Various Kinds Of Dread

by JC Borch

First published 15th of May, 2013

A longer Dinky Doo x Sweetie Belle shipfic with weight gain

The summer vacation is over and school is about to start again. But Sweetie Belle made a bad decision that proved to have unforeseen consequences. As her relationship with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sours, she finds a new kind of relationship with another blank flank from school. And where is Derpy?!

Part 1/3

“Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this story in no way endorses a belief in ponies.”
- Michael Jackson

EQUESTRIAN SHIPPING SHORT STORY 04: VARIOUS KINDS OF DREAD PART 1/3

It is difficult for me to pinpoint exactly where this story begins. Only by going through the string of extraordinary events can I begin to make a serious attempt. Were I to hazard a guess, however, I would put it at the day we returned to school. No, it must have been earlier than that. Already the day before summer vacation I noticed something that would put things into motion.

I had long observed the Cutie Mark Crusaders from the sideline. As a blank flank myself, I understood their burning desire to find their special talents but, as you will later see, I had other things in my life to worry about. It was on that morning before the bell rang that they would make a decision. A decision with unforeseeable consequences that would nearly damn all of Ponyville. For the CMC, it was just another Friday morning.

“Fellow Crusaders!” Apple Bloom said in seriousness and pounded her hooves into her desk. “Another year has gone by and we still haven’t found our talents.”

“Don’t remind me,” Scootaloo said from the floor with her arms crossed.

“That’s wha we gotta do sumthing about it.” Apple Bloom jumped down from her seat and paced in front of them. “During this year’s summer break, we have got ta work hard! Ah suggest daily meetings and activities. Them cutie marks has ta be found before we begin school again.”

“Sorry Apple Bloom.” Sweetie Belle hung her head. “I uh… already have plans for summer break. I won’t be back in Ponyville before the last week.”

“Whu –?”

“Yeah, me neither,” Scootaloo said with a sheepish grin. “It always gets so hot in Ponyville during summer so I’m going skiing.”

Apple Bloom looked at them both in turn, her expression begging for one of them to say “Kidding!” or something like that. Faced with the prospect of not only missing out on crusading time, but also missing her best friends, Apple Bloom drooped all the way to the floor.

“But don’t worry,” Sweetie Belle said optimistically and beamed. “Even apart, the Cutie Mark Crusaders vow to find their talents!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo chimed in and perked up as well. “It doesn’t matter where we are, Apple Bloom. We just have to promise to work on it. Like trying three things before bedtime.”

“We already do that.” Apple Bloom’s eyes becoming distant as she looked around the classroom for inspiration. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered, chatting. They saw the Crusaders sitting on the floor and laughed loudly. Scootaloo shot them a nasty glance. They just feigned fear and continued inside giggling. A devious smile crossed her lips. “Ah’ve got it!” she exclaimed and banged one hoof into the other.

“Got what?” Scootaloo asked and drew her baleful eyes away from the class bullies.

“We should just ask somepony who already have their cutie marks!”

“But we’ve already tried that,” Sweetie Belle interjected.

“Yeah, and what a waste of time that turned out to be.” Scootaloo rolled with her eyes, but Apple Bloom grabbed them around their necks and put her head between them.

“Of course it was, we asked the wrong ponies. If we want help finding our talents, we should ask somepony our own age.”

“Hey yeah, that’s not a bad idea!” Sweetie Belle spat with her face mashed up against Apple Bloom’s.

“Can’t be any worse than Rainbow Dash’s story.” Scootaloo made a gagging motion that made the others giggle.

“Great, it’s settled,” Apple Bloom grinned. “Before the day is through, we pledge ta ask one from owah class how they got their cutie mark.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders,” they said in unison and clapped their hooves together.

The bell rang shortly after and the first class of the day began. If only I knew then what I know now. So much hardship could have been avoided and so much suffering averted. Admittedly not a bad strategy, but for three fillies cursed by bad luck it was bound to go wrong. Having overheard it all, I found myself actively spending the rest of the day observing them. I just had to see where this was going.

Playing jump rope with my friends outside during the first recess period, I noticed Scootaloo select her target. That filly’s name was Archer, a blue pony who looked a little like her. It was a brief conversation straight to business.

The next of them was Apple Bloom during math. She sat behind me and I didn’t want Cheerilee to think I was cheating, again, but I stole a few glances. She whispered a few words to the greyish pink pony next to her. I’m not sure what an island cutie mark is indicative of, but Apple Bloom was very interested, smiling and nodding. Unfortunately Cheerilee took the sudden whispering to be a hard division problem. For that, Apple Bloom earned a trip to the blackboard.

Sweetie Belle was struggling however. Not many others had gotten their cutie mark yet and she had always been a picky one. Pretty much only Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was left from our year. It wasn’t until after class that she picked out her mark. I assume. My mum picked me up before I could actually see her doing the asking.

My summer vacation was rather uneventful so perhaps instead I’ll introduce myself? The name is Dinky Doo and I have just one sibling, my older sister Amethyst Star. She moved out before I was born and even at time of this story had a family of her own. I often questioned my dad on these age discrepancies, but he just said it was because he married my mother when they were young. We’ll get back to that later.

My dad is Time Turner, the only time keeper for miles and always busy. He doesn’t have any kind of schedule and just shows up wherever he’s needed. Either at marathons or contests or some other event. He’s a good stallion and I love him deeply, but he can be very distracted and stressed-out at times. Doesn’t help he was converting our house to a shop.

My mom on the other hoof is completely relaxed and a bit clumsy at times. Her name is Ditsy Doo, but she’s rarely called that. Derpy is what everyone calls her, but she doesn’t care either way. “As long as you don’t call me too late for muffins,” quote unquote. I guess it’s because her eyes tend to wander in opposite directions. She doesn’t say much and have a habit of getting herself into trouble, but she’s my mom and I love her more than anything else.

But back to the story. When school started out again, I still hadn’t got my cutie mark. Mom just kissed me on the forehead. “You’re my special muffin. That’s something you don’t need a cutie mark to prove.” She would usually fly me to school, and I either got to ride in a mail bag or she would hold me tight. It was the latter on that day and I felt it was tighter than usual. You can’t read my mom’s face if there’s something she wants to hide, but I knew what that hug meant. She was going out on one of her expeditions again.

I waved goodbye to her from the schoolyard, knowing it would be some time before I would see her again. My mom sometimes goes exploring and stays gone for extended periods of time. Then she comes back and acts like nothing has happened. I hoped that she was just embracing me tighter because of my first day of school after the vacation.

Many of the other ponies had gotten their cutie marks. As one of the only ponies left over the summer, I had gone to Berry Pinch’s cute-ceañera. Now the others could enjoy her golden horseshoe as well. Whatever talent that represents. Okay, maybe I was little jealous of her and the three other fillies with shining cutie marks. I just had a hard time finding my talent. My dad never had time to talk about it and my mom always told me not to worry.

Well, I didn’t say anything. My best friends already had their cutie marks so I was used to the disappointment. I took my seat and immediately began looking for the Crusaders. I was a little late and it was near ringing time. Craning my neck, I spotted Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in a corner alone at the very bottom of the class. They didn’t just look older and lankier, what I probably did as well, but they had actually succeeded!

Apple Bloom’s cutie mark was a wooden plank with a beautiful apple bud blooming out of it. She was quite proud of it and shook her flank, but Scootaloo had to one-up her of course. Or try at least. Hers was a flaming wheel and actually looked pretty radical. Of course, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had differing opinions.

“Oh look,” Tiara pointed and laughed. “Only a couple of losers like you could have gotten such lame cutie marks.”

“You’re one to talk,” Scootaloo replied. Her confidence had soared tremendously and was actually standing up to those two! “What’s your cutie mark good for anyway? Wearing jewellery?”

Tiara gave an affronted gasp. “I will have you know that my special talent is better than yours!”

“Oh yeah? What is it then?” Apple Bloom added smugly. Tiara hesitated for just a moment, allowing the bell to ring.

“Come on, Silver Spoon. My dad promised me I could go to a private school if I improved my grades. That way we don’t have to talk with these losers.”

“Yeah...” I thought I noticed a hint of sadness in Silver Spoon’s voice. For just a moment, it almost seemed like she was sorry. But she still found her seat with Diamond Tiara, listening to how she bragged about valuable assets and overseas investments.

But I still hadn’t found Sweetie Belle, and she was usually early or at the very least together with the CMC. Cheerilee entered the classroom just as I finished my cursory search. As always, our teacher was in a good mood and hummed as she closed the door behind her.

“All right, class,” she said and cleared her throat. “I hope everyone had an exciting summer break. I will certainly be looking forward to read those essays.”

Only exciting thing about that summer was dad oversleeping and tearing through the house for his tie. It was around his neck the whole time.

“Now, I have some exciting news as well!” Cheerilee paused for dramatic effect and we all looked up at her with renewed attention. Needless to say, getting reminded of the essays had spurred a few murmurs and a bit of grumbling. But before Cheerilee could continue, the door opened again and silence fell on the room. Like someone had sucked all sounds out of it for just a moment.

It was Sweetie Belle and she had certainly grown during the time away. Not just taller but... wider as well. She had gotten a good amount of padding to her belly and her neck creased into folds as she kept her head down. Then the laughing started. I was one of the few who just stared in shock. She had let herself go and then some, with splotches of food all over her coat.

“Sweetie Belle, what happened?” Scootaloo asked but Sweetie Belle ignored her, her face cold and distant.

“Settle down, everypony. And Sweetie Belle, take your seat,” Cheerilee said and tried to continue like nothing had happened. But we were staring, we were all staring and wondering what was going on. The next thing she said barely registered among us until the mention of: “... Manehattan! So everypony, get permission from your parents before the end of the month.”

Yes, as you may have guessed from that blurt and which I only later that day found out, we were going on a fieldtrip to Manehattan. It naturally made me very thrilled, having not seen much of the world outside Ponyville. Yet still I felt odd inside seeing Sweetie Belle acting so differently. It may only have been a natural concern which I would feel about the ponies I saw in class every day... or it could be something deeper. I was too young at that time to have such possibilities flash into my mind. But I decided to act on what feelings I knew while still sticking to my pre-established plan. I wouldn’t interfere with the Crusaders, only observe them.

The first class of the day, Equestrian, drew to a close and a short break followed where we had a little time to play or do whatever we wanted. Under the pretence of going through homework for the next class, I spied on the Crusaders a little more. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo wanted to find out what was wrong with Sweetie Belle and maybe even show off their cutie marks.

“Sweetie Belle, are you all right?” Scootaloo asked, but Sweetie Belle ignored her and instead drew a lunchbox from her backpack. It was filled with confections.

“Why are ya mad at us?” Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie Belle crammed a whole éclair into her mouth and munched very loudly, possibly in some sickening attempt to drive them off.

“Ugh, at least tell us what your problem is!” Scootaloo raised her voice, but to no avail. Sweetie Belle swallowed and reached for the dozen glazed donuts but Apple Bloom snatched it from her.

“Sweetie Belle, what is the matter with ya!” she asked. Sweetie Belle flailed her hoofs at the lunchbox but her belly cut too deeply into the desk.

“It’s all your fault,” she finally said. Angry tears slithered from her clenched eyes as she drew another lunchbox up from her bag.

“All our fault how?” Scootaloo demanded and pushed the schoolbag away.

“All your fault that I’m a blimp! It was your stupid idea to ask the other kids how they got their talent.”

“What?” Scootaloo asked, unable to suppress a slight giggle. “You yourself said it was good idea!”

“It was a terrible idea and you took all the best ones. I was stuck with Truffle Shuffle.”

“So?” Apple Bloom asked and put the donuts back down.

With colour blushing Sweetie Belle’s cheeks, she ripped the donuts back and dug into them with wild abandon. “He got his cutie mark from eating, so I thought I could do the same.”

“When you didn’t get your cutie mark from the first hundred cakes, why didn’t you just stop?” Scootaloo asked cynically.

Sweetie Belle got up from her seat and pressed her smeared face up against Scootaloo. “I spent a whole summer in a bakery sampling their wares because of your stupid idea!”

“Sweetie Belle, the others just told us ta do what came natural to us,” Apple Bloom said and tried consoling Sweetie Belle by stroking her back. Her hoof was slapped away and Sweetie Belle turned towards her instead.

“And you didn’t think to tell me that? ‘Let’s see if Sweetie Belle is stupid enough to make herself a prize pig?’ Is that it?”

“What are you mad at us for?” Scootaloo asked angrily. “It’s your own damn fault this happened to you. Maybe you’ll get your cutie mark by being stubborn bitch, ‘cause you sure are good at it.”

Scootaloo went back to her desk without a second glance. Apple Bloom looked from one to the other, tripping over her words as she tried to mediate. Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed and Apple Bloom was pushed off her hooves.

“Leave me alone,” Sweetie Belle said heatedly and chowed down her donuts.

Apple Bloom wiped her eyes. “Ah wouldn’t have anything ta do with a big mean bully like you either!” she said and turned in anger.

The Crusaders were basically broken apart at this appoint. I know I should have been more interested in the other two since it was Sweetie Belle who had been rude to them, but I felt weirdly obligated towards her. There was something troubling her and I wanted to find out. But she had just chewed out her best friends. It would not be any easier for a veritable stranger like myself.

***

Slime slithered down the grey bricks and the dumpsters smelled of rotten food from the takeout restaurant. On the left side of the alley was an old store that had been foreclosed. The windows were broken and boarded up. The inside was ravaged by graffiti just like the walls outside. The basement door however was open and light streamed up the stairs and illuminated a cardboard box.

The flaps opened and a blonde head peeked out. A grey pegasus smiled happily but there was no one around her to requite it. The walleyed pony curiously tried stepping out of the box but tipped it instead, tumbling out and landing in front of the stairs. Raised voices carried out with distinctly foreign accents.

“Giovanni, how we gonna play with just three men?” a gruff voice asked.

“Ain’t mah fault Johnny was knifed in the leg, Boris,” a mousy voice replied.

Attracted by the warm light, the pegasus scooted down the stairs and in through the door left ajar. The room looked to have been a storage in the past with all its shelves, but had recently been refurbished with wooden a table and matching rickety chairs. A Chinese man stood up at the sight of the pony, surprised at first but a hungry smile creeping across him.

“Ah, pony! Favourite dish!” he exclaimed and took a cleaver from his belt, but a big hand grabbed his shoulder.

“Hold on, Ming,” the gruff voice said and scratched his prominent chin. “Don’t tell me cartoon horse here to play Texas Hold ‘Em?”

The pegasus nodded and stood up happily.

“Ah, jeez, you can’t be serious!” the mousy voice said and reached into his jacket. Boris held up a hand.

“I hear about cartoon horse. Very smart. All right, buy-in 200 green ones. Wanna play?”

The pegasus retracted a muffin seemingly from nowhere. Boris roared with laughter and slapped his knee. “Very well, cartoon horse. You join table.”

The three men sat down again and the pegasus joined them.

“You uh... you got a name there, friend?” Giovanni asked as he shuffled the cards.

“Derpy!” the pony chirped and put the muffin down on the table where the others had their money.

Giovanni was a snivelly little man in a too big suit and was not happy about the arrangement. Though, he might just have been nervous about the stakes. He continuously wiped his brow and his poker face was bad. Whenever things didn’t go his way, he drew a handkerchief and lifted his hat to wipe his brow.

Boris, on the other hand, was taking the game more seriously and his mien was cold until he won the pots. Then he laughed and slammed his hand into the table much to the annoyance of the others. Contrarily if he lost, he would lose his temper and downright frighten the other players with insults and accusations. As the game dragged on, it was him who sat with the biggest share.

Ming was a portly little Chinese man who would get smug when fortune blessed him and often made big gambles. He had put most of it into the pot, confident in his two jacks. One on hand, the other out on the table. Giovanni was the first to fold, whimpering as he put his cards down and grasped his face.

But Derpy wasn’t swayed. Scrunching up her face, she pushed both her muffin and all the money she had into the pool. Frustrated, Ming threw down his cards. “How does cartoon pony even hold cards?”

But Boris smiled widely. “You don’t fool me, little horsey. I call your bluff.” And with that, he too shoved all of his share in as well. “Three of a kind!” he said and put two nines down on the table, matching with the one already out. He reached for the pot but then Derpy laid out her hoof. Boris reared back in his seat. “A f-f-flush? No! Is not possible!”

But it was. Derpy had the queen and king, matching with the nine, ten and jack. Boris howled and flipped the table over. Money and cards went flying everywhere. Giovanni fell from his chair but Ming rose to his feet. His pudgy hands grabbed around Boris’ exposed biceps. Derpy looked with confusion and worry between them.

“You calm down!” Ming said but Boris was blind with rage. Giovanni dove behind the table and stashed as much money into his suit as he had pockets. Ming crashed through the table and Boris jumped down on top of him, fists clenched tightly around his shoulders. “We talk about this. You no get angry when lose!”

“I... I know,” Boris said. His eyes were getting shining, so he wiped them with an arm.

“Psst, cartoon pony. Whadda ya say the two of us split?” Giovanni whispered. Derpy grabbed her muffin and nodded. The well-clad Italian grabbed around her middle and hurried up the stairs. “You are gonna make me a rich man!”

***

“Oh Dinky, where IS your mother?” dad asked and paced the kitchen nervously. He raced to the window and placed his hoofs on the counter. The skies outside were clear.

“I think she went on one of her trips,” I replied and bit into a mitt, using it to take a hot tray from the oven. The scent of my creations filled the kitchen and my dad settled down.

“Is that... muffins?” he asked in surprise. I nodded and put the tray down on the table in the middle. We usually sat there at night to eat.

“Yup,” I replied and wiped cookie dough off my brow. “One of my classmates has been kind of depressed so I thought I’d cheer her up.”

My dad wrapped an arm around me and took the chef’s hat off my head. “You remind me why I married your mother to begin with,” he said and planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Da-ad!” I said with a giggle, pushing him off me. “It’s only muffins, jeez.”

“Listen sweetie, daddy has a very important meeting today. I have to be there...” he released me and looked up at clock. “Two minutes ago. I’m sorry, Dinky, but I have to run now. Go straight to school, don’t accept any strangers and don’t talk to any candy! Wait, what was I saying?”

I took a bread bag from the cupboard next to the fridge. “That you were late!”

“Yes. Right. Have a good day, sweetie!”

I could see him from the windows galloping down the streets, careful to apologise to anypony he bumped into. I shook my head and tipped the muffins into the bag and I was off myself.

It was minutes before the bell rang when I arrived. Making the muffins had taken me longer than I had anticipated and mom wasn’t there to fly me. Yet Sweetie Belle was late again. Like the day before, she snuck into the class well after the bell rang. She looked if possible like an even bigger mess. Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak but Scootaloo shook her head. Sweetie Belle ignored them both.

I decided to seize my opportunity at the following break. Everypony else had gone outside in the sunlight but I remained behind and went up to Sweetie Belle’s desk. She took out her lunchbox, but gagged when she saw the contents: a single pear. Disinterested, she took a bite from the top. I took a deep breath, but found it hard to just do it. I had to work up my courage first.

“Heya,” I finally said and placed my muffin bag next to her Sapphire Shores lunchbox.

“What do you want?” Sweetie Belle asked in a rude tone and took another bite. I was thrown a little off but I held my ground.

“Uhm, maybe you’d like a muffin?” I asked and opened the bag.

“Oh sure, let’s all feed the fat kid in class because she’s always hungry. Ha-ha, how funny!” she said sarcastically and swallowed the rest of the pear.

“So you don’t want a muffin?” I asked crestfallen and took the bag away again.

“Gimme that.” Sweetie Belle yanked the bag out of my grip and greedily devoured the muffins whole, no concerns given to her manners. “Dumb Rarity thinking I’ve gotten too fat. Making me eat healthy. Never giving me enough.”

I found myself transfixed on Sweetie Belle. The way she slovenly crammed every treat into her puffy cheeks made me silent. Her face became smeared with the bleeding chocolaty centre. She was getting full and her pace slowed, and she didn’t speak either. I felt warm inside watching as she forced the last of the muffins down. Her breathing was laboured as she leant back in her seat. Her stomach was distended even more after the feast.

“What happened to you? During the summer?” I finally asked in a quiet voice. She looked at me as if I was a thousand miles away. I think she really would have told me then and there, but the bell rang again. I was forced to sit down again and she was back to ignoring me again by the next break. I had lost one opportunity, but not the last. I was determined to finding out what ailed her but I also needed time to reflect on what I had experienced that day.

There was only thing I could do. I had to ask aunt Carrot Top. Her real name is Golden Harvest and she’s not really my aunt either, but she is one of my mom’s oldest friends in Ponyville. She used to sit me all the time when I was younger. As much I love my mom, I sometimes needed a down-to-earth advice and Carrot Top is where I always went.

She lived in a house not far from ours and has a sizeable plot behind it where she grows her namesake vegetables. She made a small living selling them at the market and could usually be found harvesting them. Sure enough, with a blue rag around her head and mud all the way up her legs, Carrot Top stood in her garden. A carrot came up from the ground with a comical pop and was promptly placed in the baskets she was wearing over her shoulders.

“You didn’t come to help me pick my carrots?” she asked and bit into the stalk of another one. I shook my head. “Your mother’s disappeared again, hasn’t she?” I nodded. Carrot Top released the carrot again and wiped her face with the rag. “Come inside, I’ll make us some tea.”

Her house was small and painted yellow. A backdoor led into her rustic kitchen, a room reflecting her practical nature. She shook off the saddle and the half-filled pouches fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

“So how can I help you, Dinky? Your dad too busy to help you with homework?”

I made myself comfortable by the table as Carrot Top retrieved a kettle and started pouring water into it.

“No,” I said quietly and rubbed my hooves nervously together.

“Come now, you can tell me. That’s why you came to me, after all.” She fixed us two mugs while the water slowly boiled on the stove.

“Well, uhm...”

“I haven’t seen that look since you tried hiding a puppy from your parents,” she said with a little smile as she put the mugs down in front of us. “Don’t tell me you have a coltfriend?”

“No! No, it’s nothing like that!” I said and hastily averted her eyes by picking from her box of tea bags.

“You’re blushing, Dinky. Is it another filly then? There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She sat down opposite me and grabbed my hoof. I had to look up at her, but telling her what I felt was difficult. I didn’t even know it myself but I had to say something.

“One of my classmates recently gained some weight so I thought I would cheer her up but she’s so grumpy and she pushed all of her friends away and I’m not sure what to do!” The words tumbled out of my mouth in a long stream and I felt tears lining my eyes. I took a deep breath and sucked them back in.

Carrot Top’s green eyes became sharp like a hawk’s. I remembered that look all too well. She was an amazing pony person and it was impossible to keep a secret from her. I could only smile sheepishly.

“Ho, so that’s all,” she said. The kettle was whistling for her attention and she jumped down to fetch it. I knew she wasn’t convinced, that she had seen even what I tried to find. She didn’t mention anything though and simply poured the water into my mug. It mingled with the leaves of my tea and turned a bright orange shade. The scent of mangoes wafted into my nostrils and I gave a delighted sigh. Carrot Top had the best tea in all of Ponyville and she often travelled far to acquire new samples. One sip and your tongue loosened and your mind cleared.

“Let me guess, the muffin trick didn’t work?” she asked. I nodded and she shook her head. “You remind me of your mother when she first came here as well. I had just found my talents but I had no way to realise it. I wanted to grow carrots and take care of them, but I had no money to settle in Ponyville. Ditsy hounded me every step I took, always offering her muffins and embraces. But if it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have had the energy to fight. Do you understand?”

“You’re telling me... not to give up?” I asked and sipped my tea again.

“Find out what makes your classmate sad. Giving a hungry pony a carrot staves off hunger for a bit. Give her seeds and she will never go hungry again.”

Her face was kind but had the authoritative aura which all grownups seem to have. I had to think about her words for a moment. “When she came to school again after a long vacation, she still didn’t have her cutie mark. I bet that’s what’s bothering her!” I exclaimed. “Thanks Carrot Top!”

“You’re most welcome,” she said calmly and sipped her tea. “Why don’t you and your dad come here for dinner tonight? Without Ditsy around, I fear that stallion is going to starve himself.”

***

Giovanni had equipped a cape to his suit and donned a top hat and clutched a cane in his hand. He grinned down at the people who gathered around his small scene, waiting for the crowd to grow large enough. They were enticed by the large banner that he had raised above the stage and stood in silent expectation.

“People of Manburg!” he finally said, his voice magnified by the microphone attached to his cheek. “I am proud to present to you the eighth wonder of this whole crazy world, a miracle so defying of nature that you will not believe it!”

People from around the park flocked around the raised platform. Giovanni bowed down low so he could face the ones nearest to the stage.

“Are you ready for this? I mean, are you really ready for this ma’am?”

“Is this another one of your mermaids?” a voice called out. “Or did you find the Bigfoot?”

The crowd began to laugh and Giovanni withdrew, nervously coughing. “I assure you, I did not know that was a stuffed monkey sewn on to a shark.”

“Just get on with it already!” another one said.

“Yes, well, all right!” Giovanni stumbled back to the red curtain that obscured the other half of the scene. His fingers fumbled for the cord while sweat broke from his brow. “Behold! I give you the world’s only... cartoon pony!”

The curtains rose up under the roof, the mechanics creaking dangerously. A fog machine obscured the contents behind the drapes and took a moment to lift. Derpy stood in the middle, smiling serenely with eyes wandering off in separate directions.

“Ah? Ah?” Giovanni said and waved at the pony. “Ten dollars to pet it and, who knows, you might even acquire it if the price is right.”

“Nice effects, jackass!” a young boy said.

“Looks like your projector is glitchy!” a woman said. The audience proceeded to throw rotten fruit at him amidst their laughs and taunts.

“I assure you, this is... no, please, I beg you, stop!” he said and raised his arms to shield his face. “Ten dollars, and you get to feed it as well!”

A watermelon straight to his face floored him. The crowd thinned until he was alone again. Giovanni woke up moments later when Derpy licked the fruit flesh of his face. He raised a hand to stroke her mane and she smiled down at him.

“Bah, these people don’t appreciate the true talents of Giovanni. We’ll hit another town where my face is less known and then we’ll wow them.” He jumped off the stage, wiping the last of the melon away. They went up the hill to the parking lot where Giovanni had his trailer, essentially just a cargo container on wheel.

He went inside the improvised door on the side, stopping up abruptly. His face paled when he saw the interior.

“You... you ate all the muffins again!” he said and almost fell outside again. “Those were supposed to last you all week!”

“They were delicious!” Derpy said and licked her lips.

“No. Those were my last money! How am I supposed... debt... gas! I...” Giovanni fell to his hands and knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he continued to blubber. After a moment, he sat up and wiped his face with the sleeve of his large jacket. From an inside pocket he took a gun and held it up to his head with a shaky hand. “I’m sorry for exploiting you, cartoon pony. I’m sorry for all the bad things I’ve done. If I could take them back, I would. Maybe like this I can make things right.”

Giovanni closed his eyes and whimpered as his finger slowly squeezed on the trigger. The gun gave a loud bang and he fell on his back. The gun slipped from his hand and slid across the pavement. His eyes stared up at sky where he could see Derpy fly up into the air.

“You saved me,” he said in disbelief. He lay there on the ground for a long moment, Derpy getting smaller and smaller against the sun. “You saved me. After all I did to you, you want me to live?” He stood up and shielded his eyes with a hand.

“So long and thanks for all the muffins!” Derpy shouted, her voice no louder than the whispering of the wind.

“I understand now. You want me to turn my life around! I can’t believe what a loser I’ve been. I have to patch things up with my brother... and I have to apologise to my ma! I’ll reopen my dad’s old shop! Thank you, thank you!”

***

Sweetie Belle was depressed about her lack of cutie mark was the conclusion I had arrived at. My problem then was to find out how I could help her. I couldn’t just use my unicorn powers to make one appear. I think Twilight tried that once and if she couldn’t do it… Well, I wouldn’t need my magic anyway. It was also still a little unstable and I couldn’t quite control it yet, and I’ve always prided myself with my fast thinking. A plan quickly formed in my adolescent head.

It was school the next day that I stepped into action. I had only two friends left without cutie marks now but that was all I needed. Half Note and Noi were usually together somewhere like inseparable twins. Their friendship had only strengthened as more and more of our classmates had found their talents. Half Note wasn’t too bothered about it but Noi was very touchy. I’ve seen her many times with a fake cutie mark, but not as often lately. I think Half Note had a good effect on her.

“Oh hey Dinky!” Noi said and waved me over from across the playground. “Want to play hopscotch with us?”

She was throwing a stone up and down in the air while Half Note meticulously drew the track.

“Uhm, maybe we could do something else for a change?” I suggested. Half Note spat out the chalk and looked at me funny.

“Who are you and what did you do with Dinky?” she asked.

“How about we try and find our cutie mark? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

The two exchanged incredulous glances. “What, like the Crusaders?” Half Note scoffed.

“No, no, no!” I quickly inserted and shook my head. “Just a couple of fillies trying to find their cutie marks, nothing more.”

“I... guess we could do that,” Half Note said.

“Why are you so interested in getting your cutie mark all of sudden?” Noi asked me suspiciously, her tail instantly covering her own blank flank.

“The Crusaders got their cutie mark, so their strategy seems to have worked. The larger our group, the more ideas we could come up with!” I tried to cheer them on, but they wavered for just a moment too long. Diamond Tiara walked past us with Silver Spoon next to her.

“Looks like the who’s who of Ponyville’s losers!” Tiara said and laughed. Silver Spoon chuckled nervously prompting a venomous stare from Tiara. “What’s with you these days, Silver Spoon? Sometimes I wonder if you’re more interested in these dorks than me.”

“Of course not!” she quickly inserted, a little too quick. Tiara did not let it go by unnoticed but simply rolled her eyes.

“We’ve got better things to do than talk to these lamos anyway. My dad is taking to us art gallery.” Tiara whipped her tail in my face and looked behind her with a smug smile. I instantly rubbed my tingling nose which is just what she wanted to see. Again Silver Spoon gave me an apologetic look.

“This is why blank flanks shouldn’t be seen together!” Noi said and hyperventilated. “Stress... mounting! Cracking under... pressure! Ability to describe symptoms... fading!”

“Snap out of it.” Half Note whapped Noi over the head and looked up at me with a defiant smile. “Let’s do it, Dinky. It’s been too long since we did something together.”

“And maybe we could invite other fillies to join us who hasn’t got their mark either?” I suggested quietly and pawed at the ground.

Half Note raised an eyebrow. “Other fillies? The only other pony without a cutie mark left is...”

She turned to look over her shoulder. Sweetie Belle sat by herself on a bench behind the school. Older kids sometimes broke into the school and then hung out there, so none of us dared go there anymore. The perfect place to be alone.

“No! No way!” Half Note said and shook her head.

“Why not?” I pleaded.

“Because she sweats all the time,” Noi said and wafted a hoof over her nose.

“Yeah, and she just farts without even trying to hide it,” Half Note added.

“But she’s all lonely and sad. I’m sure if we could help her find her cutie mark, she would get in a better mood.”

The others wavered and I knew I was losing them. This mission hinged on their participation. Sweetie Belle would no doubt be deterred if I approached her alone again.

“Half Note, who designed your big sister’s dress at the very last moment when she lost her old one?”

“Rarity... but that still doesn’t–”

“And Noi, don’t tell me you didn’t have fun playing with Sweetie Belle when you were trapped in that storm. You told me so yourself.”

The two exchanged glances. Finally, Noi sighed and looked at me sternly. “Fine. I don’t know why this is so important to you, but we’ll help you.”

“But just remember, you owe us big time!” Half Note jabbed at my chest, but all I could do was laugh.

“I couldn’t do it without you guys!” Truth be told, I wasn’t sure myself why it was so important to me. But that tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach increased. I couldn’t suppress it and the joy I felt showed on my face. With my two new compatriots, it was finally time to cheer Sweetie Belle up. It was a big task just from what I had already experienced, but... I had no idea how bad it was getting.

Half Note and Noi followed me, but I could feel their anxiety. The furthest corner in the very back of the school was not filly turf. As always, the stench of stale urine flared in my nostrils and I swear I trod on a used condom wrapper. Those older kids had no respect for the school and just waded in like they owned the place. And Sweetie Belle just sat at the corner, on a bench that had been defaced with all kinds of symbols. Thankfully at that time I didn’t know what half of them meant.

Half empty glass bottles and cigarette buds were spread out over the place. They had been there just last night, but Sweetie Belle didn’t care. A dozen empty lunchboxes were up high piled next to her and a dozen more waiting for her. Her own Sapphire Shores one was peeking out just at the bottom of the used pile. Guess she had made short work of that one first.

“I don’t think we should be here,” Half Note insisted and tried to stop me with a hoof on my back, but I shrugged her off. “Dinky, she’s becoming one of them!”

“Auntie Carrot Top calls them delinquents,” Noi said. Unlike me, Noi was actually her niece. “That doesn’t sound good!”

“Guys, that’s exactly why we’re helping her. So she won’t become a delin... a delin... a bad egg!” My eyes were focused on Sweetie Belle but I could feel Noi shake next to me. I took a deep breath and went up to the bench.

“Got any more muffins?” she asked gruffly and forced another lunchbox open. She stuck her whole head into it and smeared peanut butter all over her face. The lunchbox was deprived of its sandwich in a matter of seconds and quickly discarded into the pile.

“No, but I thought maybe–”

“Then go away, if you don’t have anything on you.” Sweetie Belle seized a big Wonderbolt lunchbox and found a small heap of hay fries.

“Where did you get all those from... is that my lunchbox?” Noi asked with tears welling up in her eyes.

“I don’t know, I just found it in some bag in the classroom,” Sweetie Belle said nonchalantly and stuffed all of the fries in between her pudgy cheeks.

Noi turned around crying while Half Note just stood there, stupefied for a moment. “You know, we actually wanted to be your friends here. I don’t know what your problem is, but stay away from us.” Half Note took her own box from the uneaten pile and ran after Noi.

“Sweetie Belle...” I muttered.

“Buzz off,” she replied gruffly.

Her eating had taken a turn for the worse and her weight was suffering from it. Just looking at her, unable to take my eyes off her, it seemed she swelled with every bite. I don’t think she was even hungry anymore. She was only my size and ate a whole class worth of lunch boxes. It was excruciating to look at her huff and puff just to swallow every bite she took. Her gut was beginning to dig into the table and several rolls adorned her white fur. If the bell hadn’t rung, I would surely have been standing there until nightfall.

I was so shocked that my mind had numbed. I paid little attention in class and even less on the way home. A cold wind blew to fit my mood but I could hardly notice it. I simply wandered down the streets of Ponyville, the other ponies hurrying home in the face of the oncoming storm. It was already starting to drip slightly but that wasn’t what shook me back to reality.

What it was I first noticed, I’m not really sure. A sudden gust of wind forced me to stop and I heard an extra set of clip-clop on the pavement. Looking over my shoulder, there was nothing to see. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather ran down my spine. I began to walk again and stopped, again hearing that extra clip-clop. I picked up the pace and so did my stalker. The harder I pressed myself, the louder the hoofsteps.

I just wanted to get home quickly, especially as the weather worsened. My dad always told me never to enter the large construction site, even though I could save some time by cutting through it. I wavered at the entrance. I could just be imagining the whole thing. That is, until a fork of lightning sundered the sky and a large shadow fell down the street. It was not my own. Screaming slightly, I ran headfirst through the hole in the plank fence and my own clip-clop became splish-splash. The sky illuminated the muddy ground again and I could see the shadow coming along. I forced myself to look over the shoulder but I saw no pony.

Unsure what to do, I hid in a large pipe resting next to the wooden skeleton of a building. There were no workers out. When the pegasuses announced a storm, everypony crept inside and there I was, stuck in a concrete pipe and hoping my beating chest wouldn’t give my position away. A pair of legs slowly made their way towards me and paused. I slinked further inside where the shadows were darker than the night sky. I could feel cold eyes resting on me even as I had closed my own. I was shivering and whimpering for a few minutes before I dared open them again. The legs were gone.

I edged towards the mouth of the pipe. Swallowing a lump in my throat, I peeked outside. I was alone again. A deep sigh escaped my lips as I went out into the rain again. It had really picked up and I was soaked in a matter of minutes, but I didn’t care. I was just relieved and even smiled at my own foolishness. Another lightning split across the sky and cast light on the fence right next to me. Two words had been written in some red material.

“Butt out?” I whispered. The blood, or whatever it was, slithered down the wood. I screamed louder than I ever had and darted across the construction site straight towards home. It was irrefutable now and that was what scared me most, not the childish writing or the very frightening blood effect, but the fact that someone was after me.

I tore open the door and ran straight up the stairs to my room where I cowered under the blankets. I didn’t even dare turn on the lights. I just lay under my covers and shivered. My dad would not be home for a while, ordinarily, but I heard his voice call to me from downstairs not long after.

“Dinky! Dinky, are you home? Why aren’t the lights on… Don’t tell me I need to go out there again to find you.” My door opened and the light was flicked on. “Dinky, what... you’re shaking!”

He didn’t even have to yank my blanket off like he did a moment later to find that out. He sat down on my bed and took me into a tight embrace. I bawled my eyes out like I had never done before and I told him everything, everything about Sweetie Belle and even the mysterious pony in the night. All he did was hold me and rub my head. My dad and I had never been as close as he had been with my sister, but I knew then that he loved me just the same.

“I can’t believe how stupid I was.” I wiped my eyes and snivelled. “I’ll just leave her alone now.”

“You really think that’s the best thing to do?”

“Huh?” I looked up at him and saw him smile down at me.

“You think you would be here if I had just given up?” He looked out at the window with a smile lost in memories. “It was on a night not unlike this that I met your mother. I can understand that she was caught out in the storm but I had no excuse. I took shelter under a park bench, hoping that it would clear up soon and who do you think I saw flying around?”

“Mom?”

“That’s right,” he said and booped my nose. “She was lost and flying around aimlessly. The rain made it impossible to see and she couldn’t hear me over the thunder. Daddy had a very important paper in his mouth that would decide his future, but I couldn’t just leave that clumsy pegasus out in the storm. I went out of my shelter and crossed winds like you wouldn’t believe it to reach her. Fortunately we found a pagoda but my paper was ruined. But I didn’t mind one bit. I fell in love with Derpy right then and there and I knew I would never want to leave Ponyville again.”

“So... are you telling me not to give up?”

“Never stop for anything if you believe in what you are doing. Don’t ever forget that, sweetie.”

“But what about the message?”

“You don’t know what that message was about or to whom it was addressed. I don’t think you have anything to fear except your vivid imagination. Now what do you say we make dinner?”

I could not ignore my rumbling stomach and agreed with a nod. The mere mention of food made my thoughts wander towards Sweetie Belle and what I had seen that day, but I also knew to not let it get me down. I wasn’t sure what I could try next. Cheering her up with homemade muffins hadn’t helped and I was doubting it was cutie mark depression either. I spend a lot of time thinking up something else.

The days went by at torturous speed. Every time I saw Sweetie Belle again, I swear she looked ever fatter. Her legs were getting as wide as me and the folds on her body multiplied like weed, but she didn’t appear to be affected at all. Sweetie Belle kept getting smaller lunches from home which just resulted in her stealing to feed herself. I followed her one day back from school and found her sneaking fruit from the market and licking the plates people left behind at restaurants. But that was how I knew how I could gain her trust.

There was a piggy bank in my room. Dad gave me a monthly allowance and instead of wasting it on candy, I had been saving it. I figured I might need some extra cash in an emergency situation, yet looking up at the drawer across my bed, I hesitated.

“Come on, Dinky. If there ever was a situation calling for it, this is the one.” Biting my lip, I kicked the drawer. The piggy bank tumbled down and broke on the thick white carpet. The noise of pink porcelain smashing into pieces was dampened and the reward could be collected instantly. I began to count.

“Twenty-three, twenty-four... twenty-five precise. Just enough to treat her to dinner. I just hope I’ll have some left... no, if I can get her into a stupor, she might be drowsy enough to tell me what’s bothering her.”

I poured all the bits into my pouch, a square of coarse leather wound with string, and dropped it in my school bag. Just in time as I heard my dad called me to remind me of school. I couldn’t wait to see Sweetie Belle again. My heart was pumping with excitement as I ran down the hallways. I almost missed dad waving my lunchbox at me from the kitchen. He bowed his head and I pecked him on the cheek. He had his tie on again so he would probably be gone all day, which was just perfect. I had all the time I needed without any interruptions.

The school seemed too far away for once, but Sweetie Belle hadn’t arrived yet. But she wasn’t just late, she was gone the entire day. I sat patiently through the classes and hoped that she would come with her usual huffing and puffing, but there were neither hide nor hair of her. So when the day was over again a few hours after noon, I decided to pay her a visit. I had not gone far outside the school and down the street when the first surprise of the day presented itself.

“Wait up!” I looked behind me to see Silver Spoon, but knowing what ponies she hung around with, I ignored her. Silver Spoon was persistent though and came up next to me and trod along.

“What do you want?” I asked curtly. My bits clinked slightly in my backpack and I was constantly reminded of my mission.

“I’d just like to know what’s going on with the Crusaders... and with Sweetie Belle. It isn’t because we teased her, is it?”

To my astonishment, I found genuine concern in her voice. I admit I was unsure what to say. “Why do you ask me?”

“They’ve just grown so apart and neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom wants to talk to me about it... I can kind of understand that though.” She chuckled nervously but tensed suddenly when she heard her name being called.

“Silver Spoon, what are you doing talking to that lame blank flank!” It was Diamond Tiara and she was looking surlier that I had ever seen her before.

“Just... reminding her of... how lame she is!” Silver Spoon smiled sheepishly. Diamond Tiara looked at her suspiciously and then shot me a nasty stare, like it was somehow my fault.

“Well, come on! My dad is draining the pool tomorrow so this is the last chance we’ll have for a pool party.”

Silver Spoon nodded and followed her along, but I could feel her unspoken objection. Maybe if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with another filly’s problem already, I could have had the time and surplus to help out Silver Spoon as well. But my pouch jangled again and I was brought back to my current task.

The Carrousel Boutique was my first step. I wasn’t sure whether Sweetie Belle actually lived there but where else was she supposed to be when she was in Ponyville? Which was like all the time anyway. It was a store so the front door was open and I could just walk in. Rarity sat at the other end in one of her rare, peaceful moments, humming along to the sewing machine. Whatever she was designing, it was very, very red.

“Be a minute, darling!” she called to me at the chiming of the doorbell and looked up. “Oh... I thought you were... mmm, how may I help you?”

“I was wondering if Sweetie Belle was here,” I said. For some reason, other ponies loved it when I put on my cute voice and Rarity was no exception. She stopped tapping her foot and the sewing machine halted.

“Well aren’t you just the most adorable! You’re one of my sister’s friends from school?”

“I, uh... came by to drop off some homework.” I tossed my head at my backpack, and Rarity smiled at me.

“The poor dear hasn’t been feeling too well today. I don’t want to embarrass her, but I think it’s because she’s put on a little weight recently. Maybe you could cheer her up? I don’t see her friends around so much anymore.”

That was putting it lightly. “Sure. I could take her outside for a bit?”

“Would you?” I could hear her begging, even if she didn’t outright do it. Sweetie Belle must have been a greater burden than I thought. “I know it’s just puppy fat, but I fear she will never shed it if she refuses to move around.”

“Y-yes!” I felt a pang of guilt knowing what I was intending to do. But something had transformed Sweetie Belle from a nice little filly to a churlish eating machine. Unless I could find the underlying cause there would be no saving her. Even if that meant egging her bad habits on just a bit to gain her trust. “I’ll make sure that she gets a little exercise!”

Rarity directed me up the stairs to the first floor where I found Sweetie Belle had her own room. It might just have been a guest room with a spare bed, but it definitely looked more like a girl’s room than anything else. Sweetie Belle herself lay on her pillow of fat which almost touched the ground when she walked. Her face had doubled in size with the puffy cheeks and many extra chins. I had to stop at the doorway to catch my breath.

“You again? Can’t you see that I’m not feeling like dealing with you today?”

“I-I-I... uh, I thought maybe you would like to go out and have something to eat?” My suggestion was nervous and contained faint traces of my real intention but Sweetie Belle was hooked on the word eat. Panting and sweating, she got down from the bed and made her way over to me. I couldn’t decide what was loudest, her stomach rumbling or her steps across the wooden floor.

“Why didn’t you just say that?” She eagerly made her way out which was admittedly not all that fast. When I had brought her muffins, she had been suspicious, now she wasn’t even questioning me anymore.... I feared that her mind had atrophied to the point where it could only think of one thing.

But I wasn’t about to spoil it with any unnecessary questions. I waved goodbye to Rarity and followed after Sweetie Belle. In her waddling tempo she was quickly searching out the best place to exploit my promise. And wouldn’t you believe it, she went straight for Sugarcube Corner. The large gingerbread house wasn’t all that far from the boutique either so I could only imagine how often Sweetie Belle went there.

Naturally, Pinkie welcomed her like a regular customer. Sweetie Belle was too busy huffing and puffing to reply. Instead I took the leather pouch from my bag and placed it on the counter.

“What will it be today, Sweetie Belle? Oh, and I see you brought a friend along with you!” Pinkie was as exuberant as I had heard, but Sweetie Belle looked rather disinterested.

“I’m very hungry,” she simply said.

“All right, what do you want?” I asked her and looked up at the signs hanging from the ceiling and then down to the glass counter. In fact, everywhere I looked was cakes stacked high and low along with loaves of breads.

“If you can’t decide, just do as Pinkie always do!” Pinkie said and put four different plates of food up on the counter in front of us.

“Give me the salt,” Sweetie Belle said. We both looked at her surprised but Pinkie slowly prodded the saltshaker towards her. She took it with her hoof and swallowed it whole. “Give me the sandwich.” Cautiously, Pinkie pushed a plate with toast towards her. Sweetie Belle slapped it out of her hooves so that it shattered against the wall. Several customers looked up disturbed. “No, I don’t want that. Give me the sandwich!” Pinkie nodded and pushed the correct veggie salad sandwich in front of Sweetie Belle, who nearly ate Pinkie’s hoof as well. “Give me the cheese.”

It continued like this for some, with Sweetie Belle devouring an entire jar of jam, a whole stick of butter and a full glass of juice. Every time Pinkie accidently gave her the wrong order, Sweetie Belle promptly hurled the item in question at the opposite wall. Most of the guests were leaving in a hurry, some with mousse and whipped cream in their hair.

“Make it stop! Please, make it stop!” Pinkie said, very near tears. But Sweetie Belle was insatiable. She continued to feast on a can of soda, a large bowl of pudding and about a dozen éclairs. It didn’t stop until my money ran out, otherwise I don’t doubt she’d have continued. She wiped her mouth and jumped down from her stool.

“You know, that wasn’t too bad,” she said and made her way. Her large rear almost couldn’t fit through the doorframe anymore but she just barely managed to squeeze herself out. Pinkie sighed in relief and accepted my bits. I clutched my empty pouch with some melancholy. My mom and I had made it during the summer vacation. Most of the decorations had fallen off but I could still see her image faintly in glitter. It had been over a week already and I found my eyes wet.

“Where are you?”

***

A lonely boy sat at his computer with a headphone over his fat head, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He was a pimply-faced teenager playing his favourite computer game with a host of friends online. The character he controlled ran across the factory floor dressed in combat attire like the three other people in his squad.

“Let’s show those n00bs the wrath of Malachi!” he screamed into the microphone, his face getting closer and closer to the screen. His fingers furiously tapped the keyboard while his hand directed the mouse. But just as a firefight broke out, his monitor blackened. He let out an exasperated gasp and jumped to his feet. “No... NO! What now? Did you overheat again?”

He looked down at the large block next to his desk and then to his jumble of cords. A grey pony flailed around, completely entangled in the mess of black plastic snakes leading up to the computer, external hard drives and a host of other electronic equipment.

“Good morning!” Derpy greeted as she tried to free herself. The pimply-faced teenager took a step back.

“Who are you?” he asked angrily.

Derpy only managed to get herself even further bound by the cords. She looked up at him with wide eyes and a big grin. “I’m Derpy.”

“Mother... MOTHER!” he bellowed. It didn’t take long for the ground to shake as a heavily overweight woman in a flowery pink dress entered his room.

“What is it, dear?” she asked in a concerned voice, until she saw Derpy. With a squeal she ran towards the pegasus and picked her up in a big bear hug. “Derpy, what are you doing here?”

“Just in the neighbourhood,” she replied.

“Wait, you know this cartoon pony?” the fat kid asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Of course, this is Derpy! And when she decides to come for a visit, it’s sure to be a time you’ll never forget.” With one arm around Derpy, the woman used the other to help her free.

“I don’t care! Look at this mess!” The boy angrily picked up the cords in his arms and started plugging them back in.

“Oh, I’m sure she didn’t mean to.” Derpy shook her head, but the boy was not impressed, refusing to even acknowledge the pony. “Come on, how would you like to feed her?”

“Not very much. I just hope for that pony’s sake my programmes were saved.” He sat back in his seat and flicked the computer back on, but Derpy flew up and grabbed him under his armpit. The mother clapped in her chubby hands and followed after them downstairs. She went inside her cupboards and retrieved a big pack of muffins and placed them on the floor. Derpy immediately munched away happily.

“Exciting,” the boy said in a lacklustre voice and put a hand to his chin. “Can I go back now?”

“Just you wait, soon it will begin!”

“But now she’s just fallen asleep!” Indeed, Derpy was resting her head on the plastic tray with a little bubble blowing out of her nose. “Ugh, I’m going back to my room.”

The mother tried to reach out to her son but retracted her arms again. By the time he was back upstairs, the computer had finished starting up and was ready for a password. He had not typed more than a few letters however before a noise from the garden caught his attention. He got up and went to the window where he saw Derpy pawing at the ground below him. A hole was slowly forming but all the boy could offer was a dissatisfied grunt. He went back to his computer and put on his earphones to ignore her. That is, until he heard a large growl.

He sped back downstairs and out through the kitchen. Derpy scooted past him on her butt with shock painted on her face. The boy looked at the way she had come. Light was pouring out from the hole, but that wasn’t all. Grotesque monsters with ten arms and a dozen horns and eyes flooded the back garden.

“What did you do?” he asked in dread fear.

She looked behind her to see what he meant and opened her eyes wide. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? That’s all you have to say?” The boy grabbed Derpy by her shoulders and shook her. Her head lolled back and forth without ever making attempts to look at him.

A tall monster with enormous front teeth approached them with its arms raised. The boy gave a frightened yelp and dropped Derpy as he ran inside. Other monsters awaited him in the living room. A monster lacking its lower jaw came up to him. He backed away and bumped into a purple monster with big fangs. He pressed himself up against the wall as the monsters ganged up on him from all sides. They were inches away from him, spit running from their sharp teeth and down on the carpet. He covered his pimply face. Something snatched him from behind and dragged him into the closet.

He screamed but Derpy held up a hoof to his mouth, one eye concentrating on him and the other trailing off.

“I have a plan,” she whispered. He nodded, so she took a small scroll out of her ear. She unfolded it and read up from it. “Get awesome weapons. Kill monsters. That is all.”

“But that’s just a picture of a small unicorn with the caption ‘Dinky Doo’ under it.” He pointed to the black letters but Derpy simply pressed the picture back into her ear.

“I don’t have time to get into details. Grab a weapon and come along.”

She reached in between the coats and procured a large mallet, then burst through the closet door. The fat boy lingered for a moment before closing his eyes and sticking in a hand himself. It touched something cold and hard and when he took out his hand again, it held a long sword with a golden hilt. “Wow!” he exclaimed impressed, the steel shining in his eyes. “But I only know how to be a victim...”

“Just follow my lead!” Derpy flew into a monster and it disappeared with a poof. An enormous worm burst from the ceiling with its tongue aimed at her. She shot a beam from the mallet and the worm disappeared. A head with arms and legs flailed at her but she kicked it into dust. “What are you waiting for?” she chided.

The boy shrugged and poked a few of the monsters at first. They vanished with a low scream, giving him more courage. He kicked and sliced all around him until the hallway was clean.

“You’re amazing! Now let me hear your war cry!” She growled herself and followed the monsters into the living room. Furniture was half-eaten and ripped, the stuffing spread out everywhere. A bookcase had been tumbled along with the TV and a glass case. Derpy pounced a small group of the monsters and watched them disappear. The boy charged into the room, screaming and twirling around like a deadly typhoon. The monsters recoiled at his sword and burst through the wall to get away from him.

The beasts fled into the garden hole where they had come from and disappeared with a bright flash. The boy followed them. The light blinded him momentarily and made him fall on his back. When the world swam back to him, everything seemed normal again. The sword in his hand was just a bunch of toilet rolls taped together. All the damage was undone and there was no hole in the lawn.

“What happened?” he asked confused and scratched his head.

“That’s Derpy for you,” the mother said and came out of the kitchen door. “Shows up once and gives you a good time... just like your dad.”

“This was all just my imagination? Cool!”

Part 2/3

Did you hear about the man who secretly made half-human, half-horse creatures in his underground laboratory? It was the cover-up of the centaur-y

EQUESTRIAN SHIPPING SHORT STORY 04: VARIOUS KINDS OF DREAD PART 2/3

I made my way back home, crestfallen, feeling useless. Instead of helping Sweetie Belle, I had only fuelled her addiction. She had gone from a glutton to a thief and now to a garbage disposal, and every change in her behaviour seemed to come back to me. I had offered her muffins, I had offered her friendship, I paid for a night in the town. I had never felt so miserable in my whole life and worst of all, the allowance I had saved up was now all gone. And just as I thought things couldn’t get any worse... I heard the extra hoofsteps again.

There was no one behind me of course, I looked to make sure. The weather was clear that day and I would know immediately if someone was following me. But there were neither shadows on the wall nor any additional hoof prints in the ground. Fear rose in my again and I tried to walk normally. It was nothing more than a portent and yet it seemed so real to me. I remembered the message on the wall and I knew my dad had been wrong. Somepony was after me.

I rounded a corner and I saw an opportunity: the large pond near the restaurant. Before my mysterious stalker could catch up to me I had to jump into action. Literally. I landed in the water with a splash and hoped that it didn’t give away my position. Immediately I saw the legs again walking just past me. The light broke and the image was distorted, but the culprit seemed to be ten feet tall and dark as the night. By this time, my lungs were aching for air but I was too afraid to breathe even if I had been above.

When I couldn’t hold it in more and my vision started to prickle, my instincts kicked in and I resurfaced with a deep gasp. The figure was gone but without the onset of a storm, the dramatic effect had been lessened. My curiosity got the better of me and I swam back to shore and looked around. The area was completely empty and it must have moved on. But, I wondered, had it left me any messages like last?

“Stay away from her,” I read in the grass painted with the same red ink. I felt no fear, instead, rage boiled within me. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” I screamed into the sky. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” I repeated my message a few times until desperate tears were all I felt, forcing their way out of my clenched eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

“Goodness, are you all right?” A yellow pegasus had landed next to me without me noticing at all. She had a big bag of fodder over her back that completely dwarfed her, its malleable shape threatening with swallowing her. I feel my cheeks flush and I looked away. “I’m sorry, did I interrupt something? You were shouting so I didn’t to bother you but it’s feeding time for the frogs.”

One of the little green animals looked up at me from its lily pad with a ribbit. “No, it’s okay,” I huffed and started to leave when a thought occurred to me. “Did you see anypony around here? Besides me, I mean?”

She shook her head and took a hoofful of fodder, spreading the little pellets around the water’s surface. “I just got here.”

Well, it had been worth a try. I was rather frustrated as I returned home but I was soon to forget my worries… if only for a while. I entered the front entrance of our house and saw that dad had put the last touches to the shop. A desk had been erected at the other end and several shelves had been put up along the walls. In fact, my dad was standing with nails in his mouth and hoof wrapped around a hammer.

“Dinky! I’m glad you’re home already, but I had wanted to finish this before you got back.” He spat out the nails into a bowl on the floor next to him. “I thought you’d be out all day with your friends.”

“S-something came up.” With my plan formed, I had indeed hoped it would take all day. I gaped at all the improvements he had made in just a few hours.

“You like it? I’ve saved up the money and finally got around to hire a little help.” He was hopeful in my impression and I was truly taken aback, so I nodded. “I’m so glad! Listen, sweetie, I don’t want to impose this on you but do you think you could come straight home after school for a while to help? I’d rather ask your mother but since she’s still… well…”

It was just what I needed to distract myself. It was with a smile even through my weariness that I replied. “I’d love to, dad.”

He came over to me and embraced me tightly but then held me out at an arm’s length. “Dinky, you’re dripping wet.”

“It’s… a long story,” I replied and rolled my eyes. I was not in the mood to discuss it and instead started helping out my dad.

The next week was pretty basic for me. I came straight back home after school. With my aid, the shop opening date pushed nearer. We worked all weekend as well and when Monday came, the Lord of Time Repair and Sale was ready for business. My dad had a lot of clocks and watches he put on display and the rest of the house was dedicated to maintenance and stock. I would sweep the floors before school and then go behind the counter when I came home.

I had not thought much about Sweetie Belle during that time, mostly due to her sporadic absences. When she did come to school her weight seemed to have reached a zenith. I doubt very much Rarity allowed her any more indulgences. Not that she needed to become any larger. She had almost reached the size of four fillies. Her desk had to be replaced long ago with a custom made one of solid steel, and even then, she just used her sizable belly as a surface.

I still had to cheer her up somehow. Everything I had done so far, however, had been in vain, regardless of who I asked. Now that I sat shop instead of being physically engaged my mind wandered. Keeping the shop was tedious and dad was still away on his regular timekeeping jobs. He tried advertising wherever he could but the flow of customers was… chunky to say the least. But it was my dad’s dream and I had nothing better to do. All of my friends had gotten their cutie marks and become too busy, and even Noi had found a coltfriend. My dad’s talent was time so maybe mine was as well. A week into the project with nothing happening had diminished my hopes though. It was only the thought of a sale that kept me going. If I could get that done, maybe my talent could be revealed to be assistant or watch repairer or something.

The bell above the door chimed and I looked up excitedly. It was Applejack and she seemed impressed at the shop or perhaps at all the ornate cuckoo clocks on the walls. There was plenty to catch the eye and I had several ponies come in to admire the décor. But I knew she was here for more than just that, after all, she had a kitchen timer in her mouth that she spat out on the wooden finish in front of me.

“Think you can do sumthing about this here egg timer?” She took off her hat and held it to her chest while her eyes wandered.

“Sure, what’s wrong with it?” I picked it up and rattled it close to my ear.

“Well, Ah’m not sure, but ever since the Crusaders used it in their float it ain’t been working right.”

“The… Crusaders?” I nearly dropped the timer down on the counter. How could I not have realised it sooner? If I wanted help with Sweetie Belle I had to ask those closest to her, and who better to ask than her friends… former friends, but still. I tried to contain my enthusiasm for now and cleared my throat. “How has Apple Bloom been?”

“Aw shucks, a mite depressed.” Applejack sighed and looked away. “Ah thought gettin’ her cutie mark would be the best thing ever, but she’s been more listless than Winona in the heat of summer.”

I put a tag on the timer and put it away. “Mr Time Turner should have your clock done by tomorrow, if you would check back then. Where can I find her?”

“Apple Bloom? Well, she’s usually hangin’ out at her old clubhouse,” Applejack replied and tapped her muzzle. I jumped down from my stool and hurried past her. There weren’t going to be other customers so I could leave the shop for just a few minutes. I just had to ask for Apple Bloom’s opinion. With her help, I could surely get Sweetie Belle to talk.

***

A young girl sat in the garden in front of her home with one hand on her chin and the other idly rolling a ball around. The wind came to rustle the tree next to her and play with her ponytail. A tiny sigh escaped her to join the wind and flow up to the skies. A grey pegasus was suddenly sitting next to her and she nearly fell on her back in surprise.

“A cartoon pony!” she exclaimed and happily embraced Derpy, picking her up under her pony armpits like a cat and holding her close and rubbing her chin up against her blonde mane. “I’ll call you Fluffykins and then we’ll be bestest friends forever!”

“Don’t you already have a bestest friend?” Derpy asked, to which the girl sagged down on the ground again. Derpy came to rest in her lap.

“No.” The girl sniffed and leant in over Derpy, putting her head down on the pony’s back. “I just moved to town and I do want to find new friends, but Clarissa doesn’t like me and everyone is scared of her. I just don’t know what to do, Fluffykins. Even the teachers are afraid of her and no one even wants to talk me.”

“You shouldn’t let your life be dictated by bullies,” Derpy chirped happily and spread her wings. “You should confront her and tell her that you want none of it!”

“I can’t do that in school when everyone is watching me!” The girl recoiled in horror and covered her blushing face. “Oh, all those faces and judgmental stares. The new girl not knowing her place.”

“Then go to where she lives. That ought to frighten her a bit.” Derpy looked up at the girl, but she averted her eyes.

“I don’t even know where she lives.”

“But don’t you see, we’re already there!”

“Wha–”

True enough; the girl was then stood on a path made of large blocks of stone leading up to a wooden house painted red. Tiles were missing from the roof and the garden was overgrown with weeds. An old car was parked by the adjacent garage on the right but it would be a miracle if that block of rust would ever drive again.

“How did you…” she asked and looked at the pony next to her.

“Imagination!” Derpy exclaimed. “Now go and give that Clarissa a piece of your mind.”

The girl nodded, deciding not to put too much thought into it after all. She walked the last pace up to the front door and rapped twice with her hand. It took some time with nothing happening, so she turned back to Derpy who simply shrugged. But at last the door creaked open and Clarissa was revealed, a troll of a woman with wide shoulders and short salmon hair in pigtails. The girl stammered uncertainly and took a step back.

“What do you want, dweeb?” Clarissa asked, her voice sounding like a knell and her unibrow furrowing into surprise.

“On the other hoof, one must also the value of a tactical retreat.” Derpy swooped down, grabbed the girl by her arm and carried her off to a nearby tree where they sat down on a thick branch. The girl drew her knees up to her chin and began to sob.

“You see? It’s impossible to do anything about that girl.”

“I had not expected it would come to this.” Derpy’s face became solemn and cast in shadows as she bowed forward.

“What are you talking about, Fluffykins?” The girl wiped her eye but couldn’t stop her sniffing.

“There’s only one thing you can do… muffin.”

“M-muffin?”

Derpy nodded and shook her hoof. A muffin appeared out of thin air, resting on her head. Looking straight into the girl’s eyes, she continued. “Muffin is a last resort and will work where everything else fails… unless the subject is possessed by a demon, but that rarely happens.”

The girl reached out for the treat on top of Derpy’s head but the pony grabbed itself and pressed the entire thing into her maw. The muffin-shaped lump trailed down her oesophagus and landed in her stomach with a plop.

“Listen very carefully,” Derpy said and grabbed the girl’s shoulders. “It is paramount that you make the muffins yourself, otherwise this won’t work.”

“Okay…” the girl whispered with beads of sweat erupting on her forehead. The fiery aura surrounding Derpy made the air crackle with excitement and the very background around them seemed to dissolve into a blur of red and black.

“Now then, we better get back to your kitchen!” The girl looked up and she sat on her front lawn again with Derpy in her lap, her hand resting on the blonde mane. Derpy opened an eye and smiled up at her. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

The girl looked around her with mouth opening to ask some fundamental physical questions but settled after a few minutes with a simpler one. “Was any of that real?”

“As real as you want it to be,” Derpy replied matter-of-factly and got up to stretch herself. “Now then, before we begin, you must first personalise your muffin.”

The girl nodded and Derpy jumped off her lap to dart towards the door. “Muffins come in all manners of manners of flavour and sizes, but if you don’t find the right one, the message will be lost.”

“Hmm. I like mine with strawberry icing on top.”

Derpy froze by the door and slowly turned her head while ominous music played. The girl winced at the sudden change.

“Those… are cupcakes,” Derpy said with both eyes focused intently on the girl.

“S-sorry, I didn’t know!”

Derpy’s pupils became smaller and smaller before a smile cracked on her face. “Good!” she said and pushed the front door open, humming happily as she entered. “Let’s first see what ingredients you have. We may need to go grocery shopping.”

***

I had not had much to do with the Crusaders, even before all this began to happen. I merely observed them out of amusement in school and whenever their shenanigans begged attention. It was therefore with uncertainty that I stood before their old clubhouse. There was no saying Apple Bloom would actually be there. I took a moment to catch my breath before going up the ladder. But I was in luck.

“Um…” It was only as I entered the tree house that it hit me. I had not thought of what I would say.

“Ah wish Ah had never gotten that stupid cutie mark,” Apple Bloom said. She had both her front hooves out of the far window and looked longingly up into the cloudy sky. I made my way inside but stopped on the rug in the middle.

“Are you all right?” I asked but she didn’t even notice me.

“Ah thought Ah would be happy if Ah just found mah cutie mark, but… Ah was only happy trying to find it.”

“Apple Bloom, I was wondering if you–”

“Ah don’t know where Scootaloo is anymore. She found her talent and then she’s too busy to hang out. Well Ah wish mah talent was being a big jerk and go out and do cool things, then Ah’d have an excuse too. But no, Ah just have this stupid handiwork one. Ah can fix anything but my broken heart.”

I walked up next to her and extended my hoof, but her sudden sigh made me retract it again out of surprise. Apple Bloom hung lower and lower out of the tree house and pounded the outside wall with her flailing arms.

“If only Sweetie Belle was still talking to us, Ah bet our group would never have fallen apart. It’s all that selfish–”

“Apple Bloom, I was hoping you’d–”

Her rant had made her oblivious to my entrance. She yelped in surprise as she fell headfirst out of the window. I managed to grip her tail with my magic before she could go too far however. I hadn’t been using my magic a whole lot before then. Trying to drag Apple Bloom up was like having one end of a rope around you and a boulder at the other. It took all of my strength to pull her back up. In hindsight, I could probably have just elevated her gently down to the ground.

“Hey Dinky. I uh… didn’t hear ya there,” she replied with only her hind legs safely inside again. “How long were you listening in on me?”

“Long… enough,” I panted. My magic finally gave in but Apple Bloom was by then dangling on the sill. “Listen, I actually came here because I wanted to know something about Sweetie Belle.”

“Oh.” Her whole body relaxed like a bag of cooked spaghetti. “Me and Sweetie don’t talk much no more.”

“I’ve noticed,” I said as I bit into her tail to get her all the way inside. Apple Bloom fell listlessly to the floor. “Could you tell me how to get on her good side? I’ve been trying everything from food to helping her find her talent.”

“Ah’m sorry ta say this, Dinky, but we don’t know you all that well. If you want on her good side, trah and be her friend first.”

“Haven’t I already? I’ve baked her muffins and I’ve taken her out to eat, what else can I do?”

Apple Bloom rolled on her back and looked up at the ceiling. “Yer trying too hard. Of course she’ll push you away the more you shove. Talk with her, not too her.”

I could only look at Apple Bloom in wonderment, like seeing her in a whole new light. “You’re really good at this.”

“And yet Ah couldn’t get my cutie mark in it.” She lazily waved a hoof towards a set of shelves by the far wall. A dozen books with tips about everything from dating to parkour were prominently displayed. “Maybe Ah should return ‘em soon. No need ta keep them now we’ve gotten our marks and ya know how fussy Twalight gets about her books. Or maybe ya don’t. Twalight is the librarian in town and she–”

Regrettably I had to stick my entire hoof into her mouth to shut her up. She mumbled something that sounded like “Sorry” so I released her again.

“Thank you, Apple Bloom. You’ve given me something to think about, so let me tell you something too.” I smiled encouragingly and hastily made me way back outside, but not before looking back and giving my coolest look yet. “I’ll take care of things. Soon you’ll be partying with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo again.”

With that totally radical performance I knew that I had rediscovered my spark again. I didn’t even look over my shoulder to see Apple Bloom’s reaction. I just knew I had nailed it. But I had also made a big promise. For almost a whole month I had tried without success but what she had said totally made sense. I just needed to find the best way to go about it. Plans and pondering.

My train of thought was thoroughly derailed however when I returned home however. My dad’s voice carried out and I thought for a moment it was mom who had returned until I heard what he said.

“I told you never to come here! My daughter could be home at any minute.”

“But that’s why I came. It’s been little over three weeks already. Time Turner, she isn’t going to come back.”

“Get out! Get out now!”

A grey earth pony trod out with a sly smile on her lips. I recognised her before she could drag her cloak around her. It was Octavia, the famous classical artist, walking out of our house. My adolescent mind could not understand the implications this situation was fraught with. Instead I smiled and I think even a giggle escaped me. I always favoured her kind of music to, say, Vinyl Scratch’s. I think I gasped in delight as well as Octavia turned her head towards me.

“Hello little filly. Do you live here?” she asked with a bright, innocent smile. I nodded fervently. “Then you must be… Dinky Doo, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So polite.” Octavia ruffled my hair. Now that I think about it, that must have been when I giggled. “Your father mentions you all the time.”

“You know my dad?” I asked, looking up at her with eyes that had a tendency to melt ponies’ hearts.

Octavia drew her shoulders up to her chin and blushed. “You can say that. I just had to congratulate him on the shop. He’s been talking about it for years. Say, Dinky, won’t you keep my appearance here a secret? I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.” She looked behind her but my dad hadn’t noticed our hushed conversation yet.

“Of course!”

“I can see why your dad is so proud of you. Take care of yourself, and remember, not a word.”

She winked and hastily galloped towards what I could only assume was the train station, her cloak billowing in the wind. I was astonished to see her at my home. Maybe it’s not much of an excuse for what happened next, but my head was a little empty in the next scene. Even my thoughts about Sweetie’s Belle meaty body had left my mind. I entered the shop again with eyes tracing Octavia’s supposed movements, since I could no longer see her. My attention was snapped back when I heard a heavy bag bang into the wooden floor. Dad wiped his brow and rested the hoof back down on a large rucksack in a hideous green colour.

“There, I’ve packed your bag, Dinky.”

I stared horrified, first at the bag, then at dad and back to the bag. “A-are you throwing me out because I left the shop?” I asked with tears streaming down my cheeks.

He looked at me searchingly for a moment and then burst into laughter. “What? Dinky, you’re going to Manehattan tomorrow with school.” I blinked vacantly for a moment as I allowed long-forgotten memories to resurface. My dad nudged the bag towards the wall with his head. “You be glad that Applejack was still here to tell me. You forgot to give her a receipt. I swear, Dinky, you’re getting more and more like your mother with every day.”

With everything that had happened, the thought about going to Manehattan had completely left me. If I had been talking with my friends as I usually did I’m sure it wouldn’t have. My dad embraced me and held me close to his chest while resting his chin on my head. I couldn’t help myself and I began to laugh. Such mirth had been me denied for so long with all the speculation and worrying. It was so silly and yet so like me. Soon my dad began as well. I had not seen him happy either for some time. All his business and shop opening and mother being gone must have weighed him down as well. We couldn’t stop laughing once we had started, not before we were both lying on the floor with cheeks hurting and tears rolling down them. Finally, for the first time in what seemed forever, the future looked bright again.

Of course, such idealistic visions only exist in our minds. It is up to ourselves in the present to create the future we want. It was bright and early the next morning and I had equipped the rucksack. The colour didn’t bother me, considering I could have been forced to wear… the other one. My mom probably thought it was cute on me, but pink just clashes with my grey/violet coat, and the balloons and suns just don’t belong with someone of my age at that time.

“Oh Dinky, I’m so sorry. How could I have forgotten that I had an important meeting here?” my dad said and tripped around the floor.

I yawned and pawed at my right eye. I was too drowsy to quip, but it would probably have been something like, “Who do I resemble again?” or “Are you sure I’m taking after mom?” But things have a strange way of working themselves out. A knock on the door nearly sent my dad ten feet in the air. I had no choice but to get it myself.

“Kampai!” a voice said as soon as I opened it with confetti raining down over me. A pair of blue eyes looked down at me in surprise. “Dinky? Where’s your mother?”

“She’s not home right now, but I’m sure she will be soon.”

“Waa, you’re so kawaii!” She put down a bottle of ‘Sake’ and picked me up so my backpack fell off. Raindrops was a pegasus like my mum and the two of them went all the way back to Cloudsdale. My dad didn’t much like her, probably because she was every bit as ditzy as my mum. Well, in her own way really, as I’m sure you can tell.

“What?” I asked, and she put me back down again.

“You know, cute. You’re such a moe, Dinky.”

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying,” I said sincerely. Raindrops merely snickered and I snickered back.

“Raindrops,” my dad said coldly and dragged me inside again.

“Time Turner,” she replied equally coldly and took her bottle into her arms again.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re here, but could you make yourself useful at least? Dinky needs someone to escort her to the train station and I cannot leave the shop.”

“Hooo?” Raindrops hovered just above our doorstep with a mischievous grin on her lips. “Mr Thinks-His-Wife-Is-Too-Good-For-Raindrops suddenly need my help?”

“Please, I have no one else to turn to with such a short warning!” My dad looked up at her with a serious mien and Raindrops returned the stare impressed, before chortling satisfactorily.

“Hehe, I knew today would be a good day to visit my old gal pal. All right, Time Turner, but not for you. I’m doing this for Dinky and Derpy.”

“Fine, fine, as long as you get job done,” dad said and once again hoisted the backpack up on my shoulders. I could feel his agitation and nearly had the wind knocked out of me. “But you go straight to the station and don’t you dare give my daughter any of that rice wine.”

She had already put the bottle to lips when she rolled her eyes. “Baka, I know all that.”

“And for Celestia’s sake, try acting like a grown mare.” Dad facehoofed himself and then hugged me tightly. “I’m going to miss you, sweetie. Take care of yourself in the big city and remember to send daddy a post card.”

“I’ll only be gone for a week, dad, stop it!” I tried to push him off but he had his arms too closely wrapped around me and I was starting to get smothered with his nuzzles. Finally I managed to wrest myself free and I quickly started ahead, waving behind me and dad waving back.

Raindrops flew just above me while swigging that ‘Sake.’ I waited until we had gotten sufficiently far away from home before asking her.

“Isn’t it a little early to visit my mother? The sun is barely up.”

“I just got hold of this sweet bottle of sake, no way I could keep it to myself. Looks like I have to anyway. Really, where did that crazy mare run of to now?” I could hear her sigh deeply before taking another gulp.

“Miss Raindrops, what’s a negative reinforcement?” She nearly choked on her mouthful and she pounded her chest hard.

“Where did you hear that?” she wheezed.

“My dad always calls you that whenever you leave.”

“Well, uh, you see…”

“It means you should act your age and find yourself a husband instead of fooling around with foal’s shows.”

Carrot Top came wandering up next us with Noi trailing along.

“You’re such a tsundere, Carrot Top. And what are you doing here?”

“I’m taking my niece to the train station, as you can see.”

“Your niece? Didn’t I see you enter the Sisterhood Socials with her?”

“P-lease, no one takes their sister to the Sisterhood Social anymore. Berry went with her daughter last time.”

I went with my sister last time. I didn’t mention it however because I wasn’t interested in meddling with the grownup arguments. Instead I dropped behind to walk next to Noi. She was filled with a lot more energy than I had seen in a long time and she wore her smile with genuine happiness behind.

“You look happy,” I said. “Excited for the trip?”

“No. I mean, yes, but that’s not it!” she chirped and adjusted her own canary yellow backpack. “S-Shin gave me my first ear rings.”

“No way! That colt in a class above us? With the claw hammer cutie cutie mark?” I already knew that she had gotten a coltfriend, but I had promised Half Note not to tell anyone until Noi told me officially.

“Mhm!” She was smiling so satisfied that it was hard not to be smitten. “He’s just so sweet. Sweetie Belle tried to steal my lunch again and then he stepped in.”

“Sweetie Belle…” At least I think I said that part out loud. I felt so inspired at that moment and I just couldn’t wait to see her again. But the fear of her not showing up still plagued me. I dreaded that possibility. Then I would have to wait the entire week before seeing her again. But if she did come, then the Manehattan trip could work in my favour if I played the cards correctly. I just needed to do as Apple Bloom had told me so I wished intently that she would be there.

We arrived at the train station and Noi got the same treatment as I had with my dad earlier. Raindrops landed down next to me and put the bottle to her lips again.

“I’d better get going again. Once your mother goes off on her adventures it could take weeks before she’s seen again.”

And with that, Raindrops took off into the sky again. Carrot Top grumbled almost inaudibly next to me. “Please promise me you won’t grow up to be like her.” She embraced me tightly and I nearly tipped over from the weight of my backpack. “I’m sure your dad has already done all this, but… take care of yourself, Dinky. I can’t believe that Derpy would miss her own daughter’s first trip into the world alone.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure she misses me as well.”

Carrot Top held me out at an arm’s length and looked me up and down. Apparently she found a blemish as she then started to rub my cheek. “Sometimes I wonder if that mare even knows what goes on around her.”

“There you are, Dinky!” Miss Cheerilee waved at me from the train. “Come on now, we are only waiting on you.”

I was getting pretty good at wrestling myself free since everypony always liked to pick me up or hold me tight. I slipped away from Carrot Top and hastily boarded the train.

“We have the last three train cars for ourselves so just pick any empty seat back there.”

I nodded and ran down the train, sliding doors open on my way. All of them had groups of varying sizes inside but not my Sweetie Belle. I mean, Sweetie Belle. Just Sweetie Belle. I was getting distressed however as I cleared the second wagon and entered the narrow corridor of the third. Having checked only one compartment however, I immediately saw Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

“Meaty Belle… G-good one,” Silver Spoon laughed nervously and looked down at her hooves.

“Come on, we’d better see where Lickety Split reserved us a seat,” Diamond Tiara replied. She shot me a venomous glance and then snorted as she passed me. Silver Spoon looked ready to say something but a pink hoof slapped her over the head so that her glasses nearly fell off.

It was easy to deduce from their statements where Sweetie Belle could be found. I should not have been surprised it was the last one in the train. Her sizable body took up most of the seat even as she just sat down. All of her folds spilled down and filled the space around her. I couldn’t even see her legs through the fat and her neck had just become another part of her face.

“What do you want?” she asked, refusing to look at me and instead directed her attention out of the window. The train had begun moving, so I threw the bag under the seats and sat down opposite her.

“I was a little late so this is the only compartment left.”

My smile went unrequited but that was all just a part of my plan. None of us said anything the next hour. We cleared the grasslands and entered the Canterlot Mountains, and by the time we were outside again, the sun was up shining properly. Lunch time I figured and levitated my lunchbox out of my bag. The hours I spent training had paid off and my magic was really getting under my control. As per my request, dad had given me plenty to eat. I took out a tomato sandwich and dug in while Sweetie Belle too began her lunch. Somewhat more meagre, she had the tomatoes but not much else.

“Oh no, it looks like my dad gave me too much again.” My voice might have been a little too insincere but Sweetie Belle’s rumbling stomach left her no room for suspicion.

“Just hoof it over,” she demanded and extended a flabby hoof but I levitated my box out of her reach.

“And what do you think you’re doing? I only share my food with my friends and you’ve made it perfectly clear… we’re not friends.”

She grumbled and actually restrained herself. I finished my sandwich at the same time as she polished off three whole tomatoes. “Fine. I’ll be your friend, so just gimme,” Sweetie Belle squealed. It tore at my heart to hear her whine like that but I couldn’t give in.

“All right, you can have one, but just one.” I had prepared special sandwiches just to get on her good side. I would never touch them myself as they were slathered with thick, creamy mayonnaise but Sweetie gulped it down in one bite. Half of my lunchbox gone.

“Now that we’re friends, perhaps you’d like to tell me what’s been bothering you?” Too soon. Sweetie Belle grunted and resumed her window staring. We were just about halfway and the endless seas of green stretched out before us in all directions. “You know, my mum has been gone for some time. When I feel really sad I eat a muffin to get better. A lot of people worry about you, Sweetie Belle. You can talk to me about anything.”

“Just leave me alone, okay? I never asked you to sympathise me with and I don’t know you, Dinky. You’re not my friend,” was the reply. I shook my head.

“Shame. Guess I have to eat this double mayonnaise, double cheese… crisp hay crust… lettuce & tomato sandwich on my own.” I was deeply revolted by the sound of it but it caught Sweetie Belle’s attention, as I had rightfully predicted. I slowly began to sink my teeth in it, nearly gagging doing so. Fortunately she snatched it away from me before I could even taste it. I would probably have ralphed for real had it touched my palate. It hovered into her hooves and she was just about to eat it when the weirdest thing happened. She simply froze for a moment before crying.

“I can’t help myself. Ever since my summer vacation I’ve been unable to think of anything but food. I can’t even escape it when I dream. I… I think I’m going mad.”

I had no words for what I was seeing. Rather than eating it, she allowed the filling to slip out of the bread and plaster her sizable stomach. Then she bowed her head into it and cried heartfelt. “I can’t stop thinking of food. Even when my stomach hurts from eating I just want more. Rarity tries to help me by putting me on diets but then I just end up stealing.”

“It sounds like you’re really ill, Sweetie Belle. Did something happen on your vacation?” I took the sandwich back from her and put it back in my box. I couldn’t finish my own portion either so instead I took a handkerchief from my bag and started cleaning her tummy.

“I don’t know! I want to remember but nothing comes to me except food. I don’t want to but I just keep eating. I’ve gained so much weight but I can’t stop. I’m six times the pony I was before the summer holidays.”

Again my heart skipped a beat and strange warmth filled my body. I had to take a few minutes fiddling with my hooves before I could continue. “Haven’t you told anyone about this? Not even Rarity?”

“No,” she replied and buried her head in her hooves. “She just thinks our parents spoiled me.”

“I tell you what, the two of us will be spending all week together. That means I can keep an eye on you. I promise, if you can stick to your diet in that time then you are stronger than your addiction. We’ll worry about what’s causing it for later, for now we’ve got to get your eating under control.”

She nodded. Finally I had gotten through to her. She had really, truly opened up to me. The rest of our trip to Manehattan went in the same vein. I shan’t bore you with the details but some highlights are in order. Cheerilee had booked a few dormitories at a hostel for us and I was luckily put in the same room as Sweetie Belle. We were about to settle in for the day when we realised Sweetie Belle had deformed the lock on her bag somehow, rendering her key useless. I was helpful enough to get the manager, unlike the others who could only laugh. He was a big, burly zebra and I must admit he frightened me a bit. But he got a pair of pliers and snipped it right open.

Cheerilee asked us to form groups of two and two so we wouldn’t get separated. You can guess who I chose. At day we went into town and visited museums and landmarks and I got really close to Sweetie Belle at that time. At night we went out to restaurants or to theatres. Pony Phantom of the Opera was something I would never have gotten to see back in Ponyville.

Not much else happened worth mentioning. On the third day, we were supposed to go visit the Statue of Freedom but Sweetie Belle had overslept. By the time we got out of the door Cheerilee had already moved on. Guess I shouldn’t have told her I was right behind them. But we still made a day out of it and hired a really fancy balloon and saw the waterfront and the statue from the air.

It was on our last night however that it happened. Noi told me about a restaurant she had visited with Shin. Since Sweetie Belle had followed her diet so strictly even from all the pain it must have wrought her, I decided it was time to splurge. Sadly I can’t remember the name of the place anymore, but the thing that struck me most was that the entire male waiting staff that was obviously homosexual. They were so polite and mollycoddling and flirting with any stallions that entered, and they had that tone and those mannerisms about them. It really left no doubt and the food was so good. I got a veggie lasagne with three cheeses. It’s strange why they wouldn’t just call it a lasagne though. We ponies never eat meat so it just becomes redundant after a while.

But anyway, I could tell Sweetie Belle was struggling with choosing something. I explained her situation to one of the waiters. “Oh honey, don’t you worry about a thing,” he replied with a slight lisp and clapped his hooves against the floor. Two others came out of the kitchen also wearing the red vests. “This little pumpkin has gotten a little, hmm, round. You know what to do, girls.”

Sweetie Belle blushed and looked away embarrassed. We ate our meal but I could tell something was weighing on her mind. “Do you still have the thoughts?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe. It takes all my strength to not just jump up and eat everything in sight. It all smells so good.”

I began to regret bringing her to what could best be described as a den of vice. She had also struggled at the restaurants we had visited but it must simply have been too much at this point. But she ate her salad dutifully. Whatever they had done with it, her face got really content just after the first bite and it seemed my fears were alleviated. I even gave her my leftover lasagne. It was just a few mouthfuls but she almost cried from happiness.

We went back to the hostel shortly after that, neither of us wanting any desert. The cool night air was all the refreshment I needed and the drowsiness from eating seemed to being whisked away. Some of the ponies we passed had to look twice at seeing such a morbidly obese filly. I could feel Sweetie Belle’s self-conscious dwindle. “You’ve done it, Sweetie Belle. One whole week!”

“It’s been that long already?” she asked, her stomach gurgling. “S-sorry, the lack of food just makes me a little hungry.”

“But you’ve already eaten your fill. How can you still be hungry?”

She looked away and smiled sadly. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you but I’m not sure it will matter.”

“It will matter! You’re stronger than this.”

“I’m not so sure. I can still feel the desire gnawing at me.”

“No, you listen to me,” I said, starting to become agitated, and grabbed her face so that she looked directly at me. “You are a smart, beautiful pony and I promise you, you can do this.”

“I’m not beautiful, I’m a hideous blob.” She tried to wrest herself free but I held her in an iron grip.

“I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you.” Silence. I was shocked to find myself revealing those feelings for her. I released her meaty cheeks again and took a few steps back. “Ah… ah… s-sorry, that just blurted out, that…”

She kissed me, even before I was able to react or apologise. She simply stretched out her head and locked her lips against mine. The warmth I had felt in my chest flared to a burning fire. That was what I had felt for her along. I had finally found the words to describe it. I finally knew why I had been so intent on helping her. I loved her.

My eyes were closed and I’m guessing hers was as well. Time had completely stopped and it was just the two of us. The darkness exploded into a world of colours and it felt like I was floating away on a fluffy cloud into a rainbow land. Sweetie Belle was at my side but she was herself again. For an eternity we just drifted on an endless sky of pleasure.

But then a mighty gale blew with ferocious vigour and pushed me away. The cloud dissipated and I fell screaming to the ground. The world had darkened again aside from a small circle of light underneath me. My passion turned to a fear like I had never felt before. My coat prickled uncomfortably and I turned this way and that in hopes of finding what had done it.

The darkness swirled into a hideous mass of nuances. All I could see was glowing slits opening with burning coal as pupils. The anger of the eyes cut into my bones and I was too terrified to speak or even think.

“What bussssinesssssssss do you have to interfere with my plansssssss? Ssssssweetie Belle is mine, MINE! Nothing you can do or sssssssay will change that. If you meddle in my affairssssss one more time I will persssssonally sssee to it that you will never meddle again.”

I opened my own eyes and I was still standing on a Manehattan sidewalk. Sweetie Belle had pulled away and broken the spell. I could see fresh tears down her coat. “We should get back already,” she muttered. The fear lingered in me and I had no words to say. We went back to our dormitory without discussing the business further, or even talking at all. I laid my head down in my bunk bed but the vision pervaded my dreams. My sleep was uneasy and I was still tired when I awoke. I remembered ruefully what had happened last night and it was with greatest dread that I hopped down to check the bed below mind.

Sweetie Belle was gone. Her blue sheets were drenched almost black with cold sweat but the note she had left me was stained with tears. Those two words I’ll never forget. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh Sweetie Belle, you foal.” My own tears mingled with hers and the pencil scribbles almost completely washed out. I felt so alone and despondent. I had kept my worst possible scenarios to myself, refusing to believe that there was anything seriously wrong with Sweetie Belle. There was only thing left for me to do, that I should have done so long ago. I needed an adult.

The fine weather outside betrayed my sombre mood. Our mess hall was in the building next to ours, just down the stairs, but many chose to eat outside on the prepared benches. Noi and Shin was together as one might had expected. He was really a good-looking colt with a blood red coat and short blonde mane, and a pair of small glasses to accentuate his boyishly charming looks. That was the happiness I had unconsciously been seeking with another mare. I sighed and went over to Cheerilee who sat nearest the basement stairs and prepared a piece of toast with jam.

“Hello, Dinky. Usually it’s Sweetie Belle who’s first to the food.” She chuckled at her own wit and took a bite.

“That’s what I want to talk about. I don’t think she’s well and she’s… she’s disappeared,” I said in a low voice, looking down at my hooves. It was hard keeping the tears at bay but then, I had never stopped them in the first place. Cheerilee paused in mid-chew and swallowed what must have been a large clump of food.

“What do you mean Sweetie Belle has disappeared? The gate is locked at night.”

“I don’t know!” I was getting hysterical and I could not help but cry profusely. “But she’s… there’s something seriously wrong with her.”

Cheerilee started a search party with the help of the staff first but Sweetie Belle was not to be found at the hostel. As I had expected. They found a backdoor broken up and it was then decided to call the police. Our return trip was postponed until she could be found and messages were sent to the parents. All I could do was sit on my packed suitcase in the courtyard and wait for news. They wouldn’t be good under any circumstances. The vision I had had had been real. I looked up into the sky and saw clouds clutch at the sun.

A few hours later they found her. The police had followed a trail of break-ins at various eateries all around town starting with a corner café not far from the hostel. They ended at a very high-end restaurant some distance away. Everything had been eaten, lock, stock and barrel, several hundreds of bits worth of food. The Manehattan police promised they would take care of everything and we were permitted to go home again. I was just glad to be back in Ponyville, but I could see from my window that dad was talking to somepony. I instantly noticed the cloak.

“I told you to go home,” he hissed at the figure. “What would people think if they saw me with you in public?”

“You didn’t mind my company last night,” she purred. I crept nearer. Dad looked around him at the stream of foals and their parents greeting them.

“Nothing happened last night!” he screamed as loudly as a whisper would permit him.

“Only because you spent it bawling about your missing wife. You can’t tell me you don’t feel something about me?”

At this point, dad probably noticed my large backpack. The train whistled and their words, quieter than ever, drowned in the clamour of more talkative ponies. Alone, my dad pushed his way to me and embraced me. I explained everything to him on the way back, not just the theories I had discussed with the police officers, but also about my intentions and my feelings. I would have burst if I had held it in much longer.

“I’m very sorry about your friend, sweetie. Whatever you decide to do I will support you one hundred per cent.” He rubbed his head up against mine and gently pushed me back on my bed. “It’s been a long day. I promise you, tomorrow we’ll go visit her.”

“You know where she is?” I asked excitedly and pulled the sheet down.

“Well…” he replied nervously. The truth was visibly difficult, but I had also told him a lot of personal things. He dithered about telling me or not for a while. “I knew that you must be worried about her so I made some enquiries. They transported her back to Ponyville and put her straight in the hospital.”

I sat up abruptly. “She’s in the hospital?”

“You see, sweetie.” My dad sat down next to me, spending another moment trying to articulate a heavy subject to a minor. “Pony bodies are not meant to go on all night eating binges. She has trouble breathing and getting her blood flowing. She’s… very heavy.”

“I have to see her now then!” My dad grabbed around me and held me close, despite my tearful flailing. “Let me go, I need to see her now!”

“They wouldn’t permit us at this hour. I’ll wake you bright and early tomorrow, so please calm down.”

He pushed me down and wiped the hair from my eyes. My head was a jumble of emotions and pain and I wanted nothing more than to just jump up and race out of the door, but I could barely see straight. My dad had just turned off the light when I fell into a deep slumber.

True to his words, dad woke me shortly after the sun had risen. We rushed to the hospital after swallowing a short meal. I noticed, but didn’t pay much mind to, that my dad had closed the shop. It was only Saturday but he was willing to do that for me.

An earth pony doctor in a white lab coat stopped us outside of her room and dragged us off to the side. “You might not want to do this. Sweetie Belle ate roughly four times her own body weight in food in the space of eight hours. I’m surprised she survived this long, but it probably won’t be much longer. You are better off leaving now and not have the current image of her burned into your mind.”

“I understand, doctor, but… I love her,” I sniffed and wiped my eyes. “Please?”

The doctor looked at my dad who nodded in response, so he sighed and put a hoof to the door. It creaked open and all I could was a giant mass of white beyond.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Sweetie Belle lay on a reinforced bed, massively bigger than the last time I had seen her. Her limbs and head looked like they were being eaten by an enormous white ball. She had lost all shape and had become one solid pile of fat spilling everywhere. Wires connected her to machines that helped her breather and beat her heart for her and sent ounces of liquid directly into her system for her. Rarity sat at the bedside and snored, head resting on what had once been a leg. The stomach was so bloated that it completely overshadowed everything else.

Two of Celestia’s finest stood guard by the far wall, stoically holding on to their spears.

“Celestia herself expressed her worry,” my dad explained from outside the small room. “Sweetie Belle has caused a lot of trouble in Manehattan, but the Princess is willing to exonerate her if she really wasn’t acting of her own will.”

“She wasn’t!” I burst out to which the doctor shushed me. “I mean, she wasn’t. Aren’t you coming in?”

“This is between you and her. I won’t interfere.” He smiled to me and then closed the door again. Rarity didn’t bother me either. She had most likely been up all night. Her mascara had run and whatever she had been knitting was just an inattentive jumble of yarn.

I sat down on Sweetie Belle’s other side and grabbed her hoof. There wasn’t much wriggle room anymore but it was still warm and sweaty. A long stick with a moist rag on one end stood up against the wall, so I’m guessing she had just gotten a bath. Her white coat was certainly glistening.

“It’s my fault you’re here. You were pacing your hunger fine on your own. It was only when I began helping you diet that it went out of control.” I sniffed heavily and buried my head into her side where my cries were muffled. I had so many other things to tell her but the prospect of her imminent death choked my words completely. Once again I felt things blacken out. I didn’t go through that whole pleasure cruise like last time but was taken directly to the darkness with the spotlight.

“It isssss fortunate that you are here,” the voice hissed. “Thanksssssss to your friend, I have been able to take ssssssspiritual form. But now I feel my hossssssssssst dying and I need a new one. I feared I would have to ussssssse her ssssssssssssssisssssssssssster.”

A purple unicorn materialised out of the darkness, no longer the mere eyes I had seen previously. She was tall and lanky with a bloated stomach, and her ribs were showing. The skin looked like it had been stretched across a skeleton. Her lips were sealed together so that her mouth was just a tiny hole like the head of a needle. I think that accounted for the whistling voice.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked and backed away, trying to control my hammering heart.

“The sssssssssame thing asssssssss your friend. With your petite body I will be able to conssssssssssume enough to gain a physsssssical form as well.”

Slobber fell from her mouth as a dark yellow beam ignited from her horn. I closed my eyes and screamed out loud, feeling my own horn growing hot. My body reacted instinctively on fear and countered the spell. I peeked out of my lids and saw how her spell was being pushed back. She grunted and added more force but I could tell. My magic was somehow stronger than hers. The two spells pushed and shoved for dominance before exploding into a plethora of colours. The world around us slowly dissolved as the blackness gave for light.

“Nooooooo! How isssssssss thisssssss posssssssssible?” She snorted angrily at me and charged, but I kept my cool. I lowered my head and fired a beam of my own will. I wasn’t sure what it would do, but the light engulfed her and coiled around her until I could see only her menacing eyes. “Do not think thissssss isssssssss over. Equesssssssssstria isssssssss a much greedier place than before. I will find ssssssssssssomeone elssssssssse.”

The unicorn exploded and I was flung out of the realm. Back in the real world, I toppled from my chair with a clang. It didn’t take long for Rarity to wake up and the doctor to enter. Even the guards took a step forward, their faces dumbfounded and gaping. I looked up at the bed and saw what all the gasping was about. Sweetie Belle was… was back to normal.

The bed looked completely ridiculous to her form. She didn’t even take up half of it.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried out and embraced her sister tightly. “Wait till our parents hear about this. They are already on their way here now to see you. We all thought this was our last goodbye.”

She was rambling at this point, spurting out various facts in her attempt to avoid the question that lay on all of our minds. Fortunately, the good doctor had kept enough wits to put words to it.

“What in Equestria is going on here?” he asked almost agitated, looking from Sweetie Belle to me. My dad helped me back up on the chair. I could feel his support behind me even though he said nothing. There was no danger with him around so I tried to explain the best I could. Sweetie Belle herself managed to squirm out of Rarity’s arm and sat back down on the bed.

I had already told my theories so many times the day before, yet with the new information and certainty, I was able to fill out a few holes. They would probably not have believed me but the evidence was right before them. I had transformed Sweetie Belle back to her old shape with not a single gram too much. Words often failed me as I had little concept of the things that happened but dad was right at my side, helping out. He had listened to me before and knew some of what I was going on about.

“So what was that thing possessing Sweetie Belle?” the doctor asked and prodded his glasses up his nose.

“I don’t know,” I replied and shook my head. “But it’s not dead yet. It’s still out there and I think it’s going to possess someone else unless we stop it.”

“We’ll report these developments back to the Princess immediately,” the left guard said and tapped the butt of his spear into the floor.

“Sure.” Sweetie Belle jumped down on the floor and started moving around, testing her newfound mobility by walking around in circles. “I’m sure the Princess will advise Twilight to come up with something, so why don’t we get a head start?”

“We?” I asked curiously, to which Sweetie Belle nodded.

“This last month has been a haze for me but there are some things I remember… last night for example,” she said and blushed furiously. It took me a moment to realise what she was talking about and my eyes found my hooves. That was a small detail I had left out, a detail I wasn’t quite ready to tell anypony about… yet.

“So do you remember how this awful thing happened?” Rarity asked and embraced her sister again. “Mom and dad recounted how you had explored some dirty caves to the southwest.”

“Dad got tired of mom’s gambling in Las Pegasus so he booked us on a tour of the San Palomino Desert. There were some really interesting pre-civilisation ruins there but I’m not sure what happened after that.”

“That’s it, then!” I exclaimed to everypony’s surprise. I smiled sheepishly and continued less loudly. “You must have been struck by an ancient curse. This should be enough information for Twilight to go with.”

“Sis!” Rarity refused to let Sweetie Belle go despite her struggling.

“I just missed you so much, Sweetie Belle. You nearly… you know,” she replied and rubbed cheeks.

Part 3/3

I had serious trouble distinguishing between the two ponies I acquired last spring. I tried marking them with chalk, but that washed away in the rain. I tried tying scarves to their necks, but that blew off in the wind. Fortunately, a friend pointed out that black one is taller than the white one.

EQUESTRIAN SHIPPING SHORT STORY 04: VARIOUS KINDS OF DREAD PART 3/3

The place was a retirement home, the scene was old people sitting in armchairs and sofas. Silence hung over the living room except for the ticking of the wall-mounted clock and the occasional cough. A butch lady in a white nurse’s uniform and with red hair entered carrying a metallic tray with little cups. She placed each in front of the right person and offered some water with the pills as she ensured everyone took their medication.

“All right, ladies, that was today’s entertainment,” she said with a masculine voice. A bulge was visible on her crotch. “We’re making soup for dinner so don’t anyone die until then.”

An old man grumbled as he smacked his lips dully. He had no teeth, not even a prosthetic. His hair was bald unlike his ears and like everyone else, his skin was wrinkled. For about ten minutes, the residents of “Super Home!” sat and enjoy their retirement. They had become a burden to their families and not even the small staff wanted to bother with them. No one said anything. The cards had been placed up on a high shelf along with the TV remote, and all the board games including chess had been locked away in cabinets. The sound system had not been used in uncountable ages and the nurse’s comment was more than likely ironic. Death was the only prospect for those people.

Old Herman however, the man who grumbled before, noticed a tapping on the window. He looked up and saw a grey butt going back and forth against the panes of glass. He lifted his fluffy eyebrows to reveal a pair of tired blue eyes. His face changed from nothing to surprise and finally to happiness. A memory from a long, long time ago crossed his aged mind. He couldn’t even remember the achievements of his life but the rude flasher brought back something pleasant.

“Oh my stars… it couldn’t possibly be…”

The other residents, who could still hear him, looked up. Their faces went through the same gamut of emotions as Herman and they started to mutter all at once, like a low chant. One by one they got up on their feet, aided by their canes or with a creak from their hips. The butt turned around and was replaced with a blonde head. Herman smiled brighter than he had in a long time.

“You came back, Derpy,” an old lady said excitedly as she went for the window, clutching to her walker, but Herman shook his head. Martha focused on him through her thick glasses.

“Robert, lock the doors first. We don’t want those stiffs to interrupt us.” There was a slight whistling to Herman’s command but Robert understood perfectly. An old man with a green beret on his head went for the door and then Martha, directed by Herman’s waving hand, opened the window.

A grey pegasus flopped into the room and landed on the floor. She was quickly surrounded by the old people who all want to grab her cheeks or stroke her coat. Life returned to the old folk little by little and Derpy happily swished her tail back and forth. An old man whose face had been completely scrunched up stands behind her and smiles at the gentle whipping of her tail.

“We’ve waited nearly twenty years for you,” an old lady said and fell around Derpy’s neck, unintentionally as she had attempted to walk again after losing her mobility to arthritis.

“What the Hell is going on in there. Didn’t I tell you ladies that you’re too old for excitement?”

A loud banging began on the door that they had locked, first to get their attention and then to break it down. The old people didn’t care. Derpy flew up around the ceiling much to their enjoyment before landing in a battered armchair. A man who was nothing but bones in a skin bag sat hooked up to a machine. He smiled a toothless grin and stroked Derpy’s back, nearly crying with joy. Finally the door gave in and the head nurse strode in through the broken remains.

“A cartoon pony. How quaint,” she said and took Derpy by the skin of her neck, holding her up close to her face. She sharpened her gaze through her red glasses. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to these people?”

“Aw, lighten up, nurse,” Herbert said and chuckled. The nurse released Derpy again who splatted to the floor with tongue rolling out of her mouth.

“I told you old geezers a million times not get excited. Now get back in your chairs before I give you all sedatives.” None of them obeyed so she stepped forward, but was halted by Derpy. The nurse grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up into eye level. “And you, how did you even break the fourth wall?”

Derpy looked into the glasses with her kind eyes and displayed an uncanny ability shared by all things cuddly. The longer you stare at it, the wider your smile gets. And so the head nurse tried to let go of Derpy again, but was inevitable lost in the yellow peepers.

“Damn you,” she said and wiped her eyes with the back of her arm before falling to her knees. She sobbed with face bowed down.

“And just what is going on here?” The Warden had entered, a young man with black hair and wearing a purple suit complete with a top hat. His eyes fell on Derpy almost instantly. He gasped and raced forward to pick her up. “Oh, Alice, I adore it! This is simply wonderful!”

“But sir, our policy is to not let the residents have fun,” a short man said and hurried in after the Warden. He was aged with stress, his brown hair short and his moustache fuzzy.

“That’s your problem, you worry too much,” the Warden replied and threw Derpy up in the air where she stayed with the help of her wings. “If these old folks can’t enjoy a cartoon pony once in their life, what can they enjoy?”

“You can’t be serious,” Alice said and scratched her head.

“Oh but I am,” the Warden said and wrapped an arm around Derpy’s neck. “Tell me how you broke the fourth wall. I want more of you here to spread love and happiness, do you understand?”

Derpy nodded but then tossed her head the other way, her face scrunching up in worry. She slipped out from the Warden’s grasp and flew towards the window.

“Wait, where are you going?” he asked and fell to his knees from suddenly not having her to lean up against.

“You have a family now, right?” Herbert asked and patted her head. She nodded and looked down at him pleadingly. “They must be missing you badly.”

“You can’t go already!” The Warden despairingly flailed with his cane, but Derpy pressed her hoof up against the window pane and looked at him with her big, swimming eyes. “I understand,” he sighed. “Elder bot!”

What looked like a giant white tablet crashed through the walls and buried the room in dust and debris. A panel opened on its belly and a telescopic arm reached out to grab Derpy around her middle. Elder bot then proceeded to break its way outside.

The people of Manburg stopped up to see the robot torpedo over their homes and businesses. A large throng followed it all the way to the alley where Derpy had first appeared. All the people she had helped met up to say goodbye. Boris and Ming had an arm around the other’s shoulder, and the big Russian cried a small tear. Giovanni stood next to a man who looked like an older version of him. The nerdy kid wore a towel around his neck and cheered. The girl stood with a hand in her bully’s.

“Goodbye, Derpy!” they all chanted and waved as hard as they could, some whistling and others crying out. Derpy waved back at them and hopped into the box, her hind legs flailing to push her all the way. The box tipped over but nothing spilled out.

“We will never forget cartoon pony,” Boris said and bawled into his arm.

“Will she ever come back?” the bully asked.

“Of course she will,” Herbert said and grinned. “Don’t worry, young’uns. I’ve already seen twice in my lifetime ever since she first visited sixty years ago.”

***

Twilight was waiting for us on the library floor with a book spread out before her and piles of them around. She looked to be enjoying herself with a smile on her lips as she lazily flipped the pages with her magic. Spike on the other hoof went around with a broom and swept up little clouds of dust.

“Hey girls,” she said and looked up, then cocked her head in puzzlement. “Sweetie Belle, I had heard that you were nearly… I’m glad to see you’re well again! Did your problem solve itself then?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No. Dinky exorcised the demon but now it’s loose in Ponyville. We really need your help in defeating it once and for all.”

“Dinky did? Wow!” She looked up at me with eyes full of admiration. I couldn’t help but blush and looked away. “Well, I’ve been doing some research on my own, but I haven’t exactly made much progress with such a vague description.”

Since I was the one who had actually seen it, it was up to me to try and describe it. Twilight scratched her muzzle for a long time as she sat there and pondered.

“And you’re absolutely sure that it was a demon from pre-civilisation?” she pressed, to which Sweetie Belle nodded.

“Those were the ruins I visited,” she stated.

“You can put that back. It won’t help us here.” Spike was otherwise carrying a heavy book towards us called ‘MegaTen: A Demonic Compendium of Your True Self.’ Now he just looked disappointed and started off again, dragging his feet along the floor under the weight of the tome. “Don’t we have a book somewhere for pre-civilisation?”

Much to my surprise, an owl swooped down. I had not seen it as I entered, but it seemed to have a place in Twilight’s library. It dropped a book before her and she immediately began to flicker the pages. “Thanks, Owlowiscious, just what I needed,” she said without taking her eyes off the book. “Before windigos forced us here, ponies had already lived in Equestria for thousands of years. Sadly, they left little trace of themselves and the only serious book I’ve found is this incomplete volume of diaries.”

“You’re sure it will be of any use then?” I asked with some concern as I raised an eyebrow at the book. It was rather worn too and the binder was cracked and musty.

“Isn’t this what you saw?” With a little help from a purple aura, the pages frantically flipped until stopping at an illustration. “The hungry ghost,” Twilight explained as she read aloud, “also called preta or gati, are the spirits of greedy or jealous ponies who have become demons with an insatiable appetite. Their mouths are the size of a needle’s eye and with a stomach the size of a mountain.”

I stared at the illustration. It was a veritable likeness to what I had gazed upon. “This is exactly what I saw! Could we borrow this book for a while?” I asked, while Sweetie Belle took the book with her magic. She studied the plain green front that yielded no expectations of the inside.

“Sure. Normally I’d have you fill out loaner cards but… I think I can trust you two.” She smiled up at us and returned to her own book. “I’ve searched the library in Canterlot, even in the Crystal Kingdom, so believe me when I tell you that there are no other books on the subject.”

“That’s all right. I think we’ve got enough to go by here.”

We went outside again and found a quiet part of town to do the reading. A small park with a little pond, trees with crowns swaying from a gentle breeze making the hot day bearable. The long shadows only made it all the more comfortable. With the book spread out before us, we started to flick through the pages. It got boring quickly though. The language was typical of hundred years old and most of the words were flowery and with a lot of syllables. It dawned on us just how badly we understood the book when we saw that Twilight had only been paraphrasing it. Sweetie Belle rolled on her back and rested her head in the tall grass.

“Hey Dinky, why did you stick by me for all that time? I mean, I was really nasty to everyone else but you kept coming back.” I blushed and furiously tore through the book to make it look like I was working. “I was really big. I must have been so ugly and smelly.”

“Actually, I thought you were kind of cute. When you were smaller, of course.”

“You liked that I gained a little weight?” she asked in surprise.

My book trick would not get me out of that one. Instead I coughed and avoided her glance. “Well, maybe a little. It just gets tiring to look at all these identical shapes. One might almost think we were made from the same basic build.”

I thought for sure she would reproach me, like I was some kind of freak. Instead I heard her giggling so I looked back at her only to find that she was then lying right up against me. “I remember what it was like to be pudgy. It wasn’t a bad feeling, and it really helped me to get some depth in my singing. Would you like to plump me up, Dinky?” As I didn’t answer, she continued. “I really like you. You helped me out in the bad time. I don’t know why but I just want you to know that the two of us… could maybe… figure something out?”

She rolled back on her stomach and was all the way up against me. She put her head towards mine so I instinctively did the same. The kiss was different that time. I no longer felt the presence of the demon. All I saw before me was the inside of her mind, an endless spread of happiness. It was not pictures I saw but I could feel her emotions. I had feared that she might feel pressured to like me, but that was not what I saw at all. There were real feelings mixed in it. It made me so happy that I cried a bit.

Another breeze gusted past us and the pages turned. We pulled apart again and I wiped the tears away with my hoof. I saw the shock on Sweetie Belle’s face and quickly laughed. “It’s not what you think. I’m just so happy that I couldn’t help myself.”

“No, that’s not it. Look.”

She lifted the book up in front of us. It was the very last page of the book with a self-etching of the author. “Derpina Sprint,” I read. “So?”

“Look closer. Who does she look like?” As I still couldn’t quite clearly make it out, Sweetie Belle then illuminated the smaller drawing of her cutie mark. It was a stream of bubbles. It was then that I noticed Derpina had long flowing hair, probably blonde… like my mother’s.

***

“What are you doing here? I thought you left town,” Time Turner asked and quickly drove his visitor into the back room of the shop.

“You keep avoiding me.” Octavia brushed her tail up against his face and winked at him. “And we need to talk.”

“I thought I made it quite clear that I didn’t want to see you again. How am I to look my wife in the eyes when she comes back?”

Octavia sat down on a stool by the workbench and sighed. “Your wife isn’t coming back. It’s been a whole month, more than that. She must have run off, or worse than that. But you know I’ll always be here for you. Do you remember the first time we met? Back when I wasn’t famous, right in this town. We had agreed to meet back up in Canterlot and I waited for you for a long time. That’s when she first stole you from me.”

Time Turner shook with anger and spat on the floor. “You’ve always remembered things like you wanted to. You took off to Canterlot as soon as you got a gig with that instrument of yours. I shouted to you at the station that I would come for you, but you wouldn’t even look out of your compartment window. I nearly sacrificed everything to run after you when that storm hit.”

“Can’t you let bygones be bygones again? Whenever your wife leaves it’s always me that you find,” Octavia purred and took Time Turner’s hooves into hers. For a moment it seemed like he would agree to it, but he cast her hooves aside.

“What do you even want with me? You were quick to forget all about me in Canterlot, and you are too good to be seen with me in public. Leave, now, while I still remember the pony I grew up with.”

The doorbell chose that moment to chime. Time Turner left her without another glance. He straightened his tie as he galloped through the shop. A blue minotaur waited outside holding a grey pegasus upside down by her tail.

“Iron Will found this pegasus raiding my lunch wagon. Do you know her?” Iron Will asked.

“Derpy?” The pegasus looked up at the mention of her name and a warm smile spread across her lips.

“Hubby!” she exclaimed and broke free of Iron Will’s grasp to fall around Time Turner’s neck. Both of them fell on the floor with her landing on top of him. She pressed her snout affectionately against his, while Time Turner looked away embarrassed.

“You crazy pegasus. Where have you been? We’ve all been so worried about you.” Time Turner took his wife by the shoulders but tears sprang from his eyes and he simply embraced her. Derpy couldn’t help but giggle. “What can I do to ever repay you?” he asked and looked up at the Minotaur.

“Well, Iron Will’s watch has been a little slow lately.” Iron Will took off the wristwatch on his left arm and put it down on the ground. Time Turner rolled Derpy off him and picked it up.

“No wonder. It’s three days late,” he said and held it up to his ear. “I’ll have it done by tomorrow.”

Iron Will nodded and took a basket that he had held firmly clenched between his buttocks. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Iron Will has some shopping to do before his new seminar, ‘Accepting a No.’” The minotaur tipped his dark fedora and made his way back into town.

***

I had always had suspicions about my mother’s age, but the author of the century old book was uncannily similar to her. I could not explain it so I had to find the one pony who would, if no one else. My dad. When I got home, I saw Octavia sneaking out of the backdoor. She was crying and smiling at the same as she ran through our garden. We nearly stumbled into her by the gate between hedges.

“Hey, Dinky,” she said and wiped her eyes. “We all make decisions that we have to live with for the rest of our lives. Make sure you don’t make your decisions into mistakes. And don’t simply use youth as an excuse for rash decisions.”

“What… was that about?” Sweetie Belle asked as we observed Octavia storm away from the house.

“Hay if I know. She keeps showing up around my dad.” As with the last few times, my mind was again focused on other things. I gave it only a cursory thought before rushing through our back garden. Dad had promised he would do something about it, but the shop had completely pushed it out of his schedule and Derpy had not been there to remind him. Thick vines slithered around the grass and up trees, hedge and fence. It was an overgrown wilderness but the neighbouring cats loved coming there and play. Only safe spot was the veranda where we demoted all of our worn furniture to garden chairs.

The backdoor stood open. I could not believe my eyes. It was mom who came out and scooped me up into her arms and held me close to her. “My muffin,” she said and rubbed her cheek against mine.

“Mom, not in front of guests,” I said and tried to release myself. Truth be told, I didn’t struggle very much. Mom focused one of her eyes on the giggling Sweetie Belle and put me down again. I quickly embraced her but the seriousness of the situation forced me to be a little strict and exercise self-control. “Mom, there’s something I need to ask you. Do you know this book?”

Sweetie Belle levitated it up on the rickety table between ripped, red armchairs. Her face scrunched up in concentration as we showed her the various pages and illustration. Without warning, my father came out as well and shut the book close. We all stared in surprise at him. I thought he was angry for a moment but then he sighed deeply.

“Where did you get that book?” he asked.

“I… I got it from the library.” Dad stared at me with those eyes of his that betrayed how kind he usually was. “We found out what kind of demon had possessed Sweetie Belle. This was the only material that could tell us anything.”

“What’s your problem anyway,” Sweetie Belle asked and stepped up. “It’s really important that we defeat that demon but we can’t do anything if don’t know how to defeat it.”

Dad bit his lip, looking first at my clueless mom and then up to the sky. “Is it really too important to just ignore that book?”

“Do you want everyone in Ponyville to blow up like me?” Sweetie Belle’s appalled voice was getting increasingly shrill, so dad began to pace around the veranda for a few moments.

“I promised her to never do it again. But I guess there are no other options.” He looked at me, the harshness slowly melting away and replaced with an almost pained nostalgia. “I will try to explain everything to you the best I can. You’ve no doubt noticed the similarity between Derpina and Derpy?”

“Yeah, but that’s impossible,” Sweetie Belle said and took a seat in one of the chairs. Mom took the couch next to me and dad was halfway back inside. “That book was written over a hundred years.”

Dad returned a moment later with some kind of hat made of two crossed metal bars and a bunch of visible clockwork machinery by the neck. Mom looked up at him unsure but he smiled serenely at her. “I know I promised her never to use it again, but… I think she will forgive me this once.” He pressed the helmet down over Derpy’s head so that it covered her eyes. She grimaced when he slapped it in the back, and gritted her teeth when electricity covered it. I had to take cover not to get zapped along with it. Mom slouched wearily once the device calmed down again. She adjusted it just so that it didn’t cover her eyes anymore and looked up at dad angrily with her eyes focused.

“I told you NEVER to use that thing one me ever again,” she huffed with beads of sweat running down her head.

“I know, Derpina, but it’s your daughter. There’s something she would like to know.” Derpina looked at Sweetie Belle and sighed.

“I suppose you want to know why you’re a unicorn when your father is an earth pony and your mother is pegasus?”

“Actually…” Sweetie Belle pointed towards me now lying in front of the couch. I had no idea what to say. Of course she still looked my mother, both her eyes were just focused on me, but it didn’t feel like my mother anymore. Her mannerisms, right down to the rhythmic beating of her heart, were different. There was still a connection between us that only a mother and a daughter had and she knew instinctively that Sweetie Belle was right. Derpina scooped me up easily, her eyes bored as she placed me in her lap. Her mouth opened but no words came out. Still I heard a faint cooing in my ears, a voice I sometimes heard in my sleep when my dreams got bad.

“You’re beautiful. Are you her only one?”

It took me a moment to realise what she was talking about. “No, I have an older sister as well but she moved out a few years ago.”

“Pity. I would have loved to meet her. What is your name?”

“Dinky. My sister is Amethyst Star though we just call her Sparkler.” A melancholic smile formed on her lips. She closed her eyes but a single tear still escaped her.

“To think that she would be so blessed. It almost isn’t fair. All because of that stupid mistake I made. Did Time Turner ever tell you who I really am?” I shook my head so she continued.

“My father was the last in a prestigious line of unicorns, the Thunders. But he married a pegasus out of love and I was the result. His inheritance was cut off and we lived a simple life. I gained my father’s intelligence but not his horn. My talent was revealed to be a chemist and I corresponded heavily with Cloudsdale about an updated rainbow formula. It could keep my interest however. I needed something more challenging, like finding out more about the pre-civilisation ponies. It became my obsession. If I could accomplish such a task, surely my father’s family would forgive him. Then he fell ill and I got pressed for time. I slaved day and night in every ruin I could uncover. At last I gave up finding any evidence and decided to use my talents as a chemist to create a time potion. But I was punished for my foolishness. Instead of travelling back in time, I stopped it instead. In myself.”

“Then… what happened to you?” I asked. “Who’s Derpy and why are you not here anymore?”

“The potion had other side effects. Do not mourn for me, child, or pity me. I made a bad decision and I’ve come to terms with it.” She used another moment to smile down at me before hardening her face again and looked up at dad. “There, I told her everything. Now get this thing off me so I can die in peace.”

“Actually, that’s not what we summoned you for,” Sweetie Belle said. Derpina shot her a contemptuous glare so that Sweetie Belle shrank back. I wanted to shout at Derpina but I kept seeing my mother in her. I couldn’t bring myself to reproach. Instead I sat down next to her and explained why we had summoned her. She just closed her eyes with a pained expression.

“I’m sorry. If it isn’t in the diaries, then I don’t know about it.”

“But that demon is really dangerous!” Sweetie Belle protested and jumped down. “Isn’t there something you can tell us?”

Derpina did not enjoy that tone and jumped down as well. “Well I’m sorry, little girl, but the pre-civilisation did not leave us with much. But of course, that’s all my fault, isn’t it? Just how I was born a pegasus too.”

“Stop it!” dad said and took her arm so that she was forced to look up at him. “What happened to you was over a hundred years ago.”

“I didn’t ask for you to bring me back.” Derpina snatched her arm back, and then fixed her eyes on me. “You don’t need me, Dinky. I’m nothing but a failure. You, on the other hoof, you are a Thunder. You can do anything you want with your magic if you just put your mind to it. You can become the most powerful non-alicorn magic user.”

Derpina ripped the headgear off and thrust it into the veranda floor. It broke into a million pieces in front of dad’s shocked face. I was looking at mom instead. Derpina smiled at me with what I can only presume was regret, before closing her eyes. Dad just managed to catch her before she fell to the ground.

“She’s made her decision.” Dad placed her down on the couch. Mom was completely out of it but I could still see her breathing. Like her old self again. Then dad looked at me and held me close to his chest. I was unsure what to feel or what to make of it, but it just felt good seeing dad so tender for a change. “Thirty years ago I met your mother, Dinky. I don’t think it was a coincidence either. My talent is time which must have been what attracted us.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked and looked up at him. He just ruffled my hair and released me.

“Of course she is. I’d say she’s better than any of us. Imagine what she has been doing for all these years? She… she never talks about them.” He put an arm across his eyes and I could see him heave with the sobs. What he meant with them I’m still not sure. All the coltfriends she must have had, or even families. Or maybe just good times. I nudged my head against his shoulder, so he took a deep breath. “It’s all right, sweetie. Daddy just… just worries about her sometimes. She was gone for so long and I never thought I would see her again. She messed with time. That could have serious consequences, some days I fear that she will vanish for good, swallowed up by a rift in space or something. You should go. You still have a demon to defeat.”

I could tell that there was more to it, but I didn’t say anything. After all, the words fell over each other to get out again, and he just wanted to be alone with mom. We waved goodbye to them and went out of the backyard again. He scooped mom up on his back as we left and went back inside the house.

“Well that didn’t help much,” Sweetie said and sat down on a bench at the side of the road. “Dinky? Are you all right?”

“Mmm? Oh, yeah, sure!” There was so much for me to process that I could hardly contain it. But I somehow had to focus on the task ahead of us. Fortunately, just looking at Sweetie Belle filled me with inner calm. I sat down next to her and rested my head on her shoulder. “It’s up to us now. The demon would try and find a new victim that could satisfy its need for greed.”

Sweetie Belle smiled mischievously and avoided my eyes. “I could think of somepony it would decide to visit. Who’s the greediest pony you can imagine in Ponyville?”

“The… mayor?” I asked after a moment of contemplation. Something about her constant pledges just made it pop into my mind but Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“The greediest pony I know is Diamond Tiara. Think about it? Wouldn’t she just be perfect to be haunted by a hungry ghost?”

“Makes sense… but if that’s true, then we have no time to waste! Do you know where she lives?”

Sweetie Belle just got up again and we rushed through town. None of the ponies we encountered could imagine the emergency we wanted to solve. A few yelled at us as we bumped into them but we ignored them. There was no telling what damage the hungry ghost could have caused just in the short time.

Diamond Tiara lived on the outskirts of Ponyville, as I found out. A large house with a big garden and a tall fence. I had never thought about how or where she lived for the reason that I didn’t particularly care about her. Yet I didn’t exactly hate either. Just like so many other ponies, I had gotten my fair share of bullying from her, but dad had somehow put a stop to that. He could be thoughtful when he wanted to.

We were not supposed to have entered the garden so abruptly though. A bulky earth pony in a blue vest stepped out behind the gate and impeded our progress. His hard gaze made it clear that we should vacate the premises as quickly as possible, but Mr Rich whistled at him.

Filthy Rich sat outside by a garden table and enjoyed a glass of something orange with ice cubes. I’m not sure what to think of him but I always got the idea he was more level-headed than his daughter, and far from her pretentiousness. I guess his biggest problem was his soft spot when it came to her.

“Aren’t you two in my daughter’s class?” he asked and waved us over. The private guard snarled at us slightly but retreated passively again. “Sweetie Belle and uh…”

“Dinky Doo,” I answered as we neared him.

“That’s it, Derpy’s daughter.” He took a sip from his glass and then shook it slightly so that the ice cubes sloshed around. “I don’t usually see you two around here.”

“Well…” I passed a few nervous glances with Sweetie Belle. “Actually, we’re here because… we…”

“… thought she might need some help with homework!” Sweetie Belle finished, to which I nodded generously. Mr Rich laughed heartily and nearly spilled his drink all over him.

“In that case, I hope my daughter compensates you. She can be a little stubborn like her mother so just insist. Take the stairs up and then it’s the third door on the left.”

Mr Rich went back to his drink and the financial papers before him, still chuckling slightly. We followed his instructions and were immediately taken aback by the luxuries under which they lived. The stairs were of dark, polished wood, as were the floors of a lighter tree sort. Expensive paintings hung on the walls and dressers were equipped with rare plants in pots.

“Lavish,” Sweetie Belle said and nearly stopped up to take it all in. I pushed behind her and, as we neared Diamond Tiara’s room, I heard faint grunts.

The little princess rested on her pink canopy bed on top of a mountain of wrappers and packaging, and plates were stacked high. Her belly was severely distended and her already burgeoning face was becoming too much for her tiara. A fine dress was ripping at the seams and stains of chocolate and juices adorned it. Lazily, she shoved a hoofful of cake into her slobbering maw with disregard to either manners or services.

Silver Spoon sat by a toy box with her glasses askew and fresh tears down her cheek. Her chest was heaving. “Please, Diamond, stop!” she screamed and rubbed her cheek. Diamond Tiara grunted a reply and licked the cake platter clean.

“I knew Diamond Tiara would be too good to pass up for a greedy spirit,” Sweetie Belle said triumphantly and stepped in on the lavender carpeting.

“But what do we do know?” I asked and looked first at her, and then at the panting Diamond Tiara.

“Yooouuuuu will do nothing!” a shrill voice whispered. A flaming red aura surrounded Diamond Tiara and lifted her up into the air. With her feet and belly dangling down, she had begun to look like a price pig. “Iiiiiii do not know how you found me ssssssso ssssssoon, but yooouuuu will not be ssssssso lucky again.” Diamond Tiara turned in midair and her dress finally gave up, splitting all the way down the side.

“Let go of her!” Silver Spoon exclaimed but that’s when the ghost cackled. It was enough to freeze the blood in my veins. Diamond Tiara flew out of the window like an overstuffed balloon. None of us dared to move for what seem like an eternity. Gradually mobility came back to us, and Silver Spoon finally broke down and cried.

“Now where did she go?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed disheartened as she jumped to the window next to the bed. Diamond Tiara was nowhere to be seen in the sky or on the ground.

“What was that? Diamond Tiara was never that mean before.” Silver Spoon lifted her glasses so she could wipe her eyes. “Or that gross.”

“She wasn’t herself. Far from it,” I explained and rubbed her back. “I’m not sure how to put it, but she was kind of possessed. I’m not saying it was an ancient ghost but… it was an ancient ghost.”

“How do you know all of this? And how is Sweetie Belle back again?”

“We need to get the gang back together if we want to catch that ghost. Instead of explaining this ten million times, I’ll tell you once and for all when we’re all together,” Sweetie Belle interjected hastily as she sprinted past us. I followed after her, as did Silver Spoon with no objections. In fact, she seemed delighted to be a part of it. Our first stop was Sweet Apple Acres where we found Apple Bloom up in the tree house, rhythmically blowing into a jug and looking up into the sky.

“My life is just one small passing in the great cosmic affairs of the universe,” she said and blew the jug. “When I die it will be as if I had never lived and the world will have forgotten me,” she said and blew in the jug again.

It was impossible to get a word in with Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle finally had to fling the jug into a corner with a bang before Apple Bloom realised we were even there. She stared wide-eyed first at a bashful Silver Spoon, then at a slim Sweetie Belle and finally at me.

“We’re doing something again, ain’t we?” she asked to which we all nodded. “And ya wanna know where we can find Scootaloo, yeah?” We nodded again. “Ah think Ah know where she would be. And what happened to ya, Sweetie Belle?”

We waited with telling her until we got Scootaloo. She was training in a small grove in the forest outside of Ponyville, desperately struggling to stay aloft while Rainbow Dash monitored her progress with a timer. Our arrival broke Scootaloo’s concentration, making her fall to the ground.

“Nearly six minutes? Looks like my regiment is paying off!” Rainbow Dash said and lifted the shadow of her red cap.

“I can’t say that you’re going to believe me,” Sweetie Belle said and jumped into the middle. “I just need to you listen. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

They were baffled at first, quickly turning to shock. Rainbow dragged the shadow back down over her eyes, and when Sweetie was done, we all embraced her tightly.

“I’ll go have a look for Diamond Tiara,” Rainbow said and spread her wings, but Sweetie Belle put a hoof on her chest.

“Not yet. When you find her, you need to lure her somewhere. And first we need somewhere to lure her to.”

“How about mah barn?” Apple Bloom suggested, to which the others nodded and muttered a few words in consent.

“We can prepare a trap for her in the meantime,” Scootaloo said with her brow creased in excitement.

“Then we have a plan,” I said and stuck out my hoof. The others placed theirs on top and we broke apart with an exclamation. “Yah!”

The trap, as it turned out, was a small pile of food inside the barn and us waving fans to spread the smell of delicious pies and other apple treats that the Apple family had lying around. Applejack had been a little worried about relinquishing such a big part of their stock. We explained, again, what it was for and she immediately helped us out. It was just a matter of waving and waiting. It got tiring at length and we decided to take turns. The only one not on fan duty was me. I hid away behind a bale of hay. When Diamond Tiara entered the barn, it would be up to me to jump her.

We waited, and we waited, and then we waited some more. Scootaloo was slowing down her waving and fell on her back, panting and sweating. Before Silver Spoon could take over, however, a shadow formed on the wall by the setting sun. A vaguely pig-like form waddled inside. I sprang from my hiding place to confront the intruder but the shock of seeing her completely ruined my momentum.

“Are you sssssurprised?” a voice hissed. I looked up from the now barrel-shaped Rainbow Dash to see in full, living flesh the hungry ghost. The purple unicorn looked like she always had except she was standing before me and not in my dreams. She was quite a big deal taller than me as well.

“What did you do with Diamond Tiara?” Silver Spoon demanded and stepped forward. The hungry ghost observed her with malignant disinterest.

“Sssssshe, like your friend here, have all been implanted with my sssssssseed. The more they eat, the more sssssatisfied I will become. Sssssssoon everypony of thisssssss little town will be eating for me.” Her eyes were cold and devoid of emotion. The others looked at me, expecting me to spontaneously do something extraordinary.

“I… I won’t let you do this!” I insisted, but she scoffed at me.

“And what can you do? A mere foal, no lesssssssss,” she whistled. “Perhapssssss you’d like to become the next in line?” A dark beam flew from her horn and engulfed me before I could even react. I had gotten too close and left myself too open. In the grip of that beam, I could feel the weight of her powers. My own will was slowly crushed underneath it. Yet in the darkest of hours, even a little ray of sunshine is a hope that we will grab at with all of our might.

To me, that strip of warmth was more than just hope. It was my magic shimmering before my eyes even as I drowned in a sea of greed. In my vision, I bit into the magic and I instantly felt its comforting light. Everything else mattered no longer. My horn glowed with an ocean of power I did not even know I had in me. It was like an ocean of magic surrounding me. I had only to ask to receive. My magic needed no verbal command. At my thought, it did as I ordered it to.

I was back in the room with my friends again, and my horn was really glowing as well. The hungry ghost reeled at its broken spell and screeched angrily. Again it tried to subdue me with a jet black beam but I had tapped into a wealth of resources. I easily shielded against her hex and advanced closer.

“You will not hurt my friends!” I yelled at her. To my side, Rainbow Dash had been joined by Diamond Tiara in feasting on our gathered pile of confections. The others drew up against the back wall. They were as shocked as me. I had never felt such anger before bubbling up inside me. My face contorted into a spited grimace and I could hear my own voice screaming. At that point, the magic had cast a blanket over my mind and it was like passively observing someone else doing the deed.

The hungry ghost retracted through the barn while an orb of pure, blue magic grew at the tip of my horn. Its weight followed proportionally as well and I could feel the strain on my body. Every muscle and nerve came alive with the exertion and light filled the room. My friends calmed down and inadvertently gave off some power to add to mine. Futilely, the hungry ghost tried desperately to burst the ball with her own magic, but I just absorbed it. The bubble had grown too big to be stopped. I could not contain it any longer and fired it.

What happened after that was later told to me. Judging from the Cutie Mark Crusader’s account, the bubble was flung from my horn and engulfed the hungry ghost. Both of them exploded in a fantastic bang of firework that nearly lifted off the roof of the barn. The hungry ghost screamed with pain as its features melted away. It tried desperately to free itself to the last and called Rainbow Dash to it.

She was too late. Rainbow Dash was already so big that her legs rubbed together. She got only halfway across the floor before the ghost had been reduced to a seething pile of ectoplasm on the ground. The hungry ghost was gone. With her, the spell on everyone else was lifted as well.

***

The spell had worn me out completely and I did not wake up again until half a day later. I was in the hospital along with Rainbow Dash and Diamond Tiara. We were merely being observed for any lasting trauma but nothing was wrong with any of us. Still, I had been out a long time and everyone had gathered around me, eagerly awaiting the moment I would wake up.

“We did it, didn’t we?” I asked weakly and blinked my eyes. The light was a little strong all of a sudden and I had to shield my eyes. Sweetie Belle fell about me and pressed her face up against mine. I could feel her cheek was wet.

“That spell you created was insane!” she exclaimed. I could hear it was hard for her to restrain herself. She kissed me and I felt my cheeks burn.

“Ah ain’t never seen nuthin’ like that,” Apple Bloom said from my other side with a large grin on her face. “Ah thought fer sure ya were gonna blow up the whole barn!”

I relaxed in my bed again with a satisfied smile. I still felt so tired and my body ached like I had dropped from a large height. “Maybe I should get some more rest,” I said, but I heard them giggle so I peeked open an eyelid.

“You haven’t noticed?” It was then that I saw Silver Spoon at my hoof end. Rainbow Dash stood behind Scootaloo next to Apple Bloom. Only Diamond Tiara remained in her bed with her back turned to us. Her father sat next to her but watched us through another one of his glasses of orange liquid.

“Noticed what?” I asked with genuine curiosity, though the tiredness still weighed on my voice. Sweetie Belle lifted my sheet away with her magic and I could see my lower body. Except there was something new on my flanks. “My cutie mark!” I squealed, wriggling so I could get a better angle. “What is it?”

“Looks like some kind of explosion from a thunderbolt,” my dad mumbled and entered the ward with a tray in mouth. He put down my breakfast on the nightstand on my left and tugged the sheets up again. “You are a Thunder after all. Only their most powerful children were rewarded with the Thunderbolt.”

“You did your research.” I sat up and accepted the tray on my belly, and found it to be rumbling. The belly, of course. “What else can you tell me about the Thunders?”

“I have the books at home, sweetie. Stay here and gather your strength. We can talk about this when you get home again.” He kissed me on the forehead. Not nearly as exciting as when Sweetie Belle did it.

I sat for a while and ate. “If we had just known from the start what was wrong with Sweetie Belle, then none of this would have had to happen.”

“I’m still glad it did,” Sweetie Belle said from her chair. “It took so much hardship for us to notice each other, but here we are. I just wouldn’t be able to bear it if I never got the chance to say it, so here goes… Dinky Doo, I love you.”

I nearly choked on my lime pudding and had to hark deeply to get my breath back. Sweetie Belle was blushing furiously and all the others suddenly found other things to do away from my bed. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you for a long time, Sweetie Belle. I never knew why I was so fascinated with you, but I’ve come to realise something as well. I love you too.”

Sweetie Belle reached up and kissed me on the lips. That odd feeling that had been with me all this time exploded inside. The tray fell from my lap with a clatter, but I didn’t care. I finally knew what I wanted in this life more than a cutie mark, and that was her. Time seemed to stand still and I could not tell you how long it took for us to break apart again.

“I’m still glad it’s over with,” I said and looked into her eyes. I could see her sincere love for me swimming in them. The happiness within me was almost more than I could bear. I held my arm up to my eyes again, but this time to cry tears of joy. “Now I know why I was so eager to help you. The thought of losing you was unbearable. All that time you spent in danger and those threat messages you left me.”

“Threat messages? I never left you any threat messages.” Sweetie Belle looked confused at me, and I in turn at her.

“Yeah, someone threatened me to leave you alone – twice!” I exclaimed and held up my hooves to signify the amount. Sweetie Belle shook her head but Silver Spoon rubbed her arm.

“Those messages weren’t for you to leave Sweetie Belle alone. It was to leave me alone.”

“Don’t you say another word!” Diamond Tiara bellowed. She would have jumped out of her bed had her father not held her back.

“No, I’ll say something that I’ve wanted to say for a long time.” Silver Spoon went up to Diamond Tiara’s bed. It was taking all of her courage and she fidgeted with her glasses. “It’s always about you. What you want to do. You don’t need a friend in your life, just a servant.” She gulped and looked up at Diamond Tiara. “But unlike you, I’ve matured. I don’t want to end up bitter and friendless. I want real friends in my life! I can’t believe you would go so far to keep me from that that you would threaten Dinky Doo. If you can show me just one act of humility and apologise then I will forgive you.”

Diamond Tiara blushed furiously with anger. She opened and closed her mouth like a guppy but no words came out. Instead she closed the curtains around her bed with a ripping motion. We all surrounded Silver Spoon and embraced her tightly.

“I’m sorry for all the bad things I’ve done,” she said with head hanging low, but Scootaloo shook her head.

“You’ve done some bad things, Silver Spoon, but at least you want to make up for it.”

I nodded. “Yeah, and you really helped us out too. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

***

That was the story of how I met the love of my life, Sweetie Belle. She really grew a taste for food because of our adventure as well. While never reaching the leviathan heights of her possession, she developed a healthy layer of insulation around her middle. We remained sweethearts as two fillies became mares. Our love, which started out as awkward and undefined, developed to a deep-seated understanding of each other. Yet even now I’ve been cautious about asking her to marry her. I promised myself I would when I had written down my account of these events. Though I think somepony else has been at my notes as well.

Maybe you should tell what became of you as well? I will! Now look what you made me write. After Twilight became an alicorn, she needed a pupil to further her studies. Out of all the promising unicorns in all of Equestria, she chose me. I don’t like tooting my own horn, but I think I really have become the greatest non-alicorn mage of my time.

***

Of all time, Dinky. It took some time for me to find my talent as well, but you were invaluable. You gave me courage that neither of the Cutie Mark Crusaders could. When you wake up again and see this, know that I love you more than anything else in the world. Even singing. I promise I’ll be back early from my performance in the Barber of Ponyville. I also know of the ring you’ve tried to keep hidden. I do.