The light gray Pegasus mare lied on the couch, shifting from time to time to make herself more comfortable as she glared solemnly out the window, rain noisily battering the glass from the outside. The sound of the rainstorm only seemed to worsen the immense emotional pain she was feeling right now.
Both eyes were red and puffy from her earlier sobbing, but for the time being, she finally managed to stop the tears for a little while, forcing herself not to think about the recent tragedy.
Amethyst Star trotted from the kitchen that was connected to the living room where she laid, a tray of steaming muffins lit up with a reddish pink aura. She set the muffins down on the coffee table beside Derpy, one eye seeming to follow it, the other seeming to stay put on its gaze out the window.
"Careful, they're still hot. I know you probably won't like them since you didn't make them, but it was the least I could do." Derpy forced a smile through her emotional distress, "Heh, th-thanks, Sparkler. You….You're always there for me, aren't you?"
Amethyst scoffed. "Well, yeah! If I wasn't, you probably would've gotten half of Ponyville blown up and then some by now!" She then leaned down and gently kissed her mother on the cheek before turning tail and trotting in the direction of the door. "Alright, see ya tomorrow?"
"What? Where are you going?"
"Home, duh! I have a filly to take care of myself, I can't be here all the time!"
"Oh, yeah, I-I forgot." Derpy then laid back down, resting her head on the armrest, both hooves rested against her cheeks. "S-See ya." Amethyst cast her a sympathetic glance, abruptly realizing how broken her mother really was.
"Okay then, um…s-see ya."
She then opened the door and trotted out, lighting up the door with her magic aura and pulling it shut behind her with an audible click, leaving Derpy and her memories alone. But before she even seemed to notice, she was asleep.
To her surprise, she had a somewhat happy dream, reliving her moments with Carrot Top back when they were fillies. The grey foal swinging on the swingset only to leap out, hoping to fly, only to crash to the ground again.
Sitting up, the little filly studied a broken tooth painfully, a few tears sparkling in her eyes, that was until a yellow Earth filly trotted up, a slight smirk playing on her lips before she took Derpy's hoof in her own and pulled back to her hooves.
Next, she saw them together on an old camping trip when they were pre-teens, Derpy offering her friend a muffin, to which the mare uneasily refused. With a slight laugh, Derpy disregarded her protest and forced it into her mouth anyway, much to Carrot's dismay, not exactly preferring muffins unless they were carrot ones.
But the last thing she saw wasn't exactly something she expected, they both stood at the top of a large cliff. She recognized this, Derpy decided to fly them both to Cloudsdale for a day after Twi did a cloud-walking spell on Carrot. But while flying, the grey mare crash landed and they ended up in the Everfree Forest, eventually coming upon this area while searching for a way out.
There was a massive, grassy plain and a few mountains in the distance at the bottom of the cliff, even a rushing river that they both stared at in amazement. But shortly afterwards, something Derpy didn't expect or remember abruptly happened.
Carrot turned to Derpy, a sad look on her face, confusing the Pegasus. "What's wrong, CT?"
She let out a sad sigh. "I-I don't know, it's just that…"
She stopped, turning away and trotting to the edge of the grassy, rocky cliff, staring down it sadly as a tiny pebble fell from where she put a hoof nearly off of the edge mistakenly, falling and making a barely audible plick as it struck the ground far below.
"I—I think I have to…go."
Derpy was abruptly taken aback. "Go? Whaddya mean 'go'?"
Carrot cast her a glance out the corner of her eye that Derpy couldn't quite read, "I—I think you might already know, Derpy." Again, Derpy wasn't entirely sure what she was going on abut, opening her mouth to question her again, only for the realization to abruptly hit her like a train.
"No…n-no! You-You can't, CT, n-not…." She stopped in her tracks as Carrot abruptly rushed towards her and pulled her into a loving embrace.
"I-I know, Derpy, I-I don't wanna go either."—to Derpy's shock, and somewhat fear, Carrot's body abruptly begin to shimmer and fade slightly—"I-I don't want to say good-bye, n-not yet a-anyway. B-But I have no control over this, I—I have to."
It didn't take long for Carrot's appearance to be almost invisible to Derpy's eyes, the sensation of her hug hardly there anymore as well. "I-I'll miss you, Derpy." And then she was going, her voice no more than a slight echo against the Pegasus's ears.
"No…no! N-Not here too! C-C'mon….c'mon, Carrot, you-you've gotta come back! N- Nothing's the same here, not here, not Ponyville, not anything! I-If I could bring you back, I would, b-but I just…"
She hit the ground a few times with a hoof, tears pouring from her eyes like a waterfall, but out of her control. Somewhat, she knew it was a dream, but then again, she felt it wasn't. It felt all to real, that was until a disembodied voice began speaking to her. It was Carrot Top's voice.
Ditzy…. Ditzy Doo….
"C-Carrot? Carrot, a-are you there?!"
Wake up, Ditzy Doo…. Wake up….
"H-Huh? B-But, I'm not…."
Wake up!
Derpy's eyes snapped open with a start, her body soaked in a cold sweat and her eyes slightly wet and red. To her surprise, Amethyst stood at her bed...er, couchside, staring her down, looking somewhat agitated. But the sight of the unicorn startled here and she barely avoided falling from the couch where she laid.
"Wh-What's going on? What time is it?"
"It's morning." Derpy flipped onto her hooves, stretching and giving her somewhat numb wings a few flaps. She glanced out the window, noticing the Sun was already becoming quite high in the sky, implying it was probably almost noon.
Amethyst trotted into the kitchen, grabbing a couple slices of bread and placing them in the nearby toaster, pushing the lever down halfway. Derpy stared after her silently, before hesitantly speaking up.
"So, uh, h-how's Tootsie Flute?"
"She's doing as fine as usual…mostly."
"Mostly? What're you…?"
"She's just…all worried and stressed out now, about Dinky I guess. She's one of Tootsie's best friends at school, she can't help but fear for how Dinky's doing, especially after what happened to Carrot Top and all."
Derpy shuddered slightly at the thought as the pieces of bread popped up, only partially toasted as she wanted. She levitated them out and placed them in front of her, pulling out a few daisies and daffodils and beginning to top them onto both pieces of bread, the daisies on one, daffodils on the other.
"Well, I'm…sure Dinky'll be…fine. I guess…."
Finishing off topping the pieces of bread, Amethyst levitated a jar of peanut butter from the cupboard and began visibly struggling to open it. "I-I don't think so. Ugh, darn peanut butter…" Derpy couldn't help but smirk slightly as she continued her struggle.
"Uh, need any help?"
"Nope, I got this!"
She continued to strain in attempt to pull the lid off, her aura eventually blinking out with a flash and a pained yelp, allowing the jar to fall to the floor and roll over to Derpy's hooves. Raising an eye brow, she picked it up and hoverd over to the coffee table where the uneaten muffins still laid.
Hitting the jar's lid against a corner a few times, she then lifted it up and twisted the lid off with little to no struggle, a matter-of-fact grin etched across her face as Amethyst levitated it back over to her.
"Eh, I loosened it up for ya. Anyway, I don't think Dinky's taking it very well. I always see Dinky, usually with Carrot Top or Written Script, waiting at the bus stop when I walk her down there."—she grabbed a butter knife and began spreading the PB on her sandwich—"She wasn't there today and the thought she may've moved to a new one is an unlikely guess.
"She must be taking it hard, she's almost gotta be. I mean, seriously, it was her mother, y'know? She probably won't attend school today, I'll ask Tootsie Flute when she comes home this afternoon."
Derpy couldn't help but feel somewhat sad for the depressed filly; she use to frequently foalsit for Carrot Top when they couldn't always be there to watch Dinky. They'd eventually grown a strong bond, and by now, she felt as if the filly were her own.
"No filly her age should have to deal with loss like this, especially not her mother."
Amethyst trotted towards the couch, levitating her sandwich with her, lying down, Derpy trotting towards her to do the same. "I know, I mean, if Dinky were my age, she'd probably be able to take it a whole lot better. Sure, I'd be absolutely devastated if you were to die, mom. I mean, you may not be my biological mother and we may've only known each other for six years, but you practically saved my life back then."
When Amethyst was still a little filly, a number of weeks after running away from her high-class home back in Canterlot, she lucked out as Derpy happened to be on the weather team that night. Upon spotting the filly, who was only about two or three years younger than herself, she took her into her own home.
Lucky enough for Derpy, Amethyst had been just old enough to do a few things here and there for herself, just in case Derpy may've been unable to do it due to her disability. Two years ago, Amethyst graduated from high school and left home, starting a family with a young stallion and a little filly herself, but still never failed to visit Derpy at least once every day for as long as she could.
"Yeah," Derpy responded, staring at her hooves. "I remember that."
"Yeah, I'd be pretty upset, but it wouldn't take me as long to get past it. I love you, mom, and I always will, but the older a pony is, the easier they'd be able to understand it and all. Right?" She then glanced out the window, the rain having cleared out.
"Poor little Dinky, I can't imagine how horrible it must feel." She then turned to a sad looking Derpy. "What happened to Carrot Top anyway?" Derpy was abruptly taken aback by Amethyst's question, reluctant to relive it again.
"I-I don't wanna talk about it."
"C'mon, mom, don't be afraid to face it head-on. Sometimes, sometimes talking about it tends to help a lot more than pushing it to the back of your mind and caging in your emotions like some old shelter animal."
Amethyst was surprisingly wise, despite being the younger of the two, it sometimes seemed that the unicorn would be the one taking care of Derpy.
"A-Are you sure? W-Well, I don't e-exactly know.I don't think I'll ever understand it entirely. All I know is, a couple months ago, Carrot Top got sick. Really sick. She was always tired and never really wanted to eat. And when she did, she almost always tended to throw it back up again. She could eat tiny little portions one at a time, but that was about it.
"She—She eventually began losing a lot of weight to the point you could see her ribs through her thin yellow coat. Dinky was all upset and concerning her, so Written Script finally decided for her to go to the hospital, as they thought it was the flu or something before. She stayed there for a lot of days, they ran a few tests, and shortly after being released, they got the results back.
"I don't know what they were or what they said, but I don't think it was good. In a few weeks, Carrot became mostly fine again. She was somewhat getting back to eating, taking it a little at a time until she finally managed to gain some of her weight back. But after a while, she started feeling awful all the time and never wanted to get out of bed or anything. Just sleep.
"From time to time, she felt a lot worse, like how she was the first few times. One time, when I went to the local bowling alley with her and Berry Punch, she told me she felt kinda dizzy and 'weird', but Berry shrugged it off as nothing, so I did too. Shortly afterwards though, Carrot passed out and somepony, I don't know who, called an ambulance.
"She stayed there for a week or two, becoming worse and worse everyday and—and eventually, she insisted she leave and go home until…"—Derpy sniffed and took a deep breath before speaking again—"well, she was bed-ridden for days after that. She only time she ever got up was to go to the bathroom from time to time, and even then, she needed a lot of help.
"She couldn't eat, couldn't really drink, and she slept almost 24 hours a day unless Dinky decided to keep her company every now and then. Eventually, I decided to visit her and her house and—a-and sh-she looked so f-frail, s-so weak. I—I don't know, i-it's just…her skin was all cold and sticky with sweat, it was so, s-so awful….
"Sh-She could hardly s-sit up w-without draining out all her energy, e-even with the help of another p-pony. Finally, she chose to explain to me what was going on…."
"D-Derpy… I-I need to tell you something, s-something I should've told a l-long time ago…"
"What is it, Carrot?"
"I went to the hospital a while ago, right? Well….well, I have leukemia. It's a rare, but deadly illness that…doesn't have a cure."
""What? Wh-Whaddya mean?"
"Well, it doesn't take long to take over your body and—and Equestria, they just don't have the technology to cure it, they're nowhere close."
"B-But…no, Carrot, wh-what're you…? You're—You're going to be alright! T-Tell me you'll be alright, Carrot, c-come on!" Due to Derpy's desperate pleas to hear that she'd be okay, Carrot Top turned away briefly, she didn't want to say it, but if she wanted the truth, she had to.
"I-I'm…I'm going to d-die, Derpy." Those four words instantly spiked fear into the Pegasus pony's heart, causing her to fall down onto her knees at the bedside.
"No, n-n-no! You—You won't die, Carrot, y-you won't! C'mon!" She thoughtlessly took hold of her hoof in attempt to pull her onto her hooves, but stopped in her tracks as Carrot let it an audible, pained groan.
"C-Come on, Carrot Top, you…w-we can do something about this! We-We can, s-so you won't have to go! M-Maybe T-Twilight can cast a spell that'll heal you, or-or maybe we can beg Princess Celestia for you to stay or—or—o-or…."
"Derpy, there—there's nothing they can do. Do you know why healing magic is never used in hospitals? Not even ones in Canterlot? Because it's far too dangerous. It was outlawed all througout Equestria because all it did was make the ailment worse and sometimes straight-up kill the injured or sick pony."
She took Derpy's trembling hoof in her own, meeting her gaze with glassy green eyes, forcing a smile through her pain. "Everything'll be alright, I promise." But Derpy immediately shook her head in strong disagreement.
"N-No….it-it won't. I-If you die, n-nothing….n-nothing'll ever, ever be the same!"
"I-I know, Derpy, and when I was younger, I used to be afraid of death, mortified of it. But—But now, even though I'm on the brink of death, I-I'm not afraid anymore. I—I know it'll be alright. A-A mare spoke to me, I-I even see her and—and hear her in my-my dreams. It-It's not Celestia or-or Luna, it's a tall white mare with a b-beautiful dark red mane.
"She speaks to me in a comforting voice, she tells me it'll be alright, and...and I believe her. I don't recognize her, b-but I know what she says is true, Derpy,"—her voice changed tone slightly as tears began to fall from her own eyes—"I—I-I know it'll be alright…." She turned her attention back to Derpy and smiled at her.
"An-And y-you be alright too…."
"But…wh-what'll happen to Dinky? And Written Script?"
"Written'll take care of her, he's a strong stallion, he'll get past this. But…Dinky, she does't know yet, I didn't wanna tell her 'cause…'cause she's too young to understand. But when it does happen, and I know it will, even though Written's there, I want you to protect Dinky with your life, as if she were your own, alright?
"You're not her mother, but you'll be the closest thing to. You—You cared for Amethyst Star when she was a filly. Not exactly as young as Dinky, but you made it, Amethyst's still alive, isn't she? Dinky will have Written Script there, but she needs a mother too, every little filly does, and I hate to leave her at such a young age.
"Derpy, you promise me you'll make sure Dinky stays safe and give her my, and your share of love. A sensitive little filly like her will need it. And you can't let this get to you, Derpy, you can't make it where life means nothing to you at all after I'm gone. I know you're young yourself and you can't exactly learn and understand things as well as everypony else, but pleaase, I need you to do this, for me. Don't let go."
Derpy sniffed, staring tearfully at Carrot. She tried to force a smile at her, to no avail. "Al-Alright, Carrot Top, I-I'll make sure, I will, I—I promise." Carrot, now lying on her back again, tried to force a smile again, but failed, only slowly blinking her eyes shut as she glared blindly at the ceiling.
Derpy rose to her hooves, and headed towards the door, staring tearfully at the sleeping mare, before stepping out, only to be stopped in her tracks, "D-Derpy, could you….turn out the lights?"
"Sure, Carrot, sure."
She flicked it off with a wing and closed the door behind her, walking down the short corridor, only for a sobbing noise to alert her. A young sobbing noise. 'Dinky!' her thoughts told her. She rushed into the living room, where she was sure the noise came from, and the pale lavender filly sat curled on the couch, sobbing openly.
The sight and the sound of her crying pained Derpy even more as she rushed to her aid, quickly sitting down and pulling her in close with a wing. "Aw, Dinky, wh-what's wrong? Why're you so upset?" The words that the little filly said next caused her heart to shatter into a million pieces.
"I—I don't want mommy to die!"
WARNING: Minor language is used in one small part of this chapter, and so far, I'm not planning on using it in later chapters. If you don't like vulgar language like that, then leave NOW. You have been warned.
"I-I'm sorry, Derpy, but...there's really nothing I can do."
Twilight levitated a cup of tea in front of her with a red aura, taking a small sip of it before setting it down on the table between herself and the Pegasus across from her. One of her eye's staring at her own cup blankly, the other half-looking up at the lavender unicorn.
"I know it hurts, but the grief and crying like this is just a natural response to emotional pain, especially when caused by the death of a friend or relative."
"I-I know, but...but everypony else, they-they all know me as the happy-go-lucky, bubbly mare that my cutie mark represents." She glanced momentarily at the seven bubbles emblazoning her flank. "And... I don't wanna feel sad anymore, I-I know Carrot didn't want me to grieve, but...I just can't help it. I'm like this now all. The. Time! "
Suddenly, the unicorn reached out a comforting hoof and rested it on the Pegasus's shoulder. "It's totally normal, Derpy, don't you worry! You're still young and I know you don't exactly learn things as well or as quickly as most ponies." She stopped again to take another sip from her cup.
Before Twi could speak again, Derpy spoke up, "I-I don't wanna wait for the sadness to go away, though, Twilight. I—I just want Carrot Top to come back…." Setting her cup down again, Twilight waited briefly to make sure Derpy was finished, before speaking up herself.
Derpy failed to really hear her words as she was mostly zoned out, only hearing distant, mostly indistinct mumbles, nothing more. She eyed the translucent, brownish liquid steaming in her cup, poking the cup ever so slightly to make it ripple. But having become bored with that, she turned her attention up to the unicorn; what she had to say had to at least be interesting.
But something caught her eye, the cerise glowing horn that extended from Twilight's forehead. That reminded her that the pony had immense magical powers, she was even proclaimed as the most powerful unicorn in Equestria by Princess Celestia herself. Maybe….
She thoughtlessly jumped up and firmly grasped Twi's shoulders, a wide grin abruptly having appeared on the Derpy's face that unnerved the lavender mare. "Um, D-Derpy, wh-what're you do…?"
"That's it, Twilight! You can bring Carrot back!"
"Wha—huh?"
"Yeah! There's gotta be some spells or something that can bring Carrot Top back! Sh-She could come back the same way as before and then we could be friends again and—a-and…."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Hold up, Derpy!"—she easily managed to slip from Derpy's grasp—"N-Not to rain on your parade, but it's far too complicated, and of course, excessively dangerous! And even if I could or there even was a spell to reanimate the dead, it'd mess up the flow of life and death and cause even more problems! Then again, I doubt she'd even come back the same way she use to be before she passed.
"With a few tweaks here and there, I guess it could be possible to reanimate the body. But it's already been two, almost three days, the soul has probably already gone separate ways with the body, meaning if her body would be reanimated, it'd be nothing but any empty shell of her former self. If anything, it'd probably cause a zombie apocalypse like Spike always says, or-or worse."
Twilight say a dismayed look upon meeting the grey mare's derpy yellow gaze again, messing with her cup slightly before lifting it with both hooves and sipping it, putting it down again, leaving about half the liquid that was in it beforehand. Twilight, almost subconsciously, rose her hoof and rested it on Derpy's shoulder again.
"I-I'm really sorry, Derpy, I-I wish there was more that I could do. And-And you know that nopony asked this to happen." Derpy didn't immediately reply and Twi thought wouldn't, before she finally pulled away and began to head towards the door.
"Well, um, thanks…anyway, Twilight."
Twilight stared solemnly after her, feeling guilty that she couldn't help her. "O-Okay, Derpy, just—just come to me if you need anything more, alright?" The Pegasus didn't reply, only nodded as she stepped out the door, pulling it shut behind her.
She trotted a little ways throughout Ponyville, her head hung low with sadness, a few passersby glancing over at her, some appearing to sympathize her, others somewhat whispering to their companions as if gossiping about what her problem was.
Either way, Derpy totally ignored them, as if they didn't even exist.
Suddenly, a whooshing noise from above caught Derpy's attention, glancing up just in time to find a colorful streak blast through one of the clouds that remained from the past night's rainstorm.
She was almost positive that was Rainbow Dash, an old fillyhood friend of hers from flight camp that she only saw every once in a while nowadays. Maybe she could help her to get her mind off of all this? Derpy only shrugged and opened her wings; she hadn't used them ever since Carrot's passing, and soared up into the sky.
The cyan mare fluttered down onto a lone fluffy white cloud, looking around expectantly before evaporating it with a bounce, flapping her wings to keep herself airborne. She paused for a moment before starting towards the closest cloud and bucking it with her hind legs, busting it upon contact.
With a slight smirk, she did the same with many other clouds in that area, leaving a smaller number of them floating there and hovering down onto the closest, closing her wings and smiling triumphantly to herself.
"Hah! Rainbow Dash, 1! Clouds, 0!"
"Hi, Rainbow Dash!"
She nearly jumped out of her coat upon the sudden young voice of a widely grinning Ditzy Doo who was perched on the cloud behind Dash, acting in a manner that reminded Dash of Pinkie Pie as she began to float back down.
"Ugh, Derpy! Whaddya want?!"
"I-I was just wondering….wh-what're you up to?"
Rainbow glanced around momentarily; as if what she was doing for the time being was completely obvious to both of them already. Y'know what they say; ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. the Pegasus thought.
"I, um….I'm trying to find a way to fly to the Moon tonight! Yeah, that's it!"
"Can I help?"
She was taken aback, wondering if this pony was really being serious. "Um, sure, Derpy! Uhh, just one second!" And without another word, Rainbow soared down towards Ponyville, mistakenly evaporating her cloud in the process.
All the while, Derpy only sat on her cloud, both eyes crossed, not really focusing on anything.
After a short while, Rainbow returned, a small black tape measurer in her hoof, handing it to the confused pony, "Here ya go, Derpy! I-I need you to measure the distance between Ponyville and the Moon, y'know, so I can figure out how far I'll have to go…or, something."
To her surprise, Derpy saluted quickly, exclaiming, "On it, Dash!" before soaring down into Ponyville, instructing some random pony to hold onto the tape measurer, before grabbing the end of the tape and pulling it with her as she soared up into the sky, growing smaller and smaller until Rainbow could hardly see her anymore.
"There, that should keep her busy for at least the rest of the day."
Rainbow then lied back and let her eyes drift shut, feeling she needed the relaxation. Before she knew it, she'd fallen into a deep sleep, not awakening until the Sun had long set. She stretched, surprised she didn't see Derpy standing over her with that big Pinkie Pie grin on her face.
Probably wondering why the tape won't extend any longer. Rainbow thought with a barely audible chuckle to herself. She leaned up, stretching and yawning silently, only to find the grey mare hovering just off the edge of the cloud, half asleep herself. But upon noticing Rainbow, she abruptly seemed to snap wide awake.
"Oh, R-Rainbow Dash, I-I did it, Rainbow Dash!"
"What? Did what?"
"Measured the length from Ponyville to the Moon, just like you asked! It's exactly 28,900 feet! It sure took a long time, but I got it!"
Rainbow couldn't help but feel somewhat freaked out; the tape measurer only extended twelve feet…didn't it? But to her surprise, glancing up at the dark sky, she saw a yellow strip that went from somewhere below her cloud and seemed to vanish into the massive white orb hanging over them.
"I, but…h-how did you…?" Rainbow stopped herself, knowing that nopony would ever succeed in totally understanding Derpy; the same went for Pinkie Pie. "Well, uh….great job, Derpy! Now, you can, uh, go home now, I guess."
Rainbow bounced off of her cloud, evaporating it, before beginning to fly back in the direction of Cloudsdale, Derpy watching her intently with one eye. "Wait, wh-where are you going?"
"Uh, back home? And you should too, it's late." She didn't get much further before she abruptly felt a strange weight on one leg, glancing down to find the Pegasus grasping it desperately, staring up at her with big, sad eyes.
"Derpy, what are you doing?!"
"R-Rainbow, I don't want you to go!" she responded in a tone that made RD think of her as an innocent little filly again. "This-This is the first time I've been able to get my mind off of….off of Carrot ever since she died. It just….I don't wanna go back to that, Rainbow, I just….don't wanna hurt anymore."
Rainbow honestly had little idea what Derpy was going on about and only angrily shoved her off, snapping, "Suck it up, Derpy! You…"—Rainbow abruptly stopped herself, not wanting to make things any worse for Derpy than they probably already were—"Look, Derpy, I understand you lost your friend, sure, it'll take a while to get over. But can't Amethyst Star help you to get over this? Whatever you do, just….stay away from me, alright?"
Derpy nodded slowly.
"Good! I'll see you tomorrow, Derpy!" And without another word, Rainbow darted off, too fast for Derpy to catch up, but before she got far, she was stopped again, "Um, Rainbow Dash….?" She turned to face the grey pony, who had a sheepish look on her face, smiling ever so slightly.
"Um, wh-which way do I live? I—I forgot, hehe…"
Rainbow pointed North with a hoof, speaking in an exasperated tone, "That way, Derpy."
"Oh, yeah! Thanks, Dashie!"
And again, Rainbow darted off, this time, finally managing to get well out of sight and hearing distance of Derpy. Staring after her briefly as the colored streak slowly faded into the blackness of the sky, the grey mare finally turned away and soared back towards her home.
Upon arriving there, she was surprised to see the living room light on, but nothing more. She opened the door quietly, looking around briefly before coming in, shutting the door behind her. She couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous in her own home as she slowly headed down the hall and into her bedroom.
The door was cracked open slightly.
It somewhat frightened the mare. Amethyst would've headed home by now, Berry Punch, an alcoholic friend of Derpy and Carrot, rarely, if ever, came up here, and she didn't know of anypony else who may've showed up.
She uneasily pushed the door open with a hoof, grimacing, fearing for the worst, but upon opening her eyes, surprised to see a pink unicorn lying in her bed with a violet mane that had a slightly paler highlight.
"Sparkler?"
She trotted to the bedside; Amethyst was in a deep sleep and failed to hear her, so Derpy nudged her slightly smaller body a little bit, to no avail. She only writhed slightly and turned away. "Sparkler? Sparkler,"—she began nudging her a little harder this time—"Sparkler, wake up!"
It didn't take much longer before she blinked her cerise eyes open turned to face the grey mare standing over her, blushing upon realization that she'd been caught. "Oh, uh, h-hey, mom! What's up?"
"C'mon, Sparkler, it's late! What're you still doing here anyway? Where's Tootsie Flute?"
"I haven't been here long. Tootsie convinced me to let her sleepover at Dinky's place tonight, hoping it'd help to get all that stress off of Dinky's mind. And her own. So, I decided to come here and sleep for the night….if that's okay with you, that is!"
"Ugh, fine. But you have to get out of my bed, I sleep there!"
With an explosive sigh, Amethyst lit up the blankets with her magic and threw them off before flipping onto her hooves, Derpy hovering inches above her head to lie down on the bed and pull the blankets over her. She almost instantly rested her head on the pillow and shut her eyes, allowing her body to relax for the night.
Amethyst stared down at her briefly, glancing out into the hall before glancing back at Derpy again. Finally, she curled up on the floor beside the bed, flicking the light switch off with her magic, before resting her head on her hooves and blinking her eyes shut in attempt to go to sleep. It didn't take long for her to finally return to her slumber.
The next morning, the unicorn writhed slightly, fluttering her eyes open, abruptly finding herself in the firm embrace of a still deeply sleeping Derpy. In attempt to pull away from her, Derpy only seemed to hug her tightly as if she were a little filly and Amethyst was the stuffed animal she liked to sleep with every night.
But upon looking around a little bit, she was surprised to see it was pitch black outside. Why had she awakened in the midst of the night? She presumed it may've been Derpy picking her up off the floor in her sleep, but then again, she wasn't entirely sure.
She lit up her horn and flicked the light on again, only to notice a mint green object lying on the floor where she'd fallen asleep at it. Confused, she went to prod it, only for it to abruptly writhe and pull herself up to the edge of the bed in the form of Tootsie Flute, abruptly shouting out her name.
"Amethyst, A-Amethyst, w-wake up!"
She rubbed one eye, tiredly replying, "I am up. What're you doing here, Tootsie, shouldn't you be at Dinky's house?"
"Th-That's just the thing!"
Amethyst paused. "What is?"
"A-After you left, I-I knocked on the d-door, but-but nopony answered. S-So, I-I looked in o-one of the windows a-and, I s-saw Dinky was asleep. B-But before I left, I-I tried opening the door, a-and it did, it was unlocked. I-I went in, it was all dark, so I lit up my magic to see better. B-But I l-looked around the h-house for Written Script and…a-and…"
"And what?"
"A-And…h-he wasn't there! I-I even checked the b-backyard and the front yard thoroughly, b-but he was gone! I-It was late, almost 8:30, b-but Dinky didn't seem to have noticed before sh-she went to sleep! Sh-She was kinda smiling in her sleep a-as if she was h-having a good dream, so-so I didn't wanna wake her. I rushed here a-as fast as I could to-to tell you and Derpy about it!"
"What?!"
Amethyst thoughtlessly jumped to her hooves, accidentally dragging Derpy off of the bed and causing her to fall to the floor with a thud and a pained shout. "Ow! Wh-What?! Huh? Wh-What's going on?! Wh-What time is it?!"
Amethyst thoughtlessly levitated Derpy off of the floor and onto her hooves, hastily shouting at her, "Mom, we've gotta get to Dinky's place! Now!"
"Why? Celestia hasn't even risen the Sun yet!"
"Now, Derp…I-I mean, mom! Please, this is urgent!"
Before Derpy could respond, Amethyst lit up one of her hooves and dragged her to her hooves and out of the room, Tootsie staring after them briefly before hastily taking to her hooves and following close behind them.
"W-Wait, what's going on?!" Derpy exclaimed, pulling herself from Amethyst's grip and flying along with the two unicorn ponies. "Sp-Sparkler, I demand you tell me what's going on right now!"
"I'll explain it when we get there!"
Amethyst was so unnerved and concerning Dinky at the time, she hardly even realized Derpy was her mother anymore. All she could think of was to get to Dinky before she woke up and found that she'd been abandoned.
"W-Wait!" Tootsie called after Amethyst. "C-Can't you just….can't you just teleport us there?"
Amethyst stopped in her tracks, accidentally causing Derpy and Tootsie to run into her. She'd convinced Twilight a couple weeks ago to teach her how to use teleportation magic. It took her quite a while to learn the basics and everything else of it, but she finally managed.
She lit up her horn, straining to do so, Derpy slightly startled as she'd never seen her daughter even try to teleport before. After a little while, the three abruptly vanished from the spot with a bright white flash. In less than three seconds, they appeared in front of Dinky's house, but all three of them dazed and charred, their coats and manes unkempt and blackened.
"Ugh, g-give me a warning the next time you're gonna do that!"
"Sorry, mom, I—I haven't quite got the basics of this whole thing down quite yet. Just be lucky we actually ended up where we wanted to go!"—she turned to the mint green filly—"Tootsie, is it still unlocked?"
"Um…yeah, I think so."
Amethyst only shrugged and lit up the knob, twisting it and pushing the door open with ease, the three peeking into the dark living room. "I think it's safe if we go in. Mom, Tootsie and I are gonna double-check the place, just in case. You check up on Dinky, alright?"
"Who died and made you the boss around here?"
Rolling her eyes, Amethyst sighed and replied, "Fine. Do you wanna go check up on Dinky?"
"Yes, please." Derpy replied obediently.
"Good, c'mon, Tootsie Flute!"
The two rushed into the house and down an alternate hallway, Derpy trotting in and looking around curiously. But unbeknownst to her, a sudden gust of wind blew in through the door, chilling the Pegasus but acting as just enough to blow the door shut with a soft click.
Derpy instantly tensed up as the moonlight vanished, leaving her alone in the darkness. "U-Um, h-hello…? I-Is anypony there?" She reluctantly trotted on, only to mistakenly run into the wall. Letting out a startled yell, she jumped back, only to trip over her own hooves and fall onto the floor.
She breathed hard for a few moments before turning her attention to a dimly moonlit bedroom a few feet away from her, the door cracked slightly. Gulping, she rose to her hooves, trembling with fear as if the house were haunted. Maybe it was.
"O-Okay," she whispered to herself. "o-one, t-two….three!"
She then closed her eyes and rushed into the bedroom, yelling out fearfully every few seconds until she reached the room, hastily throwing the door shut and standing against, breathing heavily as if she narrowly avoided getting killed.
"Whoo, that was probably a close one."
Suddenly, the sleeping purple filly caught her eye, breathing gently and quietly and hugging what appeared to be a plush carrot in the darkness. It seemed likely for Carrot Top to give her daughter a stuffed carrot to sleep with other than anything else.
Derpy trotted to the bedside, trying her best not to wake the sleeping filly, before nudging her gently, whispering her name a few times. To her surprise, it didn't take much to wake the filly and she blinked her yellow eyes open, looking up cutely at the Pegasus, smiling slightly.
"Oh, hi, Ditzy Doo, what're you doing here? It's still so late."
"I prefer to be called Derpy, but 'Ditzy' works too. Anyway, um, would you know where….your father, Written Script, is right now?"
"I don't know, I remember him saying something about going, uh….oh, Celestia, what was it? He-He told me he was going somewhere, but I don't remember what it was. Why? Do you need him for something?"
Derpy was slightly taken aback; from her knowledge, Dinky had the memory of an elephant. Why'd she have to become forgetful now of all times? "Oh, okay, well, uh, lemme go and talk to Sparkler for a second, she's here too, by the way. You stay put, okay?"
"Okay!"
Without another word, Derpy left the room, pulling the door closed behind her, but didn't get far before meeting face-to-face with Amethyst and she put a hoof to her mouth to stifle a startled shriek once again.
"How'd it go?"
"All I know is she told me Written went somewhere, and"—she lowered her voice she only the two mares could hear her—"presumably didn't come back." Amethyst felt a sudden strange feeling inside of her. She couldn't exactly identify it, but she knew she didn't like it.
"Well…did she say how long ago he left?"
Derpy shook her head. "She didn't say, but since Dinky was good and asleep between the time he left, or told her he was leaving, and now, I'd guess….an hour or two, maybe a little more." The unicorn abruptly realized what that feeling was: hate and fury for the stallion, especially now that she learned what truly happened.
The two mares both knew quite well that Written never seemed to have a great relationship with Dinky. They'd get into arguments every now and then, but Carrot would always thoughtlessly get between them and back up Dinky, stand up for her.
"Well, did you tell her? Does she know about this?" Amethyst spoke in a tone that was a bit more assertive than she'd meant to sound. "No…n-no, I was afraid that—that she might…I didn't wanna scare her, Sparkler."
The pink unicorn subconsciously stomped a hoof against the floor and abruptly swung around and punched the wall a couple of times, scaring Derpy ever so slightly, Tootsie hiding behind her with a squeak.
"Sp-Sparkler?"
"Dammit! Dammit all to Hell!"
"Sparkler, watch your language!"
"I don't care! I just don't care anymore, mom! Just-just..." She let out an explosive grunt as she bucked a nearby stand, knocking it over and causing the porcelain vase on top of it to shatter to the floor. "If I ever see that stallion again….ugh! Celestia help him if I do…."
"Sparkler, Sparkler!"
But she didn't seem to hear Derpy's pleas for her to stop, bucking the wall and growling to herself, "This is all insane! First Carrot dies and then he only had to go and make it worse by leaving Dinky here all on her own! I swear, by Celestia's name, I will kill him if he ever goes near Dinky again!"
Derpy was startled as her horn abruptly began glowing on its own, somehow fueled by her sudden fit of rage. She knew what happened when a unicorn's started getting fueled by anger; she learned that the hard way.
"Sparkler!" She thoughtlessly grabbed onto her and pushed her to the wall, firmly, but not enough to actually harm the unicorn. "Amethyst Sparkler Star, if you don't calm down right now, you won't see the outside of your room until the day Tootsie Flute dies! You're not helping anypony by acting like this!"
Amethyst was taken aback by Derpy abruptly raging at her now, and the magic in her horn blinked out, a guilty look on her face as Derpy took a deep breath and let her go. "I'm sorry, Sparkler, I'm not helping anypony either by stooping to your level like that, I know. But Dinky, after Carrot's death, she's been so stressed out, just as badly as me and probably Written too. But you going all Snowflake on her house isn't helping!"
Amethyst stared at her hooves guiltily before opening her mouth to reply, only for a seemingly sudden noise to stop her in her tracks. It was a soft, but audible whimpering, crying noise, but glancing at Tootsie Flute, she realized it wasn't her.
They glanced towards the slightly opened door to Dinky's room, the little filly crouched there, covering her eyes as she cried softly to herself, her body visibly trembling in fear of Amethyst's sudden enraged outburst.
"Oh, Dinky, Dinky, c-c'mere."
Amethyst took a step towards her and lifted the tiny filly into her arms, or forelegs rather, sitting against the wall and hugging her lovingly, trying to comfort her and stop her sobs. "M-Mom, we-we can't go on like this, and…I don't think Dinky can either."
Derpy sighed sadly, blinking away newly forming tears. "I-I know, Sparkler, and that little outburst of yours didn't help, not one bit. It's only been two, almost three days since Carrot's death, but Dinky's still a foal, and she's still trying to get over it. She doesn't need anymore stress put on her, not by you, and definitely not anypony else!"
"Written Script'll be lucky to ever see Dinky ever again in his life! I still can't believe he'd be so selfish like that, first her mother, then her father. She must feel absolutely horrible." Derpy looked away, Dinky having mostly quieted down by now and nuzzling into Amethyst's thin fur, attempting to return to her earlier slumber.
"He probably didn't wanna be left with the heavy responsibility of caring for a little filly all on his own like that." Amethyst only nodded slowly in agreement, but her gaze didn't leave the tired foal in her arms.
"Still doesn't give him the right to just bail on Dinky like that."
There was a long pause, Tootsie lying curled close beside her mother, trying to sleep herself, while Derpy only nodded solemnly, but not saying a word. Suddenly, Amethyst broke the silence when something came to mind.
"Wait, mom, re-remember what you told me yesterday? About Carrot Top?"
Derpy looked up at her, a thoughtful look on her face for a second before shrugging and shaking her head slowly, "No, I—I don't think so." She never really had a good memory herself.
"Remember? That—That promise you made for her, the day before she—she…." Amethyst's voice trailed off, Derpy's heart beginning to ache at the memory. Then, what Amethyst was talking about finally struck her. Carrot's words echoed in her mind as if she were whispering them into her ear.
"Even though Written's there, I want you to protect Dinky with your life, as if she were your own, alright? You're not her mother, but once I'm gone, you'll be the closest thing to. You—You cared for Amethyst Star when she was a filly, not exactly as young as Dinky, but you made it. She's still alive, isn't she? Dinky will have Written Script there, but she needs a mother too, every little filly does, and I hate to leave her when she's such a young age."
Tears began to form in Derpy's eyes. "No…n-no, Sparkler, I—I can't! I—I'm still so young m-myself, a-and…." But Amethyst interrupted her, raising a hoof to stop the Pegasus in the middle of her sentence.
"Mom, listen, Written has left Dinky for good, I really doubt he'll ever come back to take care of her again, not that I'll let him. You're Dinky's last hope, mom, she needs you. Taking Dinky in with you if anything were to ever happen to Written Script is exactly what Carrot Top would've wanted, mom."
Derpy wiped away the half formed tears; she was surprised she even had any tears left to cry. She looked in the direction of the sleeping filly; Dinky's breathing was slightly more rushed and heavy due to being scared shortly beforehand.
"Al-Alright, Sparkler, I-I'll do it. It-It's for the best, I guess, for-for Dinky. A-And I promised Carrot that I would care for her, and Ditzy Doo never breaks a promise, especially one made with a great friend."
Amethyst couldn't help but smile at Derpy's sudden defiance to make sure she succeeded in keeping her promise with Carrot Top, despite being reluctant to do so shortly beforehand. She trotted in the direction of Amethyst and Dinky, picking up the lavender filly and placing her on her back, using her wings to keep her from slipping off.
She then gestured for them to leave, and without another word, trotted out towards the door, Amethyst Star and Tootsie Flute following close behind her. Not much time passed when they reached Derpy's house, Tootsie having convinced Amethyst to carry her on her own back like Derpy was doing with Dinky.
Derpy had at first suggested Amethyst and Tootsie stay at her place for the night, but the unicorn chose not to cause her mother anymore trouble and insisted they head off to their own home for the night. Exhausted by now, Derpy chose not to argue and bid them a brief farewell before taking Dinky into her house.
Dinky remained in a deep sleep, even after Derpy entered Amethyst's old room, before the mare graduated and moved out, and lifted Dinky into the bed, gently covering her small body with the blankets. She stared at her for a few moments, a small smile curling onto her lips.
This was the first time she'd truly smiled ever since Carrot died.
Once again, she felt tears in her eyes, but not tears of sadness or grief this time, tears of happiness, something Derpy never quite understood before now. She lightly kissed Dinky's tiny hoof and trotted out of the room, flicking the light with a wing.
She stood at the door briefly and said in a soft voice, "Goodnight, Dinky, sweet dreams." She paused briefly, and without another word, trotted out, pulling the door shut behind her.
