"Unhand me, you fiend!" The square was quiet, bathed in an early morning glow and filled mostly with store owners and dressed up school foals on their way across town. One such filly was as well, and she sat atop her mother's cart and watched in awe as the strange yellow filly tried to break away.
"Stop!" Derpy dug her hooves into the dirt, her teeth clamped tight on the pegasus' tail. "I just want to talk!" The filly's wings buzzed and she teetered precariously in the air. The shopkeep nearby gave the pair a strange look before slowly moving back into his store.
"No, I've seen this on TV!" Alula missed a beat and came crashing down. She scrabbled frantically in the dirt. "You find an innocent, beautiful young maiden. And then you steal her away and lock her in a tower so that a prince has to come rescue her! But you put a dragon outside the door so that the prince gets roasted." The mare let go and Alula launched to her hooves, pacing about the cart. "And you feed the meat to the captured princess and make her eat her prince. Then you gouge out her eyes or tear off her fingernails." Derpy opened her mouth but the filly suddenly snapped on her, pointing dramatically with a hoof. "You monster! How could you?" She skid forward and fell to Derpy's hooves, shaking her own toward the sky. "He was delicious!"
Derpy looked to her daughter for help, mouth agape. Dinky shrugged and rested her chin in her hoof. "Hey, filly billy." Alula paused at the sound of Dinky's voice.
"And you're the competant mastermind, right?" She veered away from the mare's legs and made a show of approaching the cart. "The one who wants to rid of the beautiful princess. To chop off her hair and sell it." She braced herself on the side and leaned up to stare Dinky in the face. "You want to use my magical hair to keep yourself young forever, don't you, Mother?" Wings buzzing, Alula hovered in the air, muzzle to muzzle with her adversary.
"Uh, what-" Alula suddenly darted away, flitting about excitedly.
"Oh, that's good. I gotta write that down!" She grinned at the mare. "Do you have a pen and paper? I need paper." She quivered happily, lighting on the ground.
"What're you talking about?"
Alula paused long enough to flash back to her days of stuffing half-written scripts into the vcr slot, trying to make a cartoon. She shrugged and sat down. "Nevermind. I am princess Erroria 404." She bowed extravagantly. Dinky hopped down and offered a hoof, which was immediately ignored by Alula in place of a hug. "I think the proper greeting is hoof shaking." She backed away and wiggled her hoofies. "I've never had a friend!" With great protest, Alula drew Dinky closer and hugged her tight. "I know everything we need to do. We have to paint each other's nails and do each other's hair and talk about colts." She sat on the ground and blinked expectantly at her new pal. "Tell me about your hormones and all how they pertain to stallions."
Derpy gave a start and stepped between the two. "Okay now, well. Sorry to have to run but, Dinky needs to get to school now." She looked across the near empty street. The pale sunlight was growing brighter, giving the surrounding shops a fuzzy glow. A tree nearby just began to stir with the flutter and songs of birds. Though for all the waking up the world seemed to be doing, not another pony wandered this street. Even the foals on their way had disappeared from view. Derpy looked from the distant curve in the road to the filly and back again. "Is your mom or sister around?"
Alula followed Derpy's gaze. Both of them. "I don't have a mom. Or a sister. I always wanted one, though." She fluttered her wings. "How do you do that with your eyes?" She batted her own innocently.
Derpy frowned, which drew an instant reaction from little Dinky. "Hey, watch-"
"It's alright," her mother spoke softly, hugging her little one. "It's a condition. I can only see from my left eye, so the right just misbehaves."
"Why does it do that?" Alula's ear fell with a nervous twitch.
"Because I can't keep an eye on it." Dinky giggled despite herself but she quickly caught herself.
Alula stepped away. "Is it contagious?" Dinky bristled and rose to her hooves.
"Watch your mouth!"
Alula narrowed her eyes down her muzzle. "Do you have a mirror? I can't see it."
"Shut up." Dinky snarled the words. Derpy chastised her immediately, ruffling her ears.
"Dinky, you know better." However, the yellow filly had been quite rude. Derpy slowly stood and brushed out her mane, stretching her wings. "We have to get going. If you go inside there," she pointed to the pharmacy behind them, "Nurse Quil is inside, he'll call you parents and help them find you." She moved to the cart and hoised it atop her back. "Goodbye, Erroria." With a strange frown, the mare loaded her filly into the cart and walked down the street, often glancing back. Alula watched them go, head cocked to the side.
"Oh gosh, I need to wash my eyes!" She frantically glanced around and burst into the pharmacy. "I might catch something!" She squeaked to the orange stallion inside. "I need to wash my eyes, hurry!" Alula freezes, eyes widened. "Wait... Ha, who cares?" She leaps into the air, her wings buzzing. The horn on her forehead lit up, throwing her all the way up to the ceiling. The stallion behind the counter flinched, face drawing back with shock. But Alula did not notice. She zoomed around the ceiling. "I'm free! I'm finally free. I can eat all the silver I want!" Her loud, maniacly laughter shook the heavens. She turned on the storekeeper, grinning wide. "Residents of Ponyville, give me your metals!" She licked her lips hungrily.