Various Kinds Of Dread

by JC Borch

Part 3/3

The place was a retirement home, the scene was old people sitting in armchairs and sofas. Silence hung over the living room except for the ticking of the wall-mounted clock and the occasional cough. A butch lady in a white nurse’s uniform and with red hair entered carrying a metallic tray with little cups. She placed each in front of the right person and offered some water with the pills as she ensured everyone took their medication.

“All right, ladies, that was today’s entertainment,” she said with a masculine voice. A bulge was visible on her crotch. “We’re making soup for dinner so don’t anyone die until then.”

An old man grumbled as he smacked his lips dully. He had no teeth, not even a prosthetic. His hair was bald unlike his ears and like everyone else, his skin was wrinkled. For about ten minutes, the residents of “Super Home!” sat and enjoy their retirement. They had become a burden to their families and not even the small staff wanted to bother with them. No one said anything. The cards had been placed up on a high shelf along with the TV remote, and all the board games including chess had been locked away in cabinets. The sound system had not been used in uncountable ages and the nurse’s comment was more than likely ironic. Death was the only prospect for those people.

Old Herman however, the man who grumbled before, noticed a tapping on the window. He looked up and saw a grey butt going back and forth against the panes of glass. He lifted his fluffy eyebrows to reveal a pair of tired blue eyes. His face changed from nothing to surprise and finally to happiness. A memory from a long, long time ago crossed his aged mind. He couldn’t even remember the achievements of his life but the rude flasher brought back something pleasant.

“Oh my stars… it couldn’t possibly be…”

The other residents, who could still hear him, looked up. Their faces went through the same gamut of emotions as Herman and they started to mutter all at once, like a low chant. One by one they got up on their feet, aided by their canes or with a creak from their hips. The butt turned around and was replaced with a blonde head. Herman smiled brighter than he had in a long time.

“You came back, Derpy,” an old lady said excitedly as she went for the window, clutching to her walker, but Herman shook his head. Martha focused on him through her thick glasses.

“Robert, lock the doors first. We don’t want those stiffs to interrupt us.” There was a slight whistling to Herman’s command but Robert understood perfectly. An old man with a green beret on his head went for the door and then Martha, directed by Herman’s waving hand, opened the window.

A grey pegasus flopped into the room and landed on the floor. She was quickly surrounded by the old people who all want to grab her cheeks or stroke her coat. Life returned to the old folk little by little and Derpy happily swished her tail back and forth. An old man whose face had been completely scrunched up stands behind her and smiles at the gentle whipping of her tail.

“We’ve waited nearly twenty years for you,” an old lady said and fell around Derpy’s neck, unintentionally as she had attempted to walk again after losing her mobility to arthritis.

“What the Hell is going on in there. Didn’t I tell you ladies that you’re too old for excitement?”

A loud banging began on the door that they had locked, first to get their attention and then to break it down. The old people didn’t care. Derpy flew up around the ceiling much to their enjoyment before landing in a battered armchair. A man who was nothing but bones in a skin bag sat hooked up to a machine. He smiled a toothless grin and stroked Derpy’s back, nearly crying with joy. Finally the door gave in and the head nurse strode in through the broken remains.

“A cartoon pony. How quaint,” she said and took Derpy by the skin of her neck, holding her up close to her face. She sharpened her gaze through her red glasses. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to these people?”

“Aw, lighten up, nurse,” Herbert said and chuckled. The nurse released Derpy again who splatted to the floor with tongue rolling out of her mouth.

“I told you old geezers a million times not get excited. Now get back in your chairs before I give you all sedatives.” None of them obeyed so she stepped forward, but was halted by Derpy. The nurse grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up into eye level. “And you, how did you even break the fourth wall?”

Derpy looked into the glasses with her kind eyes and displayed an uncanny ability shared by all things cuddly. The longer you stare at it, the wider your smile gets. And so the head nurse tried to let go of Derpy again, but was inevitable lost in the yellow peepers.

“Damn you,” she said and wiped her eyes with the back of her arm before falling to her knees. She sobbed with face bowed down.

“And just what is going on here?” The Warden had entered, a young man with black hair and wearing a purple suit complete with a top hat. His eyes fell on Derpy almost instantly. He gasped and raced forward to pick her up. “Oh, Alice, I adore it! This is simply wonderful!”

“But sir, our policy is to not let the residents have fun,” a short man said and hurried in after the Warden. He was aged with stress, his brown hair short and his moustache fuzzy.

“That’s your problem, you worry too much,” the Warden replied and threw Derpy up in the air where she stayed with the help of her wings. “If these old folks can’t enjoy a cartoon pony once in their life, what can they enjoy?”

“You can’t be serious,” Alice said and scratched her head.

“Oh but I am,” the Warden said and wrapped an arm around Derpy’s neck. “Tell me how you broke the fourth wall. I want more of you here to spread love and happiness, do you understand?”

Derpy nodded but then tossed her head the other way, her face scrunching up in worry. She slipped out from the Warden’s grasp and flew towards the window.

“Wait, where are you going?” he asked and fell to his knees from suddenly not having her to lean up against.

“You have a family now, right?” Herbert asked and patted her head. She nodded and looked down at him pleadingly. “They must be missing you badly.”

“You can’t go already!” The Warden despairingly flailed with his cane, but Derpy pressed her hoof up against the window pane and looked at him with her big, swimming eyes. “I understand,” he sighed. “Elder bot!”

What looked like a giant white tablet crashed through the walls and buried the room in dust and debris. A panel opened on its belly and a telescopic arm reached out to grab Derpy around her middle. Elder bot then proceeded to break its way outside.

The people of Manburg stopped up to see the robot torpedo over their homes and businesses. A large throng followed it all the way to the alley where Derpy had first appeared. All the people she had helped met up to say goodbye. Boris and Ming had an arm around the other’s shoulder, and the big Russian cried a small tear. Giovanni stood next to a man who looked like an older version of him. The nerdy kid wore a towel around his neck and cheered. The girl stood with a hand in her bully’s.

“Goodbye, Derpy!” they all chanted and waved as hard as they could, some whistling and others crying out. Derpy waved back at them and hopped into the box, her hind legs flailing to push her all the way. The box tipped over but nothing spilled out.

“We will never forget cartoon pony,” Boris said and bawled into his arm.

“Will she ever come back?” the bully asked.

“Of course she will,” Herbert said and grinned. “Don’t worry, young’uns. I’ve already seen twice in my lifetime ever since she first visited sixty years ago.”

Twilight was waiting for us on the library floor with a book spread out before her and piles of them around. She looked to be enjoying herself with a smile on her lips as she lazily flipped the pages with her magic. Spike on the other hoof went around with a broom and swept up little clouds of dust.

“Hey girls,” she said and looked up, then cocked her head in puzzlement. “Sweetie Belle, I had heard that you were nearly… I’m glad to see you’re well again! Did your problem solve itself then?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No. Dinky exorcised the demon but now it’s loose in Ponyville. We really need your help in defeating it once and for all.”

“Dinky did? Wow!” She looked up at me with eyes full of admiration. I couldn’t help but blush and looked away. “Well, I’ve been doing some research on my own, but I haven’t exactly made much progress with such a vague description.”

Since I was the one who had actually seen it, it was up to me to try and describe it. Twilight scratched her muzzle for a long time as she sat there and pondered.

“And you’re absolutely sure that it was a demon from pre-civilisation?” she pressed, to which Sweetie Belle nodded.

“Those were the ruins I visited,” she stated.

“You can put that back. It won’t help us here.” Spike was otherwise carrying a heavy book towards us called ‘MegaTen: A Demonic Compendium of Your True Self.’ Now he just looked disappointed and started off again, dragging his feet along the floor under the weight of the tome. “Don’t we have a book somewhere for pre-civilisation?”

Much to my surprise, an owl swooped down. I had not seen it as I entered, but it seemed to have a place in Twilight’s library. It dropped a book before her and she immediately began to flicker the pages. “Thanks, Owlowiscious, just what I needed,” she said without taking her eyes off the book. “Before windigos forced us here, ponies had already lived in Equestria for thousands of years. Sadly, they left little trace of themselves and the only serious book I’ve found is this incomplete volume of diaries.”

“You’re sure it will be of any use then?” I asked with some concern as I raised an eyebrow at the book. It was rather worn too and the binder was cracked and musty.

“Isn’t this what you saw?” With a little help from a purple aura, the pages frantically flipped until stopping at an illustration. “The hungry ghost,” Twilight explained as she read aloud, “also called preta or gati, are the spirits of greedy or jealous ponies who have become demons with an insatiable appetite. Their mouths are the size of a needle’s eye and with a stomach the size of a mountain.”

I stared at the illustration. It was a veritable likeness to what I had gazed upon. “This is exactly what I saw! Could we borrow this book for a while?” I asked, while Sweetie Belle took the book with her magic. She studied the plain green front that yielded no expectations of the inside.

“Sure. Normally I’d have you fill out loaner cards but… I think I can trust you two.” She smiled up at us and returned to her own book. “I’ve searched the library in Canterlot, even in the Crystal Kingdom, so believe me when I tell you that there are no other books on the subject.”

“That’s all right. I think we’ve got enough to go by here.”

We went outside again and found a quiet part of town to do the reading. A small park with a little pond, trees with crowns swaying from a gentle breeze making the hot day bearable. The long shadows only made it all the more comfortable. With the book spread out before us, we started to flick through the pages. It got boring quickly though. The language was typical of hundred years old and most of the words were flowery and with a lot of syllables. It dawned on us just how badly we understood the book when we saw that Twilight had only been paraphrasing it. Sweetie Belle rolled on her back and rested her head in the tall grass.

“Hey Dinky, why did you stick by me for all that time? I mean, I was really nasty to everyone else but you kept coming back.” I blushed and furiously tore through the book to make it look like I was working. “I was really big. I must have been so ugly and smelly.”

“Actually, I thought you were kind of cute. When you were smaller, of course.”

“You liked that I gained a little weight?” she asked in surprise.

My book trick would not get me out of that one. Instead I coughed and avoided her glance. “Well, maybe a little. It just gets tiring to look at all these identical shapes. One might almost think we were made from the same basic build.”

I thought for sure she would reproach me, like I was some kind of freak. Instead I heard her giggling so I looked back at her only to find that she was then lying right up against me. “I remember what it was like to be pudgy. It wasn’t a bad feeling, and it really helped me to get some depth in my singing. Would you like to plump me up, Dinky?” As I didn’t answer, she continued. “I really like you. You helped me out in the bad time. I don’t know why but I just want you to know that the two of us… could maybe… figure something out?”

She rolled back on her stomach and was all the way up against me. She put her head towards mine so I instinctively did the same. The kiss was different that time. I no longer felt the presence of the demon. All I saw before me was the inside of her mind, an endless spread of happiness. It was not pictures I saw but I could feel her emotions. I had feared that she might feel pressured to like me, but that was not what I saw at all. There were real feelings mixed in it. It made me so happy that I cried a bit.

Another breeze gusted past us and the pages turned. We pulled apart again and I wiped the tears away with my hoof. I saw the shock on Sweetie Belle’s face and quickly laughed. “It’s not what you think. I’m just so happy that I couldn’t help myself.”

“No, that’s not it. Look.”

She lifted the book up in front of us. It was the very last page of the book with a self-etching of the author. “Derpina Sprint,” I read. “So?”

“Look closer. Who does she look like?” As I still couldn’t quite clearly make it out, Sweetie Belle then illuminated the smaller drawing of her cutie mark. It was a stream of bubbles. It was then that I noticed Derpina had long flowing hair, probably blonde… like my mother’s.

“What are you doing here? I thought you left town,” Time Turner asked and quickly drove his visitor into the back room of the shop.

“You keep avoiding me.” Octavia brushed her tail up against his face and winked at him. “And we need to talk.”

“I thought I made it quite clear that I didn’t want to see you again. How am I to look my wife in the eyes when she comes back?”

Octavia sat down on a stool by the workbench and sighed. “Your wife isn’t coming back. It’s been a whole month, more than that. She must have run off, or worse than that. But you know I’ll always be here for you. Do you remember the first time we met? Back when I wasn’t famous, right in this town. We had agreed to meet back up in Canterlot and I waited for you for a long time. That’s when she first stole you from me.”

Time Turner shook with anger and spat on the floor. “You’ve always remembered things like you wanted to. You took off to Canterlot as soon as you got a gig with that instrument of yours. I shouted to you at the station that I would come for you, but you wouldn’t even look out of your compartment window. I nearly sacrificed everything to run after you when that storm hit.”

“Can’t you let bygones be bygones again? Whenever your wife leaves it’s always me that you find,” Octavia purred and took Time Turner’s hooves into hers. For a moment it seemed like he would agree to it, but he cast her hooves aside.

“What do you even want with me? You were quick to forget all about me in Canterlot, and you are too good to be seen with me in public. Leave, now, while I still remember the pony I grew up with.”

The doorbell chose that moment to chime. Time Turner left her without another glance. He straightened his tie as he galloped through the shop. A blue minotaur waited outside holding a grey pegasus upside down by her tail.

“Iron Will found this pegasus raiding my lunch wagon. Do you know her?” Iron Will asked.

“Derpy?” The pegasus looked up at the mention of her name and a warm smile spread across her lips.

“Hubby!” she exclaimed and broke free of Iron Will’s grasp to fall around Time Turner’s neck. Both of them fell on the floor with her landing on top of him. She pressed her snout affectionately against his, while Time Turner looked away embarrassed.

“You crazy pegasus. Where have you been? We’ve all been so worried about you.” Time Turner took his wife by the shoulders but tears sprang from his eyes and he simply embraced her. Derpy couldn’t help but giggle. “What can I do to ever repay you?” he asked and looked up at the Minotaur.

“Well, Iron Will’s watch has been a little slow lately.” Iron Will took off the wristwatch on his left arm and put it down on the ground. Time Turner rolled Derpy off him and picked it up.

“No wonder. It’s three days late,” he said and held it up to his ear. “I’ll have it done by tomorrow.”

Iron Will nodded and took a basket that he had held firmly clenched between his buttocks. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Iron Will has some shopping to do before his new seminar, ‘Accepting a No.’” The minotaur tipped his dark fedora and made his way back into town.

I had always had suspicions about my mother’s age, but the author of the century old book was uncannily similar to her. I could not explain it so I had to find the one pony who would, if no one else. My dad. When I got home, I saw Octavia sneaking out of the backdoor. She was crying and smiling at the same as she ran through our garden. We nearly stumbled into her by the gate between hedges.

“Hey, Dinky,” she said and wiped her eyes. “We all make decisions that we have to live with for the rest of our lives. Make sure you don’t make your decisions into mistakes. And don’t simply use youth as an excuse for rash decisions.”

“What… was that about?” Sweetie Belle asked as we observed Octavia storm away from the house.

“Hay if I know. She keeps showing up around my dad.” As with the last few times, my mind was again focused on other things. I gave it only a cursory thought before rushing through our back garden. Dad had promised he would do something about it, but the shop had completely pushed it out of his schedule and Derpy had not been there to remind him. Thick vines slithered around the grass and up trees, hedge and fence. It was an overgrown wilderness but the neighbouring cats loved coming there and play. Only safe spot was the veranda where we demoted all of our worn furniture to garden chairs.

The backdoor stood open. I could not believe my eyes. It was mom who came out and scooped me up into her arms and held me close to her. “My muffin,” she said and rubbed her cheek against mine.

“Mom, not in front of guests,” I said and tried to release myself. Truth be told, I didn’t struggle very much. Mom focused one of her eyes on the giggling Sweetie Belle and put me down again. I quickly embraced her but the seriousness of the situation forced me to be a little strict and exercise self-control. “Mom, there’s something I need to ask you. Do you know this book?”

Sweetie Belle levitated it up on the rickety table between ripped, red armchairs. Her face scrunched up in concentration as we showed her the various pages and illustration. Without warning, my father came out as well and shut the book close. We all stared in surprise at him. I thought he was angry for a moment but then he sighed deeply.

“Where did you get that book?” he asked.

“I… I got it from the library.” Dad stared at me with those eyes of his that betrayed how kind he usually was. “We found out what kind of demon had possessed Sweetie Belle. This was the only material that could tell us anything.”

“What’s your problem anyway,” Sweetie Belle asked and stepped up. “It’s really important that we defeat that demon but we can’t do anything if don’t know how to defeat it.”

Dad bit his lip, looking first at my clueless mom and then up to the sky. “Is it really too important to just ignore that book?”

“Do you want everyone in Ponyville to blow up like me?” Sweetie Belle’s appalled voice was getting increasingly shrill, so dad began to pace around the veranda for a few moments.

“I promised her to never do it again. But I guess there are no other options.” He looked at me, the harshness slowly melting away and replaced with an almost pained nostalgia. “I will try to explain everything to you the best I can. You’ve no doubt noticed the similarity between Derpina and Derpy?”

“Yeah, but that’s impossible,” Sweetie Belle said and took a seat in one of the chairs. Mom took the couch next to me and dad was halfway back inside. “That book was written over a hundred years.”

Dad returned a moment later with some kind of hat made of two crossed metal bars and a bunch of visible clockwork machinery by the neck. Mom looked up at him unsure but he smiled serenely at her. “I know I promised her never to use it again, but… I think she will forgive me this once.” He pressed the helmet down over Derpy’s head so that it covered her eyes. She grimaced when he slapped it in the back, and gritted her teeth when electricity covered it. I had to take cover not to get zapped along with it. Mom slouched wearily once the device calmed down again. She adjusted it just so that it didn’t cover her eyes anymore and looked up at dad angrily with her eyes focused.

“I told you NEVER to use that thing one me ever again,” she huffed with beads of sweat running down her head.

“I know, Derpina, but it’s your daughter. There’s something she would like to know.” Derpina looked at Sweetie Belle and sighed.

“I suppose you want to know why you’re a unicorn when your father is an earth pony and your mother is pegasus?”

“Actually…” Sweetie Belle pointed towards me now lying in front of the couch. I had no idea what to say. Of course she still looked my mother, both her eyes were just focused on me, but it didn’t feel like my mother anymore. Her mannerisms, right down to the rhythmic beating of her heart, were different. There was still a connection between us that only a mother and a daughter had and she knew instinctively that Sweetie Belle was right. Derpina scooped me up easily, her eyes bored as she placed me in her lap. Her mouth opened but no words came out. Still I heard a faint cooing in my ears, a voice I sometimes heard in my sleep when my dreams got bad.

“You’re beautiful. Are you her only one?”

It took me a moment to realise what she was talking about. “No, I have an older sister as well but she moved out a few years ago.”

“Pity. I would have loved to meet her. What is your name?”

“Dinky. My sister is Amethyst Star though we just call her Sparkler.” A melancholic smile formed on her lips. She closed her eyes but a single tear still escaped her.

“To think that she would be so blessed. It almost isn’t fair. All because of that stupid mistake I made. Did Time Turner ever tell you who I really am?” I shook my head so she continued.

“My father was the last in a prestigious line of unicorns, the Thunders. But he married a pegasus out of love and I was the result. His inheritance was cut off and we lived a simple life. I gained my father’s intelligence but not his horn. My talent was revealed to be a chemist and I corresponded heavily with Cloudsdale about an updated rainbow formula. It could keep my interest however. I needed something more challenging, like finding out more about the pre-civilisation ponies. It became my obsession. If I could accomplish such a task, surely my father’s family would forgive him. Then he fell ill and I got pressed for time. I slaved day and night in every ruin I could uncover. At last I gave up finding any evidence and decided to use my talents as a chemist to create a time potion. But I was punished for my foolishness. Instead of travelling back in time, I stopped it instead. In myself.”

“Then… what happened to you?” I asked. “Who’s Derpy and why are you not here anymore?”

“The potion had other side effects. Do not mourn for me, child, or pity me. I made a bad decision and I’ve come to terms with it.” She used another moment to smile down at me before hardening her face again and looked up at dad. “There, I told her everything. Now get this thing off me so I can die in peace.”

“Actually, that’s not what we summoned you for,” Sweetie Belle said. Derpina shot her a contemptuous glare so that Sweetie Belle shrank back. I wanted to shout at Derpina but I kept seeing my mother in her. I couldn’t bring myself to reproach. Instead I sat down next to her and explained why we had summoned her. She just closed her eyes with a pained expression.

“I’m sorry. If it isn’t in the diaries, then I don’t know about it.”

“But that demon is really dangerous!” Sweetie Belle protested and jumped down. “Isn’t there something you can tell us?”

Derpina did not enjoy that tone and jumped down as well. “Well I’m sorry, little girl, but the pre-civilisation did not leave us with much. But of course, that’s all my fault, isn’t it? Just how I was born a pegasus too.”

“Stop it!” dad said and took her arm so that she was forced to look up at him. “What happened to you was over a hundred years ago.”

“I didn’t ask for you to bring me back.” Derpina snatched her arm back, and then fixed her eyes on me. “You don’t need me, Dinky. I’m nothing but a failure. You, on the other hoof, you are a Thunder. You can do anything you want with your magic if you just put your mind to it. You can become the most powerful non-alicorn magic user.”

Derpina ripped the headgear off and thrust it into the veranda floor. It broke into a million pieces in front of dad’s shocked face. I was looking at mom instead. Derpina smiled at me with what I can only presume was regret, before closing her eyes. Dad just managed to catch her before she fell to the ground.

“She’s made her decision.” Dad placed her down on the couch. Mom was completely out of it but I could still see her breathing. Like her old self again. Then dad looked at me and held me close to his chest. I was unsure what to feel or what to make of it, but it just felt good seeing dad so tender for a change. “Thirty years ago I met your mother, Dinky. I don’t think it was a coincidence either. My talent is time which must have been what attracted us.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked and looked up at him. He just ruffled my hair and released me.

“Of course she is. I’d say she’s better than any of us. Imagine what she has been doing for all these years? She… she never talks about them.” He put an arm across his eyes and I could see him heave with the sobs. What he meant with them I’m still not sure. All the coltfriends she must have had, or even families. Or maybe just good times. I nudged my head against his shoulder, so he took a deep breath. “It’s all right, sweetie. Daddy just… just worries about her sometimes. She was gone for so long and I never thought I would see her again. She messed with time. That could have serious consequences, some days I fear that she will vanish for good, swallowed up by a rift in space or something. You should go. You still have a demon to defeat.”

I could tell that there was more to it, but I didn’t say anything. After all, the words fell over each other to get out again, and he just wanted to be alone with mom. We waved goodbye to them and went out of the backyard again. He scooped mom up on his back as we left and went back inside the house.

“Well that didn’t help much,” Sweetie said and sat down on a bench at the side of the road. “Dinky? Are you all right?”

“Mmm? Oh, yeah, sure!” There was so much for me to process that I could hardly contain it. But I somehow had to focus on the task ahead of us. Fortunately, just looking at Sweetie Belle filled me with inner calm. I sat down next to her and rested my head on her shoulder. “It’s up to us now. The demon would try and find a new victim that could satisfy its need for greed.”

Sweetie Belle smiled mischievously and avoided my eyes. “I could think of somepony it would decide to visit. Who’s the greediest pony you can imagine in Ponyville?”

“The… mayor?” I asked after a moment of contemplation. Something about her constant pledges just made it pop into my mind but Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“The greediest pony I know is Diamond Tiara. Think about it? Wouldn’t she just be perfect to be haunted by a hungry ghost?”

“Makes sense… but if that’s true, then we have no time to waste! Do you know where she lives?”

Sweetie Belle just got up again and we rushed through town. None of the ponies we encountered could imagine the emergency we wanted to solve. A few yelled at us as we bumped into them but we ignored them. There was no telling what damage the hungry ghost could have caused just in the short time.

Diamond Tiara lived on the outskirts of Ponyville, as I found out. A large house with a big garden and a tall fence. I had never thought about how or where she lived for the reason that I didn’t particularly care about her. Yet I didn’t exactly hate either. Just like so many other ponies, I had gotten my fair share of bullying from her, but dad had somehow put a stop to that. He could be thoughtful when he wanted to.

We were not supposed to have entered the garden so abruptly though. A bulky earth pony in a blue vest stepped out behind the gate and impeded our progress. His hard gaze made it clear that we should vacate the premises as quickly as possible, but Mr Rich whistled at him.

Filthy Rich sat outside by a garden table and enjoyed a glass of something orange with ice cubes. I’m not sure what to think of him but I always got the idea he was more level-headed than his daughter, and far from her pretentiousness. I guess his biggest problem was his soft spot when it came to her.

“Aren’t you two in my daughter’s class?” he asked and waved us over. The private guard snarled at us slightly but retreated passively again. “Sweetie Belle and uh…”

“Dinky Doo,” I answered as we neared him.

“That’s it, Derpy’s daughter.” He took a sip from his glass and then shook it slightly so that the ice cubes sloshed around. “I don’t usually see you two around here.”

“Well…” I passed a few nervous glances with Sweetie Belle. “Actually, we’re here because… we…”

“… thought she might need some help with homework!” Sweetie Belle finished, to which I nodded generously. Mr Rich laughed heartily and nearly spilled his drink all over him.

“In that case, I hope my daughter compensates you. She can be a little stubborn like her mother so just insist. Take the stairs up and then it’s the third door on the left.”

Mr Rich went back to his drink and the financial papers before him, still chuckling slightly. We followed his instructions and were immediately taken aback by the luxuries under which they lived. The stairs were of dark, polished wood, as were the floors of a lighter tree sort. Expensive paintings hung on the walls and dressers were equipped with rare plants in pots.

“Lavish,” Sweetie Belle said and nearly stopped up to take it all in. I pushed behind her and, as we neared Diamond Tiara’s room, I heard faint grunts.

The little princess rested on her pink canopy bed on top of a mountain of wrappers and packaging, and plates were stacked high. Her belly was severely distended and her already burgeoning face was becoming too much for her tiara. A fine dress was ripping at the seams and stains of chocolate and juices adorned it. Lazily, she shoved a hoofful of cake into her slobbering maw with disregard to either manners or services.

Silver Spoon sat by a toy box with her glasses askew and fresh tears down her cheek. Her chest was heaving. “Please, Diamond, stop!” she screamed and rubbed her cheek. Diamond Tiara grunted a reply and licked the cake platter clean.

“I knew Diamond Tiara would be too good to pass up for a greedy spirit,” Sweetie Belle said triumphantly and stepped in on the lavender carpeting.

“But what do we do know?” I asked and looked first at her, and then at the panting Diamond Tiara.

“Yooouuuuu will do nothing!” a shrill voice whispered. A flaming red aura surrounded Diamond Tiara and lifted her up into the air. With her feet and belly dangling down, she had begun to look like a price pig. “Iiiiiii do not know how you found me ssssssso ssssssoon, but yooouuuu will not be ssssssso lucky again.” Diamond Tiara turned in midair and her dress finally gave up, splitting all the way down the side.

“Let go of her!” Silver Spoon exclaimed but that’s when the ghost cackled. It was enough to freeze the blood in my veins. Diamond Tiara flew out of the window like an overstuffed balloon. None of us dared to move for what seem like an eternity. Gradually mobility came back to us, and Silver Spoon finally broke down and cried.

“Now where did she go?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed disheartened as she jumped to the window next to the bed. Diamond Tiara was nowhere to be seen in the sky or on the ground.

“What was that? Diamond Tiara was never that mean before.” Silver Spoon lifted her glasses so she could wipe her eyes. “Or that gross.”

“She wasn’t herself. Far from it,” I explained and rubbed her back. “I’m not sure how to put it, but she was kind of possessed. I’m not saying it was an ancient ghost but… it was an ancient ghost.”

“How do you know all of this? And how is Sweetie Belle back again?”

“We need to get the gang back together if we want to catch that ghost. Instead of explaining this ten million times, I’ll tell you once and for all when we’re all together,” Sweetie Belle interjected hastily as she sprinted past us. I followed after her, as did Silver Spoon with no objections. In fact, she seemed delighted to be a part of it. Our first stop was Sweet Apple Acres where we found Apple Bloom up in the tree house, rhythmically blowing into a jug and looking up into the sky.

“My life is just one small passing in the great cosmic affairs of the universe,” she said and blew the jug. “When I die it will be as if I had never lived and the world will have forgotten me,” she said and blew in the jug again.

It was impossible to get a word in with Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle finally had to fling the jug into a corner with a bang before Apple Bloom realised we were even there. She stared wide-eyed first at a bashful Silver Spoon, then at a slim Sweetie Belle and finally at me.

“We’re doing something again, ain’t we?” she asked to which we all nodded. “And ya wanna know where we can find Scootaloo, yeah?” We nodded again. “Ah think Ah know where she would be. And what happened to ya, Sweetie Belle?”

We waited with telling her until we got Scootaloo. She was training in a small grove in the forest outside of Ponyville, desperately struggling to stay aloft while Rainbow Dash monitored her progress with a timer. Our arrival broke Scootaloo’s concentration, making her fall to the ground.

“Nearly six minutes? Looks like my regiment is paying off!” Rainbow Dash said and lifted the shadow of her red cap.

“I can’t say that you’re going to believe me,” Sweetie Belle said and jumped into the middle. “I just need to you listen. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

They were baffled at first, quickly turning to shock. Rainbow dragged the shadow back down over her eyes, and when Sweetie was done, we all embraced her tightly.

“I’ll go have a look for Diamond Tiara,” Rainbow said and spread her wings, but Sweetie Belle put a hoof on her chest.

“Not yet. When you find her, you need to lure her somewhere. And first we need somewhere to lure her to.”

“How about mah barn?” Apple Bloom suggested, to which the others nodded and muttered a few words in consent.

“We can prepare a trap for her in the meantime,” Scootaloo said with her brow creased in excitement.

“Then we have a plan,” I said and stuck out my hoof. The others placed theirs on top and we broke apart with an exclamation. “Yah!”

The trap, as it turned out, was a small pile of food inside the barn and us waving fans to spread the smell of delicious pies and other apple treats that the Apple family had lying around. Applejack had been a little worried about relinquishing such a big part of their stock. We explained, again, what it was for and she immediately helped us out. It was just a matter of waving and waiting. It got tiring at length and we decided to take turns. The only one not on fan duty was me. I hid away behind a bale of hay. When Diamond Tiara entered the barn, it would be up to me to jump her.

We waited, and we waited, and then we waited some more. Scootaloo was slowing down her waving and fell on her back, panting and sweating. Before Silver Spoon could take over, however, a shadow formed on the wall by the setting sun. A vaguely pig-like form waddled inside. I sprang from my hiding place to confront the intruder but the shock of seeing her completely ruined my momentum.

“Are you sssssurprised?” a voice hissed. I looked up from the now barrel-shaped Rainbow Dash to see in full, living flesh the hungry ghost. The purple unicorn looked like she always had except she was standing before me and not in my dreams. She was quite a big deal taller than me as well.

“What did you do with Diamond Tiara?” Silver Spoon demanded and stepped forward. The hungry ghost observed her with malignant disinterest.

“Sssssshe, like your friend here, have all been implanted with my sssssssseed. The more they eat, the more sssssatisfied I will become. Sssssssoon everypony of thisssssss little town will be eating for me.” Her eyes were cold and devoid of emotion. The others looked at me, expecting me to spontaneously do something extraordinary.

“I… I won’t let you do this!” I insisted, but she scoffed at me.

“And what can you do? A mere foal, no lesssssssss,” she whistled. “Perhapssssss you’d like to become the next in line?” A dark beam flew from her horn and engulfed me before I could even react. I had gotten too close and left myself too open. In the grip of that beam, I could feel the weight of her powers. My own will was slowly crushed underneath it. Yet in the darkest of hours, even a little ray of sunshine is a hope that we will grab at with all of our might.

To me, that strip of warmth was more than just hope. It was my magic shimmering before my eyes even as I drowned in a sea of greed. In my vision, I bit into the magic and I instantly felt its comforting light. Everything else mattered no longer. My horn glowed with an ocean of power I did not even know I had in me. It was like an ocean of magic surrounding me. I had only to ask to receive. My magic needed no verbal command. At my thought, it did as I ordered it to.

I was back in the room with my friends again, and my horn was really glowing as well. The hungry ghost reeled at its broken spell and screeched angrily. Again it tried to subdue me with a jet black beam but I had tapped into a wealth of resources. I easily shielded against her hex and advanced closer.

“You will not hurt my friends!” I yelled at her. To my side, Rainbow Dash had been joined by Diamond Tiara in feasting on our gathered pile of confections. The others drew up against the back wall. They were as shocked as me. I had never felt such anger before bubbling up inside me. My face contorted into a spited grimace and I could hear my own voice screaming. At that point, the magic had cast a blanket over my mind and it was like passively observing someone else doing the deed.

The hungry ghost retracted through the barn while an orb of pure, blue magic grew at the tip of my horn. Its weight followed proportionally as well and I could feel the strain on my body. Every muscle and nerve came alive with the exertion and light filled the room. My friends calmed down and inadvertently gave off some power to add to mine. Futilely, the hungry ghost tried desperately to burst the ball with her own magic, but I just absorbed it. The bubble had grown too big to be stopped. I could not contain it any longer and fired it.

What happened after that was later told to me. Judging from the Cutie Mark Crusader’s account, the bubble was flung from my horn and engulfed the hungry ghost. Both of them exploded in a fantastic bang of firework that nearly lifted off the roof of the barn. The hungry ghost screamed with pain as its features melted away. It tried desperately to free itself to the last and called Rainbow Dash to it.

She was too late. Rainbow Dash was already so big that her legs rubbed together. She got only halfway across the floor before the ghost had been reduced to a seething pile of ectoplasm on the ground. The hungry ghost was gone. With her, the spell on everyone else was lifted as well.

The spell had worn me out completely and I did not wake up again until half a day later. I was in the hospital along with Rainbow Dash and Diamond Tiara. We were merely being observed for any lasting trauma but nothing was wrong with any of us. Still, I had been out a long time and everyone had gathered around me, eagerly awaiting the moment I would wake up.

“We did it, didn’t we?” I asked weakly and blinked my eyes. The light was a little strong all of a sudden and I had to shield my eyes. Sweetie Belle fell about me and pressed her face up against mine. I could feel her cheek was wet.

“That spell you created was insane!” she exclaimed. I could hear it was hard for her to restrain herself. She kissed me and I felt my cheeks burn.

“Ah ain’t never seen nuthin’ like that,” Apple Bloom said from my other side with a large grin on her face. “Ah thought fer sure ya were gonna blow up the whole barn!”

I relaxed in my bed again with a satisfied smile. I still felt so tired and my body ached like I had dropped from a large height. “Maybe I should get some more rest,” I said, but I heard them giggle so I peeked open an eyelid.

“You haven’t noticed?” It was then that I saw Silver Spoon at my hoof end. Rainbow Dash stood behind Scootaloo next to Apple Bloom. Only Diamond Tiara remained in her bed with her back turned to us. Her father sat next to her but watched us through another one of his glasses of orange liquid.

“Noticed what?” I asked with genuine curiosity, though the tiredness still weighed on my voice. Sweetie Belle lifted my sheet away with her magic and I could see my lower body. Except there was something new on my flanks. “My cutie mark!” I squealed, wriggling so I could get a better angle. “What is it?”

“Looks like some kind of explosion from a thunderbolt,” my dad mumbled and entered the ward with a tray in mouth. He put down my breakfast on the nightstand on my left and tugged the sheets up again. “You are a Thunder after all. Only their most powerful children were rewarded with the Thunderbolt.”

“You did your research.” I sat up and accepted the tray on my belly, and found it to be rumbling. The belly, of course. “What else can you tell me about the Thunders?”

“I have the books at home, sweetie. Stay here and gather your strength. We can talk about this when you get home again.” He kissed me on the forehead. Not nearly as exciting as when Sweetie Belle did it.

I sat for a while and ate. “If we had just known from the start what was wrong with Sweetie Belle, then none of this would have had to happen.”

“I’m still glad it did,” Sweetie Belle said from her chair. “It took so much hardship for us to notice each other, but here we are. I just wouldn’t be able to bear it if I never got the chance to say it, so here goes… Dinky Doo, I love you.”

I nearly choked on my lime pudding and had to hark deeply to get my breath back. Sweetie Belle was blushing furiously and all the others suddenly found other things to do away from my bed. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you for a long time, Sweetie Belle. I never knew why I was so fascinated with you, but I’ve come to realise something as well. I love you too.”

Sweetie Belle reached up and kissed me on the lips. That odd feeling that had been with me all this time exploded inside. The tray fell from my lap with a clatter, but I didn’t care. I finally knew what I wanted in this life more than a cutie mark, and that was her. Time seemed to stand still and I could not tell you how long it took for us to break apart again.

“I’m still glad it’s over with,” I said and looked into her eyes. I could see her sincere love for me swimming in them. The happiness within me was almost more than I could bear. I held my arm up to my eyes again, but this time to cry tears of joy. “Now I know why I was so eager to help you. The thought of losing you was unbearable. All that time you spent in danger and those threat messages you left me.”

“Threat messages? I never left you any threat messages.” Sweetie Belle looked confused at me, and I in turn at her.

“Yeah, someone threatened me to leave you alone – twice!” I exclaimed and held up my hooves to signify the amount. Sweetie Belle shook her head but Silver Spoon rubbed her arm.

“Those messages weren’t for you to leave Sweetie Belle alone. It was to leave me alone.”

“Don’t you say another word!” Diamond Tiara bellowed. She would have jumped out of her bed had her father not held her back.

“No, I’ll say something that I’ve wanted to say for a long time.” Silver Spoon went up to Diamond Tiara’s bed. It was taking all of her courage and she fidgeted with her glasses. “It’s always about you. What you want to do. You don’t need a friend in your life, just a servant.” She gulped and looked up at Diamond Tiara. “But unlike you, I’ve matured. I don’t want to end up bitter and friendless. I want real friends in my life! I can’t believe you would go so far to keep me from that that you would threaten Dinky Doo. If you can show me just one act of humility and apologise then I will forgive you.”

Diamond Tiara blushed furiously with anger. She opened and closed her mouth like a guppy but no words came out. Instead she closed the curtains around her bed with a ripping motion. We all surrounded Silver Spoon and embraced her tightly.

“I’m sorry for all the bad things I’ve done,” she said with head hanging low, but Scootaloo shook her head.

“You’ve done some bad things, Silver Spoon, but at least you want to make up for it.”

I nodded. “Yeah, and you really helped us out too. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

That was the story of how I met the love of my life, Sweetie Belle. She really grew a taste for food because of our adventure as well. While never reaching the leviathan heights of her possession, she developed a healthy layer of insulation around her middle. We remained sweethearts as two fillies became mares. Our love, which started out as awkward and undefined, developed to a deep-seated understanding of each other. Yet even now I’ve been cautious about asking her to marry her. I promised myself I would when I had written down my account of these events. Though I think somepony else has been at my notes as well.

Maybe you should tell what became of you as well? I will! Now look what you made me write. After Twilight became an alicorn, she needed a pupil to further her studies. Out of all the promising unicorns in all of Equestria, she chose me. I don’t like tooting my own horn, but I think I really have become the greatest non-alicorn mage of my time.

Of all time, Dinky. It took some time for me to find my talent as well, but you were invaluable. You gave me courage that neither of the Cutie Mark Crusaders could. When you wake up again and see this, know that I love you more than anything else in the world. Even singing. I promise I’ll be back early from my performance in the Barber of Ponyville. I also know of the ring you’ve tried to keep hidden. I do.