It was a normal Saturday morning in the Hooves household. Ditzy was eating her usual breakfast of muffins at the kitchen table, Sparkler was reading a book on the living room sofa while occasionally sipping a cup of tea, and Dinky was just coming downstairs after waking and washing up.
“Good morning, sweetie!” Ditzy greeted her, cheerful as ever.
“'Morning! Are there any waffles left?” Dinky asked as she headed for the refrigerator.
“No, I just ate the last two.” Sparkler called. “And good morning.”
“Darn it!”
“I made strawberry muffins this morning. Would you like some?” Ditzy asked, offering one of the delicious-looking pastries.
“Yeah, I suppose that'll have to do.”
Ditzy eyed her daughter with mock-suspicion – a very funny expression when paired with her eye condition - and said, teasingly: “What, are my muffins not worthy of your tastebuds?”
Dinky could only giggle in response.
After a few minutes of silence and happy munching, Dinky spoke again. “So, how long until we leave?”
Her mother looked at the clock on the wall, “About half an hour.”
A few days prior, Ditzy's close friend Carrot Top had agreed to take Dinky with her on a trip to Canterlot to visit her sister. Ditzy would be assisting with much-needed repairs at Town Hall, and Sparkler would be waitressing for a local restaurant she had recently been employed at, leaving Dinky all alone. So it was arranged that the two of them would take the train into the city and stay the night, coming back late Sunday afternoon.
So it was about forty minutes later that Dinky was standing in front of Town Hall with her mother and Carrot Top, as well as Carrot's coltfriend, Written Script, a unicorn stallion with a white coat and dark purple mane.
“I'm off to help with the repairs. See you tomorrow, sweetie!” Ditzy said, giving Dinky a quick but affectionate hug.
Dinky returned the embrace with a “Bye, mom!”
Ditzy waved to Carrot Top and Written Script, then flew off towards Town Hall. Script turned to Dinky with a smile and asked “So, Dinky, how's your day goin'?”
Dinky had always liked Written Script. The nice thing about him was that he never talked down to her as so many of the adults unwittingly did. He just treated her as if she were any other normal pony. And though she didn't much mind being talked down to a bit – she knew she was still a filly, after all - she enjoyed being treated as an equal.
“Very good, thank you!” Dinky answered. “But,” she added as an afterthought, “we were out of waffles this morning. And I love waffles.” Her tone was that of a playful pout.
Carrot Top chuckled, “Well, we've got some time to kill before we head to the train station, and we're already at here, so why don't we join them?” She motioned to the crowd that had been assembling in front of a small stage.
“What are they doing?”
“Canterlot is hosting The Equestria Rodeo Competition this year, and this is the send-off party celebration thingamajig for our candidate.”
So they joined the crowd, which was buzzing with activity. Ponies were chatting all around, and Dinky even saw a few pagasi hovering above the other ponies. They all seemed very eager.
Dinky turned to Written Script and asked, “So, what exactly is the big deal with this rodeo?”
“Applejack, our candidate, has won the rodeo for Ponyville five times in a row now, and everypony is excited to see if she'll be able to pull it off again.” Script explained.
“Ah” Dinky said, indifferently. She never had much of an interest in these sorts of things. She liked more of the wars and pirates variety of adventures over western rodeos. Even so, she had to admit that winning something as big as this five times in a row was quite impressive, and it would be untruthful to say she wasn't atleast a little excited.
For a second, Dinky thought she heard a crash over the din, but didn't bother giving it a second thought, as the mayor and ponyville's candidate had stepped on to the stage. And as soon as they did, the crowd started chanting.
“A-pple-jack! A-pple-jack! A-pple-jack!”
Carrot Top and Written Script joined in, and Dinky couldn't help but do so as well.
After a bit of cheering, the mayor started talking over the noise, “Everypony, can I get your attention! Attention please!” And the cheering subsided.
“Yes, we are all here to send Applejack to compete is this year's Equestria Rodeo Competition in Canterlot!”
At this, there was a round of applause from the crowd.
“...And, I want to thank Applejack in advance, for generously offering up her prize money to fix Town Hall!”
There was a short silence as everypony looked up at the Town Hall, and heard a couple of beams come crashing down inside it.
“Yeayh, Applejack! Woohoo!” crash.
“I could've sworn that was mom.” Dinky muttered to nopony in particular.
“Heh, I think it wa-” but Script was cut off by another round of applause from the crowd.
After this came to a stop, a pink mare with a mane that looked very much like cotton candy who was standing to the right of Carrot Top started shouting “Speech! Speech!”
“Aw shucks, Ah'm not much for speeches.” Began Applejack.
There was a short pause.
“Alright then, no speech!” The pink pony whizzed away in the blink of an eye.
“Buuuuuut!” Applejack stretched out the word, and in a flash the pink mare was back where she was two seconds ago.
“There's here's the nicest send-off anypony could ask for. Y'all have been cheerin' me on in every rodeo since I was a little little pony!”
Carrot Top and Written Script looked down at Dinky with smiles at those words, and she smiled back. Even now when Dinky was so young, everypony knew that she was going to go far in life, just as Applejack had. She was charming, mentally old for her age and undeniably smart.
“So, it seems only fittin' to use mah winnins' ta fix up Town Hall! I promise to make Ponyville proud!”
And as yet another bout of cheering commenced, Script leaned over Dinky's head and whispered to Carrot Top, “Hey, look at the mayor.” jerking his head in the tan mare's direction.
“What about her?
“See how she's staring at Applejack?”
“Uh... Yeah... damn.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“I see that too ...Wow” said the purple filly underneath them.
“You weren't supposed hear that, Dinky.” said Carrot Top in a voice that was sinister, but clearly gave away the mare's mirth.
“Hear what?” Dinky asked.
Carrot Top and Written Script's only response was a playfully sly smile.
The crowd was dispersing now, and Carrot Top said they ought to be heading for the train station. They picked up some icecream on the way, happily talking about this and that, and soon the station came into sight.
“We'll be riding in the open-air car,” Carrot Top informed Dinky. “The view you get from inside it just can't be beat.”
“Have you been to Canterlot before?”
“Yes, a couple of times, actually. I have quite a few friends there. I was at last year's Grand Galloping Gala, as a matter of fact.”
“And how did that go?” Dinky had heard that the Gala, while one of the biggest events in Equestria, could be hell if you didn't care for all the high-class pomp and splender.
“About as well as you'd expect.” said Carrot Top.
“So, absolutely dreadful, then?”
Script laughed aloud at this.
“Pretty much, yep.” Carrot Top giggled. “Lame parties aside, Canterlot is an amazing city.”
“Yeah, I got that impression, considering it's built on the side of a freaking mountain.”
“We'll have to tour the royal palace while we're there!”
“They'll let us do that?”
“Well, not the inner areas, but there is a decent amount of the castle that is open to visitors. And the view of the city from there is incredible!”
By now they were on the station platform. Dinky noticed Applejack and some of her friends were already there, saying their personal goodbyes to eachother.
“Over here, the open-air car is right behind the engine.” Carrot Top led Dinky to the front of the train.”
“Well, have a good time!” said Script, giving has marefriend a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
“See you when we get back,” Carrot Top said. Dinky had already jumped – literally – into the train. This made possible by the lack of windows on the open-air car.
“Looks like we'll be having this one all to ourselves!” Dinky called, “Just the way I like it! We'll be able to stretch our legs.”
Written Script chuckled as Carrot Top stepped on to the train.
“Bye, Dinky!” he said.
The filly in question responded by holding out her hoof to the stallion, who in turn bumped it with his own.
“The train to Canterlot is about to leave! All aboard who's comin' aboard!” The train conducter called.
Script waved one final goodbye, then turned to go
Dinky leaned out the side of the train and looked back, “The mayor's doing it again.” She commented. Carrot Top leaned out and looked back with her.
Applejack was just stepping on to the train.
“See ya in a week!” Said a blue pegasus Dinky could only identify as Rainbow Dash.
“With lots o' blue ribbons!” called a yellow filly from the platform.
“And lots of moneeey!” The mayor added, practially singing the last word.
The train started moving, and Dinky brought her head back in, picking up and opening a book she had noticed on the seat next to her.
“Yeah, I don't think money's all the mayor wants from Applejack when she returns.” she said, without looking up.
Carrot Top had a hard time containing her giggles at that.
