After the third and final arrow from Dinky’s quiver thudded into the rotten upholstery for the umpteenth time, Sparkler’s cries of exultation were wearing thin. Dinky, too, was beginning to tire. Sparkler couldn’t guess what time it would be outside, but they must have been in here for at least a few hours. Clearly Diamond Tiara had not relented. Where were the pangs of a guilty conscience when you needed them?
When Dinky suggested firing her arrows at the wooden door instead, Sparkler was happy to oblige. Anything that provided a little variation was welcome.
They passed a few minutes in using some rusty nails to gouge a target shape into the wood of the door. Another few revealed that Dinky’s little wooden arrows with their blunted tips were strong enough to embed themselves into the old chair, but not into the sturdy planks of the door.
“Pity it’s not rotten, really,” Sparkler commented, as she set about sharpening one of the arrows to a point. “Would have made it a lot easier to kick our way through it.”
“Or tunnel through it, like Robbin’ Hooves’ escape from Trottingham Jail!” suggested Dinky cheerfully, her magic wrapped around one of the rusty nails as she whittled at the second arrow.
“Careful you don’t poke your eye out with that!” Sparkler cautioned her. Looking out for her little sibling felt…good. She was doing what a big sister should.
Dinky laughed and rolled her eyes. “You sound like Mom.”
That shut Sparkler up. Derpy Hooves, the hated force that had kept the two of them apart for years. Sparkler would rather lose one of her own eyes to the wooden arrows than be like her.
Working quickly, Star finished the first arrow and moved on to the last one. Once Dinky’s own arrow was pointy enough, she joined Star, leaning close over her shoulder to watch.
With a final few scraps of the nail, Sparkler held it up proudly. “I think that’s it!”
“Yay!” cried Dinky, clopping her hooves together in excitement, her green cloak fluttering with each movement.
Solemnly, Sparkler handed over the arrow, and Dinky nocked it to her bow. She swung the arrow point around, her face tight with concentration, and Sparkler made a show of gasping and whimpering when the tip of it passed over her. Dinky suppressed a smile and pointed the bow up at the door, her magic sending little yellow sparks shooting away from the bow like arrows in miniature.
With one last intake of breath, she lined it up and let the arrow fly. The bowstring twanged, and the arrow clattered against the stairs.
“Ugh, no!” Dinky stomped one little purple-grey hoof. “I can’t get the angle right with the steps in the way.”
“Hey, it’s alright.” Sparkler scrambled to find a solution. “How about this? You stand on my back to shoot the arrow. That way you’ll get a bit more height. It might be enough to make the difference.”
Dinky’s face cleared. “Good idea!” She trotted over to Sparkler, who knelt to allow her to clamber on.
Holding herself steady while Dinky climbed aboard, Sparkler could feel the warmth of the younger foal through her sackcloth robe. It was…nice. Sparkler so rarely had contact with other ponies. Unsteadily, Dinky got to her hooves, and Sparkler took a few uncertain steps, trying to compensate for her shifting load.
“Over to the door,” Dinky commanded, and Sparkler laughed at the imperiousness of her tone.
“Yes, sir, Robbin’!”
She positioned herself at the foot of the stairs, and Dinky took aim again. The bow floated right beside her face, one eye shut, the other narrowed to a slit. She leaned back, and Sparkler hastily edged in the same direction to ensure that Dinky wouldn’t fall off.
Then Dinky reared onto her hind legs, muttering something under her breath. “Just a little more height…I think I can…make it…”
Wincing at the sharp hooves on her neck, Sparkler half-shut her eyes, trying to feel which way Dinky was leaning so that she could anticipate the movements she would need to take.
Then there came the whizzing sound of Dinky’s bow releasing, and the rush of the arrow through the air. Then, suddenly, a blaze of golden light so shocking that Sparkler yelped and sprang away, half-expecting to see a firework in the cellar with them.
Dazzled by the brilliant golden light that flooded everything, Sparkler flung her forelegs out to catch Dinky, but her little sister did not fall. Sparkler waited one heartbeat, two, three, with her legs outstretched, before she leant forward again, raising a leg to shield her eyes against the glare.
In the white-hot epicentre of the glow was a slightly dimmer shape — almost equine. Could that be — surely not — it was Dinky.
The little grey unicorn hung in the air like a pegasus, her green cloak billowing behind her, her mane as full of magic as an alicorn’s. Her bow was still floating in her magic, and in that moment she truly did look like some ancient hero, bursting out from the pages of a storybook and into real life. Sparkler stared agog as her little sister slowly floated back to earth, her glow dimming and fading bit by bit, until the only radiance left was emanating from the tiny bow and arrow now etched onto her side. As she took in that last detail, Sparkler’s breath caught.
Five seconds ago, Dinky’s flank had been blank.
“Dinky!” she gasped. “Your — your cutie mark!”
Dinky’s eyes fluttered open, and it took her a moment to absorb Sparkler’s words. “Wha—?” Then her head swung, and her magic yanked the green fabric out of the way so that she could see for herself. Her breath rushed out from her lungs, and then she gave a loud squeal of excitement. “Oh my goodness! Sparkler! Sparkler! I got my cutie mark!”
“You got your cutie mark!” Sparkler squealed too, throwing her forelegs wide again.
Dinky hurled herself into them, and they hugged and danced and hugged until they couldn’t move. Laughing, sobbing, weak with tears and happiness, Sparkler held her little sister close. “I’m so proud of you, Dinky!”
“It was the bow and arrows,” Dinky said wonderingly. “Shooting the arrows. Sparkler, I think I’m going to be an archer when I grow up.”
Sparkler beamed. “Just like Robbin’ Hood.” Forget the cellar, forget the disaster she thought had taken place. This had been the best first meeting — no, the best day of her entire life. She had seen her little sister earn her cutie mark; had helped her earn it. She had been the first one Dinky turned to. Not Derpy Hooves, with her strange eyes and her stranger hatred of Sparkler. She hadn’t been the one to share this magical, irreplaceable moment with Dinky. It had been Sparkler herself.
No matter what happened after tonight, nopony could ever take that away from her.
Dinky’s voice broke into her thoughts again. “Sparkler, quick, look at the door! I did it! I aimed right!”
Hastily, Sparkler released her sister and the two of them raced back up the stairs to inspect the door. The rusted metal lock was shattered, destroyed on impact by Dinky’s little wooden arrow, that lay embedded deep within it. The door handle had fallen off, but it didn’t matter. The door to the cellar now stood ajar. Dinky’s arrow had freed them.
“Oh, wow,” Sparkler breathed. “Dinky, you’re right. You are going to be an archer. You’re going to be one heck of an archer.”
But Dinky was already surging out through the doorway, back towards the exit. “I wonder if we’ll still be in time to get some trick-or-treating done—” Her words cut off abruptly, and Sparkler hurried after her to see what was the matter.
Side by side, the two of them gazed out at the darkened town. No longer bustling with revellers and excited foals, it felt as quiet as the cellar they had emerged from. Dinky shifted a little closer to Sparkler, and Sparkler felt the chill of the real world set in. Their magical, private, shared moment was over. They had been gone for hours. Sparkler’s own mother wouldn’t notice. But Dinky’s mother…Sparkler shivered. “We’d better get you home, Dinky.”