Inside Ponyville Schoolhouse, a unicorn filly struggled to levitate her pencil so she could do her homework. The pencil barely moved, slowly rolling across her desk.
Maybe she would have to write with her mouth...again.
From behind her, a gray earth pony filly whispered, "You're never going to grow up, you know."
"What? That's crazy talk."
"Your magic isn't any stronger than a tiny baby's. You still have to pick everything up with your mouth. You still haven't gotten your cutie mark, like a proper pony would have by now. And look at your name: DINKY Doo. That means you're going to be DINKY forever. A pathetic dwarf."
"Lies!" Dinky Doo shouted.
At the front of the room, Cheerilee gave the little unicorn a tired look. "Dinky? Can you please be quiet? Or will I have to send you to the corner?"
Silver Spoon whispered, "The BABY corner."
A clock on Cheerilee's desk chimed. "Class dismissed," she said.
Dinky had never been so happy to escape school for the day. She packed her saddlebags, and trotted out the door.
***
When Dinky reached Ponyville's Town Square, she looked around. Seeing a familiar face, she ran over to Twilight Sparkle. "Where's Rainbow Dash? She was supposed to meet me here."
Twilight half-smiled sheepishly. "She...isn't able to come today. But it's not her fault! She had to go on an emergency mission for the Crown."
Dinky sighed. "Why did it have to be today?"
Twilight patted the unicorn filly's head. "I'm sorry. It's a secret mission, so I can't talk about it. At least not yet."
"What about my mom?" Dinky asked.
"She has to work late at the Post Office today. She sends her apologies." Twilight levitated a wrinkled mass of paper: a note somepony had folded and refolded and clumsily squashed into a wad. Twilight carefully used her magic to unfold the paper. Scribbled, clumsy mouthwriting said, "Sorry work says I cant leave yet. Mail run from Canterlot came late, so much mail mis sorted and mixed up, extra mail for special event too, everything went wrong. Love you, see u for dinner."
Dinky sighed.
"I know it isn't fair," Twilight said. "But so many ponies are counting on your mom."
Dinky looked up at the purple librarian. "So it's the Exhibition's fault my mom can't be here. Maybe I don't even WANT to go to the stupid Floating Exhibition."
Twilight blinked. "You don't want to go? But I thought you were looking forward to it."
Dinky looked down, prodding the grass with one hoof. "Cartoons are for babies."
"It's more respectful to call them animated films. And I was looking forward to the Exhibition too. Am I a baby?"
Dinky eyed Twilight's flank. "At least YOU have your cutie mark, so nopony can call you a baby. But I guess I'm never getting mine. And my magic hardly works at all, and I have a name that says I'm a baby too. I hate my life."
Twilight stepped forward and hugged the filly. "I'm sorry, Dinky. But you and I both know you're not a baby."
"I don't want to go see stupid cartoon stuff."
"I suppose I could tell you this is your one chance to visit a cloud, but that wouldn't be true. I'm sure I could do the cloudwalking spell on you some other time, and your mother or Rainbow Dash or some other pegasus could take you up to a cloud.
"But what I really think is, if you don't try the things you want to try, and don't do things you like, it might take you longer to get your cutie mark. So why not have some fun?"
Dinky whispered, "Silver Spoon says cartoons are for little foals, and I'm a foal, and I'm going to be a baby forever."
"Hmm," Twilight said. "Is Silver Spoon going to be up at the Exhibition?"
Dinky mumbled, "I guess not. I don't think so."
Twilight grinned slyly. "So she won't see that you're there. And if she IS at the Exhibition, is she going to call you a baby for being there? When she's up there too?"
Dinky giggled.
Twilight joked, "Maybe she didn't want you to go to the Exhibition, because SHE wants to go, and she doesn't want anypony she knows to see her?"
Dinky snickered. "That would be funny."
"So...can I do the spells now? So we can go visit a cloud?"
"Sure."
Twilight's horn glowed brightly for a minute, as she mumbled. "Build up the magical charging lattice...carry the two...here goes..." In a flash of magenta light, a pony-scale pair of dull brown moth wings appeared on Twilght's back. In an extra little hiccup or stutter of magic, Dinky felt all funny for a moment, like she'd become a little bit lighter. "Wings and a cloudwalking spell," Twilight said. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you wings for the day too, but it's a tough spell to do more than once a day, and I can't send you up on your own."
Dinky hadn't even thought about getting wings for herself. "I could have FLOWN up there?"
"I wish. But the last time I tried giving wings to...somepony who's maybe still a little bit like a filly in a few ways, it didn't go so well. It's safer for ME to have the wings, because I'm a responsible, boring librarian. But at least I have a filly coming along as an excuse for me to visit the Exhibition, or I guess I'd have to stay home and sort library cards." She grinned.
"So...I'm your excuse to have some fun."
"Exactly! I'm so glad you understand. Do you want to get started? Climb up on my back, behind my wings." Twilight lay on her belly, and the unicorn filly climbed up.
A moment later, Twilight flapped her wings, and the pair lifted off, rising into the sky.
"Wheee!" Dinky shouted. "This is amazing! We're flying! Just like with my mom! But you're a unicorn!"
"Yes," Twilight said. "We're just unicorns. So be sure to hang on tight."
***
Twilight and Dinky floated down onto a large but somewhat rough landing pad, almost as long and wide as the Town Square they'd left. Dinky looked over at the rows of sculpted cloud buildings. "Wow!" Dinky said. "It's like a little city of its own."
A greenish pegasus walked up. "Welcome to the Floating Exhibition of Pegasus Arts. I'm Minty Breeze." The pegasus sneezed. "No relation to Zephyr."
"Who?" Dinky asked.
"Never mind. Do you two need any help? Maybe directions?"
Twilight smiled. "We're mostly here to see the animation exhibits."
The pegasus pointed at a tall statue of a pink-bodied, orange-maned pegasus, standing next to a row of smaller blue creatures at his feet. "Right under Tin-Tin and the Bleurfs. You can hardly miss it."
"Thanks," Twilight said. The guide moved on to greet the next arrivals.
As Twilight and Dinky walked towards the statues, the purple unicorn remarked, "I wonder why he's called Tin-Tin."
"You don't know? He's originally from Planet of the Sweetie-Bots, where everycreature is a robot made of metal. But he got lost because he isn't any good at directions, so he's traveled to SO many different places."
"Isn't any good at directions...is THAT why his statue is set up as a landmark for ponies who need to know where they're going?"
Dinky shrugged. "I don't know. I'm really more into annie-neigh. If I wanted to watch boring stuff in Prench, I'd ask Rarity to teach me how to sew."
Twilight snorted.
The two visitors walked through a set of double doors, through a small lobby, and through another set of doors.
"Why so many doors?" Twilight wondered.
"You don't know? It's to keep the weather out. A lot of exhibits are very delicate."
"Oh. I suppose that makes sense." Twilight looked at a row of glass-covered posters on the walls.
"Look!" Dinky said. "Original posters for the first Mikey Mouse movies! In special electrically grounded protective frames, so you know they're important."
"Huh." Posters depicted the mouse as a tugblimp captain, as a farmer, and as a knight riding on the back of a much larger cat. "She rides on a cat?"
"He. The animated characters used to mostly be boys."
"That's weird. I wonder why."
"Some ponies used to think showing girls might make it look too much like Celestia, which would be...sack-re-litigous and they might get sued."
"But Celestia isn't a mouse."
"It's just what I heard." Dinky looked in another direction. "Look! They're showing a movie showing how they make movies!" She ran off in another direction.
When Twilight caught up, both ponies stood in a half-dark, empty room. "Where's the movie?" Twilight asked.
A lemon-yellow pegasus mare said, "Sorry. Half of Ponyville's pegasi had to run off on some stupid special mission or something, so all our local help canceled at the last minute and everything keeps falling behind and going wrong. It's a wonder your town even still has weather this week."
Twilight blinked. "I thought everyplace has weather."
"I mean...PROPER weather, that follows the official schedule. Not that wild stuff that keeps trying to push in from the Everfree. How do you ponies even--" A bolt of lightning surged out of the wall beside the pegasus, striking her hindquarters. "Ouch! This town is crazy! I never want to have to come back here again! Stupid wild thundercloud bits getting into the regular cloud mix again." She waved the two visitors away. "Shoo! shoo! This room is closed. Stupid town oughtta be condemned. Go away."
The visitors went through another doorway.
"I'm sorry," both Twilight and Dinky said at exactly the same time. They both laughed.
"Ha. Which of us is the responsible adult here?" Twilight joked.
"We only came here for me, so I feel like it's my fault we're even here."
Twilight shook her head. "I've always wanted to see the Floating Exhibition, but I never got around to it."
"We ARE learning a lot," Dinky said. "I learned the pegasus in that room doesn't like being by the Everfree. And I guess she hates the cloud mix here."
"I think even just visiting a cloud is educational. Everything else is a bonus." Twilight nodded. "There's no way we won't come out ahead."
Dinky pointed at a large, dark alcove. "What's that?"
"No idea. Let's go see."
In the back of the alcove, a charcoal-colored pegasus with a wrench in his mouth wrestled with machinery beneath a tilted glass table. Next to the table, a pale, blonde-maned unicorn foal complained.
"I want to see what kinds of animation UNICORNS make. Because it only stands to reason it would be better."
Twilight eyed the scene doubtfully.
The pegasus wriggled out from beneath the table, and stood up. He tapped a set of controls with one hoof, turning on a bright light that shone down onto and through the glass, and reflected off a set of mirrors onto a wall-mounted projection screen.
"Maybe," he muttered. He flapped his wings vigorously until a puff of down came loose and floated in the air. He pursed his lips to blow the small, fluffy feather towards the table, where it drifted down slowly to land atop the glass.
He fiddled with the table's controls some more, bringing the feather into focus. "Good enough," he said. He looked over at Twilight. "You look like a responsible sort."
"Well, I AM a librarian," Twilight admitted.
"Perfect! So you know all about active educational exhibits for ponies of all ages. Just wait here, and don't let anypony mess with anything." The pegasus side-eyed the foal who had been complaining earlier. "I'll be right back." He ran away.
Twilight wondered, "What have I gotten myself into?"
Dinky shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we'll find out."
A minute later, the charcoal pegasus returned with a petite pink pegasus mare and about a dozen pegasus foals. The mare walked around to stand behind the table.
"It's showtime, folks!" the stallion announced. "Down Treader here is going to show you all how animated films are produced."
The mare bowed. "Pleased to meet you all."
"I want to see UNICORN animation! Because it would be better!" the little unicorn colt demanded.
"Who let him in here?" the mare asked. She eyed Twilight. "Is he one of yours?"
Twilight shook her head emphatically. "I've never seen him in my life."
"Well then..." the pink pony said. "I'm a pegasus, so I'm going to demonstrate pegasus animation. Can anypony tell me what animation is?"
A turquiose-colored pegasus foal shouted, "Color cartoon movies!"
"That's right!" the mare agreed. "And can anypony tell me why it's called animation? Anypony?"
After about ten seconds, Twilight admitted, "The word 'animate' originally means to give something life. So it means to make something move as if it were alive."
"That's correct. Miss..."
Twilight blushed. "Sparkle. Miss Sparkle."
The mare giving the show gently tipped something out of an envelope onto the glass.
The large projection screen on the wall showed an artfully tinted paper figure.
Several foals oohed and aahed.
The mare very slowly half-spread her wing, and twitched one feather. A moment later, the figure's left foreleg lifted, waved, and straightened again.
"Ooh," Dinky said. "A real animator."
"Thank you!" the mare said. "I'm only an apprentice animator, but I can show you the basics. Pegasus animation uses delicately made figures of paper, feathers, or even some of both. Because some pegasi have very good fine control of air movements, a skilled animator can create and direct tiny breezes to move a figure's parts, or even move the entire figure in specific ways."
The mare moved a few more feathers, and the paper figure moved all four limbs, appearing to walk partway across the screen.
"A master animator can even depict many different facial expressions by slightly bending--"
"BO-ring!" the unicorn colt said. "Unicorn puppet shows are better!"
The mare squinted. "I'm sorry, young sir. A pegasus animation demonstration is all we have scheduled for today. If you don't like this, there are many other exhibits you could go look at. Exhibits you might like much better."
The unicorn colt's horn lit up, wreathed in a bright orange glow. A matching glow surrounded the paper figure, showing up on the screen so brightly the figure's details were mostly hidden.
Grimacing, the mare said, "And that's why we don't normally use unicorn puppet show magic to make animated films. Thaumic glow impairs the cinematic illusion by hiding the figure's features, distracting the viewer--"
The figure's limbs moved with spasmodic suddenness and the figure ripped in half. The ripped pieces drifted slowly down the tilted glass surface.
The mare stared, her teeth clenched. "And unlike a feather's breeze, unicorn magic is not delicate enough to work an action figure without DAMAGING IT." She glared at the unicorn colt. "THANK you very much for demonstrating those IMPORTANT principles of animation." She stared at Twilight. "Are you SURE you don't know who that colt is, and where his PARENTS are?"
A blonde-maned unicorn stallion walked up. "Oh, THERE you are. You little scamp." He sniffed disdainfully. "You ponies should do a better job of watching the foals. What kind of children's museum is this, anyway?"
The pink mare growled, "This is a family-friendly floating exhibition of pegasus arts. It's not a halfway house for vandals."
The blonde stallion snorted, pulling some coins out of a pocket inside his jacket and dropping them on the floor. "This should cover the damage...unless you're so incompetent and irresponsible as to place valuable treasures unprotected where any foal can break them." He grinned maliciously. "Surely you wouldn't be so incompetent, would you? I don't think a pony like that could keep her job for long. Or perhaps you are that kind of pony. I wouldn't care to say." His horn glowed, tugging on the unicorn colt. "Come, Bluemembert. We should be going." Father and son walked away.
The remaining foals spoke up. "What kind of pony does he think he is?"
"What a rat!"
"Ponies like him shouldn't be allowed on a cloud!"
Twilight shook her head. "I'm so sorry."
The charcoal stallion gently tapped her shoulder with one wing. "It's not your fault. YOU didn't do anything."
"True," the pink mare said. "And your filly is very well-behaved."
"Indeed," the stallion remarked. "She hasn't made any trouble at all."
Twilight almost blurted that Dinky wasn't her daughter, but didn't want to make the filly feel rejected. "Thank you."
The foals crowded around the pink apprentice animator, peppering her with questions, and demanding to know when the next show was. But after a few minutes, they wandered away.
Twilight sank onto her belly, looking at her charge. "How are you doing, Dinky?"
Twilight espied a tiny motion out of the corner of her eye. She looked under the table. "What was that under the table, a mouse?" She crawled closer.
The pieces of the ripped figure were stuck together, and the limbs slowly moved. "What's going on here?" Twilight squinted at the odd sight. "Is a pegasus doing that? Because if it's a pegasus, I don't know what's holding the torn halves together. But I can't really see any unicorn thaumglow."
Dinky sniffled. "Silver Spoon is right. My magic is so weak. I can't even light up a paper lantern. I can hardly make a glow at all." The paper figure stood up, and waved a foreleg. "I suppose I might as well play with a torn-up paper doll somepony else threw away. I'm not much good at anything else."
"That's not true!" Twilight said. "You're good at LOTS of things."
Crawling on the floor beside Twilight, the pink pegasus mare's shoulder nudged her gently. "Interesting."
Dinky whined, "Interesting that I'm the world's worst unicorn? Gosh, thank you so much."
Twilight said, "I don't think you're the world's worst," at the same time as Down Treader said, "I think you're one of the most interesting unicorns I've ever met."
Dinky grunted. "Me? Interesting? Stop making fun of me."
"Please, could you try to make that little figure walk?"
Dinky granted the animator's request. The walk wasn't too bad, especially for a beginner.
The mare asked, "Have you ever done this before?"
"I never had a real animation action figure before. Just pony pictures I cut out of old magazines, and levitated to try to practice my magic. But no matter how much I practice, I never seem to get any stronger." Dinky sighed. "I'm a failure. I'll never grow up, or get my cutie mark, or get enough magic to do anything."
"Hmm," Twilight said.
"Don't tickle my flank with your stupid magic!" Dinky shouted. "I get teased enough! Don't you do it too!"
The pink mare said gently, "I don't think it's teasing. I think someday, you could be a real animator. I've never met a unicorn animator before, but I think you really could."
Dinky turned her head to look at her flank. "Stop teasing--" She paused, seeing on her body the symbol of a bow and arrow. (Pony ingenuity gives a mere object the power to fly through the air, almost like a bird.) "Oh." Her eyes implored Twilight. "Is that a real cutie mark?"
Twilight nodded. "I do believe it is. Congratulations, Dinky." She hugged the little filly.
Down Treader joined the hug, as water trickled from her eyes. "This is why I help with arts exhibitions. Because a pony never knows what she might see. Even I can be surprised." She sniffled. "So your name is Dinky?"
Dinky nodded. "Dinky Doo."
"That makes sense! So you can make little things, like action figures, DO animated actions."
"Here I just thought my name meant I'd be tiny forever. Like Silver Spoon said. I really thought she was right."
Down patted Dinky's shoulder. "There are some ponies we shouldn't listen to and believe, because they have a special talent for using their mouths to wrong other creatures. It's a real shame some ponies are like that."
"Yeah," Dinky agreed. "It is a shame."
Partway across the room, disguised in oversized hats and trenchcoats, two oddly shaped bipeds watched: a tall gray rabbit and a black duck. "Psst," the rabbit whispered. "Do you still think I'm bad at directions? You said you wanted to visit the Anaheim Animation Museum, right, and ain't this close enough?"
The duck chortled softly. "Pffffft! You're so bad you're practically good."
"Yeeeah," the rabbit agreed. "Now all I have to do is find that magic mirror again, and we'll be home in two shakes of a hare's tail."