Derpy has to leave Ponyville for a week and leaves Dinky in the care of her aunt until she's back. Dinky hates it, because her aunt is always patronizing her, while she just wants to be treated with respect. She faces the worst week of her life.
When Derpy must out of town for a week and needs somepony to take care of Dinky while she is gone, she calls for Dinky's aunt to look after her until she's back. And Dinky absolutely hates it. Her aunt is always patronizing her by trying to protect her from things she doesn't even need protection from! For Dinky, it's frustrating and annoying and it makes her angry. All that Dinky wants is to be treated with respect by her aunt and do the things she wants to do, but her aunt just doesn't listen..... What lies ahead of Dinky is the worst week of her life.
For the full list of characters appearing in this fic, look at the top of Chapter 1!
It was Monday in Ponyville, the beginning of a new week, and it was an ordinary morning for Dinky Hooves. The little unicorn sat at the table in the kitchen of her home, legs dangling down the chair, while she quietly hummed the newest hit of Sapphire Shores.
Together with her in the kitchen were her mother Derpy and her big sister Sparkler. The latter was sitting opposite of Dinky, reading the newspaper that was just delivered to them by the paperfilly, her expression switching from happy, to concerned, to shocked, depending on what article she had set her eyes on right now.
Derpy stood at the kitchen unit, busy with preparing breakfast for herself and her two daughters. A delicious smell came out of the oven and wafted right into Dinky's nostrils. She stopped dangling her legs and turned around to the oven, behind its door she could see a fresh batch of muffins in the light of the oven's lamp that were slowly getting baked.
Of course this batch wasn't for the breakfast they were about to have. As always, the muffins would need a while to cool off and Derpy was merely baking them now so that they would be ready for the breakfast tomorrow morning. Which was not fully to Dinky's approval, the muffins that were in the oven right now were her favourite ones, blueberry muffins, and if it wouldn't have meant to burn her tongue, she would bite into them immediately once they were baked completely.
While Dinky was busy with imagining to eat one of the yummy treats and to have the delicious fruity taste on her buds, she didn't notice that Sparkler had started talking to her.
“Hey, Equus at Dinky! The blueberry aliens don't attack today, it's time to come back down on the planet's surface!”
Confused by this weird statement, Dinky's eyes became clear again suddenly and she turned round to her big sister and gave her a puzzled look. “What?” she asked her, her face showing a completely clueless expression now.
Sparkler laughed. “You're really forgetting everything around you if you have your favourite food in front of your nose, Dinks!”
Dinky blushed a little and showed an awkward smile, then laughed too as Sparkler reached out with one hoof and ruffled through her mane.
“Aaaaaaanyway” – Sparkler stretched the word intentionally long, which caused a giggle by Dinky – “what I wanted to ask you is, will you be fine today?”
Now the puzzled expression returned into Dinky's face. “Fine? What do you mean? Is anything special happening today, Sparkler?”
Realizing that she has forgotten something, Derpy turned around and looked with her crossed eyes at her older daughter, a strained expression on her face, while simultaneously signaling her with her hooves to cut it out behind Dinky's back.
Getting hit by a realization on her own, Sparkler's face became pale and her mind raced to find an unsuspecting way to answer Dinky's question. “Uhm, no, Dinks! It's just.....” A lightbulb went on in Sparkler's head. “Didn't you say you have an important test today?” Sparkler hoped that Dinky wouldn't notice the sweat on her forehead and the nervous tone in her voice.
“No, that's tomorrow! We don't have any tests today,” Dinky answered, understanding appearing on her face now.
“Phew, that's good! I already thought–“ Sparkler began, but cut herself off in the last moment.
Dinky narrowed her eyes at her sis. “Thought, what?” she asked suspiciously.
Having calmed down from the realization of the mistake she had made, Sparkler was now able to set up a pokerface and give her little sister a skillfully constructed answer to hide what she knew. “I already thought” – her face turned into a smirk – “that you will fail at a test today because all that you write on the paper will be 'blueberry muffins'.”
Dinky shot her a glare. “I have better grades at school than you did, Sparkler.” Her reply was taut and full of disapproval. Not leaving her big sister out of sight, she slowly stretched out a hoof and gave Sparkler a strong boop on the nose as punishment for the remark.
Now Sparkler's eyes emanated a playful glare. She stretched a hoof forward herself and gave Dinky a only slightly weaker boop on her own nose. “You better feel lucky that we're sitting on the table right now and that I have to leave for the Carousel Boutique soon, otherwise I would tickle you now until you're out of breath, Dinks.”
“You wouldn't dare,” Dinky replied, a slight hunch of aggressiveness in her voice.
“Try me,” Sparkler answered unimpressed.
Dinky wanted to reply something else as Derpy joined them at the table, carrying a tray in her hooves. On it were a can of coffee, two empty cups, a cup of steaming hot cocoa for Dinky, a plate with muffins, a smaller can with milk and a bowl of sugar.
“Stop bickering now, girls!” she said sternly, yet still with a lot of her trademark ditziness sounding in her voice. She put the tray down and arranged its contents on the table; the cup with cocoa in front of Dinky, the other two cups in front of her and Sparkler and the plate with the muffins in the middle, with the cans and the sugar bowl set down to its right. Then she took seat at Dinky's side, who had stopped her attempt of giving her big sister another contra upon her mom's intervention.
Having given up the small fight as well, Sparkler activated her horn, hovered the can with the coffee over to her and poured some of the warm, black liquid into it, followed by adding a generous amount of sugar. It had just the right temperature, so Sparkler gulped down the contents of the cup in one swoop. Soon, she felt the revitalizing effects of the coffee kick in. She put down the cup and eagerly directed the levitation spell back to the can.
As she attempted to fill her cup a second time, Derpy and Dinky reached out to the muffins, each of them taking one into their hooves and biting greedily into it, both mother and daughter doing these movements simultaneously and with an equal eagerness.
Sparkler stopped in her movement, the can of coffee hovering at her side, and her face displayed disbelief, before she erupted into snickering, which caused slight blushes in the faces of her mom and sister, but both just kept eating. If there wouldn't be similarities in their looks, Sparkler thought to herself, everypony would still notice that Derpy and Dinky are mother and daughter with ease, unlike with her, who came a lot more after her dad, both in look and personality.
She snickered again, then she proceeded with her task. As she had once more filled her cup with coffee and sugar, she gulped down half of it and then she finally reached for a muffin herself.
In the meantime, Dinky had reached the center of her muffin. As she did another bite, her face scrunched in surprise as a very familiar taste spread out on her tongue. She carefully chewed the bit to not let anything of the deliciousness escape and gulped it down, then she looked surprised over to her mother. “Blueberry muffins? But I thought you made chocolate chip muffins yesterday, mom.” Dinky did a scrutinizing look at the oven to see if the blueberry muffins were still in it and as it was confirmed to her, she looked back at her mother, confusion on her face.
Derpy swallowed a piece of mufffin she had in her mouth too, then she faced her younger daughter and nodded. “That's right, Dinky, but I made another batch yesterday night after you were asleep.”
“Why?” Dinky asked her. “We don't need so many muffins for us. Have you invited a guest, mom?”
A caught expression appeared on Derpy's face. Instead of answering Dinky, she looked over to Sparkler, giving her a stern look.
Sparkler took the cue and answered to her mother with a knowing glance. Hastily, she drank the rest of the coffee, then she turned her attention towards Dinky. “I need to go now, Dinks! We have lots of work to do and I can't let Rarity wait with this!” She hovered the rest of her muffin up from the table and lifted another one up from the plate. Hovering the two muffins in front of her, she got up from her seat and went at Dinky's side, where she wrapped her little sister in a strong hug. “Take care today, sis, and keep your head up!” She stroke Dinky's mane, then she released her and hurried for the door.
All of this just irritated Dinky even more. She turned around to the exit of the kitchen. “Keeping my head up, why? Sparks, is something wrong?”
But Sparkler didn't hear her anymore. She had already left the house before Dinky had finished her question. Now Dinky turned her attention back to her mom. Mixed into the irritation in her face was an expression of worry now. “Mom?”
As Derpy didn't answer, Dinky began to ponder what could have happened that caused the strange behavior of her mom and sister. She had figured out by now that something was up, why else should her mother have stayed up extra late last night to bake a batch of her favourite muffins for her? It was suspicious and Dinky also knew this scenario from the past already. It was usually a strategy to appease her with her favourite food when something was coming up that she didn't like. What would it be today? Dinky recalled the last time when it happened. This was when.....
Suddenly, her eyes shrunk and she looked at Derpy with a frantic expression. “No!” was all she could say at first. “You didn't invite her, did you?” she continued after taking a few breaths.
Derpy eyed her with a guilty and somewhat empty expression. “I'm sorry, Dinky,” she then said remorsefully.
“But mom! You know how much I hate her! Why have you done this?!” Angry, Dinky threw a hoof on the table.
Derpy twitched. For a few seconds, she just stared into the angry eyes of her daughter, then she sighed and began to explain everything. “I must leave Ponyville, Dinky. I was called for a staff training event at the headquarter of the Equestrian Mail Service in Canterlot a few weeks ago and it's starting today.”
Dinky felt her heart sink. “Does this mean.....” She didn't dare to end the sentence as the realization hit her.
Derpy could practically see what turmoil was about to start on the inside of Dinky and regret began to spread on her face. “Mhm. She's arriving this afternoon, Dinky. I'm sorry, but I had to call Auntie Millie. I need somepony to take care of you while I'm out of town and she was the only one who could jump in.”
“But..... But what about Sparkler? Why can't she do it like all the other times when you had to travel away?”
Derpy shook her head sadly. “I'm so sorry, Dinky, but Sparkler is too busy this week. She is helping Rarity with a very big order of gem dresses. She even works overtime already. There's just no way she could do it.”
Dinky's pupils had grown smaller and smaller in size while Derpy was explaining the situation and now, terror rose in her heart. She sank back into her chair. Suddenly, Dinky felt like somepony had pulled away the ground underneath her. If there was anything worse than being locked up in Tartarus, then it was spending time with her aunt Millie.
Dinky turned her gaze away from her mom and let her head hang, eyeing her muffin with a sad expression that almost broke Derpy's heart.
Carefully, her mom stretched out a wing and put it over Dinky's shoulders. “I know it's hard, Dinks. I don't like Auntie Millie either, but I can't leave you alone here during the day.”
Dinky didn't answer. Apathetic, she reached out with her hoof and took the rest of the muffin into her mouth, swallowing it almost instantly, then she used her magic and hovered over a new one from the plate. She let it drop into her hooves and bit off almost half of it. Dinky began to chew on it so concentrated that it seemed it was the only thing that could bring her happiness now.
“When do you have to leave?” she asked in a sad tone as she had almost finished the muffin.
“At 02:00 PM,” Derpy answered. “I can still see you when you come home from school and welcome your aunt.” The word “welcome” sounded like Derpy had huge problems to let it roll off her tongue.
Dinky nodded, but gave no answer. She ate up the rest of her muffin, then she hovered over her cup of cocoa and drank it empty without putting it down. It was only then that she looked at Derpy again.
“Mom..... Can you please tell her not to do all those things again?” Unhappiness distorted Dinky's face now.
Derpy's face took on a similar expression, with a tinge of nervousness added into the mix. She eyed the tabletop. “I'm trying, Dinky.”
Now, Dinky looked at her mom more pleadingly. “Promise me that you won't let her be like this again, mom! Please!”
Derpy looked at her daughter again and seeing those pleading eyes of her was something that cut into her heart. She sighed deeply. “I promise, Dinky,” she said. Derpy knew that she would probably have to break this promise, but she was unable to say no upon seeing how stressed Dinky already was.
A few seconds of silence between them followed, then Derpy spoke again. “It's time to go to school now, Dinky. You're getting late if you don't leave now.”
Dinky weakly nodded, then she put the cup back on the table with her magic and slid down the chair. Derpy got up too and bent down on the floor to take Dinky's saddle bag, that the filly had already placed there in preparation, into her mouth. She put it gently onto Dinky's back. Dinky looked up to her mom and gave her a thankful smile. Her face was still full with concern and a bit of terror, though.
“Buck up, Dinks!” Derpy said then, trying to sound as motivating and positive as possible. “You met Auntie Millie before and you made it. I'm sure you will make it through this week!” She bent down again and gave her daughter a gentle, but intense hug, which the little unicorn reciprocated quickly, burying her face into her mother's mane.
“I hope it,” she breathed into it, her voice sounding sorrowful now. The filly and the mare stayed like this for a few seconds, then both released their respective embraces and Dinky trotted a few steps away from her mom.
Noticing that there was still nervousness in her face, Derpy asked Dinky “Should I bring you to school today, Dinks?” She already expected a yes from her daughter, but Dinky shook her head slowly.
“No, it's okay,” she said in a resignated tone.
“Are you sure?”
“Mhm.” Without saying anymore, Dinky trotted past Derpy and left the kitchen. Thoughts circled around in her head as she made her way through the small foyer of their home. The more she was thinking about what would await her today and during the whole week, the more angry the little unicorn became. She set down her hooves louder and more forceful with every step she got closer to the entrance door.
Derpy followed her and, as Dinky stood in front of the door, opened it for her daughter. Dinky went through the open door, not paying attention to her mom anymore. As she was outside, Derpy called after her, her voice shaking a little. “Until later, Dinks! Have fun at school!” But the only answer she received was Dinky's yellow aura and a slam of the door in front of her face.
Derpy let her head hang for a few moments and just followed the texture of the wooden floor absentmindedly, until a smell from the kitchen reminded her on the muffins in the oven. Reluctantly, she turned away from the door and headed towards the kitchen, the burnt stench of Dinky's favourite muffins getting stronger with every step.
Derpy entered the kitchen, approached the oven and opened its lid. As she had expected, the muffins were already black on the top. The pegasus mare shook her head. How long did she stand in front of the door? It only seemed like seconds to her, but the burnt muffins were telling another story.
Derpy put a glove into her mouth and took the baking plate with the burnt pastries out of the oven. She let them slide into the bin, then she made herself at work to bake another batch of blueberry muffins for Dinky.
Morosely, Dinky trudged through the streets towards the schoolhouse. None of the dark thoughts that entered her head earlier had left her. Since she was closing the door of the house with her magic, her thoughts had, in fact, become even darker than before. They circled around in her head, nagged and poked at her mind.
Dinky imagined how she would return home from school today and Aunt Millie would already be there.
The mare with the pink coat and blonde mane standing in front of her, greeting her friendly, giving her a hug to welcome her. A hug that Dinky won't desire. Then Dinky would proceed to her usual routine after school and then it would start. There would be something, anything, that her aunt won't be okay with. She would tell Dinky that she shouldn't do it, that it's bad for her, and ultimately forbid it. Dinky would protest, but she would remain stubborn and insist on it. Dinky would continue to explain and tell her that her mom is fine with it, but her aunt would counter that her mom isn't here and that she is taking care of her for the week, so her rules are law. If Dinky would continue to protest, Aunt Millie would play out the authority card and threaten her with draconic punishments. And then Dinky would be exasperated and give up.
That's exactly how it would happen. Dinky knew it to a T from the last time Aunt Millie visited. It was years ago, but she remembered it well. It was imprinted on her mind like a burn mark. And that's how it felt to think about that her aunt would be here and treat her like this for a full week. And her mom? She would let everything happen. She would just stand there and watch, her half-hearted attempts to put Aunt Millie into place having been squashed by the obnoxious mare in no time. Her mom wouldn't do anything to stop her.
Dinky's face contorted itself with fury and anger, her teeth getting clenched and exposed, and she gave a pebble in front of her a kick and sent it flying through the air. With a piercing bang, it hit the wall of a house to her left, leaving a small damage on it when some of the color spalled off by the impact.
Dinky let her head hang, accompanying this resignated movement with a loud sigh, and passed the house in her slow trot. Behind her, she could hear the door getting opened, followed by an upset exclamation and a stallion angrily shouting after her, but she didn't pay attention. She just continued her path, not looking where she was heading exactly and finding her way merely by instinct. Her eyes were fixated on the ground and she noticed pebble after pebble as she passed over them, but her surroundings were completely blacked out for her. Even the small dust clouds that rose up from her hooves every time she set them down seemed more interesting than anything else in the world now. Dinky was in trance and so she didn't notice the hoofsteps approaching her from behind. There was a certain tempo in them, somepony was clearly eager to reach her, yet all of this was only recognized by the outer parts of the filly's mind. It was only when she felt lifted up by a pair of strong hooves that her consciousness returned and that she realized the world around her again. This also had the effect that she became aware of the last few minutes and the angry, shouting voice behind her.
Dinky winced as she felt the hooves lifting her up and pressed her eyes shut. “Sorry, Mister, I didn't want to damage your house. I didn't even know where the pebble would fly to!” A little panicking, she tried to squirm out of the hooves that were holding her tight in order to flee as soon as she would be free. Something that she didn't need right now was getting scolded by the angry owner of a house its facade she marred. In all her panic, she didn't notice that the hooves pressing tightly against her sides were way too tiny for the hooves of a stallion. Only as she heard a high-pitched giggling coming from underneath her, she stopped her squirming and looked down at her captor. All that she could see from her position were long, dark purple pig tails, which were kept together by light blue braids.
“Lily.....” she said relieved, but surprised at the same time. A smile began to form on her lips.
The filly under her giggled again, then she stopped in her tracks and sat Dinky down in front of her. Dinky turned around and looked into the face of her friend, that was adorned by a broad grin. A sparkle in her eyes showed that she had thoroughly enjoyed it to lift the little unicorn over her head. Dinky's smiling continued as she noticed all of this.
The other filly in front of her was Lily Longsocks. She was new in the town and had just moved to Ponyville about two months ago, around the time the Cutie Mark Crusaders got their cutie marks. The big event happened only a few days after Lily's first day at school. It was the day when she and Lily became friends. Dinky saw her lifting up the schoolhouse during the election and later on, how she balanced the teeter-totter on her head when they removed the old playground equipment to make room for the new one.
She was fascinated by the strength of this other filly and later this day, during the cute-ceañera of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in Sugarcube Corner, Dinky took the opportunity to talk to her. She praised her for her impressive super-strength and as it turned out, Lily was really worried that the other foals at school could think weird of her for having such a strength, so she didn't dare to talk to anypony in her first few days in Ponyville. Diamond Tiara's remark when she called her super-strength “creepy” didn't help her assertiveness much either.
Due to that, she was all the more happy that a filly from her class just casually walked up to her and began a conversation with her. And even such an enthusiastic one! That her super-strength could bring her admiration from another pony, rather than rejection, was something the purple earth pony filly didn't consider before Dinky approached her at the big party. Lily soon warmed up during the conversation and she and Dinky talked for the whole night; about her super-strength, about Diamond Tiara, about the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their cutie marks and what they might mean and also about Lily's own cutie mark.
Unlike her new unicorn friend, Lily wasn't a blank flank anymore, her flank was adorned by the picture of a hedgehog. It was a mysterious cutie mark and all Lily could answer when Dinky asked her what it meant, was that it probably had something to do with her super strength, but she couldn't guess what. Hedgehogs weren't exactly strong animals.
They pondered for about an hour what it could mean, with several good suggestions by Dinky, but none of them could figure it out, so they ceased the speculations on the agreement that Lily would simply ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders for advice about her cutie mark one day. Their special talents turned out to be exactly that, helping other ponies with problems with their marks, be it getting them or understanding them, after all, so the two fillies easily figured that the newly risen Cutie Mark Counselors of Equestria would be able to find the answer on Lily's questions.
So far, though, Lily didn't ask them about her cutie mark. Even though Dinky brought it up several times since then, Lily always said it was no pressing matter for her and that she was just happy for this gift she had and content with it.
And how happy she was! After seeing how accepting Dinky was of her unique ability, she became more confident and eventually became friends with some other foals in Ponyville. And Lily was always eager to help them out of miserys and to solve problems by using her strength. It made her having many friends at school and soon, foals came to her in regular patterns to ask her for help.
Which wasn't the only thing Lily used her super-strength for, as Dinky could attest, she also loved it to play little pranks with it. Only harmless ones that didn't hurt anypony, as Lily was always very mindful with her strength, but when there was an opportunity to prank a pony without injuring it in the process, Lily was up for it! And Dinky had just become the latest victim of Lily's prankster attitude, which the latter didn't regret at all, as the grin on her face proofed.
Dinky stretched out a welcoming hoof to her friend. “Hey, Lily!” she said.
The grin on Lily's face became reduced and she formed a smile on her own, as she raised her hoof to exchange a hoofbump with Dinky.
“Good morning, Dinky!” she replied with her cheeky voice as their hooves met each other.
Then, like on cue, Dinky turned around and Lily joined her side and they began to make the rest of the way to the schoolhouse together. With her friend at her side now, Dinky felt much better. Right now, she didn't even think on the visit of her aunt. This happy condition changed quickly, though, as Lily brought up the inevitable question.
“What's with all the gloomyness from before? Did something happen?”
Immediately, Dinky's smile deflated again and her lips pointed downwards. She eyed the ground again and didn't give an answer on Lily's question.
“Hey, what's up?” Lily asked her a little upset.
Dinky breathed in deeply and then let out a gigantic sigh. “It's the end of my life,” she said then.
“Hm? Come on, what could be so bad?” Lily asked her unbelievingly.
Dinky looked at her sad. “You have no idea. My aunt is coming today and she's staying for the whole week. And I'm going to be alone with her the whole time.”
“And?” Lily didn't understand. “What's so bad about this?”
“Everything!” Dinky exclaimed. “She is horrible! She's always strict, she never lets me do what I want and she is always pampering me!” Lily winced and her face displayed understanding of the situation now. “So she's one of those aunts?”
Dinky nodded weakly. “Yeah. She's a pony you'd never want to meet.”
“Why are you going to be alone with her? Where is your mom?” Lily asked her.
Another strong breath by Dinky. “There's a staff training event at the headquarter of the Equestrian Mail Service in Canterlot this week and she was told to be there. Mom's leaving today right after I come home from school and she won't return until Saturday!”
“Ouch,” Lily just answered.
“Mhm,” Dinky confirmed the notion with a nod.
“What about your big sister? Can't she jump in for your mom?” Lily asked her surprised.
“No. Not this week, at least. Sparkler is too busy at the boutique and doesn't have time. She only returns at the evening. I'm stuck with Aunt Millie and I can't do anything about it.....”
Now both fillies hung their head. They walked for a few minutes without any of them saying something, until Lily had a thought. She looked over to Dinky again. “But she's just your aunt. And she's only here to step in for your mom for a few days. Why isn't your mom telling her how she should treat you?”
Dinky presented Lily with another sad glance. “She does. Or, at least she's trying.....”
“Trying?” Lily gave her a confused look.
“Mhm. Mom doesn't have it easy with Aunt Millie herself. She just can't stand up to her. It was already like that when they grew up together as fillies. She is her big sister and she was always one step ahead of her, in everything. You know how my mom is pretty clumsy? Aunt Millie isn't. She never was and she always thought of herself as better than mom because of that. And she sometimes mocked her because of her eyes. It was never easy for mom to be her little sister.”
“Has your mom never tried to fight her?” Lily asked as Dinky paused for a moment.
The little unicorn nodded. “She tried it a few times. But every time before she could win some ground against her, her confidence left her, so she always gave in again after a short while.” The expression on Lily's face made it apparent that she couldn't completely follow.
Dinky sighed. “I don't really understand it either. My aunt has a strange way to make you feel weak when she's talking to you. It's really hard to explain. You would have to listen to her to understand what I mean.”
Lily's face cleared up. “I think I can, somewhat.”
But Dinky shook her head. “No. Trust me, you can't. It's different than anything you've ever heard before. It's like she's making you do what she wants against your will.”
A puzzled look appeared on Lily's face. “I can't imagine that anypony can do this. Without using magic, at least.”
This time Dinky nodded again. “That's what I mean. Nopony can. She can't use magic, she's an earth pony like you, but she can do this anyway. Nopony can understand it without having met her.”
Wrinkles appeared on Lily's forehead. “I'm not sure if I want to.”
“You don't,” came the prompt answer from Dinky. “Trust me, Lily. You would regret meeting her.”
Lily just nodded, then more moments of silence between them followed as they continued their way.
After another sigh, Dinky picked up the conversation again. “I wish mom wouldn't have to leave..... Or that I could come with her. She's so much better than my aunt.” Having finished the sentence, Dinky felt a sharp pain stinging in her heart. A sudden dismay in her eyes, she stopped trotting and looked to the side.
Lily noticed it and stopped too. As she was looking at her friend, she saw tears glistening in her eyes. “Hey, what's wrong?” she asked her concerned.
“I..... I was really mean to mom when I left.” Dinky's lips began to tremble.
“What have you done?” Lily asked her.
“I didn't say goodbye. And..... And I slammed the door into her face.”
Lily held a hoof to her mouth. “Have you hit her with it?”
“I don't know. I didn't look back anymore, I was just so angry when I left. I hope I didn't.....” A few tears rolled out of Dinky's eyes and she closed them. Wiping over them with a hoof, she sniffed.
“Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure she isn't angry.”
Dinky nodded weakly while she continued crying and sniffing. “Probably not. But that's not the point. Mom is always so nice. To me and everypony else. And sometimes too nice. I shouldn't have done this, Lily. Soon she will be gone for a week and all I do is slamming a door into her face. I feel so bad for it.....” Having been hit by this realization, Dinky slumped to the ground.
“But you didn't mean to do that. You were just angry because of your aunt, so you lost control, that can happen to everypony. Don't beat yourself up for that too much, Dinky!” Lily tried to calm her.
“I know. But it was still wrong. I love my mom, but I really didn't show this when I left. I really need to apologize to her when I return from school and try to make it up to her somehow.” Dinky sniffed a last time, then she wiped the rest of the tears out of her eyes and got up. “Let's go now. I don't want to be at fault for it that we come late.”
Lily nodded, then she followed Dinky who had already set herself into motion. Lily trotted behind and during the next few minutes, they were again clad in silence. It was only as they could already see the schoolhouse in the distance that Lily broke the silence once more. She quickened her pace and joined Dinky's side again. “Do you feel better now?” she asked.
Another sigh followed as answer, but then she did a sidewards glance at Lily and nodded slightly. “Yeah. I just feel silly now for acting like this. I know that mom is always a pushover for Aunt Millie, but it isn't her fault either. I was really stupid there.” She looked sheepish now.
Hearing this brightened Lily's face again and she presented her friend with another smile. “I'm glad you feel better. But let's hurry now, Miss Cheerilee is already here!” She pointed a hoof into the direction of the schoolhouse and as Dinky followed it, she could see that their teacher was just about entering the building.
The two fillies began to gallop and right as they went through the entrance of the school, the bell on top of the building rang out. They hurried to their desks, relieved over it that they made it in time, and started to unpack their saddlebags to get ready for the lesson ahead.
Miss Cheerilee took position at her own desk. She greeted the class and pulled out a book from inside of it. Having it opened, the teacher started with the usual rolecall that happened every morning to check if each of her students had arrived. As she was finished and knew that everypony was here, she put the book back into the desk and pulled out another. Miss Cheerilee opened this book as well and began with her lesson.
Soon, Dinky and Lily were focused and fully concentrated on the words of their teacher.
As the bell of the school rang out for the sixth time, signaling the end of school for today, Dinky hurried to pack her saddlebags and to leave the building to head home. She jumped out of her desk as she was done and had left the building before Lily. The latter had a hard time catching up with her.
“I'm sorry!” Dinky apologized as Lily had finally joined her side. They were already back on their familiar path and rather far away from the school as Lily had finally reached her.
“It's okay!”, Lily replied. “I understand.” She gave her a knowing smirk.
Dinky and Lily kept galloping at each other's sides. As Dinky had almost reached her home, they separated ways, as Lily's home was in a different direction. After exchanging a quick hoofbump with her friend, Dinky continued her gallop, even faster over the last distance. As she had nearly reached her house, she flung the door open with her magic and burst inside. “Mom?” her voice called out and she began frantically looking for her, without even thinking on closing the door again.
Hearing her daughter's voice was the cue for Derpy. She grabbed one of the new blueberry muffins from a plate on the table and left the kitchen to welcome Dinky. She sported a broad smile on her face. “Welcome back, Dinky! I have–“ She interrupted herself as she saw some tears forming in Dinky's eyes as soon as she had set them on her. “Dinks, what is–“ Derpy began to ask her daughter for her well-being, but was interrupted again as Dinky galloped up to her quickly and wrapped her into a hug so strong that Derpy almost dropped the muffin she wanted to give her.
“I'm sorry, mom!” Dinky exclaimed as she cried into her coat.
Puzzled, Derpy put her free hoof onto Dinky's back and gently stroke over it. “Sorry? For what, Dinks?”
Dinky smiled a little as she realized that her mom was not only not mad at her, but didn't even see a reason for it. It was just like she had told Lily this morning. Sometimes, her mom was too nice.
“You should be mad at me!” Dinky retracted her face from her coat and looked into her mom's eyes. This statement just deepened Derpy's confusion, but before she could say something else, Dinky already began clarifying it. “I wasn't nice when I left, mom. I didn't say anything and I almost hit you with the door. I'm so sorry for it!” The only thing that gave Dinky some relief in this moment was that she could already see that her mom's face was unharmed, so she knew that she at least didn't hurt her when she was so reckless this morning, not physically, at least.
Now the confusion vanished from Derpy's face. Unbelievingly, this little issue was something the mare had already forgotten again and was only remembered at now by her little daughter's heartfelt words. Gentle, Derpy pulled Dinky into another hug, then she dried her tears. “It's fine, Dinks, I know you were just upset because of Aunt Millie coming today. I don't blame you.”
As her tears were dried, Dinky looked into her mom's eyes again and repeated words similar to those she had already spoken to Lily today. “I know, but it still wasn't nice. You're a great mom and I shouldn't have treated you like this. And now you'll be gone for a week and I was so horrible to you.....” New tears formed in her eyes, but Derpy immediately dried them again. “Can you forgive me, mommy?” Dinky asked her then.
“Of course, Dinks!” The filly felt getting wrapped up into yet another hug. “It wasn't such a big deal, you apologized, Dinks, and I'm not angry. Now let's forget about it, ok?”
Dinky nodded at Derpy's neck, then she lifted her head and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, mommy!” she said. All of which happened not without Dinky getting slightly red in the face; while she loved her mom a lot, it rarely happened that she got so emotional and clingy and for that, she felt embarrassed a little.
Dinky dried the rest of her tears herself now and as she was done, Derpy held the muffin in front of her face. A sheepish look was on her own face. “I was distracted and forgot about the other batch, so it burnt, but I made a new one for you!” Derpy admitted, leaving out the actual reason why the batch of Dinky's favourite muffins was burnt.
Her eyes glistening, Dinky took the muffin into her hooves and bit into it greedily. Derpy watched how her daughter was happily munching on the blueberry muffin and Dinky smiled at her mom, while they were both still sort of wrapped up in an embrace. For a moment, the time stood still for them and they just enjoyed each other's presence.
But as they heard hoofsteps from behind and a shrill voice sounded over to them, both mother and daughter were forced to return to reality.
“Oh dear, Derpy, are you still feeding her with those?”
With the mare both mother and daughter dreaded having arrived, Derpy and Dinky reluctantly let go of each other and turned around. Derpy was the first one who talked to Millie. “Uh, hi, sis!” she greeted her.
Dinky didn't say anything, instead, she just eyed her aunt as she walked through the door and put a heavy suitcase down. She had an expression in her eyes that looked like she would soon start to fire daggers at her.
The next thing that Aunt Millie did was approaching Dinky, her hooves stretched out. She clearly intended to hug her and Dinky grimaced. “Oh, finally I can see my favourite niece again, Derpy, how does it come you don't invite me more often, your little daughter here must die from not seeing me for so long!” she said as she wrapped Dinky up.
An answer on this question came from Dinky, instead of her mother, as a deep groan left her mouth.
Millie placed a wet kiss on Dinky's cheek, leaving traces of her red lipstick there, then she reached out for the muffin in Dinky's hooves, on which she had her eyes almost the whole time. She tried to grab it, but Dinky was faster and with a defiant smirk on her lips, she put the rest of the blueberry muffin into her mouth and started chewing on it. Her eyes showed satisfaction as she saw her aunt's face falling apart in front of her.
“Oh! Young lady, what are these manners I have to see?!” Frantically, Millie turned around to Derpy. “Derpy, why is she acting like this to her aunt? She wasn't like this the last time when I was here, tell me, what has spoiled her? We must do something against it immediately!”
A sheepish and flustered expression appeared on Derpy's face. She laughed nervously, while her eyes darted around slightly. “There is nothing, really. Dinky is just Dinky as always.”
As Millie saw Derpy's irritated reaction, her voice became more soft. “I see. You had always trouble raising her right, but don't worry, I'm going to find out where this nasty habit comes from and once I'm gone, she will be a better little filly.” Having addressed this statement, she turned her attention back to Dinky again. “Have you heard, Dinky? I know your mother always gives you too much leeway, but we're going to fix this while I'm here!” She pinched Dinky's cheek and ruffled through her mane, which Dinky acknowledged with another groan and an annoyed roll with her eyes, then Millie lifted up her suitcase again and approached the stairs.
“So, Derpy, won't you show me in which room I'm sleeping while I'm here? Or should I just assume it is the same one as last time?” There was a slight impatience in her voice, clearly a reaction to it that Derpy didn't do any attempts to show her the guest room so far.
Derpy, who was more busy with disapprovingly watching how her big sister interferred with her education for Dinky, looked at her surprised. “Oh! Sorry, I, uh, got caught up in some thinking and didn't pay attention. I show you the room.” Derpy motioned towards the stairs too and up on them, with Millie following her closely.
“Oh, Derpy.....” A laugh escaped Millie's throat. “You are still as ditzy as you were as a filly, I guess some things really never change.” Another laugh from Millie.
Unhearable to Millie, Derpy let out a deep sigh as she led her further up the stairs.
Dinky looked after her mom and her aunt, the conversation between them becoming dull and quiet as they moved up to the second floor. As they had disappeared from her sight, Dinky cantered into the kitchen, having a certain target in mind. She approached the table with the plate of blueberry muffins on it and, without wasting time, lifted up five of them with her magic and put them into her saddlebags, two at one side and three at the other one. She had to squeeze the last muffin a little as she tried to get it into her right saddlebag, but eventually it worked and she hectically closed it again as she heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Reflexively, she reached for another muffin from the plate then, took it into her hooves and bit a huge chunk out of it, as much as could fit into her mouth. She had just started munching on the delicious, soft mass of pastry and blueberries as her mom and her aunt walked into the kitchen.
Another shocked expression appeared in Millie's face and with quick tempo, she approached her niece. Dinky tried again to prevent her aunt from getting the muffin, but her mouth was still full and couldn't take anymore right now, so she used her magic and tried to hover it out of Millie's reach. Unfortunately, Millie was quicker this time and with a swift grab, she pulled the muffin out of the air and squashed it with her hoof, holding it so firm that Dinky didn't stand a chance and had to give up. Her aura vanished around the muffin.
“Ha, not this time, young lady!” Millie exclaimed triumphantly. “Maybe this mischief is working with your mother, but not with me.”
Now it were Derpy's eyes who began to shoot daggers. “I don't even try to prevent her from eating muffins.....” she pressed out between clenched teeth, loud enough that Millie could hear her interjection.
But Millie didn't pay attention and let Derpy's statement hang in the air. Instead of answering, she trotted up to the table and pulled the tray with the muffins closer to her. She started to inspect them, a clear frown on her face. Then she waved at them derogatory and threw the squashed muffin she took from Dinky on the tray. “Derpy.....” she began to speak again and immediately trailed off with a sigh. “This is just no food for a filly. I can see all the fat and cholesterine glistening on those muffins. If you continue to feed her with them, she will become fat and soon she will have a stroke from all of it.”
Behind her back, Derpy facehoofed.
Now Dinky said something for the first time since her aunt's arrival. “I'm not getting fat from muffins! I'm eating muffins for years and do I really look fat?” To demonstrate what she just said, Dinky rose onto her hindlegs and presented her underbelly to her aunt. She moved her forehooves over it and under them, one could see her muscles getting shifted around. Right above it, on her chest, where less muscles were, even a slight hint of her ribs could be seen. “See?” Dinky asked her aunt, slightly provocative. “There isn't any fat on me!”
But her aunt remained unimpressed. “Oh, there is, darling, trust me. It's all inside of you, it clumps together inside of your veins and arteries until the blood doesn't get through anymore and then you have a stroke from it and it kills you.”
Blood indeed vanished from some of Dinky's veins now, the ones in her face, to be precise. The reason for that was a different one, though. Beginning to feel defeated, she sunk down on all fours again. She opened her mouth for another counter, but Millie put a hoof onto it and interrupted the attempt to talk.
“Hush now!” she said. “Trust your aunt a bit more, I know what I'm talking about!” As she had removed the hoof from Dinky's mouth leaving her with a pout on her lips only, Millie lifted up the tray with the muffins and swiftly approached a bin in the corner of the kitchen. Both Dinky and Derpy followed her like on command, but before they could reach the obnoxious mare, she had already dropped all the muffins on the plate into the bin. Millie trotted to the sink and let the now empty plate glide into it. Then she turned around again, to find herself looking into the shocked faces of a mother and her daughter who shared a deep love for muffins.
Soon, their faces turned into anger and now it was Derpy who spoke up. “Millie.....” the blonde pegasus mare hissed at her. “I didn't ask you to come to throw food away that I made for Dinky!” She stomped with a hoof on the floor.
The unexpected reaction let Millie twitch back a little, but just for a second. Then her trademark importunity continued. “Oh, don't worry, Derpy dear, I will bake new food for her. I brought my recipe book with me, so there won't be any shortage for my little niece. There is nothing wrong about muffins per se, but you need to make the right ones for her and I'm going to bake Dinky some muffins that won't endanger her health.”
Nothing of this speech did something to quench Derpy's anger, though. In fact, it increased it. “I also didn't ask you to come so that you could change Dinky's diet!” Derpy was shouting at her sister now. Her patience was used up. “What Dinky eats is my decision and not yours!”
Millie just rolled her eyes over this statement. “Oh, sure, your decision.....” She turned around, carried the bin in which she just threw the muffins over and held it in front of Derpy's face. “This is your decision. Unhealthy food that puts your daughter at risk of getting affected by all sorts of diseases and questionable medical conditions. Food that only harms her. Your decisions will kill her one day, Derpy.”
Derpy wanted to reply something, but like before with Dinky, Millie just put a hoof on her mouth. “And that's not even the worst of your decisions, I can see that clearly. I'm not even here for five minutes and all your daughter gives me is an unbehaved smirk and complete disrespect. She did not even welcome her aunt. I don't even want to know what kind of 'decision' led to it that she became such a brat.”
“Hey, I'm not a brat, I just don't–“ Dinky interferred, but Millie interrupted her with more rambling.
“There you have it. Your daughter is not able to greet me after not seeing me for years and only complains about everything I'm saying even, which leads me to believe that she reacts with the same rudeness to her friends, her teacher and even to yourself, Derpy. This is a sign of miserable education! How can you expect me to trust your decisions in raising her when she shows such an impolite behavior, little sister?”
With her mouth free again, Derpy wanted to reply something once more, but this time, it was easier said than done. It was impossible to deny that what Millie just said made sense, yet Derpy knew the reason why Dinky reacted like this to her and that she was way different around herself, her big sister and other ponies. It already was on Derpy's tongue to tell Millie that the only reason why Dinky reacted like this to her was because of her own, demeaning way she treated her with, but when thinking about it to throw the truth into the face of her big sister like this, Derpy felt her heart sinking. All the anger that had built up in her when she saw how Millie was throwing away Dinky's muffins she had worked so hard on crumbled all of a sudden and all that remained was a cold feeling and a bit of fear.
Derpy tried to speak out this truth anyway, but when she found herself unable to and the unpleasant feeling inside of her grew too strong, she sighed defeatedly and turned around to her daughter. “Dinky..... Go and give your aunt a hug. She came to watch over you for a week and has cancelled all her own appointments for you. Please give her a welcome at least.” She looked at Dinky with pleading, yet sad, eyes.
Dinky felt her heart sinking too now. She still remembered with horror how the almost exact situation happened years ago, and it felt as awful as back then.
Expectantly, her aunt looked at her. “So, what now? Will you give me a hug and show me that you aren't such a horrible, ill-mannered filly, after all?”
Dinky looked around between the sad face of her mom and the curious face of her aunt. Finally, she gave in and with a sigh, she wrapped her hooves around her aunt in a reluctant, loveless hug. “Hi, Aunt Millie. Thanks for coming,” she said stoically.
Millie answered the hug and pulled Dinky closer. “Well, finally. I thought this would never happen.” Then she looked over to her younger sister. “Derpy, you really must listen to me more and stop arguing so much. I can see that you are overchallenged with raising Dinky, but I am your sister and I want to help you.”
Weakly, Derpy nodded. “Okay, sis,” she said obediently.
Satisfied with the outcome of the heated debate, Millie gave Dinky a last squeeze, then she let go of her. She turned her back to Derpy and Dinky to return the bin into the corner.
Dinky used the opportunity to shoot her mom a glance. She already felt anger rising in her again, but remembering what happened because of this at the morning, she suppressed it this time, and only looked desperately at her mom instead of angry. Derpy answered the glance in the same fashion and formed the word “Sorry” with her lips. Suddenly, a few tears shot into Dinky's eyes. She wrapped her mom into a hug and dried her eyes at her coat, as she didn't want to show her aunt that she was crying. Derpy put a hoof around Dinky and they stayed like this for a few seconds until they got distracted by Millie a second time on this day. To both of them, this coincidence felt like a weird, cosmic formula the universe forced upon them.
“Oh, now look at this!” the voice of Millie sounded softly over to them. “Well, at least you seem to love your mom as it should be for a filly like you. Maybe it isn't completely hopeless then.”
The implication that she couldn't love her mom earned Millie an angry glare by Dinky, which Millie didn't notice because she looked up to the clock on the wall right after she ended her sentence. Upon seeing the time, an alarmed expression appeared on Millie's face.
“But Derpy, isn't it time for you to leave already?” she alerted her.
Alarmed as well, Derpy released the hug, something Dinky only let happen very reluctantly, and looked up at the clock too. “You're right,” she said then, regret in her voice. When she looked at Dinky once more, it became apparent that, after all that happened in these few minutes since Millie arrived, she really would prefer to stay here with Dinky, instead of leaving her in the care of her big sister Millie. “I'm sorry, Dinky, but it's time,” she addressed the inevitable to her daughter.
Dinky's lips pointed downwards now. “Do you really have to go?” she asked her.
“Yes,” Derpy replied. “They won't move the training to another week just for me, Dinks, I have no choice but to attend.” She reached up with a hoof and ruffled through Dinky's mane. “But I'm sure you're gonna make it, Dinks, you're strong!” She wrapped Dinky into a hug on her own and brought her mouth close to her right ear. The next words Derpy only whispered. “Don't worry too much about the muffins, Dinks. Sparkler is keeping a few for you in her room.”
Dinky pulled away from her mom a little and looked at her with big, surprised eyes. She giggled, then she returned into the hug and brought her own mouth at one of Derpy's ears. “I have hidden some in my saddlebags too before she could throw them away.”
Now Derpy's eyes grew big in surprise and she giggled as well. After a few more exchanged squeezes, they finally let go of each other. Both having smirks in their faces, they exchanged a conspirative hoofbump, which caused Millie to give them a suspicious look and she rose an eyebrow, but ultimately didn't say anything.
Then Derpy lifted up her mailbag, that she had already prepared while Dinky was in school, from a hook on the wall and hang it over her neck. Derpy glanced over to Millie a last time and gave her a short wave to say goodbye, then she and Dinky left the kitchen together.
At the entrance of the house, Derpy ruffled through Dinky's mane again. “Keep your head up, okay, Dinks? If anything bad happens, talk with Sparkler about it when she returns home after work.”
Dinky nodded and then, she wrapped her mom into yet another hug, having even more desire for physical contact with her now. Derpy reciprocated it and reiterated her words from earlier in the kitchen about how strong Dinky was. “I have to leave now if I don't want to be late, Dinks,” she then added after a few more seconds of embracing her daughter.
Reluctantly, Dinky let go once more. “Goodbye mommy,” she said, with her voice breaking from sadness. She activated her magic and, wrapped into a yellow aura, the door of their house opened slowly.
Derpy did a few steps outside, followed by Dinky who stayed under the doorframe, and turned around a last time to Dinky. Following a final ruffle through her mane she said “If you stay strong, Dinks, I will return before you know it.” Then she flapped her wings and flew up a few feet, with Dinky looking after her sadly. She waved at her. “Bye Dinks, until Saturday!”
Dinky waved back at her mom. “Bye, mommy!” her sad voice rang up to her.
Derpy winked at her, then she turned finally around and took off into the sky towards Canterlot in full speed.
Dinky looked after her until she couldn't see her anymore, then she returned inside and closed the door with her magic. For a few seconds, Dinky just stood there and eyed the door, unwilling to return into the kitchen. She felt like just going up into her room now and to lock herself inside of it, but there were still her saddlebags in the kitchen that fell down on the floor as she tried to proof her aunt that muffins don't make her fat. She needed them to make her homework for today and, more importantly, to bring the muffins inside into safety and hide them inside of her room. She had no choice but to return.
Dinky took a deep breath, then she averted her gaze from the door and trudged back into the kitchen. As she arrived there, she saw her aunt sitting at the kitchen table and waving her over.
“Dinky, come here and sit down, there's something I want to talk about with you.”
Dinky gritted her teeth, then she continued her trudge to the table and took seat opposite of Millie. She could have asked her what she wanted, but Dinky was determined to keep any conversation she would have with her aunt until her mom's return on Saturday as short as possible, so she was silent and just looked at her aunt with a frown until she began to speak.
“Okay, now that your mom is gone.....” She sighed a little and then continued. “Dinky, I know that you don't like me. But I want you to respect me like you respect your mom and that you listen to the things I'm saying. Even if you don't like it, I am your aunt and I only want what is best for you. Do you understand this?”
Without letting the frown disappear, Dinky answered taut “Yes, I understand, aunt.” The answer caused a smile to build up on her aunt's face. “Can I go into my room now? I have a lot of homework to do.”
“Of course, I wouldn't like you to do anything else now! Learning for school is important for a filly like you. And while you are busy, I will make you some real food!”
Without giving another answer, Dinky slid off of her chair and snagged her saddlebags from the floor. She put them on her back again, then she eagerly trotted out of the kitchen at a fast pace and up into her room. She kept up that tempo, increased it even, until she was in the safety of her room.
Dinky leaned her back against the door, closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Maybe she will leave me alone at least in here,” she uttered to herself in a hopeful manner. After staying like this for a few seconds, she got up again before her saddlebags could fall to the floor once more. She trotted up to her bed, took them off and put them on it. Carefully, she opened the bags with her magic and took out the muffins. They were deformed a lot now, especially the one she had to squeeze into them in the first place, apparently, the impact when the saddlebags landed on the floor had hit them hard. But Dinky just shrugged. Even deformed blueberry muffins were better than everything her aunt would bake for her. For a moment, Dinky considered to eat another one right away, but then decided against it. It would be a long week, after all, and she didn't know how many muffins Sparkler kept for her. For now, it was more important to keep them safe from Aunt Millie. “Where should I hide them now?” Dinky thought.
She turned around. There weren't exactly many possibilities to hide a bunch of muffins in her room. Observantly, she went over the possible hiding spots.
Under her bed? Too risky. There was a chance that her aunt would clean up under it while she was in school and find them, this was a place she could only rule out.
Behind the books in her shelf? Dinky trotted up to it, pulled out a few books and checked behind them. Then she shook her head. There wasn't nearly enough space, not even for muffins that were flatter than usual.
She put the books back to their places, then turned around. There was the table carrying her TV and her Neightendo console, but Dinky could see at the first glance that neither of them were big enough to hide something behind them. Not to mention that the table needed cleaning, so her aunt would probably dust it off soon.
She looked across the room. Opposite of the table was her wardrobe. Its right side contained the few dresses she possessed. The left, and much larger, side consisted of several compartments containing her toys and other stuff; dolls, action figures, even some rare Power Ponies merchandise. Her eyes fell on one compartment that was packed with board games. She knew that there was enough space behind the stack of them to easily hide the muffins, but she also knew that her aunt loved to play boardgames, so sooner or later, she would find them there when she would pull out one of the games to play it with her.
Finally, Dinky settled with hiding them in one of the drawers of her desk. One of the two drawers it had was filled with her videogame collection and she figured her aunt wouldn't look in there, so she opened it, took out a few of the game cartridges at the far end of the drawer and placed the muffins in the now free space. She closed the drawer again and carefully stapled the games at the side of the console, then a smile flashed over her face. At least the muffins were safe now and there was something she could look forward to this week. Aside from her big sister coming home in the evening, of course.
For the first time since she got the bad news of having to deal with Aunt Millie for almost a week, Dinky felt something like confidence. Maybe she could survive this week after all, somehow.
Having taken care of the task of hiding her muffins, Dinky returned to her saddlebags and carried them over to her desk. She took seat on the stool in front of it and unpacked her school stuff. What she said to Aunt Millie about having a lot of homework was a lie, but there was still some stuff she needed to get done today.
As she had placed everything she needed on the desk, she took one of her pencils into her magic aura and began with her homework by trying to solve the task in the book in front of her.
“Picking Apples” Dinky read out half aloud as her eyes fell on the last task that was part of her homework for today. She smiled, her eyes gleaming at the prospect of being finished soon. Turning her full attention to the task, she continued reading.
“Golden Grape goes to pick apples. She sees two orchards next to each other; the Apple Family orchard and Flim and Flam's orchard. The signs below are at the entrance to the orchards.”
Under the text were two squares filled with text that were supposed to depict the signs. Dinky set her sight on the first one.
“Sweet Apple Acres, pick your own apples! First 10 pounds, 2 bits per pound, each additional pound, 1 bit per pound.”
Easy enough. She shifted her eyes to the second sign.
“Flim & Flam's Orchard of Delicious Apples, 20 bits entry fee, first 10 pounds, 1.50 bits per pound, each additional pound 0.75 bits.”
Dinky furrowed her brow.
“Golden Grape wants to pick 40 pounds of apples. How much does this cost at the Apple Family orchard? How much does it cost at Flim and Flam's orchard?”
The unicorn filly grimaced a little at the task, especially at the instruction “Show your calculations.” under the two questions. But it was of no use. It was her homework and she needed to get it done in order to keep her good grades. Dinky sighed and went to work to solve the two calculations.
The first one was easy. Some simple multiplications later and the right amount flashed up in Dinky's mind. She filed in the number on the line behind the question, then wrote down the steps of the calculation.
10 x 2 = 20 30 x 1 = 30 20 + 30 = 50
The second task was harder and made her head hurt a little. Several minutes passed, the cells of her brain working at their fullest to figure out the solution, then she could finally put down the number, fairly sure that it was correct. Her pencil scratched faster over the paper as she wrote down the steps of this calculation too.
10 x 1.50 = 15 30 x 0.75 = 22.50 15 + 22.50 + 20 = 57.50
As soon as she had written down the last number, the magic around her pencil vanished and her horn stopped glowing. Ignoring the pencil that was now falling down and rolling over the desk, Dinky slumped against the back of her chair and did a big breath of relief. It was only half an hour since she began with her homework and she was already finished! Luckily, she was not interrupted while working on it, Aunt Millie had stayed out of her room for the whole time, apparently busy with baking her “healthy food”. And she had told her that she had a lot of homework to do, which should keep her away for quite a while longer, so Dinky hoped.
Dinky's spirits rose again as she felt the boring tasks swiftly leaving her young mind and even more so as she tilted her head to the left just a bit and her eyes caught a glimpse of the stack of videogames on her table. She grinned, immediately knowing what she wanted to do now.
Quickly, she shut her math book, grabbed her pencil, then got up and dumped both things into her saddlebags, which she then placed on the floor at the side of her nightstand as always, where they would stay until she would visit school again tomorrow.
Her next destination was the big armchair in front of her table. Instead of trotting to the piece of furniture, she jumped over the whole distance and did a dive into it, a happy squeal leaving her lips.
Having arrived in the comfy armchair, Dinky leaned forward and grabbed one of the cartridges, the one right at the top. The picture on it showed a stallion with a bushy, black mustache in dark blue overalls, fleeing from a fire breathing dragon behind him.
Eagerly, Dinky pushed the cartridge into the console in front of her TV, then switched on both devices and took the controller into her magic. The title screen passed by and was replaced by the face of the mustached stallion. As soon as she saw the familiar visuals of the game on her screen, a feeling of happiness was washing over Dinky. This was the right distraction from her aunt. With her games, she would somehow endure her behavior. A smile flashed over her face.
Dinky opened her savegames and chose the latest one. Seconds later, the stallion appeared on the screen again, now standing in a pompous castle. Black and white tiles littered the floor, only occasionally interrupted by a red carpet. The walls were full of paintings, some of them showing beautiful landscapes, others depicting really weird places Dinky had a hard time describing.
Now smiling broadly as she moved the stallion in the plumber outfit through her favourite game, she motioned through a door at the top of a flight of stairs. She was taking a few turns, then opened another door and found herself in a dark corridor. The walls looked moldy and it was flooded with shallow water. Only the flickering red flames on the walls that illuminated the corridor allowed her to see something.
Dinky made her way through it, ignoring the yellow bunny that hopped past her somewhere in the middle. At the end of the corridor, she found herself in front of a huge painting. A terrifying face made of flames smiled at her wickedly, the visage reminding Dinky on a demon. Having made plenty of experiences with the nature of this game already, the young gamer gulped. This world wouldn't be easy.
Deciding to brave the dangers anyway, she let the stallion jump through the painting. The familiar loading screen appeared. The lower half informed Dinky of it that this world was called “Frightening Fire Fortress”. The upper half depicted a grey star with a “1” on top. Beneath it, it said “BOIL THE BIG BULLY”.
While still thinking what these mysterious words meant, the loading screen disappeared and Dinky's character appeared again on a rectangular platform in a sea of lava. A multitude of other platforms surrounded it, yet Dinky had no time to inspect them because a message suddenly popped up on the screen, squeezed into a small, black box:
Don't be a pushover! If anyone tries to shove you around, push back! It's one-on-one, with a fiery finish for the loser!
This meant lots of fighting, Dinky figured. She shuddered a little by imagining having to fight on tiny platforms surrounded by lava. Carefully, she motioned her stallion over the platform. She jumped over a gap at the end of it, then did a sharp turn to the left through a gate of grey blocks. Red flames danced across the path in front of her as she continued, but they disappeared in the lava again before they could touch her.
As she entered the next platform, which consisted of grey brickstones, a round, black figure ran into her. It had tiny, but sharp, yellow horns on the top of its body and ridiculously small, green feet. Yet the creature itself was anything but ridiculous, as Dinky soon found out. The contact with the black thing pushed the plumber and he got shoved towards the edge of the platform. Before Dinky could react, the creature pushed him again and he landed with his flank in the lava. Painful screams coming from him, he jumped high up into the air, while covering his flank with his hooves. The round power display in the upper-middle of the screen now reduced by almost half of her character's power, he landed back on the platform. Dinky cursed a little, then a shower of fear ran down her back. Reflexively, she looked at the door of her room, but it was still closed. As she returned with her eyes to the screen, feeling at ease again, she saw in renewed panic that the creature had almost reached her again. Pressing the big, green button, her stallion jumped up in the last moment. He touched the creature slightly, causing it to stumble back a bit.
Now a light went on in Dinky's head. The message made sense to her now. Back on the ground, she bumped against the creature again and once more, it stumbled back. Dinky continued in a frenzy. Two bumps, three, then the creature fell over the edge. White smoke rose from the lava as it burnt. A victorious grin appeared on Dinky's face. As she was crossing over a blue bridge to her left, though, the grin was replaced with panic again as the bridge got suddenly split in the middle and heaved itself into the air. Only a jump in the last moment prevented her from making contact with the lava again. It was a mere reflex, rather than skill.
The mustached stallion landed on a large wireframe platform. In the middle of it floated a big eyeball that looked intensely at her character. Not wanting to find out what it could do, Dinky ran past it and down some stairs. She jumped at their end and landed on a grey platform. As she noticed that the lava began flooding it, she gasped and rushed through the yellow coins floating in the air above it and jumped at its end, landing on another large platform. It was adorned with the picture of the big, fire breathing dragon from the game's cartridge, though the picture was mismatched at the other end of the platform.
Now feeling safe, Dinky ran ahead a few steps, then stopped and took a breather. Her moment of rest did not last long, though.
Suddenly, the ground under her stallion moved and was whisked away under him, letting him fall into the lava again. After having just been re-filled by the coins, his power went down anew. But to Dinky's surprise, it immediately got filled up as the stallion was back on the platform! Now she noticed that it was littered with red coins. Each one brought her back a good amount of her power, but she knew there was another, more important purpose behind them. She grinned again. The big bully, whoever that was, could wait.
Doing a careful step to the right, she collected another coin, then jumped in the perfect moment as the tile under her moved. Paying attention to the pattern of the moving tiles, she proceeded until she had collected all of the shiny, red coins. A star appeared in the middle of the picture of the dragon. It flew into the air, then landed on a solid platform at the far right. Dinky let her plumber jump over a gap and he touched the star before his hooves could make contact with the platform. He landed and whirled his body a few times, then stroke a victory pose, his right fronthoof stretched out. “Here we go!” it happily came from him, then the screen went black and he stood in front of the painting again.
Dinky cheered inwardly. Getting the first star of this world was easier than she had thought!
Several options popped up on the screen now. Quickly, Dinky chose “Save & Continue”, then she jumped back into the painting. The loading screen once again told her to boil the “big bully”, but now, there were three stars on the screen, the last one being the one she just earned. Sparkling and bright, it stood for the victory she just had.
Back in the world, Dinky chose the same path again. There were more platforms behind the moving tiles and she was eager to find out what challenges they were holding for her. This time, she ignored the weird, round creature. In all her eagerness, she went a bit too fast over the bridge and her plumber's flank was kissing the lava again. More concentrated after his landing, she moved him over the wire platform, the stairs and the grey platform that got flooded by the lava again, collecting the coins in the process.
As she was back on the moving tiles, her power was full again. This time she got over the tiles without an incident. The next rectangular platform was inhabited by two of the pushy creatures. Her instinct telling her it would be too dangerous to fight them both, Dinky evaded them and jumped on the next platform.
It had the shape of a circle and was constantly turning around its own axis. A device in the center of it shot flames that covered the whole radius of the spinning platform. Dinky squinted her eyes as she ran in front of the flames, constantly moving so that they wouldn't touch her character. In the far distance, she could see a platform with a green mushroom on it. Figuring that it was too far to make that jump with her current speed, she ignored it and kept following the spin of the platform to the other end, where she jumped onto a brown, quadratic platform.
With nothing of interest on it, Dinky proceeded towards another grey platform, once again one that got flooded by lava. Now that she had more time to observe, she could see that the flooding was not permanent. Rather, the lava covered it almost completely in a regular pattern, leaving only a small, safe path in the middle, then retreated again.
Dinky smirked. An easy hindrance, now that she knew how it worked. She waited until the lava was gone, then she jumped on the platform, collected the coins and jumped on another, much larger and much more solid platform. Having been distracted by the joy she felt over figuring out the trick for the last one, Dinky did not notice that she wasn't alone on the quadratic platform she now stood on.
Seemingly out of nowhere, another one of the black creatures, but much larger this time, rammed her plumber, sending it right into the lava with just one, strong push. Dinky yelped in fear and surprise.
“Hi, Big Bully,” she whispered and clenched her teeth, now understanding what the loading screen was talking about.
As she had control over her character again, she went offensive, pushing the “bully” on her own. It barely budged. The impact against his massive body was something he didn't even seem to feel. He pushed back with all his strength and soon, the stallion Dinky controlled was hitting the lava again. Now only two-eighths of her power circle were left. The warning red colors of the display were drilling into Dinky's eyes. She gulped, then rammed against the boss again. He did so too, in the exact same moment and pushed her plumber back. Dinky struggled against the fiend, refusing to allow her defeat, but another strong push brought her close to the edge. Her enemy ran against her once more. “NO!” she shouted in fear, but nothing could prevent the unpleasant outcome of the fight. The plumber fell into the lava again..... An ugly visage appeared on the screen, laughing at her mockingly, then the screen faded to black. Her character was falling out of the picture and landed on his back, then he got up groggily. The power display became refilled, but now she had a life less.
Dinky glared at the screen.
The anger lasted only for a moment. The challenge the boss posed urged her to continue, so she composed herself and jumped into the painting again, determination on her face. As she had reached the first of the little bullies, as she now called them, Dinky decided for some training. She pushed it and it got shoved back a few steps. Dinky followed up immediately and lunged at it, but the creature was faster and pushed her now. While her character was recovering, it did it a second time. Dinky jumped and retreated from the platform, giving herself some room before trying it again.
She waited until the creature didn't face her plumber and was at the other end of the platform, them jumped back on it. Immediately, the creature turned round upon noticing her presence and stormed towards her. Dinky squinted and licked her lips. As the creature was almost there, she jumped against it, once more pushing it back. She let her character move forward a little, then she waited. Immediately jumping at it again was what got her the last time, so she was trying it differently now. The creature stormed at her plumber again. Feeling it was the right moment, she rammed it again, letting it stumble backwards another few steps and bringing it dangerously close to the edge.
Dinky threw a hoof up into the air. This was doing the trick! Having figured out the right timing now, she went over the familiar path, now without getting burnt a single time, and found herself in front of the boss again.
As she had expected, it quickly tackled her again. She was pushed back, but jumped over him then and brought some distance between him and her character. Her breath became more heavy as he lunged at her again, but Dinky remained calm and waited for the right moment. As the enemy had almost reached her, she jumped forward and hit him. An angry groan left him as he was pushed back. Once more, Dinky waited, then she repeated the strategy. She pushed him back successfully and a third, concentrated push brought him close to the platform's edge. Enthusiastically, she jumped at him a fourth time as soon as he moved again. Yet this time, it was too early. Her plumber was pushed to the ground.
As fast as possible, Dinky jumped over the strong boss, now standing at the edge herself. The thought about losing now, with being so close, made her nervous. As he came towards her, she jumped into his direction. Dinky missed him just a tiny bit. Another push against her character and almost half of her power was gone. She ran around the boss, but it moved quickly and rammed her into the lava again. By now, Dinky felt agitated, but she had to try again. She realized way too late that she was trying too hard, though. The third push by the boss brought her efforts to an end. A life less, the plumber was falling out of the painting again.
Dinky slumped back into her armchair in defeat, feeling her own energy getting drained from her. For a few minutes, she just watched her character staring at the painting, motionlessly, a dull expression in her eyes.
As she felt a tiny bit of her determination return, she sat up straight again and breathed in and out a few times. “Okay, Dinky, you are smart, you are strong, you can do this!” she spoke, comforting herself.
Feeling a bit refreshed, she went into the painting again, making her way to the boss once more. She managed to reach him without losing power this time too, but the controller was noticeably shaking in her magical grip now.
As she was only one platform away from the boss, she took a small break. The young unicorn placed the controller in her lap, leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and breathed calmly for a few minutes. As she could feel inner peace again, she shot her eyes open, leaned forward, grabbed her controller and brought the rest of the distance behind her. This time she would do everything slowly. No rash actions.
Aggressively, Big Bully rushed at her. Dinky followed his movements with full concentration, then jumped over him elegantly and turned around. She was now in the middle of the platform.
The boss came after her. “Wait..... Wait.....” Dinky spoke silently to herself as she watched him coming closer. “Now jump!” She did and the boss stumbled back. Dinky licked over her lower lip. A little bit, just a tiny step, she let her stallion move forward. Then he came again. Squinting her eyes at him, Dinky waited, then bumped into him with full force. He tumbled again.
Feeling more confident, Dinky let her stallion run forward a few steps now. “I'm not as easy to beat as you think,” she muttered, her tongue now permanently sticking out of her mouth.
The boss had recovered again. Her surroundings having completely disappeared for Dinky now, she braced herself for the next attack. “Now come at me,” she said. He did. Another bump and like at her last attempt, Dinky's enemy was now just an inch away from meeting the lava himself. “Just one more.” Dinky felt the excitement raising in her again and her heart was beating faster, but she suppressed it. “Not now.....”
He came again. For a last time, Dinky awaited him. As he was in the right distance, she concentrated her magic on the jump button. “Say goodbye now, you big bully!” She pressed down on the button.
“Dinky! What are you doing?!” a shocked, panicking voice rang out to her from her left.
Immediately, Dinky was back in reality. Startled, she looked to the side, only to realize how foolish this was in the same moment. She returned her attention to the screen, but it was too late, the boss had bumped her back into the middle of the platform.
“I'm just playing a game, please leave me alone now!” Hectically, Dinky tried to save what was left from her triumphant victory, but with now feeling nervous and unconcentrated because of her aunt's presence, she was bumped time and time again by the boss.
“Not something like this!” her aunt exclaimed. “This is not a game, Dinky, this is poison for the mind!” Unpretended shock was ringing in her voice.
Dinky ignored her. Frantically, she tried to still beat the boss, but soon she had to realize that all was useless now. A last push, a last drop into the lava and she was defeated again. And she was so close!
Dinky felt all hope sinking. A few tears began to garner themselves in the corners of her eyes. Weak, she watched her character getting kicked out of the world inside the painting once again, her eyes glistening in utter disappointment and sadness over the lost chance. Then those feelings got replaced by unrestrained anger. She shot around to her aunt and glared at her with hatred.
“Why?” she shouted. “Why did you have to come in and disturb me?! I was busy!” Her voice was a growl.
“Not this tone again, little missy!” Millie answered the upset question of her niece, not any less loud. “You can't talk like this with me!” Furiously, Millie stepped into the room, cantering past Dinky and heading straight for the table.
Dinky jumped up. “What are you doing?”
Millie did not answer. Instead, she bent down, took the plug of Dinky's Neightendo into her mouth and pulled it out of its socket in the wall with full force. Immediately, the TV screen went black.
“No!” Dinky yelped in shock. “Don't do this, you must turn it off first, you break it!”
Disbelief hit Dinky as she heard an emotionless tone in her aunt's voice. “I don't care, Dinky. Those distractions only mess with the minds of young ponies like you!”
The unicorn filly refused to accept it. As her aunt grabbed her console, the game cartridge still inside, she intervened. Swiftly, she tried to grab her beloved Neightendo on her own, but Millie was once again faster, even faster than when she took her muffin earlier. Then she grabbed the other game cartridges and took them away too.
With resolve, Dinky lit her horn and embraced her games and her console with her magic aura. “Stop it! They are mine!” she said agitated, her teeth clenched as she pulled with all her strength to get her possessions out of her aunt's hooves. But like last time, Millie's grip was stronger. Of course this didn't mean Dinky gave up.
“Why are you doing this?” she tried it with words in addition to her physical efforts.
Millie only gave her a half-hearted answer, her face showing conviction that what she did was right. “Dinky, trust me, these things are not good for you. They infect your mind until you become lazy and forget everything you learned.”
Dinky watched helplessly as her aunt moved towards the door, while she was still unsuccessfully trying to get back what was hers. Her face was red now, both from exhaustion and desperation.
“Now go back to your homework, Dinky! You completely abandoned it for those 'games', isn't it?” her aunt said as she was ready to go through the door.
In anger, Dinky smashed a hoof on the ground. “NO! I didn't, I was already finished with it! I always make my homework first before I play!” She tried a last time to free her stuff from Millie, but it was still of no use against the earth pony mare.
As her head started to hurt, Dinky had to stop and released her magical grip. Defeated, she sank down on her haunches, heavily breathing.
Her aunt looked at her as she turned around to close the door. “Then go and read a book, Dinky! This is something that is good for you and will help you.” The door fell shut with a bang.
Dinky winced. Now more tears glistening in her eyes, she looked at the door in shocked disbelief over what happened while she heard her aunt's fast hoofsteps clopping down on the stairs. Dinky tried to get up, intended to rush past her aunt, but had to sit down again as she noticed that she was lacking the strength for this endeavor now, both mentally and physically.
She sniffed and rubbed away the tears with her hooves. As she felt that the headaches were gone, she carefully lit up her horn again and opened the drawer of her desk. Wrapped in her magic, one of the distorted blueberry muffins flew into her hooves. Resignated, Dinky closed her eyes and bit into the muffin. More tears entered her eyes as she started chewing on it.
Dinky sat in her comfy chair, legs dangling down loosely, an open book in her lap. Arms placed on the chair's rests, she let a deep sigh emerge from her throat as she turned the page with her magic. Her eyes moved over the lines and letters, a dull, bored expression in them.
It knocked on the door. Dinky ignored it, just like the first knock seconds earlier, and kept reading with a straight face.
She liked reading. A lot even. Right now it was not a joy, though. This kind of entertainment forced on her currently, it could not excite the young unicorn.
Another knock. As Dinky once more did not react, eyes fixated on the book, the handle of the door moved down and the door got opened. Millie entered the room, a ridiculous amount of worry on her face, only to get replaced by relief a moment later.
“Oh, Dinky, dear, thank goodness you are okay! I was very worried when you didn't answer my knocks, but now I see that you are just buried nose-deep into a book!” A warm smile crept on her face. “Now, isn't this just as exciting as playing those damaging games was?”
Dinky did not answer her aunt's question, but the darker shade her face seemed to take on showed how she was thinking about this suggestion.
Interpreting the non-existent reaction of her niece as a sign of defiance, Millie ignored it demonstratively, a smug-like expression on her face, and continued to talk about the reason she came here.
“It is time for dinner, Dinky. The table is set, please come down with me to the kitchen.”
Dinky kept reading, ignoring her aunt as demonstratively as she did with her before.
Now it was for Millie's face to take on a darker shade. “Young lady.....” Her voice grew threatening and cold. “Don't show me such an impolite behavior. Set your book aside and come with me.”
No answer came from Dinky, only her face turned into a deep frown now.
Vigorously, Millie stepped at the side of her chair and grabbed the book from her lap swiftly, then putting it on the table left from her.
Dinky huffed. “I'm not hungry,” she said monotonously, but with assertiveness. She wrapped the book into her magic and pulled it back into her lap, then continued reading where she was interrupted, face resting on one of her hooves now. A slight pout was on it.
Finally, Millie got the clue. She sighed. “I know why you are upset with me, Dinky. But you are young and there are a lot of things you don't understand yet.”
Fire appeared in Dinky's eyes and she bit her lip, but did not say anything.
“Removing those games was the best for you, Dinky, and one day you will understand how they harmed you.” She waited for a few moments to see if Dinky would give her another answer, but as none came, she trotted back to the door, where she turned around. “I expect you downstairs in five minutes, Dinky.” Her voice had returned to her strict tone. “Don't tempt fate too much while I'm here. I don't know what it takes to make a refined filly out of you, but I am going to find out.” Without another word, she closed the door behind her, letting the words linger in the air.
For a few moments, Dinky just sat there, trying to continue her reading and to ignore her pounding heart and the loud steps of Aunt Millie on the stairs. As they had faded away, Dinky shut the book and, her teeth bared and her eyes showing an aggressive look, she took it into her hooves and threw it against the door with full force. It hit it with a thunderous bang, then fell down on the floor, cover facing down. Dinky eyed the door, teeth still bared, breathing in and out heavily. As the anger slowly ebbed away, she sank back into her chair again.
A helpless look in her eyes, she leaned her head to the side, her cheek in close contact with the fabric of the chair and then, as if matters couldn't become worse, her grumbling stomach reminded Dinky on it that she was lying earlier. The thought of eating one of the blueberry muffins in her drawer entered her mind, but Dinky shoved it away, instinctively feeling that she would still need this muffin later. Her lips trembled slightly, then another huff escaped her.
Finally, she got up and motioned towards the door, her legs feeling wobbly. Her hesitation strong, she put a hoof on the handle and pulled it down slowly, then slipped out of the opened door. Without turning back, she trudged her way to the stairs, down on them, then to the left and into the kitchen, her mind feeling cloudy and every cell in her body struggling against the movement, but the last words of her aunt kept her trotting.
Having arrived in the kitchen, Millie, who already sat at the table, pointed at the seat opposite of her. “Sit down, Dinky,” she said taut, her voice not allowing for any backtalk.
A sharp answer was on Dinky's tongue, but she swallowed it down and took seat on the chair.
An approving nod came from Millie, then she averted her gaze from Dinky and directed it to the plate in front of her. Dinky followed it and her mouth gaped open in shock.
There were muffins on the plate, a whole bunch of them! For a moment, Dinky's heart jumped from joy, but then she remembered her aunt's words from a few hours earlier. Menacingly, they sounded through her head.
Oh, don't worry, Derpy dear, I will bake new food for her. I brought my recipe book with me, so there won't be any shortage for my little niece. There is nothing wrong about muffins per se, but you need to make the right ones for her and I'm going to bake Dinky some muffins that won't endanger her health.
A second later, the stench of the pastry in front of her wafted into Dinky's nostrils. She sniffed and sucked it in, then her stomach began to turn around. The pungent smell let her nose burn and her eyes watered a little. Dinky stifled a retch but it was audible enough for Millie to look up. Her mouth currently full with one of the muffins, she left it at a deprecating stare, then continued chewing. Disbelief began to spread in Dinky as she watched her aunt eating.
“How can she eat this?” she wondered in thought. “The smell alone could kill a pony.”
She lowered her eyes and looked at the stack of muffins on the plate. They were of a bright brown, the surface unusually flat for muffins and here and there, tiny, white or green bits of..... something poked out of the surface. Dinky grimaced, then she took one of the muffins from the plate and inspected it more closely, disgust in her face.
“What is in those muffins?” she asked Millie, her voice making clear that it was not simple curiosity that caused her to ask, but mere consternation.
Millie swallowed a piece of her muffin, then spoke. The answer turned Dinky's hooves inwards and her stomach began to rebel again.
“Asparagus. There are also apples and yoghurt in it, but Asparagus is the main ingredient. It consists to 94% of water, almost no fat and sugar and it is very easy to digest. Just the right thing for a young filly like you, Dinky. It will help you grow.”
“Probably more like letting me shrink,” Dinky replied deadpan, speaking out the thought in her mind, now unable to control her aversion against the food in front of her. If another pony had told her that muffins like this would help her grow, she would have deemed it as a joke. But coming from her aunt, Dinky did not doubt that she was convinced of this for even just a second.
Millie shook her head. “Stop looking like this now.” Her voice sounded a little insulted. “They aren't as bad as you think, so start eating. I know you are hungry.”
Dinky gulped. The stench still threatened her to retch, but the grumbling in her stomach was a force on its own. With the biggest reluctance, she took a small bite of the muffin. She was sure she would have to spit it out again the minute it touched her tongue, but the reaction did not happen. To Dinky's surprise, the muffin tasted better than she had feared, at least better than the stench let her suspect.
Carefully, she started chewing. The familiar taste of apples flooded her buds, which was good and by some miracle, it seemed to drown out the asparagus flavour. She could live of those muffins until her mom was back, she realized relieved. They did not cause her to vomit, yet saying that Dinky was satisfied with them would have still been exaggerated greatly. The only redeeming thing about them were the apple pieces, but the rest tasted dull and boring, not much better than cardboard. If it weren't for the apples, even this would have been tastier than those muffins, she figured.
Dinky swallowed the piece in her mouth, then took another one and started chewing on that too, still wearing a sceptical expression on her face. Millie's face radiated satisfaction.
As Dinky had finished the muffin, her stomach was still grumbling, yet the filly decided that it was enough. There was a better flavour waiting for her, up in her room, so something else would serve as the rest of her dinner. Yet, Dinky did not leave right away. There was something else. Something that needed to get addressed and the fierce determination in Dinky's eyes showed that she was willing to fight.
She breathed in deeply, calming her pounding heart. Her mom was not here right now and Sparkler was still at work, so she needed to stand up for herself. A certain phrase entered her mind, giving her confidence.
Don't be a pushover! If anyone tries to shove you around, push back! It's one-on-one, with a fiery finish for the loser!
“And fiery shall your finish be,” Dinky thought poetically. Then she looked Millie straight into the face, fire in her eyes. “I want my videogames back,” she said, demanding strictness ringing in her voice.
“Not under any circumstances,” came the counter from her aunt, her own voice feeling to Dinky like she just got hit by a massive rock.
Dinky narrowed her eyes. “They don't belong to you, they are mine. You have no right to steal them from me and you know it.”
Millie was not impressed, she only appeared slightly annoyed instead. “We already went over this enough, Dinky. We won't repeat it. You know very well how much these games hurt your development and–“
“SHUT UP!” Dinky got up and, standing on her chair, slammed her forehooves on the kitchen table, shooting a hateful glare at her aunt.
Millie sat there motionless, her mouth open and her eyes bulging, not able to produce a reply for once. “I don't care for your paranoid crap! Give me back my games and do it now, or.....” With the last bit of self-control Dinky had left in her fury, she stopped herself from finishing that sentence. The rest of it ringing in her mind, she felt a little ashamed for what she almost said, but considering the circumstances, also not sorry enough to regret anything.
Seconds passed, then Millie finally found her speech again. Her face was pale now.
“Dinky..... I am very disappointed. You are really not the filly I knew anymore and it breaks my heart to see you acting like this. What in Equestria happened?”
“Give me back my games.” Dinky gnarled as she repeated her demand.
Then the disappointment and slight sadness in Millie's face vanished and was replaced by cold disapproval and authority.
“Go to your room, Dinky. Dinner is cancelled for you now, maybe sleeping with a hungry stomach for this display will teach you something.”
Dinky did not budge. “I'm not going anywhere before you didn't give me back my games.” She lifted one of her hooves and slammed in on the table again, to underline what she said. Her resolve washed over Millie, but the mare's reaction was stonecold.
“This is too late anyway now. I went outside and sold them immediately after I left your room.” A slight glee was in Millie's voice now. “Your friend Button Mash is enjoying them now. I was hesitant about selling them at first and just wanted to throw them away, but this colt can't be saved anymore anyway, he's playing those games for way too long already. And of course I will give the money to your mom, then she can invest it in something that is good for you. At least the money can be used to rescue you from the same fate that way.”
During Millie's whole speech, Dinky felt her heart sliding down into her stomach more and more and the expression in her face gradually turned from an angry one to one of shock and disbelief. And Dinky did not believe it.
“Y-You're lying,” she stuttered. “I know you do. You're just saying this as an excuse so that you don't have to give them back to me.” In her face, insecurity and conviction were fighting with each other.
Silently, Millie shook her head, the seriousness in the movement scaring Dinky.
“No. It's all true,” she said taut. Millie snatched up her wallet from the table and opened it, then placed a number of bills on it. Seeing the bill on top and how thick the pile of bills was, Dinky guessed it had to be about two-hundred bits that lied there in front of her. “Not as much as I thought they would bring, but it should be enough for a few nice things.”
Dinky felt her conviction breaking away. “Y-You really sold them.....”
Again, Millie nodded, then she returned the bills into her wallet and put it back to where it was. “Now go to sleep, it's almost time,” she said then, which caused another glimmer of protest to flare up inside of Dinky, but the unicorn filly was now too weak to fight back. “You will go to bed at eight as long as I am here and I will tell your mom to send you to bed at the same time. Staying up past eight is much too long for a ten year old filly like you.”
Dinky just stared in shock over what she had just heard. Then one of her hooves reached out for the plate with the muffins.
“And hooves away from the muffins,” Millie said strict as she noticed. “You are not getting any more to eat today as punishment for your behavior.”
Millie had interpreted Dinky's movement wrong, though. As Dinky's hoof had reached the plate, it began to tremble, and her face got distorted by anger again. With violent force, she moved her hoof under the side of the plate and threw it into the air, causing the muffins to rain down on the table, some of them landing on Millie, followed by the plate shattering to pieces on the table's surface.
“I DON'T CARE!” Dinky screamed at her aunt now. “YOUR MUFFINS TASTE LIKE NOTHING ANYWAY!”
Then she jumped off the chair and galloped away, out of the kitchen. Millie looked after her niece as she entered the stairs, her face showing deep concern. She shook her head in bewilderment.
“This behavior..... I really wonder from where she got it.” Millie sighed, then she made herself to pick up the muffins and to collect the shards of the plate.
Upstairs, Dinky clattered through the short corridor to her bedroom, many thoughts rushing through her head now; from the ridiculousness of it that she should go to bed now, even though her usual bedtime was not earlier than ten, to the fate of her beloved videogames. She sniffed as she thought about the latter. “I hate her.....” she whispered.
In her room, she smashed the door shut behind her, then locked it by turning the key around two times. Dinky cursed herself for not having done this earlier. Then she jumped into her armchair, where she slumped into the soft fabric. A few tears glistened in her eyes as she stared at the table that was now empty, save for her TV. It was more from anger than desperation.
A strange, cold feeling flooding through her body, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes, then leaned to the side and nestled her cheek into the chair. Feeling like nothing mattered anymore now, she let herself drift away into a restless sleep.
A cold shiver went through Dinky's body as she heard a creaking sound and her eyes shot open. Swiftly, she sat up, a feeling of fear spreading out in her chest, and looked around, confused about where the sound came from. But she couldn't see anything.
“Why is it so dark suddenly?” she said groggy, then sat up more and rubbed her eyes. Slowly, the cold feeling of fear subsided and her memories returned. Dinky's eyes began to burn as she thought on the fate of her videogames again.
Shaky, she got up on her hooves and groped her way to the light switch. An incidental glance at the clock on her nightstand told her the time. It was 9 PM, as the illuminated numbers told her, meaning she had only slept for about an hour after she passed out in her distraught state. But it was enough for the sun to have been set by now, as her room was pitch-black.
Dinky shook her head. It had only been an hour, yet her dreams were filled with the weirdest things, most of which she couldn't even fathom in their meaning as absurd as they had been. Luckily, only fragments of these dreams remained in her memory now that she was awake again, but those haunted her all the more.
For one, there was her mom saying goodbye to her earlier on this day, while Dinky could just stand there, frozen on the spot, and watching how her beloved mom flew further and further away from her, in slow-motion to boot. The second fragment was just Millie entering her room, a happy smile on her face and a tone of utmost optimism in her voice as she talked to her. “You are staying with me now, Dinky!” she had said. Dinky shuddered at the memory and stopped in her tracks for a moment, the feeling of fear returning. Her eyes felt squishy and a whimper escaped her throat. It was only a dream, but it had seemed all too real.
Shaking away the thought with force, Dinky finally did the last step to the switch and turned the lights on. Blinded, she held a hoof in front of her eyes, then she turned around. Feeling rejuvenated by the bright light, the fog in her mind slowly cleared, and then Dinky realized what had caused the sound that woke her up.
Feeling some joy flashing up in her heart, she turned around again, aiming for the door this time. Carefully and without making too much sound, she turned the key around twice, then slowly opened it. She peeked outside into the corridor and found it dark, as dark as her room had been just moments earlier. Millie was nowhere in sight and when Dinky looked to her right and into the direction the door of the guestroom had to be, she could hear faint rustling from the room, indicating that Millie was inside of it.
Tiphoofing, Dinky slipped out of her room and closed the door behind her with her magic. She twitched as the door got shut with a clicking sound. Ready to retreat into her room again if Millie should show up, Dinky observed the door of the guestroom, her eyes having grown wide in anxiety.
As no steps could be heard coming from inside Millie's room, Dinky held a hoof at her chest and breathed out in relief, then she turned to the left, continuing to tiphoof, and went down the corridor over the short distance to the room that was right beside hers.
Standing in front of it, Dinky did a careful glance over her shoulder, almost expecting to see Millie at her side suddenly, but she was still alone in the corridor.
She turned back to face the door and lifted her hoof. As quietly as she could, Dinky knocked on her sister's door. “Sparks?” she whispered, leaning her head in closely. Her voice sounded longing.
Sounds from behind the door entered her ears; clanging could be heard, followed by hoofsteps that approached the door quickly. It got opened widely and Sparkler looked down on her sister, a wide smile on her face.
“Hey, Dinks!” she greeted her, loud and cheerful. Sparkler stretched out a hoof to ruffle her little sister's mane, but before she could reach it, Dinky put a hoof to her mouth.
“Psst!” she whispered, then did another look over her shoulder, a strenous expression on her face. Noticing that everything was still quiet in the corridor, she motioned towards the entrance, pushing Sparkler to the inside. She turned around and peeked into the corridor again, then quietly shut the door with her magic.
As Dinky turned around to her sister again, Sparkler already awaited her with a knowing expression. “She sent you to bed early, right?”
Sadly, Dinky nodded, pain in her eyes.
“Well, I don't care,” Sparkler replied, her voice brash now. “I allow you to stay up longer and I have the last say about this as long as mom isn't here.”
Having caused her sister's face to light up, Sparkler turned around and motioned towards a small table in the middle of her room. “Come, sit down and let's talk!” she said carefree, then took seat on the nearest chair.
Dinky followed her older sister's steps and took seat at her side on another chair. It was only now that she sat at the table, that Dinky noticed the plate of muffins in the middle of it. Eagerly, her face lit up even more.
Smirking, Sparkler ignited her horn and let one of the delicious treats hover into Dinky's hooves, who bit into it greedily, a squeal of happiness leaving her mouth. Finally, Sparkler could ruffle her sister's mane. “So, how bad was it so far, Dinks?” Sparkler came right to the point as she leaned back again and reached out for one of the muffins herself.
Dinky swallowed the piece of her own muffin, then her ears flattened a little and she began to tell her big sister about the events of the day. She was very thorough with it, so she began at the morning, with the things that happened between her and Derpy right after Sparkler had left for work. She told her how she almost slammed the door into their mom's face, how she met Lily, about her return home and Millie's arrival, what Millie did with their muffins and finally, about the disaster of Millie taking her videogames away from her and even selling them. As Dinky had finished, her eyes began to glisten and she took another bite out of her muffin. As she was chewing on it, she wiped a few tears out of her eyes.
Sparkler's expression formed an angry frown as soon as she had heard the full retelling of the events. Immediately, she reached out with her left hoof, put it around Dinky's shoulder and pulled her closer to her. Then she sighed audibly.
“I knew she would mess you up again..... I swear, this mare is worse than Tirek and Chrysalis combined.” Still the angry glare in her eyes, she lifted the muffin to her mouth and took a strong bite out of it herself.
At her side, Dinky just nodded quietly, lost in thoughts while eating her own muffin.
“But now that she took your games, she went too far. I'm getting your stuff back, Dinks, and I will have some serious talk with her about all of this.”
Still wearing a sad expression, but also some hope glimmering in her eyes now, Dinky looked up and into her sister's eyes. “Can you do this, Sparks?”
Sparkler answered her look and nodded. “Sure!” She rubbed over Dinky's left shoulder comfortingly. “The games don't belong to her and she never asked you or me or mom if she can sell them, so the sale wasn't legal. It will be easy.” She moved her hoof up and ruffled through Dinky's mane once more. “Leave it up to me, I get your games back in no time, Dinks!”
A broad and very relieved smile started to build on Dinky's lips and she fell around her sister's chest, hugging her tightly. Sparkler put a hoof around her little sister, rubbing her shoulder some more.
Suddenly, Dinky stirred. She could feel it, there was something gently nudging her left backhoof, followed by a very quiet snort.
Confused, she released the hug with Sparkler and looked down the chair. As she saw who had touched her hoof, her eyeballs grew in size and her mouth turned into a huge grin, her white teeth shining down on the small creature on the floor.
“Twee!” she said happily and bent down to lift up the little tortoise. She set him down on her chest and gave him a soft nuzzle, which he answered by snuggling up against her neck and resting his head there.
Dinky giggled. “I almost forgot about him because of Aunt Millie! I didn't even notice that he wasn't in my room anymore when I came home from school.” Slight regret was ringing in her voice. Ever since the Ponyville Pet Center Fundraiser a while ago, Dinky and Twee were the closest of friends. Even though it was clearly Millie's fault, Dinky felt guilty for forgetting about him.
Holding Twee tightly, Dinky looked around in Sparkler's room until her eyes fell on a familiar terrarium in the corner. Then she looked up to her sister. “What is he doing here, Sparkler?”
Sparkler smiled down at her knowingly, relief over the better condition of her little sister in her eyes. “Mom and me figured it would be better for him to stay here in my room until Millie has left again. You know how she thinks about animals. If she would find him in your room, she would do only Celestia knows what.”
Fear flashed up in Dinky's eyes and she nodded sternly. “Is he really safe here, Sparkler?” She stroke with her hoof over Twee's shell affectionately.
Reassuringly, Sparkler nodded. “She would have to come in here and you know that I banned her from my room the last time she was here. And I'm locking the door every time I leave and take the key with me. Twee is completely safe from that scarecrow.” She grinned mischievously.
Dinky grinned as well, feeling impressed how carefree Sparkler dared to talk about their aunt. A second later, both sisters broke out in loud laughter.
“I wonder what she would say about Twee,” Dinky wondered as their fits had subsided and gave her pet turtle a gentle kiss on the head.
“About a tortoise? Hmm.....” Sparkler put a hoof at her chin and pondered Dinky's question, until her face lit up. She cleared her throat, then looked down at her sister and Twee, giving them both a convincing glare. Sparkler disguised her voice.
“Dinky, dear, what do I have to see?” she asked as exaggerated as she could. “Is this.....” She trailed off intentionally and bent down close to Twee and Dinky, making the latter feel slightly uncomfortable. “Is this a tortoise sitting on your chest?! Oh dear, by Celestia! Dinky, do you not know how dangerous tortoises are? They deliver all sorts of infectious diseases!” Sparkler slightly touched Twee's shell, a pretended look of disgust on her face. “This tortoise here..... It will make you sick, Dinky, you will see. Just wait, very soon he will infect you with salmonellosis and then you will die in your bed a few days later, when the bacteria have sucked your life out of your young body!”
While Dinky's face was slightly frightened at the beginning, feeling reminded on the mare who would indeed be serious about saying such things, she now just grinned at her big sister, barely able to resist another laughing fit. The look in Sparkler's face showed Dinky that she was feeling the same.
Sparkler's performance made Dinky feel more confident. Cheekily, she stuck out her tongue at Sparkler. “I don't care! I rather die happy than becoming a scared and paranoid killjoy like you, Millie!”
Astonishment flitted across Sparkler's face for a moment. And as if he wanted to emphasize Dinky's words, Twee suddenly turned his head at Sparkler, inched a little closer and huddled his head against her right check.
As the two sisters saw this, they couldn't hold onto themselves anymore. Simultaneously, they erupted into another laughing fit, even louder than the one before. Driven over the edge by Twee's reaction, both sisters just sat there, laughing like nothing else in Equestria was important anymore, until their sides began to hurt and slowly forced them to stop.
They calmed down, still slightly giggling, while wiping the tears of laughter out of their eyes. Before they could continue to talk, though, somepony else was preventing their upcoming conversation.
“I'm flattered that you know me so well to make this convincing display of myself possible, Sparkler.” Millie's voice sounded over to them coldly, drenched with sarcasm.
In all their silliness, they had not noticed that Millie had entered the room and silently watched them all the time. Eyeballs shrunk, both the older and the younger sister winced and turned around.
“And I'm very happy that you spoke out what I was thinking already, Sparkler. Now I don't have to explain it anymore.” Her very real glare of disgust rested on Twee, who was still sitting on Dinky's chest. “I don't understand how you and your mom can allow this. And that even though you know about all the risks.”
Sparkler's shock did not last long. She rolled her eyes at Millie's criticism, then sighed.
“Well, look who came to join us.....” she said, the annoyance clearly audible in her voice. “Here to make more trouble, Millie?” Sparkler didn't make any effort to hide her hostility.
“Apparently, there is no need for this anymore,” Millie countered. She looked at Twee again, then at the muffins, then at the clock in Sparkler's room, before she returned her eyes to Sparkler herself. “You're already doing all the trouble yourself. A dangerous, sick animal sitting right there on my niece's chest, unhealthy food on the table and it's even way past Dinky's bedtime. I'm disheartened to see all of this, you are a very bad sister, Sparkler.”
And with this statement, something snapped in Sparkler. In a swift movement, she shot an intimidating glare at Millie.
“A 'bad sister'?” she asked, her face distorted in fury now.
Millie did not budge and neither did her eyes show any signs of fear or weakness.
“Worse than an aunt who makes my little sister unhappy by forbidding her everything that is fun because of her ridiculous, overprotective attitude? Shut up and mind your own business first, Millie!”
Now Millie's face turned dark. “You.....” She began to stammer. “Y-You have the worst manners I've ever seen, Sparkler. Now I know why Dinky is treating me with so little respect. Did you know what she said to me today while you were gone? She called me 'paranoid' and almost threatened me. And she was even screaming at me!” Millie held a hoof to her face. It looked more theatrical than concerned. “I can't believe what a bad influence you have on your young sister, Sparkler. There are so many things I have to talk about with your mom once she is back. This whole family is falling apart without me, it seems.”
Sparkler looked at Millie, impressed. “Oh, did she?” she asked, half astounded, half cynical. She looked over at Dinky, who eyed Millie nervously, and smiled at her with pride. Then she redirected her attention at Millie. “Then you deserve it!” she said right into her face.
Millie gasped in shock. But before she could reply anything, Sparkler snubbed her.
“Do you know what Dinky told me? She told me about it how you took away her videogames today and maybe even broke her console and how you were not even batting an eye about it! She said you were selling them, without her agreement, and she was crying because of it, right here in front of me! You made her sad and unhappy, how's that for 'bad'?!”
With every new word, Sparkler talked herself more into rage. She stopped, catching her breath.
Now bewildered, Millie began to address what Sparkler said. “Sparkler, I did all of this because–“
“Just can it, Millie, I don't care for your nonsense!” Sparkler spat the words into Millie's face and interrupted her. “The games you sold weren't yours and you can be happy about it that I don't turn you in for this.” She paused for a moment, to give her words more effect.
Millie was quiet now, just looking at her disconcerted.
Sparkler continued. “Tomorrow, I will go and get Dinky's games back. If they disappear again, I will hold you accountable for it, Millie.” The expression of the purple unicorn left no doubt about the sincerity of her words.
Millie opened her mouth and closed it again a few times, clearly preparing more counters, but she didn't manage it to produce one single word. Dinky couldn't help but comparing her with a fish in an aquarium and had to giggle.
Eventually, Millie gave up her attempts. She huffed and nodded. “Okay. Do whatever you believe is right, Sparkler. But you are ruining your little sister with this.” Then she went out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Sparkler and Dinky could hear her hoofsteps in the corridor and how she opened the door of her own room, followed by a loud bang that made Dinky twitch.
The peacefulness having returned to the room, Sparkler looked at her sister again. “There, done,” she said in an optimistic tone. “Wasn't so hard, right?”
Dinky began to smile and nodded, her eyes glistening in admiration now.
Sparkler answered the smile, then ignited her horn again and hovered another muffin into Dinky's hooves. “And now let's eat some more. I bet you're still starving for some real food after those ugly muffins.”
This wasn't something she needed to tell her sister twice. With greed, Dinky bit into the muffin and munched on it happily, then Sparkler took one for herself.
After another conversation and one more round of muffins, Sparkler looked over to her clock, noticing that the display jumped to 10 PM. Dinky's actual bedtime had come.
Together, the two unicorn sisters left Sparkler's room and entered Dinky's bedroom. The corridor was quiet while they trotted down it, not even from Millie's room came any sounds. Apparently, the obnoxious aunt had gone to sleep as well.
Sparkler pushed the door open. Inside, Dinky went straight for her bed, now feeling actually tired after the stressful day. She hovered Twee off her back and set him down on the pillow, then removed the blanket, climbed into her bed and lied down on the sheets, her head placed at Twee's side.
“Can you tuck me in?” Dinky asked her big sister.
Sparkler chuckled slightly. “Aren't you too old for this, Dinks?” Her voice sounded teasing.
Dinky's face turned red, but she shook her head. “Not tonight.” There was still a slight bit of insecurity in her voice, clearly a result of what had happened today.
Understanding, Sparkler took Dinky's blanket between her hooves and spread it over her little sister. Finished with the task, she ruffled a last time through Dinky's mane.
“Night, Dinks,” she said. “And don't forget to lock the door because of Twee.”
Dinky nodded. “Good night, Sparkler!” She looked at her big sister, still love and admiration in her eyes.
Sparkler winked at her, then she switched off the light and went outside.
Now alone with Twee in the dark room, Dinky focused her magic into the direction where she suspected the key to be and, as she had finally located it, turned it around twice.
Having locked the door, she nestled closer to Twee. She kissed his head. “Good night, Twee!”
Dinky gave her pet turtle a last nuzzle as he reciprocated with his own, gentle gesture, then she closed her eyes, awaiting sleep to carry her away.....
On the next morning, Dinky awoke as she felt something touching her nose. She stirred and grumbled. With her body not quite able to properly recognize her surroundings yet, the feeling gave her a weird sensation. Dinky yawned and turned to the other side. She grabbed her blanket tightly and pressed it closer to her chest. “Just one more minute,” the young unicorn muttered sleepily.
Now the feeling was on the back of her head. Something poked against it, softly, yet as tired as she still was, it felt unpleasant to her. Dinky tried to ignore it, focusing her mind on the dream she had, which was full of cotton candy and chocolate treats. Her mom and Sparkler were there too and even Twee had been with her in the weird, but wonderful, sugary paradise.
There were trees made of chocolate, with cotton candy growing on them instead of leaves, and small, round-shaped bits of chocolate as their fruits. They were dotted over a beautiful landscape of lush, pink cotton candy grass that was traversed by alleys of solid chocolate cobblestones. In the middle of everything was a big chocolate lake. In her dream, they had spent hours exploring this land of cotton candy and chocolate. They had climbed on the trees, taken naps in the grass, eaten the tasty chocolate fruits, which turned out as being filled with blueberry jam, and swum in the lake.
She was just at the part where she jumped off of the shore and did a dive into the chocolatey goodness as she felt the poking against her head again, throwing her out of her thoughts. Dinky groaned and lit her horn, aiming her magic at whatever was interrupting her reminiscence of the peaceful dream she had, and lifted the disturber in front of her face. As she opened her eyes, she saw Twee, who was smiling at her. He poked her nose with his head again.
“Twee.....” Dinky muttered surprised, a feeling of warmth spreading out in her chest. She inched a little closer to him and nuzzled his head. “Did you want to wake me up?” she asked, a weak smile on her face.
A snort came from Twee and he nodded. Now reality was flooding back into Dinky's mind. Her eyes lost their hazy glance and became clear. Dinky gasped. “I need to go to school!”
Hastily, she sat up and turned to the left, looking at her alarm clock. It was five minutes past the time she usually woke up at. The memories of last night entered Dinky's mind again. After all that happened, she had forgotten to set the alarm for today!
Now in hurry, Dinky threw the blanket off of her body and jumped out of her bed, then rushed for the door. As she put her hoof on the handle, Twee snorted again, alerting and louder this time. Dinky turned around to him. “Do you want to join me, Twee?”
He nodded in anticipation, accompanied by more snorts.
Giggling happily, she put Twee on her back with her magic, then unlocked the door and rushed outside. Her first destination was the bathroom. It was just opposite of her bedroom, a little to the left. Dinky hurried up to it, opened the door and locked it as soon as she was inside. Continuing her rush, she galloped up to the shower and entered it, closing the door of it behind her.
Dinky turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, then took position under the warm stream of water. She groaned comfortingly as the water washed away the rest of her sleepiness and the sweat of the night. Lifting her head and looking directly into the stream, she let it flow over her face and her closed eyes, carrying a happy and satisfied expression.
Twee climbed up on her head to catch more of the warm water. He lied down on top of her mane and stretched out all of his four legs. Cheery little snorts emerged from his throat.
As her body was soaked enough, Dinky hovered Twee off of her head and at her chest. She lifted a hoof and, holding him there for a moment, gave him a soft kiss on the head. Then she hovered him into a corner of the shower, turned off the water and swiftly grabbed a grey bottle from the other corner. She opened it and, hovering it in front of her now, squeezed something of the slick substance inside of it on her hooves, then proceeded with shampooing her whole body.
Covered in shampoo from the tip of her horn to the end of her tail, she turned on the shower again, grumbling as she had to adjust the temperature again, then began with washing the shampoo off.
She held her mane under the stream, then her face, then she turned around to let the water flow over the rest of her mane, her back and the upper side of her tail. Halfway through the process, she turned to face the stream again and got up on her hindlegs, making sure the water would reach the lower part of her chest, her underbelly and her lower abdomen. Finally, she turned around a last time, bent down a little and raised her flank. Lifting her tail out of the way, she let the water stream over her rear, then turned off the shower and got out of it, hovering Twee behind her.
Standing on the rug dripping wet, Dinky reached for a towel from the shelf to her left, wrapped herself in it and rubbed her body dry, then she hovered it to Twee and dried his shell and body too. She tossed the towel into the laundry hamper and left the bathroom, Twee sitting on her back again.
Dinky felt refreshed as she trotted the few steps through the corridor up to Sparkler's room. Founding it still unlocked, she opened the door and slipped inside quickly, then approached Twee's terrarium. Carefully now, she lifted him off of her back and inside his little home. Having arrived there, he gave Dinky a melancholic look, which let her ears drop a bit.
“Don't worry, Twee, I'll be back soon!” she reassured him, a tiny trace of sadness in her voice. She petted over his shell lovingly and closed the terrarium door. Dinky got up and smiled at him, then returned to the exit of the room. Standing at the door, she turned around before leaving, waving at her friend with a bright smile, then went outside and closed the door.
In the corridor, Dinky increased her tempo to a gallop, that she only slowed down as she had reached the stairs. Trotting down on them, she could already hear the voices of her big sister and her aunt coming from the kitchen.
“–the last chance to remove those fatty killers from the table and serve her my healthy muffins now, Sparkler,” the concerned voice of her aunt rang into Dinky's ears.
Dinky rolled her eyes, feeling disbelief over the fact her aunt was still at it.
“I couldn't care less,” her big sister replied and that was exactly how her voice sounded. It also sounded slightly muffled, like Sparkler was munching on something.
A sigh came from her aunt, then Dinky heard the sound of hoofsteps on the kitchen floor.
Having arrived downstairs and with the kitchen now in sight, Dinky could see Sparkler sitting at the table through the entrance, a muffin wrapped into her purple aura and her eyes fixated on a magazine in front of her while she was chewing on her breakfast.
Dinky's face brightened as she saw her big sister and she returned to her gallop as she approached the kitchen. Sparkler looked up as she went through the entrance.
“Hey, morning, Dinks!” She let her muffin drop and got down from her chair, giving her little sister a hug, which Dinky reciprocated gladly. “How was your night, Dinks? Did you have nice dreams?”
The memory of the crazy, but wonderful, dream returning back into her memory, Dinky laughed. “Yeah!” she answered. “Full of cotton candy and chocolate!”
Over at the fridge, a twitch went through Millie's body, but she did not say anything.
Sparkler and Dinky released the hug, looking at each other.
“Your dreams are way better than mine, Dinks. I wish I would still be a filly.” Sparkler ruffled her sister's mane, then returned back onto her chair and beckoned Dinky over.
The younger unicorn moved past her sister's chair and took seat to her left. Smiling smugly, Sparkler hovered a muffin over to her sibling. On a plate in front of her were the rest of the muffins from last night, just enough for breakfast. “Here, Dinks, eat one of mom's tasty blueberry muffins!” she said, intentionally loud.
Another twitch from Millie, stronger this time, but she didn't comment on Sparkler's remark.
Millie closed the fridge, then came towards their direction; her usual, strict expression, but also an unhappy frown, on her face.
Noticing how Dinky gave her aunt a shy glance, hesitating to take the muffin for just a split-second, Sparkler smirked at her. “Now start eating, Dinks! We want you to grow fat and strong, I mean, big and strong.”
Producing a bang, Millie put her plate on the table and sat down without saying a word.
After Sparkler had said this, Dinky was finished. Grasping the muffin with her own magic, she held a hoof in front of her face and giggled; first quietly, then louder, then she broke out in full laughter. Sparkler chimed in quickly. For a few minutes, the kitchen was filled with the sound of two very strong laughing fits. As their fits faded out, the two sisters snickered gleefully.
Only Millie had been quiet. She was giving them angry, disapproving glares until their laughing had stopped.
Millie swallowed, making her mouth free. “Even if we disagree, Sparkler, I don't appreciate you making fun of me like this,” she hissed.
Sparkler looked at her, unimpressed. “Yeah, so what? You made my sister sad yesterday, so now I'm making her happy at your expense. That's justice.” Demonstratively, she took a bite out of her blueberry muffin.
Dinky looked at her admiringly, her mouth once again open from fascination over how easy her big sister dealt with their aunt.
Out of arguments again, Millie just lowered her eyes and returned her attention to her breakfast.
But Sparkler was not finished yet. “And speaking about sad, I need to leave soon, so it's time for you to give me that money you got for Dinky's games, so that I can get them back later.”
Millie's face darkened like the sky before a storm.
“To destroy more of her brain cells and turn her into a bonehead,” she hissed again.
“If you say so,” Sparkler replied sarcastically, her voice sounding noticeably more aggressive now. “Guess me and Dinks head to the police station first then, I know Rarity will understand if I'm late and I'm sure her teacher won't mind a delay either once she tells her everything.” Sparkler's face was deadpan.
She looked at Dinky, her eyes showing a mix of strictness and encouragement. Dinky's own face taking on a similar strict expression, she looked over to her aunt and nodded affirmatively.
Dropping her muffin, Millie got up instantly and headed to the exit of the kitchen, snarling her teeth. As Millie returned, her hoof was full of banknotes. She slammed them on the table.
“Here,” she said, audibly upset. “Get back those mind destroyers and waste your little sister's intelligence.” Millie sat down and began to stuff herself with her breakfast, not giving the two unicorn siblings another look.
Before Millie could change her mind, Sparkler snatched them up with her magic. She opened her saddlebags from the distance, hovered out her wallet and let the money disappear in it, then placed the wallet back in the bags and closed them.
Sparkler looked up to the clock on the wall, then she turned her attention to Dinky.
“Wanna leave early today?”
Dinky smiled widely at her big sister. “Yeah, let's leave!”
Simultaneously, the two sisters each enveloped one of the remaining muffins into their aura and got up. Sparkler tossed her saddlebags onto her back and they left the kitchen. Neither of them said goodbye to Millie.
As they had arrived in front of the entrance door, Dinky remembered that she still needed to get her own saddlebags from upstairs.
“Have you brought Twee into my room yet?” Sparkler asked.
Dinky nodded. “Mhm. We took a shower together, but then I did before I came downstairs.”
“Awesome!” Sparkler replied. “Can you lock the door for me?” She tossed Dinky a key and the filly caught it with her magic.
“Sure!” she said and bolted up the stairs.
Like a flash, she was at Sparkler's door, inserted the key into the lock and turned it, then went into her room and equipped herself with her saddlebags. Less than a minute had passed as she was downstairs again. She returned the key to her sister, then both of them left the house.
Outside, a wave of relief washed over Dinky. Now that she was away from her aunt, at least for the morning, a burden was off of her back. Greedily, she sucked in the fresh morning air around her, then took a bite from the muffin that was still hovering at her side.
The two sisters sat themselves into motion. For a while, none of them said anything. Dinky was busy with her muffin and Sparkler did not want to disturb her while eating, knowing that it was the last of the blueberry muffins. Quietly, the older unicorn began to eat her muffin too. Only as both of them had finished the rest of their breakfast, the silence between them was broken.
“Now all the muffins are gone, except for mine.....” Dinky said sorrowful, dropping her ears.
Sparkler's ears pricked up, though. “You're hiding muffins in your room?” she asked in surprise.
Dinky nodded. “I took five when she arrived. She never noticed. The rest was thrown away by her.....”
“Fits her,” Sparkler said taut and huffed. Then she lifted a hoof and placed it on Dinky's mane, ruffling through it gently. “Don't worry, Dinks, as long as I'm here you won't have to eat Millie's cardboard muffins! I suck at baking, but I'm going to buy a batch from Sugarcube Corner on my way home.”
Dinky smiled over the gesture. She wrapped her big sister into a spontaneous hug.
As they had separated again, Sparkler continued the conversation. “So, how's Lily doing?”
“She's doing great!” Dinky answered. “I couldn't talk with her anymore when we left school yesterday, because I wanted to be at home before Aunt Millie arrives. I can't wait to meet her again today!” She reared up a little from joy.
“Sounds swell!” Sparkler shot her an answer.
There was more Dinky wanted to talk about with her big sister, but as she looked ahead, she saw a familiar turn. “We're already there.....” she said quietly.
“Yeah, it's time for me to head to the boutique now,” Sparkler replied, then bent down to her sister, wrapping her hooves around her. “Don't worry about Millie, Dinks! I got your back and if she gets out of control again, I'll be putting into her place like I did yesterday!”
Dinky squeezed her older sister, then they broke up. Sparkler gave Dinky a pat on the back. “See you in the evening, Dinks!” Then she took the turn to the right, heading to Carousel Boutique.
“Bye, Sparks!” Dinky said melancholic, then waved at her when Sparkler turned around a last time. As she was out of sight, Dinky took her own turn and made her way towards the schoolhouse.
The way to the school was a quiet one. The streets were empty, there were no other foals except her and, of course, no sight of Lily. Right now, she was probably still getting prepared for school, Dinky figured. The young unicorn was buried in her thoughts while trotting to school, which lead to her not noticing how much time passed. Before she knew, Dinky stood in front of the red and white building. Looking around, she could confirm that she was the only foal at the school this early in the morning.
Using the advantage, she went into the schoolhouse, took off her saddlebag and prepared everything for the first lesson. It took her mere minutes to do so and when she looked at the clock above Cheerilee's desk, she saw that it was still fifteen minutes until the first students usually arrive.
Not knowing what else to do, Dinky went outside and sat down on one of the swings. Bored, she began to rock it slightly. “Being so early at school is really weird,” she thought.
In front of her, the wind blew a scrap of paper over the playground. It was howling loudly while it did so.
Dinky shuddered. The schoolgrounds felt eerie so early in the morning, she realized. The cold morning chill only contributed to this atmosphere. She felt a bit of fear rising in her chest.
The schoolgrounds being so empty and her all alone, no other pony around..... It reminded her on that one episode of “The Trotting Dead” she had secretly watched in her room some time ago. It was a show she was not yet allowed to see, of course. And she didn't have any desire to watch it again after that night. The places she saw in this episode were as empty as the playground was right now. There were never any ponies anywhere, aside from the relatively small main cast; a bunch of ponies consisting of former police officers, outlaws and farmers, who were fighting their way through Manehattan in hope to find a safe place. The rest were just zombies; ponies who died long ago and had returned from death, for a reason Dinky couldn't fathom with her limited knowledge of this show. It was a scary show and very violent, so much that she almost had to vomit after finishing the episode. It did not take Dinky long to understand why her mom and Sparkler didn't want her to watch it and she had no idea how they could find pleasure in it.
Dinky's mind drifted off as she continued to rock slightly, her eyes looking over the emptiness around her. “Just as empty as the streets on the way here.....” she muttered. Then her eyes grew wide and her heart began to beat faster. “The streets were empty!” she exclaimed. “Could it be that–“
Before she could finish the sentence, she noticed something moving in the corner of her eyes, something yellow. Alarmed, her head shot into the direction and she slid off of the swing, ready to gallop in whatever direction she could.
At the entrance of the schoolhouse, Noi was slowly moving up the stairs, her saddlebags almost bursting from books. She was carrying some more on her back.
Dinky breathed out. Feeling her heart returning to normal speed, she sat down on the swing again, where she shook her head at her overimaginative mind. “It's just Noi, she always comes to school earlier than the rest of us,” Dinky explained to herself. “That nerd!” she brashly added then, in an attempt to further calm herself.
Still a bit panicking after the shock she had brought upon herself, Dinky did not notice the movement behind her. All of a sudden, she felt grabbed by two hooves from behind, hooves that instantly closed around her throat and started to pull her off the swing. “NO!” Dinky yelped in newfound panic, struggling against the attacker and trying to get off the swing to flee.
After just a few panic-filled seconds, Lily's familiar giggle sounded into her ears. “Got'cha!” she said happily. Then she let her victim go.
Dinky breathed in and out heavily, trying to regain her calm, while simultaneously cursing herself for watching “The Trotting Dead” that night.
“T-That wasn't funny, Lily!” she scolded her friend as Lily stepped in front of her, her face one big grin.
Lily giggled again. “I'm sorry,” she said. “But it was too tempting, Dinky.” She reached out with her hooves and pulled her unicorn friend down from the swing and into a quick, apologetic hug.
“Why are you here so early today?” Dinky then asked, as they had released the hug and she had calmed down somewhat.
“I was worried about you after the things you told me yesterday and wanted to see you as fast as I could,” Lily explained, her voice full of concern now. “Are you okay?” she added.
“Mhm,” Dinky nodded. “Somewhat. But a lot of things happened, it was much worse than I thought it would.”
Quickly, Dinky gave her friend an overview of the events; from the moment when she had returned home yesterday, until the events of her breakfast at home earlier this morning. While she spoke, Lily's eyes grew ever wider.
“I feel sorry for you, Dinky,” she then said as Dinky had ended. “You don't deserve this.”
Lily gave Dinky another hug to comfort her, then she nuzzled over her cheek. Dinky blushed over this gentle gesture and looked to the ground sheepishly. It felt sappy to her.
Lily laughed over this reaction, with Dinky joining in a second later. As they stopped laughing, they finally exchanged a hoofbump. Then they looked to the school's entrance, alerted by the sound of many hooves on the ground. Their classmates had arrived, which gave the two fillies the signal that it was soon time for their first lesson.
“Should we go inside?” Lily asked her friend, who answered with a nod.
The two friends turned around. Trotting at each other's side, they made their way towards the other foals and the entrance of the schoolhouse and entered it together with the rest of their class for today.
As the sound of the schoolbell signaling the start of recess rang into their ears, Dinky and Lily put down their pencils, almost simultaneously, and moved away from their desks. They looked at each other, both wearing a happy smile. Like each of them had read the mind of the other, they said the same word.
“Swings?”
A giggle left their mouths, then they dashed forward between the rows of desks and outside the door, where they made a beeline for the swings at the opposite end of the school's playground. They reached them before any other foals could and, ignoring some disappointed groans behind them, sat down on the two swings, with Dinky choosing the one she had sat on after arriving at school.
Having successfully occupied the swings, the two fillies began to rock them. First slow, then ever faster, until their momentum was so big that their hooves got swung up high into the air. Feeling the tug of the speed pulling at them every time they approached the highest point, the two friends cheered and laughed, their faces now displays of utter happiness. Dinky's own face was a stark contrast to the sad expressions she wore yesterday when dealing with her aunt.
Around them, the playground turned into a blur. It became more and more a mishmash of colors from the green grass, the blue sky and the red schoolhouse. The blur obscured their vision and their happy laughter and cheers didn't let them hear anything else. The only thing they recognized was a yellow-colored blob suddenly appearing at the edges of their vision as they looked at each other, a blob that seemed to approach them in swift tempo.
With a shriek, Noi ducked and let herself fall on the ground, Lily's hooves flying over her head so close that they slightly touched the top of her mane. The fearful shriek finally came through to Dinky's and Lily's ears and the earth pony and the unicorn slowed down their swinging until they had come to a halt, the swings now being in a perfect vertical position again.
In front of Lily, Noi was still cowering, her tiny body pressed into the ground, unaware of how dirty her coat became, but also not in a mood to care about this if she would have noticed. As Noi heard the two fillies in front of her leaving the swings, she finally dared to look up again and peeked at them over her hoof with one eye, before she finally got up. Wearing an angry, and still slightly startled, expression, she brushed off the dusty dirt from the coat on her belly, then shot Lily and Dinky a glare.
“What was this?!” she asked them furiously. “I don't want to get hit by the hooves of a filly with super strength! Didn't you see me coming?” Her glare was mostly resting on Lily now.
Guilty, the two friends looked at each other, biting their lips slightly, then they returned their gaze at Noi.
“We're sorry, Noi,” Lily took the floor, expressing her regret for almost causing an accident.
Dinky at her side nodded in affirmation. “Yeah, we didn't see you coming, we were too distracted from the speed and from laughing.” Like her friend before, she apologized to their angry classmate as well.
It quenched Noi's fury only slightly. She huffed. “Can you finally let somepony else on the swings? You didn't rent them, or something.”
Slowly, Dinky and Lily nodded, then they moved aside, giving way to the swings behind them, their hooves pointing invitingly at them. “Go ahead, Noi, we're done with swinging for now,” Dinky said, then she trotted away with Lily, the two of them leaving the third filly behind.
Still a bit upset over what had almost happened because of their carelessness, they were quiet as they trotted over to the climbing frame in the middle of the playground.
Having arrived, Lily grabbed the bottom bar of the frame and pulled herself up with ease, with Dinky doing the same thing just a bit left of her, albeit slower than her friend. As Lily had reached the top of the construction and sat down on it, Dinky was still busy pulling herself up and had only brought half of the way behind her. Lily let her eyes wander over the playing foals down on the ground while Dinky struggled to follow her, then directed her eyes at her friend as she had finally managed to reach her and took seat at her side.
“We really should have been more careful earlier. Or, at least I should have..... The last thing I want to happen is hurting anypony with my strength. And Noi was really angry too.”
Dinky nodded, but with an expression of compassion. “Yeah, but don't worry about her being angry. I know you haven't talked with her much since you moved to Ponyville, but Noi is always angry like this. Nopony knows why, but I guess it has something to do with that stuff she's watching at night.....”
Lily's face became puzzled. “Stuff?”
All of a sudden, the eerie feeling of a déjà vu coursed through Dinky's body. “It's called 'The Trotting Dead',” she explained.
“Oh,” Lily answered, a little bit disgusted, making it obvious that she knew what Dinky was talking about. She looked to the ground below her and grimaced.
“I have no idea if her parents actually know that she's watching it, but she's often bragging about it in front of other foals and talking about the newest episode.” Dinky shrugged her shoulders. “Then they leave her really quickly.”
A faint giggle came from Lily. “I understand why. I was curious and watched it on TV once, but I couldn't stand it for more than five minutes. It was so brutal and..... bloody. My parents watch it too, but I don't understand how they can.”
Dinky nodded, feeling reminded on her own thoughts about the mature show.
“Does it even have a plot?” Lily asked her friend, her voice a bit derogatory.
“I'm not sure,” Dinky answered. “I only watched one episode of it in secret late at night. But there was a new character, I could tell, because no one of the other characters knew him. And he died only twenty minutes later!” Dinky almost shouted the last sentence, disbelief in her voice.
“I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't have any plot at all. The characters seem to be just food for the next horde of zombies.”
The comment made Lily giggle a little again and she held a hoof at her mouth, but she became serious again soon.
“And Noi really likes this show? Why? What could be so fascinating about it?”
Dinky shrugged. “I don't get it either. I already don't understand why my mom and Sparkler are such big fans of it. I have no idea why a filly our age would like it. But that's Noi for you.”
Lily looked at her unicorn friend, not understanding what she referred to. Noticing her clueless expression, Dinky continued.
“Noi was always a little strange. She loves everything dark and the night too.”
“What's strange about liking the night?” Lily asked her confused. “It can be nice at night.”
Dinky shook her head. “No, not because of this. That's fine. But as long as I can remember, Noi was always talking about zombies. She loves to be at cemeteries and sometimes even stays there after it got dark.”
“At night?” Lily's eyes grew wide. “I couldn't stay on a cemetery at night, I would die from fear.”
“Me too. But Noi can. She is fascinated by it and never afraid. Or maybe she likes being afraid, I'm not sure. I only know that she was seen coming out of the cemetery at night a few times by adults.”
Lily gasped. “Do you think she's doing anything bad there?”
The young unicorn shook her head. “No. I bet somepony would have found out already then. I think she just enjoys the atmosphere, or something. But it's still really weird. Her obsession with zombies goes far. A few years ago, she even dressed up as one for Nightmare Night and overdid it so much with scaring other foals that she was grounded for a week and had to share her Nightmare Night candies with them.”
“This is strange.....” Lily commented, not knowing what else to say.
“Mhm. I guess that's why she doesn't have many friends and hides behind her books all the time.” Then Dinky fell in silence too. It took a few minutes until it was broken again.
“I wonder what your aunt would say about this,” Lily pondered.
“You mean if I would be like Noi and hang out at graves at night and watch nothing but 'The Trotting Dead' and zombie movies?” Dinky giggled a little at the imagination. “Nothing,” she said then. “She already thinks of me as a misbehaved filly, if I would do that and she found out, she would probably die from a heart attack immediately.” Dinky noticed happily that there was still something of the sass her big sister had infected her with left.
“Probably,” Lily answered, then she started laughing, followed by Dinky who just snickered gleefully. Lily stopped laughing soon, though.
“Thinking about this makes me sad.” Lily lowered her eyes.
“Hm? What do you mean?” Dinky asked curiously.
“Noi. You said she doesn't have many friends, but she should. She's different, like me, and I know how it feels to not have friends. I don't think it's fair.”
Now Dinky lowered her eyes too and flattened her ears. “Maybe,” she said quietly. “I guess a lot of ponies are just scared of her.”
Lily nodded, sunken in thoughts. “Just like I thought ponies would be scared of me because of my strength. I was wrong, Dinky, but they are actually scared of Noi and I think it makes her very sad.” A shadow cast itself over her eyes.
Dinky lifted her head, looking at her friend. She opened her mouth to say something, but then the schoolbell stifled her voice as it announced the end of recess and the start of the next lesson.
Now suddenly noticing that the schoolgrounds below them were empty, Dinky and Lily made their way down the climbing frame in a hurry, their faces showing stress and fear of coming too late. There was literally an inch between them and Miss Cheerilee's hooves as they rushed into the schoolhouse, where they sat down quickly and pulled out their stuff for the lesson ahead of them.
Until school was over for today, they still had to go through three more hours. Dinky was concentrated, attentively listening to her teacher's explanations, but Lily felt distracted. Every few minutes, her focus on the lesson was broken and she had to glance at Noi. The yellow earthpony filly was bent over her book, reading what Miss Cheerilee was talking about at the same time. Her eyes shot over the page and she was gnawing at her pencil. Her face displayed an angry expression as always and it remained like this for the rest of the morning, so Lily discovered.
The moment the bell rang the last time on this day, Lily hurried to pack her books, her pen and her notebook into her saddlebags. At her side, Dinky was doing the same, in an equally fast tempo, which caused surprise to appear on Lily's face.
“Why are you in such a hurry to get home? You're not missing your aunt, that's for sure.”
Dinky frowned at the statement, but felt amused by it at the same.
“Of course not,” she said. “But she knows when I come home. If I return earlier, then maybe she's still busy with something else and I can get up into my room before she notices me!” With a swing, she threw the saddlebags on her back.
Lily did the same, then both fillies galloped out of the classroom and the building. Behind them, most of the other foals were still busy with getting ready to leave.
While the distance between them and the school became greater and greater, Lily looked around, her eyes searching the path in front of them thoroughly. They became locked at one spot as they had found their target.
“I hope it's okay if I leave you already,” Lily said with a hunch of regret. “There's something I need to take care off, Dinky.”
“It's fine!” Dinky answered. “I want to be home and in my room as fast as possible anyway.”
Now with both fillies having made their goals clear, Dinky lifted a hoof and gave Lily a quick pat on the shoulder. “Bye, Lily, I see you tomorrow at school!” Then she dashed away. From the corner of her eyes, the last thing she saw of Lily was her approaching Noi and talking to her, which Noi acknowledged with an annoyed glare.
Then she left the two fillies behind. Focused on her goal of arriving early, Dinky rushed through the streets of Ponyville, dodging ponies she met on the way and trying not to trip one or two times. As she finally arrived at her house, she felt out of breath, but did not allow herself to rest.
Using only the tiniest amount of magic necessary, she opened the door very slowly and tiphoofed inside. She closed it in the same fashion, then turned around carefully. The foyer was empty, Dinky could tell with one short glance. She directed her attention to the kitchen for a moment, but she could not see Aunt Millie through the door and neither were there any sounds coming from inside of it.
Dinky held a hoof at her chest and allowed the breath she was holding to escape, then she went to the stairs and began ascending on them. Everything was pointing at her aunt not being in the house right now, but Dinky did not want to tempt fate, so she made sure to set her hooves as carefully as possible on the steps, to reduce the risk of treacherous, creaking sounds.
Arrived on top of the stairs, Dinky attempted another breath of relief, but froze in her movement as she noticed the door of her room being slightly open, light shining out of it into the dim corridor on the second floor. Sounds came from the room, loud sounds; something heavy getting put down, combined with some rummaging and occasional, hasty hoofsteps. Her heart bumping strongly in her chest and her mind filled with the worst ideas of what was Aunt Millie doing in her bedroom, Dinky approached the door, still carefully, but with faster steps than before. She did a peek through the opening, not daring to open it completely yet, innerly prepared for any worst case scenario that might happen in there. As her eyes fell on the familiar mare in the room, though, things changed, and Dinky threw the door open quickly and stormed into the room with eagerness.
“Sparkler!” Her eyes gleamed with excitement and happiness now.
Her big sister turned around to her, a bit startled, and smirked. “Of course. Did you expect somepony else?” She reached out and booped Dinky's nose.
Dinky frowned slightly. “You know who I expected.”
“Well, don't worry,” Sparkler answered casually. “The dragon is not in the house right now.”
“What are you doing here at this time, Sparkler?” Dinky asked then, confused to see her big sister at home so early.
Sparkler smirked again. “Oh, I'm just having lunch break right now, so I used the time to head over to the Mash's and get your stuff back.”
The moment Sparkler had finished her sentence, Dinky's eyes became big as plates and she darted over to her table, where her eyes started to glimmer from joy as she saw her Neightendo in front of her TV, with the stack of games she had removed from her drawer neatly arranged at its side. The game she was playing last was still inserted into the slot on top.
“It's back!” she exclaimed cheerfully, then she wrapped her big sister who had joined her side in the meanwhile into a hug. “Does it still work?!” she asked in anticipation, with a bit of fear.
“I don't know yet,” Sparkler replied. “You rushed in here the moment I wanted to switch it on.”
Now Dinky released her sister and approached her console, gulping. She turned on the TV, then aimed for the power button of her Neightendo, hooves shaking. The turquoise light at the game console's front went on, but the TV screen stayed black. Dinky waited one second, two, three, but nothing happened.
Biting her lip, she gave her big sister a scared look. Sparkled answered her expression with worry in her eyes.
Dinky turned around again. Her hooves shaking stronger now, she switched off the console, then immediately turned it on again by hitting the power button a third time. Once more the light appeared, but the screen stayed black, and once more, it remained like this. Now a few tears appeared in Dinky's eyes and she gave her older sister another distraught look.
“Now it's broken, I knew it, I was telling her she shouldn't just pull out the plug of the socket while it's running, Sparks.” A whimper escaped her throat, then she sniffed.
Wordlessly, Sparkler approached the console herself now. She switched it off, then leaned down behind the table, where she carefully checked the sockets in the wall. Both the TV and the console were plugged in properly, she noticed, and the Neightendo was connected to the TV as it should be.
Sighing and with a frown on her face, she used her magic and pulled out the console's plug from its socket. She waited a few seconds, carefully inspecting the plug to make sure everything was alright, then inserted it into the socket again. Sparkler got up and returned her attention to the console, hitting the power button again. The light went on and the screen greeted them with more darkness. A sob was already on its way out of Dinky's throat, as the screen suddenly showed light-blue flashes darting over it. A distorted melody rang into their ears, then the screen flickered, showing a familiar face, parts of which occasionally disappeared, then returned again in weird colors. In the next second, the screen went black again, causing Dinky to hold her breath, then the picture reappeared, now with proper colors and no flickering, and the sound of the game had returned to normalcy as well.
Dinky did not dare to believe it for a few more seconds, but as everything remained stable, she finally allowed herself a relieved smile and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Then she turned to her sister again and fell around her neck a second time, now more intense than before.
“Thank you, Sparks!” A happy laughter rang out of her throat as she felt all the anxiety and worries fall off of her at once.
Sparkler answered the hug by putting a hoof around her little sister. She ruffled through her mane, then she pulled out of the hug and bent down to Dinky.
“Crisis averted,” she said with a grin. “But now I have to leave again, Dinks, break's almost over and Rarity does not like to wait when there is so much work.”
Sparkler's words were met with a frown by the little unicorn, but she nodded in understanding.
“Don't worry, Dinks, now you can distract your mind with something again while I'm not here and in the evening, we're going to have another muffin dinner!” She ruffled through her mane again, then she cantered through the door into the corridor. She gave Dinky a quick wave, then she disappeared from the opening.
Dinky kept standing at her spot and eyed the door, listening to her sister's hoofsteps as they went through the corridor, then down on the stairs, until the entrance door of their house falling shut signaled her departure.
Dinky sighed, then proceeded to close the door. As it was shut, she wrapped the key in her magic and turned it around twice, a fierce expression on her face.
“No annoying interruptions this time,” she muttered, then turned around to her bed. She took off her saddlebags and flung them on it, then turned around to her TV, the big face on it looking at her invitingly. There was no homework she had this day, so her task was clear.
Dinky grinned. “Time to meet your fate, Big Bully!”
With a leap, she landed in her chair and hovered the controller over to her. Only now she noticed a bottle of strawberry lemonade standing right next to the TV, a small note sticking on it. Dinky read the message and smiled, then she took a big sip of the delicious lemonade.
Feeling refreshed, she turned her attention to the TV screen. With determination spreading out over her whole face, Dinky concentrated her magic and pressed "A".
Half an hour after starting her game, a long-stretched, painful scream sounded out of the speakers of Dinky's TV. With a face full of satisfaction, Dinky watched how her second-worst enemy finally found his fiery finish in the depths of the lava lake that permeated the Frightening Fire Fortress. Feeling the joy over her victory spreading out in her chest, Dinky's mouth began to form a huge smile.
“YEAH!” she cheered and jumped up, throwing one hoof into the air. Having landed in her soft chair again, she lit up her horn and opened the drawer to her right, hovering out two of her hidden blueberry muffins. With this match won, Dinky felt she deserved something extraordinary to celebrate.
Still wearing the smile, she bit a chunk out of the first muffin. Feeling accomplished, she chew on it, her cheeks bulging. As she had swallowed the first piece, she reached out for the bottle of strawberry lemonade in front of her on the table. It was still half-full after the short playing session. Greedy for the taste, Dinky held it at her mouth and let the delicious, fizzy drink run into her mouth and down her throat. Then she leaned back relaxedly, burying her spine deeply into the thick, comfy fabric of the chair. Dinky groaned satisfiedly.
Now hovering both of the muffins and the bottle of lemonade in her magic, she alternatingly bit into her favourite food and took a sip from the bottle, while enjoying the relaxation that flooded her body. In a very distant part of her mind, the thought “It's almost like Aunt Millie isn't here,” flashed up for a moment, but was buried again immediately by the good feelings of the moment.
As she had finished her victorious meal and taken a last sip of the lemonade, she hovered the now empty bottle back on the table. Feeling her full belly, Dinky groaned again comfortably and rubbed with one hoof over it. What she felt now was a stark contrast to the despair she had to feel yesterday and she savored every second of it. Dinky wanted this moment to never pass and last forever, but, as she was painfully reminded on the old saying a few seconds later, the good things came to an end eventually.
The handle of the door got pulled down vigorously, producing a squeak that hurt in Dinky's ears, then went up again as the door didn't budge. As the sound vanished, the good feeling in her body vanished too. The young unicorn wiped the treacherous traces of blueberry from her face with the inside of one hoof, then she got up and approached the door, now fully back in reality. A knock sounded from the door.
For a moment, she pondered to just not react – there was not much her aunt could do against a locked door – but Dinky knew that she would just keep knocking, breaking her concentration and annoying her until she would lose her temper and open anyway. Now groaning in vexation, Dinky wrapped the key in her magic and turned it around, then she pulled the door open. As she had expected, Aunt Millie was behind it, trying to give her a sympathetic grin.
“What?” Dinky asked grim, her voice not betraying the hard feelings she had for the obnoxious mare.
Millie ignored the openly displayed hostility and kept her sugary smile. “Get ready, Dinky my dear, we go out and do some shopping. Your mom's fridge is really empty, except for tons of sugar, so we desperately need to fill it with food that is actually good for you. And I need somepony helping me to carry everything.
Dinky frowned. “I don't have time, I'm gaming,” she said taut, her voice not showing room for opposition.
The smile in Millie's face dissipated and her mouth became a thin line, but just for a moment, then she smiled at her niece again.
“Don't give me such backtalk, you naughty little missy!” She lifted a hoof and pinched into Dinky's cheek, a gesture that would have seemed playfully, if it wouldn't have been for the more threatening and impatient tone in her voice now. “Your sister may have threatened me with the law to prevent me from removing those malicious games from your precious mind permanently, but I'm still the authority here until your mom is back and if you behave like this, I can still take them and hide them for the rest of the week.”
Dinky felt her aunt's eyes piercing through her skull as she looked at her in the most pervasive way the filly could imagine. She sighed. “Fine.” Her eyes rolled over. “Let me just get my wallet.”
Dinky turned around, motioning towards her desk. “I just let her have this one..... My mood is too good right now to have another fight.” As she was in front of her desk, she opened another one of the drawers and took out the wallet. Hovering it alongside her, she returned to the door and slipped outside, her aunt willingly getting out of the way.
Dinky shut the door. “Let's go,” she grumbled and marched down the corridor. She could hear her aunt hurrying after her, but did not pay attention, trying to distract her mind with some nice thoughts. She had not yet spent any of her pocket money for this month, so if she had to go with Aunt Millie, she could at least buy herself some nice things to make it bearable. And as she did not know what yet, she had a convenient reason to occupy her mind with pondering about something while her her aunt would ramble about healthy food. A smile appeared on Dinky's face again. That was at least something.
Feeling more energetic now, Dinky cantered down the stairs to the first floor where she pulled the entrance door open with her magic, then rushed outside, not waiting for her aunt. As Millie had caught up with her, Dinky had already galloped a fair way down the street. Frowning, Millie stepped at the side of her unicorn niece.
“Did you even look where you went, Dinky? In that tempo, you will run over some younger foals one day and hurt them. You didn't even check if the path in front of you was clear, didn't you? By the princesses, I still can't believe how much you have changed in.....”
For Dinky, Millie's lecture soon became a distant babbling, as her mind drifted away, trying to make a decision for how to spend her money. Sweets came to her mind first. She would have to buy them when her aunt wasn't looking and then hiding them in her mane or something. Or buying something she could quickly eat at the spot, before her aunt could intervene and take it from her. Shuddering as a certain memory entered her mind, Dinky quickly lifted her wallet much higher into the air, out of reach of her aunt's strong hooves.
Comics were another option. She could slip away in an unobserved moment and check what new comics came out this week. “Maybe I even meet Lily there!” she thought happily. Apparently, Lily was spending the afternoon with Noi, so it wouldn't be a surprise if she ended up getting dragged into the comic shop, then forced to look at gruesome things at the shelf with the horror comics. This option was definitely to her liking, Dinky realized. Even hanging out with Noi and getting buried under enthusiastic speeches about zombies and nightly graveyards would be better than listening to her aunt's madness. Or she could.....
Dinky was interrupted in her pondering as more rambling found its way into her ears, yet it did not come from her aunt for a change. From above, she could hear upset words.
“I'm sorry, but, I am just so..... so... peeved right now!”
Noticing the voice, Dinky stopped in her tracks, one hoof lifted from the ground, and looked up to the yellow pegasus. She pursed her lips and a whistle of approval left them. “Wow, nice one, Fluttershy!” she thought in astonishment. “She should really speak her mind like this more often.”
Millie did not share her sentiment. The spoken words let her become frozen on the spot, her pupils shrunken to tiny balls, and an expression of utter shock graced her face. Reflexively, she raised up on her hindlegs and pressed her forehooves on Dinky's ears, now wearing a distraught, worn out expression. She was biting her lower lip and looked down on her niece in concern.
As Dinky felt her aunt's hooves covering her ears, she winced. Her own pupils shrunk to even tinier balls and she crunched her teeth in panic.
Millie turned around and looked up, shooting the yellow mare an angry, disapproving glare while scrunching her face in disgust.
Dinky did not say anything, but she lowered her head and, her lips pointing down unhappily, she looked at her aunt frustrated and resignated.
As Millie did not see the mare anymore that had exposed her niece to such filthy language, she gave Dinky a push on the flank, signaling her to continue her way, which Dinky acknowledged with a deep groan.
Suddenly, Dinky felt something hard landing on her back, close to her neck. She yelped and turned around. There was something directly behind her mane and as she brushed it aside, she could see that it was her wallet. Epiphany coming over her, Dinky realized that her aunt's reaction distracted her so much that she had lost the magical grip around her wallet. She groaned again.
“She can't be serious now.....” Dinky thought. “Fluttershy just said that she was peeved, that's not a swear word! This is ridiculous even for her!”
Feeling the anger over her patronizing aunt welling up in her again, replacing more of the positive feelings she had acquired earlier, Dinky did a deep breath. For a moment, she trotted with closed eyes, doing all she could to put her mind at ease. As she opened them again, she felt better. “I'm fine,” she quietly spoke to herself. “Aunt Millie won't ruin my mood again, not this time.”
At her side, Millie noticed the happy smile that was now on Dinky's face again. She breathed a sigh of relief, then she smiled too. “Now I was afraid that this word could have harmed her and that she would get distraught over hearing it or suddenly starting to speak in such filthy ways too, but here she is, just smiling like nothing happened,” she acknowledged Dinky's happy expression innerly. “I guess I was lucky and it couldn't affect her yet. Or maybe she did not even hear as much of it as I thought, this would be even better!”
Both of them wearing happy smiles now, the mare and the filly continued their way to the small shopping district of Ponyville as suddenly, the word Millie dreaded so much entered their ears again unexpectedly.
“She is a bit peeved,” it sounded to their right.
As Dinky heard the words of the rainbow-maned mare, she stopped and looked at her, her pupils shrinking once again and her mouth opening in shock, immediately knowing what was to expect now. “NO!” she thought in panic.
And of course Millie had heard it again. Indignantly, she stopped herself mid-movement, keeping a hoof lifted from the ground. She gave the mare an angry look and, simultaneously, put a hoof on Dinky's flank and began pushing her niece.
As Dinky felt her aunt touching the back of her flank and starting to push her, a startled, and slightly embarrassed, expression appeared on her face. From the corners of her eyes, she glared at her aunt angrily, her mouth a straight, thin line now. “Stop touching me there! I don't like this!”
“Hush now!” her aunt answered, oblivious to the unicorn filly's feelings. “We need to get you away from this word as fast as possible! And don't you ever dare to talk like this, Dinky!” she said, upset and furious.
With her aunt not listening, Dinky freed herself from the grasp by jumping a few inches ahead, then she turned around swiftly, the wallet she was still carrying on her back falling to the ground in the process. More angry than before, she continued to glare at Millie.
“I have enough now!” she began to yell. “I can't eat what I want, I can't play what I want and now I'm not even allowed to tell you to stop touching me! Leave me alone finally!” Dinky's face was distraught now and in the corners of her eyes, tiny tears glistened. She was expecting anything from her aunt now and she was prepared for it. Unfortunately, she had to find out that she was wrong and not quite prepared for her aunt's reaction in this case.
As soon as the word “touching” washed over Millie, she turned to stone, then she looked to the ground, shamefacedly. “I-I did not want to touch you, Dinky. I was just trying to push you ahead so that you won't have to hear this bad language anymore.
“I know, but you did and I told you to stop, but you did it anyway!” Dinky stomped a hoof into the ground now, leaving a mark there.
Now her aunt looked at her again, regret in her eyes. She closed them and sighed, then she trotted closer to her niece. Dinky did a step back, but Millie was faster. Lifting one hoof and putting it around Dinky's neck, she pulled her into a pseudo-hug, letting her head rest on her chest. Dinky resisted and tried to get away from her aunt, still upset, but the strong grasp of Millie kept her in place.
Millie sighed again. “Listen, Dinky, dear, I apologize for what happened.”
Surprised, Dinky stopped her squirming and looked up to her aunt, but was still wearing the angry expression. “Did she just.....? No way,” she thought sceptically.
Millie returned the look. “It was not my intention to touch you, Dinky, all I wanted was to get you away from there,” she repeated her words from earlier. “But.....” She sighed again, closing her eyes now. “I guess I went a little too far to do this. This really shows how easy it can happen, Dinky, how easy we can slip and do something bad, it's in all of us, even in me.” She opened her eyes and looked at her niece again. “I am sorry, Dinky.” Her squeeze became a little tighter.
All at once, the anger inside Dinky disappeared suddenly and was replaced by utter surprise, that was as intense as the other emotion before. Her mouth gaped open while she looked into the face of her aunt. For once, her aunt had shown something like emotion and Dinky had a hard time believing what just happened. “I-It's okay,” was all she could muster to say after the unexpected words of her aunt that just didn't seem to fit to her. She squirmed again, trying to get away from her aunt's chest, and now, Millie gave her free.
For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other; Millie's eyes still expressing regret, Dinky's eyes still full of disbelief and her mouth still open. As none of them said anything and it was clear that nothing would come of this situation than endless staring, Dinky slowly averted her gaze from her aunt, lifted up her wallet and put it on her back again, then continued trotting towards their destination. A second later, Millie followed her, now keeping a respectful distance between them. Still, none of them spoke a word. Dinky was busy processing the surprise, Millie was busy processing her own, inappropriate behavior and on top of that, did not dare to say more.
Only as they reached the shopping district and a booth full of tomatoes and other vegetables was before them, Millie was thrown out of her trance and she hastily approached the booth. “Here are the first things we need, Dinky!” Her eyes now scrutinizing, she bent down and started to check the vegetables in front of her. Her skilled look went over them, detecting any that were of less quality or showed signs of beginning rot. As she had finished her quality control, she pointed at assorted pieces and a bunch of tomatoes, carrots, asparaguses and radishes went into a bag. She paid the salespony, then took the bag into her hooves. Millie took out one of the carrots and, without hesitation, put it into her niece's mouth, which made Dinky's eyes bulging in surprise.
“Eat this, Dinky, and no discussion about it! You need to eat more healthy food if we want to prevent you from suffering of deficiency!” she said as she put the bag with the vegetables on Dinky's back.
Dinky scrunched her face, now having almost forgotten the heartfelt words from earlier as her aunt continued her obnoxious behavior like nothing happened. She lit her horn and pulled the carrot out of her mouth, then rolled her eyes.
“I already do,” she said annoyed. “I am eating vegetables sometimes.” Demonstratively, she took a bite out of the carrot. “My diet isn't even as messed up as you think.” A accusatory tone rang in her voice.
“At least something!” Millie answered. She ruffled through Dinky's mane, causing Dinky to twitch. “But there's still way too much sugar and fat on your diet!” Then she went further through the market, not awaiting another answer by Dinky.
Wordlessly, Dinky followed her, while munching on the carrot. Millie led her from booth to booth and more bags with different kinds of vegetables, fruits and loafs of wholemeal bread landed on her back, all accompanied by the speeches of Millie in which way this kind of food was good for her.
While trotting across the market, they passed a stand with the most delicious and colorful sweets. Dinky's mouth became watery as she saw the delectable treats and her eyes looked over them longingly. With Millie so close by, though, there was no chance for her to buy any, so she had to trot past them and leave the objects of her desire behind. Her ears dropped and she gave them a last, sad glance over her shoulder. Then, feeling reminded on her thoughts from earlier, she used her magic to hover her wallet off her back and let it ascend high into the air again.
The next booth they were at was one that only sold cherries and finally, Dinky saw her chance to get away from her aunt, at least for a while. The salespony there, a bulky, brown stallion with a very big chin had just named the price for his cherries, which caused Millie to argue.
“Ten bits for one cherry?! That's a very exorbitant price, no matter how good these cherries are, they are not worth ten bits each!”
The stallion looked at Millie sardonically. “That's the price, ma'am, pay it or leave.”
The answer caused more counters by Millie and as Dinky noticed how caught up she was in rambling and negotiating with the stallion, Dinky ducked her head, crouched down and creeped away, putting her hooves on the ground as careful as possible. She went past a few booths, then, as she came at one whose owner was currently not here, she slipped under the cloth that was hanging down at its front and crawled under the table to the other side.
Back under the open sky, Dinky perked her ears and listened closely, but she could not hear Aunt Millie calling for her, nor any other signs of the mare following her. She wiped some sweat off her forehead and sighed relieved, then smiled as she saw the comic shop in a small distance in front of her. Now feeling safe, she stopped crouching and galloped towards it in full tempo. In a rush, she opened the door and hurried inside.
In the shop, she let her eyes wander across the various shelves full of colorful comic covers, beaming from fascination. In the back of the small shop, near the counter, she recognized Noi. The yellow filly was, unsurprisingly to Dinky, standing in front of the shelf with the horror comics, a grin on her face. Strangely, Lily was not at her side.
Figuring that something went wrong in Lily's attempt to befriend the filly with the passion for zombies and also remembering her friend's words from the morning, she approached Noi. She gave her a friendly pat on the back as she had reached her, causing Noi to twitch in surprise and giving her an angry stare.
Dinky smiled at her. “Hey, Noi!” she said.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice sounding a little aggressive. “I'm busy!”
Feeling a bit taken aback by the harsh response, Dinky squinted her eyes, but decided to stay nice. “I'm here to buy groceries with my aunt, but I snuck away from her while she didn't look to check out some comics!” she explained. “Then I saw you here and I wondered why Lily isn't with you.”
“Lily?” Noi raised an eyebrow, the name sounding unfamiliar to her. Then her face cleared up. “Oh, that strong filly with the pigtails that pestered me after school..... I talked with her for a while, but I sent her away when she said she doesn't like zombies.” Noi shrugged, then returned her attention to the shelf.
Dinky's ears lowered themselves a little as she heard about the bad outcome of Lily's attempt. “Lily just wanted to become your friend because I told her that you don't have many.”
Noi looked at her again. Now it were her eyes that got squinted. “Yeah, I reckon that's what she wanted to do,” she replied sarcastically. “I bet she just wanted to talk me out of the zombie business like everypony else tries, but nopony talks me out of this.” Dismissively, she flicked her tail, then turned to the shelf once more, her face immediately forming a grin again as her eyes fell on a certain comic.
Dinky followed her eyes, curiously. “I didn't know that 'The Trotting Dead' has a comic series.....” she said surprised.
Hearing these words was like a signal to Noi. Her eyes beamed more. “Yep! A comic series, a TV show, trading cards and a sticker album!” She turned around to Dinky, her face overflowing from adoration for the franchise. “Even a video game! The first one just came out a few days ago!” Noi's enthusiasm was almost contagious, with the fact that Dinky didn't like “The Trotting Dead” being the only reason why she didn't join Noi in geeking out over it.
“That's nice,” Dinky lied, trying to not get sent away by the earth pony filly too while trying to form some bonds with her.
“Mhm, mhm!” Noi nodded repeatedly, her face looking almost maniacal now. “I don't have money for the game yet, but I'm going to buy the comic now!” Reaching up with her hooves, she lifted out the first three issues of the series, then carried them carefully over to the counter, where she placed them gently. She grinned at the shop owner, making clear what she wanted without saying a word.
But the stallion behind the counter shook his head, which resulted in disappointment appearing in Noi's eyes.
“You're too young,” he said brash.
Noi's ears dropped and her mouth pointed downwards. “B-But I need it! I'm the biggest fan of it!”
“No chance.” The stallion shook his head again. “This is an 18+ comic, I can't sell this to a filly.” Noticing some tears forming in Noi's eyes, he pointed behind her at the shelf, at another comic.
Noi turned around and followed his hoof. It pointed at a comic titled “Tales from the Everfree”. The cover showed a group of fillies, dressed up in Nightmare Night costumes and their teeth clattering in fear as they stood at the entrance of the Everfree Forest, while some yellow eyes from the forest had set sight on them.
“How about this one if you like horror stories so much?” the shop owner offered.
Noi rolled her eyes. “Pfft..... Those stories are for foals! I only read the real deal!” She turned to face the stallion again. “I want to buy those!” she pointed with her hoof at the comics on the counter again, her voice sounding demanding now.
“I won't sell you those,” the stallion refused.
“Fine, then screw you!” Noi snarled angrily at him, then turned around and trudged to the exit, leaving the shop owner behind with a shocked face.
Dinky, who had watched the whole scene, followed her, but Noi stopped her after a few steps.
“Quit following me, I want to be alone now and I didn't ask for your company!” she turned around at Dinky and snapped at her, her face so distorted from fury that Dinky felt her heart dropping into her stomach.
She did as Noi told her and watched the upset filly leaving the shop, smashing the door shut with a bang. Dinky winced at the sound. Raising an eyebrow then, she turned around again and set her eyes on the shelf with the horror comics. They now rested on the issue the shop owner had recommended Noi.
“Why not?” she asked herself and shrugged. She was not a particular fan of the horror genre, but she liked scary stories at Nightmare Night and the occasional horror comic couldn't hurt. She also figured that her aunt would probably already search for her, after the unexpected talk with Noi, so she ran out of time to look through the new comics.
Dinky placed the comic on the counter. “I take it,” she said. Smiling, the owner of the shop accepted her payment, then Dinky hovered the comic in front of her, wished the stallion goodbye and left the shop.
Returning to the market, Dinky opened the comic and flipped through the pages a little. She was so captured by it that she only heard the voice of her aunt as it rang out to her the third time.
“Dinky! Where in Equestria have you been the whole time? Did your mom not even tell you that it's not okay for a young filly to run off like this?”
Rolling her eyes, Dinky turned around, facing her aunt. She was greeted by her with a disapproving frown. Millie was now carrying a small, brown bag on her back. “I was just buying a comic,” Dinky defended herself.
“A comic, hm?” Millie answered and approached her. “Let me see this.” Quickly, she snatched the comic out of Dinky's aura and began flipping through the pages herself. It did not take long until her face grew pale.
“No,” she whispered dramatically. “No, no, no. This is not a comic for fillies, how could they even sell this to you?!”
“The cover says 8+,” Dinky deadpanned.
But Millie was unimpressed. “I never trusted those age ratings, they are far too permissive all the time. Come, I will exchange it for a comic that suits you better.” With hasty steps, she approached the entrance of the comic shop.
“NO!” Dinky yelled after her. “I can handle this just fine, I don't need a different one!”
But her aunt ignored her input. Desperately, she hurried after Millie, who had just entered the shop. As Dinky was inside again herself, the deal was already finished. Wearing her trademark, sugary smile, Millie trotted up to her, waving another comic, depicting a silly, multi-colored chase scene on its cover.
Dinky planted a hoof in her face. “That's a comic for five-year-olds.....”
“I told you, I don't trust those age ratings. This comic is just perfect for a ten year old filly, you can read the other one in a few years, when you are a little older.” Not paying attention to Dinky's continued protest, she put the comic down on her back, then waved her over as she left the shop again. Dinky followed only hesitantly, groaning over the unwanted ballast on her back.
The way home was filled with constant sighing by Dinky. As she was finally in her room again, she tossed the foalish comic carelessly into a corner, not paying attention to the pages getting wrinkled in the process. Feeling moody, she took seat in front of her console again, starting to explore another world in the role of the plumber pony.
This time, even her favourite game had it hard with distracting her, though. The fact that Millie showed up in her room just a very short time later, making Dinky realize that she forgot to lock the door, didn't make it better. Nor did the dinner her aunt had prepared.
Sitting in the kitchen, Dinky scrunched her face in disgust at the bowl of soup in front of her. She could tell by its fragrance that it was made from the various vegetables her aunt had bought during the afternoon and maybe some others, if her aunt had bought any more. Dinky decided not to ask. And neither did she eat much of the soup. It had an awkward smell and taste and so, after a few sips, she already scrunched her face and let the spoon sink back into the bowl. Making her voice sound intentionally weak, she announced to be tired from carrying all the bags and accentuated the lie with a pretended yawn. To her surprise, her aunt bought it.
“I understand,” she said acceptingly. “Just return to your room and get your sleep, it's close to eight already anyway.”
Dinky slipped from her chair, ignoring the good night wishes by her aunt, and trudged back up the stairs. Now feeling really dull, she once more forgot to lock the door and neither did she notice that there was not a key to lock it with anymore to begin with.
Sitting in her chair again, the videogame still running in front of her, she hovered out another blueberry muffin and began to chew on it. It filled her with horror to realize that this was the second-to-last one she had left, while it was only Tuesday. As she had finished her meal, she took the controller into her magic again, not intended to obey her aunt's words. As always she was going to wait for Sparkler, to have some real dinner with her.
Soon, Dinky was enthralled by the game. She was so enthralled by it, that she did not notice the quiet, clicking sound the lock of her door made as the key got turned around at the outside of it.
Smiling from satisfaction, Millie pulled the key out of the lock, then trotted back down the corridor. “No interruptions this time,” she muttered. Back in the kitchen, she sat down at the table, where she started to eat another bowl of her soup while reading in a magazine in front of her. It was only almost an hour later as she looked up again, when the entrance door creaked and somepony entered the house. She heard a bang, then sluggish hoofsteps approaching the kitchen. Sparkler appeared in the door, her face looking worn and tiredness radiating from her eyes.
“Hello, Sparkler,” Millie acknowledged her.
“Hello.....” Sparkler said absentmindedly, then yawned. On her back was a pink box and, scrunching her face while concentrating now, she hovered it on the table. Letting hear another yawn, she took seat at it.
“How was your work?” Millie asked her in faked interest.
“It was fine,” Sparkler replied, “but that's not what I'm here to talk about.” Her voice was tired, but part of it rang with the determination to address a certain event.
“So? Why are you here then?” Millie did her best to sound unimpressed, yet she felt nervous and her heart was bumping slightly faster than usual.
As Sparkler began to speak out what she had on her mind, she made clear that she was not going to waste any time. “I'm going to have dinner with my little sister now and you won't interrupt us this time.” Her voice was dripping with impatience over Millie's attitude. “Dinky is doing fine with staying up until ten and it's mom and me who make these rules, not you. Am I clear about this, Millie?”
Millie looked at her, but stayed calm. “Sure,” she immediately agreed, much to Sparkler's surprise. “But not tonight.”
Sparkler narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Dinky is tuckered out. She had so much homework today, it took her the whole afternoon and my help even to solve all of it. She became so tired because of this that she went to sleep on her own right after dinner.” It did not sound like the lie it was.
Sparkler was tracing Millie's face for signs of that exact lie, despite her tired mind making this task hard for her, but as she couldn't find any, she nodded. “Okay. I'm taking these up to my room for breakfast then.”
Not acknowledging the other mare any longer, she got up from her chair and put the box with the muffins on her back again. Sluggishly as before, she trotted out of the kitchen again, then up the stairs. As she was at Dinky's room, she stopped for a moment and, putting her hoof on the handle, tried to open the door. She found it to be locked. Figuring the reason why Dinky locked herself in her room, she continued her way.
Inside, Dinky was still busy concentrating on her game. She did not notice the sound the door handle made as Sparkler pulled it down. Strongly intended to forget the horrible afternoon, all she had set her mind on was the game on the screen, and it was only as her actual bedtime had come that she looked up for the first time since dinner.
Panicking, she let the controller fall and jumped up from her chair as her eyes fell on the clock and as she realized how much time had passed. “I missed Sparkler!” she explained disappointedly and slammed a hoof on the floor. She was pondering going over to her sister's room anyway, but as a yawn escaped her throat, she started to feel how tired she was already. Clearly the new stress of the afternoon and the heavy bags had worn at her mind and body. Reluctantly, she decided to go to sleep and climbed into her bed.
“How stupid of me, I wanted to see Sparkler and Twee so much tonight,” she scolded herself as she slipped under the blanket and placed her head on the pillow. She saw that she had forgotten to turn off her console and TV in her regret, but shrugged and did not bother to get up again. Instead, she turned around, a deep frown on her face.
Her mind cloudy and filled with gloomy thoughts, the tiredness let her doze off slowly in the by the screen illuminated room.
From the darkness, a shrill sound rang into Dinky's ears. It was loud and agonizing, yet Dinky did not really pay attention to it. Her mind was focused on something else; something in the distance, something that was very familiar to her. Somepony, to be precise.
“Mom!” she shouted, then she began galloping again, steady and in a fast pace, through the surrounding darkness and always towards her mother who was ahead of her. She was galloping as well and, occasionally, she turned around and waved at Dinky with a smile.
“Mom, stop!” Dinky shouted louder and increased her tempo, like she had done so often before, every time her mother had turned and given her this smile. It must have been a hundred times that Dinky had tried this already, though, the young unicorn was long since past the point where she had bothered with counting. All she wanted was reaching her mom, no matter how hard it was and how many attempts she would need for it, yet slowly, Dinky ran out of hope. For too long she was already trying this and with each time she increased her tempo, her mom did so as well, making it impossible for Dinky to catch up with her. And the shrill sound that was now in her ears did not make anything easier.
It was taunting; the galloping, that now caused pain in her hooves, the smiles and waves by her mom and the constant, shrill sound. As she had finally reached the point where she couldn't take all of it anymore, Dinky sat down, exhausted. A few tears left her eyes now and ran down her cheeks. Dinky whimpered.
She could not see her mother in the distance anymore. At the spot where she had seen her last was only darkness now. Nothing but the sound around her was still present and it kept piercing through Dinky's ears. Agitated, the filly pressed her hooves down on them and yelled for it to stop. It refused her pleading and instead, just grew louder in volume.
Dinky's ears perked up again as another sound entered them.
“Dinks!”
Somepony was calling for her! The unicorn got up again and, turning into all directions, she frantically searched for the pony that had called her.
“Hey, Dinks! We are over here!” the voice emerged again from the darkness.
All of a sudden, Dinky was blinded by a bright, white light and as it had faded, Sparkler and Twee stood in front of her, just a few hooves away.
“Sparks! Twee!” Dinky shouted, beaming at the familiar faces. Now relieved, she trotted up to them, ready to hug her big sister and to give her pet turtle a gentle nuzzle. She was almost there, just a little more. But then, all of a sudden, a dark shadow got cast over both of them and she stopped in surprise
Dinky looked behind them. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock as she saw the source of the shadow.
Behind Sparkler and Twee, the head of her aunt, monstrous in size, menacingly rose from bizarre and unknown depths. The hairs of her mane pointed in all directions, sticking out of it so stiff as if they were sharp needles. Her eyes were bloodshot and a red tinge shimmered in her otherwise green pupils. And the worst of all was her mouth. It was opened wide, giving sight to rows of fangs that were crooked to barbs. In the middle of her mouth, a black tongue sat, lapping out from behind the teeth every other second. Its pointy end was directed at Sparkler and Twee, almost touching them when it left the mouth, but they didn't seem to notice anything.
As the head had risen from its abyss completely, the shrill sound Dinky was hearing for so long already grew in intensity and now, she knew its source:
It came right out of her aunt's mouth.
Dinky's face distorted in horror as the mouth with the fangs got opened even more and a suction arose out of it. It quickly got ahold of Twee and began to pull him towards the thick, black tongue and the sharp teeth.
Suddenly wrapped in Sparkler's purple aura, he was prevented from getting sucked into the enormous mouth. Sparkler hovered the tortoise in front of her, then crouched down, covering Twee with her head and front hooves. The suction was pulling at her too now, straightening out her tail and bringing her mane in disarray. Fear and desperation coming from her eyes, she looked at her younger sister. “Dinks!” she shouted, panic in her voice. Her plea for help was barely audible over the noise the suction created and the shrill sound that kept coming from the mouth cavity.
“Leave them alone!” Dinky yelled at the monster her aunt had turned into, tears in the corners of her eyes. “You already have me, what more do you want?”
Now her aunt spoke. It felt like worms were crawling into her ears.
“Oh, not yet..... But soon I will have you all for myself!” She gave Dinky a devilish look.
The suction increased and now, it began to lift Sparkler and Twee off the ground. Helplessly, Dinky's big sister tried to use her magic to weaken the pull that brought them ever closer to their demise.
Tears ran down in thick streams over Dinky's cheeks now. She choked. “DON'T!” she yelled again. “Please don't take them away from me!”
The eyes of her aunt looked over at her mockingly. Glee and satisfaction were in her face as the suction pulled Sparkler and Twee over the last remaining distance. They got flung onto the black tongue, then the mouth closed. The suction had stopped now and even the shrill sound was suddenly gone. Then the silence got interrupted by just one other sound, as a crunch came from inside her aunt's mouth.
Closing her eyes and craning her neck back, Dinky screamed in despair. She collapsed to the ground and started to weep, covering her face with her hooves. The next thing her eyes saw was the white ceiling of her room. Fear in her heart, Dinky sat up in her bed, a shriek leaving her throat. Her heart pounding, she looked around the room, while waves of panic spread through her body. Only slowly she realized where she was; recognized her TV and her console, which was still on, and the rest of her room. Finally, she realized the actual source of the shrill sound she had heard. It was her alarm, yet due to her dream, it was not able to wake her up and so it was silent now.
A strong wheeze came from her mouth, then Dinky fell back on her pillow. Her eyes were red and tears glistened in them. She covered them with her hooves and began to cry, soaking them with her tears. Now she knew that all was just a nightmare, but it was still much too real in her head.
For about five minutes, she just laid there, crying and weeping, then a thought found its way into her mind. “T-Twee,” she whimpered and removed her hooves from her eyes. Driven by the strong urge to see her little friend now, she climbed out of her bed. As she had set her hooves on the ground, Dinky began to feel dizzy. The room started to shake around her and she had to grasp her chair to not suddenly fall to the floor.
As the sudden wave of giddiness had worn off, Dinky opened the door and made her way to Sparkler's room on wonky, unsteady hooves. Arrived, she raised her hoof and put it down on the handle.
Locked. Cold shivers of sadness and disappointment went through her body. Dinky moved her hoof up a bit further and knocked on the door weakly.
“Sparks? Are you up already? I need to see Twee.”
As no answer came, she slumped to the floor, letting her shoulders hang. A few more tears began trickling out of her eyes, but she wiped them away. Stubbornly, she stood up again, putting her hoof on the door once more, ready to give it another try.
“Dinks, hey!”
Dinky twitched over being addressed so unexpectedly, then turned around, her hoof still in the air.
“Sparks? You are awake already?” Her hazy eyes radiated confusion.
“Sure,” her big sister replied casually as she started trotting towards her. “You know how much Rarity hates it when I come late.”
Sparkler's cheery face turned into one of concern as she came closer. She opened her mouth reflexively as she noticed Dinky's frazzled mane, the bags under her eyes and the tears in them. Everything about her appearance gave her the signal that her little sister had not found a single minute of sleep. As she finally stood before her, Sparkler put a hoof under her chin, lifting it up. She took a scrutinizing look at the worn-down face in front of her. “You didn't stay up the whole night to play videogames, did you?”
Very slowly, Dinky shook her head, her sad eyes fixated on her big sister's face. Then she inched closer and wrapped her hooves around her, weeping a little. “I just had a nightmare, that's all. But it was a really horrible one.”
Sparkler felt her coat becoming slightly wet. Gently, she shifted Dinky out of the hug and looked into her face again, now seeing a thin stream of tears soaking her sister's cheeks. Carefully, she started to wipe them away.
“Is Twee alright, Sparks?” Dinky asked, her voice shuddering from the fear of an unpleasant answer.
“He's fine and locked in my room,” Sparkler calmed her. Reassuringly, she stroke over Dinky's mane, having finished cleaning her face. “Did you dream about that witch down there taking him away from you?” she then asked like she had read her mind.
“Mhm,” Dinky nodded. “And you too. She swallowed you and Twee up.” Dinky looked up at her sister, her eyes becoming watery again.
The barebones description she had been given made Sparkler laugh. “You and your overactive imagination, Dinks!” she teased her. “Not that I can't see where you're coming from.....” Her voice took on a darker tone at the last sentence as she trailed off.
“Do you think you can go to school today?” she asked then, which Dinky eagerly affirmed.
“Mhm.” She nodded again, now surprisingly fast. “My head hurts, but I'm rather at school with Lily, than trapped here with 'her'.” The tone in her voice gave away how much the imagination of being confined to her bed while at her aunt's care scared her.
“That's what I thought,” Sparkler answered understandingly. “But let's fix you up first. You look like you didn't sleep for days, sis.”
Before Dinky could answer anything, Sparkler had lifted her on her back and approached the bathroom door. In the bathroom, Dinky's eyes grew wide in shock as she looked into the mirror, hooves propped up on the basin. In horror, she realized how right her sister had been with her assertion.
As Sparkler beckoned her over, she removed her eyes from the mirror and followed her sister's call. Still swaying a bit, she climbed into the shower and sat down. A wave consisting of relief and relaxation pervaded her body as she felt the warm water of the shower trickling down on her. Smiling, she held her face into the stream. As the water stopped to flow, she felt more relaxed, her tense muscles starting to ease.
“Should I soap you up?” Sparkler offered.
Still smiling, Dinky opened her eyes and looked at her sister. “Mhm. Thanks, Sparks.”
Carefully, Sparkler spread the shampoo on her sister's coat, while Dinky just sat still and enjoyed the gentle, caring touches. Dinky felt better with each passing minute, the fear the nightmare had left in her slowly becoming replaced with newfound joy and happiness. She groaned softly.
After another stream of warm water, Dinky climbed out of the shower, feeling completely refreshed after getting cleaned-up, as the now even broader smile on her lips indicated. Outside, Sparkler was already waiting for her, with a huge towel held in her hooves. With a smirk, she draped it over her little sister and began to dry up her whole body. Dinky giggled.
As Dinky was dry, Sparkler tossed the wet towel into the hamper and looked down at her sister again, checking her face like before. Dinky still had slight bags under her eyes, but the hazy expression in them was now gone and had been replaced with the glimmer she came to expect there. “Better?” Sparkled asked her, smiling.
“Mhm, much better!” Dinky did a step forward and flung her hooves around her sister again. “Thank you, Sparks! I'm happy you're always there for me when I need you.”
The hug let something melt in Sparkler. Lovingly, she put her hooves around her little sister and squeezed her softly. “And I'm happy I can do this for you, sis.”
The two unicorn sisters enjoyed their closeness for a few minutes. It flashed up in Sparkler's mind that she was at the brink of getting late to her job, but for nothing in Equestria she would have dared to interrupt this moment or to make it shorter than it should be.
As Dinky finally pulled away on her own, Sparkler released her. She looked down at her, then gave her a boop. “How about grabbing some of the muffins I bought yesterday and leaving early again?”
Enthusiastically, Dinky nodded, not needing any words to express her agreement on that. In a fast trot, the two sisters left the bathroom. Sparkler waited a moment for Dinky to get her saddlebags, then they headed down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Millie sat on the table and was eating away at her own breakfast, which she was almost finished with. Seeing the two sisters enter the kitchen in their joyful mood, both of them trotting close to each other and Sparkler having draped a hoof over her little sister's neck, Millie grunted. Before she could say much – aside from a grumpy “good morning” which was returned by Dinky and Sparkler just because of politeness rather than anything else – they had grabbed two muffins each, with Dinky putting one into her saddlebags for later at school, and left the house.
Like on the morning before, the sisters found time for some conversation while eating their breakfast muffins before they had to part. After hugging each other a last time, Dinky continued her way to the schoolhouse, now in a more cheerful mood than on the morning before. The realization that half of the terrible week was almost over now and that she had somehow survived the last two days contributed to this. It caused a slight swing in Dinky's movement, one that had been gone for some time.
As Dinky had arrived at the school and entered it, most of the foals were already here and Lily sat at her desk. Her usual, cheeky grin on her face, she waved Dinky over. Dinky took off her saddlebags, then sat down on her own desk, right next to the desk of her pig-tailed friend. Soon, they were caught up in a happy conversation while Dinky unpacked her saddlebags and prepared herself, until Ms. Cheerilee entered the classroom and began with the first lesson.....
Comfortably slumped into her soft chair, the screen in front of Dinky went black for a second. Then a white text appeared on it. “500 Years Later” she whispered reverently, the magical grip around her controller becoming tighter. Her eyes were widely opened and her breath went fast. The sudden end of the game she was playing right now was pumping adrenaline through her body. Then the text disappeared and made room for another scene.
Through a desert landscape, a red, cat-like creature was running fast. At its side were two smaller and younger versions of it, apparently the children of the majestic animal, who tried to keep up with their parent. In fast tempo, they ran up a steep hill. Stopping there, they let their eyes wander over the landscape beneath them. Dinky gasped loudly as a familiar sight came into her view; a round city full of futuristic buildings, but all of them were grown over with thick plants, that made it hard to recognize the former look of the city.
Once more, the screen faded to black, then the title of the game she was playing appeared. Eager to find out if anything more was going to happen, Dinky pressed A. Stars appeared on the screen, in form of a backdrop that showed the wide, open space. It looked like she was moving, the stars were rushing past her like she was sitting in a spaceship and looking outside, but nothing else happened. Dinky bit her lip in excitement. As five minutes had passed and the screen hadn't changed, she gave up and hit A again. Promptly, the game brought her back to the title screen.
Dinky's brow furrowed. “Weird.....” she said, confused. “Is there really nothing else?” She stopped her magic and let the controller fall into her lap. “What happened to the characters after all of this? And where did they go to? Has the planet really wiped out the whole species to save itself?” A million of questions soared through her head.
Dinky leaned back, her brain cells working hard as she started to ponder what she had just seen. Unfortunately, her trail of thoughts got interrupted early, as the door of her room was opened very abruptly. Immediately knowing who caused the commotion, even without looking, Dinky groaned, which she accompanied by letting a hoof come down on the soft fabric. An angry thought formed in her head. “Why does she have to come now?!”
Since she had returned from school, Millie had not bothered Dinky. Without facing any harassment by her aunt as she entered the house, Dinky could just trot up the stairs in peace, take care of the little homework she got for today and then finish the RPG she had already sat at for months. But now, her personal menace had returned, in the worst possible moment to boot. “Like the reactor to my planet,” she ironically whispered between clenched teeth as she watched her aunt entering the room, an overly cheery smile on her face. And indeed, alone by looking at Millie, Dinky felt her energy getting drained.
Inside her room, her aunt just pointed to the window, now a frown on her face. “Dinky, my dear niece, how can you stay inside when the weather is so nice? Do you really like to play those games more than playing in the real world?”
Dinky rolled her eyes and huffed. The question was not even worth an answer. Instead of replying, Dinky just silently waited until the next stream of words came down on her.
“No backtalk this time, young lady?” Millie's mouth formed a gasp of surprise. “Maybe my educational methods finally have an impact on you. By the princesses, you could really need it! I will definitely go and tell your mom about this, maybe she will finally understand what she is doing wrong. Anyway.....” She trailed off a little. Grabbing Dinky to leapfrog any protests that might still come, she lifted her niece out of the chair and put her down in front of her. Dinky grimaced, feeling treated like a little foal.
“Now you will come outside with me, Dinky! You need to get some fresh air, I can already see your skin becoming pale under your coat.”
A new feeling of hopelessnes was washing over Dinky, yet, she finally said something now. “But I need to–“
Sharply, her aunt cut her off. “And here we have the backtalk again, I wondered where it went to! At least we're making progress..... You're coming outside with me now, Dinky, no matter if you like it or not.” Scoffing at Dinky's videogame setup, Millie grabbed her hoof and pulled the young unicorn behind her, out of the room and through the corridor. Dinky had problems to follow the mare as they descended down the stairs. Taking a saddlebag from the floor with her mouth and swinging it on her back, she hastily opened the door and hurried outside with Dinky. Behind them, the door fell into its lock. It was only here that her grip around Dinky's hoof loosened a bit. Swiftly, the filly shook herself free from it and brought a few steps distance between her and her aunt.
A reaction Millie did not like, as it became apparent to Dinky when she looked into her face. “No running off, young missy,” she said sternly. “Fillies like you need to spend as much time as they can under the sun if they want to grow up properly.”
Not leaving room for backtalk, Millie gave Dinky a pat on the back, signaling her to move, then began to make her way down the street. Begrudgingly, Dinky followed her, her eyes already hinting at a desire to do things with Millie she normally would only do in some of her games.
In a steady pace, the mare and the filly trotted behind each other. Dinky sighed constantly, but other than that, no sound came from her. The winning strategy, so she had figured by now, was probably to tag along with whatever Millie came up with, to endure it and to make the best of it.
The last part became easier as Dinky noticed where they're headed. They were on the way to the playground. Not the one at the school, but the one near Sugarcube Corner. A place Lily often hang out on, sometimes Noi too. With a bit of luck, they could even meet Pinkie Pie, who often went there to play with the foals after school.
The rest of the way to the playground was brought behind them quietly, too, and as they had finally arrived, Millie proceeded to a bench at the border of it and sat down, placing her saddlebag at her side. For a moment, Dinky feared her aunt would insist that she stays with her the whole afternoon, sitting on the bench chaste and demure, like her interpretation of the perfect, well-behaved filly. Instead, Millie did the opposite.
“Now go and enjoy yourself, my dear,” she said, more or less softly. “Just stay in my sight. I will be here and watch over you.”
The end of the third sentence gave Dinky shivers, but the prospect of getting away from Millie let her breath a sigh of relief. She turned around and did a step towards the playground. Observingly, her eyes checked the whole area, until they had found what she was searching for. She beamed, then dashed forward, with the sandpit as her destination.
Lily's head shot up as she noticed her friend coming closer, her pigtails bobbing. Smiling, she waved at Dinky with a hoof and invitingly pointed at her side. An invitation Dinky followed up on immediately as she had arrived. With a sigh, she let herself drop beside her friend, then brushed a hoof over her forehead.
“Are you alright?” Lily asked her. “You look a little stressed this afternoon, Dinky.”
The unicorn nodded. “Mhm,” she just said, then she stretched out her hoof and pointed into the direction she had just came from.
Lily followed it, then she understood. “Oh,” she said. “Is this your aunt?”
“Yeah..... I just finished a game, but then she wanted me to go outside today.” Dinky crossed her arms.
“And you did not want to?” Lily gave her friend an empathic look.
“No..... At least, not with her around.” She picked up a shovel and began to poke in the sand. Her eyes catching a movement in front of her, she looked up again. “Noi?” she asked in surprise at the other filly that sat right in front of her. It was only now that she noticed the yellow earth pony. “You are here with Lily?”
“Yeah. Something wrong with this?” Noi answered, snapping back a little. Neither the tone in her voice nor her face made any secret out of it that she wasn't in the best mood today.
“No,” Dinky answered, defensively. “You are definitely better than what sits over there.” Again, she pointed into the direction of the unbearable mare. She grimaced. “At least she is over there and won't come over.....”
Horror and dread came over Dinky and she had to force herself to look to the side. Indeed, Millie was not sitting on the bench anymore and she was coming into their direction. In one of her hooves, she was holding a large, flat, turquoise object Dinky could not identify. Hectically, she shot her head into all directions, trying to think of a way to hide, but before she could find something, Millie already stood at the border of the sandpit, her eyes showing a disapproving expression.
Dinky bit down on her lip. “Please don't embarrass me in front of my friend and Noi,” she begged innerly. But as Millie opened her mouth, it was clear that her hopes were in vain.
“Dinky, you can't sit in a sandpit like this.” The pink mare shook her head.
“Why not?” Dinky asked, her voice already sounding desperated.
“Because of this, that's why!” Millie gave her a mysterious answer, pointing down at Dinky's body.
Only hesitantly, the unicorn filly looked where her aunt was pointing at, down on her flank. A few grains of sand were tangled up in her coat, but not enough to consider it as dirty. At least, not enough for Dinky.....
“Your are only here for two seconds, Dinky, and you already bring yourself into an unsanitary condition!”
Dinky facehoofed, then she blushed as Noi began to snicker a little. “It's not unsanitary!” she began to protest. “Every foal is doing this, Lily and Noi too!” She gestured at them, trying to make a point.
Millie shot the two mentioned fillies looks, first at their faces, then down their own flanks, which were covered in more grains than Dinky's flank was. Millie frowned at the sight, but then returned her attention to her niece.
“I'm talking about you, don't try to distract me like this! I don't care what your dirty friends do all day, Dinky, I'm here to ensure you won't become like them!”
To her left, Lily put down her shovel. Eyes lowered, she looked down into the pit, fixated on the tiny grains. Noticing her friend's hurt reaction, Dinky wanted to say something, but before she could, Noi intervened.
Swiftly, she stood on all four legs, facing Millie directly. Anger flared up in her eyes. “Hey, who do you calling 'dirty'?! Why do you not just go and get eaten by some–“
Clenching her teeth in panic, Dinky lashed out a hoof and covered Noi's mouth.
Millie had no clue how this sentence was supposed to end, but she narrowed her eyes at the filly. “And this is really one of your friends, Dinky? I have to say, I am shocked about you being friends with such an insolent and disrespectful foal. Maybe this is where all your behavior lately comes from, I will–“
“NO!” Dinky yelled loudly, giving her all to interrupt her aunt before she would go onto another lengthy rant. “Noi isn't my friend, I barely know her!”
Millie looked at Noi again. “Hmph,” she just said, not appearing like she was completely satisfied with the answer, but did not address Noi further. Instead, she began to give her niece orders now.
“Get up, Dinky, and clean yourself from this dirt!”
Dinky sighed. “It's not necessary, really. I've sat here often, it's not bad for my health!”
“Nonsense!” the harsh response came. “You have no idea! We are outside, ponies walk through it with dirty hooves and dogs pee into it, this is not a pit full of sand, this is a pit full of bacteria, Dinky!”
“But the town cleans it every day!” Dinky bent forward, moving her hoof over the sandpit. “See? There isn't any pee or dirt in here! It's just sand!”
Her aunt's face was like a rock. “Bacteria can't be cleaned away so easily, Dinky, they are still alive and ready to infect you with more nasty diseases than you want to find out about! Now get up finally!”
As Dinky still resisted, dead set on not moving even just one inch, her aunt reached out with her hooves and pulled her up, then proceeded to dust her niece off. Vigorously, her hoof went over Dinky's flank, her tail and her hindlegs, brushing off the sand grains.
A bright blush appeared on Dinky's face and she opened her mouth. “Aunt Millie!” she squeaked in embarrassment. “Stop it, I don't need you to clean me up!”
Another snickering from Noi, who was calm again now and back sitting at her place, didn't make any of it easier. Some other foals looked over to them, alerted by Noi's snickering, and began to point and laugh.
Dinky's blush deepened. “Millie.....” she now growled. But before she could say more, her aunt was finished.
Millie took the object she was holding all the time, which turned out as a plastic mat, and placed it in the sandpit, just were Dinky had sat a moment earlier. Then she grabbed Dinky at her shoulders and pressed her down on the turquoise-colored mat, forcing her to sit on it. “There,” she commented the action plainly. “You will sit on this mat and on this mat only, Dinky. Don't you dare to sit in the sand like this again, young lady.” With this, she turned around, and went back to the bench.
Feeling defeated, Dinky let her shoulders hang. “All the time.....” she said, voice whimpering slightly. Her face was still of a bright red.
On her left shoulder, she could feel a gentle touch. Looking up, she saw Lily smiling at her. “At least she's gone now, Dinky.”
This was the only comfort the current situation offered and faintly, Dinky smiled back at her friend. “Yeah..... I guess I shouldn't do anything suspicious so she really stays away. But it's so hard, I just want to act normal. I have no idea how I should survive the last two and a half days if it continues like this.....”
Wearing concern, Lily rubbed over Dinky's shoulder comfortingly.
Noi, though, was less calm. “We should go and smash her face!” She bumped her hooves against each other with a fierce grin.
Lily looked at her, frowning over the suggestion. “No,” she said quietly, the disapproval clearly audible in her voice. “How about a more peaceful solution? I could just lift her up and carry her around for a while.” Demonstratively, Lily grabbed Dinky, who had a smile on her face now, and with ease, she raised her into the air, holding her above her head.
Both Lily and Dinky giggled at the same picture in their heads, Millie laying on one hoof of Lily, getting carried through the town, while she screamed her lungs out in fear, begging the filly to let her down.
As a loud and shrill shriek came from the other end of the playground, though, both fillies twitched and were silent at a moment's notice. Like a bulldozer that was out of control, Millie galloped over to them in an unbelievably fast tempo. Foals jumped out of her way to get into safety, barely managing to avoid getting knocked down by the hysterical mare.
As she had arrived at the sandpit, she did a leap into it and gave Lily a jab at the chest, while almost simultaneously grabbing Dinky and pulling her off her friend's hooves. “Get away from my niece, you monster!” She tightly pressed Dinky against her.
Hit by the sudden impact, Lily tumbled in surprise and fell backwards, her back hitting the wooden plank that formed the boundary of the sandpit. “Ouch,” she whimpered. She grimaced in pain as she rubbed over her back, then looked up agonized. “I'm not a monster,” she sniffed, now a few tears appearing in her eyes.
“Don't even try to explain!” Millie answered, her voice full of rage and hatred. “I know the likes of you, freaks with a big strength, but nothing in the brain! Just like this Bulk Biceps, or how they call him! Being in your company will only hurt my niece's intelligence and turn her into a filly just as dumb!”
Another sniff came from Lily, then a whimper, before tears began to run down her cheeks.
Around them, foals had stopped playing and watched the situation, shocked and with open mouths. Even a few parents followed the events, shaking their heads in disbelief. And at Lily's side, even Noi stood there with her mouth gaping wide open.
Millie ignored all of it. Hastily, she turned around on the spot and climbed out of the sandpit, where she put Dinky down in front of her. The young unicorn had not yet fully grasped the events of the last few seconds, so fast had everything happened, but the shock was written on her face as well.
“Come, Dinky, let's leave! We need to get you away from such harmful influence!” Quickly, she grabbed Dinky's hoof, then went ahead and pulled Dinky after her and away from the sandpit. “I can't believe such a thing is happening even here. I know that not all foals in Ponyville are the best behaved ones, but finding out that such a freak lives here and that this freak is even your friend! You will not see her again, I will take care of this, and I will have a talk with Derpy about all of this and ram into her how bad this “Lily” is for you, Dinky!” In all her agitation, Millie did not even notice that she had just used her sister's name instead of referring to her as Dinky's mom.
The strong yank at her hoof finally let Dinky realize what happened. Stopping in her tracks, she braced her hooves against the force that was dragging her along. As her aunt stopped too, Dinky freed her hoof and ran ahead, positioning herself in front of Millie and facing her. It took a mere millisecond for the obnoxious mare to open her mouth again and say something, but, Dinky was faster and cut her off.
“I HAVE ENOUGH!” The filly slammed a hoof into the soil, leaving a deep mark there, and glared at her aunt with the flames of a thousand fires.
“I HAVE ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING!” Another explosion of words went straight into Millie's face. A vein appeared on Dinky's forehead. “You tell me what I should eat, you tell me how I should spend my freetime, you don't let me decide anything on my own and now you don't even let me spend time with my best friend!” She lifted her hoof, just to let it come down onto the ground again. The sound was like roaring thunder in Millie's ears.
Dinky's face became distorted in aggression even more. “You are only here for two days and you were nothing but a pest to me! And now you insulted and hurt my best friend! I'm fed up with all your crap that you are pulling on me, MILLIE!”
The last word she had screamed again and it let all the foals around her gasp loudly. But, even though the situation and all the yelling began to wear at her now, Dinky was not yet finished. Aggressively, she did a step towards Millie, which let the adult mare twitch slightly.
“I'M SICK OF YOU!” She shot a hoof at her aunt's face. “Since you are here you are doing nothing but turning my life into a nightmare and I'm sick of this! Finally stop ruining everything, you disgusting, obnoxious BITCH!”
The word lingered in the air. It made the foals gasp even louder and Millie, who had just stood there and listened silently up until now, stammer.
Dinky, though, didn't see any of this. After the last word had left her lips, she had turned around on the spot and galloped off. Now she was running home, tears flowing over her face as the anger began to subside and got replaced with desperation and grief. She had lost her nerves, completely, but now, all her energy was gone. Her last reserves went into her hooves, that kept her running and running, until she arrived at home.
Without stopping, she dashed up the stairs, into her room and smashed the door shut behind her. She leaped into her bed and buried her face into the pillow.
Nothing mattered anymore. She had finally really put Aunt Millie into place, as she had always desired. But, that's something Dinky was well aware of in this moment, the consequences for this would be dire. And still, she did not care. She was alone now, alone with her breakdown and alone with her tears.
As Sparkler returned home this evening, she found the house quiet. The only sounds she could hear on the way to her room were the creaking stairs under her hooves. Millie wasn't to be seen anywhere, the kitchen dark, and Sparkler was glad for it. Even though assisting Rarity hadn't been as exhaustive as on the day before, there were definitely better things for her to do than putting up with the obnoxious, unwanted mare that brought nothing but trouble into their lives. And, like on cue, she could suddenly hear Millie. Behind the door of the guest room, Millie's hoofsteps indicated that she was hectically trotting around in the room, from one side to another, always back and forth. Clearly, there was something the mare was stressed out by.
Gleefully, Sparkler snickered. “What got you into a tizzy this time, silly old cow?” she thought to herself. “Did Dinky refuse to eat your extra healthy salad?” She was going to find out eventually, once Dinky joined her for some real dinner in her room, so Sparkler did not follow the thought further.
Passing by the door of Dinky's bedroom, her ears perked up, as she heard another, unexpected sound entering them. She thought of her mind playing tricks on her at first, but stopped in her tracks nonetheless. As a few seconds had passed and the sounds still didn't stop, there was no doubt anymore:
Behind Dinky's door, crying and whimpering could be heard.
A sense of foreboding coming over her, Sparkler pressed her ear against the door. Now she could hear the cries and whimpers better and louder. They sounded desperate in a way that Sparkler could practically listen to her heart breaking. She removed her ear from the door and turned around to face it completely, then lifted a hoof and gently knocked.
“Dinks? Are you alright in there?”
A sobby gasp came as answer, then a sniff. “Sparks?” The weepy voice of her little sister rang into her ears.
It made Sparkler's heart beat a little faster. She moved her hoof to the handle and pulled it down, with no result. “Why did you lock the door, sis?” she asked, concerned.
Another sniff. “I-It's not locked.”
“It is, Dinks. Can you open the door, please?”
The answer confused Dinky. She was beside herself and exhausted as she had entered her room hours earlier, that's as much as she could remember. She even cried herself to sleep and it were only minutes ago that she woke up again. But she knew she didn't lock the door. In her distraught condition, it was the last thing she would have thought about. Unable to spot the key in the lock because of her hazy, tear-filled vision, Dinky climbed out of her bed clumsily, then approached the door.
As Sparkler could hear the hoofsteps of her little sister coming to the door, she did a step back. Another sob came from Dinky, then the handle got moved down. But once again, there was no result, and the door stayed closed.
Behind the door, Dinky's sobs intensified. “Sparks? I-I can't o-open it..... T-There is no k-key.....”
Sparkler was about to express her own confusion over this, but before she could open her mouth, the realization dawned on her and she knew exactly where the key was and why the door was locked. Utter disbelief in her face and feeling anger rising in her, she turned around at the spot and did a step into the direction of the guest room, but then stopped in her tracks, as Dinky's voice sounded into her ears again.
“Sparks! P-Please open the door, I want to get out!” There was very clearly panic in Dinky's voice now. The loud banging against the door just a moment later emphasized this panic.
Sparkler turned around and faced the door again. She looked over her shoulder to the guest room, then back at Dinky's door, her face hinting at an inner conflict.
“Screw it!” she said then, the concern for her little sister overwhelming her rational mind. She turned around and cowered down in front of the door. “Get out of the way, Dinks, I open the door now!” The banging stopped and a few clopping sounds indicated that Dinky did what she had told her.
With all her strength, Sparkler began to buck the door, creating a loud echo throughout the whole house. She let her hooves come down on the door in a barrage, but, even though the wood creaked, it did not budge. The doors in their house were made of strong oak wood, thick and robust, and soon, Sparkler realized her hooves weren't strong enough to buck in the door.
She turned around again. Thinking what to do for a moment, still motivated by her sister's crying, she then decided to go for the lock itself. Bending down, she inserted the tip of her horn into the keyhole, then ignited her horn. Her magic was building up and about a minute later, a blast left her horn, resulting in loud sizzling from inside the keyhole. Then the smell of hot metal filled the air.
Sparkler lifted her head again, a smile on her lips. The lock was destroyed. Not wasting time, she put her hoof on the handle again and pulled it down. The handle felt limp now, making it easier than usual to pull it down, and once she had, the door finally opened. Sparkler stepped in, then looked right into the face of her younger sister.
Dinky's appearance was both heartbreaking and horrible. Her mane was frazzled, strains of hair sticking away from her head in all angles and directions. Her legs wobbled, making Sparkler afraid she would topple to the floor soon. Dinky was biting her lips and, worst of all, her eyes looked like somepony has rubbed them out with onions. They were red and swollen, almost like they were infected, and a stream of neverending tears was trickling out of them. Her nose wasn't in a much better condition, it was leaking and the tip of it was red, the same kind of red her cheeks were glowing with. The short hair in Dinky's face was completely messed up by dried tears and snot, nothing of its former beauty noticeable anymore.
Sparkler gasped and held a hoof at her mouth, shocked over this unfamiliar sight of her little sister. “Dinks..... What happened?” she breathed.
Dinky did not answer. Instead, she sniffed again, only interrupting her sobs for a short moment, while not retracting her eyes from her big sister. Then she did a few, wobbly steps into her direction. But before she could reach her, her legs gave in and she began to collapse to the floor.
Hastily, Sparkler darted forward and caught her before she hit the floor, then pulled her close to her. Head resting on her big sister's shoulder now, Dinky erupted into another fit of sobs and cries all of a sudden. She tried to lift her hooves and to wrap them around her sister, but it was to no avail. Lacking the strength, they just dangled down in front of her, feeling like jelly to the young unicorn.
Wrapping her own hooves around Dinky, Sparkler pulled her closer into a comforting embrace, then buried her face into Dinky's mane. “What happened, sis?” she asked again, her voice ripe with fear now. “Did Millie do this again?”
At her neck, she could feel a very weak nod. Then she could hear her little sister trying to form words. “Sparks..... M-Millie..... Lily, s-she.....” The words were barely recognizeable as such and Sparkler had a hard time identifying them, before they stopped abruptly and Dinky just continued sobbing, drenching her sister's coat more and more with tears.
There was no success to be had here right now, Sparkler realized, and so, she just let Dinky cry at her shoulder, petting over her mane and giving her the best comfort a big sister could.
They remained like this for about ten minutes, before Dinky's sobs became slowly quieter. A few more minutes, then they were gone and got replaced by very heavy breaths emerging from Dinky's throat. Only the tears continued to flow freely.
“Sparks,” Dinky finally spoke then. There was a sudden, cold clarity in her voice, although it still sounded slightly sobby.
“I'm here, sis,” Sparkler replied softly. “Tell me what happened.”
“This time she really ruined everything, Sparks.....” Dinky continued. In slow and relatively calm words, she recounted the events from the afternoon, occasionally interrupted by sobs. She told her big sister everything; how she had left the house with Millie and arrived at the playground, about meeting Lily and Noi, how Millie had freaked out about her sitting in the sand, the conversation she had with Lily and Noi right afterwards and, finally, how Millie reacted hysterical over Lily lifting her into the air and showcasing her super strength. Her voice trembling, she explained in detail how Millie had ripped her away from Lily, how the cruel aunt had hurt her friend and what she had called Millie in all her anger and frustration, followed by how she was galloping home afterwards. Dinky let out an exhausted sigh as she was finished, squeezing her big sister tighter.
With every detail Dinky described, Sparkler felt a fire blazing up inside of her more and more. Now, her face was distorted in anger and hatred. She gave her younger sibling a last squeeze, then slowly pulled away from her and looked into her face. “Do you feel better now?” she asked.
“A little,” Dinky said in a weak voice. “But, Sparks, I–”
“Don't worry,” Sparkler interrupted her, gently moving a hoof over her cheek. “I will take care of this, once and for all. It's time to have a talk.” Her voice was a mixture of warm love and cold sobriety.
Not awaiting another answer by Dinky, Sparkler raised to full height again and, using her magic, put Dinky on her back, while simultaneously turning around. With quick steps, she left Dinky's room and motioned through the corridor, eyes fixated on her destination. She did not waste any time with knocking, as she usually would, and instead, simply barged into the guest room, startling Milly.
A surprised gasp leaving her throat, Millie's head shot around and to the door. “Sparkler, it's good you are here! There's something we need to talk about and this time even you can't–” As Millie spotted Dinky on Sparkler's back, who now gave her aunt a defiant glare from her still tear-filled eyes, she interrupted herself, a frosty expression appearing in her face now.
“Sparkler, no, I don't want that you carry her inside here! This brat is not welcome here until she has done some serious thinking. If only you would know what she called me today, in front of other ponies nonetheless!”
“I know,” Sparkler replied coldly, otherwise ignoring her complaint. Her horn glowed, then the door fell shut behind her, with a sound like roaring thunder coming from it, letting Millie twitch.
Swiftly, Sparkler approached Millie, then grabbed the other mare at the shoulders, ignoring more complaints by her. She pressed her down on the bed at the back of the small room, forcing her to sit. “We are going to have a talk now,” she said, commanding.
Sparkler looked straight into Millie's face, her eyes burning. “What happened on the playground?” she asked her with a cold voice.
Millie's face became angry, too, now. “Oh, Sparkler, don't try to tell me this little brat hasn't told you her version of the events yet. Your sister–”
“Don't call her a brat.” Sparkler moved her head forward, almost touching Millie's nose. “I know exactly what happened and I know that all of it is your fault.”
Millie huffed, her eyes becoming narrowed. “I see. I see how it is, Sparkler.” She pointed at Dinky behind Sparkler's head. “Your sister has a very innocent face, but behind it, her mind is miserable and rotten.”
Dinky's eyes broke at this statement and she looked away from her aunt, burying her head into Sparkler's coat, where she started weeping again.
“You take this back.” Sparkler snarled at the older mare now, her pupils small.
“I won't,” Millie replied with an expression of confidence that bordered on zeal. “She gives you a sad face and cries and you believe every word she says, no matter if it's true. But in reality, she only tries to get pity when she behaved badly.” Millie paused and sighed. “And it is not even her fault..... It's all just because of the environment she grows up in. She acts like this because you are irresponsible and a horrible role model, Sparkler, and because Derpy is a bad mother and incompetent to raise a foal.”
“What?” Sparkler hissed. In her head, she felt something ripping now. In a menacing gesture, she lifted her forelegs and placed them left and right of Millie on the bed, breath going strong. Her nose touched Millie's now, wrinkling the latter.
“Sparks,” it came from her back, but Sparkler barely heard it.
“You are the last one who can afford making such a claim,” Sparkler said slowly, her voice like the one of a snake. “I don't care that Dinky said this to you. You came into our life, into her life, you mess with her, you turn everything around she knows, insult and hurt her friends and call her a bad filly every time she does something that goes against your dull lifestyle.” Sparkler narrowed her eyes more and moved her hooves closer to Millie, locking her tight in this position.
“You insulted and hurt her friends, embarrassed her in front of them and then you blamed her for losing her nerves and calling you names because of that. You don't see anything, you don't see how much you hurt my sister and how you ruin her life, all because of your paranoia and your insanity. And you dare to call our mom 'bad'?”
She moved her right hoof up and stabbed it at Millie's chest, causing her aunt to whimper in slight pain. There was a tug at Sparkler's mane now, but she did not feel it.
“You are going to take everything you said back. And you will apologize to my sister for the heartache you gave her.” She gave Millie's chest another stab, almost knocking the air out of her lungs. “Or else I will make you do it.”
Another tug at Sparkler's mane, stronger this time. “Sparks..... Don't. Let's go.” Dinky's voice whimpered stronger, fear clearly audible in it.
Millie gulped, her face showing horror now. “I-I don't care. P-Punch me if you want, Sparkler, but you can't stop me from telling the truth. Derpy is giving Dinky too much freedom and this harms her, she can't grow up properly that way. I-I should take care of her, Dinky should live with me. And I will do everything to make this possible.”
Cold fear grabbed Dinky's heart now. “NO!” she yelled at Millie. “You can't do this, I'm not going with you!” Fresh tears left her eyes
Finally, Sparkler noticed her little sister again, her anger slightly subsiding. Although, she put more pressure on Millie's chest instinctively now.
“Oh, I can,” Millie answered, unimpressed. “So the princesses will, I can. What happened on the playground is enough for me to prove how bad the influence of your mother and your big sister is on you and to get you taken away from them and brought into my care.”
“NO!” Dinky yelled again. Completely controlled by her deepest fear now, her voice had become the epitome of desperation. “You won't take me away from them, I'm not going with you, you can't, you can't!”
Sparkler felt her neck getting wet once more as her little sister buried her face into it, having another nervous breakdown. “You can't, you can't.....” she whimpered muffled.
Sparkler looked on her back, teeth bared. Reluctantly, she removed her hoof from Millie's chest. Then she looked at the unbearable mare again.
“Because of you, Dinky isn't feeling well again and I need to take care of her. So I'm letting you off the hook for now, Millie. But this isn't over.” The threat in her voice was audible.
Millie just huffed as Sparkler was motioning backwards. As she felt the door at her flank, she turned around rapidly, opened it and slipped through it, then smashed it shut behind her.
Out of Millie's room now, Sparkler shuddered herself. She did not feel fear like her younger sister did, but the cold sincerity Millie had shown in there made her feel uneasy nonetheless. She turned around at Dinky and gently touched one of her hooves. “Let's go and fix you up, sis,” she said, as calm as she could.
She trotted the few steps to the bathroom door and went inside with her sister. Sparkler sat her on a small stool, then took a towel and made it wet. While Dinky was constantly shaken by her crying fit, Sparkler carefully cleaned her face from the tears and the snot, then flung the stained towel into the laundry hamper as she was finished. She used her magic again and lifted her sister on her back, then left the bathroom and approached her own room. Having pulled the key out of her saddlebags, only noticing now that they had been hanging over her back the whole time, she unlocked the door, then locked it again once they were inside.
It had been a hard day for her sister, so Sparkler didn't waste any time and let Dinky down into her bed, then spread the blanket over her. New tears had replaced the old ones by now and Dinky looked at her older sister with the deepest frown Sparkler had ever seen on her face.
“Sparks? I can stay here, right? She can't do this, right?” Dinky whimpered, then sniffed.
Sparkler moved a hoof over her mane. “Don't worry, sis. Millie is just blowing things out of proportion, as always. Everypony in town knows how well mom takes care of you. And you saw what she did on the playground and a lot of other ponies saw it too. If that old hag should try anything, we have something on her. There will be much more things that speak for us than for her, then.”
“A-Are you sure, Sparks? What if she–“
Sparkler booped her. “I am, sis. Don't think about this now and leave it up to me and mom, if anything should happen. You better eat something now, you need it.” She ignited her horn and let a muffin float out of the box on the table that stood there since the evening on the day before. It got carried across the room, then landed directly in Dinky's shaking hooves.
Sparkler stroke over her mane. “I'll be here in a moment, sis. I just need to take care of a few things.”
While hesitatingly eating away on the muffin her big sister gave her, Dinky heard Sparkler taking something out of her saddlebags, then tampering with it. As she had just finished the muffin, Sparkler returned.
She removed the blanket from her, then slipped under it and nestled against her little sister, which got reciprocated by Dinky with an instant embrace. Sparkler could feel that her body was still shivering.
“Everything's going to be fine, sis,” Sparkler said, embracing Dinky as well. “Just let me take care of a few things tomorrow.”
Groaning in the comfort from her big sister, Dinky snuggled closer, clinging tightly against the older unicorn's body. Sparkler was holding her, occasionally rubbing her back. As Dinky had closed her eyes and calm breaths showed Sparkler she had fallen asleep, she ignited her horn again and switched off the light.
Leaning forward, she gave her sister a tender kiss on the forehead. “Sleep tight, sis,” she whispered, then closed her eyes as well.
As Sparkler awoke the next morning, she slipped out of her bed as quietly and carefully as possible, trying to not wake up her little sister. It was very early in the morning and this came just right for Sparkler's plan. On silent hooves, she left her room and locked it, then went out of the house and made her way down the well-known route to Rarity's boutique.
It was still slightly dim outside as she arrived there, though, the lights on the first floor showed that the fashionista was already awake and at work. With firm steps, Sparkler approached the boutique and went inside, the bells above the door chiming loudly.
The unexpected sound made Rarity look up. She left the small back room, checking out what customer would come at such an odd hour of the day. Her face cleared up as she saw her assistant.
“Sparkler!” she exclaimed, a smile on her face. “Good morning, dear! What are you doing here this early?” Her voice became a few octaves higher during the last sentence.
Sparkler answered the smile weakly. “Morning Rarity,” she said, then came straight to the point. “I'm here because I need to ask you for something and it's important. I need today and tomorrow off.”
This announcement made the face of the fashionista fall apart a little. “Two days off?” she asked, her voice now sounding raspy a little. “Sparkler, dear, I simply can't do without you this week. You know how much work we have with the order Coloratura made for her new tour. And there are still so many dresses to finish!” The last words sounded panicky.
“I know,” Sparkler replied, her voice understanding. “But it is really important. Something happened and I need to stay at home for Dinky.” Her voice shifted to a more strained tone.
Rarity's brow furrowed and a new kind of worry filled her face. “You look stressed, darling. Whatever is the matter? Didn't you say your aunt is taking care of Dinky while Derpy is not here?”
Sparkler nodded. “She does. Or, at least she should. It's a very long story.”
Rarity waved Sparkler to follow her, then entered the back room again. Inside, she sat down at a small table. It was covered in pieces of differently-colored fabric. Rarity pointed at a seat opposite of her, then she took off her glasses while Sparkler sat down as well.
“Tell me what happened, darling. Was there an emergency?”
“You could say that,” Sparkler answered the question in a stern voice. Hurrying to come home to her little sister as fast as possible, before Millie would wake up, Sparkler quickly mentioned the most important events of the last three days. The concern in Rarity's face increased more and more during the short rundown.
“And now I don't want her to be here anymore,” Sparkler ended.
A shocked expression adorned Rarity's face now, disbelief radiating from it. “Oh my.....” she breathed. “I know about this 'Millie'. She was only here buying a dress once, but some of my customers whispered how she's really strict with raising her daughter. I just didn't expect she could be this bad.” Rarity slightly shuddered from the imagination.
“And this is why I need to stay at home until mom is back. I'm sorry, but I need the last two days of the week off, Rarity,” Sparkler urged now.
“I understand completely, darling.” The gruesome story had completely washed away Rarity's concerns about the dress order. “There is a lot to do..... But I simply cannot allow that a precious filly like your sister suffers even more from such a shrew!” Rarity's voice was filled with disgust.
“Thank you, Rarity,” Sparkler gave her a grateful smile. “I'm sorry I can't help you out more this week.”
“Don't worry about it, darling! With a little help from my friends, I can still make it. Now hurry home and save your sister from this dreadful person!”
It was nothing Sparkler needed to get told twice. She said a quick goodbye, then left the boutique. Outside, she increased her tempo to a fast gallop until she had entered the house again. Swiftly, she went up the stairs and found herself back in her room just in time for Dinky to stir awake.
Sparkler trotted to her bed, a warm smile on her face. “Morning, sis!” She ruffled with a hoof through Dinky's mane, gently. “How do you feel?”
Dinky yawned, then looked up at her sister. Her face looked better than on the evening before, though, there was a shy expression on it. “I'm ok, Sparks,” Dinky answered the question and sat up. Her voice was quiet. “But..... I'm afraid to go downstairs.”
“No surprise.” Sparkler smiled and gave her sister a hug. “But don't worry. I just talked with Rarity and she gave me off from work until mom returns. You won't have to put up with Millie anymore.”
At her back, Sparkler felt Dinky's hooves tightening the grip. She could hear a more than relieved sigh coming from her. “Thank you, Sparks. I wouldn't last another day with her.”
Sparkler rubbed over her back. “I know and now you won't have to anymore, sis.” She carefully retreated and looked into her sister's eyes. “You want to take a shower now?”
The filly nodded, but new concern began to obscure her face.
“I will wait in front of the bathroom door, don't worry!” Sparkler smiled reassuringly, reading in her sister's countenance.
Now Dinky's face cleared up and she fell around her sister's neck again and squeezed her tighter than before. “You're so much better than Millie, Sparks!”
Hearing this “compliment”, Sparkler retreated again and eyed her little sister, a pretended sternness in her face. “Better than Millie? Is this really all you can think of, sis?” She let a boop come down on Dinky's nose.
Sheepishly, Dinky's face became red a little. “Better than every sister in the world, then! Does this sound okay?”
Instead of answering, Sparkler simply shared a giggle with Dinky. Both of them in a better mood now, the two sisters left the room. After Sparkler had locked it again, Dinky disappeared in the bathroom, her big sister taking position in front of it. Not much happened, except for Millie leaving her room, acknowledging Sparkler with nothing more than a grunt, then trotting downstairs.
A few minutes later, Dinky left the bathroom again, looking much more refreshed now. Only the shy, insecure glimmer in her eyes still remained. She closed the door, then joined her sister's side.
“Can we just eat breakfast in your room, Sparks? I don't want to enter the kitchen with her around.” Her eyes looked pleadingly at her big sister.
To her surprise, though, Sparkler shook her head. “No, Dinks, we're eating breakfast in Sugarcube Corner today.”
Dinky's face became confused. “Do you think we have enough time for this before I have to go to school, Sparks?”
Sparkler smirked and ruffled through her mane. “Don't worry about this, Dinks. We will have plenty of time.” Then she went ahead through the corridor and began to descend the stairs, remaining short of any further explanation. Dinky hurried after her.
Downstairs, Sparkler looked over to the kitchen, grim-faced. Dinky eyed it too, nervously. In a calming fashion, Sparkler placed a hoof on her head. “You wait here, Dinks. This is going to take just a moment.”
Sparkler approached the kitchen in a brisk tempo and stopped right at the doorframe, having barely entered the kitchen. Her flank and most of her back remained visible in the door's opening. Dinky could hear the voices of her sister and her aunt.
“You are excused, Millie, I'll be taking over for you the last two days. Dinky and me will leave for the day now. We will return in the evening. Until then, I want that you have your stuff packed and left the house.”
“I'm not surprised that you would throw out the last sane mind in this house, Sparkler. I will leave, but I will come back and free your poor sister from here.”
“You better don't.”
It was a short conversation, Sparkler had only said the most necessary things to get across what she wanted. Sparkler turned around on her hooves and returned to Dinky, her face softening more with every step. She booped her little sister's nose again. “Let's go outside and have some fun!” She lit up her horn and opened the door, then galloped outside. Dinky galloped right after her, wearing a cheerful smile.
As Dinky had caught up with Sparkler and just wanted to talk to her, a horrified expression appeared on her face and she gasped.
“Sparks, I forgot my saddlebags, we have to–”
Sparkler looked at her sister and smirked. “You won't need them today, Dinks.”
“Huh?” Dinky's face radiated confusion once again. “But I have school today.”
“Just wait and see.” She put a hoof around Dinky's shoulder and squeezed her.
Dinky felt clueless. They were clearly on the way to the schoolhouse, yet every time Dinky asked, Sparkler remained strangely insistent there was no school today.
As they had arrived at their destination, Sparkler gestured Dinky to stay at the door, then she went inside the building. Peeking in, Dinky could see that Miss Cheerilee was already here, standing in front of her class as usual. Clearly, school had not been cancelled today, just as she had suspected. She looked with a quizzical look to Sparkler, who went straight for the teacher's desk. It was when Sparkler and Miss Cheerilee began to talk and when her teacher gasped in shock over the things Sparkler told her, that Dinky began to understand her sister's plan. A smile flashed over her face, the positive feelings she felt now eliminating a lot of the still remaining stress on her mind.
During their talk, only snippets of the conversation found their way into Dinky's ears, but she could clearly hear “mentally distraught”, “break”, “excused” and even Lily's name out of all the words. The mentioning of Lily cast a concerned frown on Miss Cheerilee's face and she looked away from Sparkler for a moment, into the rows of her students and at Lily's desk. Only as Dinky followed her teacher's glance she noticed that Lily was not here! Now the young unicorn frowned herself. Still having to think about what happened yesterday on the playground, questions about her friend's well-being coursed through her mind, making her numb for her environment.
A poke at her side threw her out of the trance and she looked up, puzzled, seeing her sister's face grinning down at her.
“Wanna get some breakfast now?” she asked her.
“What about school?” Dinky replied, although she could guess the answer already.
“You're excused for today, Dinks. You can be glad that your teacher is so understanding. Canterlot's teachers are a lot more strict.” She gave her sister another poke. “Now come. I'm sure you're hungry.”
Dinky could only nod and, like on cue, her stomach gave his own agreement to this. “You bet!” she answered. “The muffin from yesterday was barely enough, Sparks.” Some happy tears in her eyes, Dinky gave her sister a hug, then they galloped off towards Sugarcube Corner.
Sparkler ordered for them quickly and so, they soon were sitting at a table in the far corner of the small, cozy bakery. In front of each of them was a plate filled with blueberry muffins, making Dinky's eyes glisten from appetite. Greedily, she put the piece of pastry into her hooves and bit off half of it, immediately reaching the center of the muffin. She groaned in satisfaction as she felt the first taste of blueberries spread out on her tongue.
As she had eaten the muffin completely, she felt the urge to wash it down with something. Using her magic, she reached out to the big, towering glass to her left side. Before she could lift it to her mouth, though, she stopped, noticing the contents of the glass just now.
“Chocolate milkshake? For breakfast?” She gave her sister the most confused look, even raising an eyebrow, her lips puckered.
“With extra sugar!” Sparkler gave her a gigantic grin.
“For breakfast?” Dinky asked a second time, still stumped. She didn't move, just looked at her sister with that confused expression in her eyes.
“Everything's allowed today, Dinks. It's Millie-free Day.” Her tone was as cheeky as it could get.
Dinky lowered her eyes a little. “You're crazy, Sparkler.”
Sparkler laughed, then shook her head. “No, you're crazy today, Dinks, and you deserve it.” She reached across the table and ruffled through Dinky's mane.
“Now, do you really want to let this big, cold, delicious chocolate milkshake wait, Dinks? If you don't, I'm going to drink it. I can handle two.” She activated her magic and pulled at the milkshake a little, causing Dinky to frown.
Dinky let her hooves come to assistance and pulled the glass out of her sister's grasp. “Never!” she said defiantly, then finally hovered the glass to her mouth and wrapped her lips around the drinking straw. She drank in big gulps from it while giving her sister a suspicious side glance. Sparkler smirked, then she took her own glass as well.
Dinky set the glass aside and took another muffin from the plate. “You teasing monster,” she said, while only paying attention to her muffin.
“It's my job as big sister,” Sparkler replied, completely unimpressed, while putting away her milkshake glass.
“Yeah?” Dinky said, between two bites, shooting Sparkler a short glance. “How many bits do you get for it?”
“No bits.” Sparkler reached for another muffin. “I get paid in your silly frowns and nose boops.” Demonstratively, she reached across the table and booped Dinky's nose, causing the filly to scrunch her face. Then she bit into her muffin, smugness coming from her eyes. “Bubblehead,” she then said as she had swallowed down the muffin, her tone completely serious.
Dinky gasped, then gave her sister a glare. “You call me a bubblehead, Sparkler? Then you are a..... a..... a moron!” Her anger was genuine, obvious by her gritted teeth.
“A moron?” Sparkler gave her little sister a pitiful look. “That's all you can think of, Dinks? You sounded a lot more creative yesterday. I'm really disappointed now.”
The reminder caused Dinky to blush.
Sparkler took another sip of her milkshake. “You wimp,” she said then.
Dinky let a hoof come down on the table and jumped up from her seat. “Fine, then you're a dumbflank, Sparkler! Is that better?” She huffed now.
“Oh, really?” Sparker asked across the table, now wearing a glare herself. “Then you're an idiot.”
Now surprise got added to Dinky's anger. “Idiot? And you call me uncreative, Sparkler? You're a loser.” Dinky deadpanned.
Sparkler shrugged. “Better a loser than a halfwit.”
“And better a halfwit than a dweeb.”
“Or better a dweeb than a dunderhead.”
Their conversation now turned into sustained fire as the two sisters shot insult after insult at one another, all while wearing their glares.
“Numbskull!”
“Sucker!”
“Fool!”
“Dork!”
They were so distracted by shouting the words at each other, that none of them noticed Mrs. Cake stopping at their table, halfway back to the counter. Her eyes bulged, almost jumping out of their holes, it seemed, and her face was a frozen piece of disbelief. She shook her head, then returned to the counter.
The barrage continued. Though, as serious as it seemed for a bystander, their words got more and more ridiculous with each shot.
“Sap!” it came out of Dinky's mouth.
“Chump!” Sparkler countered, biting her lip.
“Goon!” Dinky shot another word at her sister, her voice cracking slightly.
Noticing it, Sparkler grinned at Dinky triumphantly. “Nincompoop.” Her eyes drilled into Dinky's skull.
“Stum..... Stumble.....” Dinky began with another word, but then broke out in deafening laughter before she could finish it. “I-I give up, Sparkler!” she managed to say somewhere between her laughs.
“That means you lose, Dinks,” Sparkler grinned. “Just like last time. But I admit, you got a little better.” Then she fell into the laughter and the volume in Sugarcube Corner got suddenly doubled.
At the counter, Mrs. Cake shook her head again, not knowing what to think about the sudden change of mood. She looked over to her husband. Both of them shrugged, then went back to their work.
Out of breath from their long-lasting laughing fit, the sisters finished their breakfast quietly, but not without smiling at each other. Both of them looked happy and relieved now.
As they trotted out of Sugarcube Corner, each of them wrapped a hoof around the neck of the other. Dinky felt better, having finally a sufficient meal in her stomach. She looked up to her sister. “What now, Sparkler?”
“Ice cream!” Sparkler answered firm, with a touch of crazyness in her voice.
“Ice..... cream?” Dinky repeated the words. “Now?” she looked down at her stomach, that felt like it was going to burst.
“Millie-free Day”, Sparkler just said, giving the shortest explanation possible.
“Right.....” Dinky nodded, then giggled. The sisters increased their pace at the last meters on their way to the ice cream booth.
Ten minutes later, they sat on a bench in the nearby park, each of them hovering a cone of ice cream in front of her face, eagerly licking at it. The hair around their mouths was smeared with blue and yellow stains. The situation couldn't have been happier. Though, as Dinky mentioned Millie, the mood decreased slightly.
“We had six muffins and a huge milkshake for breakfast. And now we're eating ice cream right after it. And it isn't even noon yet!” Dinky looked over to the clock tower, which showed that it was exactly eleven o'clock. “Millie would explode,” she said, not without a giggle. “I just hope she doesn't wander by here.....” She flattened her ears.
“I wouldn't worry about that, Dinks.” She put a hoof around her little sister. “She's probably sitting at home now and trampling on the nerves of her daughter and her husband, to compensate for her defeat.”
“Or plotting something.” Dinky's face became a little darker. “You know what she said, Sparks.”
“Maybe,” Sparkler said, completely calm. “But now Cheerilee knows about it. And Rarity does too. And that means she's going to tell her friends about it, until Princess Twilight hears of it as well. Not to forget the ridiculous show she put on at the playground yesterday..... Everypony there saw it and Lily's parents definitely know about it by now.”
Dinky looked at her sister, a small bit of anxious doubt gracing her face. “And you're sure that's enough, Sparks?”
“Definitely.” She squeezed Dinky. “Once word goes around that she hurt Lily in a fit of hysteria, nopony's going to take her serious anymore.”
“Mhm.” Dinky nodded. Her sister was right, but something else worried her now. “I wonder how Lily feels. I hope she's okay..... She wasn't at school when we were there.”
Sparkler pulled her closer. “Maybe she stayed at home after what happened yesterday. Couldn't blame her. But I doubt she got more than a scratch from that, Dinks. I'm sure she's alright.”
“I guess.....” Dinky said, still thinking a bit. “What are we going to do now?” She looked up from the ground and into her sister's face. Her ice cream was eaten up now and Dinky cleaned her mouth with a napkin from the booth.
Sparkler threw the last bit of her own cone into her mouth and bit on it with a crunch, then swallowed the tiny piece and cleaned herself with her own napkin. “Wanna go to the arcade?” she asked. “They should have opened some minutes ago.”
Dinky beamed. “Yeah!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “I don't even remember when I was there the last time! Let's go!” Without awaiting a reaction by her big sister, Dinky jumped down from the bench and galloped out of the park, right towards her desired destination.
The Ponyville Arcade was still almost empty at their arrival, as usual at this time of day. Most ponies were at work or in school and could not spend their time there right now.
There was Pinkie Pie, shaking her body to the rhythm of a dancing game. She turned around and waved with both forehooves at the two unicorns as they passed by, while simultaneously keeping up with the beat and getting bombarded with colorful messages saying “Perfect!” from the screen. None of the two sisters questioned it.
In front of another gaming machine stood Beauty Brass. The mare with the pale blue coat and amber mane had her mind buried in a game of “Changeling Invaders”. She was licking her lips, completely concentrated and not noticing her surroundings, as her unicorn on the screen blasted through armadas of changelings that were trying to conquer Canterlot.
Dinky and Sparkler, looking through the games to decide which one they should play first, trotted around the corner. At a machine in front of them, not far away, stood..... Button Mash. Dinky gasped in surprise to see him here. It was a school day for the young colt, yet, there he was, playing a game. He did not notice them as they approached him, his mind too focused on fighting a cave troll with his hero.
From her knowledge of the game, Dinky knew it was the first boss, so Button Mash had really come far in the short time since the arcade had opened. She trotted at his side and tapped on his shoulder. “Button? Why are you here at this time?”
Startled, he let out a yelp and accidentally hit a wrong button on the machine. The cave troll was just about to deliver a blow, but instead of defending himself with his shield, the earth pony knight now launched an attack on his own. It turned out fatal. His energy already low, the blow of the troll knocked the pony out. The screen turned black, then “GAME OVER” appeared on it in big, red letters.
A frustrated scream rang out of Button's mouth, his scratchy and slightly squeaky voice turning into a whimper soon. A few tears were in the corner of his eyes.
“What?” he asked desperated. “Why couldn't you just wait until I was finished?”
Dinky gave him a sheepish grin, rubbing a hoof embarrassedly. “I'm sorry..... I was just surprised to see you here, skipping school like this.”
“And? You're doing the same!” the brown colt countered.
Now Dinky had the high ground. “I'm not,” she said and lifted her head in an exaggerated fashion. “Miss Cheerilee excused me for today.”
“Yeah?” Button Mash replied, his voice sounding doubtful. “Or maybe you just got suspended because you called your aunt a bitch!”
“I'm not!” Dinky frowned angrily.
Button Mash shrugged. “I don't care. But you should help me now, it was because of you that I lost!”
This was something Dinky could agreed on. It had not been her intention to blow the game for Button and she was here to play anyway. Having retrieved some bits from her sister, she put them in the machine. Then she put her hooves on the second set of controls and chose the two-player mode. The two foals began to play, Button as his usual knight and Dinky having chosen the unicorn wizard. Soon they were enthralled by the game and forgot about their surroundings. Sparkler laid down in a comfortable position on the floor at the side of the machine and watched the two of them play.
After a few hours, which were spent by Button tanking the enemies and Dinky roasting them with spells from behind and occasionally healing Button's knight, Button Mash suggested to grab lunch. He put away his hooves from the controls, after one of the bosses had just killed their small team.
“School's over now,” he said. “Let's go and grab some food.” He grabbed his wallet from the machine and trotted away from it.
Dinky felt unsure. She was still moderately sated from the sumptuous breakfast and not really hungry yet. But it was Millie-free Day, right? She could afford eating more than she needed today. Those were the thoughts that went through her head, so she followed Button Mash out of the arcade, her sister trotting closely behind them.
As they returned from the restaurant, Button rubbing his full stomach and Dinky feeling filled to bursting once again, a surprise awaited them in the arcade:
At one of the machines on the way to the game Button and Dinky had played earlier, stood Lily, playing a puzzle game. She did not notice their presence.
Still remembering her mistake from earlier, Dinky approached her best friend carefully. She took position at her side and looked at Lily, without saying a word.
Lily gasped as she noticed who was here from the corner of her eyes and hit the pause button on the machine. Turning around swiftly, she did a step forward and wrapped Dinky into a hug.
“I was worried because you weren't at school today!” she said in her soft voice, which was dripping with apprehension. “Miss Cheerilee said you are excused.” She squeezed her unicorn friend.
“You were worried?” Dinky asked. She pulled back and looked at Lily in surprise. “I should be worried and I am! Why weren't you in school today?”
“I was,” Lily answered, to Dinky's surprise. “I just got late. My back still hurts a bit, so it took me longer to get there.”
Dinky looked past Lily's face and only now she noticed a small band-aid on the earth pony filly's back. The short, purple hair of her coat revealed a yellow shimmer of the skin around it.
“How do you feel?” Dinky asked, looking into her face again.
Lily sniffled slightly before answering, delirious with joy that Dinky seemed to be fine.
“Better.” Lily gave her an optimistic nod. “There was a rusty nail in the plank where I hit it. I got a shot, so I'm okay now. But my parents are furious over it.”
The last sentence let a wave of satisfaction flood through Dinky's body, but the stronger concern for her friend quenched it again soon.
“Are you really okay?” Dinky asked her friend.
Lily nodded again, affirmatively. “I am, don't worry, Dinky.” She reached out again and the two friends exchanged another hug, Dinky now also wrapping her hooves around Lily's neck, carefully, to not touch the wound on her back.
Having pulled away from each other again, Dinky turned her attention to the game Lily was playing. Simple blocks could be seen behind the gray of the pause screen, all of them adorned with symbols that looked akin to cutie marks. In the bottom right corner, Dinky could see the level Lily had reached in the meantime.
“Level 10?!” she exclaimed in utter disbelief. “In this game?!”
Lily blushed a little at the notion and remained silent. She only gave a short nod.
“But you know how hard it is!” Dinky continued.
Not only Dinky was completely baffled, the faces of Button Mash and Sparkler showed the same expressions.
Lily scraped a hoof at the floor, smiling. She was a little embarrassed. “It's not too hard,” she said quietly.
“Not too hard?!” Dinky burst into her face, feeling her mind getting blown even more. “That's the only game here ponies lose all their bits at while trying to beat it, because they never manage it! Nopony got even close to Level 10 so far! How did you do this?”
“I-I just figured it out after a few tries. I can show you if you want.”
Button Mash and Dinky both took the offer. They started the game from Level 1 and one after another, the two foals tried it out, while Lily gave them instructions. But none of them had much success. Despite Lily's patient explanations about the game's complicated mechanics, each of them could not get past Level 5. They only understood half of Lily's explanations and gave up as their heads started reeking. Even Sparkler, who got curious and tried it after them, failed. During the whole afternoon in which Lily tried to teach them how to do it, the strong filly's ability to understand the mechanics of the game became an even bigger mystery to them. All three of them had headaches as the sun began to set.
Having just left the game, Sparkler gave Lily a poke. “You're smart, filly. I think you're the only one who is not wasting all her bits on this game.”
Lily looked to the floor, scraping her hoof over it again. “It's nothing.” She started to feel a little uncomfortable with all the praise.
The small group of four ponies left the arcade. It was time for dinner. Outside, Button Mash said goodbye, then dashed away quickly. The fact his mom would probably already know that he wasn't at school on this day didn't seem to bother him. Lily got ready to leave too, but before she could say anything, Sparkler leapfrogged her.
“Hey, do you want to eat dinner with me and Dinky tonight?” She gave Dinky a wink. “It's Millie-free Day today, so we're ordering some food and watch a movie or too. Wanna come?”
Lily took a moment to think it over, but then agreed. She joined them at their way home and, after a short visit at her house to get her parents' agreement, she found herself in front of the house of the Hooves Family. At her side, she noticed Dinky shivering slightly, so she put a hoof around her.
“Sparks?” Dinky squeaked. “What if she is still here?”
Sparkler nodded. “I go in first and take a look. You wait here.” She pulled the door open and went inside. Taking a turn to the right first, she checked the kitchen. Returning to the foyer, Sparkler looked at Dinky, a circle formed by her purple aura appearing at the top of her horn, signaling that the kitchen was clear. She went into the living room on the left side of the house, which brought forth the same result, then up the stairs. The guest room was empty as she entered it. Millie's suitcase was gone and so were the few of her belongings she had brought with her and placed in the room. Sparkler breathed out in relief. All of a sudden, the house felt like it had been freed from a dark entity, which was true, in some way. She returned downstairs.
“Everything's fine,” she said to the two fillies, smiling. “Millie is gone.”
Not finding her worries confirmed now, Dinky went into the house, with Lily at her side. She glanced around the foyer, her face looking like she was here for the first time.
“Feels differently,” she said. Only now she noticed how the presence of her aunt had influenced the atmosphere of her home, as she felt the typical peace of it again. “She's really gone.” A rapt smile was all over her face. She turned at her big sister and hugged her, then pulled Lily closer for a group hug. “Let's order some pizza!” she cheered.
Both the other filly and the mare agreed with a nod, then Sparkler closed the entrance door with her magic.
After a short conversation, the three ponies settled on cheese pizza, so Sparkler called the local pizza parlor.
Around eight, Dinky and Lily were slumped down on the sofa in the living room. The opened pizza box and a few tins of soft drinks, as well as a huge bowl of popcorn on the table, everything was ready for their movie night.
Sparkler used her magic and hovered the disc out of the movie's box – which showed a young earth pony stallion at the side of an airplane looking dreamingly up to the sky – and into the player, then joined the two fillies on the sofa.
Each of the them grabbing a slice of pizza, they soon stared intensely at the screen as the movie started and the title “The Rising Wind” appeared on it.....
Friday had been a quiet day. Dinky woke up in the morning and readied herself for school. She had been a little tireder than usually after awakening, as it had gotten a bit late the night before with the movie they watched, but her spirits were lifted again, so she felt well. The small amount of tiredness had been nothing compared to the stress Millie had put her through and so, Dinky had been looking forward to the day ahead of her.
She had attended school again and met Lily there. Dinky had to solve tasks from her teacher and recess had been spent by talking with Lily and Noi. On the afternoon, she had taken care of her homework with help from her big sister and the rest of the day, Sparkler and Dinky were playing games together or just talking. Dinky's life had returned to normalcy. Now it was Saturday and there was only one element in Dinky's life missing to make it the perfect life she knew again.
Dinky was outside, sitting before the front door, and her eyes were scanning the sky for the one pony her heart was longing for. It was close to noon, so it was close to her mom's return as well.
“Dinks?” her sister suddenly called out for her.
Dinky heard it, but did not turn around. She kept her eyes fixated on the sky. “Yeah?” she shouted her answer.
Sparkler came down the stairs, her glance falling on Dinky and how she was sitting there, constantly looking up. A smile played around her lips. “Is the kitchen ready?” she asked her little sister.
“The table is laid and prepared!” Dinky shouted back, still not turning around.
“Awesome! I'll take care of the rest, Dinks!” She motioned towards the kitchen.
“Mhm,” Dinky replied, her voice sounding dreamily. By now, her surroundings had become blurred out for the young unicorn. All she could see was the sky. More than that, even, all her eyes detected right now was that small patch of the sky visible between two houses in the not so far distance and in which direction Canterlot was located. The route her mom would be most likely taking on the way back to their house. And to her, of course.
Dinky opened her mouth for a smile. In her imagination, her mom was already here. She saw her appearing between the houses in front of her mind's eye, saw her flying towards their own house, hovering in the air for a moment..... then starting to land. The sun was in her back and the rays that surrounded her made her look like an angel. An angel heralding the end of the worst week she had ever experienced in her ten years of life. Gracefully, the cross-eyed angel landed in front of her. It smiled warmly.
Dinky's smile turned into a broad grin and her eyeballs seemingly grew in size as she opened her eyes wide. They glistened and sparkled as she felt the joy spreading out inside of her. Overwhelmed, she spread her arms and hunched forward to hug the angel. It was an awkward sight for a pony, because, of course, Dinky was only hugging the air. Perplexed, the pony gave her a poke. “Uh..... Are you alright, Dinky?”
And with that poke, Dinky's bubble burst. The angel disappeared. Dinky blinked in confusion as she suddenly only saw the street in front of her and the buildings in the distance anymore. She looked to the side, from where the poke had come from, and her face turned dumbfounded. She blinked again as she found herself staring into the face of Derpy, her mom.
The grey pegasus mare was looking at her, cross-eyed and puzzled. Around her neck was her trademark mailbag adorned with a muffin and on her back was a large box that looked heavy.
Dinky's mouth opened slowly, but she did not say anything and kept sitting still in her position. Silently, she stared at her mom.
“Dinky.....?” came it again from Derpy. She poked her daughter once more. “Are you daydreaming?”
Dinky swallowed, then shook her head. No, she wasn't daydreaming. This was definitely not a dream. The realization slowly settling in her mind, Dinky's eyes became watery.
“Mom?” she whispered, her voice sounding absent.
Unsure what to answer, Derpy scraped a hoof at the ground. “It's me, Dinky,” she stated the obvious.
Dinky swallowed a second time, then her eyes moved up and down, looking from Derpy's face down to her hooves and back up again. “Mom.....” the filly said again. Then, finally, her face cleared and her mouth formed another smile. “Mom!” she cheered, then turned around and inched forward, flinging her arms around her mother's neck.
It almost made Derpy lose balance. “Careful, Dinky, I have muffins on my back!” she said and chuckled.
Holding her mom tight in the embrace, Dinky buried her face into the fur on her neck, soaking it with her joy-filled tears. She whimpered and sobbed as the relief of seeing her beloved mom again washed over her completely.
Derpy lifted both of her forelegs and wrapped them around her daughter's back. Her voice was joyful, but concern was ringing in it as well. “Why are you crying so much, Dinks?”
“Because I missed you, of course!” Dinky's answer came promptly. The crying made her voice sound very high-pitched. She tightened the grip arount her mom. “Aunt Millie was awful!” was all she explained for now.
Well, this didn't come as surprise to the pegasus. Derpy's face turned slightly grim and her daughter's emotional reaction made her already think that asking Millie for help was a mistake, completely without explanation about what happened exactly.
“Is Aunt Millie still here?” she asked her weeping filly.
Dinky wagged her head. “N-No. Only Sparkler is here.” Her answers were concise, she didn't care for explaining much right now.
“She went through a lot,” another voice rang out to Derpy. The mare looked to the left and saw Sparkler standing in the doorframe. “Hey, mom.”
“Sparkler..... Was it really so bad this time?” Derpy's face was sad now.
“It's a long story, a lot happened. Let us go inside first.” Sparkler hovered the box full of muffins down from Derpy's back, so she could let Dinky lay on her back. The filly kept clinging tightly to her mom's neck, soaking it more while she cried for joy.
Derpy followed her oldest daughter inside and closed the door behind her. Quietly, except for Dinky's sobbing, the two mares trotted into the kitchen.
Already before entering, Derpy was greeted with the sight of a fully laid table. Cups, spoons and plates were neatly arranged on it and in the middle, two pots filled with steaming hot coffee and cocoa had been placed. A bowl of sugar was there too and between them was a larger plate and muffins were stacked on it. A blue cloth had been spread over the table.
Derpy gasped. “You prepared so much for my return?” She was flabbergasted.
Sparkler turned around and grinned. “Sure, mom! With all that happened, it's a bigger reason to celebrate than you imagine.”
The arrangements gave Derpy another big indication for how much she had been missed over the past five days. Mouth still open, she sat down on one of the chairs, gently putting Dinky down from her back and placing her in an own chair to her left. Dinky's tears were still streaming, but at the same time, her mouth was one, huge smile. It was a heartwarming sight of happiness.
And finally, Dinky wiped a hoof over her eyes and brushed the tears away. “You can't imagine how happy I am that you're back, mom!” she addressed her mother, than gave her another hug.
Derpy kissed her head, then chuckled. “I can now, Dinky.”
Dinky released the hug and looked at her mom, a sheepish grin on her face. Then, like on command, both mother and daughter turned to the mufffins on the table.
Noticing the reaction, Sparkler commented on the muffins. “Now Dinks and me bought so many muffins at Sugarcube Corner and you brought so many with you, too.”
“Hehe..... There weren't any muffins at the headquarter and the bakeries in Canterlot were always sold out on them so fast, I didn't get to buy any there!” She rubbed over her head and laughed, a little embarrassed.
Dinky gasped over the announcement. “You survived a whole week without muffins?!” The word she used would have been an exaggeration in many cases, but for the muffin-obsessed mare, it was accurate. “At least that's something I didn't have to endure this week.....” Dinky then said, suddenly sounding modest, but having her ears laid back.
Derpy's answer on the question did not get expressed by words, instead, she lunged with her hoof at the big plate and grabbed a muffin, then bit into it in the same movement.
Simultaneously, Dinky and Sparkler broke out in laughter. Then Dinky grabbed a muffin on her own and bit into it, not any less greedy than her mom. Following the example, Sparkler sat down as well and hovered a muffin over to her.
The first three muffins the small family bit into after Derpy's return were enjoyed in silence. Only as they had been consumed, Derpy picked up the conversation again.
Dinky faced her mom in excitement, eagerly to hear everything about her staff training. It wasn't very exciting. After settling in on the first day post-arrival – which included moving into a middle class hotel room and getting shown around in the building where the training should take place – the other four days were filled with dragging meetings and boring recitals. All of the unexciting aspects of Derpy's job. Worst of all, much the pegasus mare had heard wasn't of any use for her. For a mailpony of Ponyville, it just wasn't really necessary to know about advanced delivery methods or new standards for mailboxes. If the latter ever changed at all in Ponyville, then it would be years down the road. Change always took a long time to arrive in the small countryside town. Nonetheless, the attendance of mailponies from all over Equestria was mandatory, so Derpy had no choice to spend the week there.
Though, even with as boring Derpy's report was, Dinky was hanging on every word that came over her mother's lips. To her, it felt like her mom had just been on the most epic adventure a pony could imagine. Her eyes were sparkling while she bit into another muffin almost without noticing it.
“And that's all,” Derpy concluded her report. “I checked out of the hotel after a last meeting and flew right to Ponyville, bought some muffins and then I got here and found Dinky sitting in front of the house.” She chuckled and booped her daughter, which was reciprocated with hearty giggling by the filly.
Finished now, Derpy reached for the can of coffee and poured it into her cup, then equipped Dinky with some cocoa, causing her to grin. Sparkler filled her own cup with coffee in the meanwhile. After all three of them had added sugar to their hot beverages, it was Sparkler who continued.
“So, in other words, it was a completely boring week,” Sparkler stated.
Derpy gave her a confirming nod. “It was, but at least there was a nice incentive payment for having to attend the training.” She took a sip from her coffee. “But I guess my week was better then the 'exciting' week you two had to go through,” Derpy said then, remembering Dinky's initial reaction right after her return.
Like on command, Dinky's ears flattened and Sparkler's face turned dark. It was very much recognizeable that none of them wanted to relive the moments. But of course they wanted let their mom know.
“Was it really that bad?” Derpy repeated her question from earlier, as none of her daughters began to explain what happened.
Sighing, Dinky finally took the floor. “It was,” she said. “Every single day she was here. She demanded that I go to bed at eight and forced me to eat her ugly muffins!” Dinky stuck out her tongue. Feeling reminded on the taste again, she dropped the remaints of the muffin she was holding into her mouth.
Having swallowed it, she continued. “And she was taking all of my videogames and my Neightendo and sold them! Right on the first day!” Her face was filled with anger.
Derpy gasped. “Even the games I bought for your birthdays?”
Dinky nodded sternly. “All of them!”
“But I bought them back,” Sparkler clarified, easing her mother.
“And my console almost didn't work anymore, because Millie just ripped the plug out of the socket without turning it off! And then she insulted Twee.....” Her face one big frown, Dinky stopped for a moment, taking a sip from her cocoa, then reaching for her third muffin.
Sparkler continued for her. “It was nuts. She really thought Twee would infect Dinky with a disease. Even had the nerve to call me a 'bad sister' when I called her out on that.” She bit off the top of another muffin.
Derpy had listened to the report in consternation and was shaking her head now. “Millie really hasn't changed. I have hoped she could be less worse this time because Dinky is older than at her last visit.” She looked at her daughter, remorsefully. Gently, she moved a hoof over her right cheek. “But she was still belitting you so much.....”
Feeling moved, Dinky hovered the half-eaten muffin out of her hooves and gave her mom a hug. Having pulled away again, she let her shoulders hang. “And this wasn't even all she did.....”
“Just the start of it, unfortunately,” Sparkler added.
Dinky nodded, another sigh leaving her throat. “She even decided for me what I should spend my pocket money on..... I just bought a comic that is a little scary and she took it and exchanged it for some stupid pre-school foal comic.” Dinky shuddered at the memory. While she was taking another sip from her cocoa, just to calm herself, Sparkler chimed in once again.
“Dinky had already nightmares because of Millie after she had been here for just two days. I almost didn't recognize her anymore when she woke up on Wednesday and knocked on my door, with all the bags under her eyes. And what happened on the playground then.....” Sparkler's voice trailed off. She wasn't completely sure how to put the event into words.
It was Dinky's turn again. “First she forced me to sit on some plastic mat, just because I was in the sandpit. Then she called Lily a monster because of her strength and pushed and hurt her!” Dinky's face became darkened by hatred.
Derpy's eyes almost popped out of their holes. “She did what?!” she asked, in complete disbelief.
Sparkler nodded. “That crazy mare thinks that Lily's strength makes her a bad influence for Dinky. Called her a freak with a big strength and everything.”
“It's true,” Dinky confirmed as well, gravely. “And she made me so angry, I.....” Now the filly shrunk a little in her seat. “I called her a bitch,” she whispered. Ears laid back again, she lowered her eyes and just stared at the tabletop. For the first time since the playground incident, she felt shame for the outburst.
Derpy held a hoot at her mouth. “Oh, Dinks.....” she said, her voice soft, but with the shock clearly audible in it. She reached out and pulled her daughter over and into her lap, where she embraced her. Dinky rested her head on her mom's chest, her eyes expressing sadness now. Derpy squeezed her. “You never talk like this. That she made you use such a word.....” Her voice was ripe with disgust for her older sister.
Dinky said nothing, just nodded grimly.
“And Millie got her into such a crying fit that I was worried she would never calm down. She even locked her inside her room because she wanted to prevent her from seeing me, so I had to break the lock of the door open with my magic.”
“Has she done anything else?” Derpy asked, now sounding deeply concerned.
“Mhm,” Dinky answered. “She covered my ears and even touched the back of my flank and pushed me around, just because she heard Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash saying the word 'peeved'.” She sniffed, just a bit. “I didn't allow her to touch me there.....”
Derpy's eyes became slits and she gritted her teeth. “I hate her,” she said, voice completely cold. “I knew my sister is awful, but this is just too much.....”
Dinky spoke again while Derpy's mind tried to process what she just heard. “And then she called me a 'bad filly' all the time. But I'm not.....” This last sentence opened the floodgates. Having recounted her days with Millie and told her mom each of Millie's horrible deeds, it was like a dam breaking inside of her and she began to cry into her mother's chest.
Derpy began to hold her tighter. “I never let her come back. This has just gone too far.....”
Having watched the whole scene unfold, Sparkler nodded approvingly. “It's time for that,” she said then. “You finally need to stand up to her, mom.”
Derpy looked over to her oldest daughter. “She will never enter our house again, Sparkler. Millie won't get an opportunity to make it necessary for me to stand up to her.”
And, having spoken those words, it suddenly was like fate had been listening. The words had barely left Derpy's lips as it knocked on the door. Dinky gasped as she heard the knocks and she looked up, her tears suddenly drying up. She looked over to the door.
“Is this Millie?” she asked. Her face was in equal parts fearful and focused.
“Who else would sneak to the sidedoor?” Derpy answered rhetorically, gritting her teeth.
Sparkler nodded quietly, face stern.
They waited a moment, to see if the knocking would stop, but it continued.
“I will go and see who it is,” Derpy announced, having become unsure if the arrival was really her unwanted sister.
Dinky climbed back onto her own chair, unwillingly. She looked at her mother with concern. “Be careful, mom.”
“Don't worry, Dinks. If Millie is outside, I won't allow her to do more harm.”
It knocked again. Not dragging the moment out any longer, Derpy did the few steps to the sidedoor and pulled it open. And her eyes narrowed, as she saw exactly the pony she had expected to see.
“Millie.....” she hissed. “What are you still doing here? After all you did, you–”
In her typical fashion, Millie interrupted her little sister. “Before you say anything, Derpy, hear me out!” There was a strange tone in Millie's voice, awareness that Derpy knew everything by now mixed in with something that almost sounded like Millie was trying to do an attempt to reconciliate. Derpy didn't buy it.
“It's too late,” Derpy answered stiffly, her eyes drilling through her sister. Her face showed that she wasn't susceptible for any of Millie's attempts. Yet, there was a thought flashing up in her mind, a thought that made her surprised about herself.
“Too late, fine,” Millie said, still using the sympathetic tone. “I don't expect you to forgive me, Derpy. But let me come inside and listen to what I have to say, just for a moment.”
Derpy raised an eyebrow, but something in the sentence had piqued her curiosity. Staring at her older sister wordlessly for a few seconds, she suddenly stepped aside. “Come in,” she said dryly, pointing with her hoof into the kitchen in a welcoming gesture.
“Mom?” Sparkler asked her uncertainly, putting a half-eaten muffin back on her plate. Opposite of her, Dinky looked similar confused and concerned.
“Thank you, sister.” A sirupy smile appeared on Millie's face and she trotted through the door inside.
Derpy turned after her and followed her to the table, not bothering to close the door. Standing in front of the kitchen table, Millie turned around to her sister. For a few moments, she stared at her expectantly, but as Derpy didn't offer her a seat, she got down to business. Ignoring the glares by Dinky and Sparkler, she began to explain her visit.
“Derpy, first, I want to apologize for calling you a bad mother and for saying that you are incompetent.”
The deep frown that now appeared on Derpy's face made clear that bringing this up was a mistake by Millie. Derpy looked over to Sparkler, surprise mixed into her frown. “I guess you didn't tell me all the details.....”
“Most of them,” Sparkler answered, sounding a little sheepish. “Thanks to the knock on the door we didn't come this far, but” – Sparkler looked at Millie satisfiedly – “luckily Millie let you know how she called you.”
The comment made Millie's face twitch just a little, but the mare stayed under control.
Derpy looked back at Millie. “It isn't me you should apologize to,” she corrected her.
Unphased by the rejection, Millie tried it again. “I'm sorry, my dear, a lot of the things I said went too far.”
Derpy raised an eyebrow again over the ambigious answer.
“I know how hard it is to raise a foal properly,” Millie continued. “I shouldn't have said any of it. And I'm here to offer you something, so that we can be peaceful with each other again.”
Derpy kept her scepticism, but her face softened a tiny bit. “I give you three minutes, Millie,” she said strictly. “Not one more.”
“I will only need one, if you really hear me out, Derpy. Come over here, my dear.” She waved Derpy over and pointed at the table, then turned around.
Derpy came closer, hesitantly, not saying a word. There was something on Millie's back, sheets of paper that she only now noticed. And exactly those sheets of paper were grabbed by Millie and put onto the table now. Sparkler and Dinky could see them first and both their mouths gaped open in shock and disbelief as they saw them.
Millie looked over her shoulder and waved at Derpy again. “Come, this is what I want to show you, sister.”
Derpy arrived at the table and, as her eyes fell on the sheet that lied on top of the papers, her eyes shrunk and she breathed in deeply.
“Kingdom of Equestria. Certificate of Adoption. This is a permanent record – Please print only.” she read the first three lines on top of the document. Consternated, she looked into her sister's face. “Adoption?” she asked.
Millie nodded.“I know, there are some more formalities we will have to go through, but if you fill out the form and sign it, we have a legal agreement. There will be a few check-ups and talks with me by the child protective services, but just leave this up to me, Derpy.”
“Y-You want to adopt Dinky?” Derpy's face was full of shock.
Now the sirupy smile returned into Millie's face. “Yes, Derpy. I know you have challenges with raising your daughter. I'm not blaming you for this anymore, as I said, raising a foal is hard. But if Dinky lives with me, I will raise her into a prim and proper young mare. And of course you and Sparkler can visit her as often as you want, as long as I am at home.” Her voice was full of confidence. “What do you say, Derpy? Trust me, it is for the best for Dinky.”
Derpy reached for the papers and lifted them up with shaking hooves. Her head felt empty, the shock over the offer had driven all thoughts out of it.
Millie put a hoof on Derpy's shoulder. “Derpy, dear, I promise Dinky will have it good in my house. And I know you want this too. I always noticed that you have difficulties with Dinky, even when I just saw the two of you outside together. And the last days in your house have made me more sure about this.”
Demonstratively, she looked at Dinky, who didn't answer her glance, but instead stared at her mom with worry all over her face.
“Mom.....” she said, unsure. “Just throw them away.”
At the opposite side of the table, Sparkler nodded. “Don't listen to any of her words, mom. You always did a great job with me and you do a great job with Dinky too.”
The warnings that were implied in her daughters' words were justified, Derpy knew this. The sugary words of her sister played around her from shock numb mind, stroking the chords in her that she knew how to stroke since they had been fillies, the chords that made her confidence wither.
“Derpy, please do it, it's the best,” Millie continued to drill into her sister's mind. “When I took care of Dinky, I saw how disrespectful she can be and I bet if I would go through her games, I would find more than one that has exactly this language I heard your daughter using the last few days. And have you never noticed how angry and unhappy Dinky often appears to be?”
She pointed at Dinky and Derpy followed her outstretched hoof. Her head moved strangely mechanical, giving her daughters the creeps. And indeed, Dinky did seem unhappy, now that Derpy looked at her. There was a sad expression in her eyes.
“I can tell you why this is,” Millie continued. “She might not seem like it, but she is not really happy with the way you're raising her.
“Dinky..... Are you unhappy here?” Derpy asked her young daughter, seeking confirmation to disprove Millie's words.
Horror came over Dinky's face. “What? Mom? No, no I'm not..... Why?” Dinky shot questions at her mother, bewildered.
“Can you see how upset she is, Derpy? Deep inside of her, Dinky knows it too. You made mistakes, Derpy, but it's not too late. If you let me adopt her, I can still rectify those mistakes.”
Now Sparkler let a hoof come down on the table, at the end of her patience. She jumped up from her chair. “Finally stop brainwashing her with your nonsense or it's me who will kick you out, Millie!” Her voice was aggressive.
This time, Millie did not even pay attention to her. More outraged by the ignorance of her aunt, Sparkler turned to Derpy again.
“Mom, give me those!” She reached out for the document in Derpy's hooves, but Derpy lifted them up and did a few steps backwards, letting Sparkler only grasp the air. Sparkler wrapped the adoption papers into her magic, but her mom's grip around them was tight. She could not pull them out of her hooves. After a few tries, she had to give up.
In the meantime, Derpy had found her ability to think back, although it was now into the direction her sister wanted her to think. A thousand questions rushed through her mind. The dominating one was:
“What if Millie is right?”
All her thoughts began to circle around this main question. Dinky said she was happy here..... But what did she know?
“She never knew anything other than my education.....” Derpy pondered. “What if I wasn't right? Sparkler grew up just fine, but she's a mare now, maybe she just grew out of what I taught her after getting a job. And I have never given Dinky into the care of somepony else, so she never saw a different perspective. Except for Millie's.....”
A gruesome suspicion crept its way to the surface of her mind. She turned her head to the left. “Do you think..... Do you think Dinky just reacted to you like this because she isn't used to your methods, Millie?” she asked her sister. Her face showed that her question was sincere. “I'm allowing Dinky so many things, maybe I made her become spoiled.....”
Millie smiled more. “Now you're understanding it, Derpy. I didn't want to put it so harsh, it's good you came to the conclusion yourself. Yes, Dinky is spoiled. This is why she reacts in such a way at everything I'm doing.”
Derpy nodded. “Maybe you're–”
A painful tug at her right wing interrupted her sentence. “MOM!” Dinky's voice cried into her ear.
It distracted Derpy from Millie and she looked down at her daughter. Dinky stared at her, her face wrinkled and her eyes shimmering with tears. It stung in Derpy's heart seeing her daughter like this. She moved a hoof away from the documents, holding them only with the left hoof anymore, and ruffled through Dinky's mane with the other one.
“Dinks.....” Derpy's face was sad. “Maybe I really did something wrong..... Maybe staying with Millie would be better for you.”
“No, mom!” Dinky whined. “You didn't do anything wrong. You did everything right!”
“I-I don't think so, Dinky.....” Derpy lowered her head and stared at the floor with half-lidded eyes. Tears gathered in them as well now. “I-I probably let you get away with too many things, Dinks. And I don't think I can do better.....”
Now Sparkler was at her side too. She gave her mother a strong pat on the back. “Snap out of it, mom! You know what she says isn't right!” But it did nothing to change the expression in Derpy's face.
Millie still stood at the table, not saying anything anymore now, but smiling over the fact she had convinced her sister.
Derpy turned around fully to Dinky and bent down at her daughter. She was kneeing in front of Dinky now, forelegs tucked under her body, where she fixated the adoption papers. She unfolded her right wing and stroke over Dinky's back with it. She smiled at her little daughter. “Dinks..... I think you should go with Aunt Millie and stay with her.” The expression in her eyes was distant, even though she directly looked at Dinky.
Sparkler held a hoof at her mouth. “Mom..... You don't mean this. She's playing with you, can't you see it? You told us so often how she bossed you around and commanded you since you were fillies. It's just the same now. Don't listen to her.” She pleaded to her mom, but somehow, the words didn't really reach her.
Dinky's reaction was more extreme. Tears ran down her face in streams. “N-No, mommy. I-I shouldn't!” She had become completely distraught now.
Derpy moved her wings towards Dinky's head. She ruffled through her mane with it, right above her horn, then gently stroke her cheek. She gave her a reassuring smile. “But we could still see us, Dinks. You heard what Aunt Millie said. Sparkler and I can visit you as often as we want. You don't have to leave us completely.”
Dinky sniffed. The seriousness in her mom's face and voice let her heart race. She choked. “B-But..... B-But..... this isn't enough, mom.” Dinky did a step forward and wrapped her hooves around her mother. “Please don't send me to her!” she pleaded, then pressed her face into her mom's neck.
“But, Dinks.....” Derpy unfolded the other wing too now and wrapped both of them around her daughter. “I always allowed you too many things and I never set you enough limits..... You don't understand it, but after you lived with Millie for a while, you will see what I mean.”
Dinky sobbed, then tried to gather strength. “B-But, that's not t-true, mom!”
Seeing another chance, Sparkler's face lit up. She poked her mom from behind. “Listen to her, Dinky's right!”
“Don't you remember anymore, mom? How you grounded me for a week after you found out that I snuck into the living room to watch 'The Trotting Dead' at night? You were so mad.....” Dinky sobbed again, her strength used up for now.
Millie furrowed her brow, but did not say anything.
Derpy's eyes became a little clearer over the reminder. “I remember, Dinks, but..... I.....”
Millie did a step towards them now. “This was too late, Derpy. After she had seen it, the damage had already been done. You should have prevented it before it happened.”
Derpy nodded, but did not turn around. “Did you hear, Dinks? It wasn't enough.....”
Stubborn, Dinky ignored her. “And the training..... Do you remember?”
“The staff training?” Derpy asked, confused.
“No..... T-The gym course. Y-You signed me up for it, mom. You said i-it's good for me. Why did you do it? Do you remember?”
Derpy smiled warmly at the old memory. “I just wanted you to stay fit, Dinks. You eat a lot of muffins and–” Derpy interrupted herself as she gasped in surprise. Then she gave her daughter a kiss on the head. “I guess this is the only thing I did really right.....”
Millie grew a bit more uncomfortable and she did another step towards the mom and her daughter. “Derpy, it's still in the veins and arteries. The fat on the inside doesn't disappear because of some training, believe me.”
This time Derpy ignored her, the surprise she just had still in full effect.
“And the videogames.....” Dinky continued between her sniffles and sobs. “We always choose them together, mom.”
“I know, Dinks, but–”
“And you always told me I shouldn't play them before I've done my homework, so I finish it first.”
Another gasp from Derpy, then a smile played around her lips again. A strange, cold feeling spread out in her head, like something was clearing inside of it.
“That's true, Dinks. I did. Did I forget this?” Derpy asked, now feeling light.
“Just for a moment!” Dinky answered, her voice becoming more optimistic. “Mom, you did so many things right!”
Behind Dinky and Derpy, Sparkler laughed out loud. She got into Millie's way before the older mare could do another step forward.
“Sparkler, would you please step aside?” Millie asked, still in her sympathetic voice.
“No way,” Sparkler answered, ignoring her otherwise. “Don't forget about Twee, Dinks!” she called over her shoulder then.
“Right!” Dinky pulled away from her mom and looked her into the face, hooves still resting on her neck. “Mom, you didn't even let me touch Twee before you had made sure he has gotten all the necessary vaccinations in the Ponyville Pet Center!”
Right in front of her, her mother's eyes cleared even more, losing the hazy look they had taken on since Millie made her awful offer.
“And the comics! You explained me how the rating system works, so I won't buy anything I shouldn't see!”
That last sentence still clinging in her ears, Derpy shifted a bit, then removed her wings from Dinky and got up slowly. The adoption papers were in her hoof again.
Dinky looked up at her, making an unsure face, while a few, last tears still trickled out of her eyes. “Mom?” she asked.
Derpy folded in her wings, face full of clarity. “Thank you, Dinky,” she said and pulled her daughter closer for a short embrace, during which she placed another kiss on her head. Then she turned around at the spot and trotted towards the other end of the kitchen. “Sparkler, please get out of the way. I want to talk with Millie.” Her eyes narrowed at Millie as Sparkler did as she was asked, a grin on her face.
“Millie,” Derpy said as she stepped in front of her.
Her sister still smiled, although with a nervous twitch in the corners of her lips now. “Derpy, dear, you know she's just saying all those things so she can stay here, right?”
“I know,” Derpy said, eyeing Millie with confidence.
“That's good. Now let's sign this and you have taken care of a better future for your daughter.”
“This?” Derpy asked, lifting the adoption papers in front of Millie's face. “You still want to adopt Dinky?” Her eyes narrowed again, now anger appearing in them.
“Y-Yes, Derpy. It is for the best and–”
Before she could finish her sentence, Derpy had ripped the papers in half. Furiously, she teared them apart with her hooves, until only tiny shreds were left. They formed a pile in front of Millie's hooves.
Millie opened her mouth and stared in disbelief. “I-If you need time to think about it, then it's okay, we can get new papers anytime. But Derpy, dear, please make the right deci–”
Derpy reached into the pile of shreds and took a bunch of them on her hoof. She blew them into her sister's face.
“Buck off, Millie,” she hissed at her.
Millie gasped, the “bad” language shocking her more than the paper that had been blown into her face. She was opening and closing her mouth like a fish on dry land that desperately tried to breath.
“Out,” Derpy just whispered, her eyes showing a dangerous level of fury.
“Derpy, you–” The moment Millie had spoken the first syllables of a new sentence, Derpy just grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the still open door. With a powerful push, she sent her outside.
“Never show up again, sister!” Derpy shouted after her. Her voice sounded almost like a roar.
Millie lost her balance and hit the ground outside. Face forward, she fell into the dirt.
In the last moment, Lily, who had just approached the house, jumped out of the way. She yelped in surprise. Close behind her was Noi, who pursed her lips and let out a whistle at the sight, having noticed the one responsible for Millie's ungentle flight.
Derpy breathed out heavily, her face easing.
Behind her, Dinky and Sparkler grinned at each other, then exchanged a hoofbump.
“And I will send you a bill for the repair of the lock on Dinky's door!” Derpy huffed a last time at Millie's form on the ground, then she noticed Lily and Noi as they came close to the door.
“What happened here?” Lily asked, confusion written all over her face.
Derpy smiled. “I defeated a witch.” Then she waved the two fillies inside.
They followed the invite and behind them, Derpy closed the door, cutting them off of the sight of the beaten mare.
Derpy turned around. “Now, who wants muffins?” She grinned.
Nopony objected. They all got back at the table, with their new guests following the example. Derpy brought cups, spoons and plates for the two of them and served them with cocoa, then refilled the cups of herself, Sparkler and Dinky. A moment later and a muffin was on each of the five plates.
Dinky dangled her legs down the chair cheerfully, happy that the week that had started so awful, was ending on such a great note now. She lifted her muffin to bite into it, but before she could do so, a realization came over her. Dinky stopped and put the muffin back on the plate. The unicorn filly raised an eyebrow.
“Isn't it weird that, as the whole thing with Millie started, we were sitting here and ate muffins and that, now that everything is over, we're doing the same thing again?”
Both Derpy and Sparkler, who had starting eating already, paused to think, puzzled expressions on their faces.
“What a weird coincidence,” Sparkler commented on Dinky's obversation, dumbfounded.
“But the best weird coincidence that is possible!” Derpy added. She pulled Dinky closer to her, embracing her daughter with her left arm.
