//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Glint of Hope. // by ShyHeart //------------------------------// Chapter 4 "Sweetie, can't I come with you?" I tried my hardest to put on a puppy-dog face, in hopes of getting away from Rarity. " *Tee-hee*! Sorry Cobalt, but I kinda need to shop alone for now." Sweetie ran up to me and gave me a peck on the cheek before she left. I couldn't help but blush again, luckily my tan is orange, so it's hard to tell. ""I'll meet up with you guys at around 5:30 at my house, sound fair?" "I suppose, see you then I guess." 4 hours with Rarity, oh horse-apples this can't end well. We spent almost 3 HOURS shopping for clothes and various other mare necessities, and of course, I was brought along to carry them. We had an hour left, and decided to take a rest at the "Muffin Stand". The shop was run by a cross-eyed mare, along with a lavender-grey unicorn filly. We ordered 2 dozen strawberry and marshmallow-cream muffins. Rarity said they were her and Sweetie's favorite, so I thought it would be nice to get some for them. "Are you sure these are Sweetie's favorites?" "Absolutely darling, it's her favorite snack! Oh, look at the time! we should start heading back, don't you say?" "Yeah, we don't want to be late. From what I've seen, she's kinda impatient." "Oh darling, you don't even know half of it." That...scares me. *Half-an-hour later...* We headed back towards Sweetie's house,but as we were headed down the road, we saw the small grey/lavender filly from the muffin shop. Dinky, was it? She was slunched down on a bench, crying really hard. I immediately rushed over to her, set down my bags, and tried to see whats wrong. "Dinky? What's wrong?" "M-mommy left to go get her bag, but she hasn't come back yet! Waah!" "Where did she go?" "Well, a bird came in and swooped her bag up, and then ran off into the Everfree. Mommy went to chase it, but she hasn't come out yet! Please help her!" The poor thing was crying even harder, so I did what felt natural, I hugged her, and let her cry on my shoulder. That seemed to calm her down. I let her down, and help her chin up. "Don't worry, I'll find your mommy, trust me." She quit sniffling, and wiped her eyes. "T-thank you..." I adorned a rather serious expression, and both Rarity and Dinky took notice of it. "Rarity...take this stuff and go get Sweetie Belle, take Dinky with you. I'm going in after Ditzy." "Cobalt...I can't let you go in there alone, let me get Discord, he can help you look." She pulled out some sort of necklace, and it started to glow. Next thing I know, some sort of chimera-like thing is standing right next to her. "Discord, Ditzy is in trouble, and we need your help. Can you accompany my friend here and look for her?" "Really, you woke me up for this? Oh, alright! I'll do it. Lead the way, orange guy." We ran into the Everfree, well technically I ran, he just sort of levitated his way across the road. Next thing I knew we were in a dark forest, which seemed to be as dark as the night, even though it was clearly daytime. I looked up at Discord, who looked rather grim in his expression. "Kid, I have a bad feeling about this, and that isn't normal, considering I'm the god of chaos." God...of chaos?! After stopping a bit to check for a sign of Ditzy, we found her bag, only to see that it was ripped to pieces, along with a tuft of her mane...with a red splotch on it... "...Oh no...! Discord, we need to hurry, she's in trouble!" "She's to the left of you..." He pointed to a trail of blood leading to a small cave, wait...that only means... "Discord, you don't think..." "I'm afraid so..." We rushed as fast as we could to the small cave, and as we got closer, moans of pain and flapping of what sounded like wings could be heard. Poor Ditzy, please don't be too hurt! "I-is somepony out there? Please...help... me! Erck" "Ditzy, is that you? We've come to help you, yell if you can here us?" "I'm over here...AAH!" I can't stand to hear that scream...It sends a pain down my spine every time she does it, I need to help her, fast! We ran into the cave, looking everywhere for Ditzy, we found her...or what's left of her. "D-Ditzy, we need to get y-you out of here, come on, please, get up!" I couldn't help but cry as I saw her breathing slow down and she began to screech from pain, I need to get her help NOW. "Mr. C-Cobalt...?..take me to Dinky...please..." "Of course..Ditzy.." "Discord, do you have any magic that can teleport? I'm not strong enough to carry her..." "Sure thing, kid...*Snap*" Next thing I knew, we were right by Dinky... and everyone that Rarity gathered. "MOMMY! A-are you ok..?" "I-I'm fine...don't worry about me..." She turned towards me, with many tears streaming down her face. I knew for a fact she had only a short amount of time left. "Mr C-Cobalt...I want you to take care of Dinky." "Don't say that Ditzy, I'm sure you'll be fine, we just need to get someone to fly you to the hospital...!" "S-sorry...*Hack*...but I think my time's up, that changeling tore me up really bad..." She turned to Dinky, tears in her eyes, and her breathing slowed down dramatically,and continued."Dinky...be nice to Mr.Cobalt...and remember....mommy....loves...y-you..." "M-mommy..?!" She's....she's....dead... Dinky just stood there for a moment, but just before anypony could comfort her, she LOST it. "N-no! Mommy, you can't be dead, you can't be! Wh-who's gonna tuck me in at night, and read me stories, and bake me muffins! Come on...wake up!" I spoke up, trying my hardest to comfort her."Dinky, I'm sorry...but your mommy is...gone. She wanted me to give this to you though..." I pulled out a pendant that she gave me a few moments ago...right before she...passed. It was muffin shaped, and had a picture of Ditzy and Dinky hugging and had the following words on it..."Mommy always loves you, Dinky." "Huh..*Sniff*...Mommy wanted me to have her pendant?...This was her favorite pendant...thank you for giving it to me..." Poor kid, what's she gonna do without her mom? Sweetie walked over, head hung low, and began to comfort Dinky " Dinky, I know it's hard for you to accept, but your mommy is gone now, she wanted us to take care of you, so, would you like to stay with me and Cobalt? I promise that we can make you feel a whole lot better..." I saw the little filly's face get a little brighter when she heard this, but not by much. She walked back over to Ditzy's corpse, and curled up under her...It was really sad, and actually caused me to cry a little...she's probably traumatized by this, seeing her own MOTHER die right in front of her...just like me...Agh! Why did I have to think about that? If I had been there sooner, this would of never happened, this is all my fault! "I..Love you mommy, and I walways will....always..." She fell asleep right by her now deceased mother, and was slowly wimpering in her sleep, Cobalt and Sweetie Belle took her and put her on Cobalt's haunches, and headed back towards their house.Discord carried Ditzy to the Mayor, to set up a funeral for her. Rarity decided to break the news to Ditzy's friends, and the Doctor as well, seeing as how close the two were. That day was a sad day for everypony, and after the Mayor had settled all the business affairs, she set up a funeral plan for 8:00PM tomorrow. The Mayor had also requested that Cobalt and Sweetie fill out a form so show that they are now the legal guardians of Dinky Hooves. Of course, they accepted, but Cobalt felt extremely guilty about the whole ordeal, he didn't know why, but he did. Sadly, Dinky was in even worse conditions, crying through almost the entire night. "Normally, I love chaos, but this is just pure evil..." Discord said with a saddened look as he looked over Ditzy's casket. Nopony could keep a smile in Ponyville, not even Pinkie, this was truely a sad time for everypony.