Dinky's Dreadful Day

For some reason, you feel flighty, weightless. You have no feeling in any of your hooves, either. As if you're drifting through an endless void. You try to make sense of what happened, but your mind seems muddled. Like somepony had dipped your brain in pancake batter and you're having trouble remembering.

Suddenly, you feel like you're dropping through the sky. Increasing in speed, winds rushing through your fur, a heavy weight feels like it's in your gut. The feeling tightens around your chest; you're trying to breathe when...

Your eyes pop open.

Now that you're awake, you find yourself in a baby carriage. You're not sure how you got there, but you can't help but feel tense and confused. You also feel different somehow. You look down at yourself, and notice something strange.

You shrank. Now all of your hooves are tiny and short and you've regressed back into a baby. Still, you feel like you have to get out of here, so you start looking for a way out.

You try to climb the bars on the side, but they're far too large. You only make it a few hooves before falling back to the ground. What's happening? What is this? Why am I a baby? You try to climb the bars again, but you fall down and hit your head. An intense pain strikes through the back of your head and you can feel yourself tear up.

Pain. That's all you feel. You hold your head and try not to cry, but the tears come anyway. Before you can stop yourself, you start screaming, "Waaaaaaaaaaaaa."

The pain still throbbing, you curl into a ball and start sucking on your hoof. When am I going to escape from this nightmare?

"There, there. Everything's going to be okay." You look up and see a giant grey pegasus, dozens of times your size. She reaches over and scoops you in her hooves. She gently rocks you back and forth and starts humming a lullaby.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird." A word comes to mind. Mom. The word calms you, and you stop crying.

"And if that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring." Your mom rubs your belly with a hoof and you try not to giggle. All of the pain has magically floated away. Instead, you feel... peaceful.

"And if that diamond ring turns brass, Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass." She pats you on the head and puts you on her shoulder. She starts rubbing your back. Satisfied, you hug her.

You feel comfortable around her and start to relax. Your shoulders slump and you grin. A warm feeling rises from your gut.

"No matter what happens, Dinky, I'll always be here for you." Your mom kisses you on the cheek. "Forever and always." You slowly nibble on your own tail. "My little muffin..."

A small giggle escapes your throat.

Bang.

A loud boom echoes through the room.

You look at your mom, her face has been frozen. She looks down as a small red hole appears on her chest. She gasps.

"Mommy!" you cry out.

She tries to hold the hoof over the hole, but red liquid keeps coming out. She stumbles forward, and falls to the ground. As she looks at you, she smiles. "I'm sorry... Dinky." She cradles you in her arms, tears running down her face. She nuzzles you on the snout with hers. She continues humming the lullaby from earlier.

"And if that looking glass gets broke, Momma's gonna buy you a billy goat." Her eyes close.

"And if that billy goat don't pull, Momma's gonna buy you a cart and bull." Her chest stops moving.

"And if that cart..." Her mouth slows to a crawl, then stops completely.

"Mom?" You poke her with a hoof, but she doesn't move.

"Mommy?" You poke her again. Nothing.

Slowly, eventually, you realize that she's not coming back. But you don't want to admit it just yet.

Pacing in a circle, you rub up against your mother's face and lie down. Her body still feels warm. You press your snout against her and sob quietly into her fur. Her body eventually grows cold, but you can't bring yourself to break away. All you can do is just sit there for what seems like eons. You promise to yourself that you'll leave eventually, but for now, you just want to make the moment last as long as you can.

*****

Whispers flutter through the air and drift into your eardrums.

"She's so clumsy. All she does is break things."

"Isn't your mom the one with the freaky eyes?"

"Eww, she looks gross. How can you stand looking at her?"

You slowly open your eyes, but there's nopony around you. You blink rapidly. You're back to normal size and your mother is gone. Was that a dream? Ugh, I can't remember. You rub your throbbing head. It aches persistently, like a drill in the back of your head. You try to shake your head to make it go away, but it just gets worse.

Doing your best to ignore your migraine, you look around. All you see is that you're laying on a table in the middle of the room. A single door lies on one end and a boarded-up window lies on the other side. You groan, and sit up. Your body feels drained, as if a dull haze is hovering over you. With a heave, you slide yourself off the table.

"You must be so embarrassed."

"Aren't you afraid of being seen with her?"

"I heard she only got a job because they felt sorry for her."

The voices continue. You look for the source of the voice, but it's as if they're coming from everywhere at once. You check the window, but no matter how hard you try to peek through, you can't see anything. With nowhere else to go, you head towards the single door at the other end of the room. You can't help but notice that your body feels heavy, as if somebody had injected Novocaine into the wrong part. Slowly but surely, you lift up hoof after hoof and stumble towards the door. Leaning on the handle, you shove it open.

A gigantic hallway greets your sight. It stretches so long that there's no end in sight. All you can see on the other end is a dark abyss. It seems like too much effort to travel all that way, so your body screams at you to rest.

As you start to nod off, another voice whispers into your ear, "Keep going. Don't give up, Dinky!"

"Wha!" Startled awake, you pause. The voice sounds familiar but you can't place it. It's as if your brain simply refuses to work. Nevertheless, you move onwards. You shuffle alongside the wall, using it as a crutch. Your eyes keep fluttering closed, but you yank them open. "Stay awake!" you scream at yourself. Meanwhile, you continue on. The whispers gradually become louder and louder.

"Why do you exist?"

"Just give up."

"Stop. Just stop."

There are lights lined up along the ceiling, flicking on and off as you make your way through the hallway. No matter how far you go, it feels like you're just going deeper into the abyss. Soon, there is nothing but darkness on either side of you. The whispers have become a bellowing drum pressing against your ears. You try to ignore the voices, but they become deafening.

"You're worthless! Nothing! Just like your mother!"

"No good... lazy..."

"You'll never have friends!"

You bat your hooves into the air, like you're trying to shake away an invisible spiderweb. "Shut up!" you cry.

"You're ugly!"

"No one likes you."

"Just give up!"

You clutch your ears. "Stop it! Stop saying bad things! Go away!"

Suddenly, silence. Nothing but an echo rings in your ears. In contrast to the thundering voices, nothing remains but silence. You blink, and realize that you've reached the end of the hallway. A door sits in front of you, begging to be opened. Trembling, you reach a hoof towards it. After taking a deep breath, you push the handle and walk through. Immediately after, you feel yourself falling.

"Ahhhh!" you scream.

Finally, you land with a thud onto a hard floor and collapse into a pile. You find yourself in another room, but this one seems different. The ceiling has a hole in it, where you fell through. All around you are rows upon rows of dolls.  About half are grey pegasus dolls, and the other half are grey unicorn dolls. Upon a closer look, they seem familiar somehow.

"Is it worth it?" A deep voice emits from each of the dolls. "You don't need her."

Wobbling to your hooves, you notice that their heads are following you. You move back and forth to see if they're watching you. They are.

"All she does is ruin everything. You're better off without her."

You try not to shudder as you look at them. They simply stare back towards you, their eyes an unmoving mass of pitch black.

Every time you move, their heads slowly twist in response. As you turn around, you can feel their eyes burning holes in the back of your head. All of the dolls continue talking, "Think about it. Because of her, you don't have any friends. No one wants to even look at you. Is that what you want?"

You look around, and locate another door. Reaching for the handle, you notice it's jammed. It doesn't bulge no matter how much you push against it.

"If you want, I can give you a choice. I can take you away from her, where you can live where nopony will ever bug you again. No more teasing, no more bullying. Only... freedom."

You bang against the metal door in vain.

"You don't need her anymore. Just let her go already."

A click comes from the door and it magically unlocks. You rub the sweat off your face and push open the door.

As you slip through it, the doll echoes one last sentence, "Let her go..."