I- Uh, I mean, Sweetie, decided to fill it so full, that I could fly even higher than last time!” I face palm at Scootaloo’s terrible lie. “Welp, great talk, gotta go!” Scootaloo yells, quickly jumping up, waving, and darting in the opposite direction. “No- Wait, what were you-... Oh forget it,” I mutter, realizing very quickly that Scootaloo won’t listen to me. Whisk bursts into laughter as we continue our walk to the farm. However, I smile, seeing that at least Scootaloo doesn’t seem to be too badly affected by the trauma of the war. And if Sweetie Belle was involved, I can certainly bet that all three were in on their little experiment. The fact that they can mess with a canon and consider it fun, it must mean they’re doing a lot better than I originally thought they would. I take a deep breath in and out as I see the Sweet Apple Acre farm. The Apples don’t seem to be the only ones here. It’s almost nine or ten in the morning, and I already feel tired. Not tired, as in sleep-wise, more like tired, like ‘I’m too tired for this shit.’ There is a large group of ponies at the barn, where a banner was hung up in the opening of it. The main house seems to be a source for the country music that fills the air. “I was not expecting company,” I note dryly. Whisk looks at me with a little worry, seeing my reaction, but puts a comforting claw on my arm. “Well, uh, do you want to go ahead and go try to find Dinky or-“ I chuckle and pat Whisk’s head. “Nah, I wanted to see Applejack first, I wanted to go ahead and catch up a bit more with her.” Whisk looks at me with concern. I give her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” Whisk looks at me for another minute before smiling. “You know, you’re so different from when we first met. It’s a little scary in a way,” Whisk says, giggling. “Nah, I’m not that different,” I say. “I’m probably still just tired from the war.” I give a small chuckle as I reach into my pocket and pull out a cig. The moment I started smoking, a familiar orange pony walks out from the barn to greet us. “Howdy ya’ll, what can I do for you?” She asks, tilting her Stetson back as she walks up. She scrunches her nose a little as she smells the smoke, but she doesn’t comment on it. “Oh, nothing, we just wanted to visit. It’s been a little while since I talked to you or your little sister,” I say. “Figured I should stop by, since it’s Christmas-“ “Hearthswarming,” Whisk and Applejack correct me at the same time. I just deadpan at them as I finish a breath in. I sigh out the smoke, and look at them in the eye one at a time. “Look at my eyes,” I start. I take another drag and breathe it out. “Do I look like I give a flying-“ “Mr Anon!” Another, younger voice calls, shortly before I feel hooves wrap around me from behind. “Hey Applebloom,” I say, giving a small smile as I look behind me to see Applebloom’s form hugging me. “God, did you get bigger again? You look like a full grown mare.” “Anon, I’m almost eighteen, of course I’m as big as a mare,” Applebloom huffs, letting me go to walk around to face me. Applejack snickers and ruffles Applebloom’s mane with a hoof. “The mind of a filly stuck in a body of a mare,” she teases, earning a laugh from Whisk and I. Applebloom wasn’t as amused, but it only added to the comedy. As I calm down, I puff out some smoke as I reached into the bag I was carrying. I pull out Applebloom's gift, showing it to her. "I figured you might like this," I say. Applebloom gasps excitedly, taking it to inspect it closer. "Wow! Thanks! Now I don't need to use the hose anymore!" She uses her free foreleg to give me a quick hug. "Thanks Mr Anon!" With that, she runs off towards the barn to put it up. Whisk and I smile at Applebloom's excitement. Applejack, however, was smiling even wider. She has a sort of prideful look as she looks on after her sister. "... She's almost grown up now," she says softly. I chuckle, petting Whisk as I reminiscing the time that filly first met me. "Yep. Almost grown up... Call me crazy, but I think I just might miss her and her friends breaking into my house," I say. Applejack chuckles, turning to me. "Sugarcube, you and I both know they'll still do that long after they become adults," she says. Whisk Snickers as I give a laugh. "Yeah, you're probably right," I say. "Would ya'll like to come in? We got family over," Applejack offers. I scoff. "Did you plan it?" I ask. She nods. "Then no way in hell. I still remember trying to do that stupid obstacle course," I retort. Applejack laughs, nodding. "Alright, fair enough," she says, smiling up at me. "Just remember Sugarcube, you're always welcomed here." I nod. "Noted, as always. Tell your folks I said hi, alright?" I ask. She nods as Whisk and I start walking away from the farm. "Wait!" Applebloom's voice calls. I look over to see Applebloom rushing towards me. She has a paper bag hanging from her mouth as she gallops up. She skids to a halt in front of me. She pants as she puts the bag down in front of me. "Sorry, I forgot to give you something," she says. As I pick it up, she gives me one more quick hug before turning back and returning to the barn. I look into the bag and find a few jars of zap apple jam. Damn, it's been forever since I actually had any. I smile and wave bye to Applejack. "Well, it was great talking to you," I say. She gives a smile and a nod as Whisk and I leave. Not gonna lie, this went a lot better than I thought. I smile down at Whisk as we walk the dirt road back to Ponyville. Standing in front of a familiar house, belonging to Derpy, I stop as I take in the sight. It looks like nothing much has changed. The house is like most of the buildings in Ponyville, white, tall, hay-rooftop, and pink windows. However, the mailbox in front of the house was crooked, as always. I remember when I babysat Dinky, when Derpy went to the Canterlot wedding so many years ago. She was nervous at first, but she warmed up to me. Whisk tugs on my shirt, breaking me out of my trance. "Ready?" She asks, looking up at me. I nod and we walk up to the front door. I knock on the door, and wait. "Who is it?" A voice asks. "Uh, hey kiddo! It's Anon," I say. The door unlocks and opens to reveal Dinky, who has her reading glasses on. She looks exhausted, to say the least. "Oh, hey Mr Anon," she says before yawning. "Sorry, Mom's not around for the moment." "That's fine, I'm here to see you," I say. I frown as I take in the fact that her name is disheveled, there are bags under her eyes, and her fur is matted. "... Did you stay up all night studying or something?" I ask. She slowly blinks and sighs "... Kinda," she says, sniffing. Whisk and I exchange worried glances. "... Do you want to talk about it?" I ask. Dinky slowly nods and allows us into her house. We walk in, and now I know that nothing's changed at all. There's a blue couch, two small tables on each side, and a radio sits on one end. There's a wooden desk against one wall, with a small disheveled stack of papers. There's a hallway in one corner, but I just sit on the couch, while guiding Dinky into doing the same. As she sits down, Whisk sits on the other side of her. I rub Dinky's mane, seeing as how she seems to be enjoying it. We sit in silence for a good while, until Dinky finally speaks. "... I'm really tired," she simply says before passing out. Her head slumps down, and I stare in mild shock. I've seen Twilight like this, but I didn't think Dinky would be like this. Her eyes are kinda.bloodshot, but there aren't any year stains to suggest she's been crying. She seems to just be tired, probably from studying a hell of a lot. Derpy did tell me Dinky was getting serious about education at some point. "Oh, poor thing," Whisk says quietly, shaking her head. "We should get her to bed. Do you know where her room is?" I nod and hand Whisk the bag I was carrying before gently picking Dinky up. She's actually rather light, to my surprise, but I focus on getting her to bed. I carefully stand up slowly and start walking down the hall. Whisk follows closely. After passing a couple doors, I stop in front of Dinky's room. The door's already open, and I can see inside. Papers are everywhere, books are stacked, and I get flashbacks to Twilight's rampage about not having a friendship report. Fun times. However, I regain my attention and carefully walk through the ocean of papers before setting Dinky down on her bed on the other side of the room. I carefully walk back and quietly shut the door behind me. I take back my bag from Whisk and walk to the living room. "Guess I'll just have to leave this here then," I mutter. I smile a little. "Hopefully, she likes it." Whisk smiles and nods before we walk out the house. I make sure that the door is locked before we start our way back to the train station. Today was nice, I hope I'll always be able to have a day like this...