Dinky Doo: The Scion of Wind

by eclair_de_xii

Chapter 11: To Never Look Back

"Woo!"

Purple hair flickered across the side of her scalp; her cheeks were bouncing against the wind's steady rush. Magic was buzzing around her wings like a swarm of green fireflies, twin in hue and hum with those of the white nub of a unicorn horn. Fuchsia eyes squinted forward, orange wings at the ready.

Waiting half a mile ahead was a ring of glittering green smoke.

A second passed, then Scootaloo flapped. "Woo!"

Stardust exploded from her feathers.

The increase in speed caused the surroundings below to be lost in a gigantic mess of blurs, rather like the ruined masterpiece of a clumsy watercolor painter. The air was whistling to nearly a screech again. Sucking it in was a filly with puffed-up cheeks of shiny periwinkle, which didn't stop puffing up until after a few more seconds…

She spat forth a wad of mushy cloud, which was then seized by grassy-green magic to be stretched and shaped. And then it was another ring of smoke, though not as wide as its predecessor; not yet. The magic worked its magic. Like a rubbery tube raft, the ring inflated to a size big enough to fit wrap the trunk of the Golden Oak Library. Four especially bright auras gave finalizing tugs on equidistant points of the ring; then it was taut; it was being held wide open.

It was ready.

Fire burnt inside the fuchsia of Scootaloo's eyes; so was she.

She unfolded her magic-infused wings, and waited.

"Are y'all sure we should be this high?" Applebloom asked over the renewed whoops of a certain overexcited pegasus.

Now that the group were about half a mile above ground, they could feel more of the sun's temper, which was way more intense than it had been days ago.

The group was aboard a raft of clouds; leaning over the railing of the airborne flotation device was Scootaloo. On her left was Sweetie, and on her right were Dinky and Applebloom.

Coming out of her whooping, Scootaloo spoke. "Oh, relax, Applebloom. We're travelling, like, right over the River Pon. Haven't you seen how wide that thing is?"

"Yeah, but is it safe?"

But then Applebloom winced, the sounds of Scootaloo's whooping a bit too much for her ears.

"I saw a pony going canoeing over it before we left," Dinky informed her.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo said, probably not in affirmation of Dinky's statement, since she had momentarily let go of the raft to pump her hooves shamelessly into the air. She clutched on again. "Also, aren't you supposed to be steering this thing, or something? Woo!"

Applebloom blew a stray hair out of her face. "I guess. But I can't do much in the way of steerin' sandwiched in the middle of here, just sayin'."

"Just keep an eye out for where we're going," Dinky said. "We gotta make sure we're on the right track."

"Yeah," Sweetie added, "we just gotta follow the River Pon, and we'll be there."

Applebloom snorted. "Y'all get the fun jobs," she grumbled, looking like she was in half a mind to stubbornly cross her forelegs.

Dinky felt bad for Applebloom, assigning her a navigational role. But that was just how it was. And it was an important role, too, Dinky had assured her. "Yeah, I know," Applebloom had griped; she wasn't happy about it all the same.

"And it's not like you can help with propulsion," Sweetie had chimed in.

Sweetie was in charge of amplifying the innate magic in the wings of a pegasus so that they would conduct the energy of the acceleration rings that they passed through. This wouldn't have been a necessary measure for a normal pegasus, let alone an alicorn, for which the spell was originally designed.

Forests enclosed the river, wide and winding like the long-abandoned watery skin of some great serpent of myth. Woods upon woods stretched as far as the eye could see, extending to as far as the horizon and curving into it. From the horizon, outlines peeked out. As of then, they were vague, barely more than hot daydreams of the sun. Their hue blended in too well with the blue of the sky. Minutes passed, then their colors were becoming denser: purple and grey. Taller and taller they rose, until the snow-capped peaks finally faded into view.

Of those peaks, only one pair had water slipping in between them.

Applebloom pointed.

She, her Crusaders, and Dinky passed through.

Barely a second later, she lost sight of the river, which had taken a sharp bend. The group started to panic; Dinky called for everypony to stop. Scootaloo wrinkled her nose. "Why?" she said while Sweetie slapped her own face. Not long after, Applebloom managed to find her bearings; thereafter, Dinky sent an acceleration ring forth, one of many that would arc them gradually back on track.

As the river was nearer her side, Dinky leaned her weight to steer the raft; all the while, she continued to pump out magical boosts of speed. A chorus of "Whoa's" followed; the change in direction forced the group to hang onto the fringes more closely than ever. It was by far the scariest part of the trip. There was no river below to cushion anypony's fall; just woods and cottages interspersed throughout. Either slowing down or turning back would ensure a fatal loss in momentum.

The raft was still going.

It was still lopsiding; and then it wasn't.

Dinky breathed in-sync with the Crusaders. They finally made it back.

But it wasn't over; Dinky shot another acceleration ring, and Scootaloo unfolded her wings.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle breathed their awe.

It was as though the gentle waters had been waiting to welcome them back. The sound of their flow returned to them before the shine and ripple of its surface. The more Dinky realigned her trajectory with it, the more it looked like some unfortunate pony had dropped a million diamonds in the water; the ghost of a rainbow was circling it rather possessively, continuing to do so as the scintillations travelled along the currents, seeming to chase the Crusaders and their former honorary member. Under them the glimmers loomed, teasingly like in a game of tag.

Now that the river was straightening, Dinky felt it safe to conjure an acceleration ring denser than the rest.

When Scootaloo flapped through it, she whooped even harder, completely oblivious to how flustered her fellow Crusaders were.

"My bow!"

"My curls!"

Now loosened from its binds, the red mane streamed fast behind. It flowed, it curved and careened, wild, fast and free. And then it scattered into countless strands; nopony would have thought that so much hair was hidden by the usual fastenings. Blowing one strand of hair out of her mouth was the yellow filly Dinky had trouble recognizing as Applebloom.

The screech of the air currents bounced the violet-fuchsia hairs to and fro, and over again. Try as they did, the hairs could only struggle to return to a semblance of their original curly form. Cowlicks were popping loose, giving her mane a frayed look. Unlike Applebloom, who was looking like she was one with nature, Sweetie Belle looked like she was just having a bad mane day.

A city might have passed below. It might have been Itaily. Nopony knew, and at the speeds they were going, nopony could afford to turn away from her respective role for even a second. Nopony could afford to notice if the air was getting thinner or drier. Nopony could afford to glean for any sign that they were nearing their destination…

The sun reached five after noon earlier than usual.

The group were passing a rather memorable part of the river.

Memories of it were returning to Dinky. They were old memories, memories of her aunt Daring crash-landing in her life, memories of forming the Taken Twin Trackers with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, memories of being led by a unicorn thief in more ways than one, memories of reuniting with her mom, her aunt, and Rainbow Dash in a foreign land, and memories of her final confrontation with Alula.

Her canoe trip down the river might have crashed just yesterday.

The feeling was disorienting to Dinky.

The wooded river disappeared from sight.

At that point in their trip, she no longer felt the need to accelerate the raft; the residual boosts in speed were already enough for the last leg of the journey. Their surroundings were by no means a mess of blurs. But they were still going relatively fast by pegasus standards.

"There, there!" Applebloom said, pointing. "I see it. I see it!"

Silencing her horn with a nod, Sweetie Belle looked; folding her wings, so did Scootaloo.

It was coming slowly into view.

It was a great grey round thing. It was bored in the middle. It was metal with circular depressions about its frame. It was a giant horseshoe-shaped gate to the now-ruined Palace of Haissan: The Wailing Gate. Before some moons ago, winds would usually howl out of it to bar all but the rightful heir to Haissan. But since then, it had remained dormant. Nopony seemed to be there; Dinky wondered if it was considered sacred ground, or if the Haissanians were just too afraid that it might go on without warning. Many things in the world were a mystery; the construct of an alicorn from another world was surely one of them.

Between blushes of green, the River Pon was leading the group straight to it. Dinky did not follow, and the Crusaders did not object.

It was getting less and less green around them.

Sand was overtaking the landscape.

Soon, everywhere around them was sand. Dunes of it were rolling, visible by the gold of their wink and the caramel of their shadows; one of them looked almost sad before a merciful swirl of wind assimilated it into a swirl of grains. Waves of heat were rippling throughout the air, making Dinky roll her tongue out. It was sweltering more than the last time. That she was once more entering the land united by Alula was unbelievable. The Stirropean coast suddenly seemed like a far-off dream; that she had gone from there all the way to a landlocked country in just a few hours was even more unbelievable. Most unbelievable of all was that her best friends in the world, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had stuck with her through it all, and just for her. She did not deserve them…

The Desert Garden of Haissan was approaching and fast. Curtains of sand were thinning in welcome. The palace, the city and the walls blended in with the heat distortions. The walls stood tall, the city taller still. The palace was no longer there to stand above it all; it had once been a majestic rose that testified to the power of the Alicorn of Wind. But now, it was as wilted as its diligent steward. The crenellations of the walls helped shelter everything within from enemies, natural and equine.

"What is it, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie shook her head as though to shoo a fly. "I thought I saw a pony spotting us from up there," she answered, pointing to a battlement.

If she had seen one, Dinky certainly couldn't see them now.

"Musta been the heat, I reckon," Applebloom said wisely, "playin' tricks on our eyes."

Green patches hugged the city like shrubs cordoning a garden. The fruit of those shrubs were the palm trees, which provided shelter and the most oblong coconuts Dinky had ever seen in her life. The trees also provided shade, beneath which ponds sat cozily, miraculously unparched. Islands of grass leaked out from those ponds; but those islands petered out and withered into the harshness of the sand.

The cloud-raft was slanting towards the ground, slowing down all the while.

And then it slid to a halt before the fortress city's entrance.

They had made it.

A parade of sand heralded the stamp of little hooves: yellow, orange, then white and periwinkle.

Sucking in between her teeth, Dinky lifted her hoof; the sting of sand beneath it was a bit much. So she followed the Crusaders onto pavement that transpired to be only slightly more tolerable.

Applebloom was trying to fasten her hair as best as she could without any fastenings. Sweetie Belle's hair refused to curl into place no matter how much her magic commanded it. Groaning, the two gave up and joined Dinky and Scootaloo nearer the entrance.

The entrance was a pair of silver doors so tall that Dinky couldn't see the top of it no matter how far up she craned her neck. But she could hear angry tumult coming from the other side: yelling, cannonfire, the rage of fire, pegasus-conjured gusts, horn-fire, and a mix of chaotic violent sounds that didn't mean anything to her yet.

"Y'all think we should have entered in through the Wailing Gate?" Applebloom asked the group at large.

"That leads straight into the palace, remember?" Sweetie reminded her. "Last time we were there, it got destroyed."

"Shouldn't we be sneaking in, though?" Scootaloo suggested, twirling her hoof, "y'know, in case there are any unfriendly ponies around? The last time we were here…"

"Last time we were here," said Dinky, "we found out that I'm the rightful heir to Haissan. All I have to do is cast my magic, and they'll lead us right to an airship that you can take back home."

The Crusaders paused to let the sound of fighting fill the air. "Are you sure?" Sweetie asked. "They aren't sounding like they're in the mood to talk."

"And," Scootaloo added, "it was sort of our fault that they're having this whole civil war to begin with."

"Mmhm."

"So you girls would like it better if we snuck around to scramble for an airship, risk getting caught and who knows what else?" Dinky asked.

Sweetie kicked the ground and looked off to the side. "You don't have to say it like that."

Dinky hadn't meant to; that's just how things were. They had to get back to Equestria somehow. Haissan had airships. The submarine she had piloted had been halfway out of fuel the moment it struck the coast. By then, her mind had already been made up about what she had to do.

Now she was standing here in front of Haissan, with no other safe way in but her horn, which she ignited.

She galloped to a frame of the door, pointed her horn up, and fired.

The wind orb was grazing along the height of the hall like a train on tracks.

Wall and wind parted; the latter exploded.

The ensuing flare was brilliant, and more importantly, loud. Sparks were splitting apart from the whole in clusters, which split further apart into a recursive chain of howls and windy pops. It was enough to enrapture the fortress city into silence.

It had worked.

Dinky collapsed, a smile wandering onto her face; she realized she had been doing that a lot lately.

"Dinky!"

The Crusaders loomed over her, their faces forming a copse over her weary form. Magic buzzed at her horn, but fizzed out; this wasn't her best moment.

"Ah, it seems you have made it to Haissan, young Sultan."

"You again!" Scootaloo growled at something overhead. "What in the hay do you want with our friend, creep!?"

"Peace, foal. I desire only peace for my homeland."

Applebloom stomped angrily. "Lies!"

"Hmph," the Regent said, touching down as lightly as a feather. "We are wasting time in the Sun Tyrant's all-seeing gaze. Come!"

A trio of pegasi landed. An order was given; a tripled echo of assent answered it.

"Hey, lemme go. I said lemme go, ya filthy — !"

Dinky heard Scootaloo and the other Crusaders get carried off.

Then she felt herself being hoisted onto the back of the Regent. One of his feathers molted; he too was off. Her forelegs were tied over his neck, not unlike when Ditzy was flying Dinky in their younger days.

The Regent was ascending up a sharp angle.

"Your friends are being taken to my manse," he said, his voice rumbling beneath her underbelly.

Moaning, Dinky slid slightly down; a position that the Regent corrected.

His back arched slightly; Dinky imagined herself being flown in a wide arc over the wall. Once the arc terminated, she heard a chorus of gasps and mutters below.

"I imagine the trip has sapped you of your strength, young one. Why, you do not even seem to have the strength to retort."

It was by way of a weak moan that Dinky retorted. Her ears were still aching; the awed gasps were overwhelming her senses. If she ever got to see her aunt Daring again, Dinky would have to ask how she never got tired of it. Suddenly, she regretted all the conversations they never had together.

"Do you hear them? They rejoice at your coming, young Sultan. You do not see it, but they have set their arms aside to bow to you. In time, you will see how truly important you are to them."

The Regent flew through a field of smoke pillars. Dinky could tell he didn't like it either, judging by the way he slithered fast around them in mid-air. The smell of ash and burning metal was harsh.

The Regent made it past that sector of the city and its acrid smells.

No matter where he flew, though, the smell of grief and desperation would follow.

The city had all but fallen silent by the time he arrived.

Arcing sharply up, he landed. "But, ah," he said while Dinky mentally told him to shut up, "let us dispense with the small talk; for now, we have arrived."

A pair of doors groaned open, sounding like they were barely smaller than the city gates.

Host and guest were welcomed in with a cool sigh.

That coolness stayed with Dinky as she was being carried inside. She was navigated through the manse, through what she imagined was a spiral staircase, and into a room, whose bed she was deposited in. An order was given, and to her surprise, it was in Ponish. "You. You shall come with me. You shall call for your medic unless you wish to see the young one's state deteriorate further."

Somepony, a stallion, was snarling. He asked what the Regent had done to Dinky.

"She merely collapsed in the heat, Equestrian. Surely, this much should be obvious? Now come. Let us fetch your medic; then we may negotiate the release of your soldiers, and more importantly, your repair crew, Admiral."

Growling, the stallion hung his head and let himself be led out like an obedient dog.

Their hoofsteps died in the muffle of the hallway.

It was quiet.

The bed was soft.

Not a lot of light was let in through the bedside window. But there was just enough that Dinky felt her hindhoof heat up in the sun; it squirmed.

Judging by the way the air felt, Dinky imagined a room about twice as big as her room back home. "Home…" she croaked.

A pair of ponies came by.

They weren't exactly the same pair as before.

One of them was the admiral stallion; the other grazed a horn upon hers, causing her to wince. According to the medic, Dinky had overexhausted her horn a bit; she would be unable to use it for about a day. Dinky was also subjected to a physical examination. When her bangs were lifted, her forehead was felt; after which it was concluded that the heat really had taken a toll on her. After that remark, she was treated for wounds and told to wait for the ointment to settle.

Dinky did as was asked of her.

Opening her eyes, she leapt off the bed, used her hoof to seize a white hooftowel, and wipe her face with it.

She tried to leave, only for the admiral and medic to stop her. According to them, the Regent had plans for her in the dining hall. So apprehensively, Dinky followed them downstairs. Along the way, she had been told that the three friends she had come here with had been tended to as well. That put her at ease; but her peace of mind wasn't going to last very long, to say the least.

"Ah, so good of you to make it, young Sultan. I must say: I am impressed that you have managed to make it this far on your magic alone. It should go without saying that Your Late Father would be most proud."

Dinky couldn't care less about what Alula would think of her.

All the windows were curtained. The dining hall was long and cast in a sharp red light, thanks to the lanterns that hung from the walls on either side. A chandelier hung above the dining table, which was set with a silky white cloth. The table was long enough to seat twenty ponies at once. At the moment, though, only four chairs were occupied: the one at the head of the table, and three on the Regent's immediate left.

Neither Dinky nor her escorts moved.

"In my manse, Admiral," the Regent said over the pyramid of his hooves, "you bow."

Then the admiral bowed; so did the medic. Dinky remained standing.

"Good, good," the Regent said softly. "Now, then. You will stay here for our negotiations. You may feel free to partake in the feast to come. You are by no means obligated, of course."

Rising from their bows, the captain and his medic seated themselves almost opposite the Crusaders.

Without being ordered to, Dinky pulled out a chair. She lugged it across the room, behind the backs of the Crusaders, and around Applebloom's hair. The Crusaders scooched to their left. Sliding the chair in, Dinky sat, crossed her forelegs, and waited. Wordlessly, she glanced an apology at the Crusaders.

Bowls were brought, laden with carrot stew mixed in with a dull brown plant that might have smelt sharp at one point. Dinky's mind wandered to Golden Harvest, and how her carrot-based dishes never looked as foul as the muck beneath her chin. Rightfully, nopony dug in. Dinky was wondering if the Regent himself would.

"So, young Sultan," he began softly. "You may be wondering what is going on here."

The danger in his voice was thinly concealed; Dinky wasn't afraid.

"Yes," she answered tonelessly.

The bowls of carrot stew continued to remain untouched. The diners' eyes were upon the master of the manse, who was still quietly studying Dinky.

It was quiet for too long.

Finally, the Regent unfolded his hooves to gesture to the captain and the medic.

"You have met, of course," he stated. "You may have also seen my ship explode. I did that, did you know? It was I who gave the order to destroy my ship." His tone was both bitter and proud. "The surprise overtook the Equestrians, too, long enough for me to steal theirs, Dinky Doo."

Dinky Doo felt sick. The way the Regent said her name always sent tingles up her spine, and this time was no different. The deepness, the foreign roll of the tongue uneased her.

Everypony turned to where the dining table was rattled.

"I'm sorry," Scootaloo said, her hooves still pressed on it. "But that's just crazy, mister. How in Celestia's name — " The Regent's gaze darkened. "You're telling us that you and that tiny pit crew of yours defeated an entire squadron of Equestrian soldiers? That's nuts!"

The Regent hummed at her, then faced Dinky. "Your friend," he said, "she is most audacious. It is for your benefit alone, young Sultan, that I shall reveal the other half of the secret to my success. It is true; the Equestrian airship soldiers outnumbered us by three. How, then, did I defeat them? You recall, Dinky Doo, that my own forces consisted, for the most part, of pegasi, yes? It is not a well-guarded secret that the late Sultan Al-Qafzah al-Ula once ruled us. Nor is it much of a secret that we Haissanian pegasi are therefore vastly more adept at wind manipulation than Equestrian pegasi. You Equestrians… you put so much stock in forgetting each other's differences, I fear, that you forget to recognize what makes you unique."

"I'm sorry, but no," Scootaloo said.

Applebloom was shaking her head. "That just ain't true."

"Your friends… young Sultan," he continued, ignoring them, "how boisterous they can be. But we must make the most of what little daylight the Sun Tyrant deigns to spare us…"

The hiss of his syllable was elongated for several seconds before it felt appropriate to speak again.

"Her name's Princess Celestia," Applebloom said, "and she ain't no tyrant!"

"But enough intrusions, young Sultan," he continued, absently stirring his soup. "Let us discuss the swift release of your friends."

That took Dinky by surprise.

"Come now," he snapped, suddenly impatient. "Do not think I have done all this for evil's sake."

"Mister," Scootaloo piped up, pointing, "you got a goatee for Celestia's sake. You're even stroking it now! How are you not evil!"

The Regent minded the soup for a little, a hoof beneath his chin. "I will issue no threats," he said casually, "for now. It is far too early in our meal for that, no?"

"Shut up."

The Crusaders' jaws dropped.

"Oh? You wish to speak now?"

Dinky seriously hated everything about the Regent. She hated him for foalnapping her and her friends to Haissan. She hated that he was such a necessary evil for her right now. She hated his stupid scaly face. Most of all, she seriously hated the way he spoke. It was too breathy, too foreign. She would talk just to get him to stop. So she stirred around in her memory for a bit before settling on something simple, yet baffling.

"What I want to know is: how did you teleport out of Ponyville the day you ambushed us? You're a pegasus, not a unicorn. It makes no sense."

"The magic carpet," he droned. "I was once a maintainer of His Majesty's royal artifact chamber. Surely, you have heard of it?"

"I have."

"Surely, you know what makes the magic carpet so magical?"

"It imbibes and immortalizes any spell cast on it," Sweetie Belle answered.

She cupped her mouth, apologetic at Dinky and surprised at herself.

Also surprised at her was the Regent, who shot her an offended glance before returning his attention to Dinky.

"After the royal palace was sadly left in ruin," he continued, calculated anger staining his voice, "I set out to recover it. To my dissatisfaction, all we could retrieve of His Royal Majesty's most prized possession were but strands and half-braids. Somepony had already ripped it out; somepony had already stolen it. Do you know which of the thieving Doo Sisters that may have been?"

"They're the 'Sisters Doo'," Dinky snapped, growling her own anger, "and they're not thieves."

The Regent was shaking his head in clear disagreement.

"In any case, young Sultan, I have spoken for much too long."

He abandoned the spoon.

"It is your turn to speak," he said, touching his hooves together. "What would you like me to do?"

"I want my friends to leave," Dinky said, matching his calm with a determined glare. "I want the Equestrian airship crew to take them home to Equestria. All of them are going home, Regent."

The Regent raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what will you give me in return?"

"Me, duh."

A chorus of gasps followed.

The scaly hooves were parting to reveal a steely smile. "Excellent. I see the time these foul Equestrians — " "Stop calling them that." " — have given you has allowed you to come to the only correct conclusion, Dinky Doo."

The Regent was holding out a hoof, which Dinky eyed as though it were the open mouth of a snake.

When she leered at him, he cocked an eyebrow.

After tapping his hoof, Dinky drew hers back quickly.

"Rest assured," the Regent said, business-like, "your time here shall not be for naught, unlike that backwater swamp that you once called home. In time, you shall become as great an aeromancer as He once was. I anticipate it will take us no more than two generations for you to attain the greatness we all once admired in Him. 'Tis a joyous day for us all, I think! We rejoice, for this is the dawn of eras upon eras of prosperity yet to come."

He clapped twice.

Behind the Regent was a chamber whence emerged a unicorn. The aura at the tip of her horn blended in with the lighting fixtures. It was the same aura that had encapsulated Dinky back aboard the Haissanian airship and carted her into the submarine. She couldn't exactly forget the teleportation flash that enabled the Regent's miraculous escape from Carousel Square, either. Orders were barked the unicorn's way; bowing low to him, she swept past the admiral and the medic to the doorway. There, she waited.

"You and your crew are free to go," the Regent droned in the general direction of the Equestrian airship crew. "You will rejoin your crew at my empty docking bay. If you attempt to rescue Dinky Doo, who has most generously surrendered herself in exchange for your safety, my forces shall not let you leave. Do be mindful, though, that I have no control over the forces my fellow regents command. As a courtesy, I shall command my forces to hold them at bay once you inform me that you are ready to leave." He paused, seeming to notice the captain and the medic sitting at the dinner table for the first time since they arrived. At them he curled his nostril. "Now get out. All of you," he said, sweeping his disgust over the Crusaders. "Get out of my sight. You Equestrians sicken me. As for you, young Sultan, I must remind you that we have a funeral to attend you at noon tomorrow. Stay here, for we must rehearse what must be done, yes?"

"No!" said Dinky, leaping onto the carpet and stamping it over again. "No, no, no! This is the last night I'm going to get to spend with my friends! Ever! I'm not going to waste it on a creep like you!"

She turned, her mullet slapping the side of her neck as she strutted out of the room, head held up high.

The Crusaders and the two members of the airship crew were waiting for her in the hallway.

As she walked through it, the strobe lights blinked on, white and bright; the impending night had necessitated it.

"That creep!" Sweetie shrieked once a few floors and more than a few halls separated the group from the dinner table. "I say we just take Dinky and get as far away from here the first chance we get."

"Mmhm," said Applebloom with a nod.

"Well, obviously," said Scootaloo. "Did you even see that creep putting his hooves in that evil pyramid thing when you came in? He's totally the villain!"

"No," said Dinky.

A ringing pause followed. It took a while for the Crusaders to register what had been said, and who had said it.

"Wait, 'No'?" Applebloom said, confused.

"Dinky," Sweetie said before Scootaloo could rant again, "what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm not coming back with you. I gotta stay here. It's the right thing to do."

'What you do matters.'

"Dinky, are you crazy!?" Scootaloo said; her trots were becoming stamps. "If you think we're going to leave you alone with that creep for one more second, let alone the rest of your life…!"

Dinky snarled back, stamping the floor for emphasis. "If you think I'm going to leave my best friends, not to mention the Equestrian airship crew here with him for the rest of all of your lives…!"

Dinky's snarl was angrier than Scootaloo's.

The admiral, to Scootaloo's dismay, agreed with Dinky. They were Equestrians stuck in enemy territory. They were surrounded by cannons; already, vandals had tried to assail the Equestrian airship. Dinky wasn't sure if the admiral had been brainwashed or ordered into saying it, but according to him, it was also the Regent's forces that had been keeping those Haissanians at bay. Takeoff was impossible; Haissan might have been divided, but it would eagerly unite to turn their firepower against Equestrians, whose Princess had ordered an assassination upon the late Sultan.

"What?" said Dinky, voice rising to a squeak. "That's crazy! It wasn't Princess Celestia. We weren't even trying to hurt anypony. We were just trying to rescue the Cake twins!"

Remembering her youthful glee of being part of the Taken Twin Trackers was like remembering a past life. She was way older than that now.

But there was no use arguing a rumor that provided Haissanians a scapegoat for their grief.

The group were being led out a curtained doorframe.

The unicorn bowed the way to the admiral, the medic, the Crusaders, and then Dinky as they went outside. Dinky wouldn't risk straying too far from the exit, though.

As soon as they went outside, the scent of smoke and strife made itself known again.

The docking bay was one giant terrace. Its floor was made of something as solid as a brick, but with grains of sand and other shiny things stuck inside. From where Dinky stood, the bay would have offered a view of the city, if a giant airship hadn't been parked in the way. A dry cool dusk shone sadly upon the white of its hull. Half the sky was a blend of blue and purple. Sunlight was seguing from red to magenta, making it hard to see the Regent's guard, which were posted at the wall. Each soldier was armed with a spear that was ready to point at anypony trying to attack — or escape. Lining the ledges was not railing, but manned cannons. The fur on Dinky's neck stood, feeling watchful eyes on her from atop the roof.

The admiral did not give an order, but a request for the fillies to be taken to the ship's infirmary.

"No!" the Crusaders said, stamping their hooves. "No, no, no!"

"At least let us say goodbye first," Sweetie said, looking up at the admiral, who relented.

Dinky was leaning against the backwall on her hindlegs, like she saw her aunt Daring do sometimes. She was trying her best to project an air of aloofness about her. But if she were being honest with herself, she was already feeling awkward and half-forgotten.

When her friends approached, she dropped the façade, planting all fours on the floor.

Sweetie Belle hugged her.

"I'm sorry," Dinky said into her ear, "for everything."

"I know why you're doing this," Sweetie whispered. "And I don't really like it. I'm not really sure that I'll be okay with it. But this is your life, Dinky Doo. I'm sorry that this is what you've chosen for it. I'm really going to miss you, honorary sister."

Dinky smirked sadly; it had been so long since she called her that.

They drew back.

"Right back at ya," Dinky said, "honorary sister."

Touching hooves with her, Sweetie stood back to let Applebloom say goodbye.

"This ain't goodbye," she said instead, "promise. Princess Celestia won't stand for this. Just y'all wait, ya hear me? She'll have a rescue ship out in a day, tops. This here's an act of way. He won't git away with what he done to us. He sure as hay's gonna be sorry he chose the wrong fillies to mess with."

No hoof was held out to shake; she was already walking away.

"See ya later, Dinks," Scootaloo said. "You're easily one of the coolest ponies I know."

She offered her hoof.

"You're way cooler a friend," Dinky said, bobbing it up, then down. "Also, that's the first time ever you called me 'Dinks', Scoots."

Scootaloo sniffed. "That's the first time ever you called me 'Scoots', Dinks," she countered.

Scoots and Dinks let their hooves drop.

For a moment, they merely stared at each other, smiling.

Then they hugged. "Ponyville sure is gonna be different without you around," Scootaloo said.

Dinky laughed hollowly. "Would that be so bad?"

"Yes!"

Dinky had no comment. Nor did she have the strength to make one. She just kept trying to feel as much of her friend's warmth as possible before it was finally time; that time came too soon.

"Well," Scootaloo said, parting, "see ya… honorary sister."

"Back at ya, honorary sister."

Turning away from Dinky, Scootaloo scampered off to join the Crusaders — the actual Crusaders — by the medic. It wasn't until they all stood side by side, waving goodbye, when Dinky realized how alone she had been this whole time. She hadn't even known it; or maybe, she just hadn't wanted to admit it, not until it was too late.

As she turned towards the exit, she waved back at her friends.

"Goodbye, everypony," she said loudly, as the medic ushered the trio up the stairs to the airship.

At the top of the stairs, the trio looked back on their friend.

Giving them one final wave, Dinky turned away and galloped back into the curtained doorframe.

"It's not fair!" Sweetie wailed.

"Come on, Sweetie Belle. We gotta hurry on up."

"B-but…!"

"Come on."

Their wails were getting fainter behind the lone Doo.

Voices were coming, and they were speaking in Ponish. Some of them were giving orders about repairs; the discussion of the task taking no more than a day was heralding a return to business as usual. The last of Dinky's sorrow was streaked over her face, but were drying into her fur under the heat of the lighting. Her scars were fresh; in no way would they ever be ready to heal.

As the night encroached, and Dinky walked on, it was getting harder to put one hoof in front of the other. After climbing about fifty stair steps, Dinky told herself, "It's for the best."

She was led back into the same bedroom as before.

She didn't want to get used to how quietly doors shut in this place.

She didn't want to be all alone.

Right now, she just wanted to be held. "For you, Mom," she told herself, her grimace brave.

When Dinky peeked out of it, she found that the window offered no view of the airship.

She sighed.

She felt so apart from the Crusaders now, from her family, and her homeland.

All was quiet.

All was still.

It was as though something were dying inside her. She hated being alone. Yet, the Regent was always watching; Dinky couldn't escape without putting her friends in danger.

For the lack of something better to do, she belly-flopped onto the bed. It seemed like forever ago when Scootaloo had done this with the cloud-raft. In just a day, the pegasus filly would be returning home without her. The thought made Dinky sad.

She wasn't sure if she had the strength to say goodbye again. No, she assured herself with a stiff upper lip, it wasn't goodbye. Or was it? Back home, Dinky would just hurt more ponies if she got mad again. She couldn't go home, not as she was; she had to be strong.

The bed was still bouncing beneath her.

She started thinking about her future. If she were back home, she would just hurt more ponies by accident. Here, she had room to practice, to grow, to learn and improve. All the while, she would miss the faces she would never see again: Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, her aunt Daring, her mom… It was their faces, though, that reminded her it was for the best that she stay here, so that she could master her magic. The Royal Archives would help her; she had already learnt a bit from the book the Regent had 'returned' to her. The book in question lay on the bed, right where the medic had left it.

Tomorrow, she and everypony else would be leaving her behind.

If a rescue ship did come for her, she could only refuse. It was the right thing to do, she told herself.

As much as Dinky hated the Regent, she had to admit (and very bitterly) that he had shown resilience to her wind magic. One silver lining about this was that she got to magically beat his stupid face up as part of her 'training'. Lately, her spite had been weakening, though; her sorrow was too strong. Slowly she could feel herself resigning to a lifetime of servitude. It was less than what he expected, which was another silver lining. It wasn't her fault if the Regent thought she would live long enough to spoil Haissan for 'eras and eras of prosperity'. It wasn't her fault if he forgot to check that she had no wings.

Her flute case was angrily being fiddled with.

That's when it uncrumpled and fell out.

It was flat and uncreased: A golden envelope.

Gasping, Dinky tried to shear it open.

Faint sparks spurted from her horn; none of the familiar hum and whoosh that was inherent to her magic alone.

"Luna's teat," she grumbled, angrily tapping her horn.

Still nothing.

So shearing the envelope open the old-fashioned way, she tore her eyes across the letter. She remembered this; it was Princess Celestia's invitation to the Summer Sun Celebration. Why had her mom been so interested in it? Hadn't she already gotten one earlier that month?

Dinky found her eyes roaming over the letter. She frowned at a word she didn't know, but read on as the parchment drooped lazily over the stiff glowing words.

"'Sincerely yours'," she continued aloud. "…Wait, what?"

There was no signature.

There was only a large expanse of whitespace, which Dinky touched.

"Ack!"

Images were surging through her mind: A familiar alicorn at a familiar palace; then the Crusaders, her mom, and her aunt Daring too; the now-golden horseshoe gate. She was underwater, feeling the vibrations of its wails. A reflection appeared; towards it she swam. She froze before she could reach it. There was cackling. The rest… the rest was too much, too scary for her to handle let alone understand.

The white dreamlike void was fading, along with its strangely colored sprinkles. A carpet pattern was gradually replacing it, the silver swirl of it coming into focus. On it fell a dot of sweat, because she was still panting over it.

Her fur was drenched. It wasn't just because of the heat.

Or was it?

She blinked hard.

She blinked a few more times to see if her eyes were working. "Wait, what was I…?" she said, muffled, because her ears were ringing.

Nopony was around to hear her.

Nopony was thundering up the stairs to check on her.

It was as quiet as it had ever been; Dinky's ears drooped.

Spotting it on the floor, she slid the wayward letter towards her and scanned it through again.

One minute passed.

She was screwing her eyes up in concentration.

"Wait, what did Sweetie Belle say 'compulsory' meant, again?"

Comments

[Visharo]

YES, A SEQUEL!
also, should chapter 12.6 be the first chapter listed?

[eclair_de_xii]

12037123
The story sort of starts in media res.

[Bronycommander]

i remember i read tthe orginal story way back then. What got you the idea, if i may ask?

And Word, dispite a new story, didnt show up in the new story section for me.

And the first 12, 6 chapter, I really thought yu messed up the order by accident at first.

Dinky's a brave filly still.