Time and Masks

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Life Goes On

"You don't have to do this."

"Yes. I do." Dinky turned and looked at Carrot Top. "I probably put it off longer than i should have already. Thank you for understanding, but it's not fair to you."

It had been a couple of months since Derpy had passed away of a brain aneurysm. Despite efforts from friends, family, and even Princess Celestia, Dinky had been distant in her grief. From the day of the actual death to the day of the funeral, the young unicorn was catatonic. She would just lay on the bed in her mother's room and stare up at the ceiling. Any pony that came and talk with her was not really acknowledged. Dinky did not even look at them, much less respond to anything that was said.

Turned out she had been responsive enough to attend the funeral. Despite the actions of the days leading up, when the day of arrived, Dinky was clean dressed and ready. At first, she had continued to be unresponsive. It was during the eulogy that Dinky broke down, Ruby leading her away from the crowd to allow Dinky to grieve in private. After she returned, she was at least able to thank ponies for their condolences and well wishes.

The very next day, she boarded the first train back to Canterlot. Instead of returning to her regular daily life, she would mostly just disappear with nopony knowing where she was. Sometimes she would be seen around the kitchen just long enough to get something to eat, although it turned out she was skipping meals more often than not. Other times, she would be found in bed asleep with no way of knowing where she had been or what she did.

Turned out she was in the older portions of the library where few ponies ever went anymore. Dinky had been going through older and more obscure books, looking for a time-travel spell. After searching she found one, but it was of no use since more than seven days had passed. The young unicorn had finally decided to give up after finding an old blue journal which had notes talking about fixed points and not crossing one's own time stream.

Eventually she seemed to return to her normal routine. There was a lack of enthusiasm to it though. During physical training, she was moving slower when running, and had been hit several times during unarmed combat training by attacks she should have been able to dodge. During studies, she had a tendency to need to re-read something several times, and had trouble answering most questions. Even her spells suffered as she was having a hard time focusing.

There had been signs of her improving and slowly returning more to her normal self. All the same when school began again, Dinky was scheduled to see a councilor on a weekly basis to help deal with her grief in a more healthy manner. The young unicorn had been reluctant to open up to the councilor at first, but came to talk about what the problem was.

Now here she was, at the carrot farm. At the recommendation of others, she was using what was a long weekend to pack up her mother's belongings. It was not a step that most ponies talked about, but it was a part of moving on when a pony had passed away. Turned out most did it in the weeks following the funeral most of the time.

Thus, she now stood in her mother's room, surrounded by empty boxes and looking at the belongings that had accumulated to mark the mail mare's life.

"Beside," Dinky continued, "you could use the room and the money. You and mom never talked to me about it, but I know neither of you make much. She never said anything, but I know it's part of the reason we moved in. We get a place to stay, mom helps you cover bills. Right?"

"...yes," Carrot Top admitted. "I would have let you and your mother stay for free, but you know how she was about charity."

"If we pack up mom's stuff, you can rent out the room. That way you aren't here alone and have some extra money." The unicorn turned to the earth pony and grinned. "Unless something is going to happen between you and Mister Macintosh?" The sight of Carrot Top blushing was enough to make Dinky giggle.

"Well," the mare said, "at least that got a laugh from you. The way you've been, I was worried that you would never be able to smile, much less laugh, ever again."

"...Yeah... sorry." Dinky looked away, letting out a sigh. She moved to look at one of the pictures. Taking a hold of it in the frame, she lifted it to get a better look. It was a picture from when they had first moved in with Carrot Top. Specifically the house warming party that Pinkie Pie had thrown for them. It was quite a surprise, especially to Carrot Top since she had not planned it. Everything seemed to just appear and was ready when she turned around to come back in. Pinkie was nice enough to take a picture of the three new housemates. Dinkie was in the middle, grinning widely as she was caught in a hug between her mother and aunt.

"I just... never expected something like this to happen," the young unicorn continued. "I mean.... the idea of mom.. dying... It never even crossed my mind. I just... I just never thought something like that would ever happen to her. Then there was how it happened. Not from traveling with me, not from trying to protect me, not even an accident caused by her crashing into something. It was just a little clot that caused her to... to..."

"Die."

"Yes. And in a hospital bed. That's not what was supposed to happen."

"Dinky?" the yellow earth mare asked gently. "What do you think was supposed to happen?"

"I don't know. But not this. She at least was supposed to be around long enough to be 'Grandma Derpy.'"

Dinky set the picture down and closed her eyes. She opened them again as she felt Carrot Top take her into a hug.

"I miss her too, Dinky. She was my closest friend." Breaking the hug, the mare took a hold of the unicorns face and lifted it. "But you know she wouldn't want you to be like this. Your mom always did her best to be happy and make sure you were as well."

"Thank you," Dinky said, wiping at tears. "Could I have a moment alone?"

"Sure." Carrot Top left, letting the unicorn be alone in her mother's room.

Dinky took one last look at the picture, feeling a smile twitch at her lips.

"I do miss you," she said, nuzzling the image. "Carrot Top is right though. You wouldn't want me to be sad. I promise I'll do better. I promise I'll make you proud." Setting it down, she turned and looked at the rest of the stuff. Her horn glowed as she began to use her magic. Slowly the young unicorn began to sort through things, deciding what to keep, what to give away to charity, and what her mother would want to be given to friends to remember her by.

She still felt sad, but she was finally starting to move on.

Comments

[Luckyfanisaac]

"I probably put it off longer than I should have already.

when the day finally arrived,