//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: The Sisters Doo // by Ponky //------------------------------// Epilogue My Secret Selflessness “Good morning, Rainbow Dash!” “Hi, Ditzy.” Rainbow smiled and rubbed one of her eyes, leaning against her front door’s frame. “Got a package for me?” “And a letter.” Ditzy hoofed both to the weathermare. “Looks like the envelope’s from griffon country. Maybe it’s from Filoplume. Remember him?” Rainbow’s countenance brightened a bit. “Of course I do! Wonder how he got my address.” Lifting the letter aside, Rainbow beamed at the rectangular, cardboard box in her grasp. “Hey, this looks familiar! Is her new book out already?” Ditzy’s eyes whirled. “What? No, of course not! It’s only been two months since the last one’s release.” Biting its tape away, Rainbow opened the package to reveal a tall stack of paper covered in quick mouthwriting. “What is it?” Ditzy asked. Rainbow spat the tape over her shoulder. “Whoa! I think it’s…” She set the box down on her cloud and lifted one sheet of paper, running her eyes back and forth over the lines of scribbled text. “It is! Ditzy, these are her notes and outlines!” “Huh?” Rainbow pulled another page from the box and pointed at the middle. “See? ‘She stares down the statue, shrugs, and picks it up in mouth. Temple rumbles, starts collapse. Tiles on floor explode, revealing lava.’ This is, like, a pre-rough draft to Sapphire Stone!” “Wow. That’s pretty cool, Rainbow.” “Pretty cool? It’s awesome!” Rainbow squealed and shoved the pages back in the box, along with the foreign envelope. “I gotta go get reading. These are gonna give me great ideas for my own novel!” Ditzy raised an eyebrow. “Your novel? Don’t tell me it’s about a speedy pegasus who becomes captain of the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow smiled weakly. “Uh… like I said, gotta go.” She started to close the door, but stopped for just long enough to poke her head through the crack. “Good seeing you, Ditzy! Don’t be such a stranger!” She slammed the door shut before Ditzy could reply. The grey mare giggled again, tightened the empty mailbag around her middle, and leapt from Rainbow’s spongy porch, gliding back to the edge of Ponyville through the serene Equestrian air. “Ditzy Doo!” a friendly voice called up when she passed the schoolhouse. A burgundy pony waved from the fence. “Hello, Cheerilee!” Ditzy shouted, tilting into a spiral that landed her in front of the teacher. “How are you this morning?” “Terrific! I just wanted to make sure you knew,” she said with a tender smile, “that Dinky has been absolutely wonderful since she got her Cutie Mark.” Ditzy smirked. “Implying she used to be a hoofful?” Cheerilee blushed. “Oh, no, no, not at all! It’s just that, many children tend to brag or make fun of other students after they receive their Marks, but Dinky has been nothing but supportive of all her classmates. I wish I had thirty just like her!” “I’m glad to hear it,” Ditzy said, grinning from ear to ear. “You must be so proud of her,” Cheerilee continued. “Heaven knows I am!” “I couldn’t be more proud, Miss Cheerilee,” Ditzy said, lifting her chin. “Not one bit.” With a conclusive smile, Cheerilee turned to enter the schoolhouse. Just before Ditzy took off, the earth pony added, “Oh! Are you still coming to Family Appreciation Day next week? Dinky tells us you have quite the story to share!” Ditzy chuckled. “I’ll let you be the judge of that.” Cheerilee nodded. “See you then!” she chirped, and trotted toward the school. Ditzy headed to her own house, waving at the Cakes and Pinkie Pie through the front window of Sugarcube Corner. She was stopped by Applejack in the marketplace to be thanked—for the hundredth time—for bringing Apple Bloom home safely, and she made it a point to avoid the library, tired of forgiving Twilight’s endless apologies for shirking her “responsibility.” Upon arriving home, Ditzy found the front door ajar. Her heart jumped into her throat and she barreled into the living room, poised to strike an intruder in their long, narrow snout. “…but which should she choose? More than a hundred intricate cups covered the altar. How would she know which was the Griffon’s Goblet, the true enchanted chalice? Time was running out; surely the Emperor’s guards were on her tail!” Ditzy blew a heavy sigh through her nostrils. “What Emperor?” she asked. Daring Do and Dinky looked up from their spots by the unlit fireplace. Under Ditzy’s squint, Daring bore a sheepish grin while Dinky launched into detail. “The Griffon Emperor, Mommy!” She jumped to her hooves and pranced in little circles. “He’s the descendant of the Griffon Wizard who enchanted the goblet, and he wants to use its powers to gain infernal life!” “Eternal life,” Daring whispered. “Yeah! A-And he’s, he’s trying to stop Daring from finding it first, ‘cause she’s gonna give it to a museum in Equestria for everypony to see and keep it safe from bad guys, and he almost killed her already, two times!” Her daughter’s excitement brushed away Ditzy’s disapproval. “Oh, really?” she asked, smiling with half-lidded eyes. “But she escaped!” Dinky continued, leaping onto a chair. “And she had to pass all these deadly traps that the Griffon Wizard left behind to protect his goblet, and now she’s in the final chamber but she doesn’t know which—” “If her faithful assistant, Blondie, was there,” Ditzy interrupted, glaring squarely at Daring, “she’d be able to tell her that the Griffon Wizard’s limited magic only allowed him to enchant natural substances, so the goblet would have to be made of wood.” Daring clicked her tongue and slammed the book shut. “Dang it, Ditzy! Daring was just about to figure that out! You ruined the end of the book.” Dinky slumped and dropped her jaw. “Mmmmoooooooomm!” Ditzy kind of rolled her eyes. “When did you get here, Daring? Have you been reading all day?” “Nah, I showed up an hour ago. This little squirt was reading Griffon’s Goblet at the table, so I asked her if she wanted a dramatic reading from the author herself.” “Aunt Daring rocks at reading!” Dinky cheered, jumping off the chair and using a magical gust of indoor wind to carry her across the room and land on her mother’s back. “Rocks?” Ditzy sighed. “I didn’t know you were rereading the series, Dinky.” “Now that I know my own mom did all this stuff, how could I not?” Dinky hugged her mother around the neck, burying her face into her mane. Ditzy hummed happily and leaned into her daughter’s warmth. “I love you, Dinky,” she said. “I love you, too, Mommy. Even if you ruined the end of the book.” “Haha! I didn’t ruin anything. You still have to read how she gets out of the chamber alive!” Dinky gasped and looked to Daring for confirmation. The yellow mare put a hoof to her chin and flicked the novel open to the end. “Did I write about that? Huh… I guess I did include my final battle with the Griffon Emperor and his evil daughter… who’s a witch!” Ditzy had to cover her ears from Dinky’s squeal of delight as the little pony scrambled across the floor, grabbed the book in her magic, and tore up the stairs to her room. Daring started to laugh when she heard the bedroom door close. “She’s sure a cute kid, Ditz.” Ditzy took in her sister’s appearance. Her helmet was gone, as was her button-up canvas shirt. Instead, a dull-green hoodie covered her upper half, hiding her wing. Unimpressed, the mailmare offset her jaw. “Griffon Emperor?” she criticized. “Oh, come on! I’ll admit that Ahuizotl was a stretch, but the Emperor is an awesome villain. And there really was a griffon witch!” “Yes, I remember,” Ditzy chuckled. She dropped her mailbag by the door and sat across from her sister by the hearth. “What are you doing here, Daring? No warning note this time?” “I’m not here to ask for another favor, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Daring said, adjusting the sleeves of her hoodie. “Well… not like the last one, anyway.” “How did I guess.” Daring held up her forehooves. “It’s not what you think! Look… this is hard for me to say, but… I need someplace to stay for a while.” Ditzy grinned crookedly. “What, your big house got too lonely?” “Actually I, uh… sold it,” Daring mumbled, clicking her hooves together. Ditzy frowned. “You sold it? Why?” “I couldn’t afford it anymore,” Daring admitted. “Okay, I know that’s not true.” “It is!” “Daring, I saw how many bits are in your bank account. You could afford Celestia’s palace loft for five years.” “No, really, Ditz. I can’t afford anything. I’m practically broke.” The seriousness in Daring’s face finally rubbed off on Ditzy. She glanced back to make sure the front door was closed before whispering, “Were you robbed?” Daring snorted. “No, Ditzy.” “You didn’t gamble it all away, did you?” “Ew, heck no! I spent it all.” Ditzy’s eyes bulged. “You spent it all? On what?” “A few different things,” Daring said. “I gave a bunch to charity and stuff, for the warm fuzzies, but… most of it went to this.” She stood up, slid off the green hoodie, letting it crumple in front of her hooves, and stretched her wingspan to its full—and complete—length. Ditzy gasped. “Daring… what is that?” “Like it?” Daring beamed, rotating the sleek, mechanical limb in perfect sync with her real one. It was featherless, like a batwing, the “arm” and “fingers” of which were as grey as the darkest part of her mane. The leathery material that stretched between each section of the solid, moveable frame was amber, closer in color to Ditzy’s eyes than Daring’s coat. The base of the machine wrapped around the stub on her left side and sunk seamlessly into her skin. Ditzy could see small, surgical scars along the yellow fur of her spine. “Daring… it’s…” Ditzy blinked and swallowed hard. “It’s incredible!” “It’s expensive,” Daring said. “I’ll be fine once I publish Daring Do and the Orphan Foals, but for now I’m sorta… in need. Heh.” “Does it work?” “Heck yeah it does!” Daring answered, jumping into a steady hover. “You think I’d spend my whole life’s savings and almost a month in a hospital for a new wing that didn’t work?” “I can’t believe it!” Ditzy brought her hooves to her open mouth as Daring dove into the kitchen, swerving expertly around a light fixture and landing on top of the Doo’s round table. “Daring, I’m so happy for you!” “Well, it’s no Magic Carpet,” Daring said with a shrug, dropping to the ground, “but at least I can fly, and we’re all still alive.” “I can’t argue with that,” Ditzy said, facing her sister. “Rainbow told me what happened.” Daring cleared her throat innocently and flexed her mechanical wing. “What happened when?” “That you sacrificed the carpet for my life without a second thought,” Ditzy said, trotting closer. Daring scanned the floor, and then the ceiling, keeping her eyes away from Ditzy. “Yeah, well… I might have had a second thought. Maybe a third and a fourth, too.” Ditzy giggled. “That’s the not the point. You saved me.” “You thought I wouldn’t?” “I’m not sure what I would have thought you’d done, if I was conscious,” Ditzy said, “but I was surprised when Rainbow told me, if that answers your question.” Daring scrunched up her snout. “Um… I think I kinda understood what you might have been trying to say.” Ditzy laughed and sat at the table. “You know, you’re funny when you’re being nice.” “Heh… how’s the kid doin’?” “Rainbow? She’s fine.” “Have you been talking to her a lot?” “Not really. More than usual, but hardly every day. Why?” “Well, if she’s been telling you all about my secret selflessness—“ “Heehee… no, she told me right after you left on the train.” “Ah.” There was silence for a moment as Daring scuffed at the ground awkwardly. “Um… speaking of stuff the kid said to one of us about the other,” she said, taking a seat at the round, wooden table across from her sister, “I have a question for you.” Ditzy’s brow creased and she shifted her stance. “Okay. Shoot.” “When we were, like, battling Alula,” she started, “he was trying to get in my head, asking how I lost my wing and if you had anything to do with it. He asked Rainbow if you would have saved me even if she wasn’t there to convince you, and… she hesitated.” Ditzy pursed her lips. “So, I just have to know: would you have pulled me out of that wheel thingy if it was just me and you down there?” A heavy silence choked the sisters while Ditzy searched for the right words. Finally, her wings and ears drooped. “I’m not sure, Daring. I really don’t know. I was so angry at you, for so many things, and… I’ve thought about it a lot since it happened, but I still don’t have an answer. I want to say I would have, but I really can’t be sure.” A tear dripped from her muzzle. “Frick, Ditz, don’t cry!” Daring said, taking a step around the table. “It’s totally fine! I’m not mad at you at all!” One of Ditzy’s eyes met Daring’s earnest gaze. “Really?” “Psh, yeah! Duh! How could I be mad at that? I mean… I was being a total jerk. I’m not gonna say I’ve seen the light and made a full one-eighty or anything, but… I can definitely see that I was being really selfish. Like, the whole time. From the minute I showed up in this house, all I cared about was me. First it was just getting a new adventure for my book, and then it was to show you that I didn’t need your help, but then… well, after everything that happened, and everyone we met, and when even Alula told me how mean I was to you… gah, I dunno.” She dropped to her haunches, lifting her hoof to adjust a pith helmet that wasn’t there. Scratching the top of her head instead, Daring continued. “Dad wouldn’t have wanted that, y’know? That’s what I kept thinking about while I was getting this thing installed.” She flapped her new wing. “I always thought his mantra was just for me: all that ‘everypony’s special’ stuff. I thought he was just trying to make me feel better ‘cause… I was so much less of a pony than you.” Ditzy guffawed. “What are you talking about?” Daring rolled her eyes. “Forget it, that’s not the point.” “No, it is!” Ditzy said, rising from her seat as well to stand in front of Daring. “I always thought you were Dad’s favorite.” “Hah! What? No way, he couldn’t stand me.” “He loved you to death!” “Well, sure, but he didn’t like me. I was a little brat. You were his precious little pony.” Daring waved her hooves between them. “But no, that’s not the point! Lemme finish my thought! What I’m trying to say is, I really messed up. I let my broken heart get in the way of my relationship with my family, and thanks to that, both of my parents died hating me. I’m not gonna make the same mistake with my sister.” “Oh, Daring!” Ditzy took her sister’s hoof between both of her own and was surprised to find it shaking. “They didn’t hate you. Neither of them hated you. In all the letters Mom wrote to me after Dad died, she never once failed to mention how much she missed you and wished you would forgive yourself.” Daring frowned automatically. “Forgive myself? I wasn’t…!” She trailed off, biting her lip, and slowly lowered her head. “Nyeh, who am I kidding? I was… I did need to do that. I was just so mad, and… and so…” “Scared?” Ditzy asked. “Scared that we wouldn’t forgive you?” Daring’s face tensed and she nodded silently, moisture building in her narrowed eyes. “Oh, Daring,” Ditzy said again, moving as if to place her hoof on the slumped mare’s neck. She hesitated, suspending her hoof in the air. “Uh… do you mind?” “Oh, shut up,” Daring grumbled, launching into her sister’s hold. She squeezed her forelegs around Ditzy, pressing the side of her head into her yellow locks. “Daring!” Ditzy yelped, freezing up. When the yellow mare didn’t back away, Ditzy choked on a laugh and melted into an equally emphatic embrace. “Geez, Daring. You’re so…” “Stupid? Selfish? Mean? Old?” “Weird,” Ditzy finished, nuzzling her sister. “You’re very weird.” Daring sniffed and returned to her haunches, wiping her eyes with the back of a hoof. “Yeah, well… back atcha.” Ditzy snickered. “For the record, you are absolutely welcome to stay here for as long as you need to. And I promise that our parents didn’t hate you, Daring. Both of them loved you very much, and they knew you loved them, too.” “Thanks, Ditz. But… how could they have known that?” Daring asked glumly. “I sure as Tartarus didn’t show it.” “Sure you did! You dedicated most of your life to finding a cure for Dad with me.” “Yeah, well, it didn’t help,” Daring said with a snort. “No,” Ditzy agreed. “It didn’t.” She sighed and touched her sister’s foreleg. “Sometimes I wonder if there even was a cure for Dad anywhere in the world.” A sad smile came to Daring. “Yeah, I was just thinking that, too, reading to your kid. I mean, if drinking from the Griffon’s Goblet didn’t save him, and all the other crazy stuff we found, what could have?” “Maybe the carpet,” Ditzy mumbled. “Heh. Well, if so, we sure screwed that one up.” “Yes we did.” They shared a smile and looked out the window at the sunny town beyond. “It’s still out there.” Ditzy turned. “Huh?” “The carpet. Your kid’s storm tossed it somewhere.” She made a wild motion with her hoof. “But it’s still out there, waiting to be found.” “Maybe some Haissanic pony picked it up.” “Yeah. Maybe.” They shared a mutual sigh, scooting a bit closer together and ogling the big, blue sky behind a pane of glass. “Or maybe…” Ditzy said after a moment. Daring gave her a hopeful glance. “Maybe it’s lying under a big ol’ pile of palace?” Ditzy couldn’t help but grin. “There’s really only one way to find out.” “Who would watch Dinky?” “We can ask Twilight.” “Can we bring the kid?” “Who, Rainbow?” “Yeah!” “Only if she wants to. And if you start calling her by her name. We all know you know it.” “Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it goes.” “Haha!” Ditzy hurried to the bottom of the stairs. “Dinky! Can you hear me?” A muffled “What, Mom?” came from above. “Daring and I are going to the library! Would you like to come?” “Sure! I can borrow the next book in the series!” Daring trotted back into the living room with a swagger in her step. “Y’know, she’s got great taste in literature.” Ditzy shook her head. “It’s those kinds of comments that make me question your apologies, Daring.” “What apologies? I haven’t said sorry once this whole time!” She made a scrunchy face and pulled the dull green hoodie over her head. “Which reminds me: I’m really sorry about being such a jerk.” Ditzy chortled. “It’s okay, Daring. I forgive you.” The startled adventuress blinked. “Already?” “Why not?” Ditzy asked as Dinky bounded down the stairs. “That’s what sisters do.”