//------------------------------// // Twisted // Story: I Spy With My Little Eye // by Theorak //------------------------------// First there was darkness. Suddenly, a bright stream of light surrounded her, followed shortly after by darkness again, then another burst of light.. They formed a tunnel of spirals. Slowly the amount and the speed of the light streams increased. Dinky could only turn her head a little, the passing light dazzling her. She couldn't see her hooves, nor feel the rest of her body. An image flew by: first she couldn't tell what it was, but soon more and more images filled the bright tunnel around her. She could see... herself in them. Dinky saw herself lying in a small bed – she was little, a newborn. Other images revealed a dark purple unicorn stallion. He was yelling at her, and then walked out of the door. As suddenly as it began, everything stopped, darkness took hold of her once again. Dinky woke up to the sound of hoof-beats: someone was quickly pacing around her. She found that she could only narrowly open her eyes. “Who's there?”, she asked into the mist around her. “I'm here. Don't panic, it's just me.” Said a calming voice. “Just who?” “Exactly,” a brown stallion appeared in front of her and smiled, “How are you Derpy? You fell asleep in mid-air!” The Doctor looked tense, his eyes flew around quickly and he kept trotting around. “Do you remember what happened?” said the stallion, “You fell on your head and were out for more than half-an-hour! Should I've called somepony? Wait, yes, I should probably call a medical doctor.” Dinky slowly stood up. “Derpy, darling, are you sure you can get up?” the Doctor asked, concerned. He had stopped pacing and turned to her. “I think, I can, wait...” her senses became suddenly clear. Wait! Did he just call me 'darling'? Dinky was still feeling a little fuzzy. “Are you her date?!” she blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say. The stallion lost the rest of his calm and began pacing once more and searched for something in an old shelf, mumbling with a brown jacket in his mouth. Dinky left him in this state and inspected the scenery around her. She was impressed by all the high-tech equipment around her. The room reminded her of Twilight's observatory, but even that was nothing compared to this chamber. A confused stare from the Doctor brought her attention back to him. She thought about what she had just said. That question was silly: I must have sounded weird. Mum is not here and whoever this colt is, he probably doesn't even know me. She let her eyes wander again, looking over the strange devices, the messy floor and her hooves. Her eyes widened in shock. What in... Why is my coat grey?! “... and most important of all I want to emphasize that we are just here for business – I mean, work, look at me now!” the Doctor turned Derpy's head to face him, “You must take this seriously, you're not hurt, are you?” Slowly Dinky answered, “Don't worry. I think I'm fine now.” She hadn't realized until now, but her voice was not her own. That's why mum isn't here...Be careful now Dinky, don't mess this up for her. “That, well, is something, good and – Derpy?” he stopped and cocked his head, “Your eyes are … normal.” Dinky couldn't help but to giggle a bit, that stallion gives compliment to her mum? She put all her joy in Derpy's voice and replied, “That's the nicest thing anypony has ever said to me.” He stepped back to gain some distance and spoke, stumbling over his words again. “Well, I never looked at you closely before – no – what I'm trying to say is....” The smile on Dinky's face just widened as his hesitancy increased. He is kind of cute when he gets nervous, Dinky thought to herself. He's a fine match for mum and would probably make a good Dad. I must, no need to win him for mum. And I know just the 'trick', Scoot showed me how. As the brown stallion leaned back, Dinky approached him with small steps, her neck stretched. His stuttering monologue stopped as the grey mare came closer and closer and then suddenly, softly pressed her lips to his. He's gone quiet. He's melting, just as I thought. Dinky had expected that. She had not, however expected the reaction of the pegasus body she was inhabiting. Instantly her wings spread out. Unused to the involuntary action, Dinky staggered and fell. The Doctor tried to catch her, but couldn't secure his grip, causing him to fall with her. Surprisingly for Dinky, he was the first to find his words. “Are you all right?” he asked. His face went still as tears slowly poured down Dinky's cheeks. Ashamed, she buried her head between her forelegs, looking very much like a little filly. Apple Bloom was going through the recipe again, trying to find some more information. “Well,” she said after a while, trying to sound confident. “She should be OK sleeping, I mean she has the Vision of her Mother now, whatever that means. It's probably better if we don't wake her.” Just as she finished speaking, the purple filly of the matter stirred and woke up. “Hi Scootaloo!” she said happily, looking at the orange filly. “Ehm, hi Dinky,” replied the pegasus, surprised. “how do you feel?” Dinky stood shakily up on her hooves. Fighting to keep herself steady, she looked around the other fillies. “Where did the Doctor go?” she asked. “She needs a Doctor!” Sweetie Belle shouted out, “Look at her eyes, they look like Der-” Scootaloo cut her off with a jab to the side. “Where did the Laboratory go?” Dinky asked, continuing to look around. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged a look, they had already noticed the change in Dinky's eyes. And when she spoke, it was kind of different as her voice was familiar but definitely not hers. The fillies had a pretty good idea of what had happened. It wasn't long before Sweetie Belle figured it out, too: Dinky found her mother, and vice versa. Just in a way nopony could expect. Apple Bloom turned her friends around and whispered, “I may know wich Doctor she means. He was the nice fellow with the hourglass at the last Cider Season Opening. He was nice, he even argued with the Flim Flam brothers about how dangerous their machine was.” She gave a worried glance over to Dinky-Derpy, who was still quietly looking around the hideout. “Let's hope Derpy was just on her mail tour.” Together, the Cutie Mark Crusaders came to a silent agreement: they needed to explain everything to Derpy. Hopefully, she would understand. Apple Bloom took a deep breath and trotted over to the purple unicorn. “Um, Derpy? We need to tell you something. Please don't panic before I'm finished.” She looked back at her fellow Crusaders, who nodded, assuring her. “You need to know that your daughter really missed – or is still missing you something awful. We tried to help her out with a trick, I mean...” Sweetie Belle stepped up to Apple Bloom's side, “We may have given her the tiniest-tiny-bit of a potion – that didn't work out as we thought.” Scootaloo facehoofed and stepped up to Dinky. “What they're trying to say.” she said exasperated, “is you're inside Dinky's body! And wherever this 'laboratory' is, Dinky is there, in YOUR place!” The others stood shocked by Scootaloo's terseness. It was a second before the orange pegasus spoke up. “We're very sorry.” she said, embarrassed lowering her head. Derpy, however, started to panic. She considered flying away through the exit hatch. Before she could take wing, though, she came to her senses and forced herself to calm down. “C-Can you fix this somehow?” she stammered, her voice was familiar, but certainly not hers. Apple Bloom opened the book and recited again, “It says 'what caused the effect, can turn it back.' Zecora added some more notes here too, but again...” “Sorry Derpy, but trouble reading the notes is what got us here.” Sweetie Belle said, “Well,” she continued, “the potion was 'what caused the effect.', right? Maybe another sip of the potion helps?” “I don't think this is a good idea” said Scootallo, “Dinky also stared at this picture.” she passed a little photograph to Derpy. Derpy couldn't hold her tears back. The picture was old, but it's condition made it clear that Dinky had treasured it. She stared at it for several moments, when suddenly, everything around her turned black. An Apparition appeared in front of the picture, it was the Doctor, speaking quickly and nervous, Derpy couldn't hear anything he was saying, but the look on his face shocked her. Suddenly, the shade came very close to her, causing her to fall backwards, hitting her head on the ground. “Omigosh! Derpy? Are you OK?” Apple Bloom asked, concerned. Derpy stayed quiet for a moment, her head still resting on the floor. When she raised her head, she urgently looked towards the exit. She had to get to the Doctor, to Dinky, out of here. “Did it work?” Sweetie Belle inquired. Uncertain of what just happened. The purple unicorn jumped up to her hooves and rushed towards the paperboard fortress' exit. Before she could reach it, however, she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and a piecing pain erupted from her horn. Suddenly the whole fortress was surrounded by a light purple aura. The pain continued to increase, forcing her to fall to her knees. Instantly, the aura around her rocketed the entire hideout up in the sky! The stunned Crusaders could only stand there as everypony stared right at them, with shocked expressions on their faces. “There you are!” Cheerilee said rather upset. She might be used to awkward displays of sudden, powerful magic with the time, but this troublesome trio could break her calm again. “You better clean this up fast, the ceremony is going to start soon!” The teacher trotted up to them and shook her head. “You fillies will have to explain that.” she said, giving them a stern look. “I want to speak with you immediately after the ceremony, come on.” The three Crusaders looked down and answered in unison, “Yes, Miss Cheerilee.” In the Laboratory, Dinky was still crying and the Doctor, clearly pained by what had just happened, tried his best to comfort her. He sat alongside her and laid his hoof on her back, speaking calmly. “I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen. I-It's not that I don't like you!” he added quickly “but I just couldn't ...“ he paused as Derpy lifted her head, but continued, “You are my assistant and my friend, but, right, now, I don't think I want you to be more than that.” Dinky wrapped her forelegs around the stallion's neck, bursting into tears again, crying in his mane. “It's my fault” she cried, “I shouldn't have done that! I-I'm sorry, I can't do that to you two.” I need to tell him the truth, I can't left him with that impression of mum. “Wait? 'You two ...'?” he asked confused, as Dinky got up and turned away from him, trying to hide her tear-streaked face. Dinky strengthened herself and turned towards the Doctor, looking him in the eyes. And then she told him everything.