Without a dream, I awoke early and refreshed.
'Well, I do have lots to do today.'
So I made a mental list:
*Investigate Dinky's problem
*(If necessary) Solve Dinky problem
*Enjoy Picnic
*Help Derpy with mail delivery (Vinyl is expecting packages from Amazon)
I had the HoloCube record each event with a five minute alarm so if I forgot I could always just make a mad dash to whatever.
I heard my stomach growl so I glanced at it. It seemed much larger than usual.
Granted I wasn't a pony before, but still.
'Growing a little large, now aren't we?'
'Brain, I'll let you know when I care.'
Yet my first thought inspired me, so I took a lap around the house, or 2, or 7, or 2,489.
I was at a two legged jog when the sun was starting to peak in the sky. Derpy had just opened the door and was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
I quickly dropped out of the two leg format and back onto all fours.
"Mornin' Derpy! Sleep well?" I asked, finally slowing down
She yawned, then replied "Alright, how about you? I mean, you're up already and all."
I looked at myself and how I was fully drenched in sweat.
"Yeah, slept well, thanks. Dinky up yet?" I switched the subject.
"I don't know…" Dinky said, her eyelids falling back down in a last ditch attempt to sleep.
"Well, she has school today, or something right?"
"Well... yeah. I should go wake her."
She stumbled back inside and I followed suit.
When Dinky came out of her room, she seemed pretty glum. At a further glance Derpy was trying to cheer her up before she stormed out of the hallway and back into her room.
Derpy came back slowly, tears visible in her eyes.
"She doesn't want to go to school today, she says that she's been bullied so much she's had enough." She sniffled. "I've never seen her like this before… ever…"
Derpy's eyes began to tear up so I chose my words carefully
"Hey, hey, hey. Stop that. Listen… last night as Dinky and I were walking home she mentioned somepony that caused her trouble, and I p-, I promised that I would fix it. My guess is that she just forgot."
I left out the part about how I told Dinky no promises, but seeing Derpy cry was enough to make me sure of that decision.
Derpy spoke softly and with a little happiness "Really? You did? Oh Flash, I- I don't know what to say…". The tears stopped and her cross-eyes lit up.
I put a hoof out and said "No need to thank me. It's my pleasure. Where's Dinky? Just let me talk to her."
"She's in her room…" Derpy replied, happiness returning to her face.
I head over to her Door, which had a small amount of dried blood from the previous morning, and knocked twice. When there was no answer I slowly pulled the door open.
"Dinky? Can I talk to you for a second?"
On her bed, face in her pillow, she replied in a harsh tone "Sure. What do you want."
I looked at her and sat down on the floor beside the four post bed. "Remember that conversation we had last night, on the way home?"
Dinky rolled over, still expressionless "Yeah, what about it?"
"Do you remember what I said?"
Again, she hesitated before replying with a short "No, why?"
I spoke as kindly as I could "Because last night you told me about your little-"
She scowled.
"Sorry, -your problem and I told you, I promised you that I would do anything I can do to help. So, what do you want me to do? You mentioned meeting this pony at around 11, and I can only do that if you go to school today."
"Yeah, I guess that's the only way…" she said, looking into the floor.
She brightened up
"Yeah, if you solve this, I won't have to be worried about getting bullied anymore! Thanks Flash!"
She ran up, gave me a hug which I almost reeled back from, then she grabbed her bag and ran out the door.
As I came back out, Derpy smiled. "Where there's a will, there's a way! I knew it!"
I sighed, "I did too, I just hope everything goes as good as she hopes it will."
Derpy looked back to me "Don't worry, if I know you, things will turn out just fine for her."
'But you don't know me all that well, now do you?'
The morning whizzed by. Derpy and I flew over to the mail station and we picked up some packages. All were addressed to Vinyl Scratch, no address, just the name. We skyrocketed down from the post office and reached the DJ's house within minutes. Upon hitting the doormat, I counted my packages.
'Okay that's one, two, three, fou-, huh? Where's the fourth?' I looked up and saw a package falling parallel with Derpy.
I dropped what I had, and gave a good hard thrust with my wings. Zooming up, I caught the package and glided back down.
"Wow, I didn't even see the that! Good thing you did huh?" Derpy exclaimed on touching down.
Before I got the chance to reply, a white unicorn with light purple shades opened the door.
She gave a huge yawn. "Mornin guys, you got that for me? Sweeeeet."
Derpy asked "So what'd you get this time?"
"Ah nothin, just new parts for my BASS CANNON!"
She pointed to a corner of the house where this massive speaker was up against the wall.
"That's a cannon?" I asked, "Doesn't look like one."
"So you're the reason everything showed up in one piece!" Vinyl said, glancing towards me.
She continued "Every time you order Derpy Delivery you need to get one thing that you don't mind being struck by lightning or lost in the wilderness or somthin."
"I don't know about that, but I did help out with the delivery. Name's Flash Drive, everyon- everypony so far just calls me Flash."
"Well, you've probably heard of me though, Vinyl Scratch, best DJ in Equestria!"
Derpy interrupted "I thought that was DJ Pon3?"
Vinyl just stared. "Anyway thanks. 'Tavi! Guess what just arrived?"
She shut the door and we started on our way back home.
A few minutes into the flight, I heard a voice from my pack.
"Hey, you, yeah you, aren't you late for something?"
Derpy cocked her head "What was that?"
"I don't know, it sounded like it was an ringtone for an alar- OH CRAP GOTTA GO!"
I yelled back as I took off. The alarm went off for Dinky, stupid me. I had about 5 minutes to get to her schoolyard.
It was mid-flight when I realized that I had no clue where I was going, so I went back to Derpy, who was standing quite confused.
"Sorry 'bout that, that was the alarm for Dinky's school; I'm supposed to meet her there. Only problem is that I don't know where it is." I chuckled at how stupid I sounded
"No problem, It's up a little past that place we went for lunch yesterday."
'I'm gonna need to find a map...'
"Thanks Derpy, see you in a bit!"
And I took to the skies.
Not a minute later after I arrived a bell rang, signaling all the fillies and colts ran outside for lunch and free time. Watching them I noticed that the majority didn't have the print on the rear hind leg as Derpy and I did. Although there were a few with those marks already, they seemed to think of themselves as upper-class citizens and it thoroughly disgusted me.
I hid in the shadow of one of the nearby buildings and watched how Dinky came out talking to a group of three other fillies. One being a white unicorn, another dark orange-ish pegasi, and a yellow pony with nothing special. Although I remembered seeing the yellow one inside applejack's house, I couldn't match a name. They seemed to be talking in eager conversation, and I thought of it to be a bad time to reveal myself then.
Or so I thought.
Two ponies came out of the schoolhouse walking in unison, noses high up in the air. Watching, I had to stifle a laugh. That's when I realized that everyone moved out of their way as if they were some kind of overlord species.
Then things started to get ugly, I crept closer to get within earshot.
"You better get out of my way, my father will destroy you if you get a single one of your filthy hooves on my beautiful mane."
"Yeah, and you know it!"
The air was stiff as the two ponies tried to get past Dinky.
"Did you hear? That stupid Dinky found a pony in the woods! Not only that she convinced her cross-eyed twit of a mother to let him stay!"
There was nothing Dinky could say. Her eyes filled up with tears as the two ponies pushed her to the side and kept walking.
'Alright, these aren't your average school bullies. I think I've seen enough'
I crept up around the schoolhouse to get into a flanking position. As I did so I folded a note into an airplane and flung it towards Dinky.
She read it quietly, but I heard it loud and clear.
"Get ready, the fun is about to start… huh?"
She turned to the group she was near. "Did any of you…?" and she passed it around.
The pegasi looked at the two bullies "Whatever it means, I hope it involves them, right Applebloom?"
The yellow pony answered "Definitely yeah."
I smiled. This was going to be fun.
I waited in the school's shadow for another second for the brats to pass by. Then using the power of my wings I pushed off as hard as I could, staying parallel to the ground as I swept up behind them and grabbed them by their manes. Then took a sharp turn upwards and made for the sky.
About a mile and a half up I stopped abruptly and held them so that I could see their faces.
Both fillies immediately started to struggle, but my grip on their manes was tight enough to keep them from breaking free and falling.
"PUT US DOWN YOU MONSTER!" the pink one screamed.
"Why hello to you too." I replied with an eerie calmness to my voice
"You can't do this to ME! Silver, DO SOMETHING!" the pink one yelled
The grey pony cringed as she tried to free herself "I… can't… Diamond..."
"Now if you will stop talking I can explain what this is all about."
The ponies stopped moving at once.
"You see I have a friend, a really good friend and you two are making her life miserable. All that I ask is that you keep to yourselves more often."
I let them slide an inch in my grasp, making them both squeal.
"Am I clear, or do I need to push my point further?"
"Y-, ye-, ye-, yes, yes-s, sir." Silver answered quietly.
"Is that a promise that I hear? Come on, say it…" I grinned.
"I- I- pr- pr- promise…" The pink filly stuttered
"Hmm? Promise to what exactly?"
"P-promise to b-be nicer to c-classmates? T-to ponies i-in g-general?" Diamond sputtered.
"That's good. Very good."
"W-what happens now?" Silver dared to ask.
"I'll be seeing you."
I turned and did a nose dive, to which the bullies started to scream. Going at the ground nearly supersonic speed when I pulled up, I dropped the fillies on the grass at a safe-ish height and disappeared into the bushes.
All the class could do was stare in both shock and awe.
I went back to the scene, making it a point to stay hidden as I did so. The two bullies were quivering throughout their entire bodies, and their faces were blank and expressionless.
I heard the class talking on their way back inside the building.
"Did you see that?"
"How couldn't I." someone said sarcastically.
"It might of been Rainbow Dash. Did you see how fast that pony was flying?"
"I don't know, maybe it's the new pony."
"No! That was Rainbow Dash! That was as fast as I'd ever seen!"
"Still, I don't know…"
The rest of the line finished up and the doors closed.
It was time to go, but I had one more prank to pull on these little brats. I flew over to the local market and asked if I, being the new pony in town, could borrow two tomatoes from anypony.
A pony by the name of (what was it… Lyra, that's it) Lyra had a few overripe from her garden with her roommate Bon-bon. I thanked her and went back to the school.
I took the two tomatoes in my hooves and smashed them together, splattering the windows and leaving me with creative markers. I wrote three words on the glass as creepily as I could.
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE
I wanted to laugh and stay, but I thought I shouldn't. Class would really let out in seconds and I couldn't be around when they found the mess.
So I took off once again.
While in the air, my pack started buzzing and I heard the familiar voice.
"Hey, you, yeah you, aren't you late for something?"
I tapped the Holocube to bring up the event.
"Picnic in five minutes"
'Picnic? What picni- aww damnit.'
I flew down at the ground at a hard angle and hit the ground rolling.
"Ow", I rubbed the back of my head, having hit it in the tumble.
I looked over and saw the 6 ponies staring.
"Well he certainly knows how to make an entrance…" Rarity whispered.
I got up and cracked my neck, then turned to the group. "Sorry, just had a lot to do, made it though!"
"Well yeah, you did." Twilight said.
"So, do you need me to do anything before we eat?" I asked, trying to be polite.
"Actually, there is somtin' you can do for us." Applejack said, looking into one of the baskets. "It seems that our friend RAINBOW DASH decided to not go to the shop and get us some lettuce. Could you run and get some real quick?"
"Sure." I responded. I understood that I needed to seem useful for something other than time management.
Applejack threw me ten weird coins and I took them, assuming that they were money.
'It'd be more than a little weird if I didn't know what freaking money looks like.'
It took ten minutes but I made it back to the marketplace. It bustling with ponies, nothing like just five minutes ago. I nearly swam my way through the crowd to find the only lettuce stand available.
"How much?" I asked the vendor.
He wasn't in the best of moods.
"How much for how much?"
"Uhh, 2 heads." I said.
"That'll be 5 bits." he said grumpily.
I couldn't tell if I got a deal or if I was horribly ripped off.
So I did what I could. I flew back and gave Applejack the remaining bits.
"Five whole bits for two heads of lettuce? I guess it is rush hour…"
"Come on girls!" Pinkie looked at me "And guy!"
"Yeah, I'm starvin' over here!" came from Rainbow Dash.
Twilight called the picnic almost to order. "Everypony here? That means one thing…"
And to my surprise almost everyone yelled in unison "CHOW TIME!"
After the food was eaten small talk arose. I found it appealing to hear that my acts were quite popular.
"Did you hear what happened to those two kids earlier?" Applejack asked, finishing the last bit of corn bread.
"No, why? What happened? Please tell me everypony's okay." Fluttershy said.
"Well story goes like this: Yall know Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon right? The two bullies pick on poor Applebloom, the rest of the CMC, and Dinky."
"Sorry to interrupt, but CMC?" I interjected
"Cutie mark crusaders, they have a club where Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all are trying different things to get their cutie marks." Twilight replied, then looked at Applejack.
"Continue" she said, growing eager like the others.
"So they were pickin' on them four, especially Dinky. Makin' fun o' her mom and everthin'."
"That's terrible!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Shh" Dash scowled.
"And as they were walkin' away, noses high in the air and laughing, this pegasus, mare or stallion, 'bloom couldn't tell, flies up behind them, grabs them, and pulls them by their manes straight into the sky!"
Rainbow burst into laughter and Applejack started to have trouble talking.
"But wait, th- th- there's more… a few minutes later, he, she, whoever, returned them to the ground with them scared beyond belief. No, no, wait… it gets better. They go back inside and a bit later there's this writing on the glass that says 'remember your promise' and Silver Spoon faints."
Rainbow Dash had a look of sudden understanding. "Oooh, that's what 'scoot was ranting on about a few minutes ago about…"
"I hope that they learned their lesson, bullies, picking on those four like that."
Twilight pulled her nose out of a book and looked at me. "So how are things going with Derpy? We know her, but she keeps to herself a lot."
I thought about the question. "Well Derpy and I are getting along pretty well. I mean the fact that she took me in, a complete stranger, and gave me a place to sleep at night is really awesome to see in a per- pony."
"Well that's Derpy for you, kind and generous to the end. Just don't get her angry, she is a whole different pony when you piss her off." Rainbow Dash said.
"Noted" I replied.
"So when are you going to tell us?" Pinkie pie asked, mouth full of salad.
"Tell you girls what?" I countered.
"About why you were where you were when Dinky found you, silly! That's what!"
"Hold up, hold up. Where did Dinky find you?" Applejack asked.
"Some kind of cave with this weird pool that makes double." I answered
"Oh, that one. We've had some trouble with The Mirror Pool in the past." Twilight smirked
"So that's what it's called." I related, putting the name to the place in my head.
"So where did you come before that? If you want to say… If you don't want to, that's okay too…" Fluttershy said
Just as I was thinking of an answer, there was a scream.
An earsplitting scream that could be heard from miles around.
But it wasn't something I'd hadn't heard before.
It was one of the bullies.