//------------------------------//
// Day 6: The Quiet Ones 
// Story: Ponyville the Town of Youth 
// by Ironskull 
//------------------------------//

"Dinky?"

"Oh," said Dinky.  "Hello Fluttershy."

"What are you doing here?  Is this your house?"

"Yeah.  This is my bedroom."

"I saw you leave this morning when I was going for a walk," said Fluttershy after a moment's hesitation.  "And you still hadn't come back yet, so I was starting to get worried."

"You saw me?" asked Dinky in surprise.

"Yes.  Do you miss your family?"

"...  Yeah."

Neither pony spoke for a minute.

"I've been looking through our album," said Dinky finally, indicating the said album which was on her bed.  "I haven't looked at it in months, but... I just wanted to see my mom again."

"You're thinking about going home," said Fluttershy.  "Aren't you?"

"Yeah," admitted Dinky.  "I am.  I really want to."

"But..." she continued.  "I really want to stay here too.  I don't usually have a lot of friends to play with."

"Don't you?"

"Not really," said Dinky.  "Getting the chance to play with everypony is pretty great.  Yesterday, it helped keep my mind off of my mom, but I started to get sad after the game was over.  Not that anypony would play with me if it was just me.  It's my fault, really.  I keep to myself.  I'm the pony that is nopony else ever notices."

"I've noticed you," said Fluttershy assuringly.

"You have, haven't you?" responded Dinky.  "That's the thing about sitting on the side and keeping quiet.  You tend to notice things nopony else does, right?"

Fluttershy didn't answer.

"Sometimes, I wonder if my special talent should have been 'being a ninja' or something," continued Dinky.  "I don't even have to try.  I can be in the same room as somepony else and they will keep on talking as though I wasn't even there."

"That's terrible," whispered Fluttershy.

"Oh, don't worry about me!" said Dinky brightly.  "It's actually way more fun than I made it sound.  Like I said, I tend to notice things that nopony else does.  And, sometimes, very occasionally, I learn about a secret or two."

"Well, you should still have a friend," said Fluttershy.  "I could be your friend.  If you want.  Do you want a friend?"

Dinky smiled.  "Yeah, that would be nice."

"Thank you," said Fluttershy gratefully.  "Actually, I don't really have any friends here either, except for Rainbow Dash.  But she spends so much of her time hanging out with everypony else, I don't get to speak to her alone very much."

"Hey," said Dinky.  "Want to hear a secret?"

"What is it?"

"A couple of days ago, I heard Diamond Tiara and Twilight talking in the kitchen," whispered Dinky conspiratorially.

"They thought that everypony else was asleep, but I wasn't.  I was awake, I just didn't have my eyes open.  I've been doing that every morning, actually.

"But, anyway, Twilight really wants to be your friend, Fluttershy."

"She does?" cried Fluttershy.

"Yep.  But she's too scared to talk to you about it.  Maybe you should talk to her."

"Oh!" said Fluttershy.  "I don't know if I can."

"Hey," said Dinky.  "If you're nervous, I could come with you.  But there's no need to be worried.  You are great at talking when other ponies actually stop to listen.  I know that I'm already feeling better."

"Huh?"

"My day has grown significantly brighter since you came to talk to me," explained Dinky.  "I still miss my mom, of course, but I think I can last for a while longer.  Plus, I want to see what happens to everypony!"

"I've made your day 'brighter'?" asked Fluttershy in surprise.

"And you can help make everypony else's day better too!" encouraged Dinky.

"But what am I supposed to say to Twilight?"

"You don't have to say anything," said Dinky.  "All you have to do is listen to her.  She'll open up, I'm sure of it."

Fluttershy smiled back at Dinky.  "I hope so," she said.  "Thank you."

"We should probably go back now," said Dinky.  "But, before we do, would you like to help me bring some food back with us?  Diamond Tiara said that she's actually starting to run low."

"She did?" said Fluttershy in surprise.  "But there was so much food in the pantry when we arived!  We can't have eaten everything that fast."

"Are you kidding?" said Dinky.  "There's so many of us!  And somepony raiding the pantry almost all the time.  Diamond said that once she runs out, we're either going to have to find another place to stay for a while, or else go out into town and bring food back to her place."

"But I don't think we can bring back enough food for everypony," pointed out Fluttershy.

"Maybe not, but at least we can have muffins today," said Dinky.  "Actually, I wouldn't mind staying somewhere else for a while.  Diamond's house is... huge, you know?  It feels weird staying with her."

"But where else would we go?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't know," admitted Dinky.  "We should see what the others have to say about it.  Here, I'll lead the way to the kitchen, and then after we've grabbed as much as we can hold, we can head back."