Dinky's Bucket List

Chapters

Chapter 2: Back to School
Chapter 4: The Story of Derpy and Greyson
Chapter 5: Fears and Nightmares
Chapter 6: The Recent Procedure
Chaper 7: Crusading
Chapter 8: Sleepover
Chapter 9: An Unexpected Arrival
Chapter 1: 70/30
Chapter 3: Muffins, CMC, Rainbow Dash and No Cures

Chapter 2: Back to School

Dinky woke up from a sad dream, a dream which featured her doing everything on her list, except saying goodbye to her friends and family and meeting her dad, it made her day start off sadly, but maybe it will get better as the day goes on. Dinky went downstairs to see that Derpy was no where to be seen, Dinky, who was slightly worried, decided to check in the kitchen, and she found a small note on the table, from Derpy,

Morning Dinky,

Sorry, but I had to leave for work early, the post office is getting pretty

busy with intern ponies, there's some breakfast in the fridge and there's

also an note for your teacher explaining your absence from school

yesterday on the desk near the front door,

Love you, from Mom.

Dinky, felt a little bit excited to see what was in the fridge, she placed the note back where she found it and skipped over to the fridge, she opened it up and found her favorite food, which also happened to be her mom's favorite as well, muffins. The fridge wasn't too cold, so neither were the muffins, there was around 3 large chocolate chip ones, and Dinky scoffed them all up, she scoffed them slowly, so that she wouldn't have a tummy ache. She put the plate, that is now covered in muffins crumbs, into the kitchen sink, Dinky went upstairs to brush her teeth and have a quick shower, she has 40 minutes until School anyways, usually she would have a shower to start her day off, but she always says good morning to Derpy before she does that, but since Derpy only left a note, saying that there was muffins in the fridge, she couldn't resist, she just had to eat them, but now was the time to brush her teeth and have a quick shower, then after that, School-time.

Dinky has just came out the shower, she quickly dries her hair with the towel, after that, she goes into her room to get her saddle-pack, then it's off to go school. She takes her absence note off of the desk beside the front door, she puts it in her saddle-pack and leaves her house, there wasn't any need to lock the door because she knew Derpy almost finishes her shift at the post office at this moment, she walks over the bridge that led from her house to the School, on the way, she sees Pinkie Pie, doing her usual bouncing around the place, Pinkie then stops once she sees Dinky and says,

"Hey, Dinky" She greeted politely.

"Morning, Pinkie" Dinky replied,

"Mister Cake, well he told me about the bad news that's been happening with you, and I just want to say, sorry about that Dinky" Pinkie said.

Dinky felt a little sad, but seeing it was Pinkie Pie speaking to her, she knew Pinkie could make her feel happier, "It's OK, Pinkie"

"Hmmm............I'll tell you what, how about after school, you can come down to Sugarcube Corner and I'll give you a big basket of muffins, free of charge." She said.

"That would be wonderful, Pinkie" Dinky coughed, "Thank you"

"Okie dokie lokie" Pinkie smiled, "I'll see you there, after you're finished at school"

She hopped away in typical Pinkie Pie fashion, and Dinky was almost at the School, since it was up on top of a slightly large slope, Dinky's hooves kept on sliding down the slope and she kind of struggled to keep her balance, but she finally made it to the top of the slope and went into School, she sat in her respected seat, behind Diamond Tiara and beside Sweetie Belle, she placed her saddle-pack under her desk and placed a rubber and pencil on the desk. Diamond Tiara who was sitting in front of her, lent backwards and took Dinky's pencil,

"Thanks for the pencil, Blank Flank" Tiara sarcastic laughed.

"Can I have m- m- my pe-pencil back please?" Dinky whispered.

"What was that, blankie?" She replied.

"Can I get my pen back please?" Dinky spoke a bit louder.

Diamond Tiara pulled off a put-on thinking face "No, I'll have it"

"Give her it back!" A voice shouted from the other side of the room, it was Scootaloo.

"Yeah, Diamond Tiara. Give her it back!" another voice shouted out, it was Apple Bloom.

"What are you 3 going to do about it?" She nonchalantly asked.

Sweetie Belle had to think of something, "We.....we....we'll tell Ms. Cheerilee on you" she stuttered.

"Oh, I'm sooo scared" Diamond Tiara laughed to herself.

"Well you should be" A much deeper female voice called from the room, it was Ms. Cheeriliee, who must have over heard the argument from outside "And, I want you to see me after school, Ms. Tiara"

Ms. Cheerilee went over to her desk and sat down, she was also surprised to see Dinky after her day off,

"I hope you have a note, explaining your absence, Ms. Hooves" She said.

"I do, Ms. Cheerilee, it's in my saddle-pack, I'll go and it" Dinky replied.

"OK, Dinky, take your time" Cheerilee smiled.

Dinky got the absence note from her saddle-pack and placed it on her desk, much like any other usual student in class, she waited beside Ms. Cheerilee until she finished reading it, once she finished reading the note, she looked shocked, because the note wasn't just an absence note, but a note explaining that Dinky won't be coming back after a few months, Ms. Cheerilee told Dinky to come closer so that she can whisper in her ear so the other fillies and colts can't hear her,

"You OK, Dinky? Sorry to hear about the very bad news" Ms. Cheerilee whispered.

Dinky nodded, "I'm OK, Ms. Cheerilee, I'm fine" Dinky whispered back.

"You sure?" She asked quietly.

"Yep" nodded Dinky.

"OK, then, Dinky. Take your seat" She replied a bit louder.

Dinky went away from her teacher's desk and back to her seat, on the way there, Diamond Tiara gave Dinky a cold stare, making Dinky feel down a little bit, once she sat in her seat, Ms. Cheerilee went over towards the chalkboard beside her desk, She wrote down what Dinky thought might have been the continuation of yesterday's lesson, with large, bold letters that read out,

Star Swirl the Bearded

A history lesson, a lesson on a pony that Dinky thought only existed in myth, but she was apparently wrong. Dinky loves history, one of her favorite subjects at School is history, she wants to be a history teacher when she grows up, but then again, she knew she couldn't. Dinky was then tapped on her shoulder by a hoof, that hoof was Sweetie Belle, she lent to her side and whispered to Dinky,

"Are you OK, Dinky? Was Diamond Tiara making fun of you because you have no cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Dinky covered her flank with her tail, "Um.....yes" Dinky said quietly.

"What was that, Dinky? Sweetie Belle asked again.

"Yes" Dinky replied a little louder.

"It's OK, you don't need to cover your flank with your tail,she makes fun of me all the time about my cutie mark, she just thinks she's better than everyone else. OK, so, me, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were just wondering if you want to speak to us during lunch?" Sweetie Belle asked her.

"Um.....yeah sure, at your usual table?" Dinky replied and asked.

"Yeah, just come over there when you can" Sweetie Belle smiled.

"OK, I'll speak at lunch" Dinky smiled back.

Dinky kept paying attention to Ms. Cheerilee's lesson on Star Swirl the Bearded, but also looking forward to lunch, because she thinks she knows what The Cutie Mark Crusaders are planning for her. And she looked at the clock above the chalkboard, lunch was only 45 minutes away.

Lunch has came, she enjoyed her Star Swirl lesson, she was going to Sugarcube Corner after school, her day went from waking up to a sad dream, to something more happy, this was the happiest Dinky had been since the day before she found out she had cancer, about two months prior, and getting her chances of survival, a day prior, only made things worse, but today was a happy day for Dinky, and almost forgot about the sad dream and her time in the doctor's office, crying with Derpy, so it was lunch time and she had her lunch in her saddle-pack, a ham salad sandwich, her favorite school lunch, once she finished, she went over to the table that The Cutie Mark Crusaders usually sit at,

"Dinky! Over here!" Scootaloo shouted from a distance.

Dinky came over and sat across from Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and sat beside Apple Bloom, they had their lunch on their table, Sweetie Belle had something fancy that must have been made by Rarity, Scootaloo had a cheese sandwich and Apple Bloom had apple fritters, Dinky already knew what was coming, but she still hasn't made her decision on if she wants to be a Cutie Mark Crusader or not,

"Hey Dinky" they all said.

"Hey girls" Dinky replied.

"Listen, we don't like the way Diamond Tiara has been treating you because of you not having your cutie mark and we also heard you have cancer so......" Sweetie Belle couldn't finish the sentence.

"....we just felt sorry for you and wondered if you want to join the CMC?" Apple Bloom finished Sweetie's sentence for her.

"Can I have a think about it for a second please?" Dinky asked.

"Sure thing" smiled Scootaloo.

The reason Dinky wanted to think about her decision was because she knew the Crusaders are prone to getting themselves into trouble and making fools of themselves, with a primary example sticking out the most to Dinky, was last year, when they did an unintentionally funny dance act. But Dinky, who has been friends of the Crusaders for some time now, decided to make her decision,

"Yeah, I'd love to be a Crusader with you girls, because all of you are cool and everything, also, getting my cutie mark is a priority I want to accomplish before I pass on, so yeah, I'm in, and girls, thank you so much for sticking up to Diamond Tiara for me" Dinky said.

"Anything for a fellow crusader" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both said.

Dinky felt really happy and School has got only 2 more hours and then it's off to Sugarcube Corner, things were suddenly feeling brighter for the dying filly, spending her final months with a smile on her face will surely help her.

Chapter 4: The Story of Derpy and Greyson

Dinky came into her home, wondering what her mom would think about coming in late. Dinky walked in to see that her bucket list was on the desk beside the front door, Dinky already knew what Derpy was going to be saying to her, but Dinky decided to act as if, it's nothing, she went into the kitchen to find Derpy sitting in chair, like she was waiting for Dinky,

"Where have you been, Ms. Hooves?" Derpy questions.

"Oh, sorry, Mommy, I was at Sugarcube Corner to pick up this basket of muffins from Pinkie Pie" Dinky explained.

"Why was Pinkie giving you muffins" Derpy questioned yet again.

"She heard about my cancer and felt sorry for me, so she said she'd give me a free basket of muffins" Dinky explained once more.

"Oh, that was nice of her" Derpy then smiled, "But I was expecting you home 35 minutes ago, I don't mind you going to other places, but come back here to tell me where you're going. OK?"

"Yes Mom. Sorry Mom." Dinky apologized.

"It's OK, baby, just be sure to check with me next time" Derpy said.

"OK Mom, I'll be sure next time" Dinky replied.

"Good good. There's some soup for your dinner over there, take a seat and I'll bring it over" Derpy said.

"OK" Dinky said as she took a seat at the table.

Derpy brought over her daughter some soup, which also happend to be made by Derpy, Dinky looked into the bowl to see it was chicken noodle soup, Dinky's favorite. Dinky took a slurp off her spoon and it tasted brilliant, just as brilliant as the muffins she had today, Derpy had a smile on her face, a warm smile, seeing her daughter happy a day after she found out her cancer chances, made her really happy, but Derpy had something to say to Dinky,

"I read your bucket list when I came back from work" Derpy said, "And I see you added an extra thing to your list"

"Oh, umm..........you read that?" Dinky asked.

"Yep, it probably wouldn't stay a secret for long, Dinky" Derpy replied.

"I guess Mom, but why are you and daddy not with each other anymore?" Dinky asked once again, "Was it because of me?"

"It wasn't you at all, baby, it was an argument me and your father had" Derpy replied.

"What was the argument about?" Dinky asked.

"Your dad had always dreamed of being a star on Broadmane, he wanted to take us to Manehattan, but I decided for the better that me and you shouldn't" Derpy told her.

"Why?" Dinky asked.

Derpy sighed, "The life of a star is bad, for the star himself and the star's family, if I was recognized by the press as the wife of a star, they would make fun of him for having a wife like me, and I wouldn't want all the pressure of the press to make fun of my eye, I don't mind some pressure, due to the fact some ponies make fun of me here, but having ponies spreading news that Greyson Hooves has a stupid looking wife, I wouldn't be able to handle that" Derpy explained.

"But Mom, you're not stupid" Dinky tried to comfort her mother.

"I'm not saying I'm retarded, I'm saying I'm stupid looking, yes, I dropped out of high school, but that was only to look after you, I'm not stupid, ponies just make fun of me. They don't make fun of any other pony, for example, why don't some people make fun of Fluttershy for being shy as anything, or Rainbow Dash for chasing a dream she can't catch" Derpy teared up, but calmed down slowly, "Anyways, tomorrow morning we have to go to the doc's again, he wants to tell us about an operation that he thinks can take away your cancer, he hasn't told me what the operation is yet, but he'll tell us once we arrive at the hospital"

"OK Mom. Are you OK now?" Dinky asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Derpy sighed with slight relief.

Dinky had finished her bowl of soup while her mom was rambling on, Dinky carried the empty bowl over to the kitchen sink, on the way there she almost tripped over a raised floor board, Dinky was curious of something her mom and dad, so Dinky decided to ask,

"Mom? How did you and Dad meet?

"I never told you that story?" Derpy asked.

Dinky shook her head,

"Hmm. OK then, I'll tell you." Derpy said.

It was back in high school, around 9 months before you were born, it was a party before our Heart's Warming vacation in Winter, me and my class were going to Canterlot for the party, I was dressed in a dark blue dress, Fluttershy was in a light green floral dress and Rainbow couldn't make it to the party, she was already away on vacation with her brothers, it wasn't the same without her, she would've brought the fun to the party, but it was still a little fun none the less, at the party another few classes from other schools were there, there was a class from Baltimare, another class from from Appaloosa and finally, one from Canterlot. There was disco balls and confetti, and the lights were bright, the party host told us to find a dance partner not from our own class though, that's when I met your dad, Greyson Hooves, a handsome grey Unicorn with a dark brown mane and slightly dark blue eyes, he was wearing a fancy tuxedo. There was no other partners to go with except from him, so I came up to him and asked shyly, I was probably more shy than Fluttershy had ever been,

"Um........can I have this dance please?" I asked covering my wall eye with my long mane at the time.

"Sure thing" Greyson said as he raised his right front hoof, waiting for my left front hoof to be on his.

Once we held hooves, we danced, I had taken dance classes during my time, so I was good at it, but Greyson, he danced as if he was allergic to music, he wasn't to good at it, but the moment we both shared was beautiful, the music in the background, the lights in the room, it was beautiful, and for the first time in my life, I was in love at first sight, and so was he. We must've danced for a good 10 minutes, and after the 10 minutes, we stood there and looked into each other's eyes, he looked at one of mine since my wall eye was covered by my mane, he wanted to see my other eye, so he tried moving my mane out the way of my wall eye, but I snapped my head towards the left and he asked me,

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's.........just....." I hesitated for something to say.

"What?" he questioned again.

"Um.....what's your name?" I changed the subject, hoping he didn't notice.

"My name is Greyson, Greyson Hooves. What's yours?" He asked back to me.

I gulped, "People call me Derpy"

"Derpy? Why is that?"

I sighed as I flick my hair back, revealing my wall eye, "Because of my so called derped eye, my real name is....."

"Shh" Greyson said as he interrupted my sentence and placing his hoof on my upper lip, "Do you think you're not pretty because of your eye?"

I nodded.

"Well that's silly, Derpy" He smiled as he said my name, "You're a pretty pony, where you from?" He asked.

"Cloudsdale" I replied, "What about you?"

"Baltimare" He replied, "Seriously, you are a pretty pony"

"Stop it, please" I smiled.

"Let me say it one more time" He smiled back.

"Go ahead" I replied.

"You're a beautiful pony, miss Derpy" He said.

"I said you can me pretty once more" I was overwhelmed he called me beautiful, no pony had ever called me beautiful except from my relatives.

"You're more than pretty. Say, do you want to go out sometime? I can meet you in Cloudsdale" He said.

"How?" I was puzzled because a unicorn on Cloudsdale can't work, he would just go through the clouds, because he isn't a pegasus.

"I have my ways, I learn magic, I'm thinking of going to college here in Canterlot, but I want to take it for acting" He said.

"Oh yeah, you can use it for playing wizards, can't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, so I'll give you my address, and you can give me yours" He said as he pull out a napkin from his tuxedo jacket pocket and split it in half.

"OK, sure thing, have you got a pen or something to write with?" I asked him.

"Yeah, It's in my pocket" He said once he pulled the pen out.

After that, he wrote his Baltimare address on one half of the torn napkin and he passed the pen to me and I did the same thing with my half of the napkin.

After the party was over, we went our separate ways for a while, he said he'd promise to meet me in Cloudsdale which I was still puzzled about how he would be able to stand on the clouds, but I was still excited none the less. On the way home, Fluttershy asked me what I thought of the party, I said to her it was one of the best times of my life, and I asked Fluttershy the same thing, she said it was OK, but I knew for her, due to her shyness, that she didn't have much of a good time.

Once I arrived back at my house, I asked my dad, if I could go to be Baltimare for a trip, he blatantly replied "No" and it upset me for a while, I waited a month and he arrived, he was in Cloudsdale, he must've learnt a spell that made him walk on clouds, either way I was really happy. On our date we went and got some dinner and he took me back to the hotel he was staying in, on that night, we shared something special together, our first kiss, once my lips locked onto his, I knew he was mine and I was his. Once that night passed by, he went back to Baltimare and promised he'd meet me again, about a day after that, I found out I was pregnant, with you, Dinky. Dad didn't take too kindly to that, because I had to drop out of school because of my pregnancy and 8 months later you were born and I moved to Ponyville with Greyson to have you, and a year after you were born, me and Greyson got married, but you were too young to remember that. Me, you and your father lived a good and peaceful family life for many years until your dad with his acting dream wanted to fulfill it once again.

"He left a day before 24th birthday, he left for Manehattan, I sent letters from the post office, over to him a few months after he left, but I didn't get any letters back, I never got any divorce papers from him, and I never sent any over, because I thought I knew he would come back, but he didn't" Derpy teared up.

"I thought it was my fault, Mom" Dinky said after her long silence.

"It was never your fault, Dinky" Derpy said as she cleared her eyes, "You don't need to think it's your fault, because it wasn't, OK?"

"Yeah, Mommy" Dinky replied, "Can you write another letter please? To tell him I want to see him one last time, before I die"

"I'll see what I can do, Dinky. But you have to go to bed now, we'll be up early for the doctor's" Derpy explained.

"OK, good night Mom" Dinky said as she hopped of her kitchen seat and gave her mom a hug and a kiss good night.

"Good night, sweetie" Derpy said.

Dinky went upstairs and went over to her bed, she laid against her large pillows and her mom's story manage to make her sleepy, and while she laid in her bed, slowly going to sleep, a tear came from her eye, the story made her uplifted but also made her sad. What if she sent a letter and dad never came? what if he wasn't in Manehattan anymore? Dinky cried a bit more, the more she cried, the more she thought about the last thing he said to her before he left,

"Dinky, no matter what you do, always be yourself, don't let anypony else tell you otherwise"

She thought more and more about it, and she cried herself to sleep, for the 2nd night in a row. Again, hoping that her dad being away was just a dream, but again, most of the time, Dinky knew most dreams never come true for her.

Chapter 5: Fears and Nightmares

Dinky has woken up from a dream much more cheerful than her previous one, in this dream, she dreamed that she was an Alicorn flying over Equestria, with the wind beneath her wings and her mane feeling lighter than it was when she was grounded, she had a very good sleep and a very good dream, something Dinky wishes for to come over the next following nights. Dinky hopped out of bed feeling very optimistic about today, first it was the doctor's appointment and then it was off to the Cutie Mark Clubhouse, which Dinky still couldn't remember where. She skipped down the stairs, quick as a flash and then into the kitchen where Derpy was frying eggs for breakfast, DInky smelled it and it smelt fine, so she sat down in her seat and greeted her mother by saying,

"Morning Mom"

"Morning Dinky" Derpy greeted back.

"The doctor's appointment is today, right?" Dinky asked.

"Yep, in two and a half hours" Derpy replied as she came to the table with a plate of eggs for DInky.

Dinky looked over at the clock above the entrance that led from the living room to the kitchen to see that the time right now is 6:30am, the appointment is at 8, then after the appointment, it's off to do some crusading. Dinky was curious about when the appointment would end, but she didn't decide not to ask Derpy that until they were actually at the hospital. Dinky had a taste of her slightly crispy fried eggs, they were delicious and it was a good way to start off her day, Derpy also had some slightly crispy fried eggs and she enjoyed her eggs as well, while she was eating, she asked Dinky,

"How was your sleep?"

"It was good, how was yours?" Dinky replied.

"Mine was good, did you have a good dream?" Derpy asked back.

"Yeah, I dreamed that I was an Alicorn flying across Equestria, it was great" Dinky expressed.

"That seems great, how are the eggs?" Derpy asked another question.

"Delicious, thanks for them Mom" Dinky thanked.

"You're welcome, sweetie" Derpy smiled, "Listen, once you finished your eggs, you should have a shower, OK?"

"Sure thing" Dinky said, "Don't worry"

"OK make sure you do it before 7:30, I know the appointment is at 8 but, best to get ready early" Derpy explained.

"Sure thing Mom, I'll have a shower once I finish my eggs" Dinky replied.

"OK, you do that hon" Derpy said.

The mother and daughter continued to eat their breakfast, they enjoyed it very much and Dinky was thirsty so she got off of her seat to get some juice, she opened the fridge to see that there was a bottle of wine, clearly for Derpy, some pork, some butter, milk, cheese, orange juice and fish. Dinky took the orange juice after making a choice between that or milk. She got a glass from the cupboard beside the fridge and got a glass from there, she carefully poured some OJ into the glass and quickly downed the drink as if it were a shot of whisky, she then put the glass into the sink and went upstairs to have her shower, and Derpy sat down and had her morning coffee

Dinky just finished her shower and was drying her mane with the towel and was going to get ready for her appointment, she didn't know how long she was in the shower for, but she didn't think it was that long, she was also, in a way excited for the appointment she was going to have, she didn't know the reason why, but she did, maybe because she was going out with the crusaders after it and it made her excited even more. After she dried herself off she went downstairs to see Derpy sitting on the sofa leaning a pencil against a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and Dinky was curious what she was writing so she asked her mom,

"What's that you're writing Mom?"

"A letter" Derpy paused for a second and took a deep breath, "To your Dad" she continued.

"Oh, OK" Dinky replied,feeling down while thinking of her dad.

"You OK Dinks?" Derpy was concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, when are you going to send it?" Dinky asked.

"When I go back to work on Monday" Derpy replied.

"K then" Dinky said.

"It's 7:10 Dinky, you can do what you want until 7:50, that will give us enough time to get to the hospital before 8, OK?" Derpy explained.

"Sure thing, Mom" Dinky replied.

Dinky went upstairs to do what she wants for 40 minutes, she went into her room and sat on her bed, she sighed of boredom and laid on her bed, and when she's bored and wants to think of something to do, she closes her eyes and thinks more, however, she closed her eyes and relaxed too much, and then she fell into the depths of her dreams, now waiting for her mom to wake her up when the time is needed.

Dinky was in a room, a room which was lit up enough so she could see what was going on, and surrounding her and the room was complete darkness, Dinky was scared of what was going to happen, she turned around to look at every corner of the room and a quick look into the darkness and looked back into the middle of the room, only to see herself. An artificial version of herself and an artificial version of her father, she saw them two hugging each other and sharing a moment and her father saying,

"I love Dinky, but I have to leave" Greyson's voice echoed.

"No, please don't leave" the artificial Dinky echoed and sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Dinky, I'm leaving" Greyson replied, "No matter people say about you, always be yourself"

"But will you come back?" She asked.

"I can't be sure of it" Greyson replied with a tear running from his eye.

The real Dinky stood and just watched as they hugged each other, she saw the both of them crying and a tear slid down from her eye and something dark and horrifying happened, as the two were sharing their moment together, behind the both of them came dark arms from the darkness and pulled away the two artificial ponies away from each other. Dinky was scared and wasn't sure if she should run away into the darkness or stay there and let these strange arms take her away, as she stood there, she heard the two fake ponies scream out for their names and the both of them got pulled into the darkness, but that was only the beginning of Dinky's surreal dream. Afterwards, the room she was in set aflame and crumbled into ash, the light that was keeping the room lit, gotten smaller, and looked as if it was a light bulb floating over Dinky. Dinky was terrified and alone, at least she thought she was alone, the mood in the dark, empty, unsettling place went quiet, too quiet, if the light went off above her, that would make it worse, she wouldn't be able to tell if she was speaking out loud or thinking to herself, it would feel like being in solitary confinement. Dinky was quiet until she heard the sound of clopping, and a laugh, which sounded very familiar. Dinky thinks she knows who the voice belongs to,

"Dinky Hooves" The voice boomed from the darkness.

"Y-yes?" Dinky questioned the loud, commanding voice.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE?" The voice loudly echoed and asked.

"N-n-n...." Dinky stuttered with fear.

"ANSWER!" The voice blasted at Dinky.

"No" Dinky said shyly, "I'm not sure"

"You may remember us as Nightmare Moon" The voice told Dinky.

Nightmare Moon. It was now clearly obvious to Dinky, that it was Princess Luna, with the third person speaking and referring herself as "us" or "we", almost gave it away completely, but one thing was not certain for her, she didn't know if Luna was actually in her dream or if she's an artificial version of Luna, because Scootaloo once told her of Luna coming to her in a nightmare, Dinky, who was still scared, calmed down a little because she knew Luna wasn't Nightmare Moon anymore and wasn't going to harm her, so Dinky decided to ask her,

"Princess Luna? Is this the real you or are you just a figment of my imagination?" Dinky asked.

"YOU DARE QUESTION ME, DINKY HOOVES" She replied as she appeared behind Dinky, giving her a fright and making her jump.

"I'm sorry, y-your h-h-highness" She quietly said as she shakily bowed to the princess.

"I'm only kidding, Dinky. And yes it's the real me" Luna smiled.

"Um, O-OK" Dinky shyly replied.

"Since I'm the princess of the night, I can go into everyone's dreams and nightmares, much like your friend, Scootaloo" Luna said.

"Why did you come into my dream, it's not even night" Dinky mentioned.

"I know, but I have been in your previous dreams, and the one where you don't complete all of the things on your bucket list made me want to help you overcome your fear" Luna explained.

"I don't have any fears your highness" Dinky proclaimed.

"You do, you fear that your father won't come back and since you're dying, you fear he'll never come back" Luna explained.

"I'm not....." Dinky was interrupted.

"You do, just let it out" Luna relaxed Dinky.

Dinky felt sad, she just wanted to cry, she lied to Luna, she was scared that her dad would never come back and it always made her sad, and since she found out she has cancer, she feels as if she'll never see him ever again, due to her limited time, she thought about more and her emotion completely dropped, she was devastated, she cried on the ground at Luna's hooves, Luna crouched down and comforted Dinky,

"Ssh, now Dinky" The Princess comforted.

"I'm sorry" Dinky apologised.

"It's OK, I understand" Luna said.

"Princess?" Dinky asked.

"Yes?" Princess Luna replied.

"One of my objectives in my bucket list is to meet the Royal Family, and since you're here, I just want to ask if I can meet you in Canterlot?" Dinky asked.

"Of course" Luna smiled.

"Thanks, Princess Luna" Dinky thanked.

"It's all OK, just make sure with your mom and Twilight Sparkle" Luna replied, "And another thing, stop fearing that you'll never see your father again, because I know, you'll see him before you die Dinky"

"Really? When?" Dinky questioned.

"I can't tell you, but you will see him in the future" Luna replied, "And I think you should wake up now, it's 7:45 now"

"Really? It feels like only 5 minutes" Dinky was confused.

"Time goes quicker while sleeping" Luna explained.

"Oh yeah" Dinky realized.

"I'll see you in Canterlot, Dinky Hooves" Luna said.

"Princess, thanks again, for everything" Dinky thanked once again.

"Your welcome, Dinky" Luna smiled again, "Bye"

"Bye" Dinky said.

Dinky saw Princess Luna fade away into the darkness, she left, now Dinky has to wake up from her dream and get ready for her appointment, in 15 minutes, she hopes it is worth going in on a beautiful day like this.

Chapter 6: The Recent Procedure

Dinky was now awake, she had an empty feeling in her stomach, but she felt happy none the less. She got up from her bed and happily skipped down the stairs. And Derpy, who must not have heard her skip down stairs, called out for her just before Dinky walked into the kitchen,

"Oh, I didn't hear you come down stairs, Dinky" Derpy chuckled slightly.

"Oh yeah" Dinky laughed.

"You ready to go, hon?" Derpy asked.

"Yep" Dinky nodded.

Derpy got up from her kitchen seat and said, "OK, let's go"

Derpy and Dinky were both still a little sleepy, since it was the weekend, the both of them would be having sleeps until at least around or slightly after noon. While they were walking over to the hospital, Dinky was still sleepy, and whenever she blinked or closed her eyes she felt as if she was going to fall asleep while walking over to the building, but Dinky tried her best not to doze off. Once the mother and daughter duo made it to the hospital, they went to the receptionist table to see that Nurse Redheart was working there, odd for her to be working at the receptionist table, usually she'd be working at the ER, maybe she was taking a break from all the stress the ER can bring to you,

"Morning Red" Derpy greeted.

"Oh, hey Derpy" the nurse greeted back.

"I've got an appointment made for Dinky with Dr. Artemis" Derpy explained.

"OK, let me just check the files" She said as she looked through one of the drawers, and she found it, "Just take a seat in the waiting area Derpy and Dr. Artemis will be out in about 4 to 5 minutes"

"OK, thanks Red" Derpy said.

"No prob, Derpy" Redheart replied.

Dinky went ahead of Derpy to sit at the seat closest to the doctor's office, Derpy followed over to the seat beside her daughter, and the two of them waited for their doctor. Dinky was still tired, as was Derpy, and Dinky thought this was the perfect time to have a little snooze for about 4 minutes, so Dinky closed her eyes and opened them to see that Dr. Artemis was coming out of his office, she didn't know if he was quicker than Nurse Redheart said he would be, or if she slept for 4 or 5 minutes and it only felt like a second to her, but either way, she was going to find what the doc wanted to tell her. Artemis welcomed the two into his office and asked them both to take a seat,

"Morning Dinky. Morning Derpy" Artemis greeted.

"Morning" Derpy and Dinky both said.

"You 2 are probably wondering why I called you in here on your weekend?" The Doc asked.

"Yes" Derpy replied.

"Well, we recently discovered that there is no known magic cure...." The Doctor was saying.

".....we know that. What's your point?" Derpy interrupted and asked.

"....But there is a surgical procedure we can pull off that can cure her from her horn cancer" The Doctor explained.

"Really?" Derpy asked, "How does the procedure work?"

"The procedure works by us removing the horn from Dinky's skull, taking the cancer away with it" Dr. Artemis said, "However...."

"However?" Derpy questioned.

"The horn is connected to a nervous system in your daughter's brain, if the surgery becomes more complicated, then the chances could lead to certain death" Artemis explained.

"Oh, is that it?" Derpy asked.

"Yes, and the reason I called you was because I wanted to ask Dinky if she is OK with going through the procedure" Artemis said.

"Dinky, do you want to go through the procedure?" Derpy asked her daughter.

Dinky sat on her seat and thought, about possible the biggest decision in her life so far, if she went through the procedure, she would either make it out alive or dead, and since her chances of cancer were already 70/30, she had nothing to lose, except from her bucket list objectives. She sat there and thought more of if she didn't make it out alive, and she completed her bucket list, then she'd die happy at least. So Dinky has finally made her decision,

"I want the procedure please" Dinky said.

"You sure you don't want time to think?" Artemis asked.

"No thanks Dr. I've already made my decision" Dinky replied.

"Dinky, you don't need to go through this if you don't want to" Derpy mentioned.

"And I want to do this Mom, my chances are already 70/30, and if I complete everything on my list, I will die happy if the procedure fails" Dinky said to her mom.

A tear then fell from Derpy's eye, she was proud to see her daughter make this tough decision on her own, but she was also sad, she was sad because she thought about the procedure, and if it fails, then she'll never see her daughter again, but if it does succeed, then she'll have her daughter, so Derpy quickly calmed down and still felt proud of her daughter's tough choice,

"Mom, are you OK?" Dinky asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine just... fine" Derpy replied.

"OK, Mom" Dinky said.

"Now Dinky, are you perfectly sure you want to go through with this?" Dr. Artemis asked.

"Yes, but I don't want it done ASAP" Dinky replied and explained.

"Understandable, when do you want it to be done?" The Dr. asked again.

"Well, I've made myself a bucket list and I want to complete it so..." Dinky was explaining.

"...you want the procedure after you've completed your list" Artemis said.

Dinky nodded her head. She looked over at the clock to see it was 8:20am, she thought to herself when the appointment will be over, hopefully it will end sooner rather than later.

"So, is that it?" Derpy asked Dr. Artemis after a short silence, much to her daughter's suprise.

"I guess so, Mrs. Hooves, thanks for your time. Also, if Dinky is experiencing anything wrong; headache, sore horn, etc, come back to the hospital, OK?" Artemis explained.

"Sure thing Dr. Artemis" Derpy replied.

"OK then, I'll see you once you want to have the procedure Dinky" Artemis said.

"Okie dokie" replied Dinky.

Dr. Artemis said goodbye to Derpy and Dinky before they left, the mother and daughter both exited the hospital silently and once Derpy and Dinky made it halfway to their home, Derpy said,

"I'm not going to be home tomorrow" Derpy explained.

"Why not?" Dinky was puzzled why.

"Work, Dinky. I should've told you earlier, but you remember Donovan?" Derpy asked.

"Yes Mom, one of your co-workers, right?" Dinky replied.

Derpy nodded, "He's not going to be in tomorrow, and my boss told me to take his place, until he comes back from his vacation"

"Oh, so I have the house to myself for tomorrow?" Dinky asked.

"Yes, also, you can have a few friends over as well" Derpy mentioned.

Dinky smiled, as she thought that the fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders would come around, "Thanks Mom" Dinky chuckled.

"You're welcome sweetie, do you want to get a second breakfast? We only had a few fried eggs and nothing much else" Derpy said.

"Yeah Mom, that would be cool" Dinky replied.

Derpy was happy to see her daughter happy, after she heard her daughter say she wanted to have a surgical procedure that would determine whether she would live or die, she felt depressed, but since she was making her daughter happy, it made her feel happy, and more caring as a mother. But inside, Derpy still felt a depressing feeling, she didn't want to lose her only daughter, it made her feel empty.

Dinky on the other hand, felt like her day was going to go well, she felt optimistic about her day, she was going to get a second breakfast and then after that, she'll go cutie mark crusading. Dinky now feels like she can spend her final days in peace, but not without some obstacles to tackle first........

Chaper 7: Crusading

Dinky had finished her second breakfast, a plate of blueberry pancakes and syrup, it was delicious for her, and now that time has moved forward. She will finally go out and do some crusading with her fellow CMCs, she wasn't quite sure where about the treehouse was on Applebloom's farm, but she remembers it was used as the Rainbow Dash fanclub, during them incidents with Mare-do-well and Rainbow herself, so Dinky decided to go to Sweetie Belle's house since it was closest to her home, once she arrived at the door, she rang the bell and Rarity answered the door,

"Hello Rarity" Dinky greeted.

"Oh hello Dinky, you came here for Sweetie Belle, Darling?" Rarity greeted back and asked.

"Yes, I did" Dinky replied and nodded her head.

"OK, I'll just call her down" Rarity said.

"Thank you Rarity" Dinky replied.

Rarity closed the door slightly and backed away to the stairs and called up for Sweetie Belle saying that Dinky was at the door, Sweetie Belle came over to the door and was looking happy to see Dinky,

"Hey Dinky" She greeted.

"Morning Sweetie Belle" Dinky greeted back.

"You up for some crusading?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"You betcha" Dinky replied.

Sweetie Belle exited her house, said bye to Rarity and Opal and closed the door behind her, she then walked beside Dinky as they both left her front yard, she then asked Dinky,

"How was your morning Dinky?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"My morning was good, how about yourself?" Dinky replied.

"Not too bad, however, Rarity has been in a snit" Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"How come?" Dinky asked.

"She's been paranoid over some fashion thing, I don't think she's slept for 4 days" Sweetie Belle explained.

"Oh my, I'm sorry" Dinky apologised.

"Don't be, it's just Rarity being Rarity, I've gotten used to it after 5 years" Sweetie Belle chuckled.

"I understand" Dinky laughed.

"Anyways Dinks, what's been happening in your morning?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Dinks?" Dinky questioned.

"Yeah, Dinks. What was happening?" Sweetie Belle asked again.

"I went to the doctors" Dinky said.

"Again?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah, the doc was telling me about a procedure I can take after I complete my bucket list" Dinky explained.

"Yeah? How does it work?" Sweetie Belle was curious.

"Well, since my cancer is in my horn, the way they do it is that they remove, but it could go 2 ways" Dinky said.

"What ways?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"One way gets me out alive, the other way..." Dinky spoke.

"Oh my, Dinky. No" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yep" Dinky sniffed a little, "I just hope I finish my list before I have nothing to lose, you know?"

Sweetie Belle nodded, she had grew closer to Dinky as a friend, and the talk of her dying or undergoing a procedure, made her upset as she didn't want to lose a good friend that she has known for years but never really spoke to,

"Sorry for that, Sweetie Belle" Dinky apologized.

"It's not your fault, I wanted to know, it's my fault. But anyways, let's talk about something else besides death until we get over to Applebloom's, we're almost there" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"That's a good idea" Dinky agreed.

The two finally made to the Cutie Mark Crusaders Treehouse, they climbed up the steps and entered the treehouse, and the duo saw Scootaloo, Applebloom and her cousin, Babs Seed. Dinky had seen Babs since she was hanging around with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and in that time, she deeply offended Dinky by calling Derpy "A cross-eyed idiotic mail donkey", she still hasn't received an apology from her yet,

"Hi girls" Scootaloo said.

"Hi Scootaloo, hi Applebloom" Sweetie Belle and Dinky both said.

"Hi Babs" Sweetie Belle said.

"Hi Sweetie Belle" Babs replied, "Who's your friend?"

"Babs, this is Dinky, she's a good friend of ours from school" Applebloom introduced.

"Nice to meet you Dinky" Babs greeted as she lifted her left hoof waiting for a hoof shake from Dinky.

Dinky looked at her and wanted buck her tooth out after what she said about her mom,

"Wrong hoof", Dinky said with nonchalance.

"Oops, sorry, left hooved" Babs chuckled as she put her left hoof down and raised her right.

"It's OK" Dinky's teeth gritted slightly.

"So how long have you been a member of CMC?" She asked Dinky.

"A day" Dinky replied, "The last name is HOOVES, by the way. Ring a bell?"

"Em, sorry, it's doesn't" Babs said as she shrugged slightly.

The other Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at Dinky and wondered what was going on, but they didn't want to say anything in case they start more controversy,

"I'm the daughter of a cross-eyed idiotic mail donkey" Dinky sarcastically explained.

"Oh my, um..." Babs was lost for words, she remembers now.

"You OK, Dinky?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'm fine" Dinky replied.

"Sorry girls this is my fault" Babs explained.

"How?" Applebloom asked.

"You remember when I was being mean to you guys, when I was hanging out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?" Babs asked.

"Yes, we remember" The original trio of CMC said.

"Well, in that time I said something horrible about Derpy, i think that's her name. I called her a cross-eyed idiotic mail donkey, and Dinky, I'm sorry, I didn't know she was your mom" Babs said.

Dinky, as much as she wanted to hoof her, felt as if it wasn't her fault, because Diamond Tiara is always being mean to ponies by saying stuff behind everyponies back in Ponyville, and at least she apologised, maybe she and Babs can get along,

"I accept your apology, Babs, I know you were bullied in Manehattan, so that's why you stuck around with Diamond Tiara and co." Dinky said.

"Yeah...I feel horrible after that, but that was in the past and I'm sorry about that" Babs explained.

"Accepted" the Cutie Mark Crusaders said.

"So yeah, we up for some crusading?" Applebloom asked her friends.

"Yeah, let's go do some crusading. But where should we go?" Scootaloo replied and asked.

"How about Sugarcube Corner?" Dinky suggested.

"That bakery place?" Babs asked.

"Yeah" Dinky replied.

"No, we already tried baking" Sweetie Belle declined.

"It doesn't have to be baking" Scootaloo explained.

"Yeah, we could do the cleaning up, or we can babysit" Applebloom suggested.

"Babysitting?" Babs Seed seemed in shock, "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah Applebloom, besides Pinkie Pie would probably do that" Sweetie Belle explained.

"Yeah, but Pinkie deserves a break from work, and we can just look after the two little ones until Mr. and Mrs. Cake close up shop" Applebloom explained.

Dinky thought about that, as did the rest of the crusaders, Dinky thought it was a good idea and she thought getting her cutie mark in babysitting would be good, so Dinky said,

"That actually seems like a good plan"

"You know, we haven't tried babysitting yet. That could work" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, the more I think, that doesn't seem too bad" Sweetie Belle explained.

"So we're doing babysitting?" Babs asked.

"I think so, everypony seems cool about about it" Dinky replied.

"So, it's settled. We're doing some babysitting today" Applebloom said.

"WOOHOO" The rest cheered.

"Let's head out, crusaders" Applebloom commanded.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked out of the treehouse and out into the abandoned part of the Applebloom's farm, the 5 young fillies headed into the direction that Sugarcube Corner was, hoping they can all find their Cutie Mark by looking after babies.

The girls have made it to Sugarcube Corner, they all ask the Cakes if they could look after the fillies while they were doing work in the bakery, they were all extremely excited to see if this was their talent and if they'll get their cutie marks from this,

"Now girls, just look after Pound and Pumpkin and make sure the little rascals don't cause any trouble, if they are, just speak to me or Pinkie, she's in her room just now" Mr Cake explained, "Sorry about the results Dinky"

"It's OK, Mr Cake. What's the new baby going to be, boy or girl?" Dinky forgave and asked.

"Our new baby is going to be a girl, Dinky" Mr Cake replied, "Thanks for asking"

"OK, so should we call you, Mrs. Cake or Pinkie for help?" Scootaloo asked.

"When needed" Mr Cake replied, "OK, work calls, just go upstairs and the two are asleep, once they wake, just play with them, change them when needed, etc, etc"

"Sure thing" The 5 said.

The 5 Crusaders went upstairs and quietly entered the babies room, to see that they were still sleeping, Pound had been sucking his hoof, and Pumpkin was sitting up and sleeping with her head tilting forward, keeping her balanced, the 5 fillies sat down on the carpet that was beside the babies' crib. Babs was wondering why Mr. Cake asked Dinky the question about "results", she was really curious to find out what he meant by that,

"Dinky?" Babs whispered.

"Yeah?" Dinky softly replied.

"What was that thing about results there" Babs asked quietly.

"Oh, I have cancer" Dinky replied shyly.

"Oh my, I'm sorry" Babs apologized.

"It's OK, it's not your fault, my chances are 70/30 and finding my cutie mark is pretty mandatory to my bucket list" Dinky explained.

"Hope you complete, Dinky" Babs said.

"Thanks" Dinky replied.

"Oh, Dinky. Have you told the rest about the procedure?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't think so" Dinky said.

"What procedure?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, I went to the doctor's this morning with my Mom and the doctor told me that I can undergo a procedure that can cure me of my horn cancer" Dinky told them.

"How does it work?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, they pretty much remove my horn and the tumor with it" Dinky explained.

"That seems good" Babs said.

"But, it could either end in me coming out of surgery alive, or the surgery will become complicated and I'll die" Dinky explained further.

The other crusaders were all lost for words,

"But at least I'll try and complete my list before surgery" Dinky said.

"We'll help you, Dinky" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, anything for a good friend" Applebloom said also, "What else do you need to do on your list anyways?"

Dinky took a deep breath as she thought of her list, "I think I've only completed one thing out of six"

Unexpectedly to the five fillies, the two little ones, Pound and Pumpkin have woken up, their eyes widened and made a gurgling sound which alerted the five crusaders,

"Oh, I see that the babies have woken up" Sweetie Belle said.

"Do they need changing?" Dinky asked.

Babs peeped her head over to smell and check if the two needed changed, she sniffed their diapers and her eyes watered by the smell of their diapers, "Yep, they do"

"I'm not cleaning them" Dinky proclaimed.

"Neither am I" Babs said after her.

"I'm not doing it either" Scootaloo said.

"And I definitely don't plan on doing it" Applebloom called out.

Dinky, Babs, Scootaloo and Applebloom all turned their heads to Sweetie Belle who was going to say she didn't want to do but was too late, Babs still looked at her and tilted her head towards the crib Pound and Pumpkin were in and raised her eyebrows to point out where the babies were,

"Come on guys. Don't make me do this" Sweetie Belle pleaded.

"Sorry Sweetie Belle" Applebloom apologised.

"You spoke last" Babs added.

Sweetie Belle sighed as she didn't want to clean up the two babies and change them, she would probably be sick while changing them,

"It is only fair" Dinky said.

"I know" Sweetie Belle sighed again.

"Do you want advice?" Dinky asked.

"Yes please" Sweetie Belle replied.

"Just hold your breath, just so you're not as sick as you'll probably be" Dinky explained.

"OK thanks" Sweetie Belle said.

"Not a problem" Dinky said.

Sweetie Belle went over to a closet beside the bedroom door and opened it to find supplies for the babies, like diapers, baby powder, milk, etc. She got two diapers and baby wipes and placed them beside a pair of mats which were lying on the ground for changing the babies. She then got Pound and Pumpkin out of their crib and placed each of them on each of the mats, and was ready for changing them, well kind of....

Sweetie Belle had finished changing the two little ones, and they were playing by their toy box with their stuffed animals with the five crusaders sitting beside them and keeping watch,

"So what do y'all want to do after this?" Applebloom asked.

"Not sure" Scootaloo replied.

"Cause I was thinking we could all have a sleepover at my place, me and Babs were discussing about it this morning" Applebloom explained.

"Yeah, we were. We both thought you guys would like to sleepover in the treehouse" Babs added.

"I would need to check" Scootaloo said.

"Same here, I'd need to check with my mom" Dinky said also.

"I think it would be OK for me, but I'm going to check with Rarity just in case" Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"Good idea" Applebloom said.

"So after this, we'll all check and we'll meet up at..." Scootaloo waited for an answer.

"You guys can meet up at my place" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"OK, so we'll check with our parents or guardians and meet up back at Sweetie Belle's house" Dinky explained.

"Yeah" Apple bloom replied, "But we have to finish watching over these two"

Pumpkin was looking around for one of her stuffed toys, she then found her favorite stuffed animal, her monkey, once she found it, she looked around once more and started to eat the tail, much to Dinky's notice,

"No. No. No. Don't eat that" she said as she pulled the tail away from her mouth.

Pumpkin and Pound both looked at Dinky, as if the two of them were confused, then looked at each other and started to laugh, something wasn't right. Dinky looked back at her friends behind her and looked back at the babies to see that Pound was flapping his wings and began to fly towards the ceiling with Pumpkin, using magic, followed after him,

"Em....." Dinky was lost for words.

"Shouldn't we get them down?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"How?" Babs asked.

"Scootaloo, you're a Pegasus, fly up and get them down" Applebloom said.

"Oh, well, um...." Scootaloo stuttered.

"What is it?" Applebloom asked.

"I can't fly" Scootaloo mumbled.

"What?" Applebloom asked.

"I can glide, but I can't fly" Scootaloo replied, "Besides, why can't Dinky or Sweetie Belle use magic?"

"I can't, horn cancer, it hurts" Dinky said.

"OK then, Sweetie Belle, what about you?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'll try" Sweetie Belle said.

Sweetie Belle went into the centre of the circle that Pound and Pumpkin were flying around above her, she then cast a spell that slowed down the two babies but Sweetie Belle couldn't hold on to them long because they moved fast enough to break the spell,

"OK, this is just brilliant, we have a Pegasus who can't fly, which is weird because Pound can out fly an almost teenage Pegasus, and two Unicorns who can't use magic, well at least you have a reason Dinky" Babs said.

"Shut up Babs!" Scootaloo scowled.

"Yeah. Me, Scootaloo and Dinky haven't seen you or Applebloom try anything!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Oh me and Babs will try!" Applebloom proclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Try then" Scootaloo said.

Applebloom and Babs stood across from Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, with either side gritting their teeth as is they were going to start a fight, Dinky was standing away thinking of the action she is going to take. She doesn't want them to start insulting each other because of babies,

"Knock it off!" Dinky shouted, straining her voice slightly, "Guys, you're fighting over nothing!"

"She making fun of us" Sweetie Belle said as she pointed at Babs.

"I know, but for no reason, we're all fighting because them two aren't coming down from flying" Dinky explained.

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, I was just aggravated that we CAN'T GET THEM DOWN" Babs raised her voice to alert the babies, it didn't work.

"Apology accepted" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both said.

"Should we get Pinkie Pie, she might know how to get these two down?" Dinky asked.

"We might as well" Babs said.

"OK then, me and Babs will get Pinkie Pie, the rest of you guys should stay here and make sure these rascals don't anything else devious" Dinky explained.

Everypony nodded and Dinky and Babs approached the door, they opened it to see Mrs. Cake who was almost going to open the door before Dinky and Babs beat her to it,

"Oh hello girls, I was coming up to say that we're closing early. How have the babies been?" She explained and asked.

"That's just what we came to see you about" Dinky replied, "The both of them have been flying around the ceiling and we can't get them down"

"Oh OK" Mrs. Cake said, "Pound. Pumpkin. Time to get fed."

Instantly the babies stopped flying and went over to their mother to get fed, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood there, slightly annoyed at themselves. They all approached the door and said,

"Bye Mrs. Cake and congrats on the new baby"

"Thanks girls, and I'll see you soon" she replied.

The 5 crusaders all exited and puzzled themselves to think why the bakery had already closed so early in the morning, but now was the time to stop their crusading for the day. They all looked at their flanks to see that their cutie marks haven't arrived and they all sighed to themselves, then they said they would meet up back at Sweetie Belle's home in half an hour after they find out if they are aloud to have a sleepover or not, and in Dinky's case, she thinks she won't be aloud, but she'll find out soon enough

Chapter 8: Sleepover

Dinky has arrived at her house, she is going to ask her mom if she can have a sleepover at Applebloom's home, Dinky hopes that she'll say it's OK to have one.

Dinky checked in the living room, but Derpy wasn't there, she then checked in the kitchen, again, she wasn't there. Dinky was a little worried, so she decided to call out,

"Mom? Where are you?" She called and asked.

"In the basement, honey" Derpy replied.

Dinky made her way to the basement and found Derpy fixing up wires, Dinky didn't know what the wires were for,

"What are you doing Mom?" Dinky asked.

"The electricity in my room switched off, it's just a loose wire needing plugged in again" Derpy replied.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Dinky asked.

"No, you just get a tiny shock, but it feels like nothing" Derpy replied, "You shouldn't do it though, if the electricity goes out in your room, come to me and I'll fix it"

"Sure thing, Mom" Dinky replied, "Mom, can I please ask you something?"

"Of course, go ahead and ask" Derpy replied as she finally got the plug to fit in the socket, "Briliiant, my lamp should be on now"

"OK, so Applebloom is hosting a sleepover at her house, and is it OK if I go?" Dinky asked.

Derpy had to think for a second, she thinks it's OK for her to go, but wasn't aware if Dinky had a key to the house, since she was leaving for work early tomorrow,

"Sure you can, but do you have an extra key to the house?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah, it's in my room. Why?" Dinky puzzled.

"Remember I'm going to work tomorrow? I can't leave the door unlocked" Derpy explained.

"Oh OK" Dinky replied.

"So, yeah, you can sleepover at Applebloom's, who else will be there?" Derpy asked.

"Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom's cousin, Babs" Dinky replied.

"Oh right, is she the one that almost destroyed their float in that parade thing a few months ago?" Derpy questioned.

"Yes she is, I think" Dinky replied.

"OK, make sure she isn't any trouble with you" Derpy explained.

Dinky raised her eyebrow very slightly, "I don't think that'll happen Mom"

"Alright then. C'mon, let me help get your saddle pack ready with the stuff you need" Derpy said.

"OK Mom" Dinky replied.

The mother and daughter both made it for the stairs that led to the kitchen and then they would make it upstairs to sort the things Dinky needs, then she'll be off to Sweetie Belle's home to meet up with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Dinky has all the stuff she needs for the sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres, in her saddle pack, she has a sleeping bag in the right side of her saddle pack, rolled up, and the spare key to her house and some snacks, just in case of midnight feast, in the left side of the pack. She made to Sweetie Belle's home and all the Cutie Mark Crusaders were waiting outside her house, and all of them were happy to see her,

"Dinky, you made it!" Applebloom cheered.

"Yeah, I thought I wasn't" Dinky replied.

"Well the sleepover wouldn't be the same without you" Sweetie Belle said.

"Girls, you're all acting like you've not seen me in months" Dinky explained, "I've only been away an hour"

"Yeah, but it's your first sleepover with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it's like a rite of passage, you know" Scootaloo explained.

"I guess I didn't know" Dinky replied.

"Yeah and it's my first Cutie Mark Crusaders sleepover too" Babs said.

"Huh, maybe we can both experience this "rite of passage" together then" Dinky spoke back.

"Well, kinda. I already had a rite of passage, the girls held a ceremony for me" Babs explained.

"How come I didn't get a ceremony?" Dinky asked.

"We didn't have time to hold one for you, Dinky. Apologies" Scootaloo explained.

"Hey, it's OK, i was only half-interested in one. A sleepover is fine" Dinky said.

"Cool, did you bring all you need?" Babs asked.

"Yeah, sleeping bag, snacks, spare key to my house. Yep, everything I need. What about the rest of you? You girls got everything?" Dinky asked.

"Yeah, I've got all my stuff" Scootaloo said.

"Me too" Sweetie Belle added.

"My stuff and Babs' things are at my house" Applebloom explained.

"OK, let's head out" Babs said.

All the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all but 2 equipped with their saddle packs, were just beside the dirty road that led to Sweet Apple Acres, it would take them 20 minutes to get to the farm, but they know how to make time go quicker, by playing a road game, like "I Spy" or by singing a song, the Crusaders skipped the game and sang their song from their performance at the talent show and Dinky and Babs tried to sing along, but only the original three knew the words of by heart.

The five made it to Sweet Apple Acres and were getting told the rules by Applejack, just outside the barn,

"OK, my little ponies, before you have your little sleepover, I have to get over some ground rules. 1. Don't have too much sugar, I don't mind y'all staying up all night, I just don't y'all to be extremely hyper. 2. Be quiet when you're out of your room after my curfew, I don't want to wake up, however if it's an emergency, then you can either wake me or Big MacIntosh. and finally 3. Have fun y'all." Applejack explained.

"OK Applejack" The five said.

"Alright then, I'm gonna help Big MacIntosh finish off work for the day, you girls do whatever you want, just don't cause any trouble" Applejack said, "We clear?"

"Crystal" Applebloom replied.

"OK, I'll see you in a bit" Applejack said as she went off to help Big MacIntosh.

"So what now?" Scootaloo asked.

"How about we go to the clubhouse, until it's time to have the sleepover" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah, I guess, there isn't really much to do anyways" Babs said.

"Oh, I know what we can do" Applebloom called out.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"We can hold the ceremony we owe Dinky" Applebloom explained.

"No thanks, Applebloom. The offer was kind though" Dinky replied to her.

"No, we insist. We have all the stuff for the ceremony" Applebloom said.

"Well, since you insist. Thanks, I'd like a ceremony" Dinky thanked her.

"No sweat, Dinky" Applebloom replied.

Sweetie Belle went over to Scootaloo to whisper something about the ceremony for her,

"You still have the timpani drums, Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle asked quietly.

"They're in the crate just outside the clubhouse" Scootaloo whispered back.

"We're still doing the ceremony the same way as it was with Babs?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Dunno. Ask Applebloom" Scootaloo replied.

"Applebloom, is the ceremony going to be like Babs'?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom faced Sweetie Belle and nodded.

"OK, let's not waste any more time and start heading to the treehouse" Babs spoke out.

"I agree, we've been standing around for about 5 minutes now" Applebloom said.

"Yeah, let's head to the treehouse" Dinky said also.

The crusaders all left the front of the barn and walked followed Applebloom towards the direction of where the clubhouse is, they all trotted into the acres and were soon going to give Dinky a Cutie Mark Coronation.

All the crusaders were in the clubhouse, it was close to night time, but not quite. All the crusaders except from Dinky were wearing their capes, and Dinky was standing in front of Scootaloo who is playing the timpani drums, and Sweetie Belle is sitting on a chair with a large desk in-front of her, and Applebloom and Babs leaning against opposite sides of the treehouse, with Applebloom on Dinky's left and Babs on her right,

"We, The Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Dinky Hooves to join us a sister, friend, confidante, ally, boss-om buddy..." Sweetie Belle read from the paper, "Scootaloo, I thought you changed the writing in this thing"

"I....um....forgot to" Scootaloo stuttered.

Sweetie Belle sighed at Scootaloo, and took a deep breath as she was going to say something quickly to Dinky, "Congratulations, you're now a Cutie Mark Crusader" Sweetie Belle said as she chucked the paper into the air.

Applebloom and Babs came towards Dinky, Babs had a cape for Dinky, she and Applebloom both put the cape on her and now finally she is an official member of CMC. Sweetie Belle went over to Dinky as did Scootaloo, and the five fillies huddled together in celebration of Dinky becoming an official member,

"Girls, I can't thank you enough, you've been so nice to me, it's almost not fair on you" Dinky thanked.

"How not, Dinky?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I've not done anything for you in return" Dinky explained.

"Dinky, that's fine, you don't need to do anything" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, it's the least we can do. After Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making fun of you, because of you not having a cutie mark, we wanted to help you, because we all relate to you" Applebloom told Dinky as they all stopped huddling.

"Girls, I'm glad to have you as my friends" Dinky said.

"We're glad to be your friends" All of them replied.

"What's the time? Isn't getting late?" Babs asked.

Applebloom checked out the window to the Sun was setting,

"I think so, but there isn't a clock in here, so let's head back to the house" Applebloom said as she faced away from the window.

"Sure thing" Dinky said after her.

The five left the treehouse and made it back to the house beside the barn.

It's Midnight. All but the five crusaders were sleeping in the Apple's house, the Crusaders were in Applebloom's room, Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Babs all laid in their sleeping bags whilst Applebloom was lying on her bed. Dinky lay in her sleeping bag with her eyes wide open, as all of the other fillies were doing, it was silent, they were all trying to get to sleep, though all the sweets they've had has made them wide awake, no pony is eager to break the silence, though Dinky is about to,

"Applebloom? Are you awake?" Dinky whispered quite loudly.

"Yeah, I am" Applebloom replied.

"Me too" Sweetie Belle whispered out.

"Same here" Babs spoke.

"I'm awake as well" Scootaloo said.

Applebloom sat up and leaned over towards her lamp, she switched it on, after she switched it on all the other ponies sat up too,

"Sorry to have broken the silence, girls" Dinky said, "I just thought I was the only one awake"

"I can't get to sleep anyway" Sweetie Belle said back.

"Yeah, neither can I" Babs said as well.

"I think it was all the sweets we had" Applebloom explained, "Speaking of which, do any of you have anything else, I've ran out"

All the fillies lying in sleeping bags checked in their saddle packs beside them,

"I've got nothing" Scootaloo said.

"Neither do I" Babs spoke after her.

"I've got..." Dinky paused as she checked how much food she has, "...six chocolate chip muffins"

"And I've got a bag of chips" Sweetie Belle mentioned as well.

"Does anyone want a muffin?" Dinky asked.

All the fillies in the room raised their hooves, Dinky got out four muffins and passed one to Sweetie Belle, who was right beside her and another one to Applebloom, who was on the other side of her, and passed another two to Sweetie Belle so she could pass them to Scootaloo and Babs. Dinky got a muffin for herself after she gave everypony in the room a muffin. They all sat up and leaned their heads against to eat their muffins,

"So what do y'all wanna talk about?" Applebloom asked.

"Not sure" Dinky replied.

"How about family?" Sweetie Belle optioned, "That could get us to know each other a bit more"

"That seems like a good option, Sweetie Belle" Babs praised her.

"Thanks" Sweetie Belle appreciated.

"OK then, we'll do that" Applebloom said, "Who wants to start?"

"I'll start, since I brought it up" Sweetie Belle replied.

"OK" Applebloom said.

Sweetie Belle had one more bite of her muffin before she was going to talk about her family,

"My mom is an accountant and my dad is a commercial fisherpony. You all know what my sister does, she's into fashion, obviously, growing up with her, we haven't seen eye to eye a lot of the time, but as Applejack taught my sister, we're like apple pie, me and Rarity" Sweetie Belle told, "That's all I've got to say about my family, we've pretty been a good one, even though my sister can really annoy me sometimes. Anyone want to go next?" She asked.

Babs raised her left hoof,

"I do" Babs called out.

"Go ahead Babs, talk about who you want to talk about" Sweetie Belle said to her.

"Most of my family are apple ranchers, though most of you already know that, but my part of the family is somewhat different. My mom is on the apple side of the family, she owns and works in an apple cider brewery, whilst my dad is a Broadmane theater director in Manehattan" Babs explained.

Once Babs mentioned the words "Broadmane theater director", she instantly thought if Babs' dad knows her dad,

"Excuse me, Babs?" Dinky said.

"Yes, Dinky?" She replied to her.

"Does your dad talk about who he directs or with a lot?" Dinky asked.

"He does with my mom, but I don't really pay attention to that sort of thing" Babs replied, "Why do you ask?"

"My dad is an actor, he went to stay in Manehattan to follow his dream" Dinky replied.

"Why don't you tell us a little more, and if it comes to mind I'll try to tell you about who he works with" Babs explained.

Dinky sighed, "OK"

Dinky sat up a bit more and comforted herself so she can tell her friends about her family,

"I was born to a Pegasus mom and a Unicorn dad, my mom, Derpy, works as a mailpony and my dad, Greyson, works as an actor in Manehattan, I can't exactly remember what he did before, but it had something to do with magic, I think. Me, my mom and my dad lived a happy family life, mom and dad would say how much they love each other, my mom loved him because he didn't care what she looked like, and it made her happy that he could beyond her wall eye. And my dad loved my mom because he loved her for what she does. But all this happiness didn't last, my dad left me and mom to follow his stupid dream" Dinky teared up, "I remember the last thing he ever said to me, "Dinky, no matter what you do, always be yourself, don't let anypony else tell you otherwise" and after that he was gone, a day before my mom's birthday. I haven't seen him for two years and now I have cancer"

Dinky started to cry silently,

"All I want to do is complete my bucket list, I want to meet my dad one last time before I die, and I know I'm going to die, my chances of survival are 70/30 and the procedure I just found out about like nine hours ago, say that I can die just by pulling my horn out wrong, so the chances of me living are slim, and I'm sorry if I rambled on a bit to much, but thinking of my family makes me upset sometimes, especially when I think of my dad, I want to forgive him, but after all the pain he put me and my mom through, I just don't think I'll ever forgive him" Dinky said.

Dinky started to cry a bit more, she crossed her hooves and placed them over her eyes, all of her friends there were moved, and had a tear come out of each ponies eye, Sweetie Belle went closer to Dinky and put her arm around her and patted her back gently,

"It's OK, as your friends, we'll help you complete your list" Sweetie Belle comforted her.

"Yeah, we'll help" Scootaloo said also after her really long silence.

"If it helps, my family life had it's moments of depression as well. I feel as if I should you all it" Applebloom said.

Dinky's eyes cleared up slightly and placed her arms away from her face and looked at Applebloom as did all the others, it was now Applebloom's turn to talk about her family,

"As Babs said, most of our family are Apple ranchers and my part of the family are definitely ranchers, I live with my sister, my brother and my granny. There was two more of us, my mom and my dad, but they died not long after I was born, so it's pretty much Applejack, Big MacIntosh and Granny Smith who've been looking after me. I remember my parents faces well, my dad was one of the best ranchers in the family and my mom made some of the best cider in Equestria, I remember everyponies face during my parent's funeral" Applebloom told them, "I mostly remember AJ's and Big Mac's faces during the funeral, it was the most I ever seen them cry, I didn't understand at the time, and I didn't cry, but if I regret one thing on that day, is that I never cried during the funeral"

Applebloom calmed down after she closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head, she didn't want to think about her parents anymore. All of her friends were moved listening to her story, much like how they reacted to Dinky, even some of them went misty eyed, except Dinky who was calming down after crying about her dad,

"Has everypony talked about their family now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I think so" Dinky said.

"Wait, what about Scootaloo?" Babs asked, "She's hardly spoke"

"She's an orphan, Babs" Dinky replied, "I don't think she'd want to talk about it"

"Oh, I didn't know" Babs said, "Sorry, Scootaloo"

"It's OK, Babs" Scootaloo replied to her, "I'll tell you about it anyways"

"Seriously, Scootaloo, you don't need to tell us" Sweetie Belle said to her.

"I want to though, you guys, just get yourselves comfy" Scootaloo replied.

Scootaloo let out a huge gasp of air, in preparation for her story,

"Much like you, Dinky, my mom wasn't the same race as me, she was an Earth-pony whilst my dad was a Pegasus, the both of them were really bad workaholics, they were so busy that my dad never had time to teach me how to fly. My mom worked in the sofas and quills store, and my dad had to fly to Cloudsdale everyday to work in an office building that was apart of the factory where the weather is made. My family was really small, it was just me, mom and dad, they didn't really have any relatives. They also hired a babysitter to look after me everyday, I only saw them once everyday in the morning before they both went to work, as they worked nights as well, I used to try staying up all night, just so I could have a chance to speak to them, but I always fell asleep before they came home. And the sad thing about that was..." Scootaloo choked up, "...one night, I thought my parents weren't going to come home early since they never did, so I just went into bed and tried to sleep, but my mom came home early that night, to speak to me, and instead of getting up and speaking to her, I instead did a stupid thing and just carried on pretending I was asleep, I don't know why I did that. About two weeks later they were killed during a storm on their way to work, and I got moved to an orphanage. But whenever I think about my parents, I think about how I never spoke to my mom that night, and how stupid I was then"

Scootaloo had a tear fall slowly from her left eye, and she wiped her tear using her left hoof, Dinky got out of her sleeping bag and went beside her, and Dinky had a tear drip from her eye as well,

"Scootaloo, if there is one thing my mom taught me, is that your friends are apart of you're family, and since I'm glad to have you as my friend, I'm glad to have you as part of my family. So if you want to see it from that point of view, then your family isn't completely gone, you have us, and from the paper you wrote when I officially became a Cutie Mark Crusader, I am now your sister, and so are the rest of us" Dinky tried to calm her down.

Scootaloo felt much better after Dinky said that, she realized she still had family in her friends, her sisters, her boss-om buddies and such. Scootaloo choked up once more, but not in sadness, but in happiness and she hugged Dinky and didn't want to let go,

"Dinky, thank you" Scootaloo said.

"It's OK" Dinky replied.

"I'm glad to have you as my family" Scootaloo added.

"Should we let the others join?" Dinky asked.

"Yeah" Scootaloo replied.

Scootaloo and Dinky opened space for the other three, Sweetie Belle went closer to Scootaloo and Applebloom got out her bed to get closer to her friends, and Babs went closer to Dinky, and they all gave each other a great, big group hug,

"I love you guys" Scootaloo said.

"I love all of you too" Sweetie Belle added.

"Me three" Applebloom spoke.

"You girls are the best" Babs said.

"I think we should get some sleep now, girls" Dinky explained.

The five fillies all released from their hug and all went back to their respected sleeping areas,

"Dinky?" Scootaloo asked.

"What's up?" Dinky replied.

"Thanks again" Scootaloo said.

"Don't mention it" Dinky added.

"Dinky, what's your dad's name again?" Babs asked.

"Greyson Hooves, why?" Dinky asked back.

"Because I'll ask my dad if he knows him, and I'll tell Applebloom by letter and I'll ask her to tell you" Babs explained.

"Thanks" Dinky said.

"You're welcome" Babs replied.

Applebloom switched off her light at her bedside table, and laid comfortably in her covers, as did the other fillies in their sleeping bags,

"Night girls" Applebloom said.

"Night everypony" Dinky added.

"See you in the morning girls" Sweetie Belle proclaimed.

"Goodnight" Babs said.

"Night night" Scootaloo finally added.

All of the fillies closed their eyes and smiled, they were all relaxed, and they slowly drifted off to sleep, Dinky went through another night without crying herself to sleep and it made her happy that she was sleeping over with not just her friends, but her family.

Chapter 9: An Unexpected Arrival

A week has passed since Dinky had a sleepover with her friends. She finally got the photo of her and Rainbow Dash that Rarity promised her, Derpy has sent a letter to her father to see if he could meet her again and she is going to see Twilight tomorrow to see if she can make an arrangement to meet the Royal Family, but for now, it's just a relaxing day, just peace and quiet for here on in, there is nothing for Dinky to do and there isn't anything she really wants to do. But for the fun of it just so she doesn't get bored, she's going to read a book. She hops off her bed and check in the semi-attached drawer under her bed for a book,

"Let's see now" She spoke to herself, "What should I read? 'Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone' is a classic, but I've read it too many times"

She continued to search through the books, she found several Daring Do books and something she wasn't originally meant to have, "A Game of Ponies: Book 1 of a Song of Earth and Wind",

"Oh my, this must be Mom's book" Dinky thought to herself, "I better hoof this back to her"

Dinky picked up the book using her teeth and went and exited her room and went downstairs to give her mom her book back, she found her mom in the living room reading the newspaper,

"Hey, Mom?" Dinky asked.

"What is it, Sweetie?" Derpy replied with her right eye still locked on eye-catching headline, whilst her left was facing towards her nose.

"I found one of your books in the drawer under my bed, I was wondering if you wanted it back" Dinky explained.

Derpy faced away from the newspaper to look at the cover of "Game of Ponies", she instantly snatched it away from her,

"Sorry from snatching that from you, hon" She said, "It's just that this book isn't really suitable for you. And I'm not sure how this got her anyway"

"It's OK, Mom" Dinky replied.

"And thanks for bringing this down for me Dinky, I haven't read this book in a while" Derpy told her.

"You're welcome Mom. What's the book about anyway?" She asked.

"It's about the three pony races before we met peace on Hearth's Warming Eve, I can't let you read it because it's got a lot of bad language and extremely nasty violence" Derpy explained.

"Doesn't really sound like my kind of book anyways" Dinky smiled.

"You know what? I'll read it again after I've the paper" Derpy said.

KNOCK KNOCK.

"Someone's at the door" Dinky said.

"You should probably get that one, hon" Derpy told her, "It's probably one of your friends"

"OK, Mom" Dinky replied.

Dinky exited the living room, to the main hallway that led to the front door, Dinky trotted over to the front door and opened it, and the pony that stood in front of her wasn't one of her friends, but a much older pony she hasn't seen in a long time, levitating a briefcase with his unicorn magic,

"Hey kiddo" the tall stallion greeted.

"Dad?" Dinky replied to the pony.

"Yes, baby" he said back to her.

Greyson placed his briefcase down beside him. He crouched down to Dinky's height and opened his fronts legs expecting a hug from his daughter, she instantly leaped into him and hugged him tightly,

"I missed you, Dinky" Greyson said.

"I missed you too, Daddy" She replied as she cried into his shoulder.

Derpy then walked out the living room and saw them hugging, she was going to ask who it was, but the sight of her husband made her stop in her tracks. Greyson let go of Dinky and opened his briefcase to pull out a letter, the same letter Derpy sent him telling him about Dinky's cancer,

"I got your letter" He said to his wife.

The happiness when Derpy was speaking to Dinky instantly drained from her emotional standpoint once she caught sight of her husband, her face went from a modest smile at her daughter to an aggravated frown at Greyson,

Derpy let out a sigh, "Well, you might as well come inside" She uttered at him with gritted teeth, "You and Dinky have catching up to do"

Derpy went back into the living room to sit on the couch in annoyance at Greyson, he's trying to play it cool, and just expect Derpy to let it slide, but Derpy, who is called an "idiot" by a lot of ponies, is smart enough to know that there is going to be conflict with Greyson with him coming back after abandoning her and her daughter for two years.

Dinky and Greyson made it upstairs to her room, the two of them sat on her bed, Greyson was thinking of something to say, then he thought of a question that would probably make the most sense,

"What of kind of cancer is it?" He asked Dinky.

"It's horn cancer" Dinky replied.

"What are your chances, Kiddo?" He sadly asked.

Dinky looked down at her floor, "70/30"

"Hon, I'm sorry" Greyson said.

"It's OK" Dinky replied.

"No, Dinky, I'm sorry, for...for everything" Greyson told her as he placed his front hooves on his forehead, "I'm sorry for leaving you and your mom. I know things aren't going to be the way they used to, and I'm just sorry for not being there, for you and Derpy"

"Why did you leave us anyway?" Dinky asked him, though she's expecting the acting answer.

"Because I'm an idiot, I thought I could have made it as an actor, but no, I'm a failure. When I was in Manehattan, I tried auditioning and auditioning for parts, but I was never any good as an actor. And I once your mom sent me a letter that you had cancer, I came back, I had to" He began to choke up, "Because I don't want my little girl to die, so I'm going to stick with you through this, hon"

A tear came down from Dinky's eye, she choked up as well,

"But mom told me, she sent other letters for you to come back home before that. Why didn't you come before?" Dinky asked and sniffed.

"Because I was scared, sweetie. I never wanted to come home because I was scared of what the consequences would be if I did come back, and I didn't send any letters back because I...I....." He paused, "I just couldn't. And I knew the longer I left it, it would only grow worse and worse, and I don't know why I did that either. I ended up not speaking with or keeping in touch with you or your mother fro two years. I can't imagine what your mom is going to say to me after you go to bed tonight"

Dinky nudged closer to her dad, and snuggled into him, she cried really quietly, with only few sniffles, but a lot of tears. Greyson placed his arm around her and held her tightly as she snuggled into her. Dinky looked up at her dad and she asked,

"Daddy, can you promise you won't leave us again?"

Greyson looked down at his daughter, "I promise I'll never leave you"

Dinky smiled, she stopped crying, Greyson smiled back,

"I love you, Dad" Dinky said.

"I love you too, sweetie" Greyson replied.

Midnight. Dinky is now in bed. Asleep. She has ticked off "Meet Daddy" on her bucket list. Greyson had just checked on his daughter and she is out cold and now he is downstairs sitting in the kitchen while Derpy was in the living room, reading her book. Greyson was resting his face against front right hoof, desperately thinking what he is going to say to his wife, but he knows that no matter what he says, Derpy is going to do a comeback at everything he says. He makes it threw to the living room, and sees Derpy reading "Game of Ponies", he sighs quickly and takes a breath,

"Hey honey, what's that you're reading there?" He asked.

"Look at the cover, and find out for yourself" Derpy replied while still reading her book.

"So..um...have you and Dinky...uh....been getting on well?" Greyson asked awkwardly.

"If you trying to smart-talk your way into getting my affection again, try another time" Derpy told him.

Greyson sighed, "Derpy, I'm sorry"

Derpy placed her book down on the coffee table in front of her, then she looked her husband with her right eye, her other eye is pointing towards her nose,

"You're sorry?" She spoke calmly, keeping a nasty rage inside of her, "I send you an note, asking you to come home because our little girl is dying, after two years of sending notes you never replied to. And for what? So you could try and be an actor? Greyson, you had a good job, you still have a loving wife and daughter, and you gave that up" she said.

Greyson let out a huge breath of air, "I'm sorry".

"Sorry, doesn't cut it. When you left us, it hurt us, you put me and your daughter in pain. And yet I still love you, but I don't trust you anymore" Derpy told him.

"Give me a chance, Derpy" Greyson pleaded.

"If I give you a chance, will you try?" Derpy asked.

"I will" Greyson replied.

"OK, but if you fail, I don't want anything to do with you anymore" Derpy said.

"OK" Greyson spoke back.

"And until then, you're sleeping on the couch, and I'm going to bed" Derpy said as she stood up from her chair and trotted out the room and up the stairs, "Once you have my trust, you can come inside the cold side of the double bed I sleep on, and be sure to turn the lights off"

Greyson laid himself on the couch and looked at the ceiling, thinking of what the first few months of his absence from his family was like for his wife and daughter. He kept on thinking and thinking more about his family and simply just said to himself,

"I hate myself so much. I have messed-up, big time"

Chapter 1: 70/30

Dinky sat outside in the hospital lounge while her mother, Derpy was inside talking in their doctor's office, Dinky was confused and quite frankly, a little bit worried, for she was going to get results back on what chances she has with her rare case of horn cancer. She sat there and in front of her was Mr. Cake, and his children, Pound and Pumpkin cake, sitting on his hind legs, they're awaiting something a bit more happier than cancer chances, they're awaiting the results on what Mrs. Cake's new baby will be, a boy or a girl. Mr Cake, who must've been overhearing Derpy and the doctor's conversation, leans over towards Dinky and says,

"I'm sorry, Dinky. Best of luck on your results" He nodded.

"Thank you, Mr. Cake" Dinky replied shyly.

Derpy had finished speaking to the doctor, Derpy stood by the door of his office and said to Dinky,

"It's time to come in here, baby" she mentioned with a slight worry.

"Coming mommy" Dinky replied.

Dinky hopped down from her seat and walked passed two other doctor's offices, to get to the one her mother was standing at, once she made to the door, she went inside with her mom, and sat down on one of the two chairs in front of the doctor's desk, Derpy sat beside her on the other chair, the doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, Dinky looked to the right, to that Derpy has recently been crying, Dinky knew that it wasn't good news. The doctor sighed to himself,

"Dinky, I'm truly sorry to be telling you this, but the results are not good" he said with regret, "I'm sorry, Dinky, but your chances of surviving your cancer are 70/30, I'm sorry to be saying to a young filly with lots of potential, but you're going to die".

"Mommy, please tell me it isn't true?" Dinky started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Dinky" Derpy choked.

Dinky jumped off her chair, and quickly jumped into Derpy's arms, she nuzzled her face into Derpy's shoulder wiping her tears on her shoulder, the doctor looked as if he was about to cry as well, as this was the first time he has ever told a child straight towards his/her face that he/she will die, but he held tears back, since he knew that it was his job to say sentences like that to other ponies. The doctor thought the mother and daughter needed time to themselves, so he asked them,

"I can leave the office for just now, if you want me to?" he asked politely.

"That would be nice, thank you, Doctor" Derpy sobbed.

The doctor got out of his chair and opened the door, he is willing to wait outside until Derpy and Dinky have finished what they need to do. Dinky still hugged into Derpy and felt as if she never wanted to let go of her mom. Derpy clutched onto Dinky's shoulders and pulled her away from the hug. Derpy used her left hoof to wipe her tears and said to her darling daughter,

"Dinky, I don't what to say to you to make you feel better, but I'll stick with you, all the way through it" Derpy said.

Dinky sniffed, "Why me, Mom?", she choked on her words, "Why do I have yo die?"

"I don't know why you have to, but I can't do anything about it, Dinky" Derpy relied.

"I know, but there's is so much stuff in life, that I haven't done" She cried.

"You can only do so many things in life, baby" Derpy explained, "I'm 16 years older than you, and I haven't done everything I've wanted to do"

"But I can do things that I have wanted to do, right?" Dinky asked.

"Sure baby, it might not be all the things you want to do, but it can be most of them. I have an idea, Dinky, when me and you get home, we'll make a bucket list for you." Derpy replied.

"A bucket list?" Dinky replied, confused of what a bucket list is.

"Oh, a bucket list is when you make a list of things you want to do, before you...." Derpy didn't want to finish the sentence.

"Oh, th- th- that sounds like a good idea, Mom" Dinky replied.

"So we'll do that once we get home, OK?" Derpy smiled.

"Yes, Mommy" Dinky replied once again, feeling a bit more comforted, but still sad.

The doctor came back into the office, he must've known they had their time, because he came in once they had finished their one-on-one chat, he said to Derpy, that if Dinky was feeling ill or feeling sicker than she would be to bring her to the hospital, which Derpy agreed to do, if Dinky did. The 2 left the hospital, and their home wasn't far away from the hospital, it's only 3 or 4 houses away, once they made it home, Derpy turned on all the lights in the house and went to the kitchen with Dinky, Derpy got a piece of paper and placed it on the table along with a pen, Derpy then asked Dinky to sit beside her,

"OK, Dinky, write your list, sweetie" Derpy said.

"OK, Mom" Dinky replied.

Dinky picked up the pen with her mouth, she decided to use her mouth, because using even the smallest bit of magic from her horn would hurt her, due to her having horn cancer. She placed the front tip of the pen on the paper and started to write,

My Bucket List

Make amends with people who don't like me
Find my cutie mark
Meet Rainbow Dash
Meet the royal family
Say goodbye to my friends and family

Derpy looked over at her daughter and asked her,

"Is that all, Dinky?"

"Yep, Mommy, it is" Dinky squeaked.

"OK, it's off to bed then, Dinky, it's getting late" Derpy told her.

"Can I take the paper with me?" Dinky asked.

"Of course" Derpy replied.

Dinky hopped off her seat and went out the kitchen, and walked upstairs to her bedroom, she got into bed and Derpy tucked her in her covers, and gave Dinky a small kiss on the forehead,

"Goodnight sweetheart" Derpy proclaimed.

"Night, Mom" Dinky said.

Derpy went outside her room and closed her door, Dinky pretended that she was falling asleep, but once the door closed, Dinky instantly sat up, and took the bucket list and a pen, beside her, she hadn't finished her list, due to her 6th wish being something she thinks her mom won't agree on. Dinky wrote her 6th wish on the paper,

Meet Daddy

Dinky had been estranged by her father for years, ever since he left her and Derpy to chase his dreams in Manehattan, she thought about the last time she spoke to him, the last words he said to her before he left,

"Dinky, no matter what you do, always be yourself, don't let anypony else tell you otherwise"

After that morning, he left. She sat there a cried a little bit, but when she thought of her cancer, she cried a bit more, Dinky didn't want to die, but she will have to, she put the pen and list on her bedside desk, and relaxed her head into her large pillows, and cried herself to sleep, hoping that it would all just be a dream, but like most dreams, they never come true

Chapter 3: Muffins, CMC, Rainbow Dash and No Cures

Dinky is now apart of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she was proud of it, the more she thought about it, she asked the girls before School ended that if they wanted to go to Sugarcube Corner and have some muffins, the 3 crusaders instantly agreed to, on the way there, Apple Bloom decided to ask her a question about her cancer,

"Dinky? What kind of cancer is it that you have?" She asked.

"Horn cancer" Dinky replied.

"Oh, sorry, what are your' chances?" Apple Bloom asked once again.

"70/30" Dinky replied again.

"We're all sorry to hear that, Dinky" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah" Sweetie Belle but in, "Have you made a bucket list?"

"Yeah, I have, finding my cutie mark is one of my main objectives" Dinky replied to Sweetie Belle.

"What are your other goals?" Apple Bloom asked, while fixing her bow.

"Um........make amends with people who hate me, meet Rainbow Dash, meet the Royal Family, meet my dad for one last time and finally, say goodbye to everybody" Dinky spoke.

"You're a fan of Rainbow Dash?" Asked Scootaloo.

"Yeah, she's awesome" Dinky replied.

"I know right, I want to be just like her when I grow up" Scootaloo said.

"You know, Dinky? My big sister and Sweetie Belle's big sister are best friends with Rainbow Dash, if you want us to, then we can ask them to ask Rainbow to meet you?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah, I'll ask Rarity about it tonight" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"You guys would do that for me?" Dinky asked with a quiet tone in her voice.

"Anything for a fellow crusader and good friend" The CMC all smiled.

Dinky teared up a little, none of her other friends did anything like this for her, she was getting more and more grateful for being a Cutie Mark Crusader the more her friends looked out for her,

"Thanks girls, I really appreciate it" Dinky smiled back.

"Dinky, is it OK if I ask you another question?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sure thing, ask away" Dinky said.

"You mentioned something about meeting your dad for the last time?" she curiously asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" She asked back.

"It's just I can relate, I never really knew my dad well, or my parents for that matter" She said.

"You're an orphan aren't you?" Dinky asked.

Scootaloo nodded,

"I'm an orphan as well, my parents died not long after I was born, it's just been me, Applejack, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith" Apple Bloom proclaimed.

"Girls, since you guys are being so nice to me, I'll ask Pinkie Pie if she could give you a free cake, how about that?"

"That would be great Dinky" They all said, "Thanks"

The 4 finally made it to Sugarcube Corner, they all went inside to see that it wasn't just Pinkie Pie there, but also Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Scootaloo and Dinky's hero, Rainbow Dash. Once the 4 went in they were instantly greeted with "hi"s and "hello"s by the 6 older ponies, and Pinkie Pie, had a large basket of muffins with Dinky's name on it, keeping true to her promise,

"Hey Dinky, you came for the muffins?" Pinkie smiled and asked.

"Yes please, Pinkie" Dinky replied and smiled back.

"Here ya' go" Pinkie said as she passed the basket to her.

"Thank you, Pinkie. Oh, and Pinkie?" Dinky thanked and asked.

"Yes?" Pinkie asked and replied.

"If it's no problem, could you please give my three friends a cake as well?" Dinky asked.

"Sure thing" Pinkie said.

"Thank you Pinkie!" Dinky and her fellow crusaders said.

Pinkie got each of the 3, their favorite cupcakes, she knew which ones were their favorites due to them ordering them whenever they are in the bakery most of the time, Pinkie got Apple Bloom a caramel apple cupcake, she then gave Scootaloo a chocolate fudge cupcake and finally gave Sweetie Belle a banana cream cupcake, all of the girls said thanks to Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash unexpectedly asked,

"Dinky, aren't you Derpy's kid?"

"Yes" Dinky said shyly and quietly to her hero.

"What was that, Dinky?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes" She replied a little bit louder.

"Huh, I remember Derpy. Me, her and Fluttershy were always up to antics when we were younger back in Cloudsdale, eh Fluttershy?" She nudged Fluttershy.

"Oh yes, we....we were always up to things when we were younger, I was always the more careful one of the group" Fluttershy said softly.

"Did your mom ever tell you the story of how her eye ended up the way it is now?" Rainbow asked Dinky.

"Nope" She shook her head.

"Well, when we were younger. we tried pulling off a prank on our gym teacher in high school that involved salt, the plan back fired and some salt went into Derpy's eye, it messed with one of her blood vessels and caused it to go lazy" Rainbow told.

"Really? I never knew that" Dinky replied.

"Well, now you do, what does Derpy do now?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"She's a mailpony" Dinky replied.

"Awesome. I heard the pay is good." She said.

"It is. Rainbow, can I ask you something?" Dinky asked her.

"Sure thing, Dinky. What's up?" Rainbow asked back.

"It's just, that I've got cancer now, and on my bucket list, one of my goals was to meet you and have a photo taken with you, if that wouldn't be a problem?" Dinky asked.

"Oh my god! You have cancer, I'm sorry to hear that, Dinky" Rainbow said "And I'd love for a fan to have a photo taken with me, but I don't have a camera with me at the moment, sorry"

"Oh, it's OK" Dinky said feeling a tiny bit disappointed at herself.

"Oh, darling, it's OK, I've got a camera in my saddle-pack, I've been taking pictures for design influences on my new dresses" Rarity said, as she was getting a camera out of her saddle-pack.

"Thank you Rarity." Dinky said.

Dinky went beside Rainbow Dash and the both of them smiled for Rarity's camera, Rarity had a digital camera and said she'd print it out in 2 days or so, Dinky thanked her, and Rarity said she had to go afterwards, and Sweetie Belle went with her, as it was heading up for dinner at their home.

"Thanks for taking the picture with me, Rainbow Dash" Dinky thanked her.

"You're welcome, besides, anything for a fan" Rainbow said as she patted Dinky head.

"Sugercube. Just out of curiosity, what kind of cancer is it you have, if you don't mind me asking? Applejack asked.

"I have a rare case of horn cancer" Dinky said.

"What are your chances?" Twilight asked.

"She told us she has a 70/30 chance, is that right, Dinky?" Scootaloo asked.

"Mhmm" Dinky nodded.

"Twi, don't you have a book of cures in your home somewhere?" Applejack asked Twilight.

"Not that I'm aware of" Twilight pondered.

"It's OK, I don't think there is a cure found for horn cancer yet" Dinky said.

"We can check, if you want to?" Twilight asked Dinky.

"That would be great, Twilight, thanks" Dinky replied.

"You're very welcome" Twilight said back.

Dinky had one of her muffins, they were chocolate chip and very tasty, she offered a muffin to everypony else but they all declined one, they must have all been full with cakes they had earlier. Rainbow Dash was shocked that her childhood best friend's daughter was dying, so she decided to say something to Dinky,

"You know, Dinky, you're really brave to be going through this" She said.

"I'm not as brave as you, Rainbow" Dinky replied.

"What makes you say that?" Rainbow asked, slightly puzzled.

"Well, you're Rainbow Dash, only the most coolest, daredevil pony in all of Equestria. You can do anything in the air, why you're not in the Wonderbolts is anypony's guess" Dinky replied.

"Listen, Dinky, you don't need to be a Wonderbolt or a daredevil like me to be awesome or brave, you don't need to be a high flyer, but when you have an illness that's killing you, and you're being cool about it, then Dinky, you're more braver than any Wonderbolt or me, for that matter, you're the bravest filly I've ever met." She said.

Dinky, who stood there, and was extremely over-whelmed by the fact, that her hero, called her "the bravest filly I've ever met" made a tear slowly drip from her eye, Dinky gave Rainbow Dash a big hug, which surprised Rainbow at first, but Rainbow went with the hug, seeing how she knew Dinky would want a hug from her after saying that, Fluttershy, who was usually a sucker for things like this, gave a warm smile and a small tear dripped from her eye, as she watched Dinky cry into Rainbow's shoulder, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Twilight and Pinkie also gave a warm smile,

"Thanks, Rainbow" Dinky said.

"You're welcome" Rainbow replied as they both let go of each other.

"Well, me and Apple Bloom got to go guys, Granny Smith is making dinner for us, I'll probably see you guys later"

"Bye" All the other ponies said.

"Hey, Scootaloo and Dinky, you guys free tomorrow?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes, I am" Scootaloo replied.

"I don't know I'll check with my mom, Apple Bloom" Dinky also replied.

"OK, then, see ya both later" Apple Bloom said.

"Bye" Scootaloo and Dinky replied.

Applejack and Apple Bloom both left Sugarcube Corner for Sweet Apple Acres, a short while later, Fluttershy left as well, to check up on her animals, Fluttershy wished Dinky the best, and Dinky was grateful and thanked her, Pinkie Pie was still talking to Rainbow Dash about what she was doing on the weekend, as the both of them were meeting up tomorrow for a drink, Twilight wanted to find out more about Dinky's cancer and asked Dinky,

"Dinky, I'm going over to my place to check about your cancer, you coming?"

"Sure thing" Dinky replied.

"Can I come as well?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sure, you can tag along" Twilight smiled.

"Thanks" Scootaloo smiled back.

Twilight and the 2 fillies both left the bakery and said bye to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and Dinky once again, thanked Pinkie for the basket, which Dinky obviously took with her. The 3 ponies walk didn't take too long, only about 6 minutes to get from the bakery to Twilight's tree home, the 3 went inside the home and saw Spike sleeping on the job, his job was to tidy up the library, which Twilight was too happy about,

"Spike!" She shouted.

"Wh- Huh- Twilight?" Spike said groggily.

The two fillies laughed and Spike jumped up and went back to work in an instant, as if he expects Twilight not to notice, and even he knows she's much smarter than that, the small incident made the 2 fillies laugh, and Twilight laughed as well feeling a little disappointed for Spike,

"Spike, since you're now awake, can you please find me the book on pony illnesses please?" Twilight asked him.

"Sure thing, Twilight, and I never was asleep" Spike replied.

"Of course you weren't" Twilight replied sarcastically.

Spike stopped tidying up the books, and scavenged around on the floor to find the book and after about 2 minutes, he did. He then gave the book to Twilight and she flicked through the pages to find the page on Horn Cancer, she read out some of the text,

"Horn Cancer: Highly dangerous........usually found when you're in a Poison Joke plant for a frequent amount of time.........where's the cure?........usually treated against young ponies......can't find the cure.......where is it?..........there is no known cure" Twilight read, "Dinky I'm sorry, I don't think I have another book, this is the only book on illnesses that aren't supernatural or anything like that, that I have, sorry" She apologized.

"It's OK, Twilight, thanks for trying to help though" Dinky replied.

"You're welcome" Twilight tried to smile, but felt a bit upset with herself, seeing she couldn't find a cure.

"Anyways, me and Scootaloo should be getting home, do you want a muffin before I go?" Dinky asked Twilight.

"No thanks, Dinky, they're yours, you should eat them" She replied.

"OK, thanks for helping me out" Dinky said as she was going towards the door to say bye, but stopped to suddenly remember something, "Oh, Twilight, I almost forgot"

"Yes, Dinky?" Twilight asked and replied.

"You know the Princesses personally, right?" Dinky asked.

"Yes, why?" Twilight asked back.

"It's just.....one of the things on my bucket list is to meet the Royal Family, and I was wondering if you cou..."

"Sure thing" Twilight stopped her from finishing her sentence, "I can arrange for you to meet the Royal Family"

"Really? Thanks Twilight" Dinky cheered.

"No problem my little pony" Twilight smiled, "Just come to me when you want the arrangement to be made"

"OK, me and Scootaloo will be going now, for real, bye Twilight. Bye Spike" Dinky fare-welled as Scootaloo did the same thing.

"Bye Girls" Spike and Twilight both said as they saw Dinky and Scootaloo walk out of their house.

The 2 fillies both decided to go home after that, they both walked in the same direction, though Scootaloo's house was about 4 houses away, they both talked about what they both enjoyed today at school, and Scootaloo told Dinky about how she aspires to be a scooter racer or flyer, and Dinky, was the happiest she's been in a long time, maybe she could go through the cancer with a smile on her face, with most of her bucket list objectives coming together, she could be at peace, Scootaloo said goodbye to Dinky as Dinky went over to her front door, Derpy must be worried sick, though Dinky thinks she can explain the best she can. And she can finally tick off "Meet Rainbow Dash" off of her bucket list.