//------------------------------//
// Prologue: The Project 
// Story: Havoc in the Hooves Family 
// by PurplePegasus 
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Dinky Hooves tapped her front hoof in boredom against her schooldesk. Miss Cheerilee was talking enthusiastically about multiplication; somehow she was unfazed by the half-asleep, obviously-not-paying-attention class. Dinky's eyes were locked onto the clock, her horn glowing slightly as she attempted to move the clock's hands forward. No luck. 
Her butt was starting to ache as she had been sitting at her desk for far too long. Behind her she could hear Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon whispering about colts or something silly like that. To her right were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the closest fillies Dinky had to friends. Scootaloo appeared to be fast asleep, while Apple Bloom hummed to herself and Sweetie Belle looked ready to kill. It was a boiling hot summer's day and they had been cooped up in this classroom for hours. 
Finally Cheerilee took notice of the students being half-asleep. "Ahem," she said, her voice taking on a different note. The foals' eyes flashed up to meet hers. "I know it's been a long, boring day, so I have exciting news for you all." Scootaloo finally woke up and the class chattered excitedly. "Now, now, don't get too worked up. I was going to wait until the end of the day, but I think you need something to keep you awake. I have a project planned; and this project is about 'Family Life'. Basically, you need to have some form of recording your family's daily life and keeping a diary of it. It can be in any format; Written, vocalized, filmed if you really want to. You have two months to do it." Cheerilee finished. She began handing out sheets with the deadline and basic info. Dinky was almost jumping up and down, she was so excited. 
"Maybe we'll get Cutie Marks as Camera-mares!" Sweetie Belle squeaked to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Dinky opened up her notebook and started writing notes and ideas.
"Hey, blank-flank!" Dinky heard the familiar hiss of Diamond Tiara's teasing voice come from behind her. Don't react, Dinky thought. She continued writing notes. Suddenly her whole body jolted a little and her pencil went off balance as she realized Silver Spoon had kicked Dinky's chair. Don't react! she reminded herself. She gripped the pencil tighter in her jaws and continued to write. 
"Hey, retard! Don't you know it's rude to ignore others?" Diamond Tiara snarled. Dinky swallowed her annoyance and continued to write, getting angrier by the second as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hurled insults like there was no tomorrow. 
Dinky didn't even notice the tears until they made salty marks on her paper. She breathed a sigh of relief as the final bell rang and she knew her mother would be waiting outside. Dinky packed up her books and pencils as quickly as possible so nopony could be mean to her. 
She practically galloped out of the classroom as her mother greeted her. "Hey, Dinky! Did you have a good day? Want to stop at Sugarcube Corner for a muffin? Anything exciting happen?" Dinky simply nodded and waited until the tears were gone to talk. She didn't need her mother worrying about some stupid fillies. 
"Hey, Mom... Did you ever get bullied at school?" Dinky asked. 
Derpy Hooves raised an eyebrow and her derp-eyes looked genuinely concerned. "A lot. Are... Are you...?"
"No! No, of course not, Mommy." Dinky lied, and nuzzled her mother.
Derpy didn't look fully convinced, but she decided a muffin would certainly help. "Oh, by the way, Daddy's working late tonight so we're having dinner later this evening." 
"Okay. What about Sparkler?" Dinky asked. Sparkler was her older sister, whose talent was jewellery-making. She had left school two years ago, but Derpy still considered her a filly and was pretty scared of Sparkler moving out. According to their dad, Sparkler's full name was Amethyst Star, so Dr Hooves often called her Amy.
"Sparkler won't want to be disturbed today. Her and Rarity are doing an outfit collaboration for somepony in Manehattan." 
"Oh." Dinky responded, a little disappointed.
Dinky knew there was something she was forgetting... Oh! "Oh, Mom, we're doing a project for school about Family Life! I can use our video camera to film our daily doings!"
"That's cool. How long do you have to do it?" Derpy responded cheerfully, glad they were off the topic of bullying. They arrived at Sugarcube Corner, and Derpy ordered two blueberry muffins while Dinky chattered on enthusiastically. 
"...And I can keep a journal of it all, too!" Dinky finished. She hadn't even stopped between mouthfuls - Derpy had been genuinely concerned she was going to choke. 
"That sounds wonderful, Dinky. Oh, maybe we should get some camera batteries on the way home?" Derpy said thoughtfully, nibbling her muffin in deep thought.
Dinky dropped her empty muffin wrapper onto the tray. The way she ate muffins reminded Derpy of a ravenous wolf eating some big mammal, then discarding whatever was left and moving on.
"Come on, Mom, I want to start filming right away!" Dinky's eyes glittered with excitement as she practically dragged Derpy out of the cafe, muffin in hoof. 
"Hey, hey, Dinky! Calm down! We'll make it back in good time." Derpy chuckled.



Derpy and Dinky entered the house. Dinky had a plastic bag with two packs of batteries inside clamped in her jaws. 
"Hello! Sparkler, are you home?" Derpy shouted up the stairs.
"Yeah, Mom! I'm here!" Sparkler shouted back down from her room.
Derpy nodded to Dinky. "Okay, I'll start dinner and you go play about with your camera." 
Dinky didn't need to be asked twice; she dashed up the stairs, threw the bag onto her bed and after a little hunting around, retrieved the video camera.
"This is gonna be the best project in the whole school," Dinky grinned as she pushed the batteries into place.