//------------------------------// // Escaping Moonville (2) // Story: Dinky and the Blanks // by GrassAndClouds2 //------------------------------// Grey Hoof’s voice was impossibly smooth. “Dinky. I am sorry beyond measure that you’ve had such an unpleasant experience. Please, be assured that none of this was our intention. Mitta was always a bit of a hothead, and while her attempting to run you out of town was inexcusable, it wasn’t…. well, it’s understandable, perhaps, given what she’s been through. She lost a foal herself. I hope you’ll have it in your heart to forgive her.” Dinky saw that she was surrounded by a ring of the kelpies. Mitta had been dragged off by a few others, and was now outside the circle. Grey Hoof was on the opposite side of Dinky as the town gate, which was now guarded by a dozen of the monsters. Grey Hoof himself looked calm and at ease, somehow seeming to ‘fit’ his new look better than most of the others, whose skins shifted and swirled like they were fidgety and uncomfortable. Grey Hoof, though, had perfect control of himself. “So will you forgive her? For me?” continue Grey Hoof. Dinky was bewildered. “For what? She tried to help me—“ “Yes, but she did make you miss the party.” Grey Hoof turned to Mitta. ”She was the guest of honor, Mitta, but you drove her away before we even served the cake or toasted her. Shame on you.” “Go to Tartarus,” snapped Mitta. Grey Hoof sighed. “Such language, Mitta, with a foal present.” As confused as Dinky was, she was able to realize that Grey Hoof was trying to talk her into something. If he just wanted to capture me, he could do that now. It’s like when Snips and Snails are trying to lure in a bug or something. But if I’m talking, maybe I can talk some of the others into helping me. Maybe there’s more like Mitta. So she continued the conversation. “She tried to help me get away before you hurt me!” “Hurt you? Why would we do that?” “You’re monsters, and—“ Grey Hoof looked pained. “Dinky. Is that really what you believe? That we’re all horrible and evil just because we have red eyes and a lot of teeth?” He shook his head. “Don’t you know anypony in your life who maybe looks a little different, who is mocked because of it?” Dinky hesitated. Grey Hoof’s eyes narrowed just slightly. “I think you do. A relative, perhaps?” “That doesn’t matter,” insisted Dinky, aware that she was somehow losing the conversation. “I didn’t run ‘cause of how you looked! I could tell you were trying to fool me.” “Fool you into what? Dinky, it was a party. All I wanted to do was help you have fun. Did I try to pressure you into anything?” “Well, no—“ “Did anypony here? Didn’t we even say that, if you wanted to go home, we would help you find your way through the forest?” “But you were lying!” Grey Hoof looked faintly disappointed. “I could tell! You sounded just like my magician friend when she’s trying to fool ponies for her shows!” “Maybe she sounds like that because she’s imitating how friendly and honest ponies sound,” offered Grey Hoof. “Isn’t that possible? Don’t you find that, when she’s not doing her shows, she’s friendly and a good pony to know?” “Yes, but—“ “So that’s probably where she picked up speaking like that,” said Grey Hoof triumphantly. “But…” That didn’t seem to make sense, but Dinky was having a hard time saying why. “Dinky… no, maybe part of it is my fault. I should have worked harder to stop you from getting scared, and I apologize. How about it, Dinky? Do you forgive us?” It wasn’t working. Dinky could see that none of the kelpies were interested in anything she had to say, and it wasn’t helping that Grey Hoof seemed to be able to use all of her comments to make her look silly or vain. She thought of what Ruby had told her, about how they would try to either turn her into a kelpie and make her stay in Moonville forever, or kill her. Both thoughts were horrible, and she couldn’t help but shake just slightly. That would happen to her unless she found a way out. “You want to keep me here!” Dinky forced herself to meet Grey Hoof’s eyes, to show that she wasn’t (fully) scared. “Well, we were thinking of offering to let you move in, yes,” said Grey Hoof. “What’s wrong with that?” Dinky blinked. She hadn’t expected Grey Hoof to admit it. “We live in peace and plenty here, with no illness, no strife, no… no homework,” said Grey Hoof, the corners of his mouth edging up slightly. “Every day is a party! We thought you might like that. Don’t you like parties?” “Yes—“ “Wouldn’t you like to be able to party and play every single day and never have to worry about, say, some rude stallion criticizing you, or your school teacher assigning you a ten page essay, or catching the Flutter Flu? Or you could work on whatever you wished, any talent you chose to cultivate – music, track, dance, magic, any talent at all – and not need to worry about things like chores or even rainstorms interfering. Isn’t there anything that you’ve wanted to devote some time to, but never had the chance?” There were, Dinky had hobbies, but that wasn’t the point. “But, but…” Grey Hoof looked at Dinky expectantly. “But I don’t want to!” Dinky looked away, aware that this wasn’t a good answer. “Why not? Do you not like us? Have we done anything to you, anything at all, to earn your distrust? Anything besides bear these forms? Hurt you in any way? Detained you? The only pony here who put you in any trouble at all was Mitta, who sent you to that deadfall behind town, and who just knocked you off her back. The rest of us, Dinky, we’ve done nothing but allow you to have fun.” Dinky felt like there was cotton in her mouth. She wanted to go home, wanted it desperately, but whenever she tried to give a reason, Grey Hoof shut it down. Grey Hoof advanced a few steps, and Dinky had nowhere to retreat. “All we ask is that you consider it, Dinky. You can see the house, maybe stay a few more days, just to see what it’s like. I give you my personal assurance that no harm will befall you. Well, unless having too much fun is harmful.” A few of the other kelpies chuckled. She couldn’t make any kind of argument, so she couldn’t convince the other kelpies to help her, and Grey Hoof was going to trap her in town and she’d never see her mother again… Wait! There was one argument she hadn’t tried yet! “But I’d have to leave Momma, and all my friends.” “They’re welcome too,” said Grey Hoof, smiling brightly. “We’re always looking for fresh faces around here. They could visit you whenever they liked, or even move in!” Dinky paused. She could accuse Grey Hoof of lying, which he probably was (or was she only saying that because he was a kelpie? No, Ruby had told her that he was the one who would try to hurt her, and she had to trust Ruby because otherwise she would be even more lost than she already was), but she knew that wouldn’t work. She didn’t have any evidence that Grey Hoof wouldn’t want Ditzy in town. Unless… “But my Momma,” said Dinky, “Has a cutie mark. Mitta said that you don’t let anypony with a cutie mark into town.” That wasn’t quite true – it had been Ruby who had said that – but Dinky felt that a little lie was okay, under the circumstances. Grey Hoof couldn’t say she didn’t have one, and he couldn’t say that cutie marks were okay either, because cutie marks being evil was how he’d justified having Ruby kicked out, and Ruby had said that he tried very hard to stop anypony in town from admitting that they’d made a mistake. Grey Hoof seemed taken aback for just a moment. “Uh.” Dinky brightened. And – to her delight – a few of the kelpies in the circle looked a little uncomfortable. But then he recovered. “Oh, that’s no trouble, we found a way to suppress ‘curse marks’ years ago! If your mother wanted to move in, we could get rid of it in a jiffy.” “Get rid of it? But she likes it a lot!” Dinky turned to the other kelpies. “She said that her getting that mark was the third happiest day of her life!” “It’s just a mark,” said Grey Hoof, his gaze now directed to the others. His voice grew a little less jokesy and a little more resolute. “It doesn’t matter.” If she hadn’t been so stressed or tired, Dinky might have been nicer, but as it was, she snapped. “No! It does! My Momma’s got a bunch of bubbles as her mark, and she loves them! Cause bubbles float up into the air, and she loves flying! And bubbles are a really fun game, and she loved playing with them as a foal! And she’s got a bubbly personality, and she likes it because that means she can be kind to everypony she meets! And when I was really little and curled up to sleep she said I looked like a really cute bubble! It means a lot to her, and she wouldn’t want to get rid of it! She’d NEVER want to get rid of it!” She stopped talking, and realized that the kelpies were staring at her with new interest. And then, dimly, she remembered something else. ”…I think that’s everything. Here, Dinky.” Trixie flipped a bit to Dinky. Dinky caught it in her mouth, smiling, but then she hesitated. “Uh, I don’t have change.” “Keep it. You were a great help.” Dinky smiled and tucked it into her saddlebag. “Can you teach me how to patter? It sounds real fun!” “Oh? And what would you use it for?” “Uh…” Dinky tried to come up with a good reason. “So I could see if me or Momma were getting pattered! Then we wouldn’t get fooled!” Trixie chuckled. “I’m going to need a dentist if I keep talking to you.” “Huh?” “Nevermind.” Trixie began to roll her little cart of props and materials out of the classroom. “Actually, there’s a really easy way to show other ponies when somepony’s trying to sweet-talk them.” “What is it?” “Be sincere,” said Trixie. “Pick something you really care about – well, hopefully something relevant – and speak as honestly as you can. Patter is just trying to lull all the ponies in the room into trusting you, into thinking what you want them to think. But put one sincere pony in the same room, and most ponies can tell the difference between the sincere one – even if she’s not good at speaking– and all but the best-crafted verbal tricks. I can deal with ponies who try to figure out my tricks, or who yell at me to get off the stage, but the biggest threat to my shows is if some idiot begins ranting that the popcorn costs too much. Cause as dumb as that is, every pony in the audience can see that he’s honestly angry, and I’m just acting.” She shrugged. “It’s not perfect, of course, there are a few ponies who can act so honest that even an honest pony seems like he’s acting next to them.” “Are you one of them?” asked Dinky. “Of course I am. I am awesome, after all,” said Trixie. “But for your common flatterers and con-artists, that’s how you beat them.” And it was true, Dinky realized. The kelpies were staring at her, and many looked uncomfortable. They could tell that Dinky was telling the truth, and Grey Hoof was just putting on a show. “Look,” said Grey Hoof, “Even if your mother would regard losing her cutie mark as a loss, the benefits of living here would surely outweigh that.” “She wouldn’t be able to see her friends. Or the other Elements of Harmony. And she doesn’t just want to hide from bad stuff! She wants to help fix it!” Dinky realized she was almost yelling now. “Cause she’s the Element of Kindness and that makes her the nicest pony in the world! And she’d be really sad if she had to stay here all day and couldn’t help any other pony at all!” “She could help us,” said Grey Hoof. But he looked… Flustered. Dinky smiled to herself, but pressed on. “But you just said you didn’t need any help,” she pointed out. “Cause everything here is perfect.” “We can always use more hooves to help with the parties.” “Real help.” Dinky drew herself up to her (admittedly short) full height. “When my Momma went and helped get rid of Corona, that was helping solve a real problem. When she helps Fluttershy get out of her house and talk to others, that’s helping somepony who really needs help. This is just a party—“ “The parties are important!” snapped Grey Hoof, without even seeming to realize that he was doing it. He began approaching Dinky again. Dinky decided that it was time to try to get out. “I want to go home. You know that it’s wrong to keep me here.” Her voice became a little pleading. “I promise I’ll try to find a way to break the curse—“ “There is no curse! We have been blessed with eternal life and endless fun!” yelled Grey Hoof. And many of the other kelpies – but not all of them – stomped their hooves in agreement. Dinky was almost shaking now, but she managed to hold eye contact with some of the more subdued ponies. “Please let me go home.” There was silence for a moment. And then one of the kelpies said, “Look, Grey Hoof, if she wants to leave, what’s the harm? Who cares?” “No.” Grey Hoof’s voice was quick, but Dinky thought it sounded almost nervous. “We can’t. Not – not until she understands.” “Understands what?” challenged a kelpie that sounded kind of like Three Leaf. “That we live in the best place on Equestria,” said a third – Starlet, maybe, Dinky thought. “That we are blessed by the moon and stars.” “If she wants to turn her back on that, fine,” said the first kelpie. “Grey Hoof, really – it doesn’t matter.” “It is the most fundamental rule of our town charter that we protect all ponies from the curse marks!” snapped Grey Hoof. “If Dinky leaves, she could get one at any time! She must – she has to stay until she becomes one of us. Then she’ll be safe.” His voice became a little more stable. “If we question this, our most fundamental rule, where will we be? Back in the chaos of the first few years? No. The evil of the curse marks cannot be questioned.” Dinky used Grey Hoof’s distraction to begin creeping towards the gate. “Yes,” agreed Starlet. “It cannot. Remember what happened to Star Land.” “Nothing can hurt us!” yelled a fourth kelpie. “We tried it! The first years of the curse we rioted every other night!” “But for her sake, we must save her from being cursed—“ began yet another kelpie. And then they were all arguing. Grey Hoof looked horrified. Dinky couldn’t help but smile slightly. It had worked! She’d beaten Grey Hoof’s lies! Now she just had to leave. The gate guards were joining in the squabble. Dinky edged as close to them as she dared. Then she waited, sweating, hoping that none of the kelpies noticed that she’d moved… One of the guards moved to go argue with another kelpie. There was an opening. Dinky thought she could get through it without touching any of the other kelpies. She took a deep breath and ran. The shouting started almost immediately, but Dinky ran as fast as she could and managed to just edge through the gate. Glancing behind her, she saw a bunch of kelpies approach it to charge after her – but a few stood in their way. Mitta was among them. As the ponies at the gate began to fight, Dinky dashed away from the town. There. Now she just had to get far enough away to figure out where Ruby was, then hide in the woods, and— “COME BACK!” Dinky turned to see Grey Hoof leaping over the mob at the gate. He landed on his feet, snorted, and began to gallop right at Dinky. The foal screamed and fled deeper along the path. The kelpie-ponies couldn’t go too far from the town itself. That was what Ruby had said. So all Dinky had to do was to get far enough away that Grey Hoof couldn’t follow, and she’d be safe. She just had to outrun him for a little bit. Of course, she was still a foal, and Grey Hoof was an athletic adult stallion. “I’m going to catch you!” roared Grey Hoof from somewhere all too close behind her. “I will protect you no matter what!” Dinky couldn’t scream again. She was too busy running. The hoofsteps were getting closer. Dinky risked a glance over her shoulder to see Grey Hoof bearing down on her, red eyes blazing like fire. He was almost able to reach out and grab her – and once he did, Dinky knew, she would be trapped. That should have spurred her on to race away from him. But she wasn’t as fast as him, and she didn’t know the path. She had to slow for corners and to get through rough sections that he’d been navigating for centuries. “Ruby!” she managed to call. “Help!” But Ruby didn’t seem to be there. Grey Hoof swept a hoof at her. Dinky threw herself to one side, tumbling off the path and crashing into a tree. She groaned, rubbing a hoof against her now-sore head, but the move had worked. Grey Hoof had thundered by her, unable to wheel around so fast. But now Grey Hoof was ahead of Dinky on the path. Dinky plunged into the woods, struggling through the trees and brambles. She winced as the branches whipped against her coat, but she kept going. If she kept going for long enough, Grey Hoof couldn’t follow her, and then she’d be safe. Hoofsteps. Grey Hoof was behind her again. “Come back here!” “No!” yelled Dinky. “I won’t!” “I won’t let you harm Moonville. I won’t let you ruin everything I have built over two hundred years!” His voice sounded rougher now, his appearance of kindness and fun gone. Now he just sounded mad. And mean. Dinky pushed her way through a set of bushes and found herself staring at a rock wall. She’d run up against a row of boulders. She turned herself and began running left, hoping to get around the wall. Behind her, she heard Grey Hoof break free of the bushes and begin galloping again. Dinky ran as quickly as she’d ever run, even more quickly than when she’d been trying to escape Moonville the previous night. She had to get back to Ponyville, she thought. She didn’t want to become a kelpie, or be drowned, and she didn’t want to hurt her mother by never coming home again. She wasn’t going to let Grey Hoof stop her. She just had to keep running. But she couldn’t outrun the Moonville pony. He was closing in again, and once again she had to leap to the side at the last minute to dodge him. He zipped past, but was much faster in wheeling around this time. Dinky squeaked and dashed into the undergrowth again. It was starting to hurt to run. Dinky forced herself to keep going. She thought of the friends she’d never see again if Grey Hoof got her, and her house, and her mother’s delicious salads (well, except for the zucchini). And she thought of Ruby and the other Moonville ponies who seemed to want to have the curse lifted. She’d promised Ruby, and she wouldn’t break that – She was at a dead end. Dinky realized too late that she’d run into a small cul-de-sac. There were large rock cliffs towering up all around her, and she could never climb them to the top before Grey Hoof overtook her. Nor could she turn around and hide in the trees – the kelpie was too close. There’s a few openings for caves. Maybe I can hide in a small one. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was all Dinky had. “How dare you try to ruin what we have?” Grey Hoof asked, approaching Dinky at a leisurely pace. Dinky began backing up. “You admitted it yourself. You’d never been to a better party. What else could you want to do?” “I want to help ponies when I grow up!” managed Dinky. “That’s because all the ponies you know, Dinky, need help. Each and every one of them. This one is ill and needs medicine. That one is poor and needs food. This one needs a friend, that one some rare gadget from Canterlot. But not one pony in Moonville needs anything. When you stay a while, you’ll learn that it doesn’t matter what happens to the cursed ponies on the outside.” Dinky gulped. “Miss Cherilee taught us that we should care about all other ponies! Even – even ones like you!” “If you cared about me, you wouldn’t have tried to fool all the others into being unhappy.” They already were unhappy, you were just distracting them! Dinky wanted to yell. But she didn’t think there’d be any point. Even she could tell that Grey Hoof wasn’t going to listen to reason. She bumped into the rock wall. She looked at the cave to her left, only to find that it was little more than a shallow hole. Grey Hoof could easily reach in and yank her out. Grey Hoof smiled and began approaching a little faster. Dinky hurried to the next cave, which was even shallower, and then a deep crack that was far too small for her to wedge herself in to. Dinky groaned. She didn’t have anywhere else to run. She was going to die. Grey Hoof would eat her or turn her into a kelpie, and she'd never get to go home ever again. She felt like crying. “You’ll get used to it in time, just like the others,” said Grey Hoof. “Don’t worry.” And then, out of what looked like a dent in the rock, Dinky saw a pair of bright glowing eyes. Dinky summoned up the last of her strength and leapt at the indentation. She struggled inside and found that, yes, there was a little passage going further in! Grey Hoof swung at her, but must have just missed. And then Dinky was crawling through the tunnel, and Grey Hoof could only scream. Dinky herself barely fit; there was no way Grey Hoof could. She kept on crawling, and slowly, Grey Hoof’s roars faded away. Ten minutes later, Dinky saw light at the other end of the tunnel. Two minutes after that, she crawled out and found herself on the forest floor. Ruby was there. “Are you okay?” the ghost asked. She looked terrified. “I’m so sorry! I was waiting for you but it was all night and I thought maybe you had gotten out and I hadn’t seen you so I went looking for you, but then suddenly I heard him yelling and I went to try to help you but you were really fast and I couldn’t keep up and—“ Dinky smiled. “I’m fine. Thanks.” Ruby’s face showed obvious relief. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more helpful.” Dinky tried to hug Ruby, although her legs went through the ghost and she felt vaguely tickly. Ruby giggled, and then both she and Dinky were laughing. Dinky couldn’t help it. After an adventure like that, she just had to laugh. “We’re far enough away that Grey Hoof can’t follow you here,” said Ruby. She pointed at an old dirt trail. “If you follow that long enough, it’ll take you back to Ponyville.” Dinky grinned. She was exhausted, but now she knew that she was close to home. “I’ll be back,” she promised. “With friends. We’ll do whatever we can to help lift the curse!” Ruby bowed her head. “I’m really glad we met.” “Me too. Are all ghosts as nice as you?” “I don’t know. I hope so. Actually, I bet you’d make a nice ghost.” Dinky blinked. “Not that I want you to die!” Ruby hastened to add, but then Dinky was laughing again. Ruby accompanied Dinky as she followed the path, and as they chatted about random and silly topics, Dinky was cheered by her presence. Soon enough, Dinky could see Fluttershy’s cottage through the trees... as well as some other ponies. “Dinky? Dinky?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle called. They were approaching the woods. “Dinky, are you around?” “I have to go,” said Dinky to Ruby. “I promise I’ll come back soon. And I'll try to find a way to break the curse.” Ruby nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be waiting.” Dinky smiled at her one last time, then turned and ran out of the woods. “Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle!” “DINKY!” They approached her, and soon the three were hugging. “Are you okay? What happened?” “Where’s Momma?” “She’s in Fluttershy’s, they’re going to ask some of the animals to look for you—“ Dinky raced by them, somehow finding the strength to run again. She crossed the bridge, passed the chickens, and then saw her mother exiting the house with the yellow pegasus. “MOMMA!” “Dinky!” Ditzy turned. “Dinky!” Dinky dove at her mother, and she was nuzzling against her and apologizing and saying how happy she was to be home. And her mother took her under her wing and said that it was okay, and they were going to go home and Dinky was safe now. Dinky felt faint, her exhaustion catching up with her. “I love you, Momma,” she managed. Ditzy helped Dinky get on her back. “I love you too.” “I’m real sorry I wandered off…” “It’s okay. We’ll talk about it later. For now, let’s get you into bed.” Dinky nodded, and was asleep by the time Ditzy had left Fluttershy’s property.