When Derpy brought guests to Earth, she was wont to fly up to the top of the clock tower and have them meet her up there for final instructions. But on that day, she took the stairs, not wanting to waste a minute of the time she had with her guest.
“This is going to be so great!”
“I’m glad you’re excited, Mom. I am too, just not in that jump-around way. I’ve really missed Karyn.”
“But now you’re going to get to see her in her own world. That’s...well, it’s something you’ve never done!”
Dinky laughed as they made it up to the top of the clock tower.
“Ready?”
“Wait! We have to go over how to use these spells, and how to act once you’re on Earth! And you know that if you go outside, you have to use an invisibility spell, or you could get caught. And also—“
“Yes, Mom, I know. We went over all this, I’ve talked to ponies who did this, and you put all these details in the application form that everypony had to fill out who wanted to visit Earth.”
Derpy fretted. “I know, but you’re really the first foal who’s made the journey.”
“Foal? I am of age, you know.”
“Oh, right. I always forget that. Well, you’re my foal, anyway. And you’re certainly the most precious pony I’ve taken with me to Earth.”
Dinky gave a sly smile. “So you’re saying that if Pinkie Pie or Scootaloo or someone had been lost on Earth, that wouldn’t have been as bad?”
“Speaking from an entirely selfish perspective, no, it wouldn’t have. Now, put on your coat.”
“Coat?! It’s summer, and we’re not going outside, we’re going to the other universe!”
“I’m sorry,” said Derpy. “I know I shouldn’t be overprotective. All right, I trust you to know how to use the transfer spell. And a one, and a two, and...”
They appeared on Earth and Dinky bounded for the side door where Derpy told her Karyn’s apartment was. Even though it was her first time, she felt like she knew it. What she wasn’t prepared for was the texture difference, and how she could see all the small details of the wood of the railing, and how the trees were broken masses of leaves rather than blending together at that distance the way they did in Equestria.
Karyn opened the door and said, “Come on in! Dinky, I’m so glad to see you!”
Dinky did her best impression of a pegasus pony as she leaped into Karyn’s arms. Karyn wasn’t exactly prepared for this, but Dinky didn’t weigh that much, so by swinging her around and getting a good grip she was able to avoid getting tackled. Her biggest challenge was watching that she didn’t get speared in the eye with Dinky’s horn.
Derpy followed, and though her hug wasn’t as intense as Dinky’s, it was still tight. Karyn wasn’t used to that level of physical contact with her family, but she’d grown to enjoy the ritual with Derpy.
“You are not allowed to stay out of Canterlot for this long ever again,” said Dinky. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”
“You’re allowed to come to Ponyville too, you know,” said Derpy. “If it’s on a Sunday, I can go and get Karyn, and if it’s not, well, I found a way to mess around with the time differences between universes that might work.”
Karyn remembered Derpy freezing all of Earth just to see the post office during operating hours, but concluded that it wouldn’t work the other way. “You’d have to wait for your next Sunday, after you came here and held our time steady.”
“Well, never mind all that. Dinky, sit on the bed. I do just about every week. It’s real comfortable.”
There could be no greater indication of Derpy’s tender care toward her daughter than giving up her perch on Karyn’s bed and keeping her hooves on the floor. Karyn took her usual spot by the laptop. Dinky did get on the bed, but quickly got off again. “Is that a computer? A real one? Mommy’s told me about them, but I want to play with it!”
Karyn and Derpy gave her a few safety instructions so as to not lose any data, and then let her have at it. Unlike Derpy, who needed her precision manipulation spell to touch the keys with her hooves, Dinky soon learned how to type using her magic to depress each key one at a time. It was slow work, but she picked up using the mouse much faster, and Karyn said that was all right.
“A lot of people tend to favor the mouse over the keyboard unless they actually have to type something. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at navigating through most of the operating system even if there’s no mouse. I’ve had to do that a couple of times at school and work when the mouse wasn’t working.”
Dinky nuzzled her like a favorite pet. “That is so cool. You get to work with these all the time.”
Derpy walked over and showed her some of the sites she liked to go on when she was on Earth, including her social-networking garden. It amused Karyn to see the two ponies working on the human technology, sharing knowledge from one generation to the next.
At last Dinky turned away from the glow of the screen. “So if you know all about these, how come you’re going to school for them?”
“Well, in the first place, I don’t know everything about them. There’s a lot of complicated stuff under the hood.” Karyn briefly considered opening up her laptop’s case to show Dinky, but instead pulled up some pictures of the guts of some systems just to demonstrate the complexity. “Beyond that, I have to know about some of the big computers that they have in the places where they’ll hire me. Like servers and stuff.”
“Oh, you mean like in restaurants?”
Derpy laughed. It was the kind of misunderstanding that she was more used to getting into. “No, my little cutie. A server is a computer that’s designed to be always on, but that instead of having a person work on them, other computers work on them.”
Karyn was impressed at how well Derpy had summed up the definition. It let Dinky understand perfectly what she was talking about without the technical details. She would have explained that even servers need to go off now and then, and that people did have to do maintenance work on them, and she probably would have been confused.
“But as I am going back to school,” she said, “I’m going to have to go shopping for supplies at some point this week.”
“Oh, like quills and scrolls?” asked Dinky.
“Like that, but not exactly.”
Derpy poked her. “Remember when you had to take one of your tests with a quill pen because Twilight’s spell went wrong, and everyone was looking at you weird?”
“Yes, I do remember that, thank you very much.”
Dinky was confused, so Derpy had to explain that feather pens weren’t the norm and would stick out.
“What are you studying in particular this year?” asked Dinky. “Is it something that you could explain to me?”
Karyn thought for a bit. “I don’t know that I can. But, and Derpy can tell you this, I also have elective classes where I can pick something that’s interesting. Since all the mandatory classes have to do with computers, I try to steer as far away from them as possible in my electives. Do you have anything like that? I mean, does Princess Celestia have anypony teach you about history or literature, or have you try to create art?”
“Oh, sure! We have time to rest our horns, as one of my teachers says. A lot of times those classes are the fun ones. We even had one that’s all theoretical, just talking about the basic ideas of unicorn magic, but we don’t have to take any tests or even pay too much attention!”
Derpy saw the opportunity to ask something she was eager to hear. “And how about the practical courses? Are you keeping up with tests and homework?”
“Yeah, so like I was saying, about these other classes, they’re all fun, because after the class, when the teacher leaves we get together and discuss what we talked about, and then from there we just chat about whatever. It’s a blast and I’ve got lots of badflank friends.”
“Dinky! Language!”
“Oh. Sorry, Mommy.”
Karyn was amused at watching Dinky avoid giving away too much to her mother, both avoiding her question and then quickly putting on her filly halo after making the mistake. She decided to help out. “The elective classes can be the most fun. I haven’t had one where we’ve had private discussions afterwards, but this year I plan to take a couple of real softball ones, like where we’ll do nothing but watch movies in every class.”
Derpy scowled at both of them, not knowing which one she wanted to chastise first. Karyn seemed to be the worse of the two, but Dinky was her filly and she had more of a justification for trying to install discipline in her. Finally, she decided to try to split the difference. “Going to school is an important thing. You shouldn’t allow your attention to be distracted from studying. Everything you do in the upcoming year will resonate for the rest of your lives.”
Dinky rolled her eyes. “Well, gee, Mommy, don’t put any pressure on me or anything.”
“You know I just want you to be happy.”
“I know, Mommy, I really do.”
“But,” said Karyn, “that also means being happy now by not working ourselves too hard and having a little fun, even while we’re learning.”
“I’m going to go to the little fillies’ room.” Derpy got up and excused herself. Once she was in the small bathroom, she ran the water.
“That’s Mommy’s way of giving us a few moments to gossip about her. She’s great, of course, but she can’t help hovering. The thing is, she knows it, and she’s letting us be better friends for it.”
“Don’t forget, also, that she never went to school, so she can’t really know what it’s like. She sees it as this great opportunity to work hard and get better so that you can make more money and not have to carry mail.”
Dinky shook her head. “She did go to school, at least grade school.”
“That’s different. Plus it was a long time ago for her. If she had any bad memories of school, she’s probably suppressed them by now.”
“Well, thanks for deflecting some of her intensity off of me.”
“Any time.” Karyn snuck a look toward the bathroom door. Either Derpy was really giving them time alone, or she was taking a long while to wash up. There was also the possibility that she was pressed up against the door trying to listen in on the conversation, but she didn’t distrust Derpy that much. If she really wanted to know, she would ask. “I wish that you could see her some time when she’s not around you.”
“That’s not actually possible.”
“Yeah, but I mean...the way she is with other people. When you’re around she fills her role as a mother and that just pushes everything aside. But when you’re not she’s a fun pony, probably someone you’d be friends with even if you didn’t know her.”
Dinky stared, trying to picture what Karyn was talking about. Eventually she shook her head vigorously, either emphatically denying the sentiment, or trying to clear her head, or both. “I’m not sure. Mommy’s always mommy, you know? The ponies I want to be friends with have more of an edge to them. I just can’t picture mommy doing anything...”
“Rebellious?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“I see your point. Her only real vice is overeating.”
At last Derpy returned from the bathroom, still shaking the moisture off her hooves. Karyn idly wondered if it was necessary, or even effective for a pony to wash her hooves since they went right back to the ground after she came out. But she did not pursue the thought.
What she did notice was that, just as Derpy changed when Dinky was around, so did Dinky change, though hers was more drastic, like the flip of a light switch. She still smiled, but it was one of sweetness rather than true pleasure.
“So,” Derpy said, “What do you want to do?”
“Karyn and I were just talking...” Dinky began, and Karyn was surprised that she would want to reference the conversation they’d just had, but then she continued. “And because we’re both going back to school soon, we think that we should have a major celebration. Like, we should have the most fun possible for any pony or human before we all get back to work.”
“The most fun possible? I don’t even know what that would be. Karyn?”
She mulled it over. A lot of the fun things she thought of required planning of more than a day, or needed significant amounts of money, or meant traveling somewhere that, even at Derpy’s top speed, would barely leave them any time to have the fun that they were going there to have. Especially if Derpy were tired out by flying. To say nothing of how Dinky would get there.
For that matter, there was nothing in particular that she wanted to do. Over her summer of fun, Karyn felt that she had done everything she needed to do. She was as ready as she was going to be for the long run of the remainder of her education followed by a career.
And yet Dinky was here, and Dinky wanted to see the best of the Earth, or at least the best of what was local and in budget. She addressed the unicorn. “What is it that you want to do? Or, if you were in Equestria and wanted to have the most fun possible, where would you go?”
“I guess I’d have a big party!”
That too was problematic. Anywhere Karyn took Derpy and Dinky where there were people, they would have to be invisible. Introducing them to one person was possible, but revealing them to a crowd would be the shortest path to being revealed. Everyone would tell the same story, and then even the skeptics would believe them.
“A party really isn’t something we can do.”
“Actually,” Dinky said, stepping into the middle of the room, “what I wish there were was some kind of party that never stopped. Like, people could come and go as they wanted, but there was always music and dancing and food and everything that you have at a party. And it wouldn’t be in anypony’s house, because otherwise they could never get to sleep. But that’s what I want. A forever party.”
“Like a nightclub?”
Both ponies stared at her with confused looks on their faces. “What’s that?” asked Derpy.
“Hang on, I thought you guys had nightclubs. Doesn’t Vinyl play in them?”
“Vinyl plays at parties and events. If there were an endless party like what Dinky is talking about, she’d collapse pretty soon.”
Karyn held up her hands so that she could try to regain control of the conversation. “All right, so we have places called nightclubs. They’re not permanent parties; they have to clean up and restock the food bars for one, but they do party all night. Kind of. I guess you could call it a party.”
“You never told me about these,” said Derpy. “You must be going during the week or when I’m not here.”
“I don’t care for them myself.”
Again confusion showed on the faces of the ponies. “Why wouldn’t you want to go to a party?” asked Dinky.
“Well, first of all, they’re not the safest places in the world. You can get in a lot of trouble there, in more ways than one.” Karyn sighed. “This is getting into some of the parts of human life that, in my opinion, it’s better for ponies not to know about.”
That only made Dinky’s eyes get wider, and in a hushed tone she said, “Tell me about them.”
“Well, remember that I don’t go to them. A lot of them charge a cover fee just to get in, and that’s only if they let you in. The best ones judge you by the clothes you wear, what kind of shape you’re in, and so on. Of course, if you bribe the right people or know someone, that can get you in too. It’s all very seedy. Then once you’re in it’s very dark and there’s lots of colored lights. The music is too loud to talk and it’s more about beat than any kind of melody. You can go to tables and chairs and if you’re lucky a waitress will come shout at you for your orders, which cost three times as much as outside. But if you’re a real big roller you can go into the VIP rooms where they’ll get you just about anything you want. And that’s where things get really bad.”
“It hasn’t sounded so bad so far. Expensive, maybe not nice.”
Karyn girded herself for the rest. “In the clubs are where you always hear about people being shot, getting into fights, having debaucherous sex, or doing drugs.”
Derpy grabbed onto Dinky as if trying to protect her from the very ideas. “Drugs?”
“Yeah, really hardcore stuff that messes with people and even kills them. So the whole scene just unnerves me. Even if I went, and I didn’t do any of the bad stuff, I’d be keeping company with those who did.”
“Dinky! You stay out of there, you hear me?”
“Gee, mommy, I wasn’t planning on going once Karyn said all that.”
Derpy, chilled with hearing Karyn’s explanation, said, “I wonder if that’s strictly a human thing, or if ponies, subjected to an endless party, would have to make it go bad too.”
“I don’t know,” said Karyn, “but I think that Dinky’s not too far off with her idea of a big celebration. I just don’t want to go out.”
“What if,” said Dinky, powering up her horn, “we made a party club out of right here? We’ll have music and lights and all the fun things you talked about and take no risks.”
“I don’t know if we have enough room for dancing.”
“You forget I’m good at shrinking spells.”
She pointed her head at Karyn’s bed, but Karyn held up her hands first. “Before you do that, are you also good at reversing shrinking spells?”
“Nope!” Dinky fired a bolt of magic, and Karyn’s bed was more fit for a dollhouse than an apartment. “But I can do enlarging spells, which should work.”
She shrank various other pieces of furniture in the room while Karyn hastily put her laptop in the bedroom. She wasn’t sure that its tiny and sensitive parts would survive the magical change, and didn’t want to make the experiment.
“You also shouldn’t hit the carpet,” she said. “You’d pull it up from the sides, and even if you made it bigger, it would be difficult to get it nailed down again. We want to be nice to Gayle and not wreck her house.”
It was a rare carpeted dance floor, but it would do. Derpy said, “I’ll go out to get food.”
“Um...that’s not going to work.”
“Oh, right. I always forget.”
Dinky now pointed her horn straight up and cast another spell, but nothing seemed to happen. After a moment, she tried again, and a panorama of lights filled the room, as from a mirror ball that wasn’t there.
“Now we need music,” she said, and Karyn ran back to get the laptop.
“I’ll search for something we can dance to, but if you know how to amplify sounds, that might help. The laptop’s speakers aren’t that great.”
They danced in their impromptu club. Although they closed the curtains, light seeped in through the cracks, and so the atmosphere wasn’t exactly that of a club. There were no waitresses or grinding of bodies, and any physical contact between the dancers was only playful. And yet Karyn found herself having the time of her life. For whatever reason, she was ecstatic to be with these, her too best friends. All thoughts of having to go to school or work were gone. In the moment, there was only fun.
Derpy also felt like everything was going right. The two people who had been the focus of her life and her love had come together to create something beautiful, even if only for a short while. She danced less than the others, but still felt the enjoyment. It was a perfect moment.