Chapter 24
The few times he had woken up through his infirmary stay made Deadeye immensely grateful towards the pony who had invented morphine, for the sensations from his injuries had dulled down to a slight tingle. He didn't bother to open his eye when he heard the door opening, assuming it was just one of the infirmary staff coming to check on him.
"...and that should do it," came a young male voice which Deadeye had not heard in some time, but one that was all too familiar to him.
"If you've marked me down for an enema, again," Deadeye said as he sat up and focused his gaze on the end of the bed, where a young Katakan stallion stood looking at Deadeye's medical notes. "Then not even mother will be able to help you, Riptide."
"Aww come on big half-bro, don't be like that," Riptide responded with a grin."I was just putting you down to have your head pulled outta your rump. Anyways, glad to see you're doing better."
Deadeye just snorted and lay back down, closing his eye. "Report."
"The unclean is most certainly dead," Riptide said, all traces of humour gone from his voice. "Mother even brought back his head as proof. I don't know why you were worried about him still breathing. After all, you tore a hole in his throat."
"The Night-mistress is strange," Deadeye said, cracking open his eye to see Riptide giving him an inquisitive stare. "She wants to, I do not know, thank me in a special way for it."
Comprehension dawned on Riptide, his grin returning but much wider this time. "So, you finally let the truth out, huh? I imagine mother has asked a lot of questions?" he asked, slowly backing away.
"Mother assumes, but I have not confirmed," Deadeye said and instantly regretted it, for Riptide turned and went to run out of the door. Deadeye tried to follow him and rolled from the bed, but that made his wounds flare with pain, and he hadn't even gone two steps before collapsing to the floor.
Fortunately, he was not alone in stopping his younger brother, and he looked up to see a Katakan mare of similar size to himself holding a pouting Riptide by the scruff of his neck in her mouth. Unlike nearly all other Katakans, she had a mane and tail full of red hair instead of the dark blue, and her coat was a bit more grey then the usual grey-blue.
She stepped into the room and kicked the door shut behind her, dropping Riptide to the floor and holding him down with one hoof, acting like he wasn't even there as she stared at Deadeye. "Good, you're out of bed. You've been lying there long enough," she said in a surprisingly soft voice; Deadeye knew she was anything but 'soft'.
"Thank you Cloudburn, for both this and saving my life," Deadeye said, slowly raising himself back up. He tried to walk, but his right foreleg was still broken, so he had to hobble around on three legs.
"I can't lose you Deadeye; we’re twins, it'd be losing part of myself," Cloudburn said as she helped him back onto the bed, using a rear hoof to trip Riptide as he tried, and failed, to escape. “You, stay. And you,” she said as she turned from glaring at Riptide back to her full-brother, something uncommon amongst the Katakan race. “Are most likely hungry. Would you like help to walk?”
“No… no thank you,” Deadeye said, taking a deep breath. Seeing he was concentrating on something, she stepped away from the bed, dragging Riptide with her. Both of their eyes went wide as Deadeye’s legs turned to shadow mist and remained in such a state, something he had never managed for more than half a minute at a time. “It is surprising how simple something becomes with one’s life on the line.” Deadeye turned his gaze upon Riptide once more and let out a low growl.
“Oh Faust no!” Riptide said, charging for the corner of the room where the light did not reach.
“We got fresh meat in the mess, I’ll be back soon,” Cloudburn said, giving a big grin to Deadeye, then she chased after their younger sibling, disappearing within the shadows after him.
“Twilight, will you please tell me what is going on?” Derpy asked the alicorn princess as they both walked towards the throne room.
“I will, once we’re with the others,” Twilight replied, not bothering to look at Derpy as they neared their destination.
Derpy tilted her head. “Others?” she asked Twilight, but her question was not answered when they finally arrived at the doors leading to the throne room. Once they were inside, the pegasus saw her fiance and both of his aunts discussing something, yet she could not discern what it was from where she was standing.
When both mares approached the others present in the room, Princess Celestia beckoned one of her guards to come closer. “Could you please leave us be…” she asked the guard politely, who merely bowed at his princess’ words.
“By your command, Princess…” the guard replied gruffly and turned to the others present in the room. “Move out!” he shouted to them, all acknowledging his words as they begun to stream out of the room in a single line.
Once they were gone, Princess Luna’s eyes landed on Derpy, who had taken a seat next to Blueblood. “I see you’re wondering why we’re all here, our dearest niece,” she said to the pegasus, who only nodded in response. “It has come to our attention that your daughter has quite the rare gift…”
Rare gift? “What do you mean?” Derpy asked Luna curiously, only to turn her head to Twilight who cleared her throat to speak.
“Remember when I ‘borrowed’ Dinky to run some tests?” Twilight reminded the pegasus. “Well, it turns out Dinky’s magic is very special,” the alicorn said as she smiled broadly. “It turns out your daughter is an emotion-caster.”
Derpy cocked her brow and scratched her head in confusion as she stared at Twilight. “What’s an emotion-caster?” she asked the alicorn.
A smile emitted from Twilight’s muzzle before she cleared her throat again. “An emotion-caster is a unicorn who can channel even greater magic via the influence of a trigger emotion. The magic casted from said unicorn varies from the kind of emotions they are feeling, but mostly…” her words trailed off when she saw Derpy’s eyes started to spin from the explanation.
“In other words, an emotion-caster is a unicorn who can use special magic…” Blueblood said to Derpy, who shook her head and turned to her fiance.
“Oh!” Derpy blurted out. My little muffin’s that special? She thought to herself as she looked to everypony in the room. “So what’s going to happen now?” she asked no pony in particular.
Twilight cleared her throat again as she grinned in glee. “Well, I was thinking… maybe we could have Dinky attend Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she suggested to Derpy and Blueblood, giving pause when they looked at each other in thought. “But… of course this would be next year only, since the semester has already started and—”
“Twilight,” Celestia interrupted her former student as she raised her hoof. “While I would gladly recommend any foal into joining the school… In this case, I must respectfully object to Dinky enrolling.”
A deathly silence filled the room once Celestia spoke her words, only to be broken with Twilight blabbering incomprehensible words. “I-I I mean… what?!” the lavender mare blurted out as she starred in disbelief at her mentor. Did Princess Celestia just say ‘no’ to a gifted foal… “But Princess! Dinky’s—”
“Let me finish,” Celestia cut off Twilight’s words. “An emotion-caster such as Dinky would require special tutelage… from another emotion-caster, of which there are no lecturerers confirmed as such at the school," she explained to the young alicorn. “Before you suggest that I take her on as my student, as I had done with you… my schedule as of late unfortunately does not allow me to take a foal under my wings.”
“Besides…” Luna continued. “Do you think it wise to separate a foal from her friends and family, especially when she has just created a bond with her father?” she asked Twilight rhetorically.
Twilight’s ears flattened to her sides as she looked down after Luna’s question. She furrowed her brow a little when a thought came to her. “So we should find an emotion-caster who could mentor Dinky, somepony we can trust, somepony she trusts, preferably one near Ponyville and…” her words died down when she felt the eyes of all other ponies looking intently at her.
“I think a solution to our problem has presented itself,” Celestia smiled softly at Twilight. “And I think you would be the perfect mentor for Dinky.”
Me!? Twilight pointed a hoof to her chest, with her pupils shrinking to the size of pins as her mouth became agape. “Me… a mentor!?” she uttered out before she got up from her seat and started to pace around the throne room. “B-but don’t I need special training to be a mentor to a foal!?! I mean this is great and all, this is something I’ve always wanted to do! But so sudden, I mean—!” her words were cut off when she felt Celestia’s hooves embrace her and stop her movements.
“I understand how you feel Twilight, with such a new responsibility… but I have faith that all will be well,“ Celestia’s soothing words eased the younger alicorn’s worries. “If you need help of any kind with mentoring, be not afraid to ask me or any other of your old teachers.”
“Alright…” Twilight trailed off as she nodded at Celestia’s words.
As she looked at the two alicorns talking about her daughter, Derpy felt a sense of relief as she sighed. Well my muffin always wanted to have a personal tutor teach her magic… and now Twilight is going to teach her… She turned to look at Blueblood, whose eyes were also looking at hers. “So I guess she won’t be taking lessons from you?”
“Hey, Dinky may have Twilight as her mentor… but that won’t stop me from teaching my daughter a thing or two about magic,” Blueblood replied as he nuzzled his mare, who returned the gesture in kind.
“Pray tell,” Princess Luna’s voice brought the others attention to her. “Where is little Dinky?”
Stepping from the train, Amethyst Star looked around in wonder, for the photographs she had seen of Canterlot’s grand station were nothing compared to the real thing. The ceiling of the building was high overhead, with lots of golden chandeliers hanging down, all of which was supported by thick marble columns.
Because of her distracted state, Amethyst didn't take note of the ponies waiting to get on the train, at least until the first bump came. She then found herself remembering a night out to see a famous DJ, and the mosh pit there as she battled through a multitude of ponies going about their day.
Eventually she got away from the platform, finding herself a bench where she could catch her breath. After sitting down, Amethyst checked her saddlebags to make sure there was no damage, especially to the gift she had stored in there. Just as she was about to stand and begin the walk to her destination, a strange black portal opened on the wall in front of her.
She barely ducked in time as a bat-like pony, smaller than the ones she had seen around Ponyville the past few days, appeared from the portal and jumped over her. A larger pony followed, their massive hooves snapping the bench Amethyst had just been sitting on in half. She watched as the commuters causally moved out of the way, as if this was a normal occurrence as the larger pony chased the smaller one around the station.
"Can't catch me sis!" The smaller one shouted, revealing itself to be a stallion, as he slipped down a much too narrow side passage for the larger mare. Amethyst heard the growl from two platforms away, the mare stomping her hoof in seeming frustration, but Amethyst could see the other end of the passage... her eyes going wide just as something black shot up from the ground and slammed into the stallion's chin, sending him sprawling to the ground.
As much as she wanted to watch some more, somepony brushed against her, causing her to turn and just catch a dark blue wing tip leaving her saddlebag, a small white box held in the feathers. It only took a moment for the wheels to start turning, but when they did... "STOP, THIEF!" Amethyst's voice easily rose above the crowd, and deep rumbling in the concrete floor caused her to turn and see the large mare charge past her.
"We'll get it back," the mare said quickly, Amethyst barely hearing it before the mare carried on, skidding to take a tight corner. "Faust damn you Silent Gale! Get back here!" With that the mare disappeared, leaving Amethyst blinking in confusion.
"When she says 'we', she means her." Amethyst turned to find the stallion stood next to her, rubbing his chin, then he gave a quick look over. "Sorry about almost hitting you then. Wanna get a bite to eat?"
"Not really," Amethyst said flatly, immediately walking away from the stallion, sighing to herself when she heard him following her. The next twenty minutes of her journey were painful for her, as the stallion kept pace and constantly asked her questions, mostly about something that would basically construe a date-like event, and he ignored the fact she was ignoring him. Amethyst breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her destination, walking right up to one of the guards. "Excuse me, but could one of you tell this colt I am not interested in speaking with him?"
The guard she was speaking to looked behind her and smirked briefly, before regaining his composure and throwing a hoof up in a salute. "Commander Riptide, please leave this mare alone, sir!"
Amethyst turned with wide eyes to face the stallion, who had just returned the salute with his wing. "I can certainly try, but you know me sergeant. I like a challenge!" he said, throwing Amythest a wink.
She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the guard, pulling a scroll from her bag and floating it in front of him. After reading it over, the pegasus nodded to the unicorn of the squad, who opened the gate and stepped out of Amethyst's way. "Third corridor to you right, second floor, fourth door on your left. Would you like a guide?" the guard asked.
"No thanks, I’ll be fine,” she replied, stepping into the castle grounds. As she walked up the path, Amethyst saw a small amount of the ponies employed there, which amounted to nearly a hundred gardeners… and that was in one section. A glance over her shoulder showed this ‘Riptide’ keeping pace, the large grin still plastered across his muzzle. Suddenly stopping, Amethyst whirled around and stomped her hoof in frustration, then pointed it at him. “Will you just leave me alone you freakish bat pony!” she shouted.
She instantly knew she said something wrong as the grin disappeared and Riptide’s ears splayed backwards. But what really hit home was the trembling lip and the tears building in the corner of his eyes.
Before she could say anything, another one appeared, Amethyst recognising this one from the little fight a few weeks ago in Ponyville. He said nothing as he hobbled over to the younger stallion and wrapped him with a wing, holding him close. “Keep it together, Riptide. Sobbing from an insult is no act for a Shadowbolt. And you, young miss,” Deadeye said, turning a one-eyed glared upon Amethyst. “We are called ‘Katakans’, something you would do well to remember.”
Amethyst desperately wanted to apologise, but she remembered what the larger stallion said before he was forced to do such to Filthy Rich; ‘A Katakan does not apologise.’ She at least went to try, but Deadeye walked into the castle with Riptide before she could; the younger stallion kept his gaze averted from her as they went.
Shaking off her shame and sudden feeling of dread, Amethyst turned and entered the castle, recounting the directions in her head. The last thing she wanted was to embarrass herself again. Coming across the room she needed, she knocked on the door and entered, her eyes going wide.
The room was like any other office, a large desk commanding the floor space with decorations and equipment filling it up. But it wasn’t this that surprised Amethyst. No, it was the fact that on the other side to the table, a little to the side, sat a now stone-faced Riptide, and next to him was the mare she had seen beat Deadeye.
“Greetings, Miss Star,” the mare said gesturing with a hoof to the empty chair in front of the desk, the unicorn hastily following the instruction. “My name is Nightshade, and this is Riptide, one of my commanders.” Neither young pony told her they had already met. “Now, I assume you’ve heard about events that transpired this past weekend. Because of this, I have taken it upon myself to personally meet anypony that is often left alone with Princess Dinky… of which there is only you.”
Swallowing nervously, Amethyst gave a nod, her eyes drawn to Riptide as he opened up a folder and slid a couple of papers to Nightshade. The Katakan mare took a moment to read them over, not looking up as she spoke again. "It says here you originally come from Stalliongrad, and moved to Ponyville with your mother ten years ago."
"That's correct," Amethyst replied, wondering what else the folder held; only her very best friends in Ponyville knew where she was from.
"There is no mention of your father," Nightshade said, finally looking at Amethyst. "Tell me, where is he?"
"Last I heard, he's in a penal colony off the coast of Neighpon," Amethyst said, giving a shrug. "And to be honest, he can stay there for all I care. From what little I remember he wasn't a nice stallion." Amethyst's eyes widened a little as she watched Nightshade pick up a quill with her shadow-magic and add a note to the folder.
"What is your current marital status?" Nightshade asked, the off-on-a-tangent question from the last catching Amethyst off guard.
"I, uh... I'm single right now," she said quietly, rubbing her forehooves together as she stared at the table. She wasn't concerned about what questions were asked, right then she just wanted to hear Riptide's voice. She got what she wanted.
"Have you ever been in trouble with the law?" the stallion asked, Amethyst lifting her eyes to meet his stony gaze. "We may have information on you, but that doesn't mean it is complete."
Amethyst swallowed nervously, hoping her next answer wouldn't result in her being barred from seeing Dinky again. "Yes... yes I have," she admitted, looking at the tabletop once more. "It was at a club when I went to see Vinyl Scratch. A mare bumped into me and made me drop my drink. I'd had a few already..."
"A fight broke out?" Nightshade interrupted, getting a small nod in return. The Katakan mare jotted something down in the file, then lifted her gaze and locked eyes with Amethyst. The young unicorn found she couldn't look away, not only from some slight fear, but also, for some reason that eluded her, she didn't want to. "Please wait outside a moment, Miss star," Nightshade suddenly said.
Blinking away her confusion, Amethyst got up from her chair and left the room, closing the door behind her. As she stood there, she became aware of somepony watching her, and she turned round to find several Katakans giving her a not-so-friendly look. Just as she was about to say something, the door behind her opened and Riptide appeared, jumping over her. He spread his wings to hide her from the other Katakans' sight, giving a growl.
Amethyst wasn't sure why at first, but then the others started to back away, disappearing from the corridor. Riptide said nothing as he pointed to the room where Nightshade still remained, and then he too walked off. Taking a deep breath, Amethyst entered the room and slid in opposite Nightshade once more.
"After careful consideration," Nightshade began, taking note of Amethyst's reaction. "I see no reason whilst you can not continue to serve as Princess Dinky's foalsitter." Nightshade stood up, Amethyst following as the large mare headed for the door. "My son has been assigned to watch over her, so I am sure you will be seeing more of him."
"Oh? Captain Deadeye?" Amethyst asked, cocking her head. "Will he need somewhere to stay?"
Nightshade turned to Amethyst with a raised eyebrow. "Deadeye, my first born son, is captain of the Lunar Corps and the Night-Mistress' personal guard. He will be remaining here." Nightshade began walking once more, calling over her shoulder, "and no, Commander Riptide will not need housing. That has already been arranged."
Amethyst's ears splayed backwards as she processed what Nightshade just said, but by the time her brain had caught up the Katakan was gone. Remembering the route given to her, Amethyst began to retrace her steps, but she took a wrong turn and ended up on one of the raised walkways, overlooking the castle's large maze.
As she stepped out of the castle structure, Amethyst let out a deep sigh, not quite sure why she had been worried when she had received the summons to the castle. Nightshade, although seemingly intimidating at first, was pleasant enough, and Riptide... Amethyst wasn't sure what to do there. Spotting the young stallion further down the walkway and staring into the maze, she slowly walked up to him, stopping several feet away.
"C-Commander," she began, only to lose her will to speak when he turned to look at her, his eyes unfocused, the spark of life Amethyst had seen in them when they first met now gone.
"Cloudburn retrieved this for you," he said, knocking the little white box the thief at the train station had taken from her, then he began to walk away. "I... shall see you around Ponyville, Miss Star." They way his voice sounded made Amethyst feel shame like she never had before, and as Riptide spread his wings and hopped over the low wall, all she managed to do was pick the box up and put it back in her bag.
Apologizing would have to wait, as there was a little filly around the castle who she desperately wanted to see.
"Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Pip asked Dinky as they trotted through the garden’s maze, the latter having grown tired of being inside of the castle for most of her stay.
Dinky rolled her eyes as she looked at the available paths opened to them. “Well I was only here once with my dad…” she replied as she looked upwards and remembered the day she finally met her father. I wonder if I can find that koi pond again? At least they don’t scare off when you approach them…
“I want to see the statue of Discord again,” Pip said as they passed a number of statues, all posing in extravagant stances as they displayed their special talent to the world. One large spherical statue caught the colt’s attention, and as he got closer he saw the creatures on the outside were griffons, attacking the lone pony in the centre. Pip let out a gasp and his eye’s widened as he suddenly realised the pony in the centre of the attack was a Katakan. I wonder who he was?
“It’s not there anymore… apparently Princess Celestia freed Discord,” Dinky answered Pip, calling the colt away from the statue, as they neared an area where a fountain was located. When she looked into the water, she saw a number of koi fish swimming lazily around.
Pip cocked his brow as he stood next to Dinky. “Why would Princess Celestia do that?” he asked the filly, who only shrugged at his question.
“I don’t know… my dad doesn’t know either.”
“Maybe Princess Celestia likes Discord?” Pip suggested as he snickered. It would blow the minds of ponies everywhere… Celestia and Discord in love… I don’t think Princess Luna would like that very much though…
Dinky’s eyes darted as she grimaced at the words Pip had spoken. “I don’t even want to think about that!” she replied, but gagged when the thought of her new aunt kissing Discord crawled into her mind.
Thinking it best to change the topic, Pip rolled his eyes upwards as he tried to come up with something else. “So… um, I heard you did some ‘test’ with Twilight?” he asked her casually.
“Well… she wanted to test my magic out… turns out I’m something called an ‘emotion-caster’,” Dinky replied as she and Pip began to walk the maze again. “She seemed rather happy about it, even though I destroyed her lab…” the filly’s ears drooped, but perked when she heard the colt whistle.
“Maybe she’ll take you on as her student… teach you all about magic and maybe you’ll become an alicorn too!”
Dinky turned her head to look at her torso, furrowing a brow a little. Me with wings… I would be able to fly with my mom in the skies… The filly shook her head and blinked furiously. “It would be nice, but I don’t think Twilight would have the time to teach me magic.”
Pip shrugged, not sure how to answer Dinky’s words. When he looked before him, he stopped in his tracks as they approached a dead end. “Um… Dinky, do you know where the exit is?” he asked his friend, cocking his brow when he saw her giggling as she rubbed the back of her head.
“I’m pretty sure it was this way,” she replied as she looked around for another route. “Let’s go over there!”
“Alright… race you!” Pip said as he ran past Dinky, laughing as he galloped onwards.
“Hey! No fair!” Dinky pouted as she ran after Pip, who proved to be the faster of the two. As she chased her friend, she started to become tired as sweat formed on her forehead and she began to pant. She got to a fork and paused momentarily before taking the left path. Her ears perked when she heard the colt’s laughter from the other side.
As Dinky turned around to go back, one of her hooves misstepped and she fell to the ground hard. Pain surged through her body, but most of the agony originated from her leg. She lifted her head up and tried to stand up again, but failed when she felt a spike of pain as she stepped on her hind leg.
“Ow!” Dinky shouted out instinctively as she landed on her haunches, sniffing as tears built up in her eyes. Just as she wiped her eyes clean, she heard hoofsteps coming towards her and saw Pip standing before her.
“Are you alright?” Pip asked Dinky, who shook her head. “Where does it hurt?” he asked her as he walked closer to her.
Dinky pointed to her leg as she scrunched her lips. “There… it hurts a lot…” she tried to stand again, but the pain was too much for her. I think I need to tell Pip to get some help— Her thoughts were interrupted when she was picked up and placed on the colt’s back. “P-Pip! What are you doing?”
“I’m going to get us both out of here,” he replied as he began to walk onwards, slowed by the weight of a filly on his back. Just need to find out which path to take… Pip looked around when he got to a four-way crossing. “Bugger! Which way do we go?” he exclaimed shortly before turning his head to Dinky.
“I don’t know…” she replied meekly, with a blush evident on her face. Can’t believe I’m being carried by him! “I think we need to take the path closest to the castle…” she suggested to Pip, who took a glance at the she was pointing to.
Pip began to trot towards the path, but paused as he neared it. “Wait…” he said and turned around to face the opposite opening and galloped as best he could with Dinky on his back.
“Pip! You’re going the wrong way!”
“Exactly!” Pip grinned as he fastened his pace, careful not to have Dinky fall off his back. The path they were on presented no other paths for them, yet they were no nearer to the exit.
Dinky groaned as she lowered her head against Pip’s back. “I really think we’re going the wrong way! Let’s just turn back and—” her words were cut off when she saw they were indeed out of the maze, with the castle before them.
“I knew it…” Pip said as he placed Dinky back on the ground gently before resting on the ground, exhausted from carrying the filly through the maze. As he raised his head to sit upright, he felt a pair of lips pressed against his cheek. His face reddened as he turned to see Dinky smiling coyly at him.
“Thank you for getting me out of there,” Dinky giggled when she saw Pip’s flustered face.
Just as Pip was about to reply, both foals’ ears perked to the sound of hoofsteps. They turned their heads to see a zaffre unicorn stallion with silver mane coming towards them, his brow furrowed when he saw Dinky’s leg.
“Are you alright?” Sly asked the foals as he neared them, stopping just a meter away from them when he saw Dinky’s wary eyes. Can’t blame her for looking at me like that…
“I-I hurt my leg in the maze…” Dinky replied as she looked up at Sly, who merely shook his head with a soft smile.
Foals will be foals… Sly sighed and used his magic to levitate both Pip and Dinky onto his back. “Let’s get you sorted out,” he said to the filly as he turned his head to face her and her friend.
“Um.. thank you…” Dinky said as they approached the castle’s entrance, where a Katakan mare appeared with a scowl on her face; Dinky was momentarily confused, because with simply adding an eyepatch and changing the mare’s mane colour, she could have easily been mistaken for Deadeye.
“Sly Cur, may I ask what you are doing with Princess Dinky and Master Pipsqueak on your back?” Cloudburn asked the unicorn stallion, her eyes glaring at his. I know the Night-Mistress told us he wasn’t involved in the abduction, but I’m not taking chances…
Before he could answer her, Dinky spoke up from behind his back. “We were just playing in the maze and I got hurt… Pip couldn’t carry me all the way, so Mr. Sly helped us out,” she said to Cloudburn, who softened her eyes when she looked at the filly.
Cloudburn sighed as she turned her attention to Sly. “Very well... “ she replied as she walked towards a frozen Sly. “I’ll take it from here,” she said as Dinky and Pip were both deposited on her back and she gave a brief bow to the stallion before walking back into the building with the foals. “Princess Twilight Sparkle wishes to speak to you, Princess Dinky.” she informed the filly. “Your parents are there too.”
“Am I in trouble?” Dinky asked Cloudburn.
“Not that I know of, Princess…” Cloudburn replied as she smiled back at Dinky, who looked at her with squinted eyes and a furrow brow. “Something the matter?”
Dinky titled her head. “I’m sorry, you just look a lot like Captain Deadeye,” she said, surprised by Cloudburn chuckling.
“That’s no surprise, he and I are twins after all.” Cloudburn replied as she gave a toothy grin to the foals, who were staring at her in awe. Suddenly she was barraged with a multitude of questions from the foals, ranging from whether she was in the Lunar Corps or in the Shadowbolts to how many other siblings she had. Before she could answer any of the questions, they reached their destination with the throne room’s doors opening before them.
Cloudburn knelt down, Pip jumping down from her back then helping Dinky down after him. The filly leant against the colt as they began to walk forward, stopping when a gust of air rushed over them. Pip slowly looked up, his eyes going wide with fear as he stared into the angry face a pegasus mare.
“What,” Derpy started, her voice flat and dangerously quiet. “Did you do to my daugher?”
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I get the feeling that whole interview thing with Amethys was just the least subtle way to lead into further datey events.
Amethyst done goofed at the start. Well, an apology can do a bit, but she has to mean it.
And that ending. Poor Pip. Dinky to the rescue!
6058493
I think that would be a rather annoying twist, too.
He (minorly) harassed her. Didn't take no for an answer, and was at very least very rude. So she unknowingly(?) says a slur to him, and now she's the bad guy, not the guy that won't take no for an answer.
Now he gets to stay here and harass her a lot!
So good and with some fluff.
And Pip, make mental note not to break Dinkys heart or anything else.
Pip's got some splaining to do.......
6058493 6058545 6058553 Congratulations you guys! You've given me an idea, of a different twist, and after some discussion it has been decided that it will happen. Prepare thyselves!
Ah, too be young and full of energy like that again.
6058553
I'm with this guy, she ignored him and turned him down at the start. She was frustrated because someone she didn't know was forcing their company on her.
6058703
It doesn't make using a slur right on her part. However, it also doesn't mean that she's the exact same amount of bad that he is, especially given that she was corrected, and desires to apologize, and (as far we know) he does not.
6058719
Gotta remember, Katakans do not apologize.
I wonder how many people reading will notice a couple of my characters running around, who originally appeared in a much different set of fics, even if one is VERY different than she used to be.
6058788
Yep. It says so right in this chapter.
And this situation is a great example why that's a bad idea.
Really, what does this say about their culture? That they think they cannot make mistakes? That they never regret anything they do and are 100% committed to everything, no matter how bad the idea? That they should never have to make up for something they previously did to hurt someone?
Or is it as simple as "we don't feel like we need to literally apologize, just correcting our behavior is enough", which is "okay" but also just... simply callous and unsociable.
This does explain why Amethyst and Dinky were in the race together in the one episode. She was a babysitter and did the run with her ward.
Holy shit Derpy, calm the hell down!
6058545
Honestly, I wouldn't say an apology is warranted. She was harassed and responded with words of annoyance that unknowingly hurt more than she intended. That would normally would be cause to apologize, but only after the one who harassed her sincerely apologized for his behavior. However, apparently "Katakans don't apologize".
Interesting snippets of society up in this chapter. I dig it.
6058986 she used a racist slur man, that's just going too far.
Well, seems Amethyst has accidentally wandered into a Lifetime movie; where all males are sexist, uncaring, rapists and the universe actively conspires to get her sexually assaulted.
Here's hoping she gets out as soon as possible.
I feel bad for Pip. For nothing can stop Death.
A nice chapter, and I smell a Amethyst x Riptide ship coming on. I mean granted Riptide was bothering her by following her, Still she didnt need to throw out a racial slur. I take it Deadeye or Nightshade had a hand in placing them together.
I like how Twilight is getting a new student hehe. Im sure she will be a good teacher. I cant really blame derpy for her exaggerated reaction to dinky getting hurt. She's possibly insecure and very protective of Dinky due to the kidnapping, but I think she will calm down quickly. Then again the over protectiveness may be an issue for a long while.
All in all I liked the chapter and it was a good world builder and such. Interesting about learning about some of Deadeye's family.
For the life of me, I can't remember who Amethyst Star is. What chapter was this OC introduced?
6058788
Yeah, and considering just about every one of them we have a name for so far is related, that policy sure has taken them far, hasn't it?
Being a minority should not give you license to act like a creep.
6059416
She's not an OC
6059250
She didn't know that it was one, which makes it far less of an offense. And like I said, normally it would call for an apology, but not to someone who stalked you, harassed you, ignored repeated requests to stop, and isn't showing any remorse for it.
6059541
Wait... Sparkler has an official name now?!?
Pip. Run.
If I was Pip, I'd be running away right about now.
Pip, three things.
First off, RUN!
Secondly, when you are caught, and you will be caught, do NOT mention the kiss.
Thirdly, you are too young to use the word 'bugger'. {tsk, tsk}.
I'm only going to be answering certain parts of each comment here
6058814
Prior to Luna returning them to 'civilised' lands, they would simply fight to the death, no matter how small the infraction.
6059268 Go back and read when Nightshade was introduced; Before Luna came along, Katakan mares made the rules.
6059382 Actually, Riptide likes stallions... or was it both?
6059537 Only two are in a place of power, Nightshade and Deadeye. Whilst Riptide is a commander, ALL Shadowbolts other than Nightshade have that rank. Cloudburn... she's just a member of the Lunar Corps.
6059901 *Pipsqueak looks at the comment* "Stop saying bugger? Bugger that!"
6060346
Aha...
Well... that tells me what I was wondering about their culture.
Not sure what that has to do with my comment...
6059549 you may be over reading the situation though, I admit he should have backed off but from what we've seen he's acted little more then a harmless flirt. there are people who can't take a hint who aren't necessarily bad for it you know. and ignorance doesn't really make it ok to say, she used a slur not just against him but his entire race, think of it this way.... what if dinky heard her say that?
Okay, Pip? Stay calm and rationally explain to Derpy what happened. If you keep your cool, you'll be fine.
Having said that, I have a bad feeling that's not what's gonna happen.
6061511 Actually, the Dreamcatcher is a pleasure cruiser. Its only 'armaments' are the Katakans... when they're on board.
So, Riptide has been assigned to Ponyville to guard Dinky? And I guess calling a Katakan a bat pony is a huge insult? Amethyst didn't know that, but she is so feeling the consequences. Poor Pip. Mama Derpy is on the attack. Dinky better act fast or her first boyfriend will suffer a similar fate to that of her kidnapper.
6060346
I don't care who made the rules before princess capslock showed up. If I acted like that toward a woman, I would be arrested as a sex offender.
Hell, your justification of it actually makes it sound like he would be of the perfect mindset for rape as revenge. He's been under the hoof of females for so long that he'd finally take the chance to force a mare to submit to him, whether she wanted to or not.
6064193 I'm still trying to work out how a bit of flirting, although unrequited, somehwow instantly equals rape to you. Because it doesn't.
Riptide followers her, flirts with her, but always remains a certain distance form her. And when she shows how angry/annoyed she is with him, he stops.
As to your interpretation of my explination, you are looking for something that is simply not there.
6064969
She made it clear from the start that she wasn't interested in him, meaning that he refused to take 'No' for an answer. Anyone who keeps following someone even after they say 'No' clearly doesn't respect their boundaries and is practically a stalker at this point.
6065026 I would say you're reading too much into this, but the fact is you're not, and no one else has come up with the correct theory yet either. Please trust us, for we have a plan to deal with this, which will come either next chapter or the following one.
Also 'he kept following her'... his destination was the castle as well. If a person goes to the same destination as someone else, whether or not they talk to each other, is it still following?
6065161
He has wings, he can fly; meaning that he made the choice to walk and physically follow her.
6065184 As I said, trust us. We will be dealing with this.
6065201
I sincerely hope so; these last few chapters have just felt... tacked on, for lack of a better term.
Although it took me awhile I finally got through this story and it has been worth it. This is most likely the most different interpretation of Blueblood that I've ever seen as what we saw of him in the show being an act he puts on to get him to be actually likable in this story. There is one thing, in the 10 years that Derpy knew his face she never once saw a news article or tabloid with Blurblood's picture on it so that she knew who he was, because you made it seem like she didn't know his name in all that time. But that's just a little plot hole that can be overlooked easily enough.
I do think that maybe you should tone down the sudden romances, I do like the romances in the story but too many times they just suddenly happen for no reason. Take the Big Mac/Twilight thing, there was no lead up to it it just sort of was there with now explanation. How did they get together, what drew them together...it's never explained or shown in the story. Maybe you could make a spin-off of this showing that relationship making it a companion piece to this one?
The story does seem to be winding down, no more villains for instance and all the major plots going on seems to have been mostly resolved although I kind of would like to see more of this. Maybe some more slice of life stuff, how would Derpy and Dinky take with being royalty for instance? How is their marriage going to work out as it seems you're keeping them in Ponyville so Blueblood would have to move there to be with his family but then can he still be Minister of Finance while there or would he have to give up that job and do something else? Plus how will others in Ponyville treat Derpy now that her status has changed? Would she still work at her job or would that be a bit tough with some of the ponies treating her differently? There's a lot that could be played around with in this part that I hope you get to do.
Twilight as Dinky's mentor? That is a perfect solution.
Riptide does not come off particularly well at all in the way he is treating Amethyst. It is straight up creeping and he is getting away with it based on his rank and family and the fact that she unknowingly used a racial slur.
6065961 Thanks, glad you've enjoyed the ride so far! Now then...
Not all ponies like to read the 'gossip' sections. As you might be able to tell, our version of Blueblood doesn't really like the public eye, so he'd try to stay out of the news as much as possible. For example, any time the Ministry of Finance would have come up, Fancy Pants would be the one making the statements, not Blueblood.
It's coming, we just want to finish this one first, then we're going to explore the others (cos we have several planned!), possibly in a collection of one shots.
As to your other questions.. wait and see.
6066328 'Getting way with it'... if he does, it won't be because of his rank. Trust me on that.
6066328
...I am disappoint that you did not notice two certain names in this that should have stood out considering what you have read.
#derprage
6068524 I noticed your comments earlier about it, but upon review of the chapter nothing jumped out at me. Honestly, while I recognize your username as being associated with another set of stories, I don't really remember what those stories were. It's been a while, and I've read a lot since then.
6069446 Wintergreen's stories, Cloudburn and Silent Gale are Storm's friends and adopted Pip.
6069446
Wintergreen's stories' right here... check them out