I'll See You in the Skyby John McDoeChaptersChapter 1: Alone Once MoreChapter 3: Nopony Smiled That DayChapter 2: Like Mother, Like DaughterChapter 1: Alone Once MoreRainbow Dash awoke, she was on her own once more. She had not been invited to any Hearth’s Warming Eve parties this year, unlike the last. Her five other friends had someone to celebrate the special occasion with: Twilight was in Canterlot with her parents, Applejack was spending it with her family, Pinkie with the Cakes, Rarity with her parents, and even Fluttershy was with animals, who she just wanted to spend the day with after last year’s hectic celebrations; but Dash had no-one to share it with except her pet tortoise, Tank. Tank was a good pet: he was loyal and he had shared many a time with his owner playing in the fields (albeit slowly). Rainbow glanced from her bed to see the tortoise sleeping and letting out a faint snore. She had awoken to the sound of silence, her cloud home was so high up, she couldn’t even hear the cheers of fillies playing in the snow below. A wave of loneliness flew over the pony as she lazily got out of her bed and trotted down to her lounge. The room was had no festive decorations at all. As on any other day, the large sofa, multi-seater dining table and well stocked kitchen sat there, waiting for someone to use them. I’ll get a bite to eat, not like there’s anything else to do, she thought to herself. Unenthusiastically, the pegasus trotted over to her kitchen counter and made herself a bowl of cereal. Bags hung under her eyes and the loneliness she was feeling slowed down her every movement, it took her 5 minutes to complete the simple task of making cereal. She flopped down onto one of her dining chairs with a slight thump and ate her breakfast. There was nothing in the world Rainbow would want for breakfast other than a bowl of Wondero’s, the official cereal of her favorite flying team, the Wonderbolts. Her lack of any sort of enthusiasm made the normally delicious cereal taste bland and stale. Maybe she had lost all her appetite for the sugar coated cereal, or maybe the seclusion she was feeling somehow changed the taste. The pegasus didn’t know, nor did she care. After finishing her cereal, she trotted outside to feel the cold winter breeze on her blue fur. Upon opening the door, she noticed something strange; a letter had arrived for her and had been placed on the fluffy cloud garden. She picked it up and ran inside with a flash of excitement to see what she had just received. Rainbow jumped onto the same chair she had sat on whilst eating her breakfast and ripped the envelope open with her mouth. Tipping the letter over with her wing, a small, folded up slip fell onto the table below. Hurriedly, Rainbow grabbed the slip and opened it up. Bills, she had gotten excited over just simple bills. She let out a huge sigh and gradually made her way onto the floor. Was this what Rainbow Dash, Equestria’s best young flyer had become; a lonely old mare who has a tortoise as her only company and gets excited over measly bills? The blue pony had less people to comfort her this Hearth’s Warming Eve than her friend Twilight, and she hated it. Having no attention given to her at all this time of year just drove her mad to the very core. There was nothing worse to Dash than being alone when all of her friends were having fun. She trotted over to the radio that was sitting on a cupboard, right next to her collection of Daring Do books. The radio was a dark mahogany, old fashioned beast of a radio. As Rainbow turned it on, a flurry of clicks and clacks whirred inside the machine and finally a sound sprung to life. “This is Vinyl Scratch in the morning! Coming to you with the latest pony beats from all around Equestria! I hope everypony’s having a fine day this Hearth’s Warming Eve! Now here is the joint collaboration between three amazing pony artists, Good Ol’ Days!” shouted the voice on the radio as the energetic song started to play. This song was one of Rainbow Dash’s favorites, so she sat down on her sofa and listening to the beats with a feeble smile. Soon it was over, and the next song that came on the radio was of no interest to the pegasus, so she shut it off with a humph. Rainbow glanced at the clock that lay upon a shelf of the cupboard: It had been and hour and a half since she woke up, and in this time she had done nothing but wallow in loneliness. At that moment, a hoof crashed down onto her wooden door. Rainbow jumped up as the knocking pierced the quietness of her home. Curiously she jumped off the sofa and went over to the door. A tall pegasus stood in front of her. He had a dark brown coat and his mane was the darkest of blues. His face sported a stiff scowl, he clearly didn’t want to be up here on such a fine day. On his left cheek lay a dark scar which stood out against his coat, almost looking like it had been painted on. Rainbow stared at the mysterious pony, he stared back and they both shared the rather awkward moment. “Are you Rainbow Dash?” the brown pony asked. He had a rather high-pitched voice for a pony that looked the way he did, but overall he seemed like a friendly pony, not one you wouldn’t want to be friends with. “Uhhh yeah... who are you?” Dash asked with a bemused expression on her face. “My name’s Wind Catcher, nice to meet you Miss Rainbow Dash. I’m Scootaloo’s father. She’s been bugging us all day for me to invite you for Hearth’s Warming Eve. So, um, would you like to come round ours for the festivities?,” he said with a smile. “Awesome! Nothing’s worse than being alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve, I’ll come with you just to see Scootaloo’s face when I walk in.” “Well, let’s get going,” Wind Catcher replied, nodding his head. Rainbow gave a quick nod back and took off, Wind Catcher swiftly following. The two ponies swooped through the sky above ponyville. Rainbow looked down to see many Hearth’s Warming Eve festivities. There were small fillies playing in the snow, making snowponies and having the time of their lives. They whizzed past the Ponyville town hall and briefly saw the pageant that had been put on, there were ponies dressed up in the familiar costumes that everypony had seen before. Everything was specially decorated for the holidays; sugarcube corner had turned into a mass of fairy lights and tinsel with a bit of Pinkie Pie’s handiwork, and even the library Twilight Sparkle lived in had been made festive, despite her absence. Overall, the whole town was full with the type of festive joy that a holiday such as Hearth’s Warming Eve brought; even the air felt festive as Dash flew through it. The two pegasi continued to zip past the winding streets of Ponyville until they reached what Rainbow assumed was Scootaloo’s house. Something seemed odd to Rainbow: nearly every day Derpy Hooves was to be seen delivering letters to this street, but today, she wasn’t there at all. Maybe it was her day off, or she had gotten ill or maybe she had just been normal Derpy and had an accident, she thought. Not thinking more than that of this odd occurrence, Rainbow gave a quick sigh and continued to follow Wind Catcher. Rainbow suddenly felt something she hadn’t felt that day, pure happiness. She was being taken to spend the day with the loveable Scootaloo and what seemed like her nice family, and she felt great. The overall joyfulness of this day had finally gotten to Rainbow and it had gave her a huge smile, one only a small filly could rival. Rainbow and Wind skid to a complete halt in front of the house. The house was magnificent, dark red brick wrapped around the outside and smoke fumed from the chimney. The front of the house was dotted with amazingly detailed glass windows that gave Rainbow a clear view oh the happiness inside. Suddenly, Wind Catcher trotted over to the small wooden door, breaking the peace of the winter morning. Rainbow had just gotten over her landing and wandered over to the pony’s side. For a moment the two ponies stood there, awkwardness floated over them. The brown pegasus knocked softly onto the door. Inside the shouts of a small filly were heard, mainly shouts of absolute glee and excitement. Footsteps came crashing down stairs and down a hallway until finally, the door opened. Standing at the door wasn’t Scootaloo, but a medium sized unicorn. Her expression bore one of extreme stress, and she was wearing an apron laden with beautiful patterns and colours. She had a coat that was a heavily saturated red, and a short, light purple mane with a few pink highlights. She didn’t look like the most interesting pony to Rainbow Dash; but the stressed demeanor and the tomboyish looks convinced her that there was still a slight mystery surrounding who she was. But then all Dash could really assume is that this was the mother of Scootaloo. Suddenly a strong scent filled Rainbow’s nose. It was the distinct smell of nut roast cooking in the oven , nearly everypony ate it. This led Dash to believe that the mare had been slaving over an oven all day, preparing the nut roast and all that went with it. It also filled her with anticipation, since she knew that later,she would be enjoying the taste of a nut roast with all the trimmings. The red unicorn huffed and puffed, staring in both excitement and annoyance at the two ponies that had just arrived. She took a deep breath and, still steaming, uttered some words to Dash. “Welcome back Wind. You must be Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo’s inside just dying to see you.” “And who may you be?” Rainbow asked. “Oh, my name is Crystal. But I hate that name, call me Kristy. It’s so nice to meet you , but I’ve got to head off now, lunch isn’t gonna cook itself,” she hastily ran back to the kitchen to continue cooking the meal. “Can’t wait honey!” said Wind with anticipation. Rainbow stepped inside. She was standing in a seemingly normal hallway; a staircase stood right in front of her, and the floor was laden with a fine blue rug. There was a door right at the end of the hallway that led to the kitchen, and a door to Rainbow’s left that led to what she only assumed was the living room. On the white wall a painting of a gruff, brown pegasus hung, it had the heading The only pony to have ever climbed the great Mount Corwynt- Name Unknown. Rainbow stood there for a few seconds, Wind Catcher beside her as the hooves of a small filly came crashing down from upstairs. “Rainbow Dash! You came!” Scootaloo said with glee. “Of course I did, kid!” Dash replied, looking down and smiling at the excited filly. Scootaloo skipped into the living room, and Rainbow followed. The living room was amazing; it had paintings of various mountaineers and something Rainbow Dash had never seen before set up in front of two leather sofas, which both faced towards one of the magnificent glass windows. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and shone its light around the room. Overall the room was a snug and cozy feeling place, but Rainbow’s attention lay on the mysterious thing at the front of the room. Scootaloo made her way onto one of the sofas, leaped onto it, sat down and faced Dash. “Hey Dashie! You wanna see what I got today? It is amazing!” “Sure kid, go ahead,” said the pegasus. Scootaloo leaped off the sofa and trotted blissfully to the wooden box that sat under the window, it had a small rounded glass screen and its sides were covered with various knobs and buttons. The filly pushed a large white button that lay near the top of the machine, and suddenly the screen turned to a mess of static. “My Dad bought this for me, he’s really into his tech stuff. He calls it a television, it beams moving pictures all the way from canterlot! It’s like having a unicorn’s magic in a box!” Scootaloo remarked, as the picture on screen turned from static to some sort of image, “want to watch it with me?” “Sure kid, I’ll just take a seat, I still don’t get what this thing is,” Dash replied. The two ponies sat down on the sofa as a show faded onto the screen. Rainbow Dash spiked her ears up in glee as it turned out to be based on her favorite book series, Daring Do. Rainbow sat and stared at the box in wonder, Scootaloo did so too. The episode was about the titular pony having to fight her way across a speeding train full with bad guys. Dash couldn’t really comprehend what she was seeing, it was like the book had come to life and was being shown on a screen. Scootaloo knew what was going on, her dad had explained it to her before, so she just sat back and observed the show. Halfway through the program, Scootaloo’s father, who had been helping his wife with the meal, trotted into the living room and took a seat next to Rainbow. He set a fire from the comfort of his chair and the three ponies shared no words as they watched the exciting conclusion of the show. Even though they said nothing to each other, the air in the room held feelings of warmness, love and overall a strange feeling of family that Rainbow Dash hadn’t felt for a long time. “And, dinner is ready!” shouted Kristy from the kitchen. Rainbow had been playing a game of Battleponies with Scootaloo when they heard the shout. The excited filly led her guest to a room she hadn’t seen before, the dining room. In the middle of the large room was a small, yet functional oak dining table that had already been laid with plates and glasses. Around the edge of the room was a large bookcase, filled with all sorts of books, including ones on mountaineers, famous pegasi, magic instruction books that looked untouched and a few old adventure novels. There were 4 seats set around the table, Rainbow picked one and planted herself onto it. Scootaloo expectedly jumped onto the seat next to her, licking her lips and anticipating the food that was about to come. Rainbow glanced out of the window that was on the only wall not covered in the massive bookcase and saw that it had once again begun to snow. She also saw the garden of the house, which was in a very bad state. The flowers in the various beds were all dead and the grass was covered in various toys and rubbish. It was a stark contrast to the cleanliness that was shown throughout the interior of the house, there wasn’t a dirty stain to be seen, yet what Rainbow thought would be a clean garden was a horrid mess of grass and dirt. After a minute or so, Kristie walked in the room, levitating a large plate that was covered in foil. Wind Catcher had taken a chair opposite from his daughter, and was getting very hungry, along with the two other ponies. In a moment of pure bliss, Kristie ripped the foil off the meal to reveal the beautifully cooked, amazingly fragrant and brilliantly presented nut roast. She also took off the foil from a number of other plates she had brought in, which revealed such treats such as roast potatoes, boiled carrots and yorkshire puddings. Kristie took her seat next to her husband and the 4 ponies began to serve the meal one by one onto the plates. They finished serving and at once, all dug in. “So Rainbow, tell me a bit about yourself,” said Kristie, glancing up from her meal. “Well, I think we should hear more about you two, I’m sure little Scoot here has been banging on about how awesome I am,” Dash replied, giving a slight chuckle and looking over to the filly that sat besides her, who was too busy eating to notice. “Oh all right then. Well I’m just normal really, nothing much to talk about. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie though, me and Scoot have had many a fun time in theme parks and such. Other than that, there’s nothing really special about me.” said Kristie, who proceeded to gobble down a roast potato, “I’ve never really been interested in learning much about magic, just seems like a waste of time to learn much more than simple levitation.” “What about you then, Wind Catcher?” Rainbow asked. “Well, I work most days as a mail pony along with that silly little mare Derpy. I’m a mountaineer at heart though, you’ve probably seen all the stuff around the house,” Wind answered with a slight authoritative tone. His expression suddenly changed into a sorrowful frown. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Kristie asked, now worried. “Nothing, I... I was just remembering poor old granny and grandpa.” “Now Wind Catcher! I told you not to remind Scootaloo of that day, do not bring it up now, especially in front of guests!” shouted Kristie. Rainbow gasped as the filly got up and ran straight first out of the room and up the stairs, crying heavily. “Oh Celestia, look at what you’ve done now Wind Catcher!” screamed Kristie right into his face. “And you think hiding the fact that they are dead from our own daughter is going to fix that?!” Wind argued. Rainbow quietly slipped away, leaving her meal unfinished and the two parents to argue and shout at one another. She knew that the filly needed some comforting at this moment, so Dash decided to make her way up to Scootaloo’s room and do so. That was when a loud knock came on the door, and the pegasus decided to answer it instead. When she opened the door she saw the grey-coated, yellow-maned pegasus Derpy Hooves standing there in the snow, weeping loudly. “Rainbow Dash! I need some help Rainbow!” cried Derpy. Rainbow stared in shock, she had never seen the normally joyful pony this way. She had always wore a smile, every day. When she was working as the mailmare and when she was caring for her daughter, the smile stayed on as if it were glued on. Rainbow knew something was seriously wrong when she saw Derpy in this state. “What’s wrong, Derpy?” Rainbow asked worryingly. The distraught pegasus reached out to her friend and wailed, “It’s Dinky... she’s not moving.” Chapter 3: Nopony Smiled That DayIt was the day after Hearth’s Warming Eve, and Scootaloo was trotting down the cobbled road towards Ponyville school. She was accompanied, as usual, by her two friends and fellow cutie mark crusaders; Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They were both trotting alongside her. The cool breeze of an early January morning brushed against the three filly’s coats, and a slight sense of gloom hung in the air. Except for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, nopony was smiling, nopony was laughing and nopony was enjoying the jolly conversations that brushed the air on most days. It didn’t stop the three fillies smiling though, they were as happy as ever. “I can’t wait to get to school,” exclaimed Scootaloo with a slight bounce, “by the way, guess who came to my house for Hearth’s Warming Eve!” “Who?” Sweetie Asked. “Rainbow Dash! We had such a fun day, I showed her my new television! But weirdly, she just left after I... I don’t want to talk about it.” “Tele-what?” Applebloom asked with a confused grin. “It’s this awesome box thingy that shows moving pictures!” Scootaloo replied with glee. “I’m still not getting you...” Applebloom paused and changed the subject, “girls, what’s happening over there?” The yellow filly pointed over to three ponies in large, black cloaks who were all slowly walking into Derpy Hooves’ house. Their expressions were grim, and their walk was slow and meagre. Outside of the house was a large, black carriage with a huge glass container in its back. Inside was a box, the height of a small filly. The three hadn’t seen anything like it before. The carriage looked like the type of carriage that would be in one of the old mare's tales fillies would be told when growing up. The kind that the villain would ride in on, with lightning and thunder behind him. It was a surreal sight for the three, seeing a carriage so similar right outside the house of their friend Dinky. The cutie mark crusaders stood for a moment, wondering what it, and the ponies, were doing there. “Maybe they’re family, packing up their stuff?” Applebloom guessed, raising her eyebrow and tilting her head slightly. “Come on, let’s just keep going!” Scootaloo moaned, tugging her two friends. The three fillies took their attention off the surreal sight and continued down the road. The whole of Ponyville was still covered in snow, but, weirdly, there wasn’t anyone playing outside, which would be a normal sight for a snowy winter morning. All there was, was a few fillies trotting to school, nopony else. The cutie mark crusaders trotted along the cobbled path and finally arrived at the snow covered Ponyville school. Unlike the rest of Ponyville, the school seemed perfectly normal. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon cantered in with their expensive winter coats, Featherweight joyfully fluttered inside, and Truffle Shuffle wandered in whilst nibbling on a small biscuit. Everypony was present, save one filly, Dinky Hooves, whose absence was overlooked since she hadn’t been to school for quite some time. The three, now freezing, fillies walked in and took their seats as usual. The classroom was as usual, covered in hoof-paintings and drawings the foals had made, there was the typical blackboard at the back, and a desk in front of it. Unlike most days, when Cheerilee, the Ponyville School’s teacher, would be standing by her desk gleefully welcoming her students in, the teacher was absent. Scootaloo, who had now comfortably sat down, let out a confused sigh. Cheerilee is never late, why would she be late now? Cheerilee trotted in, and, without saying a single word, took her place next to the desk. Her hair was frazzled and dark bags hung from her eyes. She wore a po-faced expression, she clearly didn’t want to come in that day. The class stopped their chatting and fidgeting and turned to face the teacher. All the student’s faces turned blue, they had never seen their teacher this way and didn’t know what to think. “Class, I’ve got some news,” said Cheerilee in a sombre tone. Scootaloo’s ears pricked up and she swung her hoof in the air, eagerly wanting to say what she thought the news was. “Calm down, Scootaloo. Now class, I’ve got some bad news about your friend Dinky Hooves.” Scootaloo dropped her hoof down, gulped and nervously waited for what her teacher was about to say. Her two friends, who had been glaring out the window turned their heads towards the teacher and waited for what she was about to say. “As you may know, Dinky has been very ill these past couple of months. I am very glad about the support you’ve given her. But yesterday evening, Dinky Hooves passed away. She won’t be with us anymore.” Scootaloo froze in disbelief, her breathing slowed down, and her eyes stayed fixed on the teacher in front of her. She couldn’t believe what Cheerilee had just told her, that her friend was... dead. She remembered the many happy times he had shared with Dinky, ones that would now never come again. She didn’t have the guts to cry, all the orange filly did was stare into the blackness of space and reminisce about Dinky. Scootaloo was the only filly in that room that had ever seen death, she knew how dark it could be, and, from the day of her grandparents’ death she had less sensitive to the thought, except for when anyone reminded her of what happened that fateful day. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle had begun to weep heavily, along with many of the other fillies in the room. Applebloom, on the other hoof, decided to comfort her friend, laying her hoof on Sweetie’s back. The white filly quietly wept in her friends embrace, yet Scootaloo continued to stare into nothingness, dumbfounded at the news. “You can have the day off,” insisted Cheerilee over the cries of her students. ****** A small, brittle, brown leaf drifted through the winter air and onto Rainbow Dash’s nose, it quickly flew off her nose and out of the graveyard. The pegasus looked up to the sky to see a majestic bird fly in front of the sun, and swooped onto a bare tree. She looked to her left to see Derpy Hooves, weeping into a tissue she was holding up to her face. It had been three long, stressful days since Dinky Hooves’ death and today was the funeral. During those three days, Rainbow saw neither Derpy nor Scootaloo, she had been alone to deal with seeing the death of a young filly. She hadn’t shed a single tear since the ordeal, even though her heart was aching and her thoughts gloomy. The sky glistened with a lush blue, the pegasi had done a good job of clearing the clouds today. The graveyard, on the other hand, was the polar opposite; gothic fences wrapped around the sides, and the gravestones of a hundred ponies were set out in rows, giving the whole area a sense of death and despair. At the front lay a small gravestone that read: In loving memory of Dinky Hooves. Died December 17th, aged 8 years Rest In Peace . Around this gravestone stood a mere 5 ponies: Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, a short old vicar and two older ponies whom Rainbow could only assume were Derpy’s mother and father. Even though the whole of Ponyville was shocked at the news of the filly’s death, nopony except Rainbow Dash had bothered to come to her funeral. Rainbow felt the need she had to, she had seen her die and she knew Derpy barely had any friends, so some good company would help the grieving mare. Derpy was wearing a large black veil over her bright yellow mane, and she was standing directly in front of her daughter's grave. As Dash started to get bored of waiting around, the vicar walked over to the side of the grave and began to speak his part. “We are here to commemorate the life of young Dinky Hooves. The loving daughter of Derpy Hooves, and a loyal friend to many of her classmates. It is always sad to see a filly pass away at such a young age, I hope Ponyville shall never have to see a death like this again. Now, her mother, Derpy, has agreed to come up and recite a final letter she has written for her daughter.” Derpy walked over to the vicar’s side. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue and was ready to recite the poem. The vicar handed a small slip of paper to the mare, who grabbed it out of his hands. With a deep breath, Derpy began to talk. “Dear little Dinky. You were the most amazing filly a mother could ask for. Before you each day was filled with torment, abuse and slander just because of my eyes. When you were born, you gave me the kind of hope that only a newborn filly can give. I thank you for the times we shared together, all the happy memories and all of the little moments that fill my life with joy. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. I just hope you’re in a better place now, because down here I have no hope left for myself. Goodbye, Dinky, mommy will always love you.” Derpy started to bawl and weep for her daughter, her words becoming more slurred, “Yes she will, mommy will always love you, Dinky, no matter what, I’ll love you.” Even though the coffin had not been taken to the grave yet, Derpy still gazed at her daughter’s grave in utter despair. Rainbow glanced around, she saw that the old couple looking somewhat annoyed, they probably didn’t want to be here. Both wore a grimace on their faces and they showed no sign of pity, grief or mourning. The old mare rose her mouth to her husband. “How sappy, why did we even come to her funeral anyway?” she mumbled. Rainbow gasped at what she heard, she knew that a lot of ponies just brought Derpy for the ride to not hurt her feelings, but her own parents not wanting to come to the funeral shocked the pegasus. Dash felt a slight wave of pride in the fact that she was loyal enough to poor Derpy to come to this funeral and actually care. She looked back at Derpy, who was weeping heavily into a tissue, so she decided to run over and comfort her. Rainbow lifted her hoof and wrapped it around the grieving mother. Derpy slowly dug her face into Dash’s neck; Dash gave a small smile to try lighten the mood. “Now, if you could all move back so we can lay the coffin to rest,” the vicar ordered in a deathly tone, although it was one of someone who’s had to do this many times before. The two grieving ponies walked back to their places, a spot of dirt glided from under Derpy’s hooves as she trotted, landing on the vicar’s head and giving his already black fur a brown tinge. Suddenly a door opened from the church, and three ponies in black coats walked out, into the graveyard. In their hooves they held a small, filly-sized coffin made of a dark oak wood. Rainbow could see that it had the name Dinky Hooves finely etched onto it. Derpy wasn’t the richest pony, but she could afford a fine coffin for her daughter. As the undertakers glided through the graveyard like Death himself, a heavy wind blew through their hair, and clouds begun to form above. Rainbow continued to comfort the weeping Derpy as the coffin was placed above the grave, ready to be lowered in. Derpy pushed Dash away and ran over to the coffin, she stared at it for a few moments, then grabbed a small box that was lying next to her. She opened it and took out a small bubble blower, it looked exactly like the one she had shown Dinky before her death. She held it up to the coffin and blew two small, beautiful bubbles that floated towards each other, then quickly joined together so they resembled the shape of two ponies; a mare and a filly. The two bubbles floated together as if they were running, Derpy gazed up at them and smiled. Then a large gust of wind blew the bubbles away, the mare and the filly split from each other and they both eventually popped. The coffin started to lower into the grave, the wind became stronger and the clouds became darker and thicker. There was no silver lining on the clouds today, and there were no pegasi around to clear them. “Hope you like it, Dinky,” said the mare with a forced smile. She put the bubble blower back into its case and lay it upon the coffin as it lowered into the ground. After a couple of seconds, the coffin had reached the bottom of the grave and the undertakers started to shovel dirt in. When the coffin reached its final resting place, Derpy said one last thing to her daughter. “Goodbye... my little Dinky Hooves.” Chapter 2: Like Mother, Like DaughterAfter a few minutes of flying the two ponies had finally reached Derpy’s house. It was just a normal yellow Ponyville house. A few failed DIY attempts dotted the outside, a broken bird house and a crooked table, but other than that there wasn’t anything to distinguish the humble house from any other Ponyville home. There was, however, a large tree in the garden, with various fairy lights hung over it. This was probably just a Hearth’s Warming Eve decoration, Derpy had always been one to enjoy the festivities of the day. There was also a hastily hung up wreath hanging on the small wooden door. But Rainbow didn’t pay attention to these things for so long, instead watching the still bawling Derpy Hooves as she quietly opened the door. The two trotted in. The inside was a stark contrast to any of the festivities that were going on outside, there wasn’t a light on in the whole house, and not even a single decoration. Rainbow’s relative happiness took a sudden drop as she walked through the morbid abode. She went past a kitchen, which didn’t have anything cooking, a meagre living room with walls that seemed almost bare. No Hearth’s Warming Eve decorations, and just a picture of Derpy and DInky in one corner to adorn the walls, and a garden that was even messier than the one at Scootaloo’s house. Just being in the house made Rainbow feel saddened and let down, and she was starting to feel uneasy. There was nothing about the house that even hinted at any sort of festivity, except for the outside. Rainbow followed Derpy up a flight of stairs. The second floor was just like the first; sparse and empty. A few frames hung on the walls, the floorboards uncovered and in need of some care. The two ponies walked up to a door that had a finger painted sign that said Dinkyz Room. The grey pegasus opened the door and trotted in, Rainbow gulped and followed her. The room had pink walls and a light blue rug, there were a few hoof paintings and childlike drawings stuck onto the walls. They were mainly crude depictions of Derpy and Dinky playing together, one had the caption I luv my mummy! on it. In the middle of the room was a large quilted bed, with a lamp on a bedside table beside it that gave off a dim glow. On the bed lay the filly, Dinky Hooves, and indeed she seemed to not be moving at all. Rainbow could see that she was still breathing, but any sign of other movement had gone from her body. The filly’s face was deathly, bags hung under her eyes and her whole nose had reddened. Her lilac coat had grown pale, until she resembled a ghost. Rainbow didn’t know what was the matter with Dinky, all she knew that the poor filly was not well at all. “She’s been really ill for ages and today she’s gotten really bad! I’m worried, Rainbow Dash!” cried Derpy as she closed the door behind her. “Well, sorry Derpy, but I don’t know what’s wrong, what’s happened!” replied Dash. “Dinky had been really ill for ages and then this morning she just stopped moving! She’s really worrying me Rainbow Dash!” “Derpy I don’t know what’s wrong, and I do not know how to help her!” said Dash in an agitated tone. Derpy sighed and trotted over to her daughter, laying her hoof upon her motionless body, and starting to cry even heavier than before. Rainbow just looked at the distressing sight, she wasn’t tearing up, and that worried her for a moment. But she definitely wasn’t smiling, her face had turned into one of grief, sorrow and distress. She tried not to look at the two ponies and instead glanced outside the window that was shining dimly on the room. Outside it was still snowing and a few pegasi blissfully flew past, lobbing snowballs at each other and laughing. They were having the time of their lives, but Rainbow was far from having that right now. Suddenly, in a fit of coughs and sputters the small filly burst back into life. Her mother jumped back in shock since it happened so quickly. Rainbow’s sombre expression lightened up, and so did Derpy’s tears. Dash began to ponder why Derpy had even brought her here, or why she even followed her in the first place. Why didn’t Derpy just call a doctor? Why did she try to get help from random ponies? Why did she leave her obviously very ill daughter? Rainbow didn’t bother to come up with a proper answer for any of these and just brushed it off as something Derpy would do, she wasn’t the most together pony after all. Rainbow looked back at the mother and daughter, who were now just staring into each other’s eyes. “Mummy... I had,” Dinky was interrupted by a rough cough, “the most amazing dream!” Derpy smiled at her filly and said “Well then, tell me about it.” “I was on a massive balloon then out of the sky, muffins rained down! You were there with me, I was so happy!” coughed the filly. Next to Dinky lay a small teddy bear, its eye had been ripped out somehow and wool poured out of various holes, it had clearly been played with a lot. The filly grabbed the bear and brought it up to her lap, she gave a quick glance at her mother to show that she wanted her to play with it. Derpy picked up the bear with her mouth and began to make it do a little jig in front of the filly, who smiled in delight. Derpy’s crossed eyes stared at her gleeful daughter, her tears had dried up and she was happy once again. “Well, it seems like everything’s fine. I guess I should leave then.” said Rainbow Dash, awkwardly scratching her neck. She was itching to go and get back to Scootaloo’s house. “No, don’t, Rainbow, I want to give Dinky her present!” replied Derpy. “Well, I guess I can stay a little longer.” Derpy wandered out of the room and into another, she grabbed a small box wrapped in a patterned paper and brought it back into the filly’s bedroom. She skipped over to her daughter and placed the box on her lap. Dinky looked down at the present in both excitement and confusion, she wondered what this mysterious package could be. Derpy looked into Dinky’s eyes and gave a quick nod, telling her she could open it. Dinky proceeded to tear the wrapping paper off with her hooves, sending small bits of the paper flying over the room. Inside was a small box, with the words Property of Derpy etched onto it. The filly opened it up to reveal a small bubble blower, covered in tiny etchings of swirls and spirals. Dinky glanced up at her mother with a confused grin. “This is the first ever bubble blower I ever owned! I had it when I got my cutie mark. Go on, give it a blow,” giggled the cross-eyed mare. “Uh, mummy, I need some of that stuff to make bubbles.” “Go on, it doesn’t need that!” Dinky put the strap that was attached to the bubble blower around her hoof and brought it up to her mouth. She gave a short blow and, like magic, bubbles burst out even though there wasn’t even any liquid inside. The filly stared in amazement at the shining bubbles, she hadn’t seen anything like this before. Tens of tiny bubbles floated around the filly’s head, her eyes followed them in pure glee. “Mommy,” said the filly. “Yes?” “Thank you.” Suddenly, the filly broke into a fit of coughing. Her body started to violently convulse, throwing sheets off the bed. Derpy tried to hold her down and stop her shaking but the violent fit made her grip break. The pegasus burst into a shower of tears and Rainbow glared in shock at the convulsing filly. “Dinky! Stop it! You’re scaring mommy!” cried Derpy, once again unsuccessfully trying to stop her daughter’s fit. With those words, Dinky stopped her fit and fell back onto the bed, motionless. Derpy started to weep tears of joy and gave her the biggest hug a mother could give. She squeezed the filly as hard as she could, just assuming she was fine. When she let go of her daughter and looked at her, she wasn’t moving. Derpy ran to the other side of the room and grabbed the bubble blower, which had been thrown off the bed. She went back to her daughter and started to blow bubbles over the filly in a desperate attempt to wake her up. “Look Dinky, bubbles!” wailed Derpy, trying extremely hard to smile. Rainbow Dash, who had been standing at the back of the room, ran to her friend and tried to comfort her. Derpy didn’t notice the pegasus that was now standing beside her and blew a few more bubbles. The filly continued to lie there. This didn’t stop her mother from trying more things to encourage her to wake up. Derpy picked up the bear and made it do a little jig above the small pony.Eventually, In a final attempt at waking up the filly, Derpy ran outside, grabbed a large plate of muffins and galloped back inside, waving the treats under the filly’s nose. Dinky continued to neither move nor breath. Derpy’s heart sank as she realized what had happened to her only child. “Come on Dinky, wake up for mommy! You can do it, come on Dinky!” Derpy cried desperately, “Dinky please, don’t do this to mommy! Just wake up, please just wake up!”
Chapter 1: Alone Once MoreRainbow Dash awoke, she was on her own once more. She had not been invited to any Hearth’s Warming Eve parties this year, unlike the last. Her five other friends had someone to celebrate the special occasion with: Twilight was in Canterlot with her parents, Applejack was spending it with her family, Pinkie with the Cakes, Rarity with her parents, and even Fluttershy was with animals, who she just wanted to spend the day with after last year’s hectic celebrations; but Dash had no-one to share it with except her pet tortoise, Tank. Tank was a good pet: he was loyal and he had shared many a time with his owner playing in the fields (albeit slowly). Rainbow glanced from her bed to see the tortoise sleeping and letting out a faint snore. She had awoken to the sound of silence, her cloud home was so high up, she couldn’t even hear the cheers of fillies playing in the snow below. A wave of loneliness flew over the pony as she lazily got out of her bed and trotted down to her lounge. The room was had no festive decorations at all. As on any other day, the large sofa, multi-seater dining table and well stocked kitchen sat there, waiting for someone to use them. I’ll get a bite to eat, not like there’s anything else to do, she thought to herself. Unenthusiastically, the pegasus trotted over to her kitchen counter and made herself a bowl of cereal. Bags hung under her eyes and the loneliness she was feeling slowed down her every movement, it took her 5 minutes to complete the simple task of making cereal. She flopped down onto one of her dining chairs with a slight thump and ate her breakfast. There was nothing in the world Rainbow would want for breakfast other than a bowl of Wondero’s, the official cereal of her favorite flying team, the Wonderbolts. Her lack of any sort of enthusiasm made the normally delicious cereal taste bland and stale. Maybe she had lost all her appetite for the sugar coated cereal, or maybe the seclusion she was feeling somehow changed the taste. The pegasus didn’t know, nor did she care. After finishing her cereal, she trotted outside to feel the cold winter breeze on her blue fur. Upon opening the door, she noticed something strange; a letter had arrived for her and had been placed on the fluffy cloud garden. She picked it up and ran inside with a flash of excitement to see what she had just received. Rainbow jumped onto the same chair she had sat on whilst eating her breakfast and ripped the envelope open with her mouth. Tipping the letter over with her wing, a small, folded up slip fell onto the table below. Hurriedly, Rainbow grabbed the slip and opened it up. Bills, she had gotten excited over just simple bills. She let out a huge sigh and gradually made her way onto the floor. Was this what Rainbow Dash, Equestria’s best young flyer had become; a lonely old mare who has a tortoise as her only company and gets excited over measly bills? The blue pony had less people to comfort her this Hearth’s Warming Eve than her friend Twilight, and she hated it. Having no attention given to her at all this time of year just drove her mad to the very core. There was nothing worse to Dash than being alone when all of her friends were having fun. She trotted over to the radio that was sitting on a cupboard, right next to her collection of Daring Do books. The radio was a dark mahogany, old fashioned beast of a radio. As Rainbow turned it on, a flurry of clicks and clacks whirred inside the machine and finally a sound sprung to life. “This is Vinyl Scratch in the morning! Coming to you with the latest pony beats from all around Equestria! I hope everypony’s having a fine day this Hearth’s Warming Eve! Now here is the joint collaboration between three amazing pony artists, Good Ol’ Days!” shouted the voice on the radio as the energetic song started to play. This song was one of Rainbow Dash’s favorites, so she sat down on her sofa and listening to the beats with a feeble smile. Soon it was over, and the next song that came on the radio was of no interest to the pegasus, so she shut it off with a humph. Rainbow glanced at the clock that lay upon a shelf of the cupboard: It had been and hour and a half since she woke up, and in this time she had done nothing but wallow in loneliness. At that moment, a hoof crashed down onto her wooden door. Rainbow jumped up as the knocking pierced the quietness of her home. Curiously she jumped off the sofa and went over to the door. A tall pegasus stood in front of her. He had a dark brown coat and his mane was the darkest of blues. His face sported a stiff scowl, he clearly didn’t want to be up here on such a fine day. On his left cheek lay a dark scar which stood out against his coat, almost looking like it had been painted on. Rainbow stared at the mysterious pony, he stared back and they both shared the rather awkward moment. “Are you Rainbow Dash?” the brown pony asked. He had a rather high-pitched voice for a pony that looked the way he did, but overall he seemed like a friendly pony, not one you wouldn’t want to be friends with. “Uhhh yeah... who are you?” Dash asked with a bemused expression on her face. “My name’s Wind Catcher, nice to meet you Miss Rainbow Dash. I’m Scootaloo’s father. She’s been bugging us all day for me to invite you for Hearth’s Warming Eve. So, um, would you like to come round ours for the festivities?,” he said with a smile. “Awesome! Nothing’s worse than being alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve, I’ll come with you just to see Scootaloo’s face when I walk in.” “Well, let’s get going,” Wind Catcher replied, nodding his head. Rainbow gave a quick nod back and took off, Wind Catcher swiftly following. The two ponies swooped through the sky above ponyville. Rainbow looked down to see many Hearth’s Warming Eve festivities. There were small fillies playing in the snow, making snowponies and having the time of their lives. They whizzed past the Ponyville town hall and briefly saw the pageant that had been put on, there were ponies dressed up in the familiar costumes that everypony had seen before. Everything was specially decorated for the holidays; sugarcube corner had turned into a mass of fairy lights and tinsel with a bit of Pinkie Pie’s handiwork, and even the library Twilight Sparkle lived in had been made festive, despite her absence. Overall, the whole town was full with the type of festive joy that a holiday such as Hearth’s Warming Eve brought; even the air felt festive as Dash flew through it. The two pegasi continued to zip past the winding streets of Ponyville until they reached what Rainbow assumed was Scootaloo’s house. Something seemed odd to Rainbow: nearly every day Derpy Hooves was to be seen delivering letters to this street, but today, she wasn’t there at all. Maybe it was her day off, or she had gotten ill or maybe she had just been normal Derpy and had an accident, she thought. Not thinking more than that of this odd occurrence, Rainbow gave a quick sigh and continued to follow Wind Catcher. Rainbow suddenly felt something she hadn’t felt that day, pure happiness. She was being taken to spend the day with the loveable Scootaloo and what seemed like her nice family, and she felt great. The overall joyfulness of this day had finally gotten to Rainbow and it had gave her a huge smile, one only a small filly could rival. Rainbow and Wind skid to a complete halt in front of the house. The house was magnificent, dark red brick wrapped around the outside and smoke fumed from the chimney. The front of the house was dotted with amazingly detailed glass windows that gave Rainbow a clear view oh the happiness inside. Suddenly, Wind Catcher trotted over to the small wooden door, breaking the peace of the winter morning. Rainbow had just gotten over her landing and wandered over to the pony’s side. For a moment the two ponies stood there, awkwardness floated over them. The brown pegasus knocked softly onto the door. Inside the shouts of a small filly were heard, mainly shouts of absolute glee and excitement. Footsteps came crashing down stairs and down a hallway until finally, the door opened. Standing at the door wasn’t Scootaloo, but a medium sized unicorn. Her expression bore one of extreme stress, and she was wearing an apron laden with beautiful patterns and colours. She had a coat that was a heavily saturated red, and a short, light purple mane with a few pink highlights. She didn’t look like the most interesting pony to Rainbow Dash; but the stressed demeanor and the tomboyish looks convinced her that there was still a slight mystery surrounding who she was. But then all Dash could really assume is that this was the mother of Scootaloo. Suddenly a strong scent filled Rainbow’s nose. It was the distinct smell of nut roast cooking in the oven , nearly everypony ate it. This led Dash to believe that the mare had been slaving over an oven all day, preparing the nut roast and all that went with it. It also filled her with anticipation, since she knew that later,she would be enjoying the taste of a nut roast with all the trimmings. The red unicorn huffed and puffed, staring in both excitement and annoyance at the two ponies that had just arrived. She took a deep breath and, still steaming, uttered some words to Dash. “Welcome back Wind. You must be Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo’s inside just dying to see you.” “And who may you be?” Rainbow asked. “Oh, my name is Crystal. But I hate that name, call me Kristy. It’s so nice to meet you , but I’ve got to head off now, lunch isn’t gonna cook itself,” she hastily ran back to the kitchen to continue cooking the meal. “Can’t wait honey!” said Wind with anticipation. Rainbow stepped inside. She was standing in a seemingly normal hallway; a staircase stood right in front of her, and the floor was laden with a fine blue rug. There was a door right at the end of the hallway that led to the kitchen, and a door to Rainbow’s left that led to what she only assumed was the living room. On the white wall a painting of a gruff, brown pegasus hung, it had the heading The only pony to have ever climbed the great Mount Corwynt- Name Unknown. Rainbow stood there for a few seconds, Wind Catcher beside her as the hooves of a small filly came crashing down from upstairs. “Rainbow Dash! You came!” Scootaloo said with glee. “Of course I did, kid!” Dash replied, looking down and smiling at the excited filly. Scootaloo skipped into the living room, and Rainbow followed. The living room was amazing; it had paintings of various mountaineers and something Rainbow Dash had never seen before set up in front of two leather sofas, which both faced towards one of the magnificent glass windows. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and shone its light around the room. Overall the room was a snug and cozy feeling place, but Rainbow’s attention lay on the mysterious thing at the front of the room. Scootaloo made her way onto one of the sofas, leaped onto it, sat down and faced Dash. “Hey Dashie! You wanna see what I got today? It is amazing!” “Sure kid, go ahead,” said the pegasus. Scootaloo leaped off the sofa and trotted blissfully to the wooden box that sat under the window, it had a small rounded glass screen and its sides were covered with various knobs and buttons. The filly pushed a large white button that lay near the top of the machine, and suddenly the screen turned to a mess of static. “My Dad bought this for me, he’s really into his tech stuff. He calls it a television, it beams moving pictures all the way from canterlot! It’s like having a unicorn’s magic in a box!” Scootaloo remarked, as the picture on screen turned from static to some sort of image, “want to watch it with me?” “Sure kid, I’ll just take a seat, I still don’t get what this thing is,” Dash replied. The two ponies sat down on the sofa as a show faded onto the screen. Rainbow Dash spiked her ears up in glee as it turned out to be based on her favorite book series, Daring Do. Rainbow sat and stared at the box in wonder, Scootaloo did so too. The episode was about the titular pony having to fight her way across a speeding train full with bad guys. Dash couldn’t really comprehend what she was seeing, it was like the book had come to life and was being shown on a screen. Scootaloo knew what was going on, her dad had explained it to her before, so she just sat back and observed the show. Halfway through the program, Scootaloo’s father, who had been helping his wife with the meal, trotted into the living room and took a seat next to Rainbow. He set a fire from the comfort of his chair and the three ponies shared no words as they watched the exciting conclusion of the show. Even though they said nothing to each other, the air in the room held feelings of warmness, love and overall a strange feeling of family that Rainbow Dash hadn’t felt for a long time. “And, dinner is ready!” shouted Kristy from the kitchen. Rainbow had been playing a game of Battleponies with Scootaloo when they heard the shout. The excited filly led her guest to a room she hadn’t seen before, the dining room. In the middle of the large room was a small, yet functional oak dining table that had already been laid with plates and glasses. Around the edge of the room was a large bookcase, filled with all sorts of books, including ones on mountaineers, famous pegasi, magic instruction books that looked untouched and a few old adventure novels. There were 4 seats set around the table, Rainbow picked one and planted herself onto it. Scootaloo expectedly jumped onto the seat next to her, licking her lips and anticipating the food that was about to come. Rainbow glanced out of the window that was on the only wall not covered in the massive bookcase and saw that it had once again begun to snow. She also saw the garden of the house, which was in a very bad state. The flowers in the various beds were all dead and the grass was covered in various toys and rubbish. It was a stark contrast to the cleanliness that was shown throughout the interior of the house, there wasn’t a dirty stain to be seen, yet what Rainbow thought would be a clean garden was a horrid mess of grass and dirt. After a minute or so, Kristie walked in the room, levitating a large plate that was covered in foil. Wind Catcher had taken a chair opposite from his daughter, and was getting very hungry, along with the two other ponies. In a moment of pure bliss, Kristie ripped the foil off the meal to reveal the beautifully cooked, amazingly fragrant and brilliantly presented nut roast. She also took off the foil from a number of other plates she had brought in, which revealed such treats such as roast potatoes, boiled carrots and yorkshire puddings. Kristie took her seat next to her husband and the 4 ponies began to serve the meal one by one onto the plates. They finished serving and at once, all dug in. “So Rainbow, tell me a bit about yourself,” said Kristie, glancing up from her meal. “Well, I think we should hear more about you two, I’m sure little Scoot here has been banging on about how awesome I am,” Dash replied, giving a slight chuckle and looking over to the filly that sat besides her, who was too busy eating to notice. “Oh all right then. Well I’m just normal really, nothing much to talk about. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie though, me and Scoot have had many a fun time in theme parks and such. Other than that, there’s nothing really special about me.” said Kristie, who proceeded to gobble down a roast potato, “I’ve never really been interested in learning much about magic, just seems like a waste of time to learn much more than simple levitation.” “What about you then, Wind Catcher?” Rainbow asked. “Well, I work most days as a mail pony along with that silly little mare Derpy. I’m a mountaineer at heart though, you’ve probably seen all the stuff around the house,” Wind answered with a slight authoritative tone. His expression suddenly changed into a sorrowful frown. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Kristie asked, now worried. “Nothing, I... I was just remembering poor old granny and grandpa.” “Now Wind Catcher! I told you not to remind Scootaloo of that day, do not bring it up now, especially in front of guests!” shouted Kristie. Rainbow gasped as the filly got up and ran straight first out of the room and up the stairs, crying heavily. “Oh Celestia, look at what you’ve done now Wind Catcher!” screamed Kristie right into his face. “And you think hiding the fact that they are dead from our own daughter is going to fix that?!” Wind argued. Rainbow quietly slipped away, leaving her meal unfinished and the two parents to argue and shout at one another. She knew that the filly needed some comforting at this moment, so Dash decided to make her way up to Scootaloo’s room and do so. That was when a loud knock came on the door, and the pegasus decided to answer it instead. When she opened the door she saw the grey-coated, yellow-maned pegasus Derpy Hooves standing there in the snow, weeping loudly. “Rainbow Dash! I need some help Rainbow!” cried Derpy. Rainbow stared in shock, she had never seen the normally joyful pony this way. She had always wore a smile, every day. When she was working as the mailmare and when she was caring for her daughter, the smile stayed on as if it were glued on. Rainbow knew something was seriously wrong when she saw Derpy in this state. “What’s wrong, Derpy?” Rainbow asked worryingly. The distraught pegasus reached out to her friend and wailed, “It’s Dinky... she’s not moving.”
Chapter 3: Nopony Smiled That DayIt was the day after Hearth’s Warming Eve, and Scootaloo was trotting down the cobbled road towards Ponyville school. She was accompanied, as usual, by her two friends and fellow cutie mark crusaders; Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They were both trotting alongside her. The cool breeze of an early January morning brushed against the three filly’s coats, and a slight sense of gloom hung in the air. Except for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, nopony was smiling, nopony was laughing and nopony was enjoying the jolly conversations that brushed the air on most days. It didn’t stop the three fillies smiling though, they were as happy as ever. “I can’t wait to get to school,” exclaimed Scootaloo with a slight bounce, “by the way, guess who came to my house for Hearth’s Warming Eve!” “Who?” Sweetie Asked. “Rainbow Dash! We had such a fun day, I showed her my new television! But weirdly, she just left after I... I don’t want to talk about it.” “Tele-what?” Applebloom asked with a confused grin. “It’s this awesome box thingy that shows moving pictures!” Scootaloo replied with glee. “I’m still not getting you...” Applebloom paused and changed the subject, “girls, what’s happening over there?” The yellow filly pointed over to three ponies in large, black cloaks who were all slowly walking into Derpy Hooves’ house. Their expressions were grim, and their walk was slow and meagre. Outside of the house was a large, black carriage with a huge glass container in its back. Inside was a box, the height of a small filly. The three hadn’t seen anything like it before. The carriage looked like the type of carriage that would be in one of the old mare's tales fillies would be told when growing up. The kind that the villain would ride in on, with lightning and thunder behind him. It was a surreal sight for the three, seeing a carriage so similar right outside the house of their friend Dinky. The cutie mark crusaders stood for a moment, wondering what it, and the ponies, were doing there. “Maybe they’re family, packing up their stuff?” Applebloom guessed, raising her eyebrow and tilting her head slightly. “Come on, let’s just keep going!” Scootaloo moaned, tugging her two friends. The three fillies took their attention off the surreal sight and continued down the road. The whole of Ponyville was still covered in snow, but, weirdly, there wasn’t anyone playing outside, which would be a normal sight for a snowy winter morning. All there was, was a few fillies trotting to school, nopony else. The cutie mark crusaders trotted along the cobbled path and finally arrived at the snow covered Ponyville school. Unlike the rest of Ponyville, the school seemed perfectly normal. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon cantered in with their expensive winter coats, Featherweight joyfully fluttered inside, and Truffle Shuffle wandered in whilst nibbling on a small biscuit. Everypony was present, save one filly, Dinky Hooves, whose absence was overlooked since she hadn’t been to school for quite some time. The three, now freezing, fillies walked in and took their seats as usual. The classroom was as usual, covered in hoof-paintings and drawings the foals had made, there was the typical blackboard at the back, and a desk in front of it. Unlike most days, when Cheerilee, the Ponyville School’s teacher, would be standing by her desk gleefully welcoming her students in, the teacher was absent. Scootaloo, who had now comfortably sat down, let out a confused sigh. Cheerilee is never late, why would she be late now? Cheerilee trotted in, and, without saying a single word, took her place next to the desk. Her hair was frazzled and dark bags hung from her eyes. She wore a po-faced expression, she clearly didn’t want to come in that day. The class stopped their chatting and fidgeting and turned to face the teacher. All the student’s faces turned blue, they had never seen their teacher this way and didn’t know what to think. “Class, I’ve got some news,” said Cheerilee in a sombre tone. Scootaloo’s ears pricked up and she swung her hoof in the air, eagerly wanting to say what she thought the news was. “Calm down, Scootaloo. Now class, I’ve got some bad news about your friend Dinky Hooves.” Scootaloo dropped her hoof down, gulped and nervously waited for what her teacher was about to say. Her two friends, who had been glaring out the window turned their heads towards the teacher and waited for what she was about to say. “As you may know, Dinky has been very ill these past couple of months. I am very glad about the support you’ve given her. But yesterday evening, Dinky Hooves passed away. She won’t be with us anymore.” Scootaloo froze in disbelief, her breathing slowed down, and her eyes stayed fixed on the teacher in front of her. She couldn’t believe what Cheerilee had just told her, that her friend was... dead. She remembered the many happy times he had shared with Dinky, ones that would now never come again. She didn’t have the guts to cry, all the orange filly did was stare into the blackness of space and reminisce about Dinky. Scootaloo was the only filly in that room that had ever seen death, she knew how dark it could be, and, from the day of her grandparents’ death she had less sensitive to the thought, except for when anyone reminded her of what happened that fateful day. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle had begun to weep heavily, along with many of the other fillies in the room. Applebloom, on the other hoof, decided to comfort her friend, laying her hoof on Sweetie’s back. The white filly quietly wept in her friends embrace, yet Scootaloo continued to stare into nothingness, dumbfounded at the news. “You can have the day off,” insisted Cheerilee over the cries of her students. ****** A small, brittle, brown leaf drifted through the winter air and onto Rainbow Dash’s nose, it quickly flew off her nose and out of the graveyard. The pegasus looked up to the sky to see a majestic bird fly in front of the sun, and swooped onto a bare tree. She looked to her left to see Derpy Hooves, weeping into a tissue she was holding up to her face. It had been three long, stressful days since Dinky Hooves’ death and today was the funeral. During those three days, Rainbow saw neither Derpy nor Scootaloo, she had been alone to deal with seeing the death of a young filly. She hadn’t shed a single tear since the ordeal, even though her heart was aching and her thoughts gloomy. The sky glistened with a lush blue, the pegasi had done a good job of clearing the clouds today. The graveyard, on the other hand, was the polar opposite; gothic fences wrapped around the sides, and the gravestones of a hundred ponies were set out in rows, giving the whole area a sense of death and despair. At the front lay a small gravestone that read: In loving memory of Dinky Hooves. Died December 17th, aged 8 years Rest In Peace . Around this gravestone stood a mere 5 ponies: Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, a short old vicar and two older ponies whom Rainbow could only assume were Derpy’s mother and father. Even though the whole of Ponyville was shocked at the news of the filly’s death, nopony except Rainbow Dash had bothered to come to her funeral. Rainbow felt the need she had to, she had seen her die and she knew Derpy barely had any friends, so some good company would help the grieving mare. Derpy was wearing a large black veil over her bright yellow mane, and she was standing directly in front of her daughter's grave. As Dash started to get bored of waiting around, the vicar walked over to the side of the grave and began to speak his part. “We are here to commemorate the life of young Dinky Hooves. The loving daughter of Derpy Hooves, and a loyal friend to many of her classmates. It is always sad to see a filly pass away at such a young age, I hope Ponyville shall never have to see a death like this again. Now, her mother, Derpy, has agreed to come up and recite a final letter she has written for her daughter.” Derpy walked over to the vicar’s side. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue and was ready to recite the poem. The vicar handed a small slip of paper to the mare, who grabbed it out of his hands. With a deep breath, Derpy began to talk. “Dear little Dinky. You were the most amazing filly a mother could ask for. Before you each day was filled with torment, abuse and slander just because of my eyes. When you were born, you gave me the kind of hope that only a newborn filly can give. I thank you for the times we shared together, all the happy memories and all of the little moments that fill my life with joy. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. I just hope you’re in a better place now, because down here I have no hope left for myself. Goodbye, Dinky, mommy will always love you.” Derpy started to bawl and weep for her daughter, her words becoming more slurred, “Yes she will, mommy will always love you, Dinky, no matter what, I’ll love you.” Even though the coffin had not been taken to the grave yet, Derpy still gazed at her daughter’s grave in utter despair. Rainbow glanced around, she saw that the old couple looking somewhat annoyed, they probably didn’t want to be here. Both wore a grimace on their faces and they showed no sign of pity, grief or mourning. The old mare rose her mouth to her husband. “How sappy, why did we even come to her funeral anyway?” she mumbled. Rainbow gasped at what she heard, she knew that a lot of ponies just brought Derpy for the ride to not hurt her feelings, but her own parents not wanting to come to the funeral shocked the pegasus. Dash felt a slight wave of pride in the fact that she was loyal enough to poor Derpy to come to this funeral and actually care. She looked back at Derpy, who was weeping heavily into a tissue, so she decided to run over and comfort her. Rainbow lifted her hoof and wrapped it around the grieving mother. Derpy slowly dug her face into Dash’s neck; Dash gave a small smile to try lighten the mood. “Now, if you could all move back so we can lay the coffin to rest,” the vicar ordered in a deathly tone, although it was one of someone who’s had to do this many times before. The two grieving ponies walked back to their places, a spot of dirt glided from under Derpy’s hooves as she trotted, landing on the vicar’s head and giving his already black fur a brown tinge. Suddenly a door opened from the church, and three ponies in black coats walked out, into the graveyard. In their hooves they held a small, filly-sized coffin made of a dark oak wood. Rainbow could see that it had the name Dinky Hooves finely etched onto it. Derpy wasn’t the richest pony, but she could afford a fine coffin for her daughter. As the undertakers glided through the graveyard like Death himself, a heavy wind blew through their hair, and clouds begun to form above. Rainbow continued to comfort the weeping Derpy as the coffin was placed above the grave, ready to be lowered in. Derpy pushed Dash away and ran over to the coffin, she stared at it for a few moments, then grabbed a small box that was lying next to her. She opened it and took out a small bubble blower, it looked exactly like the one she had shown Dinky before her death. She held it up to the coffin and blew two small, beautiful bubbles that floated towards each other, then quickly joined together so they resembled the shape of two ponies; a mare and a filly. The two bubbles floated together as if they were running, Derpy gazed up at them and smiled. Then a large gust of wind blew the bubbles away, the mare and the filly split from each other and they both eventually popped. The coffin started to lower into the grave, the wind became stronger and the clouds became darker and thicker. There was no silver lining on the clouds today, and there were no pegasi around to clear them. “Hope you like it, Dinky,” said the mare with a forced smile. She put the bubble blower back into its case and lay it upon the coffin as it lowered into the ground. After a couple of seconds, the coffin had reached the bottom of the grave and the undertakers started to shovel dirt in. When the coffin reached its final resting place, Derpy said one last thing to her daughter. “Goodbye... my little Dinky Hooves.”
Chapter 2: Like Mother, Like DaughterAfter a few minutes of flying the two ponies had finally reached Derpy’s house. It was just a normal yellow Ponyville house. A few failed DIY attempts dotted the outside, a broken bird house and a crooked table, but other than that there wasn’t anything to distinguish the humble house from any other Ponyville home. There was, however, a large tree in the garden, with various fairy lights hung over it. This was probably just a Hearth’s Warming Eve decoration, Derpy had always been one to enjoy the festivities of the day. There was also a hastily hung up wreath hanging on the small wooden door. But Rainbow didn’t pay attention to these things for so long, instead watching the still bawling Derpy Hooves as she quietly opened the door. The two trotted in. The inside was a stark contrast to any of the festivities that were going on outside, there wasn’t a light on in the whole house, and not even a single decoration. Rainbow’s relative happiness took a sudden drop as she walked through the morbid abode. She went past a kitchen, which didn’t have anything cooking, a meagre living room with walls that seemed almost bare. No Hearth’s Warming Eve decorations, and just a picture of Derpy and DInky in one corner to adorn the walls, and a garden that was even messier than the one at Scootaloo’s house. Just being in the house made Rainbow feel saddened and let down, and she was starting to feel uneasy. There was nothing about the house that even hinted at any sort of festivity, except for the outside. Rainbow followed Derpy up a flight of stairs. The second floor was just like the first; sparse and empty. A few frames hung on the walls, the floorboards uncovered and in need of some care. The two ponies walked up to a door that had a finger painted sign that said Dinkyz Room. The grey pegasus opened the door and trotted in, Rainbow gulped and followed her. The room had pink walls and a light blue rug, there were a few hoof paintings and childlike drawings stuck onto the walls. They were mainly crude depictions of Derpy and Dinky playing together, one had the caption I luv my mummy! on it. In the middle of the room was a large quilted bed, with a lamp on a bedside table beside it that gave off a dim glow. On the bed lay the filly, Dinky Hooves, and indeed she seemed to not be moving at all. Rainbow could see that she was still breathing, but any sign of other movement had gone from her body. The filly’s face was deathly, bags hung under her eyes and her whole nose had reddened. Her lilac coat had grown pale, until she resembled a ghost. Rainbow didn’t know what was the matter with Dinky, all she knew that the poor filly was not well at all. “She’s been really ill for ages and today she’s gotten really bad! I’m worried, Rainbow Dash!” cried Derpy as she closed the door behind her. “Well, sorry Derpy, but I don’t know what’s wrong, what’s happened!” replied Dash. “Dinky had been really ill for ages and then this morning she just stopped moving! She’s really worrying me Rainbow Dash!” “Derpy I don’t know what’s wrong, and I do not know how to help her!” said Dash in an agitated tone. Derpy sighed and trotted over to her daughter, laying her hoof upon her motionless body, and starting to cry even heavier than before. Rainbow just looked at the distressing sight, she wasn’t tearing up, and that worried her for a moment. But she definitely wasn’t smiling, her face had turned into one of grief, sorrow and distress. She tried not to look at the two ponies and instead glanced outside the window that was shining dimly on the room. Outside it was still snowing and a few pegasi blissfully flew past, lobbing snowballs at each other and laughing. They were having the time of their lives, but Rainbow was far from having that right now. Suddenly, in a fit of coughs and sputters the small filly burst back into life. Her mother jumped back in shock since it happened so quickly. Rainbow’s sombre expression lightened up, and so did Derpy’s tears. Dash began to ponder why Derpy had even brought her here, or why she even followed her in the first place. Why didn’t Derpy just call a doctor? Why did she try to get help from random ponies? Why did she leave her obviously very ill daughter? Rainbow didn’t bother to come up with a proper answer for any of these and just brushed it off as something Derpy would do, she wasn’t the most together pony after all. Rainbow looked back at the mother and daughter, who were now just staring into each other’s eyes. “Mummy... I had,” Dinky was interrupted by a rough cough, “the most amazing dream!” Derpy smiled at her filly and said “Well then, tell me about it.” “I was on a massive balloon then out of the sky, muffins rained down! You were there with me, I was so happy!” coughed the filly. Next to Dinky lay a small teddy bear, its eye had been ripped out somehow and wool poured out of various holes, it had clearly been played with a lot. The filly grabbed the bear and brought it up to her lap, she gave a quick glance at her mother to show that she wanted her to play with it. Derpy picked up the bear with her mouth and began to make it do a little jig in front of the filly, who smiled in delight. Derpy’s crossed eyes stared at her gleeful daughter, her tears had dried up and she was happy once again. “Well, it seems like everything’s fine. I guess I should leave then.” said Rainbow Dash, awkwardly scratching her neck. She was itching to go and get back to Scootaloo’s house. “No, don’t, Rainbow, I want to give Dinky her present!” replied Derpy. “Well, I guess I can stay a little longer.” Derpy wandered out of the room and into another, she grabbed a small box wrapped in a patterned paper and brought it back into the filly’s bedroom. She skipped over to her daughter and placed the box on her lap. Dinky looked down at the present in both excitement and confusion, she wondered what this mysterious package could be. Derpy looked into Dinky’s eyes and gave a quick nod, telling her she could open it. Dinky proceeded to tear the wrapping paper off with her hooves, sending small bits of the paper flying over the room. Inside was a small box, with the words Property of Derpy etched onto it. The filly opened it up to reveal a small bubble blower, covered in tiny etchings of swirls and spirals. Dinky glanced up at her mother with a confused grin. “This is the first ever bubble blower I ever owned! I had it when I got my cutie mark. Go on, give it a blow,” giggled the cross-eyed mare. “Uh, mummy, I need some of that stuff to make bubbles.” “Go on, it doesn’t need that!” Dinky put the strap that was attached to the bubble blower around her hoof and brought it up to her mouth. She gave a short blow and, like magic, bubbles burst out even though there wasn’t even any liquid inside. The filly stared in amazement at the shining bubbles, she hadn’t seen anything like this before. Tens of tiny bubbles floated around the filly’s head, her eyes followed them in pure glee. “Mommy,” said the filly. “Yes?” “Thank you.” Suddenly, the filly broke into a fit of coughing. Her body started to violently convulse, throwing sheets off the bed. Derpy tried to hold her down and stop her shaking but the violent fit made her grip break. The pegasus burst into a shower of tears and Rainbow glared in shock at the convulsing filly. “Dinky! Stop it! You’re scaring mommy!” cried Derpy, once again unsuccessfully trying to stop her daughter’s fit. With those words, Dinky stopped her fit and fell back onto the bed, motionless. Derpy started to weep tears of joy and gave her the biggest hug a mother could give. She squeezed the filly as hard as she could, just assuming she was fine. When she let go of her daughter and looked at her, she wasn’t moving. Derpy ran to the other side of the room and grabbed the bubble blower, which had been thrown off the bed. She went back to her daughter and started to blow bubbles over the filly in a desperate attempt to wake her up. “Look Dinky, bubbles!” wailed Derpy, trying extremely hard to smile. Rainbow Dash, who had been standing at the back of the room, ran to her friend and tried to comfort her. Derpy didn’t notice the pegasus that was now standing beside her and blew a few more bubbles. The filly continued to lie there. This didn’t stop her mother from trying more things to encourage her to wake up. Derpy picked up the bear and made it do a little jig above the small pony.Eventually, In a final attempt at waking up the filly, Derpy ran outside, grabbed a large plate of muffins and galloped back inside, waving the treats under the filly’s nose. Dinky continued to neither move nor breath. Derpy’s heart sank as she realized what had happened to her only child. “Come on Dinky, wake up for mommy! You can do it, come on Dinky!” Derpy cried desperately, “Dinky please, don’t do this to mommy! Just wake up, please just wake up!”
