The Strange Case of Dinky Hooves' Cutie Mark Curiosity

by Fluttercheer

Chapter 9: ..... And I Cry If I Want To

As Scootaloo opened the door of their operation center this afternoon, responding to some knocks on it and expecting a new client, she was experiencing a déjà-vu.

Dinky stood in front of the door, though, as opposed to yesterday's happiness, she now showed a grieving expression, had tears in the corner of her eyes and her ears were pressed flat against her head. It was a heartbreaking display that moved Scootaloo immediately.

“What's wrong, Dinky?” she asked, her own ears dropping, too, now. Behind her, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked up from the table.

“M-My cutie mark.....” Dinky stammered. “I-It's gone!” The few tears in the corners of her eyes got company as her eyes welled up completely. Sniffing, she turned around and presented her flank to the pegasus filly in front of her.

Scootaloo's eyes widened. It was as blank as it had been yesterday morning.

“What's up?” Apple Bloom asked into Scootaloo's direction. “Does Dinky need more help figuring out her cutie mark?”

Wordlessly, Scootaloo shook her head slowly, her mouth widely open in shock. “That's impossible.....” she whispered then.

As their friend did not say anything after a few seconds still, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got up from their seats and trotted to the door. As they were at her side and Dinky had come into their view, both of them froze in the same manner as Scootaloo just had a minute earlier.

Empty, Dinky's flank greeted them. The three other fillies were completely silent, the only sound came from Dinky's desperate whimpers.

Finally, Scootaloo managed to break free from her frozen state. She trotted at Dinky's side and put a hoof around her shoulder. “Come inside, Dinky. Let's talk about it.”

Dinky let herself getting led into the operation center by Scootaloo, her legs shaky. Inside, she took seat at Scootaloo's side, where she started eyeing the table top. The tears continued to run down her face.

“So, uh, how did this happen, Dinky?” The other two Crusaders had been silent until now, too paralyzed to speak, but now Apple Bloom began to address the situation.

Dinky sniffed and brushed a hoof over her nose, then she looked up at Apple Bloom, her field of vision blurry, the tears not letting her see anything left or right of the filly that sat opposite of her. Scootaloo stretched out her hoof and put it around Dinky's shoulders again in a comforting gesture.

“I-I don't k-know,” Dinky started talking, rubbing the tears out of her eyes with one hoof. “I-It disappeared right after I c-came home from school. I-I j-just can't g-get a c-cutie mark.....”

The faces of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle became stern. The three friends exchanged knowing glances. Then Apple Bloom addressed Dinky again.

“And it isn't t' first time this happened, right?”

Dinky looked straight up at her, her eyes having turned into lakes again already by a new supply of tears. She lowered her head again, looking at the table top once more.

“No.....” she whispered. “Every time. Every time I get a cutie mark it disappears again.” A new fit was shaking her body and she began to cry louder.

Scootaloo rubbed over her back. “Why did you never tell us, Dinky?” She tried to make her voice sound as little accusatory as possible.

“B-Because you wouldn't b-believe me,” Dinky stammered her response between her sobs.

“And now?” Sweetie Belle asked, still confused and bewildered over the sudden situation.

Dinky sniffed again. “Now you can see for yourself.....” She fell into silence again, shaken by more cries and sobs.

The Crusaders exchanged another round of stern glances. It had been a challenge to get Dinky her cutie mark, but now, this challenge had suddenly grown tenfold. All three of them felt it looming over their head, like a dark cloud that would strike them with thunder the moment they fail.

And all three of them had the same dark thoughts going through their heads, yet, did not dare to speak them, for Dinky's sake. And seeing Dinky's condition, neither of them would bring it over her heart to turn her down. So, they did the only thing that seemed right to them in this situation.

“Dinky?” Apple Bloom addressed the distraught, young unicorn again after a few moments of relative silence. “Since when this is happening ta ya?”

This time, Dinky did not respond immediately. Instead, she kept crying, out of strength to speak even just one word.

Gently, Scootaloo patted her back. “Dinky?”

Dinky stopped sobbing for a moment and looked at her with her tear-filled eyes, then directed her hazy gaze at Apple Bloom. She rubbed the tears out of her eyes once again, then choked.

“A-Always..... It happens as long as I can remember. M-Mom said it happens since I was born. The doctors told her they never saw a pony born with a cutie mark before, but just a few weeks later, my first cutie mark d-disappeared.....”

“So, ya constantly get cutie marks and then they disappear again after a while.....” Apple Bloom concluded the obvious.

Dinky did not speak any words again, only her continued crying serving as a response.

“And it happens since Dinky's birth.....” Scootaloo continued. “Sounds like a magical problem, if you ask me.”

“And that's out of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' league..... I don't have enough knowledge about magic to deal with this,” Sweetie Belle said, casting glances at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, then one at Dinky. “But we know somepony who has.”

“Twilight,” Apple Bloom said, matter of factly.

“And you think she can help me?” Dinky stared at Apple Bloom all of a sudden, intensely, her pleading eyes drilling right through her heart.

“You bet she can!” Scootaloo gave Dinky another pat on the back, a stronger one this time. “Twilight has more knowledge about magic than anypony else, if we go to her, she will find a solution for your cutie mark problem!”

Unfortunately, it turned out that Dinky would have lost this bet, if it would have been a real one.

“Sorry, girls, but I never heard of a pony with disappearing cutie marks before.” Twilight felt her heart sinking as she saw the four fillies in front of her dropping their ears as their hopes for a quick solution got crushed. Dinky started crying again.

Scootaloo put a hoof on Dinky's shoulder. “Are you sure, Twilight? Isn't there anything you can do?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed. “Equestria has a history of several thousand years of magical disasters and something like this never happened before? Not even once?” Apple Bloom stared at Twilight in disbelief.

“No..... Not that I know of, at least,” Twilight admitted, suddenly feeling uneasy. She rubbed with a hoof over her left foreleg. “There's only one pony I know who can let cutie marks disappear..... And she isn't here.”

“Ya mean Starlight Glimmer?”

“Yes. She's the only pony who has developed a spell to let cutie marks disappear.”

“And do ya think it could be her who is stealin' Dinky's cutie mark?” Apple Bloom probed.

“No. See, if Starlight Glimmer lets a cutie mark disappear, she replaces it with a fake cutie mark that looks like an equal sign.”

Twilight ignited her horn and shot a spark of magic into the air. The magic twirled around for a moment, then formed the familiar equal sign that Twilight and her friends had seen in the oppressive mare's village. The Crusaders and Dinky stared at it, the sign giving them shudders.

Twilight stepped closer to Dinky and looked down at her. “And you never had a cutie mark like this on your flank, right?”

“No..... Never.” Dinky let her head hang, as she felt another possible solution for her problem slipping away.

Twilight nodded. “Besides, Starlight Glimmer only takes cutie marks away, she doesn't let new ones randomly appear. If she would be behind this, Dinky would lose her cutie mark and never get a new one again and it would be replaced by this instead.” She pointed at the floating equal sign in the air. “There is no way it could be her. It's impossible.”

Twilight got met with frowns after this explanation. “So, what should we do?” Scootaloo asked. “If Starlight Glimmer isn't behind it and if you never heard of such a case before, then how should we ever find out what's wrong with Dinky?”

“Research!” Twilight exclaimed, her voice suddenly upbeat and positive.

“Research?” Sweetie Belle asked. “But you have read all of the books about magic. Where could we find something you don't know?”

“Not all of them,” Twilight clarified, trotting to one of the shelves behind her. “I have read all of the books here and in the Canterlot Castle library and–“ She interrupted herself as she felt a certain desire flaring up. “Well, except for those in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing..... Princess Celestia keeps it locked most of the time, she only let me see inside it once and I had no time to read all the books back then. But it's his personal library, all it contains are documentations of his work. It wouldn't be the right place to find what you need.”

She sighed wistfully, then turned around to them again. “But Equestria has more libraries to offer. I suggest you to check out the library in the Crystal Empire. It is full of ancient books that contain wisdom that was lost for a thousand years! Even I couldn't read all of them yet..... Maybe you can find an answer to Dinky's problem there.”

It was a vague possibility, what Twilight suggested them there, but it filled their hearts with new hope. Their sorrowful expressions disappeared as their faces lit up. Even Dinky allowed herself a little smile.

“Should we give it a shot?” Scootaloo looked at her fellow Crusaders.

Dinky did a determined step forward, a sudden fire in her eyes. “I go!” she said, resolve in her voice. “It's probably the only place where I can find out what's wrong with me, so I'm taking this chance!”

The three other fillies exchanged glances. “Well, we can't let her go alone,” Scootaloo stated.

“And we promised ta help her get a cutie mark..... It's our first mission, we can't drop out of this just because it gets a little hard!” Of course, “a little hard” was an understatement, but Apple Bloom ignored this realization and stretched a hoof into the air. “We don't let our first client hang!”

A split-second later, it was met with the hooves of her friends, a sign of their agreement.

Dinky just stood there, watching the scene in front of her with tears in her eyes, tears that formed there for a different reason now. She sniffed. Then, with a smile on her face, she let her hoof join the other three. “Yeah!” she shouted.

“Okay, let's do this!” Apple Bloom turned at Dinky. “We still have school on the next two days, but on Saturday, we will travel ta the Crystal Empire together ta find out how ta help ya! Make sure ta be prepared by then, Dinky!” she commanded her.

“Mhm! I will have everything ready for the travel!” Dinky assured her, confirming the tone in her voice with a strong nod. Then she crushed Apple Bloom with a spontaneous hug.

“Thank you for not giving up on me!” she whimpered, her voice filled with tears of happiness now.

Twilight lowered her eyes and smiled. “And I will let Spike set up a letter and send it to Shining Armor and Cadance to inform them of your visit. The library will be prepared and ready for your research once you arrive.”

Dinky let go of Apple Bloom and gave Twilight a grateful smile. “Thank you, Princess Twilight!”

Twilight nodded. “Anytime. But 'Twilight' will suffice, you don't need to be so formal.” She chuckled.

“Okay..... Twilight.” Dinky looked at her with a sheepish grin, feeling a little awkward over not using the royal title.

She turned around at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now wearing an expression full of hope and expectation. “Then let's not lose any time!” she shouted cheerily. “We need to have everything ready for Saturday!” She gave each of them a strong nudge, then galloped out of the library and into the hallway.

Apple Bloom rubbed over her chest, as it began to feel slightly sore, but she smiled. “That's more like it,” she said. “Don't ya think?”

“Absolutely!” Scootaloo agreed and her wings buzzed to support the statement.

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle followed her example, grinning.

The three Crusaders exchanged another hoofbump, then they followed their client outside, hurrying to catch up with her.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Poor Dinky. Shh, don't cry, we're all here for you. I'm sure Twilight finds a solution, she always does.

[ferret]

the only sound came from Dinky's desperated whimpers.

---

So the truth is... it's congenital. That sounds about as fixable as being a gryphon.

But! She can get a cutie mark, it just keeps disappearing. What happens when it disappears? Are there any observations that could be made then? Can she get a cutie mark back again by rediscovering what makes her specal, CMC style, or must she always get a unique mark? When she had a mark, was she aware of what made her super special, even when she was a young foal? Are her marks cutie marks? Maybe they're some other kind of mark, like a birth mark! Maybe they're getting in the way of her cutie mark, and she only thinks that they're cutie marks? Who is her father? He's not a gryphon, is he?

I'm honestly surprised Twilight's not more curious about this. I'd expect her to spirit Dinky off to her basement laboratory in order to study absolutely everything about her.

Maybe Dinky's special talent is getting cutie marks! Her mark is disappearing on purpose, so that she'll have room on her butt to get another mark, not because she isn't talented. What makes her super special unlike every other pony is that she has the power to make her cutie mark disappear!