//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The last goodbye // Story: My Little Sister // by Shaslan //------------------------------// “Mommy won’t be happy to know that we’ve been together,” Dinky said dubiously. “Are you sure I shouldn’t go in alone?” “Yes,” Sparkler said stubbornly. “She needs to know. I — it was me who kept you safe, and bought you home. I want her to see that she can trust me. And that it was me who helped you with your cutie mark.” “That’s true.” Dinky wiggled her rump proudly. “I can’t believe it finally came!” “I just…I don’t want her to tell you that you can’t see me again,” Sparkler said, a little desperately. It was horrible, having to drag Dinky down again from her euphoric high, but what other option did she have? If she didn’t get Dinky on her side, they might never get another chance to see each other. Dinky’s expression sobered. “I don’t want that either.” She raised her eyes to her sister’s. “I really like you, Sparkler.” Her heart swelling, Sparkler drank those words in like a mare fresh from the desert. “Really?” “Yes.” Dinky node firmly. “You’re my big sister. I can’t believe it’s taken this long for us to meet each other properly.” She reached up to Sparkler’s shoulder, and patted her firmly, like she was the big sister. “Don’t worry. I’ll help Mommy to understand that you are our family.” Though the reversal of roles was strange, Sparkler revelled in the moment, trying to embed it firmly in her memory. “Thank you, Dinky.” She sniffed, and tried to find a bright side for her little sister. “Maybe…maybe next time, I could help you make some targets. We could make the garden at the haunted house into a little shooting range for you.” “Ooh, really?” Dinky seized on the idea. “That would be amazing! And maybe you could make me some arrowheads?” “Arrowheads?” Sparkler was taken aback. “I’m not very good with flint.” Dinky swatted at her leg. “Not flint, silly! I was thinking like…amethyst, maybe, like your cutie mark?” A smile spread across Sparkler’s face. “Really? Yeah, I could do that! Or diamond, for hardness!” “Yeah, that would be great!” Dinky enthused. “Fashionable and functional! It’ll be awesome. You can carve while I shoot. It’ll be our special place.” Sparkler sniffed back another tear. Her sister…cared about her. Somepony cared. Dinky wanted to see her again. “I’d really love that.” They turned back to the door, strangely grey in the darkness. Dinky raised her hoof to knock. At once, the door was torn open, and Derpy burst through, her expression frantic. As her eyes fixed on Dinky, she gasped. “Dinky! You’re safe!” She threw her forelegs and wings alike around Dinky, enfolding the foal in one of those soft, safe motherly embraces that Sparkler had watched and envied so often. “I’m alright, Mommy!” But then Derpy’s eyes moved over her daughter’s shoulder to Sparkler, hovering nervously on the doorstep, and her expression darkened. Immediately, she straightened, and spread one wing protectively in front of Dinky. Something in Sparkler’s chest twisted. As if she would ever hurt her baby sister. She tried to force a smile. “Miss Hooves, I—” But Derpy was speaking, and not to her. “Dinky, I told you that you weren’t to see her!” Bravely, Dinky tried to struggle past the “I know, Mommy, but she’s not like you said. We spent all night together, and she helped me—” Her mother was no longer listening. Derpy was advancing on Sparkler, wings flared and voice raised. “Did you kidnap my baby?” Sparkler cringed away. “I — no, no! There were these other foals, and they—” Tugging at her mother’s tail, Dinky tried to defend her. “—It was Diamond Tiara, Mommy! Not Sparkler. Sparkler helped me — I got my cutie mark!” That finally halted the wall-eyed onslaught. Derpy jerked back to face her daughter. “You did what?” “Look!” Dinky brandished her brand-new mark. “A bow and arrow! Just like Robbin’ Hood!” With a gasp, Derpy grabbed her daughter again. “Oh my goodness, baby! I’m so proud of you!” “And it was Sparkler who helped me!” Frozen again, Derpy looked back at the outsider. She shook her head and blinked her mismatched eyes. “Dinky, you know that I didn’t want you to talk to her.” She stood and tried to usher Dinky back inside. “Come on, let’s go get some hot chocolate. Something like your cutie mark…well, that needs celebrating! And then maybe we can start planning your Cuteceneara?” Reluctantly, Dinky let herself be pushed inside, looking back at where Sparkler still lingered. “But…” “Go on, no buts.” Derpy spoke firmly, and Dinky finally obeyed. “Please,” Sparkler tried, just one last time. “She’s my sister.” Derpy’s face crumpled a little, but she still began to shut the door. Shutting Sparkler out. “She’s my daughter. And you…you look just like him.” Her throat tight, Sparkler looked away. “I…never wanted to.” Her voice was just a whisper in the night. “He left all of us behind.” The door clicked shut. Defeated, Sparkler hung her head and turned away. Derpy Hooves was right. There was no place for her here. As she plodded down the street, she pictured what awaited her at home. Her mother would be drunk. She always was. She’d probably be asleep — she might not have even noticed that Sparkler was gone. Sparkler would have to choke back her tears and slink into bed beside her mother. Gembright would stink, and her coat would be matted with vomit, but Sparkler didn’t care anymore. It was always the same. She had become desensitised to it. She would wriggle onto the only corner of the bed not occupied by sprawling purple limbs, and curl herself up as small as she could. She would shut her eyes, and conjure up for herself again the image of two fillies, side by side. One larger with a scruffy purple mane, and one small and lavender and blonde. Her mother’s night terrors seemed to get worse every month, and often she did not even want Sparkler on the edge of the bed. Sparkler might awake to a hoof in the ribs, and the sight of her mother twitching and shaking. “Get out of my house,” she would snarl at her invisible adversary, her limbs quivering. “I’ll kill you. Get out!” Sparkler would sleep on the floor and imagine Dinky’s golden eyes again. She knew full well that the next time darkness came, bringing its brief respite from the pain that was her life, it would find her back outside Dinky’s window, watching her and wishing that it could be her life, too. “Sparkler — wait.” The voice from behind her was not loud, but it was enough to halt Sparkler in her tracks. She turned back, to see Derpy Hooves standing in the street, Dinky beside her, still robed in green. Derpy looked down at her daughter, and sighed. “Sparkler…I think you’d better come inside. Would you…like some hot chocolate?” Slowly, a tremulous smile spread over Sparkler’s muzzle.