Dinky woke up with a yawn the next morning, looking out the window as the sun cast its rays down upon the land before she remembered her special guest sleeping in the trash. She threw her windows open and looked down towards the trash with worry, before she let out a sigh of relief when the trash moved to reveal some of Mr. Bubbles' eyes.
"Morning, Mr. B," she said to him as the rays of the sun shown on her face, before her door opened and a gray mare walked into her room.
"Dinky, who are you talking to?" Ditzy asked her daughter as Dinky slammed the window shut behind her, smiling at her mom in the innocent way that told Ditzy that her daughter was up to something.
"Nopony mom, just saying good morning to the world," Dinky said with a smile, causing her mother to raise an eyebrow while she looked around her daughter's room for anything that looked out of place.
"Well, when you're done saying good morning to the world, come on downstairs and I'll fix you some breakfast," she said as she looked around her daughter's room one more time, but she left with a shrug when she found nothing. Dinky let out a sigh once her mother had left her room, before she turned back to the windows and opened them, looking down at Mr. Bubbles, who was trying to get the trash off of him.
"Hold on a few minutes Mr. Bubbles, I'll be down to meet you soon," she said to him once he had looked up at her, letting out a soft moan once she had closed her windows again and ran down the stairs. Ditzy was in the kitchen trying to make breakfast as best she could, but unfortunately for her the cereal kept catching ablaze every time she tried to pour milk onto it. "I got that, Mom, don't worry," Dinky said as she raced by her mom and took the milk out of her hooves, pouring it into both their bowls before she skidded to a stop in front of their table.
"Thank you Dear, I just have no idea how that happened," Ditzy said with a sigh as she sat down in front of her daughter, watching as she inhaled her cereal, until Dinky noticed that she was watching her.
"What's the matter, Mom? Trouble at work again?" Dinky asked her.
"No, it's your school," Ditzy replied, causing Dinky to lower her head a bit. "Your teacher told me about what happened the other day, and how it almost made you cry. And this isn't the first time this has happened either, Dinky. Are you sure you don't want to try the school in Canterlot? Twilight says that it's a very nice place for unicorns who are still trying to figure out who they are."
"Mom, we can barely afford the house we're in right now; how do expect us to be able to move to a place like Canterlot?" Dinky said before taking another bite of her hay flakes, causing her mother to sigh as she looked out the window.
"I'll think of something, Dear, but what I want best for you is for you to have a good education--where you aren't being attacked by your peers," Ditzy said as she looked over at a picture on the wall, that showed Ditzy when she was younger and standing next to her was a purplish unicorn, with a grey mane who held a tiny little Dinky in his hooves, all of them smiling at the camera. "It's been nearly seven years already, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it has," Dinky said with a sad sigh, when she saw where her mother was looking. "So, since I have the day off, is there anything you need me to do while you're at work?"
"Yes Dear, I have a list of groceries that I need you to grab for me," Ditzy said as she picked up a list off of the table and hoofed it over to her daughter, before grabbing a mail hat and bag full of letters. "There's a few bits on the counter in case you get hungry while you're out, and I want you home before sunset. Okay?"
"Okay, Mom," Dinky said with a smile. "Good luck at work today. Love you."
"Love you too," Ditzy said with a soft smile before she flapped her wings and flew out the door, giving Dinky time to look over the list, before she heard the inevitable sound of her mom crashing into something.
"And today starts just like any other day," Dinky said with a shake of her head, before she looked out the windows to make sure that nopony was around. She ran out the back door towards the trash heap, arriving just in time to see Mr. Bubbles push the last of the trash off of himself. "I thought I told you to stay still." Mr. Bubbles let out a moan and Dinky rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I get that you want to be near me, but you can't be seen until the princesses get back. I don't want any trouble caused in town today." Mr. Bubbles moaned and started to walk towards her, but Dinky held out a hoof to stop him. "No, you have to stay here for now. Stay."
Mr. Bubbles moaned, but sat back down for her, causing Dinky to smile as she waved goodbye to him and took off towards the town, while whistling to herself. The moment she was almost out of sight, Mr. Bubbles got back up to his feet and began to follow her. He was afraid that something would happen to her if she wasn't within his sight. That had been the only reason he had slept outside, because her room was right above him, much like when the little sisters went into those pipes. He couldn't see them, but he knew that they were safe.
Dinky came to a stop in the center of the market, looking from her list to the stands to try and find what her mom needed her to get. She stopped by Carrot Top's place first and said 'hi' to her, buying a number of carrots, before running off to her next shop with a smile. Next was something from Rarity's, but her store was still closed since she was in Canterlot. So Dinky had to head back across town to the Cake's store, but on her way she happened to see eight green eyes looking out at her from an alleyway.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at him, once she had run over to him and pushed him farther back into the alley so no other ponies could see him. Mr. Bubbles let out a moan in response, and she rolled her eyes with a growl. "Don't give me that, I told you specifically to stay at the house until I came to got you! Now you might cause a panic." Mr. Bubbles tilted his body to look at her, causing Dinky to sigh again as she looked around. "Okay, just...stay here for now while I finish up shopping. Okay?" Mr. Bubbles let out a moan and she figured that he would listen, but as she went back to the market she wondered how he had managed to get here in the first place without being seen.
"Just one container of orange juice, please," she said with a sigh as she placed the bits on the pony's counter, taking the bag and adding it to her others as she turned around, right into a group of ponies that she knew all to well. "Oh great, what do you idiots want?"
"Hey, who you calling an idiot?" the one named Dumb-Bell asked her with a snort.
"You, obviously," Dinky shot back. The other two pegasi, Hoops and Score, chuckled at their friend before looking down at her. "What do you want, I'm kind of busy?"
"We were just wondering where your mother was," Hoops said with a snicker. "I mean, we haven't seen any ponies being taken to the hospital, and that's generally where we find her."
"Ha ha, how long did it take you to come up with that one?" Dinky asked in a bland tone as she tried to walk around them, but Score held out a hoof to stop her.
"The other reason we want to see her is because she broke a very important package that I sent to the office, and I want her to be held accountable," he said with a grim look, causing Dinky to back away from him. "So, either you go get her or..."
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" The three idiots looked up with a snicker to see Ditzy land in front of her daughter, snorting with rage as she placed herself between her daughter and them. "How DARE you threaten my daughter!"
"Naw, we weren't threatening her," Dumb-Bell said with a smile as he walked up to her. "We just wanted to get you out here so we could give you...a piece of our mind." Ditzy refused to move as the three began to surround her, but before anything could begin, Dinky threw herself in front of her mom and grabbed onto Hoop's leg.
"Leave her alone!" she yelled at him. Hoops growled and shook her off his leg as best he could, flinging her into the side of a stand where she grabbed her head before passing out.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Ditzy roared as she tackled Hoop to the ground, bringing one hoof back to strike him.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" All of the ponies in the square stopped as they heard the massive roar that echoed throughout the area, all of their heads turning to the alleyway where a massive beast in metal armor stood, with all eight eyes glowing red. Before any of them could say anything, it let loose another roar and charged at the four ponies closest to Dinky. Hoop let out a scream as he threw Ditzy off of him before flapping his wings, barely getting out of the way of the charging creature.
"What the Faust is that thing?!" Score yelled in fear as it slowly turned around to face him, his fear reflecting in all eight of its red eyes. Ditzy wasted no time in throwing herself over Dinky while Score backed away from the creature in fear. It roared again and slammed into him, dragging him across the ground before driving both of them through the side of a building. "Get off of me!" The monster started up its drill and drove it right through the midsection of the pony, who didn't even have a chance to cry out before he went limp on the end of the drill. The Big Daddy threw him off the drill and to the ground before he slowly turned and walked back out of the building and into the streets, where the ponies were in full panic now.
"Holy...it killed Score!" Hoop said with a scream before, faster than he could fathom, the creature charged into him from across the street, grabbing him by his head and slamming it repeatedly into one of the stands. He then tossed the body aside as he turned to the last one of those who dared to try and hurt his Little Sister, the Pegasus that was floating in the air above him.
"W-what kind of monster are you?" Dumb-Bell asked in fear as he floated far away from the Big Daddy's reach. Mr. Bubbles let out a roar and began to concentrate into his left hand, watching with rage as the electricity began to crackle all around it. Dumb-Bell figured out what he was doing a second too late before the lightning connected with his chest, sending his burning body to the ground below. Those ponies that weren't running for their lives watched in horror as the creature roared again before turning towards Ditzy, making the ground shake as it walked over towards her. She looked up from her daughter to the giant creature, fear flashing in her eyes before she growled at it.
"Y-you get away from my daughter. NOW!" she yelled at him. The Big Daddy's response was to swat her to the side with his hand, knocking Ditzy into the side of a wall, where she slumped to the ground silently. Mr. Bubbles then bent over and scooped up the little filly into his hand, slowly looking around at all the ponies that were staring at him with horror. He then began to walk to the forest where he had first met the little sister, all of the ponies moving out of his way as he walked by them. When he got to the edge of the town, he looked behind him one last time and gave a roar before heading into the forest.
===k>
The ponies did their best to clean up the destruction that had been caused by the creature, even though some of them questioned what had just happened. They had never seen a creature like that before in all their years, and the way it had ripped those three ponies apart had been horrific, to say the least. A doctor and two other ponies were doing their best to tend to Ditzy, who fought them with all of her strength to break free of their grasp.
"Let go of me! That thing has my daughter!" she screamed as the three held her down, trying to tell her that she couldn't go after a thing like that. Then a shadow spread on them, and they all looked up with wide eyes when they saw who was standing beside them.
"Who has taken your daughter?" she asked in a regal voice as she looked down at them.
"S-some kind of monster, unlike anything I've seen before," Ditzy said as she pointed towards the forest. "That's where it took her. Please Celestia, get her back." The princess nodded and spread her wings, taking to the sky as she flew towards the forest.
'Another monster has come to try and tear apart my peaceful land,' she thought with a growl as she let her magic crackle along her horn, heading in the direction of the forest. 'But I will show it what happens when it messes with my subjects.'