Of Parentage and Piracy

Dinky stared at the two pegasi in stunned silence.

“But…” the filly’s voice cracked, “You… I… I thought she was dead.”

“You told her that?” Ditzy frowned.

“No, I didn’t.” Dizzy sighed, “Dinky, I never said anything other than ‘I will tell you when you’re ready’ for a reason.”

“But… but…”

“Dinky, take a seat and we can discuss things,” Dizzy motioned for the filly to take a seat near the table.

The filly stared at Ditzy who averted her gaze.

“Who are you?” Dinky whimpered.

“Ditzy Doo,” Ditzy chuckled, “I’m your mother.”

“But... but…”

“Dizzy is an old friend of mine. I asked her to take care of you for me.” Ditzy responded.

Dinky shot Dizzy a startled look.

“It’s true,” Dizzy sighed, “I agreed since I had Scootaloo around the same time.”

“But… but why would she leave me?” Dinky whimpered.

“…Because of what I am.” Ditzy shook her head, “I-”

“You abandoned me?”

“No, I didn’t want you as part of my li…” Ditzy trailed off as she realized what she said.

Silence reigned over the room as Dinky’s expression changed from confused to horrified to wretched. The filly backed away from the table, fear and sadness in her eyes.

“Dinky, wait, that’s not what she meant…” Dizzy stood up, trying to calm the filly.

“You didn’t want me?” the filly barely managed to whisper.

“No!” Ditzy stood up, knocking the table over, “I-”

“I HATE YOU!” Dinky shrieked before spinning around and fleeing the room, smashing her way through the door, leaving the two pegasi in stunned silence.

“…Well that went the way I expected it to.” Dizzy sighed.

After several moments, a greatly confused Rarity entered the house.

“Dizzy, I hope you don’t mind me asking but I just saw Dinky running towards town, crying. What is wro…”

The mechanic trailed off as she noticed the other pegasus.

“…Oh.”

“Hello Rarity,” Dizzy sighed, “You remember Ditzy Do?”

“Vaguely,” Rarity replied as she righted the table, “I take it you tried to tell her?”

“…Tried is a great exaggeration…” Dizzy sighed.

“Would you mind telling me what happened?” Rarity took a seat.

“…No, No…” Ditzy sighed, “Please. I need someone else to talk to.”

“Then let’s get started.”

Time Turner trotted down the street, talking to Lemon Hearts.

“Really now?” Lemon Hearts’ eyebrow rose, “You got dragged into the personal war between rival necromancer unicorns expelled from the Kingdom, and then managed to destroy their entire armies?”

“Well, Rarity did that part, but yes.” Time Turner conceded.

“This sounds like a horrible Doc Daring fan novel,” Lemon Hearts shook her head.

“You get those?” Time Turner seemed surprised by her statement.

“All the time.” Lemon Hearts shook her head, “Fans send in their ‘brilliant’ ideas, and I get stuck digging through them.

Every now and then there’s a gem, but I don’t use them, it would bring up some massive legal muck that I don’t want to bother with.”

“Wait, they send the fan mail to the library?” Time Turner cut in “Wouldn’t that…”

“No, no, they send it to my editor, who boxes them all up and ships them to me.” Lemon Hearts replied, “Since it is from a publisher, the mailponies all think its new books for the library.”

“Oh, that makes se-”

Time Turner was knocked to the ground as Dinky ran past them. Lemon Hearts watched as the filly continued on.

“…Oh that’s fantastic, just what I wanted, getting knocked over.

Again,” Time Turner grumbled, “at least I wasn’t hit by a scooter this time.”

“…It’s not like Dinky to do that,” Lemon Hearts frowned, “Scootaloo, yes, Dinky, no…”

“Well, everypony has their off days.” Time Turner grumbled, dusting himself off.

“Perhaps we should go and talk to Dizzy….” Lemon Hearts sighed, “Come along, Turner.”

“To be honest though, I would prefer getting run over by a scooter covered in fillies than vivisected.” Time Turner noted.

“…I beg your pardon?” the mare shot the stallion a baffled look.

Sugarcube corner

“So what did Miss Pinkamena say?” Sweet Wheat asked Scootaloo before taking a bite out of her cupcake.

“She said that even though Twist is a jerk, I shouldn’t have done that.” The pegasus sulked, “She said that even though Twist was wrong for saying things like that, beating her up doesn’t make it right.”

Scootaloo took a bite of her cupcake before continuing, “But she did say that it was good of me to stick up for her.”

“And what did she say to Twist?” Apple Bloom took a bite of her muffin.

“I don’t know, I didn’t stick around to listen.” Scootaloo shrugged the thought away.

“…She’s still telling your mom, isn’t she?” Sweet Wheat frowned.

“Yeah.” Scootaloo shrugged, “Where’s Dinky?”

“Mrs. Cake said your mom wanted to see her,” Sweetie Belle responded.

“Just her? That’s weird.” Scootaloo frowned, “Did she say why?”

“No, Mrs. Cake told us,” Sweet Wheat shook her head, “But Mrs. Cake seemed worried about something.”

“About Dinky?” Rumble looked up from his Bear Claw.

“Yeah,” the fillies nodded.

“…I’m sure I’ll find out when I get ho-”

Scootaloo trailed off as the door slammed open.

“You’re an idiot,” Rarity shook her head.

“Rarity, I don’t think that’s the best way to put it,” Dizzy countered.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it, Dizzy,” the unicorn shot back, “We’re all adults here, and that’s the problem.”

“What?”

“You treated Dinky like she was an adult,” Rarity shook her head, “How often do you deal with fillies and colts?”

“Not… Not often,” Ditzy admitted, “If we end up with children from raiding Royal Slave ships, or other Pirate crews, we usually have Sweetheart or the twins take care of them.”

“Where are you when there are children on the ship?”

“Usually steering or helping the Captain with whatever treasure we have, or talking with the others,” Ditzy shrugged.

“And that’s the problem,” Rarity vacantly waved a hoof, “You don’t know how to talk to foals. An adult knows to be patient, listen, and hopefully understands what you’re getting at.”

Rarity paused, “I know some exceptions, but they’re few and far between.”

“Of what?” Ditzy frowned.

“Adults who have the attention span of children and visa versa,” the unicorn grumbled, “But that is not the point, the point is, if you want explain to Dinky you need to break it down.”

“…I don’t think I can.”

“Of course you can,” Dizzy patted the pegasus on the back.

“You’re her mother, after all,” Rarity added. Ditzy’s expression darkened at Rarity’s words.

“No, I’m not. I…I don’t know what I am.”

The pegasus stood up and sighed.

“I should have never came here.”

Ditzy began to head out of the room, only to find herself engulfed by Rarity’s magical aura.

“Put me down.”

“No.” Rarity responded.

“I said, put me down,” Ditzy rotated around, facing the other two ponies.

“I said, no.” Rarity took a sip of water, “I will not let you leave, especially now that I know the situation.”

“Rarity-” Dizzy started.

“I said no, Dizzy,” the unicorn interrupted, “I am not about to let you leave, knowing full well that you have completely shattered a filly’s world.”

“You do know who I am, right?” Ditzy spat back, “I-”

“Am running from the problem,” Rarity countered, “That might work for some things, but this is not one of those things.

Nor will shooting it, if that’s the case, then it would probably would have been better to jus-”

“Rarity. Enough.” Dizzy interrupted, “Ditzy. I will not let you leave here either. This is what you came here to deal with. And I will help you deal with Dinky. I owe her that much as her stepmother, and you owe her at least that much.”

“…I…”

“I am not going to let you do it alone,” Dizzy responded, “I have just as much explaining to do to her.”

“...”

Dizzy stood up and went over to Ditzy. The bearer of Loyalty held the floating mare’s hoof.

“I’m saying this as your friend.”

The room fell back into silence as the three mares stared at one another.

“…I… I need to think about it,” Ditzy sighed, “Please, put me down.”

Rarity glanced over at Dizzy, who nodded in response. The unicorn rolled her eyes.

“Oh fine,” Rarity’s aura vanished, Ditzy’s wings began fluttering, keeping the pegasus afloat, “But if you run off….”

“I won’t.” Ditzy shook her head, “I need to just…clear my head.”

The mare landed and left the room. Dizzy sighed, before noticing the dirty look Rarity was giving her.

“What?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” the unicorn asked.

“I trust her,” Dizzy shook her head, “and that’s good enough for me.”

“…Alright.”

“So let me get this straight,” Time Turner paused, “You write the books, send the finished manuscripts to Canterlot under your name, they send it to Baltimare under the Conscious River alias, who then publishes it, send the money you get to Canterlot, and then they send it to Ponyville?”

“About right.”

“Doesn’t that get expensive?”

“Not particularly. I have connections.” Lemon Hearts shrugged.

“Ah.” Time Turner nodded, “So does the connection in Canterlot get a share of the money too?”

“Some of it,” Lemon Hears responded, “They have a similar deal with other writers who enjoy their privacy.”

“…Like who?”

“I’m not telling you,” Lemon Hearts chuckled, “Even I need to keep secrets.”

“That’s not fair.”

The two passed Ditzy on the road. Time Turner smiled and waved at the mare.

“Good morning!”

“Huh? Oh... right, good morning.” Ditzy politely replied before hurrying off.

“Well she’s a new face,” Time Turner beamed as he turned to look at look at Lemon Hearts. The mare’s expression grew darker and more serious.

“We’re going to Dizzy’s. Now.”

“…Alright?” Time Turner followed Lemon Hearts, uncertain of what was going on.

---

Ditzy continued through town, lost in thought.

“Hey there!”

Ditzy looked up as Thunderlane touched down in front of her. The stallion grinned at her.

“Missus Ditzy Doo, right?” Thunderlane smiled.

“Um... Yes?”

“Oh... You don’t remember me do you?” Thunderlane chuckled, “It’s me, Thunderlane.”

“Oh!” Ditzy’s face brightened, “My, you’ve grown.”

“Heh, So what brings you to Ponyville?” Thunderlane inquired.

“…It’s a long story. And not one that’s going so well,” Ditzy quickly added.

“…So she knows?” Thunderlane sighed, “Well… let’s go to my place. We can talk there.”

“…Alright.”

The two pegasi trotted down the street, passing two brown pegasi, browsing a vegetable cart. The lighter of the two suddenly jerked his head up, and watched Ditzy and Thunderlane.

“Is that… it is.” the light brown pegasi nudged the other one, “Dumb-bell.”

“I’ll pay thirty bits for all of this,” the darker pegasi, Dumb-bell, told the cart owner.

“Forty-five, I gotta make a profit, kid.”

“Hey, Dumb-bell.”

“Shut up Hoops, I’m negotiating.” Dumb-bell turned his attention back to the cart owner, “Thirty-two.”

“Forty, Take it or leave it kid.”

“…Fine.” Dumb-bell handed over a small bag of bits and took the packages of vegetables from the merchant. He shook his head as he began to walk away from the vendor “Discord Dammit, we’d never have come here if we knew Ponyville merchants were such tight a-”

“Listen to me!” Hoops jabbed his hoof into Dumb-bell’s side.

“What?”

“I just saw Ditzy Doo.”

“So?” Dumb-Bell blinked, “Wait, Ditzy Doo?”

“Yeah,”

“By herself?”

“Looks like it,” Hoops grinned, “We gotta get back to the boss.”

“Oh yeah, she’ll be pleased.”