The Daughter Doo: Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader

by Ponky

15 - Some Secret Something

Chapter Fifteen
Some Secret Something

Dinky could hear the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheering for her from behind. As the web-like pathways of barely-submerged earth became narrower and narrower, she didn’t dare look over her shoulder, though the excitement in their voices bolstered her resolve.

Dinky trotted and leapt and balanced for all that she was worth. She made great time, trotting from stretch to earthen stretch and ignoring the dark blue pools of water threatening to swallow her from every angle. The ends of her hooves tingled and her breath came in unnatural rhythms, but she ignored everything for the task at hoof.

The golden horseshoe felt cold around her neck. She was grateful for the Moonlight shining in the water, showing her more clearly where the next thin pathway was. But the closer she got to the Wailing Gate, the louder the wind whipped in her ears, and the harder it was to keep her balance on the strangely angled paths.

A sudden gust of wind hit her hard. She stopped in place and wobbled. She heard Sweetie Belle’s gasp from far behind. Somehow it comforted her, and she crouched low to maintain her spot on the strip of land. It was becoming so narrow that she had to trot in a single-file pattern with her hooves; her eyes felt dry and twitchy as the wind picked up around her.

One hind hoof slipped as she moved forward, but again she managed to keep herself still. The wind blew her mane around her face and threatened to tear off the golden horseshoe, but her neck was just the right size to keep it snugly on her person. She looked up at the stone archway, still far away from her, and noticed choppy ripples in the water up ahead. Steeling herself with a tiny grunt, Dinky hurried forward, crouched low and paying attention to every little thing.

{-DD-}

“Do you think we should help her?” asked Sweetie Belle in a squeaky tone.

Scootaloo glanced at a growing bruise on her side. “I’m pretty sure she’ll have better luck with that wind than any of us.”

“Yeah, good point…”

“What d’ya suppose is happenin’ to her?” Apple Bloom asked. “I mean, how in the world did she suddenly learn how to whip around the wind like that?”

Sweetie Belle gulped. “I think… she could always do it. Like, remember back in Pelola when the moat bridge slammed shut?”

“Oh, yeah!” Apple Bloom gaped. “Do you reckon that was her doin’?”

“I think so, even if she didn’t do it on purpose.” Sweetie’s eyes softened. “There’s something really special about her.”

“Speaking of which,” Scootaloo yelled with a wide smile, “look at that!”

{-DD-}

The winds were too strong for Dinky’s little body. They pushed her and pushed her and tried to drown her, and with any other filly they would have had success.

Dinky’s horn was glowing brighter every second. She marched boldly forward on zig-zagging paths, pushing back at the Wailing Gate with strong winds of her own. Small tornadoes that kicked up water were born and died in seconds all around her as the harsh winds from the east battled Dinky’s from the west. Diverting and pushing and slashing each other in a tumultuous, invisible war, the worst of the winds stayed away from Dinky’s little body.

The cheers of her friends intensified with the light of her horn. Dinky caught herself smiling, and picked up the pace in the splashing waters. The cold air swirled and the river shook, but Dinky’s eyes were glued to the archway towering just ahead.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks with a gasp, teetering on the edge of nothing. The skinny walkways stopped abruptly, though the Wailing Gate stood at least a hundred feet in front of her, blocked by what appeared to be a stretch of bottomless water.

How would she reach it? It was all she could do to keep the winds of the Gate from pushing her over, let alone using her wind magic to carry her over the stagnant river. She began to shiver as her eyes darted this way and that, searching for another path of barely-sunken earth to follow. There was nothing, and Dinky was stuck.

Her breath came faster. She tried to look over her shoulder. Twisters turned into mini-hurricanes all around her, and the water they sucked up blew into her face. She sputtered and shut her eyes, taking a step back. An errant gust of wind hit her hard in the cheek, and Dinky fell ― spiraling ― into a deep, dark pool.

She held her breath and thrashed, but began to drop immediately. She could no longer hear the wind above, or the shouts of her Ponyville friends. All she heard was a low, constant droll, a fearful sound that seized her muscles and caused her horn to stop glowing.

She sank.

Dinky’s golden eyes were wide, stinging in the water. She wanted desperately to breathe in, but forced herself to wait. She tried to stay calm, but without the ability to breathe, it proved difficult.

Sinking and sinking, Dinky looked up. The Moon was a hazy blur, and its light could barely reach her.

She remembered the last time she had been sinking: the arrival of Calupan, the song she played on her flute. But she didn’t have her flute anymore to summon that powerful friend, nor did she have another magical bubble which had let her breathe there. She had nothing, in fact, but a slowly fading world.

It was more than just the darkness of the pool’s strange depth. Dinky was losing her vision. In her effort to hold her breath, Dinky’s brain was slowing… shutting down. She no longer saw the Moon. Instead she saw…

She saw…

A tall metal fence.

Dinky trots forward in her mother’s shadow. She is scared and presses her body into Ditzy Doo’s. Ditzy looks down with a sad but loving smile. They walk through a gate in the fence.

A row of grey towers.

The headstones look so big to Dinky. She recognizes that words are etched into their stone, but she’s too young to know what they say. She knows what they mean, though: they’re names.

Why are they here? Who are they coming to see?

A shimmer in the distance, down the slope. The cemetery is built on top of a hill. A long stretch of glass leads to a pretty garden below, but Dinky’s eyes are on the pond touching the foot of the hill. It sparkles in the light of evening.

There are benches and paths in the garden below, and even up here on the hill. Blooming trees and glowing lanterns give it all a heavenly look. They made this place too pretty. It ought to be sad.

“Here we are, Dinky,” says her mother, stopping in front of a tiny grave.

A name.

Ditzy sniffles. “I don’t really know what to say, darling,” she manages. “You’re still so little. You can barely understand me. You won’t even remember this.” She smiles down at Dinky. “But… some part of me can’t keep the secret. Not from you. Not forever.”

She sighs and gazes longingly back at the tiny, flat headstone in front of their hooves.

Dinky tilts her little horned head. The name on the headstone is surrounded by a pair of etched wings.

“This…” Ditzy Doo’s voice cracks. She clears her throat, and continues through a dry, dry voice. “This is your sister, Dinky,” she says. “This is Dauntless Doo.” A tear drips from her muzzle onto the small, clean grave. “She was a pegasus.”

Dinky takes a step back. She’s so tiny that her mother hardly notices.

It’s too much for little Dinky. She doesn’t want to understand. She turns around and runs.

“Dinky!” calls her mother. “Dinky, wait!”

Dinky gallops over a little curve and starts down the hill. It’s too steep for her legs. She slips, careening down the slope much faster than she wanted. She doesn’t have time to scream. The shimmering water of the pond swallows her, and she can’t breathe.

She thrashes and searches in the water for some ground. There is none. As she sinks, she looks up at a brilliant light above the surface. What is it? The Sun? The Moon? A cemetery lantern? She can’t tell. She’s so scared.

The beam of light above is broken. Someone has stood in its way.

Dinky reaches to the surface for help. A pair of eyes phase into view beyond the warping water. Dinky thinks they’re golden; she thinks her mother’s hoof is inching closer. Dinky has to breathe…

But the eyes are green.

Dinky opened her eyes. She was closer to the surface of the pool than she had realized. And suddenly, the water above was remarkably still.

Dinky floated in place. She was terrified, but the memory of the cemetery had awoken something in her. She looked up.

Instead of the Moon, a brighter light shone up above. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it made a silhouette of the figure hovering even closer.

Dauntless, Dinky thought.

The outline of a little pegasus flapped its wings. It looked happy.

Dinky reached up toward the surface, toward her twin. She didn’t expect to be saved, but she wanted Dauntless to know she was there.

The image of the little pegasus faded away, and the light itself drew nearer. As Dinky’s eyes adjusted to its brilliance, she saw an alicorn in the light, smiling as clearly as if there was no water in between them.

Her coat was periwinkle, identical to Dinky’s. Her billowing mane was a brilliant white, and from it shone most of her light. Her eyes ― a shocking, lively shade of green ― glowed as well, speaking more to Dinky’s heart than any words ever could.

Dinky stretched her hoof up farther.

The angel reached down. Her hoof made no ripples as it entered the water, but Dinky caught a hold of it as she would any real thing. The alicorn felt warm and cool at once, like a living heartbeat.

Dinky was lifted out of the water. She sputtered, choked, and raggedly breathed as she clambered back onto the last thin stretch of earth. She trembled in place, breathing hard and staying balanced. Her horn was glowing again, pushing strong winds outward, and the howling gusts from the Wailing Gate did not touch her.

Dinky’s legs gave out, and she dropped to her little knees with a splash. She took a moment to look all around her, but just as she expected, the alicorn was nowhere to be seen. Lowering her head, Dinky’s face tightened in a painful grimace. Before her breath had completely returned to her, the vision overwhelmed her and the unicorn began to cry. While she sobbed in the humblest of poses, great tears squeezed from her tightly shut eyes and joined the inch of rippling water in which she weakly knelt.

“Dauntless…” she said between sobs. “Dauntless, I’m so sorry…”

She heaved there, trembling with her entire body. As small as she was, the sorrow was real, and Dinky let it out.

“Thank you, Dauntless,” she said in a whisper. “And thank you, too. Thank you for finding Zoccolo. Thank you for saving me.” She opened her eyes; the smallest of smiles graced her lips. “Thank you, Mommy. Thank you, Daddy, wherever you are. I forgive you.” She sniffed. “I forgive both of you.”

A lick of wind, barely enough to tousle her mane, swept over the back of her neck. It hit the golden horseshoe just so, and the object twisted off Dinky’s neck. It plopped into the water, making Dinky gasp.

She stood up on trembling legs and grabbed the horseshoe in one hoof. To her surprise, it was no longer golden. Her fall into the water had cleansed it of any disguise. Instead, it was made of smooth, grey stone, decorated with images of swirls and wavy lines.

Dinky blinked. With a furrowed brow, she swiveled her eyes to study the Wailing Gate. Her gaze followed its arch from the left, around to the top, and down to where it met the river on the right. It made a perfect curve.

Squinting, Dinky slowly raised the horseshoe until it lined up perfectly with the shape of the Gate ahead. The grade of their curves was remarkably similar.

And just like that, as soon as the stone in her hooves matched up with the stone of the Wailing Gate, the wicked winds around her ceased to blow.

In total silence, Dinky stood perfectly still. Through the twin arches in her vision, she saw an unguarded door on the side of the palace.

Slowly, tearfully, Dinky smiled.

{-DD-}

“SHE DID IT!” screamed Sweetie Belle, leaping three feet into the air. “She did it, she did it, she did it!”

“Yeeehaaww!” Apple Bloom reached for a hat to toss into the air. Finding none, she resorted to proudly crossing her forelegs. “Well, I’ll be! She really had me goin’ there for a second!”

Scootaloo’s teeth stopped chattering long enough for her to say, “I thought she was gonna die down there!”

“How’d she get out o’ that pool?” Apple Bloom asked. “I thought she couldn’t swim!”

“She can’t!” Sweetie shrugged, grinning ear to ear. “Maybe she used her wind magic!”

“Awesome!” Haplessly, Scootaloo jumped off the edge, landing among the web-like paths. “Come on, let’s go, let’s go! We gotta get through the arch before the winds start up again!”

“Right!” Apple Bloom followed suit.

“Eeep!” Sweetie squeaked excitedly, dropping off the edge and keeping her eyes trained on the motionless figure of Dinky Doo.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders trotted, floundered, and swam through the strangely still river bathed in Moonlight. When they caught up with Dinky, she spoke before they could.

“Go on through,” she said in a calm voice. “I’ll meet you by the door.”

Wordless and obedient, the three little fillies pressed ahead, swimming under the Wailing Gate as quickly as they could. The river bent left, but the fillies went straight, climbing onto dry ground void of grey stone or jagged edges.

Apple Bloom dug her hooves into the dirt there, smiling. “Now that’s more like it!”

Scootaloo spun in place, wings a-buzzing, and clicked her hind hooves. “We made it, girls! We made it!”

Sweetie Belle looked back at Dinky. While the tiny filly was calm, Sweetie’s expression was tense and nervous.

In a single motion, Dinky dropped the horseshoe into the open water in front of her ― plop ― and tossed her mane back with a bright glow of her horn. With a jolt, she soared forward on a gust of wind that carried her to shore. Sweetie Belle rushed forward to catch the little unicorn before she could crash again.

As soon as Dinky was through it, the Wailing Gate came back to life, blowing fierce winds away from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Wow, Dinky!” Apple Bloom crooned. “I mean… just wowee! That was unbelievable!”

“You are so awesome!” Scootaloo wheezed at the end of her breath, shaking Dinky by the shoulders. “How did you know how to do that?”

Dinky smiled softly; there was more thought than joy behind it. “Zoccolo told me I had everything I needed to pass the Wailing Gate,” she said. “Something just… clicked, I guess.”

“Darn tootin’ it clicked!” Apple Bloom’s smile suddenly faded and she dropped to her plot with a thud. “Golly… I guess it’s a good thing we went with Zoccolo to Pelola then, huh?” She played with a tangle of red mane falling over her forehead. “Heh… if we had things my way and missed the golden horseshoe, we might never’ve been able to get past the wind.”

“How did he know?” Scootaloo asked in a breathy voice. “And why did he give it to us? It seems, like… I dunno, too lucky to be an accident.”

“I don’t think it was an accident at all,” said Sweetie Belle. She turned her head. “Was it, Dinky?”

Dinky looked into Sweetie Belle’s eyes. They were so green… a different, softer green than the alicorn’s she’d seen in the water. But there was a kindness in Sweetie Belle’s eyes very reminiscent of that in the glowing angel’s.

Dinky’s smile broadened. She confidently shook her head. “No. It was no accident. Something was guiding me. Guiding all three of us.” She shared her smile with the others. “I don’t think Calupan was the only special pony helping us out here.”

“Why?” Scootaloo asked with a puzzled tilt to her brow. “Like, that’s awesome, but… what do secret alicorns have to do with a couple of twins?”

Dinky’s lip began to quiver again, but she fought it with a genuine smile. “I don’t know, Scootaloo. But I’m happy I didn’t h-have to do this alone.”

“Awwww!” Sweetie Belle threw herself around Dinky, and the tiny unicorn melted into her embrace. “You were never alone, Dinky! I’m so sorry I yelled at you! I shouldn’t never, ever, ever have! You and I were supposed to be the sane ones on this trip.” She cleared her throat without letting go of Dinky. “No offense, girls.”

“None taken,” said Apple Bloom, rubbing one of her forelegs sheepishly. “Heh… goll, I feel plain rotten. I’ve been treatin’ everypony like I knew best, when really I was the furthest from the straight ’n’ narrow all along.” She lifted heavy eyes to the pegasus at her side. “‘Specially you, Scoots. I’m sorry. I said some right nasty things back on the beach.”

“Ehh, it’s fine,” Scootaloo said quietly. “I’m sorry, too. If I’d trusted you more and been nicer to everypony, maybe you wouldn’t have snapped.”

“I had no right to snap, nohow,” said Apple Bloom. “What I said wasn’t right. You do have a family in Ponyville, and we followed ya all the way here.” With tears in her eyes, Apple Bloom smiled. “I love ya, Scoots.”

“Ugh.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes, but ultimately grinned and held out her hooves. “I love you, too, Apple Bloom.”

The fillies hugged and nuzzled each other dearly.

Sweetie Belle laughed, watching them with her foreleg wrapped tightly around Dinky from the side. “Honestly, though! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two fight so much.”

“I was just trying too hard,” said Scootaloo as their hug ended. “Or something. I don’t know.”

“It don’t matter now,” said Apple Bloom. “We made it, girls! After all that, we’re finally here.”

“So what do we do now?” Sweetie Belle asked, staring at the door to the palace.

The fillies all rotated, staring in tandem at the tall, wooden door that led to their goal.

“I guess we just… try’n find the foals in there,” said Apple Bloom.

“With lots of sneaking,” said Scootaloo. “I’ll take the lead. I’ve had practice.”

“And what if they’re not in there?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I mean, I hate to be a downer after it feels like a victory… but, like, we don’t actually know if the Cake twins are even here.” She winced. “What do we do if we’re in the wrong place?”

“We’re not,” said Dinky, and all eyes turned to her. She blinked and shrugged. “This is the right place. That’s what I know. So what would the Cutie Mark Crusaders do?”

Apple Bloom chuckled and pushed her shoulder. “You tell us, Dinks. You’re one of us now.”

Dinky glanced at Sweetie Belle and shook her head. “No. I’m not a Cutie Mark Crusader.”

Sweetie looked sad. “Dinky…”

“I’m something else to you girls now,” she said, smiling up at them. “Like Apple Bloom said. We’re something that makes an even stronger bond than being Crusaders.”

“Oh, yeah?” Scootaloo smirked. “And what’s that?”

Dinky’s smile pushed up her cheeks. “We’re sisters!”

“D’awwwww!” All three Crusaders, even Scootaloo, dove in for a group nuzzle. Giggling, confident, and reinvigorated, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their sister, Dinky Doo, opened the tall wooden door to the palace and snuck inside one by one.

Dinky took up the rear. Once inside a dark hallway, she turned around to pull the door shut behind them. For just a moment, she thought she saw a scaley orange shape skitter behind a rock. Suppressing a grin, Dinky left the door slightly open and followed the Cutie Mark Crusaders into the shadows.

{-DD-}

There were very few Haissanic guards patrolling where they tread, and thanks to their small frames and Scootaloo’s guidance, they managed to completely avoid each one. Minutes passed in silence, and the fillies snuck through dark hallways and under vaulted ceilings. Nearly every column, wall, and arch was decorated with the same swirling etches, like wind carved into stone.

Dinky and Sweetie Belle stayed a bit behind the others, partly out of fear and partly to have a private conversation.

“Hey, Dinky?” Sweetie Belle whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you say you think more than one ‘special pony’ is helping us out here?”

Dinky slicked back some of her dripping mane. “Um… I… saw somepony,” she said. “Back there by the Wailing Gate, when I slipped into the water. I saw an alicorn. I think I’ve seen her before.” She smiled. “She has green eyes.”

“Wow!” Sweetie pushed her lips to one side and whispered, “I wonder how many alicorns there are. I always thought it was just Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Me, too.”

Sweetie glanced at Dinky’s horn. “Hey. You wanna know what I think?”

“What?”

She leaned closer and whispered in Dinky ear, “I think your dad is an alicorn, too.”

“Huh?” Dinky’s eyes crossed, and she briefly resembled her mother. “Wh-why do you think that?”

“Because… I don’t know!” Sweetie gestured to the filly’s horn. “You’ve got crazy wind magic! Where else would something like that come from? I bet your mom met an alicorn on her adventures and they fell in love!”

Dinky’s eyes searched the shadows on the ground. “But… if that’s true, why didn’t she ever tell me? And where is he now?”

“Ohh, Dinky…” Sweetie Belle nuzzled her. “I don’t know. I’m sorry if I made you sad. Talking about your dad is probably out of place. Rarity says I get ‘out of place’ a lot.”

“It’s okay,” Dinky said, shaking her head. “I’m not mad. It does make sense.” She smiled. “I guess we’ll just wait and see.”

“Hey, uh…” Apple Bloom said from ahead. “Not to be eavesdroppin’ or anything, Dinky, but… remember that little conversation we had back when Scootaloo was a knight? In the world behind the mirror?”

Dinky giggled. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, then, there ain’t no waitin’ and seein’ about it.” Apple Bloom nodded succinctly. “Next time you see yer momma, you ask her then and there what happened to yer daddy. And I reckon she’ll tell ya, since you’ll be a hero who saved the Cakes’ foals and all.”

Dinky smiled. “Okay, Apple Bloom. I will.”

“I know it’s weird,” said Sweetie Belle, “but I’m super excited for you! It’s kind of like a mystery. Your dad could be anypony!”

They turned a corner and suddenly entered an enormous chamber flanked with imposing statues. The largest of them all was a regal, male alicorn with gigantic wings and a spiraling horn.

“Yeah…” Dinky said, staring up at the statue. “Anypony.”

“Hey, I’ve seen that before!” Scootaloo whispered to the group. “That big alicorn there! A tiny version of that same statue was in Pelola. Zoccolo had me turn up its wings to, like… I dunno, open some secret something. Nothing happened, though.”

Apple Bloom frowned. “Actually, I reckon somethin’ did happen. When we were in the basement, a safe opened up on the wall without us doin’ nothin’. That’s where Zoccolo got the horseshoe.” She gaped. “I reckon this really is all connected, y’all.”

“Okay, so, left or right?” Scootaloo swung her head in each direction down the intersecting hallway. “This place is frickin’ huge. How are we gonna find the foals?”

“Easy,” said Apple Bloom. “We listen fer cryin’. If I was a foal stuck in here, I’d be wailin’ somethin’ fierce. Come on! And keep yer ears high.”

She and Scootaloo turned right and led the way side by side while Dinky and Sweetie Belle stayed close together, eyeing the strange statues that stared at them from every side. Perhaps it was those eerie, lifeless glares, or the haunting light of the Moon that poured through open windows near the ceiling, but before another minute passed there had grown among them a sense of unease.

“What if we’re just trotting around all night?” Sweetie Belle asked. “A-and then the Sun comes up, and there’s nowhere to hide anymore?

“I just wish there was some way we could see through walls or something!” Scootaloo mumbled. “Just to know if the foals are even here or not.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, keep yer ears open.” Apple Bloom gulped. “I get a funny feelin’ we’re not alone in here.”

“Well, duh!” said Scootaloo. “I’ve seen, like, fifteen guards!”

“No, I mean―” Apple Bloom’s ears twitched up. “Wait. You girls hear that?”

They all stopped in their tracks. From a little further down the hall, a chorus of hushed and angry voices with a curiously familiar lilt emanated from inside a very small and sparsely decorated door.

“Is it the foals?” Sweetie Belle asked eagerly.

“Looks like some kinda closet,” Scootaloo whispered, stepping forward.

“No, wait!” Apple Bloom grabbed Scootaloo’s tail in her teeth and pulled her back. “Don’t just go marchin’ up to it! That’s creepy as all get out!”

Dinky took slow steps past the bickering duo. “That sounds a lot like…”

The small door swung open. The Cutie Mark Crusaders flinched, only to lay eyes on a light grey pegasus with a messy, blonde mane, wearing a dull green canvas shirt. Its pocket was open, its collar wrinkled, and its sleeves were rolled up and buttoned in place. The mare’s misaligned, golden eyes swiveled above a pursed pair of lips. She was frozen in place, staring at the four fillies who leaned away in equal shock.

Dinky spoke first. “Mommy?” she whimpered.

“Dinky!” Ditzy cried.

Scootaloo jumped forward as a sky-blue mare emerged next from the sideroom. “Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow’s head shook so hard that the colors in her mane blurred together. “Scootaloo?”

Hanging off of Rainbow’s side was a thoroughly battered pegasus with a goldenrod coat, wrapped in not one but two green canvas shirts that featured a prominent bloodstain on her back.

“Daring Do!” gasped Sweetie Belle.

“Sup, kid,” Daring said in a scratchy voice.

Dinky and Scootaloo both dove forward, with Scootaloo clamping around one of Rainbow Dash’s legs while Ditzy scooped her daughter up in a desperate, loving hug.

“Dinky!” Even in the tenderness of the moment, Ditzy’s voice was harsh. “What are you doing here?”

Dinky didn’t quite know what to say, so she just opened her mouth and blurted whatever was there. “Adventuring!” she chirped. “Just like you!”

Rainbow Dash stared in bewilderment at the pegasus on her leg. “How did you get here?”

“It’s a long story,” said Scootaloo. She glanced nervously at Apple Bloom before looking Rainbow in the eye. “We’re trying to find the foals for you!”

Ditzy’s voice bore into Scootaloo’s skull with even more force than her glare. “How dare you pull my daughter into your half-brained, dangerous—”

Seeing the look of terror on Scootaloo’s face, Rainbow Dash interrupted. “It’s okay, Ditzy! It was stupid of them, yeah, but what can we do now? At least they’re alive.” She glanced at all four fillies, dirty and somewhat damp. “... Somehow. And at least we found them before anypony else.”

Ditzy nodded and relaxed her shoulders. “You’re right, of course. I’m sorry, Scootaloo.”

The filly gulped and tried to sink into the ground. “It’s okay, Miss Derpy.”

“Ditzy,” Sweetie corrected.

Scootaloo blinked. “Ditzy. I didn’t think you’d be mad at us.”

Daring Do seemed nothing but amused. “Your parents let you travel halfway across the globe by yourselves?” she asked with a smirk.

Ditzy guffawed. “Of course they didn’t, Daring.”

“Applejack must be freaking out!” said Rainbow Dash. “Do you guys know how long you’ve been gone?”

“Just a couple of days!” yelped Scootaloo. “After the foalnappers got away, we thought it was gonna take years to cross the ocean, but—”

Sweetie Belle kicked her in the side.

“Oof! Uhhh… but it didn't! Isn’t that cool?”

As her mother held her close, Dinky could feel warm tears anointing the top of her head. Worried, she asked, “Mommy, what’s wrong?”

Ditzy sighed and set her daughter down. “Honey,” she said, doing her best to look Dinky in the eye, “it’s very unsafe for you to be here.”

“It is?” asked Dinky. She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“I can’t explain it right now, but you need to get back to Equestria as soon as possible.” There was a grimace on her face. “Rainbow Dash, I need you to take Dinky back to the coast right now. Keep her hidden, and find a way home.”

“But why, Mommy?”

“You three are going to stick very close to Daring and I,” Ditzy said to the rest. “We’ll get you home safely… somehow.”

Daring perked up. “What about my wing and the carpet?”

Sweetie Belle stole a glance on the bloody spot on Daring’s back.

Dinky wasn’t satisfied. “Mommy, I—”

“You need to go with Rainbow Dash, darling.” Ditzy urged her toward Rainbow Dash.

Dinky’s breath was quickening. She looked to Sweetie Belle, and then to Apple Bloom. Both fillies nodded, and with a steely expression, Dinky slammed down her hooves. Her horn briefly flickered as she exclaimed, “No!”

Ditzy reeled back in surprise.

Dinky stood as tall as she could. “I’m a big girl, Mommy. I’m smart and I’m strong, and I want to know the truth. Why do I have to go back to Equestria? Why can’t I help you find the Cakes' twins?”

Rainbow Dash, in an effort to help, made everything much worse with a few simple words: “The Cakes are safe, kid. Daring took them back home.”

“What?” Scootaloo barked. Her face paled and she nearly fell over, but a wave of anger swiftly brought the blood back to her brain. “Aaahhh, come on!” She spun around on her hind hooves and marched back to where Apple Bloom stood, apart from the rest. “Every time I try to help, I’m too late, or I do it wrong, or I just freakin’ suck!”

Wincing, Dinky nevertheless said, “Well, that’s good. But I still want to know why you think it’s so dangerous for me, Mommy. Look how far I’ve already come!” She thought about the graveyard, and tears sprung to her eyes. “I’m not a little pony anymore. I-I’ll get my Cutie Mark soon, and I’m old enough to know you’ve been keeping lots of secrets.”

Pale, Ditzy began to turn away.

But Dinky lifted her hooves to her mother’s chest and kept her in the moment. “I’m not mad at you, Mommy. I understand you can’t tell me everything right away. But at least tell me why I’m not allowed to stay with you!”

Ditzy could only frown. “Dinky, darling, I wish I could say, but there’s just so much you wouldn’t—”

“I’ll understand! You’re always telling me how smart I am and how quick I pick up on things. I promise I’ll listen very close, and if there are parts I don’t understand, I’ll ask about them when we get home.” She dug her hooves into her mother’s soft body and leaned in close. “Please, Mommy? Please, I really need to know.”

There was a very long pause as Dinky kept her eyes shut tight.

Finally, Dinky felt her mother fidget as Ditzy said, “All right. All right, here it is. The honest truth.”

Ditzy knelt down. Gazing up at her, Dinky held her breath.

“This is all about your father, Dinky.”

Ditzy’s ears filled with pressure.

“I met him eight years ago right here in this palace. He’s the ruler of this country, Dinky, and he’s a very powerful pony.”

“He’s an alicorn, isn’t he?” Sweetie Belle asked from the side where she stood.

Ditzy looked shocked. “Yes, he’s an alicorn.”

“That is so cool!” Scootaloo said, having partially recovered.

Ditzy frowned. “No, Scootaloo, it’s not.”

“It’s not?”

“No.” Ditzy stroked Dinky’s cheek. “Your father, Alula…” She hesitated. In the end, she blurted everything out at once: “… is planning to break open the gates of Tartarus and let all of the scary monsters out so that he can defeat Celestia while she tries to save her subjects.”

All four fillies gasped.

“He’s aimin’ to kill the princess?” Apple Bloom asked.

Ditzy’s hooves held her daughter firmly. “He wants to dethrone her and rule Equestria. I know this must be very hard for you, Dinky, but the only reason he hasn’t attacked yet is because he’s been looking for you.”

Dinky’s eyes widened. “Me?”

“Yes,” said Ditzy, nodding slowly. “He doesn’t want you to be there when he lets the monsters out. If he finds you here, he will not hesitate to begin his plan, so you must get back as soon as possible.”

Dinky thought of Calupan. She thought of the alicorn in the water and everything Zoccolo had told her. “Why does he want to do that?” she eventually asked.

“Do what, darling?”

“Why does he want to dethrone Celestia?”

Ditzy hesitated. “Because… well, because he doesn’t like her.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sure, Dinky. He never told me.”

Dinky had no way of knowing if her mother was telling the truth. But, she realized in that moment, it didn’t really matter. As wonderful as she was, Ditzy Doo was just a piece of a much grander puzzle at play. And somehow, perhaps at the hooves of more alicorns than she realized, she had arrived just in time to stop one from doing something bad.

And that was enough for her.

Dinky pulled away from her mother and sprinted down the hallway past the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Dinky!” Ditzy cried. “Dinky, stop right now!”

She didn’t look back. She didn’t even consider it. “We have to know, Mommy!” Her voice echoed in the hallway.

“Dinky, you stop right now! You don’t have to know everything to be—”

“It’s not for me!” Dinky bravely interrupted. “We all have to know, or it will never end!”

Her mother didn’t answer, but she didn’t slow down. Dinky barrelled around a corner and galloped as fast as she could.

“Zuka,” she whispered into the open hallway before her. The marble floors shone and the flanking statues leered. “Zuka, if you’re still here… take me to the next alicorn.” She swallowed hard. “Take me to my daddy.”

An orange streak skittered down from the wall on her left and cut across the hallway. Dinky gasped with a smile and followed it behind a statue. There, expertly hidden from view, she found an open vent that she crawled in as fast as she could. Up ahead, a brilliant orange color darted around in the darkness. Swallowing the last of her fear, Dinky smirked and chased the chameleon through the walls of the palace.

“Thank you, Dauntless. For getting me this far,” she whispered to herself, alone. “Now it’s my turn. Dauntless, this will be for you.”

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Nice! Dinky, you're one of the bravvest fillies I have seen. About the princesses, what about Cadence? Has Scoots never heard from her?

[Ponky]

8508139
Thank you for reading! Cadance doesn't exist in the Sisters Doo Universe.