Dinky Doo tugged the vines out of her way, opening up passage to more large tracks of jungle. After eighteen years of traveling through dense foliage without water of a snack break, all jungle starts to look the same. The only things she had to look forward to were leaves, trees, and pony-eating squid-bears. Her only escape was to trek on, even in these harsh conditions. Many a teddy-bears had been lost and many a booboos had been made. But Dinky kept going on and on, bravely searching for the final destination se thirst to find.
The filly hadn’t seen anything for so long that she didn’t expect anything to be in her path. When she pulled on the next curtain of vines, she gasped as a giant ziggurat came into view. She pulled out a map out of her knapsack and held it up in front of her. Her mouth curled into a grin as she matched up the picture on the parchment with the ancient building. She found it! After all her searching, she had finally found the Temple of CardyBordy! It had been a long time since that mysterious stuffed rabbit sent her on this quest, and now she was jumpy and cheering under the looming shadow of the temple that stood above the treetops.
The entrance to the mystical structure was only a trot down a hill. Dinky skipped her way down the slope, thinking of what treasure she’d find in the depths. Whatever it was, it was probably guarded by an abundance of deadly booby-traps, sealed by hundreds of doors that needed a puzzle to be solved to open, and praised by a legion of cultist who would do anything to protect their artifact. Dinky wasn’t scared of any of that, though. She was the bravest unicorn filly that Equestria had to offer. If anypony could retrieve that treasure, it would be her!
She trotted up to the entrance, ready to take on whatever challenge it threw at her. The grand archway welcomed the filly, but she knew that it was enticing her to make the wrong move and step into a diabolical obstacle, like a trap or an ambush, or an ambush trap. Neither would scare her, for she was the best of the best. But when she trotted right under that archway, the Temple of CaryBordy drew something up that even Dinky was powerless against.
“Dinky, it’s time for bed.”
* * *
Ditzy Doo’s right eye rolled towards the ceiling as the other watched her daughter squirm under a stack of cardboard boxes. Two rear hooves were lashing out from the pile, trying to find something to kick off of to inch the filly deeper into her imaginary world.
“Aw, just five more minutes,” Dinky pleaded, her voice muffled by the pile of packages. “I just made it to the temple.”
Her mom walked over behind her legs as they managed to wiggle into the box pile. “Do you want this to be a repeat of last night?”
From the top of the pile, Dinky’s head popped out, the top box sitting on her head. “The Cult Leader has come to defend the treasure!” The filly pumped her hoof in the air and yelled for the stars. “I am Dinky the Adventurer, greatest explorer in Equestria! Nothing can beat me!” She tossed her hooves into the air, sending several boxes scattering around her mother. “Nothing!”
Ditzy stared at her as she held that pose in silence for several seconds. She looked around the room, scrutinizing all the boxes that had been scattered about in her daughter’s adventures. Some of the boxes were being used as building blocks that Dinky thought were the grandest buildings she ever imagined. Other boxes were smashed in the havoc of the filly’s quest to destroy her stuffed foes. It was going to be a big mess for one of them to clean up. But in the chaos of empty packages, Ditzy couldn’t help but smile at the scene.
“You know, I used to be an adventurer like you when I was your age.” She walked over to the bed and started arranging the blankets for her daughter. “I used to go on all kinds of quests, like rescuing princes, finding treasure, traveling lands far and wide.” Once she was done making the bed, she rolled on top of it and spread her limbs over the sheets. “But even after a long day of adventuring, there was always a bed I wanted to go back to.”
Ditzy pat a spot on the bed next to her, gesturing for her daughter to come over. Dinky tumbled out of the boxes in a summersault, landing on her flank. “Are you still an adventurer”
Her mother nodded her head as she flipped onto her back. “Oh, very much so. I get to go on all kinds of adventures in my job. You never know where the next package needs to be delivered. For instance, today, I was taking a package to Rainbow Dash”-
Before Ditzy could continue, the bed she was sitting on snapped together and folded into a sandwich. Dinky screamed as she watch her mother get trapped inside the now folded mattress.
“Mom!” the filly yelled, hoping to hear something from the mattress. But she didn’t even get a muffle as a response.
But the room was not silent from the absence of the pegasus. The walls vibrated with a cackle that came from the bowls of her folded bed. “Dinky the Adventurer, I have your mother,” a demonic voice echoed throughout the room. “Now you must become my servant if you ever want a glimpse of her again!”
“No!” Dinky screamed at the top of her lungs. “Give me back my mom!”
“You have no command over me!” the voice cackled. Dinky grabbed the sides of her head as satanic laughter scorched through her brain, setting all her neurons on fire. “Ha! Ha! Ha!”
* * *
Rainbow Dash gasped as she shot out of her bed, crashing into the ceiling as she flew at full speed. She crashed back down to her own bed, which was a soft landing thanks to it being made of cloud.
She stared up at the dent she made with her head as she waited for her heart to stop racing. “Wow. I really need to stop dreaming about other pony’s kids.”