//------------------------------// // 4. I'll See You Soon // Story: I'll See You Soon // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// Space and time twisted and roiled. With a pop, Dinky Doo appeared back in her own time, wedding veil and mostly-intact bottle of bourbon in tow, as well as a magically-contained necklace that she conjured from the pocket dimension she had stored it in. Specifically, she appeared in her apartment in Canterlot, where she had been trying on her wedding dress when her crisis of confidence had struck her suddenly and overwhelmingly. She didn’t, in hindsight, know why traveling back in time to that day twenty years ago had seemed like a good idea, but it had. And things had worked out well enough…certainly, at least, she had restored confidence in her decision to marry her paramour. Dinky set the bourbon and necklace on a nearby table, then slid her veil back onto her head. Taking a deep breath, she trotted over to a mirror, intent on looking at herself again, this time with confidence rather than trepidation. Glancing into the mirror, however, revealed that she was not as alone in her apartment as she had been when she left. She yelped in surprise and spun quickly at the sight of a shape behind her – “Did you enjoy your sojourn through time?” the interloper asked. Dinky’s eyes widened when she recognized her, and she bowed low out of instinct. “Princess Celestia!” Celestia smiled beatifically. “Dinky, you don’t have to bow to me, I thought I made that clear years ago,” she said as she trotted over to a set of sitting cushions, then settled down and shook her mane. It was pink, normal hair, as was her tail, not the rainbow pattern that she had worn them as before her exile into the sun, nor the flames that she had preferred during her madness. In point of fact, the pink hair was its natural form, the animate rainbow and her sister’s flowing star-stuff merely cantrips that they had gotten into the habit of ‘wearing’ over the millennia; Celestia, on having her sanity restored, had decided to leave it ‘off’ as a sign of humility, a decision she hadn’t yet gone back upon. Dinky shifted slightly, trotting over to another set of cushions and carefully sitting down herself. “Sorry,” she said. “I just, um – wait. How did you know I time-travelled, Princess?” “As the passage of the Sun marks the progression of time, so too can I mark its passage – and its passengers,” Celestia said mysteriously. She smiled after a moment. “I could sense the disturbance in the progression of time.” “Disturbance?” Dinky asked, putting her hooves to her mouth. “Oh…oh no, did I change the past?” “Yes,” Celestia said casually. Dinky’s eyes widened further. “Oh no!” she repeated. “Oh, what happened? Is Momma okay? Big Mac? Trixie? Twilight? Spike? Did I erase anypony from – ” Celestia chuckled, shaking her mane again. Her horn glowed, and a golden stream began to wind through the room, tracing its way around herself, Dinky, and flowing out of sight past a door. “Time flows like a river,” she explained. “Stepping into the past is like throwing a stone into that river.” The golden illusion had a silvery stone thrown at it, disappearing beneath its surface. The river rippled, but within moments had settled back into place. “Once thrown, the stone is in the river, always, unless you go and take it out. But…?” Dinky blinked a few times, willing herself not to panic. She took in a deep breath, and let it out, thinking the problem through like Twilight had shown her. “The river keeps flowing around the stone,” she said. “So…so what you’re saying is that there’s no such thing as the butterfly effect?” “I’m saying that butterflies can only flap their wings so hard,” Celestia responded. “You can change the past in small ways, but it tends to flow back together and proceed as it was going to. It is perfectly possible to make large changes – to alter the flow of time itself, create new outcomes, change the river’s course – but that requires considerable effort, and there are beings - not just myself, but others - that would oppose you.” She smiled. “But it would certainly require more than a single mare going around a small town and asking about marriage.” Dinky giggled slightly, as much from relief as amusement, head tilting to the side. “So what did I change?” “Well, for one thing, your mother and the nascent viscountess had magnificent hangovers the following day,” Celestia said with a wry grin. “I don’t believe they recalled your revelation to them, which is probably for the best. Sparkler and Bon Bon were a little richer than they might have been due to your purchases.” She frowned. “I spent the next week incensed, but that describes most of my life at that time. More importantly, I have spent the past several years, ever since I connected you to the ‘Dazzler’ that appeared in my lair, waiting for today so that I could ask you: what is wrong with my mane?” Dinky blinked a few times at that, before bursting out laughing. Celestia chuckled as well. She still had difficulty, Dinky knew, reconciling with her years of madness as Corona – so the opportunity to laugh about a very strange day as the would-be Queen of Equestria probably did her a world of good. Celestia stood after a moment, as did Dinky. “Now, I must be going,” she said. “The first daylight convening of the Royal Court in more than a millennium is in a week, and the preparations are keeping my sister and I quite busy…and the fact that a certain somepony decided to get married the day before and invite us both certainly does not help matters.” Dinky offered a guilty grin as she followed Celestia to the door, opening it for her. “I’d invite you to the bachelorette party, too, but I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you’d enjoy.” “I’m afraid not,” Celestia said as she stepped outside. She inclined her head to Dinky. “Congratulations once again, Dinky. You two make a perfect couple.” “Thanks,” Dinky said, leaning forward and touching horns with the princess respectfully. “See you in a few days.” Celestia nodded, trotting away. She paused after a few steps, however, then turned around. “Oh, one more thing,” she said. “All of time and space laid out before you…why that day in particular?” Dinky smiled softly, but tapped a hoof to her muzzle. “I get to be mysterious sometimes too,” she insisted. “Let’s just say that it was a really good day.” --- Twenty years ago… Last week, it had been an ancient castle dating from before the founding of Equestria, with noble defenders within holding off a horde of griffins and minotaurs and diamond dogs. A few days ago, it had instead been a great mountain, with a fabulous prize said to lay at its top for any brave enough to scale it. And today, it was a fortress in the Southern Sea, set next to a vital trading port that, rumor said, was about to come under attack by Barbaneigh pirates. In fact, it was none of those things; it was just a tall, easy-to-climb tree in the Whitetail Wood with branches that had grown in such a way as to create a kind of natural fort. To the foals of Ponyville, it was known as the Castle Tree. “Alright you maggots, listen up!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she trotted imperiously before the line of foals that had arranged themselves on the ground inside of the Castle Tree's boughs. “We’re here to – ” “I don’t think ponies talked like that back during the Barbarneigh days,” Dinky interrupted. “Yeah,” Snips said. “It was a hundred and fifty years ago…” Scootaloo pointed at Dinky and Snips both. “Sedition!” she exclaimed. “Sweetie Belle, clap them both in irons!” “We don’t have those,” Sweetie Bell pointed out. “Well…fine. Snails! Flog them!” “Huh?” Snails asked, looking up. He had one hoof raised, as crawling across it was something small and white and possessed of too many legs for most ponies to be comfortable with. “Sorry. I found an albino woodlouse!” “Snails!” Scootaloo cried. “This is no time to be playing with bugs!” “Woodlice are crustaceans,” Snails objected indignantly. “They’re not even insects. And only insects in the hermiptera order are ‘bugs’ anyway.” Scootaloo stared a moment before sighing, covering her eyes with one hoof. “This fortress is gonna fall to the Barbarneigh pirates,” she predicted. Dinky puffed up her chest a little. “No it won’t!” she declared, stepping out of line and looking over the dozen other foals. “Everypony to your battle stations! Get the water balloons ready! Scootaloo, you can climb the best, so you can go and keep a look-out!” Scootaloo frowned as everypony else burst into action. “I wanted to be in charge…” “Sorry,” Dinky apologized. “Next time you can be. I won’t say anything. What’s flogging, anyway?” “I dunno,” Scootaloo admitted as she scampered over to the Castle Tree’s main trunk and climbed it. Dinky followed, though not as high, instead making her way over to a natural gap in the branches that let her look out from the tree. The Castle Tree was situated on the edge of the Whitetail; the forest to their back was the ‘town,’ while the broad, hilly field in the front was the ‘ocean.’ “Make sure to save your water balloons!” Dinky called out. “We need to make every throw count!” There was several long, tense minutes, before Scootaloo finally called out a warning. And there, across the open ocean/grassy field, they appeared, the war-galleys and carracks of the Barbarneigh corsairs, sailing north from Zebrica and Tapira and intent on raiding the Equestrian coast for treasure and slaves. There were pirates of every variety: zebras, antelope, and tapirs mostly, but with some ponies, camels, horses, and even a few griffins and buffalo, all dressed and painted for war and armed to the teeth. They were a scurvy bunch of sea-dogs as any Dinky had ever laid eyes upon Everypony in the Castle Tree pointedly ignored that it was actually a few wagons or scooters, that most of the pirates were on foot, and that they were all just normal pony foals. Dinky’s eyes, though, were immediately drawn to the pony/pirate leading them. He was a splotched-coated earth pony wearing a bandana and jerkin with a cutlass at his side and directing the the villainous band of cutthroats. His mane and tail billowed in a breeze that came from nowhere as he drew his sword. Dinky blushed at the sight. She didn’t know why. “Avast!” the blackguard exclaimed, his accent Trottinghamish. “I’ve put together this flotilla and I mean to sack this port! Surrender now!” “Never!” almost everypony within the Castle Tree called, readying to throw their balloons. “Hey, wait!” Dinky called before the pitched battle could begin. “Who are you?” The pirate grinned widely as he spotted Dinky amidst the branches. “I’m the King of the Pirates, I am I am! Scourge of the Seas and – ” “No, I mean, I’ve never seen you around town,” Dinky interrupted. “Oh,” the foal responded, lowering his wooden sword. “I’m Pipsqueak. I just moved here from Trottingham the other day.” “He’s cool!” One of the other pirate foals, Applebloom, said as she lifted up her eyepatch to get a better look at Dinky. “He had all these pirate toys already an’ even came up with the plan to outflank y’all by – ” “Oi! Shut it!” Pipsqueak interrupted quickly. “Don’t tell them!” Applebloom blushed in embarrassment, putting her eyepatch back on. Dinky giggled as she looked back to Pipsqueak. “Hi!” she said. “I’m Dinky Doo!” Pipsqueak waved, then slipped back into character. “Be ye the master of this fort?” “Huh?” Dinky asked, blinking. She suddenly remembered that she was in the Castle Tree, trying to fend off a Barbarneigh Coast attack. “Oh! Um…yeah, I guess. Yeah! Captain Dinky of the Royal Equestrian Army!” “Then I’ll give you one chance! Surrender now or I’ll sack the fort and sack the town!” Dinky weighed carefully the pros and cons of letting Pipsqueak into the Castle Tree. She couldn’t actually think of any pros, however… “Dinky!” Scootaloo called down at her after several moments. “What’s taking so long?” Dinky blinked a few times, then steeled herself. “No!” she called down to Pipsqueak. “I have a duty to my ponies and to Equestria!” She threw her water balloon. Pipsqueak yelped as it sailed at him, quickly taking his wooden sword into his mouth and swiping. He managed to deflect the balloon, making it land at his hooves before it popped, barely even getting wet. Dinky was suitably impressed. “Alright then, lads and lasses!” Pipsqueak said after spitting out his sword, as his scurvy band of miscreants readied their own water balloons. “We do this the hard way! Attack!” The Barbarneigh pirates charged, Pipsqueak retrieving his sword and joining at the front. Many of them fell on their way to the fort, their first attack repulsed after long minutes of intense fighting with both sides getting soaked, Dinky in particular managed to peg Pipsqueak a number of times. The second attack came later, unexpectedly, from a hidden force lead by Twist. Coming in from the Whitetail Wood behind the Castle Tree, it was quickly reinforced by the main body of corsairs – apparently this had been Pipsqueak’s master plan that Applebloom had accidentally almost spoiled. A time-out was called to determine if that was fair or not; by the time the issue was resolved, the surprise was ruined anyway, the pirates withdrew in disarray, and Pipsqueak had been given a black spot and had to defend himself from Rumble’s attempts to take over leadership of the band. The Castle Tree’s defenders, however, were perilously low on water balloons, and couldn’t exploit the weakness. The final attack came not long after Pipsqueak managed to get enough votes to remain the Pirate King, with only a precious fifteen minutes before everypony had to go home for dinner. Exhausted, demoralized, and low on ammunition, the defenders of the Castle Tree were at last overwhelmed, the Barbarneigh corsairs penetrating their outer defenses and getting behind the boughs of the tree itself. A pitched battle followed, the remaining water balloons flying, but in the end, Dinky, Scootaloo, and Snails stood alone and side-by-side against Pipsqueak and his ragged band. “Surrender!” Pipsqueak demanded. Dinky lifted the last water balloon over her head telekinetically. “Never!” she exclaimed heatedly. Unfortunately, her concentration slipped, she squeezed the balloon just a little too hard, and the balloon popped. “Wagh!” Dinky cried out at the unexpected fall of water onto her head. She didn’t have time to be embarrassed, though, as at the sight, everypony around burst out laughing, Dinky joining in wholeheartedly. It was several long minutes before she calmed down. “Aww…” she observed. “We lost…” “Haha!” Pipsqueak exclaimed, holding his cutlass over his head again. “The Barbarneigh corsairs win! You lot will all be shipped back to Tapira, and to Swala and Ngamia in Zebrica, to be sold in the slave markets!” “I don’t want to be a slave!” Snails objected. Dinky wholeheartedly agreed. “Too bad!” Pipsqueak laughed, turning with his band and trotting triumphantly from the Castle Tree. He stopped on his way out, though, turning back to Dinky. “That was fun, though!” “Yeah!” Dinky said, trotting forward as she shook her mane. She was soaked, but so was everypony, and it was hot enough that by the time they got back to town, they’d all be dry. She looked at Pipsqueak. “We get together like this every weekend. It’s not always attack-the-fortress, though. Sometimes we play hoofball, or go on treasure hunts…” “That sounds like fun!” Pipsqueak said. Up close, Dinky realized he was shorter than her, though he seemed a year or two younger, anyway, so that made sense. “I can’t wait! Gotta go home for dinner now, though.” He waved at Dinky as he turned around. “Bye! I'll see you soon!” “Bye! I’ll see you soon too!” Dinky called, smiling brightly. She may have failed to protect the Castle Tree, but for some reason she couldn’t stop smiling anyway. Probably because even though she had lost, she’d still had a lot of fun, and had even made a new friend. “Today was a really good day,” she decided as she hurried home.