A Dinky Love Story

Chapters

Depression and Dreams
Boyfriends and Threats
Recovery
The Dance
Family is Forever
Friends (With Benefits)
Wish You Were Here
Nightmare
Secrets
Goodbyes
Epilogue
Friend Zone
They're Family

Depression and Dreams

A day like this one, filled with anger and heartache, was one of the few experiences where Rumble couldn't find a reason to smile, his heart deflated with the pain that followed through with the stinging feeling of rejection and heartbreak.

It was one of those days when even though the sun was smiling contentedly and glimmering radiantly, giving off its beautiful rays, Rumble felt as if there was a dark storm cloud hanging over his head, shading him and cutting off any feeling of happiness that might have been trying to reach him above.

Grumbling as he reached his house, the pegasus wasn't in any mood to say hi to anyone. He practically kicked open the door, sulking his way to his room without a word, ignoring the older dark gray pegasus that waved to him when he stormed inside. A slam of his bedroom door did not hesitate to follow his furious entrance.

A few minutes of grumbling, moping, turning over, staring at the wall and striking his pillow with his forearm did not cure his discouraged state. He had been waiting the whole trip home to cry and scream into his pillow to vent out his frustrations, but Thunderlane, his brother was home and Rumble didn't want him to hear him sobbing like a baby. Instead he smote the pillow over and over until his hooves were sore, falling back on his bed with a defeated grunt. Tears rolled down his chin and dampened the pillow as well as the crook of his neck, and as much as he fought against himself to push the bad thoughts out of his head, he felt an old flame ignite at the constant dark feeling of being less than someone, of someone being preferred to him, of the mare he felt a passionate interest in completely turning him down for Pipsqueak without her even realizing it.

His face scarlet as a strawberry, Rumble groaned as he turned over roughly on the bed and wiped many a tear out of his eyes. This continued for a minute or two before the sound of a pony knocking heavily on his door echoed through his ears.

He dried his face, which was dampened from the tears that flooded his eyes at a steady rate, and sniffed loudly, lowly muttering for the pony knocking at the door to enter.

The door creaked open, and Rumble turned over, his back facing the door, his face being buried into the soft white pillow before him. Rumble drew his blankets over him, moaning and not bothering to greet his visitor.

"Rumble?" Thunderlane said quietly.

He didn't respond, and only closed his eyes to blink out several tears that were surfacing and strained back.

"Rumble," Thunderlane growled now, and Rumble could hear his brother walk up to the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he responded gruffly, shaking off the hoof Thunderlane had laid on his shoulder. His voice was hoarse and clouded with anger and sadness, and Rumble didn't even try to pretend like he was okay.

"It's not nothing," Thunderlane said calmly but firmly. "Tell me what's wrong."

Rumble muttered something so low that Thunderlane didn't hear him.

"What?"

Sighing, Rumble growled a response under his breath only a bit more intelligible.

"I didn't hear--"

"Never mind what's bothering me! Please just leave me alone!" Rumble snapped, turning around to face his brother with a rage that he didn't mean, but it sparked inside of him when he was genuinely hurt.

Rumble got his wish; Thunderlane exited the room without a single word. Through his fury he could hear the door close quietly behind him, and the sound of hooves on wood floors growing fainter and fainter as his brother headed down the hall.

Thunderlane didn't hear from Rumble at all after that, at least not for the rest of the evening. He guessed someone at school must have been giving Rumble a hard time, and figured he wanted some space for the time being.

The sound of his phone going off next to him was what had woken up Rumble. He shook his head, realizing that he must have drifted off after what he called his "quiet meltdown." His hooves were wrapped around his pillow, which was odd considering he had pummeled it a few minutes before, but he guessed he sought comfort before anything else and hugging a pillow was the closest thing to it.

Not in the mood to talk to anypony, Rumble let it ring, the loud alarm blaring in his ears for a few seconds before he began to get irritated. Covering his head with his pillow, Rumble moaned as the annoying ring was muffled by the pillow held tight around his ears and face, and eventually the offensive noise was cut off altogether.

Rumble tossed and turned at the thought of Dinky with Pipsqueak. They weren't even that close! Sure, they used to be friends, but they grew distant from each other as time went on. But there was no doubt Pipsqueak was in love with Dinky. You had to be stupid to not notice his obvious crush on the beautiful mare.

This wasn't the first time Rumble wished he had someone else's life. He wished things were different between him and Dinky; in a sense where she liked him and he liked her and everything was cool between them. They wouldn't be tied back with the restraining bonds of a normal, platonic relationship that stung every once in awhile.

And it's all thanks to Pipsqueak, Rumble growled to himself inside his head. Well, I guess I could've been less shy around her. Maybe I could've just told her I liked her.

He shook himself for even thinking that. She obviously didn't like him back, and that thought tore at him once again and he sighed with the exasperation that brought him down again.

Whatever, Rumble concluded, I'll just have to act like it doesn't bother me. I can easily get over Dinky, he thought, knowing very well that he was obviously lying to himself. Stupid dance. I'm not even going!

With that, Rumble slammed his head down on the pillow with a huff and flung the covers over his body. He was busy thinking of what exactly he'd like to say to Pipsqueak if he could when sleep overtook him unexpectedly.

It was a beautiful sunset that Rumble found himself lost in, for once forgetting the sorrow of his lost crush. He waited by the calm lake that stood before him, the setting sun falling over it and painting it in a shaded light that reflected on its blue waves. He had came here to relax, to get his mind off Dinky, and he smiled for the first time in weeks at the sight of the amazing scene. The gray pegasus watched a dragonfly zip past him, catching up with its dragonfly family, and zoomed past the water, diving beneath the ferns at the other side of the pond. A duck quietly sat on the water, grooming itself, looking very peaceful and content, as if it had found the place in which it had belonged, a feeling Rumble had been searching for his whole life.

The hum of the soft wind ruffling the grass beneath him soothed his ears, and Rumble sighed as he leaned against the willow tree he was propped up against. It wasn't until she spoke that he noticed she was there.

"Rumble."

He looked up and there she was, sitting beside him, her face just inches away from his this time. He seemed startled that Dinky could sneak up on him without him noticing, but he dismissed the thought soon as he was probably so absorbed with the peaceful scene before him that he simply didn't notice.

"Dinky?"

"Hey Rumble," she whispered and gave a smile that lit his darkened heart.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." She leaned her head against his shoulder and he was perplexed at her sudden affection towards him. But he didn't care at the moment, as long as Pipsqueak wasn't there, and he got to be alone with Dinky.

They didn't say anything to each other for a long time, until Dinky finally whispered, "Rumble, I like you."

He nervously gulped, and smiled at her. "R-Really? I thought you liked Pipsqueak."

She shook her head. "No, I figured he wasn't the right pony for me," she said quietly and smiled shyly. "I realized that I belong with you."

Rumble's wing unfolded and he found it gliding over her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as he whispered, "I like you too."

They stayed like that for a long time, watching the sun fall until it got darker and the land grew shadier, and soon enough the stars were out in the sky, and Dinky was cradled in his arms, shivering from the cold.

"It's s-so freezing," she gasped, looking into his pale purple eyes.

Rumble gave a weak smile as he leaned closer, pressing his lips slowly to hers. She melted into the kiss; it was a sweet kiss, short yet loving, light but passionate all the same. When they broke apart Dinky's face reddened and she turned away.

She muttered something unintelligible.

"Huh?" Rumble asked, turning closer towards her so that they stared into each others' eyes.

"Rumble, your alarm clock," was all he heard her say before the piercing shrill of his alarm cut through his visions and dreams.

Groaning as he turned in bed, Rumble shook himself fully awake. His head was ringing, everything was swimming before his eyes, and the world seemed to be spinning in separate ways before he shook off his sleep-fog.

Grumbling and shriveling up his face, wincing from the beam of sunlight that attacked his eyes, Rumble shifted so that he could faintly read the alarm clock, blinking and screeching as it was.

7:30.

He moaned as his hoof struck the "stop" button in a lazy yet annoyed fashion, weakly sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. Dinky had vanished. The lake was nonexistent. The alarm clock had dragged him back from his happy dreamland, no matter how hard he tried to refuse and shrug back into sleep where he belonged at that moment.

Stretching out his tired limbs, which were still half-asleep and barely functional, Rumble practically slithered out of his warm, comfortable bed onto the cold hard floor, his face meeting the wood under him. Dragging himself up with what seemed to be no motivation whatsoever, the pegasus managed to haul himself out the door with what little energy he had.

He didn't bother to get breakfast, all he did was brush his teeth, look himself in the mirror once with tired eyes that he noticed had dark circles around them, and fix his hair briefly, which was sticking up in every direction possible.

Thunderlane had already left for work, and Rumble dragged his feet on the cement, not caring that he was scratching them as he stomped down the gloomy path to school sluggishly. He dreaded seeing Dinky or Pipsqueak there, and just wished he could stay home from school altogether.

But he knew he could not.

This time the weather seemed more appropriate for his current state of mind. Many a dark cloud lingered over his head and the shaded school building, and his eyes searched for a small golden drop of sunlight, but there seemingly was none.

His eyes did, however, find a certain light purple unicorn mare sitting, waiting for him by a similar tree to the one in his dream, whose face brightened at the sight of her best friend, and she waved to him.

He didn't know what else he could do other than smile, wave back, and walk over to her reluctantly as his heart shrank to the size of his self confidence.

Boyfriends and Threats

"Rumble! Rumble? Hellooooo? Anyone home?"

Those words rang through his head, passing by his ears without alerting him as he stared intently at the center of a group of ponies running around the school lawn, his watchful eyes full of envy and distraction that pulled him away from the outside world. He wasn't watching all the ponies; he was watching the particular white-and-brown earth colt with the scruffy brown mane he had come to dislike and developed a sort of jealousy due to Dinky's sudden preference of him over Rumble. Pipsqueak, of course. He tried not to look too obvious that he was staring but to no avail; he was so emotionally hurt inside that he couldn't control flashing Pipsqueak a glare of envy unintentionally.

"Rumble!" A stern voice interrupted his apparent death glare directed at the colt he'd dubbed his rival for the time being, and made him snap his head back with wide eyes to the pony he had been talking to when Pipsqueak had caught his eye.

"Uh." Rumble shook himself, his unsteady glance alternating between the pony in front of him and Pipsqueak. "Oh. Sorry, Dinky."

"What's going on? Why were you staring off into space?" the unicorn tilted her head at him and shot him a confused and somewhat irritated glance.

"Oh... It's nothing," Rumble responded, looking deep into her eyes for a split second before the pain in his heart forced him to look away.

"You sure?" Dinky gave him a slight smile, washing away some of her impatience and stirred the steady pain rising inside of Rumble.

"Yeah," he lied, his eyes lying flat at the ground, focusing nonchalantly on a beetle weaving in and out of the short green grass before his hoof.

"Rumble... you aren't acting like yourself today. What actually is the matter with you?" Dinky gave him a stern look.

As he opened his mouth to respond, he was saved by the familiar ringing of the old school bell, signaling class was about to start. Thankful that he didn't have to answer as the loud ringing swam through his head, Rumble didn't hesitate to say goodbye, bolt for the school door, and leave Dinky trailing behind with a ton of questions she would never get answered.

Rumble didn't bother trying to pay attention in class that day. The only thing he could think of was the fear of when Dinky was going to ask Pipsqueak to the dance. Maybe I should try to talk her out of it. Unless she already asked him! Celestia, what do I do? I don't wanna watch! Dinky's gonna go to the dance with Pipsqueak and they're gonna get together and become a couple and it's all my fault, I should've just gotten over my dumb fears and asked Dinky to the dance! Stupid idiot, Rumble berated himself in his head. But this wasn't the end of his panic attack that was going on in his head.

Dinky's gonna be Pipsqueak's girlfriend and they're gonna be so much in love they're never gonna break up! They're gonna totally leave me and everyone will go, "Awww, what a cute couple" as they pass by which is one of the things I wished they'd say about us one day and they'll hold hooves and go on dates and one day out of the blue years later they're gonna get married and Dinky'll invite me to her wedding and how am I ever gonna go to her wedding if I'm so heartbroken?! I mean I know I should be happy for her but how can I be happy for her if she's getting married to Pipsqueak?!

It wasn't until his teacher called on him to answer a problem on the board when he realized how ridiculous he was being and how obsessed he was with the problem... and quite possibly Dinky as well.

"Rumble!" His teacher called to him. His eyes shot to the front of the room and he blushed in embarrassment for his name having to be called out more than once to get him to pay attention. "Rumble, come up and solve the problem on the board."

"Y-Yes, Miss Cheerilee," he mumbled, reluctantly sliding out of his chair and slinking his way up to the board, his nervous gaze flicking back and forth as he could feel what seemed like a million judging eyes pin on him.

Glancing up at the board, he carefully read the problem. Had he been paying attention in class, he would have known how to answer the math question.

"Uh." Rumble smiled nervously as he addressed the class. "First, you..." He turned back to the board, gripping the piece of chalk in his mouth.

"Go on," Cheerilee prompted.

"Umm... You, uh, would have to..." His eyes were busy scanning the problem that to anyone else would be a breeze. He racked his brain for any piece of information he could possibly withdraw from deep inside, but his mind went blank at that exact moment.

3x ÷ 98y -4 + (-7x ÷ 9) • 8y •12x - 3/8 ≥ 78 • 28.

"So, first, you would need to... uh..." A sudden piece of vague information hit him like a ton of bricks at that exact moment. "Um, you'd... combine like terms?"

"Yes?" Cheerilee nodded towards the board, signaling for him to do just that.

Students looked up, some in boredom while some in amusement, as Rumble still struggled with the problem he had no idea how to solve. He was doing most of the parts he knew how to do in his head, and to everyone else he was just staring lifelessly at the board, focused squarely on the harsh question.

This went on for a few minutes before Cheerilee said out of impatience, "Thank you, Rumble. Would anyone else like to solve the problem?"

Nopony volunteered, and Cheerilee plucked a random pony out of their seat to switch places with Rumble, who sheepishly trotted back to his shamed seat as everyone snickered silently on the inside at his apparent incompetence. What was worse; Rumble noticed that the student who replaced him finished the problem fairly quickly, at least much quicker than he probably would have completed it, even if he had been paying attention.

Indulging himself in his sorrows and self-pity, Rumble remained that way until lunch period, where an ecstatic Dinky that was feeling about the exact opposite of the way he did then: his heart was aching, hers soaring.

Her yellow eyes were gleaming with beauty, happiness and confidence, all reflected in a way that Rumble could bring himself reluctantly to admit that she must have asked him, and he must have said yes.

"Did you ask Pipsqueak?" Rumble said almost too roughly as they walked together across the sun-warmed green lawn, but it flew under Dinky's radar due to her happy mood.

To his surprise (and relief,) she squealed, "No!" yet she looked as if she were going to burst out of her skin any second.

Rumble was slightly perplexed at her excitement despite the fact that she didn't ask him yet, but he was so relieved at the moment that his obsession with the mare led him to reign in a brief wave of triumph. There was still time to talk her out of it! His heart was swollen with pain so much that the faintest gleam of light at the end of the tunnel seemed like a miracle to him, and brought him back from the darkest corner in his depression. Grinning as well, his pale purple eyes were washed over with a gleam of happiness that made them look so much more lively and vibrant.

Without another thought he began racking his brain for reasons why she shouldn't go with Pipsqueak. He had to convince her:

"Great! Cause I was thinking, you know--"

"HE ASKED ME!"

In one significant moment Rumble's hopes were shattered along with his heart.... again. "Oh...? And you said..."

"What do you think?! Of COURSE I said yes!" Dinky hugged him, squeezing him tightly. "Oh, Rumble! I'm soooo happy! I've finally got a colt to go to the dance with!" Her grip around him tightened as her level of happiness soared through the ranks.

"Ach! Can't.... breathe," Rumble gasped, and used that as an excuse as to why there were tears struggling to break out of his eyes at the moment.

Dinky's squeeze tightened only for half a second more before she let go of him, and the breathless pegasus flopped onto the ground on his back.

"Ouch-- hey," Rumble almost snapped, hitting his head on the unforgiving hard earth beneath him as he was left with nothing to help him keep his balance. As he got to his hooves, which were trembling pathetically, Dinky clapped hers together.

"Rumble! Isn't this great? Someone actually likes me!" Dinky let out a squeal of joy as she let herself fall onto her back, grunting softly as she hit the ground, but she seemed to be so happy it didn't affect her too much. "There has literally never been any colts at this school who liked me! This is the first guy who's ever had a crush on me!"

"I'm sure that's not true," Rumble said gruffly and irritably, brushing the dirt off of him. The pain that was caused by falling on his back was nothing compared to the bitter pang of coldness and anger that was rushing through him at the moment. Annoyed considerably, the pony's heart was as cold as a glacier right then. "There had to be somepony other than Pipsqueak, don't you think?"

"Well, who else?" Dinky tilted her head in confusion. "Nope, I can't think of anyone else." She shrugged, and Rumble was once again irritated by obliviousness. Her dreamy expression on her face could tell that her heart was fluttering at that very moment, and quite possibly her mind, too, judging by the reddish tint to her face that rapidly grew as she dozed off into her own dreamland. "I... I'm so happy somepony actually likes me! Nopony ever has before!"

Suddenly a brave flame ignited in Rumble. If there was no future between the two of them, he should at least try to make a pathetic attempt to tell her how he felt.

"I like you," Rumble muttered, narrowing his eyes and glaring down at the ground when he was sure she wasn't looking, and he transferred to a neutral expression when her big yellow eyes pinned his.

"No, I meant in a romantic way," she explained, and Rumble face-hooved inside his mind. He simply gave a curt nod and pushed away his lunch bag, too disheartened to eat at the moment. How oblivious could one pony be when she was in love?!

That thought raced through his mind repeatedly and sparked a sensitive question that was difficult to ask when he was so hurt. "Do you... love him?"

Dinky's face instantly grew scarlet. "Oh-- Umm-- N-No! I mean, yes? I mean-- I don't know! H-He's a cool pony, okay?"

"I bet he loves you," Rumble gruffly stated in a matter-of-fact sort of tone, and Dinky was so flustered at the moment that she didn't notice the clear bitter tone of jealousy that ran through his voice.

"No," Dinky whispered, though obviously happy at the thought, judging by her obvious smile plastered across her face and her dilated pupils, which were scanning the ground in front of her. "He just... could like me. It doesn't mean he's in love with me."

"No, I've seen the way he looks at you," Rumble insisted, though to anypony who wasn't as cheery as Dinky at the moment his tone would have sounded envious, cold and a bit pitiful. "He's been... in love with you since the sixth grade..."

She didn't respond, but instead blushed and smiled, half to her self, oblivious to her best friend's passive aggressive tone and the fact that he was way beyond green with envy at that moment. Sometimes his friend's naiveness wasn't the best quality of hers. As much as he wanted to burst into tears, fly into a strange rage and scream at the top of his lungs, "DINKY, I LOVE YOU!" He was able to control himself, despite the fact that he was seething with anger at the moment, trying to contain it all inside the depths of his heart.

Still, he tried his best to pretend like it didn't bother him, and that he was happy for her, though his heart was about as black and stale as a slice of charred bread that had been left out for two weeks straight.  "I'm glad you have somepony to go with."

"Hey, who are you going with, Rumble?"

"Nopony. I don't think I'm even going," Rumble muttered stiffly.

"Well you should," Dinky told him, smiling warmly as if she thought her good mood would rub off on him when he was in that depressed state. "I'd miss you if you weren't there."

Those words only made his heart ache. He wanted to say: No, you wouldn't. No, you'd be fine without me. You have Pipsqueak. But he still had some self control and simply told her he'd think about it over the weekend.

That was when Dinky, who didn't seem all that oblivious anymore now that they had slowly begun talking about him rather than her, spoke. "You've been looking really sad lately. Is there any reason why?"

"No, I told you this morning," he coughed. But she was right. Ever since yesterday he had been... well, he had been a wreck. He hadn't been feeling like himself at all. His cheerful, happy nature dissipated into thin air and was replaced with a grouchy, bad attitude. He guessed he didn't realize how obsessed he had been with Dinky until she showed no interest in him.

Dinky opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes focused on something else behind him, which obviously made them light up light a sudden fire in a dark cave of shadows.

Rumble looked over his shoulder only to find the one pony who he did not want to see right then.

A short white earth pony with brown patches in his fur was standing right before him, his chocolate eyes alit with love and happiness. He still looked bashful and rubbed the nape of his neck, ruffling the end of his sleek brown mane.

"Hi, Dinky," Pipsqueak muttered in that strange Trottingham accent of his. "Oh, h-hi Rumble."

"Hey, Pipsqueak," Rumble simply responded, not meeting his eyes for fear of Pipsqueak realizing the jealous glint in them.

"HI, Pip!" Dinky flung her arms around her apparent date, wrapping him in a warm embrace that he returned happily.

Rumble watched him out of pity and disgust. Pipsqueak didn't deserve her! Maybe it was just out of his deep longing to be with Dinky, but Rumble didn't like this new Pipsqueak character. He'd seen him around before. Always hanging around girls, who simply adored him cause of his accent and hair. Though he was supposedly in love with Dinky, Pipsqueak always flirted with all the other fillies in his class, with the exception of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group of teens devoted to helping other teens get their cutie marks. Rumble didn't know anyone in their class who didn't have one yet, and the last he'd heard they just kept calling themselves that even after they got their cutie marks, but that was a story for another day.

"Pip, you know Rumble, right?" Dinky grinned warmly after Rumble, her eyes dancing between the two of them after she broke the hug.

Rumble nodded and stuck out his hoof to bump hooves (a common gesture of courtesy often distributed when meeting someone new here in Ponyville, or saying hello to someone when you don't really know them too well) with Pipsqueak, who refused the offer in a stuck-up sort of tone.

"Sorry, we don't usually bump hooves in Trottingham, you never know where others' hooves have been," Pipsqueak told him in an aloof fashion.

Keeping his annoyance to himself, Rumble simply nodded curtly and placed his rejected hoof back on the ground where it apparently belonged. Is he saying my hooves aren't clean? They are perfectly clean, thank you! He looked back at his hooves to further stress his thoughts to himself, and flinched when he realized they had mud all over them. Oh, great! Why didn't anyone tell me?! Now I look like a fool!

Embarrassed, Rumble tried to scrape some of the mud off his hooves but ended up collecting more in the process. Dinky tilted her head as the flustered colt dug at the ground, trying to shake off the dampened earth from his pale gray hooves, stained with a muddy shade of brown now.

"Is something wrong, Rumble?" Dinky asked, worry spreading through her content emotions.

"No," Rumble said sheepishly, giving a weak attempt at a smile.

Dinky simply shrugged as Rumble kept trying to shake the mud off his hooves to no avail, and turned to Pipsqueak. "So, Pip? What's up? What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Oh, nothing, just wanted to say hi to the prettiest mare in Ponyville," Pipsqueak cooed, nuzzling her as if they had been dating for awhile.

Rumble rolled his eyes. Not in real life, of course, but he was thinking of doing it in his head.

"Aw, you're sweet," Dinky pecked the side of Pipsqueak's face sweetly.

"So, are you two a couple now or are you just going to the dance together?" Rumble asked, half out of curiosity, because at this point, he really couldn't tell himself.

Dinky and Pipsqueak stared back at each other, then back at Rumble, "I guess?" Dinky whispered, her face turning a deep red color.

"Yeah?" Pipsqueak looked away, though he was holding Dinky's hoof now.

The conversation was making him sick to his stomach. Not wanting to say anymore, the sound of the bell ringing would have been music to Rumble's ears if it hadn't been so loud and startling.

"See you in art class," Dinky told Rumble, hugging him briefly before skipping off with her (apparent) new boyfriend.

Rumble could just barely notice the devilish look Pipsqueak shot him so subtly as they ran away together that he wasn't sure if it had been his imagination or not.

Whatever, Rumble thought angrily to himself, not wanting to care anymore. She can have him. I don't care! Once again, he was lying to himself.

The next few days were slow and were growing increasingly painful to Rumble on the inside. Every time he saw Dinky and Pipsqueak together, laughing, talking, holding hooves, it turned on a cold element in his heart that secretly added to his depression. Thunderlane had picked up on the fact that Rumble was growing depressed, and tried to get him to talk, but he would simply say he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about.

"You've been acting like something has been bothering you lately," Thunderlane told him at breakfast, which Rumble had barely eaten for the past couple of days.

"How so?" Rumble asked, but wouldn't meet his brother's concerned golden gaze.

"You've just been acting... weird. Like, upset," Thunderlane responded, not sure how to put his thoughts to speech. "Did anything happen at school?"

"No."

"Are you lying to me? Is there something I should know about?" Out of the corner of his eye Rumble could faintly notice Thunderlane's stern look directed at him.

"I'll tell you about it later," Rumble simply said, a statement he had no intention of keeping anytime soon. Thunderlane sensed that, because he raised an eyebrow and asked if he had gotten into any trouble lately.

"No!" Rumble immediately shot back. He almost shouted, and said in a much calmer tone this time when he realized Thunderlane's shocked expression, "No. I would've told you."

"Then what is it that you aren't telling me now?" Thunderlane retorted.

"It's..." The younger pegasus stared down at the floor, not wanting to respond. "You wouldn't understand... I have to go to school."

With that, Rumble nearly fell out of his seat in the process of scrambling out of the kitchen, leaving a dazed and confused Thunderlane at the kitchen table, and out the front door, snatching up his backpack as he did so. He yelled out a goodbye to his brother before slamming the door behind him.

The school dance was drawing near, and Rumble spent most of the art classes by himself in the corner of the room pretending to work on designs for the dance while all the other ponies gathered around in a great circle working together to incorporate everyones' ideas into one theme. He had felt so hurt that he didn't talk to Dinky as much as he used to, not that it mattered, because she spent a lot of her time with Pipsqueak anyway.

One foggy day at lunch when Rumble was heading to the school's library, which was where he had been eating lunch lately, by himself at a short table by the window where he could spy on Dinky and Pipsqueak if he was lucky, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

The pegasus turned around to see who else but his best unicorn friend, her horn glowing with a magical golden-colored veil surrounding it. She was using her unicorn powers to levitate a stack of posters next to her, floating above her head. She was also levitating a roll of blue tape.

"Hey Rumble!" she greeted him warmly.

"Hey Dinky." Rumble glanced up at the posters, and he could read the top one, which was decorated and printed neatly. It read at the top in blue ink, School Dance in the Auditorium-- Friday, April 20, 6:00 p.m.-- 7:00 p.m. Don't Miss Out! "What's that you've got there?"

"These are the posters for the school dance I made with a few students from the art class. I was wondering if you could help me put them up around the school?"

"Why don't you ask Pipsqueak, he's more special to you," Rumble muttered under his breath so lowly that he barely heard him say it himself.

"What was that?"

"I said, 'I'd be glad to help!'" Rumble coughed, giving her a nervous smile as his eyes pinned on the floor, hoping desperately that she didn't happen to hear his first remark.

"Thanks. Come on, let's go put one up in the school hall!" Dinky suddenly bolted down the hallway, leaving Rumble to lag behind. He wasn't quite as fast as his energetic younger friend.

"W-Wait, Dinky!" Rumble panted when they finally neared the school's first hallway. "Slow down, please..." He breathed heavily and stopped to catch his breath.

Dinky heard his call and slowed down to a trot, glancing over her shoulder to see him dragging himself sluggishly towards her, several feet away now.

When he finally caught up, she levitate a poster and the roll of tape in front of him. "Here. Can you fly up and hang this one on this wall--" She gestured towards the wall closest to Rumble, "while I run down to the other end of the hall and hang up another?"

"Sure," Rumble told her after he had regained his energy. He watched as Dinky cut off several pieces of tape for herself, carrying the tape and her poster in the air with her magic as she burst down the hall, the sound of hooves on marble floors accompanying her.

Rumble grabbed the poster she had set down on the floor for him to pick up in his mouth, as ponies often did, and gripped the roll of tape with a hoof on either side, holding the roll firmly between his hooves. He sometimes wished he had magic like Dinky, as it must have been easier to hold things without using your mouth or hooves, which weren't exactly the best tools to pick things up with.

Spreading his wings, he beat them a few times before he lifted himself off the ground and soared quickly up to the center spot on the wall, now grabbing the tape in his mouth as he held the poster against the wall with his hoof.

He pulled against the tape with his teeth, yanking off an appropriate amount to hold the poster against the wall without it falling off, and spread it across the poster's northern point. He repeated these steps several times before the task of hanging up the poster was completed. It was a difficult task and was rather time consuming, but he had gotten the hang of it once he had taped the first side down.

Dinky had finished with her poster and still levitated three more above her head. Rumble flew down to meet her and carried the roll of tape in his mouth. Once he landed he felt the tape being pried from his grasp by Dinky's magic after he had offered it back to her. She smiled at him and pointed towards the glass door to the outside, "Let's go hang one or two up outside on the school walls so everypony will see them as they walk in."

Rumble muttered agreement and the pair of friends walked outside. While they were busy hanging up the last poster, a certain boyfriend of Dinky's came up to visit them.

"Pip!" Dinky threw her hooves around him, abandoning the poster, which only had one side to tape down left.

Pipsqueak hugged her back, and Rumble simply nodded at Pipsqueak in his nonchalant behavior when the earth pony eyed him.

"I was looking all over for you," Pipsqueak beamed, putting a hoof around her shoulder.

"We were just hanging up posters," Dinky mumbled.

"Really? Because I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tearing down a poster in the school hall."

"What?!" Dinky was off in a second, leaving the two colts alone in an unspoken rivalry. Rumble felt this awkwardness and began to walk after her, but Pipsqueak put a hoof in front of him to stop him.

"I think she has it under control," Pipsqueak murmured, looking back at the feisty young mare speed off across the lawn, apparently beside herself with anger.

Rumble opened his mouth to respond but Pipsqueak continued, "Rumble, I wanted to have a word with you."

"Umm, okay?" Rumble glanced at Dinky, who was running into the school building, then back at Pipsqueak, then back at Dinky but he realized she was gone by the time he did go to look after her.

Pipsqueak's cheery demeanor vaporized in the invisible tension between the two. He narrowed his eyes and his seemingly-friendly, childlike face began to slowly but surely turn into a threatening face that fashioned a death glare. "I understand you and Dinky are very close friends. Correct?"

"Uh, yeah?" Rumble stared down at the much-shorter colt, raising an eyebrow as Pipsqueak stood up higher in an attempt to look as tall as him.

"Well, now Dinky and I are together. So you better not think about trying to steal her away from me!" Pipsqueak hissed, and if Rumble couldn't hear the words he was saying he just as well would think that Pipsqueak was threatening to kill him or something, judging by his facial expression.

"Uh, I-I'm not trying to--"

"I'm not going to let you sabotage our relationship just because you're jealous!"

"I'm not jealous!" Rumble lied, looking away as he could never meet ponies in the eye when he didn't tell the truth.

"You stay away from Dinky, do you hear me?" Pipsqueak's muzzle was inches away from Rumble's now.

"I-- Calm down! There's nothing going on between me and Dinky!"

"If I see you less than ten feet away from her I swear I'll tear your wings off."

Rumble rolled his eyes. "Ugh! Calm down! Stop being so overprotective! There is nothing happening between us! She's dating you!"

"And I'm going to go out of my way to see that that continues to happen!" Pipsqueak growled, his eyes two dark brown flames that were busy piercing their way into Rumble's soul. "If you try and talk to her I'll shred you!"  Rumble suddenly felt not only upset and disgusted, but irritated. "Yeah, and how are you going to do that? I'm like ten times bigger than you."

Pipsqueak now seemed infuriated. "I may be small but I'm still faster, quicker, and a better fighter!" He stamped his hoof. "And anypony who tries to get in between my relationship with Dinky'll have to learn that the hard way! Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Rumble saluted him in a sarcastic, exaggerated way, annoyed but still slightly amused at Pipsqueak's sudden temper tantrum.

"This isn't a joke! Dinky is my girlfriend, and she'll never love you! So stay away from her and don't you dare even think about going anywhere near her again!" Pipsqueak jetted off, kicking up a cloud of dust in Rumble's eyes as well as switching his tail over Rumble's face in the process.

Coughing from all the dust, when it finally cleared, Rumble was left baffled.

What the hay just happened...?

Recovery

The next day was rather difficult for Rumble.

"NO!" He screeched, burying his face into his pillow. "I'm not going to school! You can't make me!" Rumble further resisted his brother's attempts to pry him off the bed. "PLEASE don't make me!"

"Rumble!" Thunderlane was losing his patience. "You're going to school today and that's final!"

"NO! Please don't make me go!" Rumble wailed, kicking his hoof loose from Thunderlane's strong grip. It was quickly recovered, and he spent his time helplessly trying to buck and kick, desperately fighting to stay where he was, but he was gradually being pulled from his spot.

"You have to go! You're already fifteen minutes late!" Thunderlane grunted as his brother tried to kick him again, and pulled his head back to avoid a blow. "Why is school suddenly such--" He stopped in mid-sentence as Rumble's horrified wails cut him off, "...a problem?"

"I-I can't tell you!" the terrified colt yelled out in fear.

Thunderlane finally managed to break Rumble's grasp on the bed, both of the two ponies shot across the air until they crashed into the wall on the other side of the room.

Rumble's legs flailed and he desperately tried to break loose of his big brother's firm grip, to dash back to the safety and comfort of his warm bed and avoid the Tartarus school was about to be for him. He beat his wings frantically, but Thunderlane prevailed in dragging him to the outside of his room into the hall.

"Nooo!" Rumble struggled against Thunderlane's strong arms, which were closed tightly around his chest, and squealed as he tried to fight and resist his brother's orders.

"Rumble! Why do you suddenly hate school?" Thunderlane gave out an exasperated sigh as Rumble gave up underneath his grasp. "Aren't you happy you get to see your friends? When I was your age--"

"Don't give me any of that!" Rumble snapped, trying to loosen Thunderlane's grip. "I've heard that whole 'When I was your age' speech! I know how it goes!"

"Well, why are you suddenly hating school?" Thunderlane chose to ignore the disrespectful comment Rumble threw at him.

"I..." Rumble wouldn't speak. He knew it shouldn't have, but the image of Pipsqueak, standing menacingly over him, possibly holding a bat, scared the sense out of what was left in his mind. He swallowed hard. I guess I can tell Thunderlane... He's my brother... I know I can trust him.

But he didn't speak, and simply stammered over the first couple of lines. He couldn't put his thoughts to tongue, and didn't know how to for that matter. He was just... such a coward. Letting a pony named Pipsqueak scare him... It was pathetic. Thunderlane would just laugh in my face like the others, he concluded to himself with a heavy sigh that carried forbidden emotions.

"Rumble?"

"What?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

Rumble stared deep into his brother's eyes. Golden, a symbol of pure friendship. Eyes he trusted and knew. Eyes that had watched over him, had belonged to a pony who loved and cared for Rumble. Thunderlane would never laugh at me. Not if I'm this distressed about it.

Rumble didn't like to admit it, but Thunderlane loved him with all his heart, and Rumble loved his brother, and was sorry for the way he had neglected his attempts in trying to listen to him. He felt like he should try to tell, and maybe... just maybe, Thunderlane would understand. His eyes traced the wooden floor for a moment before working their way back up to Thunderlane's after a moment of silence.

"Well?"

Rumble swallowed. "No, I'm sorry. I can't tell."

Thunderlane gave an exasperated sigh and released his brother from his weakening grasp. "You'd better get to school, then."

Rumble simply nodded and grabbed his backpack.

No, he couldn't tell. Not when Pipsqueak had his eye on him. If Thunderlane were to get involved, who knows what would happen? He had already threatened to literally rip his wings off his body! It was best to keep it to himself, as scared as he was, he concluded. Besides, Pipsqueak was a shrimp compared to him. He couldn't possibly be that bad.

Still, he avoided Dinky, who was busy spending her time with the one who had kept his watchful eye on Rumble. That hateful, watchful eye that always managed to send a shiver down Rumble's spine. But that wasn't the only sudden pang of uncertainness that Rumble felt when he saw Dinky with Pipsqueak.

How can she be with Pipsqueak? He's a total overprotective bully! He acts all kind and shy on the outside but he's a real jerk on the inside! He's a smooth-talking, rude, annoying, manipulative, fake, two-faced pony who doesn't deserve Dinky!

Rumble glared down at the ground until a thought dawned on him. Maybe I'm the jerk... I'm too selfish and jealous to accept the fact that Dinky's not interested in being anything other than a friend to me... He sighed, unsure of how he felt anymore.

He really wanted to be with Dinky. That he was sure of. But then Pipsqueak comes marching into the scene and ruined everything for Rumble. Over the course of two weeks he had become depressed, tired, lonely, just... not himself anymore. It was like he had completely flipped over.

He had just been so jealous of Pipsqueak... but had hated to admit it. And now that Pipsqueak had shown an evil side to Rumble, he had him more envious than ever for some reason.

Maybe I should just let this whole thing go... I'll find a new friend, and I'll get over Dinky eventually. Maybe I'll even fall in love with a mare I'll meet somewhere else... If she wants to be with that jerk, then that's her business. Rumble reluctantly began to think about this idea that lingered in his mind, beginning to accept it as time went on.

He had watched Dinky's budding romance blossom into a loving relationship, one that Rumble had grown cold and distant from.

Over a few days, yes, Rumble had learned to ignore them. To let them be and forget about all of this, to try and move on.

But he had never actually gotten over Dinky. He had just neglected her as Pipsqueak had ordered and pushed her out of his mind. But there was a part of him that, if resurrected, would long to see his best friend's beautiful face again, to talk to the only mare he had ever felt a burning romantic interest in, for her to realize the darkness in Pipsqueak and to leave him for Rumble.

But he knew that that would not happen, or so he thought it wouldn't, and had come to accept that fact over the course of a few days.

And there were times when Pipsqueak had shot him glares of hatred and signs that had warned, "Don't you dare come near us." He had not reacted. Dinky had not talked to him as she had gotten lost in her new obsession with the young colt, and would follow him around like a puppy chasing its own tail. Rumble could practically see the love in her eyes, only it wasn't directed at him, it was for Pipsqueak, and that stung. Horribly. But he had shoved that feeling down his throat every time Pipsqueak had looked him in the eyes.

But as mentioned earlier, he never did forget his passion for Dinky. He had swallowed down many a pang of sorrow when he watched them together. But altogether, he really had thought he had gotten over Dinky as the time went on.

Then of course, came the school dance, and everything changed for everything.

The Dance

It was just another cold, rainy spring day for everyone. The students had spent their recess inside, where they had taken refuge from the pouring rain. It seemed like the dreary weather would just never stop, and they would never see another ray of sunlight fall onto the sparkling green grass, or hear the wonderful sound of birds singing to the world ever again.

But to Dinky, it wasn't a depressing, bleak morning-- it was everything. It might have been storming outside, but in her world, it was a beautiful sunny day where the flowers were in full bloom, the lush green grass was being swayed by the gentle warm breezes, and the sound of birds chirping accompanied the opulent smell of the prettiest flowers, the fresh-cut grass, and the faint scent of honey from a beehive, all forming together in the air to create a perfect spring morning.

This is the kind of powerful effect love has on a clueless, naive pony who has fallen for someone who she thought was perfect. And it was even more powerful the day of the dance, which just so happened to be today.

A million thoughts were racing through her mind: Our first formal event since we started going out! What should I wear? I don't even know how to dance! I wonder if Pipsqueak does? Does that make me incompetent if he does?

But despite her nervousness, the filly was trembling with excitement and dreaminess, each passing moment like a spell that had been casted on her heart, making it feel as if it were soaring through the air like a pegasus.

She hadn't been focusing in school, she had been daydreaming of spending a perfect night at the dance with the one colt she had fallen desperately in love with over the course of a couple of weeks.

And there he was: striding down the hall; his spiky, two-toned, chocolate-colored mane, beautiful hazel eyes catching hers, his proud, confident posture as he worked his way through the crowd to meet her of all ponies-- all of these qualities stood out to her. She had dreamed of finding her very special somepony one day; and her wishing on stars every night when she was a foal had payed off-- because she couldn't have been happier with him... It was like a dream come true!

Her pace quickened to match the speed of her heart that was pumping rapidly now, and soon enough they were both galloping to meet each other, not caring about the world around them until their lips met, and even then, they felt as if they were the only ponies on earth-- not knowing or caring that a million other ponies were very well around them, their eyes looming over the two ponies who were so involved with each other at the moment.

This had been going on for days. Pipsqueak would walk through the doors, Dinky would blush and throw a huge grin before speeding off over to him, dropping whatever she was holding, and fly into his arms, kissing him passionately and clinging to him as if she hadn't seen him for years, and he was thought to be dead, but there he was, suddenly alive, like the ending of so many fantasy tales Dinky had spent every night reading when she was a young foal.

But when she saw him that morning, saw him grin at her the moment he laid eyes on her, she felt as if all her troubles were melting away and, with them, any dread she could possibly search for in her heart. She had found everything she needed. Someone to love and to love her back unconditionally...

But sometimes, love does not come easily. It takes time, and a young pony in love to have the courage to realize that. Dinky was not that pony, not until she changed on a night that she would never forget. Not in her whole life.

The pair of lovebirds strolled down the path leading up to the auditorium, their tails intwined in a fashion that told everyone that nothing in the whole world could possibly drive them apart or cause a rift between them.

Dinky used her magic to push the door open, revealing a perfect, wide room for a dance: a shined floor with seldom a speck of dirt on it, streamers and wall art adorning the beauty of it all, (courtesy of the art club, most of it being Dinky's work as art was her special talent) tables with colorful tablecloth waiting for refreshments to be placed in a neat arrangement atop of them all, and a glimmering disco ball that held together everything like the center stitch of a dress. It would look even more beautiful at night, when the dance was in full swing.

Dinky could just imagine herself in the middle of it all: Ponies would be dancing, the music lighting up the whole room, they would be chatting and having the time of their lives, and Pipsqueak would be sitting in the corner all alone, wishing his dream mare was with him, and then Dinky would stroll through the doors of the auditorium, her beautiful dress attracting the eyes of everyone, confidently striding over to her one true love-- Pipsqueak-- who would gallop over and fling him arms around her as he had been waiting the whole night for her, thinking she might have decided not to come, but there she was, and they would dance together during a romantic slow song and they would both cry and say they loved one another and--

"Dinky! Hello?"

Her dreamy thoughts were interrupted as a pony waved their hoof in front of her face. Snapping out of her trance, Dinky blushed as she realized that Pipsqueak had been trying to talk to her in the present. Well, a mare can dream!

"Sorry, Pip?"

"I asked what time you were arriving at the dance." Pipsqueak gazed affectionately at his girlfriend, his hazel eyes washing over her golden ones.

"Oh. I don't know... I've got a lot of studying to do, what with the finals coming up soon, so... I'll probably be there by 6:30."

Pipsqueak nodded, almost half to himself, and then said something that didn't quite match his expression or tone: "But. Then we'll only have a half an hour together."

Dinky smiled back at him, her eyes flickering over the room and then slowly working up to meet his gaze. "I'll try to be there as soon as possible. It's just... I really need to study."

Pipsqueak shrugged. "A half an hour is still plenty of time, I suppose."

She kissed his cheek. "Of course. Besides... I'm not that good at dancing anyway."

They watched as several pegasi flew up to the ceiling to attach various streamers. One of them, a bluish gray pegasus, struggled behind carrying quite a lot of bags full of decorations the others had instructed him to hold.

The moment Dinky noticed that particular pony she bolted over to the ladder placed delicately across the room and galloped over so that she was under him, using the safety of her own magic to keep it steady. In an instant, she was at the top where she was level with the pegasus, surprising him as he hadn't been looking where he had been going and nearly bumped into her.

For the first time in days, she spoke to him. "Heya Rumble! Need a hoof with that?"

It was only then that she realized how different he looked. She didn't know ponies could change so much throughout a couple of weeks! But his mane seemed messier, out of its sleek style, his eyes were dull and drained of happiness with dark circles around them, his smile... Well, there wasn't one.

"No thank you, Dinky," was the only reply she heard from the cold pegasus before he flew around her and caught up with the rest of the pegasus ponies that were helping with the preparations of the dance.

She stood with a puzzled expression on her face before using her magic to slide the ladder across the floor, earning respective winces from those around her as her actions made a grinding, horrible sound similar to someone scratching a chalkboard. But the sound was over in a flash as she had moved as quickly as Pinkie Pie when hyped up on sugar. And she had caught up to Rumble, who was once again shocked and a bit startled.

"Hey! Are you going to the dance tonight?"

Rumble didn't look at her. He said in a quiet voice, "Yeah. Thunderlane's making me go. He said that it isn't good for me to spend my time 'moping' in my room."

"What have you been--"

"Dinky!"

Her attention was snapped back to her calling boyfriend, who seemed to be impatient. "Oh, I gotta go. Uh, see you at the dance, Rumble!"

Climbing down from the ladder, Dinky used her magic to prop it up against a wall across the room where it wouldn't fall and hurt anypony. She turned back to Pipsqueak. "Sorry. Just chatting with Rumble."

Pipsqueak nodded nonchalantly, his eyes narrowed to slits and fixed on the gray pegasus. He quickly shifted his gaze back to the unicorn in front of him and gave a half-smile.

"So... What were you talking about?"

"I wanted to know if he was going to the dance tonight. We haven't been hanging out lately so I'm really looking forward to the dance!" Dinky clapped her hooves. "My two best friends in the whole wide world are gonna be there!"

Pipsqueak raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, his face neither a smile nor a frown. "You say he hasn't been around you lately?"

"No," Dinky replied with a shake of her head. "not really. The last time I talked to him was like, a week ago maybe? Until just now, that is."

"And what did you two... discuss?" Pipsqueak said through gritted teeth fixed in a strange smile.

"I don't remember," Dinky shrugged. "Why?"

"Curious," Pipsqueak's brown eyes were alternating between Dinky and Rumble, drawing an imaginary line between the two of them with his gaze, streaking from the floor to the ceiling.

Dinky didn't respond and her gaze shadowed the whole auditorium, admiring the beautiful work the pegasi had done so far, even though it wasn't completely finished yet.

The bell's loud ringing snapped Dinky out of her thoughts and brought her back to the present.

"C'mon, Pip," Dinky said and motioned towards the door before making her way over to it. "We don't wanna be late for class."

He followed, provided Dinky didn't look back to see the icy stare he was fixing on Rumble. One that was only recognized as pure rivalry, a cold hex that chilled not only Rumble, but anypony else who happened to be around in the atmosphere Pipsqueak had now created.

It wasn't just evil, no this was downright creepy, and he had somehow managed to leer at Rumble or any other stallion that was friendly with Dinky when she wasn't looking whenever he got the chance. And she was too spacey to realize it or notice.

Rumble found himself sitting on the bridge that shadowed the rushing white rapids below him. The water stormed and raged headstrong down the river, splashing as each wave resisted against jagged rocks and smashed by furiously. He technically wasn't supposed to be here, as the rapids were quite dangerous and had been closed off from the public years ago, but Rumble and Dinky had discovered a hole in the fence that kept ponies (with the exception of pegasi) out of the woods while on a walk. To remind the ponies of the danger of falling in the river, several warning signs were posted all across the walls and scattered throughout the fence in bright neon colors. They were pretty hard to miss.

But despite the loud sound of the raging rapids, and the trees surrounding him creating a thick layer of ominous, mysterious shade at night, it was a great place for Rumble to sit and think. To get away from everypony and just sit by himself when he was stressed. He appreciated and respected nature, but didn't dare stay in the forest after 5 p.m. He would spread his wings and fly home as fast as he could the minute he noticed the sun was going down. Celestia knows what kind of creatures could be stalking him during the night... When he was alone...

He shoved a pebble that was resting on the bridge and watched it fall to its watery doom that awaited it. It soon got lost under the foaming strong currents that chased the stream. He rested his head on his hooves as he watched the river beneath him, thinking about the dance, his mind full of regrets.

I'd stay home if Thunderlane wasn't going to be in the house all night... He'll just make me go and send me back if I came home much too early... Rumble swung his hooves and, not for the first time that day, or the hour he had been sitting there watching the rapids tumble by, he felt a pang of heartache that originated from just wanting his best friend back. Even just for one day. One day for him to have her all to himself...!

He let out a long, frustrated sigh. Rumble, you're better than this. Get. Over. Dinky. You can totally live without her. For a brief moment he felt a burst of motivation before it deflated after he remembered who exactly was Dinky's boyfriend.

And that was another thing. Rumble had tried to play nice with Pipsqueak. He had tried to convince Pipsqueak that he and Dinky were only friends (sadly.) That stuck-up, selfish pony couldn't allow Dinky to have her own friends! He didn't just not trust Dinky, he was keeping Rumble from her!

He suddenly felt more discouraged as another thought came to mind. And Pipsqueak was right to not want me around Dinky... I am in love with her... Or, at least I used to be.

Still, he thought the way Pipsqueak treated him when he confronted him was wrong. He didn't have to be rude! Couldn't he have just asked politely instead of filing an ultimatum and screaming in Rumble's face like that?

Whatever, Rumble lied to himself again, pretending like he didn't care, If Dinky wants to date that jerk then hopefully she'll recognize him for his true self. In the meantime, I can... totally live without Dinky!

Sighing as he realized that convincing himself that at the time was like trying to turn an apple into an orange. It just wasn't true. It wasn't.

It was hopeless. He was in love with Dinky and she had chosen Pipsqueak over him!

Tears rolled down his face, streaking down his neck and chin and some falling to rest on the bridge below him, his eyes narrowed to slits so that he could barely watch them fall and dampen the stone he was sitting on in a speck-sized puddle.

His thoughts were swayed by a certain deep voice calling out his name in loud desperation, reigning a sense of guilt in as he saw his brother Thunderlane, a gray dot in the distance, grow larger as he approached quickly.

He was not happy.

Rumble sheepishly recoiled, and Thunderlane, making no attempt to hide his angry, lashed out. "Rumble! I have been looking all over for you, and I find you slinking around the one place I told you to stay away from!"

The pale gray pegasus rubbed the back of his neck, giving a nervous grin as if to persuade his furious guardian. "I- I'm sorry, Thunder, I.." Tears were welling up in his eyes, but he did everything he could to hold them back, and despite his best efforts a clear sparkling dewdrop formed around the rim of his eye.

Thunderlane sighed, not able to stay mad at his brother for long. "Listen, Rumble. You've been sulking around for weeks now and it's starting to concern me. And don't tell me that everything's fine, because I know that it isn't." Thunderlane gave Rumble a stern, intimidating look that warned him not to tell a lie.

Rumble stayed quiet, occasionally opening his mouth to say something but eventually clamping it shut due to not knowing what to say or how to word his thoughts.

"I... Thunderlane... Can you keep a secret?" Rumble whispered as his forbidden tear managed to slip out of his eye, sliding its way down his pale gray face now.

"Of course I can," Thunderlane told him and put an arm around Rumble. "What's wrong, little brother?"

Rumble sniffed, his posture straightening slightly at the sight of Thunderlane's friendly golden gaze that dawned upon him, giving off a silent message that told him Thunderlane could be trusted. "Well..." He shook his head. "You know Dinky?"

"Yeah?" Thunderlane raised an eyebrow, narrowed his eyes and gave him an all-knowing smile as realization spread throughout the air. "Oh my gosh, you like her, don't you?"

Rumble gave a stiff nod before opening his mouth to speak, however, Thunderlane cut him off. "Ha, I knew it! You've had a crush on her since the seventh grade. I bet she's in love with you." He winked at his brother and elbowed him, making his stomach churn.

Rumble nearly shouted, "Only she isn't in love with me!" He brought his hooves to his face, hiding a river of tears flowing as frequently as the rapids below him, each one having a feeling of pain and heartache embedded deeply within the soul. "S-She's... She's in love with Pipsqueak..."

Thunderlane stared blankly at him for a minute before shaking his head. "Who's Pipsqueak?" His eyes were expressing deep compassion, but confusion nonetheless.

"What?" Rumble yelled, unable to hear him over the rapids' constant splashing and delivering powerful blows made of waves to sharp, jagged rocks.

"I asked, 'Who's Pipsqueak?'" Thunderlane shouted.

Rumble rolled his eyes. "The most annoying colt in the entire school! He's acting like Dinky's mother, telling her who she can and can't be friends with! And what's worse, she's oblivious to the entire thing... It's like... she doesn't need me anymore." He wiped away a few tears that he was struggling to reign back in, rubbing his eyes as well as wallowing in self-pity.

"Oh," Thunderlane replied, not knowing what else to say or do other than wrapping his arm around Rumble's shoulders in support. "I... had no idea. I'm sorry, Rumble, I... That must suck..."

"Yeah. It does." Rumble shifted away from him, glaring through teary eyes narrowed to slits at the stone bridge overshadowing the blazing waves of ongoing water.

"I'm sorry, Rumble," Thunderlane muttered.

He didn't hear what his brother told him, but nodded anyway as if he did when he heard the faint, low vibrating sound of Thunderlane's voice being exercised, reminding him of the low hum of mosquitos as they swarmed around the front porch's glowing light on hot summer nights.

"Come back with me," Thunderlane prompted, nudging him. "You know, the dance is starting soon, so you'd better be getting ready. Maybe once you're out and interacting with other ponies you'll fall into a better mood."

Rumble's expression lifted slightly, his eyes looking as if they wanted to leave their colorless, dull state and return back to the eyes Thunderlane was used to: Pale purple, vibrant and bright, always expressing a great deal of friendliness and cheeriness. "Okay."

Thunderlane lifted his set of stormy gray wings, raising them to the darkening sky, and with one great leap he took off, shooting himself up into the clouds in the direction of home. Rumble smiled and followed him at a slower pace. He couldn't keep up with Thunderlane; there was no doubt he was one of the fastest pegasi in Ponyville!

"Dinky! What's taking so long? Hurry up, or you'll miss the dance completely!"

An annoying, loud banging noise could be heard from outside of Dinky's room. She rolled her eyes and promptly marched over to her door, passing by the mirror to make sure she looked okay briefly, then opened the door using her magic.

Her big sister, Amethyst's impatient expression evaporated into thin air when the door opened to reveal Dinky in her beautiful dress.

Her hair was done up in a way that made her look as if she were a princess. Beautiful long blonde hair seemed to be sparkling and gleaming now in contrast of her outfit.

She was wearing a dark cerulean dress, not begging for attention, but amazing all the same. It wasn't frilly or fancy, but it wasn't plain or simple, and if Amethyst didn't know better she'd say Dinky were a beautiful queen or maiden from another country, awaiting her destiny at this one formal ball. Dinky was hardly wearing any makeup, but that didn't matter, as she looked gorgeous enough on her own.

Amethyst gasped when she saw her little sister before her, taking in her beauty. "Oh, look at you!" She said softly, hugging Dinky briefly. When she pulled away, she continued: "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," Dinky whispered, smiling shyly and blushing. "Well, I'd better get going. Tell Mom I left, okay?"

"Sure thing," Amethyst responded, her eyes still sweeping over Dinky's appearance. Both ponies noticed about a second later that Amethyst was tearing up.

"What's wrong?" Dinky's golden gaze interlocked with her sister's light violet stare. She flashed a look of compassion as she eyed Amethyst, who was wiping away a tear.

"Nothing," the older unicorn whispered, her smile returning to her crestfallen face, "It's just... You're all grown up now!"

Dinky threw her arms around the purple unicorn, hugging her tightly again and laughing softly. Both of them felt a moment of joy and sisterly unity and unswayed bursting pride: They might not be little foals growing up together anymore, but they were still sisters, and loved each other unconditionally, no matter how many times one of them pulled the other one's hair, or ate the other one's cookie, or drew all over the other one's homework, all three things becoming vague memories of each other's childhoods.

They broke the hug, and Dinky smiled, her vision grazing softly down the stairs. "I have to go. Don't want to keep my date waiting that much longer."

"Have fun," Amethyst called after her, watching her make her way gracefully down the stairs just as a princess would, except for the fact that there was no prince charming or knight in shining armor waiting for her at the end of the staircase. At least not at that very moment. Dinky's heart fluttered at the thought of Pipsqueak being there, dancing with her, both listening softly to a slow song, and she could hear the comfort of his slow heart beat as she was pressed against him, swaying softly to the dance.

"I will!" Dinky smiled back up at her sister before using her magic to open the door, closing it gently behind her. The walk to school was only about five minutes, so if no great disasters happened she would hopefully get there in one piece without tearing her dress, tripping and falling, or getting soaked by the oncoming sprinklers that guarded several neighbors' lawns. Luckily no such thing happened.

It was a peaceful dusk stroll through town, at a time where day and night were colliding, creating not only a beautiful sunset, but a crisp breeze that ruffled the back of Dinky's neck. She giggled softly at the strange feeling of the soft wind tickling the nape of her neck. She didn't often leave her hair up, rather she usually had it down, so having it done up felt like a weight was taken off her neck. The breeze made her feel so relaxed and calm that she started considering cutting her mane so she would always feel this way. Having a long mane was nice and all, but it sure was nice to make a change every once in a while.

She finally neared the school building, each step closer sending her heart flying on different excitable scales. Despite the fact that it seemed odd going to school during the nighttime, she was almost ecstatic, yet nervous all the same. This was going to be the best night of her life! She couldn't wait to see Pipsqueak, awaiting her patiently by the dance floor, where they would dance the night away... Well, until the dance was over, at least.

Those thoughts sent her galloping to the door, a huge grin plastered across her face, her heart beating out of her chest, her emotions soaring past her-- This was the night of her dreams!

She could hear the beautiful music through the muffling doors of the auditorium as she approached them. She beamed brightly at the pony guarding the doors to make sure no random ponies who didn't bring their tickets showed up. He glowered down at her as if he was either taking his job too seriously or he really didn't want to be there, or both, but Dinky didn't let that affect her joyous mood.

Dinky's horn lit up a brilliant shade of gold and she levitated a pale blue ticket, looking slightly green as it was floating in her globe of golden magic, out of the pocket of her dress, where it had been waiting. She set the ticket in the center of the guard pony's outstretched hoof, and his sullen expression morphed into an appreciative, friendly one. His own horn lit up a shade of deep green and the doors to the auditorium responded to his magic. They opened at once and Dinky could instantly hear the music blaring out of the doors, spilling out into the night briefly before she thanked the guard pony and the doors closed behind her.

Her eyes fell across the gorgeous decorative dance room-- as expected, it was at least three times more beautiful at night, with all the lights dimmed and the sparkling disco ball practically brimming with life. What a lovely night! Not for the first time, Dinky felt as if nothing could possibly ruin this night-- nothing at all.

This was it. This was her time to shine. And she could tell that everyone around her noticed it too by the way they stopped and stared, their eyes growing wider, their attention flickering over to her and abandoning whatever it was they were doing briefly before returning to their previous state of mind.

Her stomach was in a knot. She had been waiting forever for this! The moment had finally arrived! Her eyes immediately began scanning the shining room for her date-- Where was that colt? After a few seconds of searching her excited expression shattered and was replaced with bitter despair. What if he wasn't here? What if he didn't make it? What if he got tired of waiting and gave up on her? What if--

To her relief, her gaze came to rest on that short, familiar colt, standing and chatting with a few of his friends, it seemed. One of them was a filly in her class that she never really talked to, but was still friendly towards her-- Sweetie Belle, she thought her name was-- a pretty filly who was the youngest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Standing near her were her two best friends-- Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, both Cutie Mark Crusaders as well, even though all of them had earned their cutie marks. All three of them wore beautiful dresses, Sweetie's being almost as pretty as Dinky's, she realized. Pipsqueak wore a necktie and his eyes were fixated on Sweetie Belle-- the earth pony seemed to be having a wonderful conversation with her.

Dinky's heart started pounding out of her chest-- She had found him, her "one true love," and she began galloping over to him, pushing her way through the crowd gently to make her way over to her boyfriend she was so desperately trying to get to.

And then Dinky's high hopes and dreams were smashed together in one quick move.

Pipsqueak took Sweetie Belle's face in his hooves and prevented her from talking by leaning in to seal her lips with a kiss.

Dinky stopped dead in her tracks. She felt as if she had been slapped across the face, and she could practically feel her heart deflating like a balloon that a pin had been stuck in.

She just couldn't believe it. What... What just happened?!

She was given no comfort as Sweetie Belle pushed Pipsqueak away from her, breaking the kiss instantly, her face a shade of red. She seemed extremely humiliated, and began yelling at him in a high octave.

"Pipsqueak! What the hay did you do that for?! I-- I have a boyfriend! You have a girlfriend!" Sweetie backed away from him as he followed her. He practically growled, looming over her and making her feel about a hundred times smaller as he began to sling a series of horrid insults that made her burst into a fit of tears.

Suddenly an orange pegasus and a yellow earth pony shoved their way in front of him, their gazes full of nothing but protectiveness and need to defend Sweetie.

Dinky felt like she wanted to move, but couldn't-- she just felt so betrayed, so heartbroken, so... worthless... That she felt as if her hooves were glued to the stage and that she was just forced to watch as Apple Bloom hissed at Pipsqueak to back off in her country accent.

"I don't care if you act like a jerk all the time and push me around," Scootaloo told him angrily, "but nopony harms Sweetie Belle!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom cut in. "If... If you ever try ta' hurt her, we'll.... We'll actually start standin' up to ya for a change!"

Ponies started staring, and suddenly a brown earth colt with a scruffy orange mane-- Button Mash, Dinky knew his name as he was in Rumble's grade-- dashed off to where they were and immediately took Sweetie in his hooves. "Hey, what did you do to my girlfriend?" The colt's amber eyes shone with defensiveness, and Sweetie Belle began wailing, burying her face into his shoulder and retreating into the slightly older colt's comforting hug.

"Back off, idiot!" Pipsqueak shoved Button Mash roughly, letting him fall to the floor as ponies all around them gasped, most of them stopping what they were doing to watch. "All four of you don't know anything! You're all just... You're all stupid pathetic babies who don't have a life!" With that, he stampeded off, his eyes two hazel orbs of fire, leaving them next to tears on their own at the corner of the room.

Pipsqueak looked as if he had a heart attack when he came face to face with a teary-eyed Dinky, her face showing nothing but the effects of betrayal, pain and heartache. He knew he was in for it when she glared down at him.

"Why did you kiss Sweetie Belle?! And what was all that stuff they said about you being a jerk to them?!" Dinky nearly exploded in anger, her voice even coming to rise above the music.

Pipsqueak stood in shock. "I.... You're here... early." His face was filled with horror and surprise, and Dinky could tell that he had not been counting on her showing her face a few minutes earlier than the time she had told him she would arrive.

"I.... I thought you loved me!" Dinky burst her way through the crowd, not saying another word-- Not wanting to hear another word-- She was so disgusted with him that it made her stomach churn with dread and horror.

She didn't want any part of this any longer. Dinky shoveled through the wave of ponies, galloping across the room towards the back door that led to the staircase to the second level of the building. Without thinking about it her hooves smashed against the door, pushing them roughly open, and she disappeared into the ghostly school building.

She didn't stop until she reached the bottom of the stairs, and even then she reluctantly threw herself down so that she was sitting on the last step. She couldn't think of anything to do at that time except sit there and cry, her heavy breathing and wails filling the abandoned building's atmosphere. Each moment that she had witnessed passed before her, replaying itself in her mind over and over again and again until she couldn't take it anymore and burst into a rapid yet quiet fit of tears.

She just felt so betrayed. So rejected. Like Pipsqueak had taken her sense of happiness and mangled it beyond recognition. How could he? I thought he loved me! She was just so repulsed by this whole situation that she felt sick to her stomach. Dinky felt like she never wanted to see his face ever again, or come to this school ever again, or speak to anyone ever again. This was it. Her life was ruined. It was over.

Her quiet crying cut through the air, each wail being accompanied by a series of short, heavy breaths and sniffling when she took the time to cut off her grieving to breathe quickly. Her hoarse voice was loud enough to be heard by anyone in the same room as her, but still not quite that loud for anyone to hear her. Luckily, someone did.

She heard the sound of hooves on marble floors and looked up, her vision controlled by tears until she blinked them out. A friendly gray figure stepped out of the shadows to approach her, and her emotions suddenly went out of control as she burst out crying and threw her hooves around his neck without even thinking.

"Rumble!" Dinky sobbed, her face being buried into his shoulder, "MY LIFE IS RUINED!" Her shrill hollering almost pierced his ears, but he didn't seem to let it bother him as he wrapped his hooves around her.

"No... Shh, Dinky, it's alright, your life isn't ruined yet..." Rumble whispered comforting words that had no effect on the horrified pony.

"Yes it is!" Dinky wailed, her voice hardly recognizable due to her crying and her high-pitched octave that she hissed at him with.

"Oh, seriously!" Rumble broke the hug, his purple eyes almost ablaze with anger. "Pipsqueak is a stupid featherbrain and he always has been!"

She stood in mild shock at Rumble's sudden mood swing. Dinky would have felt the need to defend Pipsqueak but after the events that happened just then, she couldn't help but agree.

"What do you mean, 'always has been?' He has been nothing but nice to me and my friends until just now!" Dinky narrowed her golden eyes, interlocking her gaze with Rumble's.

"No, he hasn't!" Rumble nearly shouted, as if he had been waiting to say that for some time now and had been holding all his emotions in.

Dinky flinched, her gaze softening a bit to allow his to as well. He realized that he had startled her, so he said in a much calmer voice, "No, he hasn't. Ever since you two started dating, he... he made a threat towards me that meant if I tried to talk to you, he'd kill me."

She gasped. "He'd kill you? I mean, I get that he's a jerk and all but--"

"Well, no, he didn't actually say 'kill', but... I could just tell from the look in his eyes that he meant business." Rumble looked uneasy at the very thought.

She rolled her eyes. "Uh, how could he possibly mean business with you?" Her watery eyes weren't full of hurt and self-pity, they were filled with mild annoyance now. "Seriously, Rumble. You should have told me about it! He's a shrimp compared to you. What did you actually think would happen?"

Rumble looked down at the floor in embarrassment, not meeting her gaze. She must have noticed he was feeling insecure about it, because she apologized after a few seconds.

"Sorry," she sighed, and he looked up at her for the first time in awhile after a moment of silence. "I'm just really upset about this whole thing. I'm disgusted in him, I'm disgusted in myself for dating him, I'm... I'm just so angry right now!" She broke their gaze by glaring down at the floor below them. "If you had just told me I would have broken up with him right then."

"I know," Rumble said, rubbing the back of his neck that was turned away in shame. "Sorry. I guess I was getting too worked up about it all. I was just really depressed, you know? Because of Pipsqueak and y..." His face went bright red for a minute, and he instantly cut himself off, as if he had been leaking confidential information without realizing it until just then. It took a moment for him to compose himself, and by that time Dinky had been staring at him through tears with a confused expression spreading over her. "...Anyway, the point is, at least now you know he's a jerk, right?"

"I guess," Dinky pouted, hanging her head in sorrow. "I just wish I had known this sooner. I... I really loved him. Or, I thought I did... and I thought he loved me." She practically was oozing with depression and heartache, both feelings Rumble had been experiencing in the same way up until this night. "I just wanted this night to be perfect! After all those years of bullies and harassment and scars I thought I finally met someone who loved me! But he's just like the rest of them!" Tears were streaking rapidly down either side of her face, staining the floor below them in a clear dewdrop hard to see in this light.

Rumble shook his head and gave her a golden, gleaming smile that lit the darkness in her bitter heart. "No, not everyone-- There's ponies out there who really suck, and they'll hate on you as they live, but there's still your sister, and your mother, and I'll always be there for you, and I'll never hate you."

Dinky felt something ignite inside of her; words she had been waiting to hear in a long time from someone was finally spoken, and without even thinking she threw her arms around him, glad to have her best friend back. Someone that actually cared about her-- Someone who loved her!

Suddenly her heart skipped a beat or two and she felt heat rising in her face at the thought when she pressed herself against him. She had never really thought about it that way. N-No, Dinky, I'm sure he doesn't love you, I-I mean, you've known him for a long time and you love him as a friend but he doesn't.... Love love you, right? What if he does? What would it be like if we started dating?

She shoved the thoughts out of her mind when Rumble slowly broke the warm hug. He smiled at her, his purple eyes filled with light, and if she didn't know any better she'd say he was blushing. He spoke quietly: "So... there are still a few minutes before the dance ends..."

Dinky's face lit up. "You know, I could go for some dancing right about now!"

Rumble bowed his head courteously, which made her laugh because they were best friends and it was weird to see him act so formal towards her. "Well, in that case, may I have this dance, Miss Dinky?"

She bowed her head in response, taking his outstretched hoof and smiling before saying, "Yes sir, you may." They both burst out laughing before skipping off together, an odd pair, back to the auditorium doors.

Dinky wasn't going to let Pipsqueak bring her down-- Not when she had her best friend, a pony worth living for! There was still a lot of dancing to do, and she didn't intend to spend her time dancing alone.

She couldn't help feeling a rush of excitement and courage as the two ponies galloped down the halls, but this was something different. She felt free, she felt almost invincible. She couldn't remember a time where she felt this much joy. And it was only until the doors to the auditorium opened when she realized it was because of Rumble.

Glancing up at him, she cursed herself for being unable to control the heat that rose beneath her cheeks. A set of amazing light violet eyes glistened with friendliness in the light of the dance. His dark mane was brushed back in a sleek style, and his mouth was turned upwards in a perfect smile-- one that she didn't quite like to admit she admired. He was wearing a dark blue bow tie that she couldn't help thinking made him look... What was that word? Cute? She immediately shook the thought out of her head, but...

He sure was handsome. Something she never really noticed about him until now where it made her do stupid things, such as blush and sit there as her heart fluttered when he looked at her. She felt this weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that reminded her of going upside-down in the loop of a super fast roller coaster. But she wasn't on a roller coaster, she was on the ground, so what strange force could possibly be strong enough to be compared with the roller coaster?

And why did she suddenly feel this way about Rumble? It's not like she had always thought of him like this. She guessed her emotions were running so high right then that it made her think of all sorts of dumb things. Like, for example, that Rumble was attractive. And charming. And cute.

Dinky's thoughts were interrupted as Rumble grabbed her hoof. Pulling her out to the dance floor, she giggled and decided to push all those irritating thoughts out of her mind and run along with him to dance for awhile.

Pipsqueak and Sweetie Belle were nowhere to be seen; they probably both went home out of shock and/or disappointment, Dinky realized. There were still a few couples and lone ponies dancing among groups of friends and suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks.

She didn't know how to dance. And she was standing in the middle of a dance floor. With her best friend. Who was holding her hoof. Which was starting to get really sweaty just then.

Her imaginary request to have time to think wasn't picked up by Rumble as he began dancing, and she decided to go along with it by pretending to dance while basically just moving side to side frequently and tapping her hoof to the floor every once in a while to the music. She felt awkward, and wanted nothing more than to be home where none of this was actually happening. But at the same time, being around, dancing (sorta) with Rumble, her tall, handsome good friend (and there was nothing more to it than that) put her in a happy mood that prompted her to stay with him and left her wondering if she could ever have acquired a mood like this with Pipsqueak.

No-- Rumble was the pony who had made her laugh and smile and feel at home, the pony who had defended her time and time again from bullies and threats, the only pony in the universe who understood her-- who she could actually be herself around.

And when she looked deep into his radiant violet irises a thought came to mind: She did love him as a friend. But, in a romantic way...? She just couldn't answer that nagging question at the moment. And how could she love somepony else after having her heart shattered to shards just a few minutes ago?

But how could someone like Pipsqueak possibly compare to somepony as amazing as Rumble? He was kind, caring, funny, brave, sensitive, good-looking... What more could a filly possibly want in a colt? She turned her head away from him and refused to meet his gaze as the thought, while meaningful, made her feel a certain emotion of uncomfortableness.

Rumble looked up at her, and she glanced back at him, before being met with his endearing smile made her immediately pin her eyes on the ground, a deep blush spreading over her face like wildfire.

Dinky! You stupid featherbrain! Why are you acting this way around him? You're not supposed to be shy around your best friend. She cursed herself for her sudden actions that she couldn't seem to control nor reign in at the moment.

It wasn't until a particular slow song came to rest over the night when Dinky had found her emotions were all scattered in different directions, each one containing an ambiguous concept of how she felt about Rumble. All the time she had spent dancing she had been trying to understand herself at the present and how she felt about her best friend that she realized she could quite possibly have feelings for. She was too tired from all the dancing to protest when Rumble pulled her closer to him, the both of them swaying softly to the music.

She couldn't ever really imagine herself dancing to some sappy romantic song with Rumble, of all ponies, her best friend, and there was nothing more to it than that. But somehow through her sleepy haze she could feel her heart flittering with affection as his eyes fell down upon her.

Not having enough energy to do anything other than sway with him to the flow of the soft music in a calm fashion, Dinky couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. This was definitely not a normal feeling. Not to have towards a friend who had been there by her side for years.

Flustered, Dinky pondered over the subject, debating with two sides of her mind for a long while before she noticed she was staring directly at her and he was returning her gaze affectionately. Embarrassed, she decided to say something to break the ice between them.

"So.... Thunderlane made you go to the dance, huh?"

"Yeah, but I guess it wasn't all that bad. Besides, now I have a filly to dance with." Rumble gave her a smile that should have warmed her heart, but instead made her cower in fear as she felt butterflies in her stomach.

What the hay, Dinky? Why are you suddenly so shy? Why does everything he says make you blush and get some stupid tingling feeling on the inside now? What is this weird feeling? I thought I had it with Pipsqueak, but... She peered into his cautious yet caring eyes, full of happiness yet grief at the same time. Her emotions were so on edge right then that she didn't know what to think of him anymore.

After the dance Rumble walked Dinky home in silence. It was nighttime now, and the moon shone brightly in the sky, gifting them the light they needed to make the trip to her house. Neither of them said anything, no this was a genuine moment of awkward silence that both of them acknowledged but didn't go out of their way to point it out. The truth was that neither of them knew what to say after a night of heartache turned into a strange romantic slow dance full of unspoken tension between the two.

All sorts of thoughts filled Dinky's mind. She wasn't sure if she had liked the dance, or disliked it, in fact, she was growing even less sure every passing moment she spent with the colt. She suppressed a growl of frustration. Why did a simple walk home feel like it was taking centuries to get there?!

"Uh, Dinky?"

The sentence spoken by Rumble rang through her ears as she had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed she was walking right by her own home. She stopped, turned around, her red face barely thankfully not too revealing in the shadowy moonlight, and trotted up to the front porch after following a familiar passageway of stones that looked dark brown in the night's shade. She was finally home.

Rumble stood by her as she knocked on the door a few times. There was no response, and they waited in yet another annoying moment of awkward silence until she rang the doorbell.

Both ponies could hear a startling clashing noise echoing throughout the indoors of the house. It sounded like a million ponies were attempting to balance pots and pans on their heads while juggling breakable objects and standing on plastic beach balls. A worried look spread across both of their faces before the noise stopped shortly and hooves could be heard nearing the door.

The front door swung open to reveal a light gray pegasus with a messy blonde mane and crooked golden eyes that matched Dinky's giving them a bright smile.

"Oh, hi Muffin, you're home," the pegasus beamed, welcoming both of them. "And you've brought a few friends!"

"W-What?" Dinky looked behind her to make sure nopony was following her, but there was no one there, it was just the silent, calm night taking over her front lawn. "Uh, no, Mom, it's only Rumble that walked me home. No one else came with us." She rolled her eyes and grinned at her mother's usual antics, and Rumble giggled softly in a way that she knew she shouldn't have found adorable, but cursed herself for thinking it was anyway.

Her mom's eyes, one of which was scoping the ceiling, the other sweeping over both of them, tried to center themselves on the younger ponies before her. "Oh. My vision's not what it used to be."

Her mom's silly attitude lightened the mood, melting some of the ice between them that Dinky's mother was oblivious to.

"I brought Dinky home," Rumble said after clearing his throat, the two of them exchanging forced smiles.

"How nice of you, Tumble." She grinned at the colt. "Why don't you come in for a while?"

"It's Rumble, and I'd love to stay but I gotta get home before Thunderlane starts freaking out," Rumble told them, and rolled his eyes at the thought before saying goodbye departing down the trail to his home.

"Goodbye, Grumble!" Dinky's mom called after him as he trotted away. "Thanks for bringing my muffin home!" She ruffled her daughter's mane before closing the door, leaving both mares inside and blocking Rumble from Dinky's vision. Dinky giggled to herself at how her mom was always getting ponies' names wrong, no matter how many times they told her their correct names.

Her thoughts were interrupted before she was swept up in the air by her mother, who was hugging her closely to her chest. "Ohh, my little filly is all grown up! I'm so proud of you, Muffin! I knew you'd someday go to a dance and get a handsome boyfriend! And who better than Rumble to--"

She was cut off as they smashed into the wall. Her mom had been flying around the room and due to her uneven eyesight they had crashed, both ponies tumbling over on the living room floor in a mess of feathers, fur and golden hair. Dinky growled lowly as she did not appreciate the lump of a pony that was weighing her down, still dazed from the fall.

She squirmed out from underneath her mom's clutches, grumbling and pushing her way out of the mess. She loved her mother, but sometimes she had come to accept the fact that not everypony was cut out to be the perfect parent.

"Mom! Rumble is not my boyfriend!" Dinky hissed as her mom tackled her in another instant hug and showered her with kisses and affection.

"My muffin is in love!" The gray pegasus squeezed her daughter tightly, causing Dinky to flush with embarrassment.

"N-No, I'm not in love! And that's final!" Dinky pushed herself out of the hug and growled "Goodnight, mother" before storming up the stairs. A slam of the door followed her angry exit.

Letting herself fall back against her bed, she grabbed a pillow and hugged it.

What a night.

She was exhausted. So much had happened in one measly day that she could hardly remember anything, or how it started. Just that morning she had been the happiest pony on earth with Pipsqueak and now that felt as if it were months ago. She had been on an emotional roller coaster since.

And the thing that bugged her the most was the fact that she still couldn't get Rumble out of her mind. And she still couldn't figure out how she felt about him. It's like she thought he was cute, sure, but were friends of the opposite sex supposed to think that? And if she didn't have "special feelings" for him, why did she suddenly feel shy and start blushing around him? She groaned at the thought her brain sent her: Maybe I'm in love.

Growling in frustration, the pony sat up, releasing the pillow from her tight grasp that had grown tighter the more tense her thoughts became. The tension in her was about to explode, and she was going to do something about it. She inhaled deeply before screaming at the top of her lungs to an invisible enemy that was everywhere.

"I AM NOT IN LOVE!"

She was not sure why she did it, but boy were Amethyst and the rest of the neighborhood mad at her for rousing them from their slumber.

Family is Forever

Two ponies, two colorful specks from a bird's eye view, growing near the heart of the forest were strolling together just like old times. Even from far away they could faintly hear the rushing water of the familiar rapids that only they visited. Dinky had never been happier since they had started talking.

They laughed and chatted about random things ranging from school to siblings, from cross-eyed mothers to work and slow drivers. Stuff they usually talked about. But it didn't feel the same to Dinky-- not like it was before she dated Pipsqueak. This was a new feeling, something she wasn't extremely experienced with. She didn't even know what that feeling was and was hoping to find out today as he fulfilled her company.

They came to rest at the stone bridge that shaded the white rapids. Such scary, strong waves of terror that would sweep a pony up in its ever-flowing currents should they fall to their doom would have frightened a pony if they didn't have their best friend with them. Dinky felt invincible around him, she felt like all her insecurities would melt away like a popsicle on a hot day. But strangely, she didn't know why she had suddenly felt different, and couldn't get the nagging question of love out of her mind every time he glanced at her.

They sat in silence for awhile until strangely, his voice reached over the rapids without him even trying. In fact it sounded like a whisper through the air that somehow managed to overpower the sound of rushing rapids with its gentle power.

"Dinky, I love you."

Without even thinking, the unicorn responded. She wasn't even sure why she did this, but she cried out: "I love you too!"

They leaned in to kiss, and it wasn't until his face was centimeters from hers when she realized something.

Wait a minute, this wouldn't happen!

As if it had hit her like a brick falling out of the sky, a sudden alarming ringing noise burst through her hearing, destroying everything around her with its powerful sound waves. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't... Rumble and the forest became nothing but unrecognizable blurs. The sound of the rapids died down and surrendered under the new ear-piercing screech of a cell phone cutting into her dreams.

Because there were no rapids. There was no Rumble that she was about to kiss. She wasn't in a forest; she was in her bed, and she had been sleeping.

Groaning as a ray of sunlight made her cringe as it chased after her through the window, the pony opened a tired eye and sat up, trying to shake off her sleepy state. The annoying ring of her cell phone on her nightstand was what urged her to pick it up. Who was calling was what urged her not to answer.

A certain pegasus was calling her. Almost immediately she cowered in fear. She couldn't talk to him after what had happened!  But then she remembered that the kiss was in a dream, and that he hadn't actually confessed his love for her and vice versa. Dinky didn't think she had ever been more grateful that everything turned out to be just a dream.

Reluctantly, she answered the call, sitting up and letting the covers fall off her. In a sleepy voice, she muttered, "Hello?"

"Hey Dinky, it's Rumble."

His voice made her anxious. Even though everything had been a dream, she couldn't suppress a shudder that continued to chill her spine. She answered anyway. "Oh hey Rumble... What's going on?"

There was a brief pause. "Nothing, I just wanted to know if you wanted to see a movie with me later?"

Suddenly after everything she had been through, visions of last night started replaying themselves over and over again until she felt vulnerable. She coughed before responding, "Sorry... My mom really needs help with her muffin baking... Don't want her to burn down the house again, right?" She made a pathetic attempt at a fake, forced laugh.

Rumble's voice deepened and she could tell he was disappointed without even being able to look at him. "Oh, okay. Maybe some other time?"

After what had happened last night, she didn't know why, but the thought of being around him made her as nervous and anxious as could be. It was like she didn't want anything to have to do with him anymore, but it wasn't because she disliked him. It was this weird feeling of shyness she couldn't get over-- She decided she needed some time away from him for awhile to figure things out on her own. "Yeah, sure. Sounds great. Okay see you bye!" She said the last sentence quickly so that it was rather mashed together and sighed after she hung up.

It was a strange relief to be out of his company for awhile. After that dream, she didn't know what to think.

That was another thing. Why did Dinky suddenly have that weird romantic dream about him? It's not like they had any actual chemistry between them.

Then she remembered the before night and cringed with the memory. It had sparked strange, complicated feelings that she had never felt for Rumble before. And now she didn't even know if there was a friendship between them. It was like some kind of awkward unspoken relationship she didn't necessarily want to be a part of.

Great. First I thought Rumble was kind of cute, now I had some dumb romantic dream about him. I'm not supposed to feel this way about my best friend! I... don't want to have feelings for him! The thoughts spun around and around in her mind until they drove her crazy and she let herself fall back onto her bed with a defeated huff.

There was one part of her that didn't want to be in love with Rumble. But there was another part of her that couldn't help thinking he was attractive or kind or funny-- she couldn't control it. And that scared her.

Her tense thoughts were interrupted.

"Dinky! Come down for breakfast!"

It wasn't until that sentence was called to her that she realized how hungry she was. Her stomach felt like an empty abyss. An empty, rumbling abyss.

Just the thought of that word sent her sprawling down the stairs at top speed as if Rumble were right behind her. She didn't want to think of him. Or even that word.

She burst through the halls down to the kitchen in a fit of enthusiasm for breakfast. Unfortunately she was going so fast, however, that her eyes widened a moment before she noticed the kitchen table was growing larger very fast.

A loud crash made Amethyst cringe as Dinky was unable to prevent herself from stopping before she slammed a leg of the table. The whole thing screeched across the wood floor very briefly as her force impacted its leg. The vase of flowers trembled before being ultimately thrown back and falling over on the table, a loud clatter responding to its landing on the silverware, which was scattered messily over the table as it shook. Water from the vase leaked out and dampened the tablecloth before trickling down like a slow waterfall and meeting the floor, a puddle forming beneath it until all the water had spilled. A perfectly clean and polished plate teetered over the edge of the table for a second before falling to its doom and smashing against the hard floors.

Pain immediately rushed to Dinky's dizzy head and she lifted herself, her eyes as crooked as her mother's usually were right about then. When her vision adjusted itself and the three ponies in front of her became one-- her sister-- she noticed that Amethyst's eyes were narrowed, her eyebrow lifted and her face spelled out the fact that she was not amused.

Ignoring the ringing in her ears and the agonizing pain she felt before it subsided, Dinky shook her head rapidly and said: "Umm, my bad?"

"Dinky, are you okay?" Amethyst's words were gentle but she seemed generally more annoyed than concerned.

"Yeah?" Dinky rubbed her forehead, giving a guilty smile as Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Dinky! I'm glad you're okay and all, but I had just finished setting up the silverware! And look, now all the flowers spilled out and the tablecloth's damp, not to mention there's a whole mess of water on the floor and a broken plate for me to clean up!" She turned her back on Dinky as she trotted over to the living room and returned with a broom being levitated using her magic, floating in a shade of brilliant raspberry.

Dinky felt discouraged as a pang of anger was detected under her pain.

"Well, sorry," she hissed in a deep, exaggerated and insincere way, "it was an accident! I was running and couldn't stop!"

"Well, you shouldn't have been running in the house," Amethyst retorted.

Dinky sighed, letting much of her tense emotions built up inside of her relax. "Sorry, Amy. I've been through a lot. I guess I'm just extra grumpy today." A funny thing the two ponies shared was that they even called each other by their special nicknames when they weren't in the happiest of moods.

"Why?" Amethyst raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem to display a passionate emotion of concern for her little sister. She did seem curious, though, and stopped cleaning up the mess momentarily to give Dinky her undivided attention for the moment.

Amethyst's subtly impatient expression narrowed to a sympathetic one as her little sister took a deep breath and told her everything that happened at the dance that night.... Well, except the part about when she danced with Rumble. She didn't feel like talking about that then. She suppressed a sigh at the very memory and forced a slight half smile.

"I had no idea," Amethyst wrapped a cold arm around her younger sister who shivered at the touch. "Sorry. I didn't know."

Dinky shrugged it off and her horn lit up, using her magic to carry the delicate broken pieces of the plate to the trash can across the room. She did so without a word and didn't bother trying to make eye contact.

After the mess had been cleaned up they were about to sit down for breakfast when Dinky realized she wasn't hungry anymore.

"You're not going to eat?" Amethyst raised an eyebrow, her face narrowed in surprise and confusion. She looked down at the plate of pancakes before her sister with disappointment and a burden. "Oh, you don't like it... I knew I used too much cinnamon."

"No, it's not that," the younger mare reassured her. "I guess I'm just not hungry anymore. I can't get my mind off the dance. I think I just need some time alone. Thanks for breakfast anyways, Amy."

The harsh, short creek of her chair being pushed back echoed through the kitchen as Dinky slid out of it. Soft, sensitive lavender hooves met the cold hard floors and the sound of it died away the further the unicorn progressed until she got to her room and the door closed behind her.

She nearly threw herself onto her bed, which seemed like it was getting more uncomfortable and lumpy each night and groaned loudly.

She didn't want to talk to anyone right then. Her mother was probably at work at this hour, but she had a bad feeling her sister would follow her up here anyway sooner or later to try to shake a sentence or two out of her.

Suddenly the annoying ringing sound of a familiar object was accompanied by a vibration that echoed through her rooms. Sitting up sharply to pick up her phone, she realized with great relief that Rumble wasn't calling; it was her mother.

Quickly answering to get her mind off of things, her phone went to the side of her face as she muttered, "Hi Mom."

"Hi Muffin! It's Mom," a voice sounded out of the other end of the line.

"I know it's you Mom, I said 'Hi Mom,' remember?" She rolled her eyes but smiled still.

"Oh. Well I accidentally locked myself out of the house again so I'm gonna need you to open the door for me."

Dinky fought a feeling of impatience, but she managed to say in a normal tone, "Can't you just have Amy do it?"

"Amy doesn't know where the spare house key is."

She let out a groan of frustration as she shifted from her position. She wasn't actually angry but she felt like she wanted something else to be mad about. The soft sound of hooves traveled with her till she stopped on the soft rug of her mother's room. Before her was a bed, which sheets were crooked and draping loosely over the side, despite her mother's best efforts to make it herself with her eyesight. Dinky knelt down and peeped her head under the blankets that hung over the edge, staring flatly into the dark abyss of the dusty wooden floors under the bed. Using her magic to strike a faint glow to the shadows, everything in front of her became clearer.

Her gaze drifted through the area, scanning the area for the key object her mind had envisioned. After shoving aside a stack of dusty books a cardboard box caught her eye. Her face displaying a glow of triumph, she made it float over to her with her magic and pulled her head out of the shadows of her mother's bed.

She gave a soft grunt as she fell backwards clumsily and toppled over. Her leg had gotten caught under the covers that made their way to the floor, and she sighed in aggravation. Prying herself loose, the pony stumbled to her hooves and quickly made her way out of the room down the stairs with the box.

If their mother had not lost the house key a week ago that they used to get out of the house when she wasn't home, Dinky would not have had to venture out into the dusty land of under her mother's bed. She didn't quite like dark places, even a small one in the light of day. They just gave her the chills. And she didn't appreciate the amount of excessive sneezing she had started to do when the dust entered her breathing system.

The lavender pony quickly trotted over to the door where through the foggy glass window that hung above she could see a blurry light gray figure waiting patiently outside on the porch. Dinky sighed as she opened the old cardboard box only to have to sift through old family relics and other personal items of her mother's. She finally saw the silver twinkle of a shiny metal key and fit it into the keyhole, letting the door open back for her mother to step through.

The gray pegasus smiled sincerely, her left eye focused on her daughter and her lazy eye falling to rest on the placemat she was standing on. She ruffled Dinky's hair and said cheerily, "Thanks, Muffin." Her own golden hair was lying under a dark blue hat typically worn by Ponyville's mail ponies. In addition to the hat she wore her usual work uniform for when she had to deliver mail.

"Hey Mom. How come you're home so early?" Dinky was speaking to her mom, but her attention was divided and fixed on the box she carried.

"Well there was some mysterious disaster at the main office and apparently all of Ponyville's mail caught on fire. Strange, it happened just as I appeared. Weird, huh?" She giggled.

Dinky's face instantly fell into that of concern. "A fire? Is everypony okay?"

"Yeah, my boss just decided to send everyone home for the day till he handles the angry mob of ponies that were mad at him for their mail being burned up. No biggie."

"But what about the fire?"

"Oh, well, around the time I started working there a few years ago, the place had been mysteriously catching on fire pretty frequently. Sometimes three or four times a month. They never found out what caused it, but the firefighters always took care of it. Eventually they just decided to move to a new location that was across the street from a firefighter station. That's why they moved last year."

"Oh."

It made sense to Dinky, but she never knew about the many fires her mother described. She guessed they had never been too severe or had been happening too frequently for it to be anything new. It still made her shiver at the thought. Was working at a post office really that dangerous? What could they possibly have there that causes things to be set on fire?

Her confused emotions evaporated as her sister came trotting into the room, not even bothering to ask why she had come home so early. Clearly their mother's sense of curiosity was inherited by Dinky and left behind by Amethyst. "Hey Mom. Hey Dinky. What's that box for?"

Dinky peered inside of it, setting the key carefully atop a couple of old family scrapbooks. "Oh, nothing. It's just where Mom keeps the spare house key."

A gold ribbon of magic quickly changed color to a deep shade of magenta as the box was hauled out of Dinky's command and into her sister's as the older unicorn used her own magical abilities to set it on the floor in front of them so she could begin to search through the old box. Perhaps not every ounce of curiosity had been absorbed by Amethyst, but there was still definitely a trace of it, Dinky realized.

"What're you looking for?"

"Nothing. I'm just looking." Amethyst concentrated on her search till an old scrapbook was lifted up by her into the air. "What's this?"

An old, thick leathery red book covered in light splotches of dust was set next to the box on the floor. As Amethyst used her hoof to wipe away some of the dust a faint script appeared in the center, reading: Derpy + Ponet.

"Oh, that was me and your father's old album," their mother whispered, looking lost in thought as if she was reminiscing with a slight half smile on her face.

Dinky sat next to her sister as the album opened. Her eyes caught sight of a light purple stallion with a short, wavy two-toned golden mane seen sitting close to her mother, who looked a surprising amount of years younger, thought her eyes were about as crooked as they are now. His own emerald green eyes were fixed on the camera in an affectionate fashion and Dinky just then noticed that the pony had his hoof around their mother, and she was leaning into his embrace.

"Is that Dad?" Amethyst's eyes were fixed on the pony, and Dinky couldn't help but notice her voice was hoarse, filled with a faint amount of pain.

Their mom nodded. Dinky stared at the stallion as if she had never seen him before in her life.

Because she hadn't. She had only seen him in photos. Amethyst only had been around to see him for a few years till she was four. Dinky never got to meet him. He left the world too soon, just days before Dinky's birth. So of course he was a foreign pony to her. She didn't know how to feel about him; she didn't know if she should have been sad because she never met him. She couldn't remember what he was like because she wasn't around to see.

But for Amethyst, it was different. Dinky could clearly see the amount of pain that stirred in her violet eyes, dotted with crystal tears the more she flipped through the photos.

Dinky herself felt a pang of sadness every time a picture came around where her father and mother were together. They looked so happy. So involved in each other's company. Like their life couldn't be better. A sense of dread wasn't allowed to escape when she realized how devastated her mother must have been when he... left.

The more she looked at him, the more and more Dinky began to realize she looked like him. Same golden mane, same light coat color. They were both unicorns. If he were alive and with them then anyone could clearly see the family resemblance. She could also see a bit of this in her sister, but not as much. She had a pinkish purple coat like his, and was a unicorn, but her violet tail and eyes were inherited from neither of her parents, but their grandmother.

Their mother pointed with her hoof to a picture of two ponies, herself and her husband, standing outside landscape decorated with pretty decor. They were standing side by side, and on a podium featuring marble columns adorned by blue bows and ribbons. Dinky's father was wearing a suit and tie, and parallel to him their mother wore a beautiful long white gown.

"Our wedding photo," she explained as eyes pinned on her. Her own crooked eyes were clouded with tears but a smile still stretched across her face.

"Wow," Dinky remarked, hardly able to recognize her mother with her mane done up in a beautiful blue ribbon. She looked so amazing that if Dinky didn't know any better, she'd say she was a princess or something like that.

A few more pages followed up with the years of their marriage, including pictures that featured their honeymoon in Rainbow Falls, them at parties and with friends, and them with Amethyst Star as a foal.

Dinky stared confusedly at the tiny little lump of a pony that was her sister as a foal. She looked so much different now. For one thing, she wasn't nearly as fat as she was as a baby. For another, her mane was a lot longer now than when she was a kid. It seemed strange seeing her grown-up older sister as a baby.

When that photo album had been looked through, Amethyst sifted through the box to find an old letter written in ink on dull paper yellowing with age.

"What's this?" Dinky asked, peering over and trying to read the neat cursive writing.

"This was the last letter your father sent me," their mom explained, appearing to have an emotionless state wash over her at the sight of it.

"Dad has great handwriting," Dinky remarked, barely being able to believe the amount of time and effort it must have taken to get to the point he did with his handwriting.

As she read it a chill of sadness swept through her heart.

Dear Derpy,

I know you've been mad at me lately for being away for too long and coming home too sharply to witness the birth of our child. But I can assure you I wouldn't miss it for the world. I quit my job and I wanted to tell you that I'm heading to Ponyville from Manehattan right now! I promise I'll be home in time to be there for our second foal.

I love you, Derpy. I love you and our daughter more than anything else in this entire universe. You both are so precious to me, as is our future daughter/son. I also promise that I won't make the mistake of traveling away while expecting a foal again, if we ever have another. I've been so anxious to see you and Amethyst Star lately, it's really been stressing me out. That's why I'm headed straight for Ponyville right now.

Please don't be mad at me. I know I made a bad decision but I'm coming home now to see the birth of my precious child. Tell Amethyst that I love her and that I can't wait to see her again.

I love you,

Ponet

Dinky teared up at the sight. "Mom?"

"Yes?" Her mother's eyes were fixed on the letter.

"Was that...?"

"The last thing I heard from him? Yes, it was." She sighed as she let the old piece of paper slide off her hoof back into the box like a broken memory she had struggled to forget.

"Mom?" Dinky's throat was closing up on her now. "Was that the day of the train crash?"

Her mother shrugged and nodded at the memory. She had a seemingly neutral expression plastered on her face but Dinky could tell that the pony was busy revisiting old fond memories that became more and more bittersweet as time went on.

Dinky couldn't control the tears that flowed down her face. Amethyst pulled her into a hug as she sniffled and whimpered.

This continued for a few seconds before their mom joined them in the hug. "Hey, Muffin. Don't cry."

"I never got to meet him!"

"It's okay, Muffin. He loved you."

"But he never met me!" Dinky could almost feel her heart break.

Her own father! She didn't even know her own father! She never got to experience the joys of scrambling to the doorstep every evening when he came home from work for him to swing her up in the air while she let out squeals of delight, nor afternoons spent playing softball with her him out in the backyard before getting ice cream together. There were no pictures of them making silly faces at the camera together. There were no memories where he had picked her up an hour before school ended to take her out for a game of laser tag. He had never taken Dinky out on a smelly boat on the lake with a can of worms and tried to teach her how to fish, only to drop the fishing rod in the water and call it a night.

It broke her heart to not know him. How could she not know one of the most important ponies that would have been in her life?! Her own biological father never spoke one word to her. He never even got to see her face, nor did she see his. It's like there was a part of her that she would never be able to access, or a missing link to her that she would never find. And that hurt her. Especially when ponies all around knew their dads. Why couldn't she know hers?

She broke the hug. Her emotions were making her grow cold and upset at that moment. The only thing she wanted to do at the moment was to see him. To find him after all those years where he wasn't there and to hear him say he loved her and for her to say it back. And she would never be able to do that, ever. She didn't even get to say goodbye.

The pony galloped up the stairs in a fit of tears. She didn't care about anything else at the moment. She hated the cold world for taking her own dad away from her. Sure, other ponies got to know their dads, but of course she couldn't! The world would come to an end if Dinky had one single ray of happiness in her life!

A slam of her door echoed through the house. She wished she had never seen those stupid pictures that had sparked a sensitive flame inside of her. She wished that he had been there, he hadn't been on that stupid train on the day it crashed, and that the stupid conductor had enough brains to prevent the stupid crash from happening. And she wished her father never went on that stupid business trip months before her birth!

In a fit of rage the pony let out a shrill shout of sadness and fury. Kicking the trash can that lay by her desk, the pony didn't care as she watched the contents pour out onto her floors in front of her, something that would normally drive her insane. She continued to throw things across the room and beat at her pillow until she got too tired to care about it anymore. She eventually just lay in the advancing darkness of her room listening to the sound of the fan that hung on her ceiling spin around and around in an endless cycle while lying on the cold hard floor waiting for something interesting to happen in her life.

Her heart felt like an empty abyss. Like nothing was inside. Just a hollow, empty shell of depression. Something that looked a lot like the box of memories she had inside of her mind that involved her father.

She glared at the tear that she watched drip into the small puddle that dampened the side of her face. She was facing her bed, staring into the darkness of the underside that she expected to someday expand on her or reveal a threatening creature that would lunge at her. Maybe it had a portal that led to an alternate world concealed inside its shadowy depths.

But right then she didn't care. Her mind was fixed on the thought of her father that she couldn't get over. She could hear the faint muttering of her mother and Amethyst downstairs, but was too tired to try to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Then she heard the sound of a doorbell. Too upset to wonder who it was, the pony's hoof danced over the wooden panels beneath her, moving around in soft complete circles that brushed the floor.

She listened as a different, deeper voice accompanied the two mares downstairs, yet she still couldn't make out the exact words. The pony let out a sigh as the soft mumbling continued steadily till she heard the sound of hooves creak through the old house.

Footsteps obviously were leading up the stairs, retaining the movement of stepping up higher and higher getting closer and closer. Dinky grumbled as she hoped whoever it was didn't go straight for her room. She didn't want to talk to anyone right then. She wanted to be alone.

And her suspicions were confirmed with a knock on the door. Her body tensed up and she let out a weird sound, sort of like a groan, that signified all her anger that was seeping through her.

A familiar, masculine voice nearly startled her to Tartarus and back.

"Dinky, it's Rumble. Can I come in?"

Dinky felt like she wanted to hide under her bed. She actually considered this for a split second before she remembered that she was too big to fit under it. Instead she let out a defeated sigh before granting permission to the pony on the very bottom of her list of ponies she wanted to see just then to enter.

The door creaked open and she rolled over to face him. Her muscles ached as she got to her tired hooves, worn out and upset as she was.

Her heart flipped when she saw him. Celestia, why is he making me nervous? She gritted her teeth with annoyance as the pony neared her.

Dark gray hair was smoothened by his hoof over and over as if it were a nervous habit he had. The ponies stared at each other for a few seconds before he spoke.

"So.... What's wrong?"

Dinky shook her head and sat on the cold floors of her lonely bedroom. She witnessed a tear slide down her cheek and splatter onto the wooden panels beneath her. Her stomach felt sick and her head was ringing.

"Dinky..." Rumble trailed off, but he connected the gap between them with a few steps forward. She felt his hooves wrap around her but she didn't care at the moment. The only thing she could think of at the moment was how awful she felt. "Tell me what's wrong."

She stayed silent for a long time, almost ignoring his attempts to coax words out of her. Narrowed golden eyes traced the floor, and her expression remained unwilling to show signs of happiness or any emotion other than pity and grief.

She sat there cradled in his arms for a few more minutes before she spoke. "Rumble, did you know your parents?"

He pulled away only to look her in the eyes, which were clouded with pain themselves. He attempted to make it look like it didn't bother him, though his voice was hoarse and frail: "Nah. They, uh... y'know, left when I was a baby so..." His purple eyes glanced down to the floor, the subject obviously sensitive to him.

"Does that ever bother you?"

"Sometimes. But not really."

"Why?" Dinky looked at him with genuine curiosity.

"'Cause, y'know, I always had Thunderlane, I guess... He was sorta like my big brother and my parent at the same time, you know? I was upset, sure, but I guess that whenever I had him around, it didn't matter, because the past is in the past." Rumble shrugged.

"What do you mean by that?" Dinky narrowed her eyes.

"Well there really is no use in crying over something that's done, is there?" Rumble gave her a deep, thoughtful glance.

She frowned at him, tears returning to her already-damp eyes. "But I never knew my own dad! He doesn't even know I exist anymore! He doesn't even know my name." Her eyesight fell gloomily back to the floorboards that distracted her from reality somehow.

"Yeah, and that sucks, I'm not gonna lie," Rumble told her, causing her to glare back at him. He continued, "There's nothing you can really do about it, though, right?"

"Yeah, but--"

"Exactly. There's no use in fretting over something that's out of your control." Rumble sighed deeply as thoughts of his parents were probably drifting through his own mind, Dinky realized. "Anyway, you've still got your family. There's your mom, and Amethyst Star, and your grandparents..."

"But not my dad!" She wailed, tears streaming down her face, which had reddened with all the crying.

"See, that's where you're wrong." Rumble forced her to look up at him by lifting her face up with his hoof, a gesture that made her heart skip a beat when her eyes found his. "Your dad might not be with you now, but he'll always be family. He'll always be in your heart, right?"

"How can he be in my heart if I never met him?" Dinky growled, pain clotting her frozen heart.

"Dinky, the reason you're alive is because of him. He'll always be a part of you, inside. Even if you never met him, he still loves you. You're his daughter, and you wouldn't be here if it weren't for him," Rumble explained, letting out an angry sigh at the end of his last sentence.

She sighed herself and returned the sentimental and frustrated hug that was thrown at her. Just being pressed up against Rumble as her hooves wrapped around him made her wounded heart jump-- but she ignored it and sat there, hugging her best friend she had struggled to gain back.

"Thanks, Rumble," she muttered sharply, sniffling and wiping away a tear.

Two ponies appeared in the doorway: her sister and mother. They broke the hug when they noticed the ponies, which took a longer time than it should have. They had been hugging for so long in silence that they didn't even hear them approaching through the involvement they had in each other. So it was quite embarrassing when they finally did notice the two ponies watching them in complete awkward silence. This had been going on for a while. Great.

"Hi Muffin," her mom told her, giving a warm smile that did nothing to improve Dinky's mood. "Amy and I were looking through the box, and-"

"I don't want to hear about it," Dinky growled sharply, not interested in having her heart broken anymore.

"...And we found something I think you should keep," her mother continued.

Dinky scowled and poked at the ground with her hoof. "I don't want anything."

Amethyst Star's magic brought over a silver chain necklace with a heart attached to it. There was a small jagged ledge on the right-hand side of the heart, and when tugged, it would reveal the opening: which contained a blurry picture.

"What's this supposed to be?" Dinky muttered gloomily, squinting to try and make out the picture exactly.

Two ponies stood together in what appeared to be a lit, decorated living room. One of the ponies was wearing a red hat with a fluffy white rim and a ball of the same material hanging loosely to one side. The other wore a red-and-green striped scarf. The more and more Dinky stared at it, the more she realized they looked like her parents, only foals. They both smiled at each other in the hug that they were involved in.

"Is this you and Dad?" she rasped, her voice strained and hoarse from all the crying.

Her mother nodded and smiled. "He gave it to me as a Hearth's Warming Eve present when we were about your age. It's too small for me or Amy to wear now, but it should fit you."

"You knew Dad when you were a teenager?"

"Sure, he was my best friend as a foal," her mom explained, smiling back as she reflected on her golden childhood memories. She made a motion with her hoof that connected a line in between Rumble and Dinky. "Kinda like how you two are."

Dinky couldn't help the fact of her face going red. There was, as she liked to think, no romantic future between them whatsoever. If her mother was implying there was one, then she was wrong. Instead she looked away from him and muttered agreement.

"Anyway, I think you should keep it," her mom told her, and Amethyst nodded as if to agree. "You know, so he'll always be in your heart."

Dinky flung her arms around her mother and tried to strain the painful tears that were making a waterfall down her face. She made some weird noise as a result of attempting to swallow her sorrows. "Thank you!" Just the sight of a photo of her biological father made her sad, however, it was special to her. Being able to have something that was a part of him, it made her feel as if he was there with her wherever she went. Like he was still a burning light there to guide her and that he would always be in her heart, like her mother had said.

She felt more hooves wrap around her. She opened her golden eyes, dampened with meaningful crystalized tears, to smile and approve of her best friend, mother and sister all around her, showering her with compassion and affection.

"Thank you all," she whispered in a voice reflecting on bittersweet memories that never happened to her. "It means a lot to me."

After they broke the warm hug, her mother went behind Dinky to put the necklace on over her neck. It was rather small, but that didn't matter, not to Dinky, as she didn't care if it were a million times smaller. She had something to remember her father by and to keep with her at all times.

Holding the necklace in her hoof, she smiled down with tears blurring her vision. Just faintly she could see the warm glow of her parents' faces beaming back at her through the watery cloak that captured her vision.

"Don't cry, sis," Amethyst told her, wiping away a straying tear from Dinky's reddened face. "He's a part of you. He always will be."

"I know," Dinky sniffed, trying to hold back the rest of her emotional outbursts of tears and a broken heart, yet at the same time beneath all the hurt she suffered from she could see a warm ray of sunlight that brought happiness to her crestfallen, shadowy heart.

"Come on, Dinky," Rumble said, and the unicorn felt another smile creak its way up her face as his wing unfolded and spread itself over her shoulders. She relished in the soft feathery touch of her friend's comforting sign of affection. "Your mom got us tickets to the carnival!"  She giggled softly and wiped a last runt of a tear out of her eye. Her crying had stopped. No more sorrowful tears would make their way down her face anymore.

Squeals of laughter cut through the air as they were pulled higher and higher into the atmosphere of the blossoming sunset. Eyes were wet with tears again, but not from depression this time. No, these were genuine tears of joy and laughter.

"Stop! Haha-- Rumble, I said-- haha, stop!" Dinky pushed her offender off of her, though a strong arm was draped over her shoulders, holding her in a grasp while her stomach was being gently assaulted with feathers.

"Stop-- tickling me-- haha-- Rumble, stop!" She burst out, growling and trying to squirm out of his reach to no avail. She sighed through a giggle and finally gave up. "Okay, okay! You win."

Rumble laughed as well and released her from his playful restraint. He had a proud smirk on his face that signified victory. She rolled her eyes and made a simple "hmmph" noise as she straightened her hair, though she was stupidly grinning every time he looked up at her. Both ponies' faces were two shades of a strawberry, Dinky's most likely from the result of being tickled half to death by Rumble's light feathery instruments of torture.

She tried her best to pretend she wasn't amused as the ferris wheel seat creaked up and up into the open sky. A cool breeze ruffled her thin fur, making her shiver with the desire of having a blanket or something warm to wrap around herself. The sun was going down, which meant cold weather till it returned and graced all of Ponyville with its warm presence again.

"You cold?" Rumble gazed affectionately down at her, making blood rush to her face and she immediately snapped her neck away from him.

"Nah," Dinky lied, not wanting to let him think she was weak. She also secretly didn't want him to see the only warm part of her body-- her face, that was about as red as a tomato. Yet again tiring thoughts flowed through her mind. Get it together, Dinky, you stupid featherbrain! You're tougher than that! Don't let him know you're weak! And stop blushing! There's no reason for you to--

Her thoughts burst into thin air when she felt another feathery touch, this time snaking its way across her shoulders. Despite her blushing, the pony whipped her head around, revealing a cherry-red face of anger. "Hey! I said no more tickling, do you hear me?"

"Whoa, calm down, feisty. I'm not tickling you. I'm putting my wing around you." He held up his arms in mock surrender and raised an eyebrow while smirking at the sight of her blushing.

"Why?" Dinky was becoming flustered now, not happy with the fact that he could somehow leak into her system, making her develop weird girly feelings about him that she had felt for Pipsqueak.

"Because you're cold, stupid," Rumble growled playfully, the ends of his wing making their way to her hips only to pull her closer to him.

She could say she enjoyed the light and soft touch of his feathers against her, and they did keep her rather warm-- well, warmish-- and she let out a frustrated sigh that released most of her withheld emotions.

Allowing herself to take deep breaths, the unicorn heavily sighed again before resting her head on his shoulder when their cart began moving again, dragging them forward and revealing a lit carnival beneath them bustling with ponies running back and forth, foals carrying cotton candy and parents screaming after their straying children to come back.

She found herself keeping the moment of their strange and romantic embrace dear to her. It felt good to have a friend, whether there was a future between them or not, to literally lean on. His soft fur brushed against hers, his feathers spread over her keeping her closely pressed to his side, and for once in a long while Dinky actually felt relaxed when his head nuzzled into her golden mane.

They sat in silence for awhile-- not awkward silence, but a calm and comforting kind of silence, as the cart screeched to a halt in the crisp air, allowing them to look down upon the joyous and sunset-adorned carnival, the ponies on its ground looking like colorful ants to them. Enjoying the view of the sunset peeking through the blackening trees, Dinky's heart fluttered as he spoke her name so delicately.

"Dinky."

"Hm?"

"Look at the sunset."

"It's pretty," she yawned, acknowledging his sudden movement of his wing's strength dragging her across the seat closer to him by pushing her face back into his furry shoulder, "isn't it?"

"Mmhm," he sounded equally drowsy, nuzzling into her cuddly grasp on him.

They turned to face each other over time, each of their necks bent at an acute angle so they could see each other's faces, featured by the sunset's glowing effect. Blush spread over both of their faces as they realized the gap between them was slowly but surely being filled.

What am I doing? She scolded herself for leaning closer to him without even thinking about it. Are we gonna kiss?

But when his violet glance caught hers, her nagging questions melted away along with her heart. Right now, nothing mattered except the beat of her heart, which was growing in speed. No questions ensnared her mind right then anymore. The only thing she could think about was how gorgeous-- err, endearing he was.

Now their faces were centimeters away. Nothing was separating them. Nothing but the the imaginary line that would connect their lips. Only one question remained for the unicorn mare. Should I do it? Should I kiss my best friend? ...You know what? Screw everything. Why the hay not?

And with that, a pair of advancing pale gray lips brushed her own so lightly that she wasn't even she if they had or not. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to lean into the kiss and share a passionate moment of love for once. But for some reason her shyness got the best of her and she froze up, her lips still brushing his barely.

Come on, Dinky! You're so close! Kiss him, for Celestia's sake!

And then a sharp shout broke the moment.

"Hey, lovebirds! Are you gonna kiss or what?!"

A surprising amount of embarrassment struck Dinky as she instantly backed off, ditching their almost-kiss and snapping her neck back to see an angry-looking Amethyst Star sitting next to her mother in the cart behind them. She glared back at her sister, not only flustered but upset with her for ruining the moment.

Not that it mattered to her. She wasn't even going to kiss him anyway.

"Heheh, siblings, huh?" She said, turning her attention back to a startled Rumble that seconds ago had almost shared a kiss with her, a thought that made her shiver. She moved her hoof next to her face in a clockwise motion, signalizing her sister's kookiness. "They're crazy... Hahahaha........ sorry." She turned back, sheepishly.

"Sorry for what?" She felt his wing retreat from the embrace back to his side.

"Sorry for... uh..." Dinky was trying to explain without mentioning their almost-kiss or making it awkward, though it inevitably was already. "You know, uh... the, uh... the thing."

"Oh... yeah, me too."

"It would be weird, y'know, if we were, uh... you know..." She gulped, sweat dripping down her face as she motioned in between the two of them signaling them as a couple.

"Yeah..." Rumble laughed nervously before coughing and turning his head away from her.

Neither of them said anything after that, and awkwardness ensued as their ride down began. Trying to ignore the creaking noises of the cart and the advancing uncomfortableness of sharing a ride down with him after almost making out with the colt, Dinky found herself studying the clouds that scraped the sunset intensely.

She swore she could make out a fluffy white cloud pony in the sky smiling down at her, a curly whipped cream mane running down his neck. For the first time in her life, she smiled back at the figure, inanimate as it may be.

I love you, Dad.

Friends (With Benefits)

Hazel eyes glowing with anger bored a hole into her heart. Directly across from him, only a few feet away was a pair of equally mirrored eyes, exactly copying his very emotions into her own.

"What do you want?" Dinky almost hissed, exhausted after having him follow her around for the whole tiring day until she finally caved in and gave him what he wanted: a chance to speak to her.

"I want to know why you think Rumble is better than me," Pipsqueak spat back.

She didn't answer. Instead she turned away from him, her attitude icy as it was, shaking her head in disapproval of him. Placing one cold hoof over the other, her eyes traced the straight path she would follow up in till she reached the outside.

He met her pace, falling in a slow trot next to her. Although she did not look at him she could tell he was glaring at her through the corner of her eye. He quickly became impatient.

"Talk to me," he commanded, straining at the leash to hear her annoyed response. There was none. "Dinky. Don't be a jerk! You know you're still in love with me!"

She didn't mutter a word. The only thing she did was shake her head once, eyes narrowed in the form of betrayal and unspoken anger clearly being shown.

Pipsqueak's voice strained and a feeling of desperation emanated from the emotional depths of his character that Dinky could sense. "Come on, Dinky! What I did with Sweetie Belle was a one-time thing! It's not like I went around kissing all the mares in school!"

Light and heartfelt tears were brought to her cloudy eyes by fury, not out of sadness. Gritting her teeth but still not bothering to shoot him a worthless glance, the pony hissed lowly, "How can you think that what you did was acceptable?"

The unicorn rose to a gallop, reaching her top speed easily with tears running down the bridge of her snout. Leaving the small pony as a shadow in the back of the hallway, Dinky felt relieved when she realized that he had not followed her. He could have caught up to her if he wanted to. He was about three times faster.

Slowing to a trot, the angry pony winced when the light of day, something she hadn't seen at all that morning, flooded her vision and felt as if it would nearly blind her at first. It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the amount of pure brightness that surrounded her, and when they did, she continued her path to nowhere.

She didn't even know where she was going. She just allowed her hooves to take her in no particular direction. The only idea of where she wanted to be was that it had to be someplace, anyplace without ponies.

And hours later she found herself sitting on the cold stone bridge listening to the rush of the raging water beneath her in its furious ways. She hadn't been thinking of Pipsqueak, nor Rumble. She hadn't been thinking of anyone, actually. No, she had been thinking of random thoughts. Unimportant, brief daydreams that served to help her forget everything negative on her mind. She had gotten so lost in her thoughts that through the sound of the rapids beneath her she didn't bother to listen for footsteps. She didn't even know he had sat down next to her till she looked up.

Startled, and with a jolt of realization the pony almost had a heart attack when she noticed there was someone in her presence. When she quickly recognized him as Rumble, she began to relax, letting out a quick, heavy sigh.

"I didn't even see you," she whispered. It was like he had materialized next to her out of thin air.

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing to reach her gaze. "What?" He was unable to hear her through the rapids blazing by.

She spoke louder: "I said, 'I didn't see you!'"

"Speak up! I can't hear you!" He nearly shouted.

Frustrated, the pony waved it off as a signal for him to forget about it. She didn't want to have to deal with this nonsense right then. Frankly, she didn't want to see him after the amount of awkwardness she had been put through with him.

"I didn't know you still came here," he muttered, with her being able to just make out the gist of his sentence through the rage of the rapids.

Glancing at Rumble with curious eyes, the pony raised an eyebrow and responded with, "Sometimes. I didn't know you still came here."

"It's a good place to be alone. Helps me think," he explained and shrugged, his furry shoulders sliding up to rest back down after a brief moment.

"Yeah. I come here when I've got nothing else to do or when I'm really depressed, I guess." She narrowed an eye, staring at him sharply now with her neck craned towards him. "Have you been following me?"

"Wha-- no!" He nearly hissed back, face reddening. "No, I wasn't. Honest!"

"Stalker," she growled playfully, punching him lightly in the arm. He retaliated with a slight shove that barely moved her.

"Shut up," he teased, his lip quivering up in a small smile.

The subject normally wouldn't sound like something that would ease the tension between them, but for some reason, it did. Both ponies erupted in waves of soft, friendly laughter.

Soon their elation died down, and neither golden nor violet eyes met each other. Silence filled the air besides the sound of raging water, but delicate smiles blossomed over their blushed faces, which were the color of roses in moonlight.

Finally he broke the silence. "Dinky?"

"Yeah?" She turned towards him, tilting her head so that his face blocked the sun and its rays that assaulted her eyes.

"Seriously, though. Why're you depressed?"

She sighed, jerking her head back away from him in a frustrated fashion. Narrowing her gaze to the white pools of jetting water beneath them, thoughts of the certain brown-haired runt of a colt invading her tired mind.

The beginning of small crystal tears formed under her eyes, which were rimmed with dark circles due to a lack of sleep. The pony voiced the only thing on her mind: He had asked her, and she was going to be honest.

In a shaky voice she cried, "I just want a normal life!"

Rumble stared at her, blinking in confusion. "What?"

"I said I want a normal life!" She threw her hooves in the air to stress her frustration and glanced sharply back at the pegasus, who rubbed his neck in disappointment.

"I know, I heard you," he explained, eyes meeting the stone they were sitting on. "It's just... I don't really know what you mean by having a 'normal' life..."

She let out a grunt of anger. "I just don't want any drama! I wish I had a life where ponies were actually nice to me for a change! I wish I didn't live in that ratty old house on the corner and that I knew everyone in my family and that we weren't such a... strange family." She kicked her leg out in front of her as if an imaginary pebble was planted there and she was shoving it off the bridge. It swung back when she grumbled and turned away soon after. She continued in a hoarse voice, "It's not just that... I wish I had a life like everyone else. I wish I had someone who actually loved me." Almost sobbing, Dinky's face was taken by her hooves, which blocked her eyesight, smothered in tears.

Rumble said nothing, but she could tell he was staring at her in confusion and pity when she felt his wing curl around her shoulder blades. After a while, one of them finally spoke when she had stopped most of her crying and his wing had retreated from around her shoulders to the side of his body.

"Normal is boring," Rumble spoke, hoof poking at the hard, cold stone by his feet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied hoarsely.

"I dunno, I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you had a life with no drama whatsoever, it wouldn't be as interesting."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, and a life free of drama would be sooo much worse than my life, which is full of it." Dinky laughed sarcastically in a weak tone, almost mocking him. "What do you know? Your life is perfect."

"Okay, that is not true," he protested, but was cut off by his wailing friend.

"Well at least you don't have any drama with ponies at school," she hissed, aggression unnecessarily began rising in the depths of her eyes.

Now he seemed almost ticked off, but if it weren't for his calm and laid-back nature he would have been. "That's not true either. Pipsqueak and his squad of minions have been giving me nothing but all of Tartarus ever since the dance. He'd bring all the stupid kids who follow him around like he was a god to make fun of me." He shivered at the very memories, seeming put off by the thoughts, but returned to his own stern state of mind. "And if that wasn't enough, ponies have been giving me a hard time claiming that I 'stole' you away from Pipsqueak." Tears began to form in the older colt's eyes, and she could tell he was getting choked up. "And... and I've been getting in really horrible fights with my brother lately. He says I can't seem to keep myself away from school drama." Looking away, it was his turn to do the crying. "I haven't gotten into any of the colleges I've applied to yet. And it's the middle of April! I guess I just feel like... like a loser with no future ahead of him..." He covered his face with his hooves.

Feeling a rush of sympathy, the purple unicorn held him in her hooves, whispering comforting words that were not heard to the sobbing colt. It was unusual for her to see him so... distraught and emotional. She didn't even know all this was going on in his life. Not knowing anything else to do or say, the pony simply said, "No, shh, it's okay... You'll get into a college, you're not a loser..."

Breaking the hug, he wiped a tear out of his eye. "You think so?"

"Yeah," she responded, "You're a smart pony Rumble. Some college has got to accept you. It's not like you have any bad records, right?"

He shook his head in distress. "I just thought I would have gotten into one by now. I guess it's scary not knowing where you'll be by fall..."

"Don't stress about it," she advised, eyeing him closely. "You've got to get into at least one, right?"

"You'd think," he grumbled.

"Aren't you still waiting to hear from a few?"

"Yeah. Maybe they've heard of what a loser I am too. I'm not even worth telling."

"You're not a loser, and you're bound to get into one of those schools. You know, there's a lot of ponies applying and these things take time."

"Yeah, just great!" he nearly snarled in a tone that frightened her. "I'm going up against a million other ponies for a spot in some stupid school! They're never gonna pick me over them... they'd be stupid to do so..."

She didn't even realize how much low self-esteem had Rumble had been displaying, all of it staying under her nose for this long until now. She kicked herself mentally. You sorry excuse for a friend! You're so selfish you didn't even notice your best friend's issues because you were too involved in your own!

Guilt chilled her heart as she thought of the dumbest response ever. "Sorry..." She shook herself. "Uh, no, it isn't true. You'll get into a college. I honestly think they would be stupid not to pick you. You're the best around!"

Wiping away a straying tear, the pony glanced back at her, his eyes big and violet, showing depth of sensitivity and insecurity. She loved that pair of familiar purple eyes. Soft and wild shades of lavender and grayish violet always gleamed with confidence, but now they just looked downright sad, and that hurt her. She wanted to see those beautiful eyes sparkle with happiness again, to watch them accompany a wide smile that displayed his interest and enthusiasm as he usually did. She wanted the real Rumble back.

"You really mean that?" His posture straightened a bit.

"Yeah," she assured him, warmth fluttering over her when she watched the edge of his lip curl upwards slightly. "Besides, you're the best. There's absolutely, positively no way someone as awesome as you couldn't get into at least one college!"

Maybe it was from all the crying or her compliments, but his face flushed red as tears continued to roll down it. A crooked smile formed from the downward shape of his lips, and before long she was found cradling him in a warm embrace and a hug, holding him tightly, just sitting there on the bridge pressed against him for a long time.

He whispered his thanks, something that was barely heard through the water speeding and splashing below, but his hushed tone in her ear was received still. Letting all feelings for him aside, she simply held him close to her in a platonic spell, his head pressed into her shoulder, seeking the warmth and comfort she offered naturally.

For what seemed like centuries the pair remained snuggled against each other, just sitting there in silence listening to the rapids' rushing pulses. Really it had only been ten minutes, but in the soft and gentle company of each other it felt like forever. When the last tear evaporated and a breeze stirred the fur on their pelts, Rumble pulled away to look into his friend's eyes.

She was about to smile, her lips quivering up into the action, but she didn't know how to react and it was hard to smile when she had been so shocked by what happened next.

In a sudden move that released pent-up feelings and shattered ideas of friendship, Rumble's soft, chapped lips found their way to Dinky's. The kiss made her jolt in surprise, and a barely audible squeak of shock could not be suppressed as the feelings startled to settle in.

She wanted to shove him off. She wanted to run away and hide or possibly throw herself off the bridge into the hazardous river of death below. But she was just so startled with the gesture of her friend that she froze in position, eyes dropping to the size of pebbles as a blush spread across her face.

It was a soft, short kiss, but it impacted the unsuspecting pony in strong measures. His lips moved against her own for a second, taking in the sweet taste of the unicorn, before the kiss was deepened for a split second. He then pulled away, his hoof straying to cup the side of her red, warm face that all the blood in her body had seemingly rushed to. His forehead rested against her own for a brief moment till he drew back his face inches from hers now. Violet eyes fluttered open to stare into the minimized golden eyes Dinky displayed.

Lost in the extremity of the moment, Dinky couldn't find the words. She had no idea of what just happened. Not even a clue. She was still so shocked and dizzy, and the earth began to spin beneath her. Still trying to process what the heck had just happened, Dinky opened her mouth for a moment before instantly snapping it shut.

"Dinky?" Her name being whispered was lost under the current.

She barely noticed his expression morph into a confused and mildly upset frown. Blinking the shock out of her eyes, the pony just stared at him. Without a clue on what to say or do next.

"I..." She began, wanting to disappear into the forest's shadowy evergreen depths. She couldn't bring herself to say anything else; all she could do at the moment was stutter and stumble over her own tongue.

Rumble drew back, his face becoming more and more cold and emanating rays of disappointment. "Dinky... say something." His eyes were starting to become paler and grayer with every passing second, the color of happiness being demanded away with every second spent in silence due to her refusing to say anything.

She attempted to speak again in a hoarse, croaky voice: "I... I-I..." She swallowed, not knowing what to do.

"Dinky," he whispered loudly, nearly hissing in his desperate attempts to reach the mare that had seemingly stopped in time.

No response was given.

He shook his head, stumbling on his way down from his position on the edge of the cold stone bridge. "Sorry," he muttered, before bolting out into the growing shade of the forest.

Her shrill call to him was not heard through the pony's heartache and regret, the sound of his hooves shuffling dying away with time.

Dinky stared off into the dense green forest of oblivion. What the hay just happened?! She shook her head rapidly. To calm herself, she tried to remember everything that had happened....

She had ran off into the forest, then Rumble came, and she comforted him, and then... And then he had kissed her... She guessed. It had all happened so fast and she really wasn't expecting any of this. Groaning in distress, her stomach churned at the thought of their friendship's state. This was it. One more awkward shove was finally given to them into the direction of a weird, slightly creepy relationship. In other words, the platonic friendship between them had been demolished completely now.

Holding her head in her hooves and let out a deep, painful sigh. Why did her life have to be full of so much drama?! As if she didn't have enough going on in her life! Now she had the problem with her best friend becoming slightly more than her best friend to deal with. Great.

She had recently kicked her boyfriend out of their exclusive relationship, and now.... More drama involving love. She didn't know if she even wanted to date Rumble. She was still working out and carefully dissecting her feelings for him. And then the kiss made everything a whole lot more complicated, even if it had just happened moments ago.

Sure, they had danced together and almost kissed once, but those two events just made her feel... weird. Like there was an unsettling feeling rising in her stomach that could easily be compared to a piece of her lunch left undigested. But now he had actually done it. He had actually kissed her. It was pointless to wonder if everything was a dream. The pounding in her head alongside the irritable sound of rushing rapids assured her so.

But the kiss... She still had no idea how she felt about it. The pressure of his soft lips on hers - it made her heart skip. He had always smelled like fruit - sweet citrus, maybe, or strawberries, but she could actually taste the flavor of fruit on his lips. In fact, they still tingled under the strong sensation of fruit that faded away with time. She took a minute to wonder why he had always smelled of fruit anyway - maybe it was because he had always lived next to a fruit orchard or something - but the wandering thought never really occurred to her until she was left savoring the scent that lingered in the air.

Shaking herself, she knew she couldn't stay there for too long. Her mother and sister were probably expecting her home by now, if not impatiently pacing the hallways waiting for her return, and she didn't think she heard her phone ring over the rapids if it did ring at all.

The pony clumsily stumbled off the edge and slipped off her hooves. Trying to catch herself but ultimately failing, lying flat on her stomach with her hooves outstretched, she groaned uncomfortably. Sometimes she wished she didn't inherit her mother's klutziness. But Dinky didn't even feel the will to get up. If anything, she just wanted to sit there... on the stone hard bridge, cold to the touch... thinking about Rumble and her life...

But she knew that she could not.

Her aching hooves lifted her off the bridge. With a glance around to restore her memory as to which way she had come here from, the pony began her short trek through the comforting yet mysterious levels of the green jungle.

A creak sounded through the long and empty halls of Dinky's sad little house. Slowly the wooden door slid quietly, falling back to reveal more of her living room bit by bit. The sound of the door opening attracted a certain eccentric pegasus, who came bursting through the halls to smother her daughter in kisses as she always did, and she was cut off of her thoughts as to why the house smelled like a bonfire suddenly.

But the thought of kisses in any form, whether it be cute and familial or passionate and romantic, made her stomach flip over. Gently pushing her mom off her, she tried her best to display a small smile. "Hi, Mom. I can tell you're happy to see me, and I feel the same way, but I'm-" she paused in mid-sentence to let out a yawn before continuing- "really tired and I'm just gonna head up to bed. I'll see you in the morning." Embracing her mother in a quick hug for a second, the pony made her way up each creaky, delicate wooden stair on the staircase.

"Okay, muffin," her mom called after her. "Let me know if you need anything!"

Dinky was quick to get to her room, nearly slamming the door in anticipation to go to sleep. She had gotten home later than she had expected, but judging by the thick smell of smoke she could sense when she walked in and the way all the windows were open she guessed that her mother was most likely too busy trying to put out a fire or something to worry about the safety of her daughter. Figures.

Her eyes fell to rest on the darkened room with little to no light emanating from its shady depths. Her hoof stretched to grasp the air where she thought the light switch was located, promptly after the pony had to feel around till she found the pointed edge of the switch. Flipping it up to the ceiling, a bright light swarmed over her at the very moment. Squinting from the harsh sudden rays, the pony had to blink the surprise from her tired eyes.

What a day. Her mind began racing through all the memories of that day as she slid under the comfort of her warm, messy bedspread. When it came to rest upon the particular memory regarding her best friend kissing her, a shiver ran down her spine. She hoped it was from the cold caused by the faulty heating company her family was in debt to.

Taking a deep breath when the lights faded from the order of her magic glow, a soft silence came to fall over the deep, dark room. Eyes shutting tight, the pony tossed and turned for hours before she could drift quietly off to sleep.

The only thing that was on her mind was the hopes that they would simply remain friends. We're just friends. Nothing more to it than that. Just friends.

Friends with benefits.

Wish You Were Here

"Dinky. Wake up. Dinky!"

This was the first annoying noise that rang in her ears to start off her day. Repeating itself like a broken record, the line became more and more recognizable the more she was roused from her slumbers.

Opening one tired, bleary eye, she made a pathetic attempt to shoo away the hoof that was shaking her so rapidly. Had she been more awake, it would have made a bigger impact.

"Go away" was the simplest phrase mumbled from the lump of a pony buried underneath the messy bedspread, barely audible as the blankets above her muffled her sleepy voice.

"Dinky. We're late! Come on, you lazy lump."

The blankets were pried off the half-awake unicorn, who grumbled at the notion. Glaring up drowsily at her sister, Dinky hissed in anger. "Let me sleep! Five more minutes."

"I told you, we're late!" the furious older mare snapped back, dropping the blankets heedlessly on Dinky's wooden floors. "We were supposed to be on the road twenty minutes ago. C'mon, Dinky! Move your tail!" She made an attempt to nudge her sister off her tired state onto her hooves - which were asleep.

Grumbling and groaning, Dinky obeyed reluctantly with the sense of a drowsy mind. What she wouldn't do for another hour of sleep. She had Rumble to thank for her restlessness at night.

But the thought of him made her tense up, and she shoved it out of her mind. Light purple hooves met the discomfort of the cold, hard wood panels that made up her floor. Stumbling whilst trying to wake her hooves from the everlasting sleep they were stuck in, the pony nearly tripped over a mess of blankets that had fallen from her grasp overnight.

The older unicorn mare rolled her eyes, trotting out the door after hurling one last frustrated remark, "Meet me outside as soon as you can. And for Celestia's sake, get off the freakin' ground!" The door slammed shut behind her.

Dinky grumbled. What the hay just happened? Digging through her mind, the pony was able to uncover a lost important memory that got her scampering out the door.

She was late. They were supposed to be on the road twenty minutes ago! Her stomach churned at the thought of where they were supposed to be headed - back to Fillydelphia to visit her mom's freakish relatives. She groaned.

But there was no time to lose for the rushed little filly. A pink saddlebag lay carelessly open on the floor by the door, with its contents spilled out on the wooden panels. Filled with aggravation, Dinky gritted her teeth at the lack of consideration Amethyst was displaying. She must have thrown open the door in such a rage that knocked over the bag, and caused everything that Dinky had so neatly packed in a perfect, organized way, to fall and lay splayed out on the floor beneath it.

In all her frustration the pony nearly forgot to pick everything up - she was so upset that she was about to march downstairs and confront her sister right then about her annoying behavior, before she sighed and began to have second thoughts: Whatever. I can just throw everything back inside. So much for organization, she concluded with a huff to herself as she attempted to cram three books, her beloved drawing notebook and set of charcoal pencils, her cell phone, sunscreen and a hairbrush into the bag at once using her magical aura to hold everything. When the items finally fit, though not with ease, she couldn't help feeling a bit of a bit frustrated at the sight of the lumpy shape of her saddlebag, an obvious result of rushed packing.

The lavender-coated filly nearly tripped over the clumsiness of hooves that had not yet been fully roused that morning as she attempted to dash down the staircase at full speed. But when she reached the outside, a sudden thought came to her head that made her uneasy.

"Who's going to watch the house when we're gone?" she asked her mother as she tried and struggled in vain to close the trunk of their beat-up, rusty old car they rarely used over the lumpy suitcases packed tightly within.

"Don't worry, muffin," she said and patted her daughter's messy blonde mane. "I called Thunderlane and he said he'd take care of it all." She pointed with her hoof to the dark gray pegasus stallion Dinky hadn't noticed that had been standing there helping them with their luggage the whole time. He waved to her.

She trotted over to him - an old friend she hadn't had the privilege to see in a long time. Though her heart skipped at the thought that he was the older brother to Rumble, she ignored the confusing emotions through her happiness to finally see him again. She threw her arms around him in a hug.

"Thunderlane, hi!" she giggled as he embraced her tightly in his hooves. Squeaking softly at the surprising sudden action of her hooves leaving the ground, she noticed he had picked her up and was carrying her through the air - something he used to do all the time when he saw her, and she would squeal in delight just as she was doing now, even as a teenager.

"Hey, Dinks," he called her by her special nickname, ruffling her hair with his hoof. He was like a big brother to her - and she hadn't realized how much she missed him until she thought about the gap of time that connected his past visits to the present.

He returned her to the ground, where she stood smiling until Thunderlane's next remark: "Rumble talks a lot about you nowadays." His joyful expression turned into a mildly devious smirk.

Her excitement faltered and pain and guilt flooded through her heart at the memories of when she last saw him - in the forest when he had kissed her exactly one week ago. He hadn't even showed up to school after that. He never called her or texted her; things between them grew very awkward very fast after that particular moment they shared in their last encounter. Her mind had been set on trying to keep them both friends, even if they had gotten very friendly with each other over the past couple of weeks and he had, by no doubt, demonstrated exactly how much friendliness he felt towards her. She had this whole speech worked out about how she needed time to think and she wasn't even sure how she felt anymore; about how she had a lot going on in her life and she know he did too and that maybe they needed to both slow down a bit and think about where their friendship was headed. She never had a chance to use it given the fact that he hadn't showed his face around her, and she had been given time to think about him. She didn't know anymore.

All thoughts aside, the pony responded with, "How is he?"

Thunderlane's grin slowly disappeared. "He's been sick with the feather flu all week. He told me to tell you to have fun on your trip, and that he can't wait to see you when you come home." He raised an eyebrow.

I'm sure he can't, she realized with a shudder. Even though she wasn't exactly looking forward to the four-and-a-half-hour car drive through the middle of nowhere to meet up with her crazy, mentally unstable family members for an extended family reunion in Fillydelphia, Dinky couldn't help feeling relieved that she wouldn't see the awkward pegasus for another weekend. She was simply nervous and afraid to speak to him after their friendly encounter last week, and jumped at his name even being mentioned in her presence.

She swallowed and nodded. Knowing she had to say something kind back as a message to be delivered to the sickly pony, Dinky instructed Thunderlane: "Tell him hi for me."

He nodded, his hoof running through his light turquoise mohawk as if something was making him uneasy. Whatever it was, it was in the air, because Dinky began to work up a cold sweat just talking to the older pegasus.

The slight tension was broken by who other than her sister, who materialized in front of Thunderlane next to her. Her sudden appearance startled Dinky, and she jolted shortly upon noticing the pony.

Amethyst's violet gaze intertwined with Thunderlane's own golden gaze. A nervous smile fixed on her face, she scuffed softly at the dirt in front of her with her hoof and mumbled, "Oh, h-hey, Thunderlane," through a fit of quiet giggles. Even though her coat color was a light pink, it was easy to tell she was blushing, and Dinky rolled her eyes. Amethyst had the biggest crush on Thunderlane, and it all started when he had come over one evening to walk Rumble home from their house, and Amethyst had opened the door to find a smiling handsome pegasus standing on their front porch. As Dinky grew older, she began to notice the way Amethyst sat very close to Thunderlane and the way she blushed when he spoke to her, though he didn't seem to return her affections and remained seemingly oblivious to them in general.

The pony nodded to her while grinning as a way of saying hello. Dinky hated the way her sister acted like a school filly in front of him, and that stupid, crooked smile she always displayed when the two interacted.

"S-So... Thunderlane, h-how have you been?" Amethyst blushed harder when her eyes reconnected with his.

"Fine, thanks," he muttered back to her casually, "what about you?"

The unicorn giggled again, and opened her mouth to respond when another pony's voice filled the air.

Everyone turned their heads to see a frizzy-maned pegasus lower herself onto the ground below her, speaking with a broad smile, "Hi, Miss Hooves. Great to see you again! You look great."

It was only till she saw the familiar pegasus pony set down her toolbox she was carrying to embrace her mother when Dinky realized she was carrying a toolbox at all. Confused, the group made their way towards the pony who smiled and waved at them with joy in her eyes.

"Cloud Chaser!" Dinky sprung towards the sight of her old foalsitter she hadn't seen in years. The older pony also used to sit for Rumble when he was younger, and the two grew very close in Dinky's childhood. It didn't take a long time for the nostalgic, bittersweet memories to flood back to the unicorn - memories of the loving, caring pegasus reading her favorite bedtime stories to her before she was granted a kiss goodnight, baking sweet chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips in them and always being able to get the very first cookie off the warm sheet of the freshly-baked treats, squealing with joy and laughter when Cloud Chaser would nearly tackle her in a tickle fight that she never won. The warm memories, without a doubt, left imprints on her heart and she would never forget them. So of course she lit up when she saw one of the only ponies she had learned to enjoy being around.

Cloud Chaser giggled softly and threw her arms around the excitable pony. They embraced for a short moment before she let her go, and the pegasus smiled and said, making eye contact now, "How's my favorite pair of fillies doing?"

"Great, thanks," Amethyst responded, walking up behind Dinky to grin and nod to Cloud Chaser.

But Thunderlane was the one who was a bit more than joyful as a result of seeing the newly arrived pegasus. He trotted up towards her, eyes wide and a huge smile plastered over his face. "Hey, Cloudy!"

Dinky could almost feel her sister's heart exploding into a million pieces when she watched as Thunderlane took Cloud Chaser's hoof and the two ponies shared a loving, short kiss on the lips. When the pegasus couple broke apart, he smiled happily towards the rest of the ponies.

Amethyst's jaw dropped open and she looked as if she wanted to tackle Cloud Chaser and fight her in a brutal mess of feathers and tangled hair. She was left dumbfounded, and finally worked up the courage to nearly shout, "You and Cloud Chaser are dating?!"

Cloud Chaser's hoof slipped from Thunderlane's and returned to the ground, but her smile never faltered. Exchanging a look with her boyfriend, the pony responded, "Yeah, we've been together for over two years now." With that, she planted a soft kiss on the side of Thunderlane's face and abandoned them briefly to pick up her toolbox.

It really had been a long time since they'd seen each other.

Amethyst remained still, her mouth open and invisible tears rushing down her face like a waterfall. Dinky couldn't help herself - she burst out laughing in a fit of giggles till she noticed the menacing glare Amethyst Star was fixing on her. Wiping a humorous tear out of her eye, Dinky shut her mouth but smiled nonetheless.

"What's funny?" her mother asked casually, walking up to her daughters, the older of which was staring at Cloud Chaser, her face red as a strawberry. Only fatter and less appealing, Dinky concluded to herself with an inner giggle.

"Nothing," Dinky said, elbowing Amethyst in a silly, teasing way that made her grit her teeth and glare down at her. Returning her attention to her mom, she continued with a different question that nagged her. "Why's Cloud Chaser here anyway?"

"Came to help out - your mom said your car wouldn't start," Cloud Chaser said, placing the toolbox down as Dinky's mother opened the car door for her to climb in. The frizzy-maned pegasus pulled out a wrench.

"Cloud's a real genius when it comes to fixing things," Thunderlane said, nudging her with a loving smile.

"Shut up," she shot back in a playful way, rolling her eyes at the compliment. "I'm only an amateur mechanic - not a genius." Her face turned redder at her boyfriend's remark. Cloud Chaser's face was prettier than Amethyst's when she blushed, Dinky realized with amusement.

Cloud Chaser emerged from her work nearly fifteen minutes later, her hooves brushed with soft stains of dark oil. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded to Dinky and company that her job was done. The proud pony shut the hood of the car until it fit snuggly over the dented wiring the car had, and closed up her toolbox. "Should work now," she told them, climbing into the driver's seat to test it out.

To everyone's relief, the car backed out of the driveway at Cloud Chaser's control. She pulled the vehicle back up to smile at everyone through the tinted glass windows. The door shut behind the pony as she stumbled out of the old car. "Sorry it took so long. I know you're running late."

Dinky's mother flashed her a warm, appreciative smile. "That's okay. Thanks for fixing my car, Cloud Racer."

"It's Cloud Chaser," the pegasus huffed, but her smile never faltered.

"Mom, are you driving?" Dinky asked out of curiosity.

The light gray pegasus still smiled but was very quick to say, "Oh, no no no. They took my driver's license away years ago. Your sister's driving."

So that was why her mom never took her anywhere by car.

But a bad feeling crept through Dinky and her sick stomach. She didn't exactly like the idea of her sister driving them anywhere. Not after she had gotten several horrifying tickets on different occasions and had been arrested once. But Dinky had failed her driver's exam due to reasons she didn't like to talk or think about, and the gloominess of it all was enough to make her reluctantly sulk her way to the back seat of the rusty vehicle.

She hated the sharp and short screeching noise the door made when she shut it. It sounded like someone was scratching a chalk board. As far as Dinky knew that car was older than her, and she was extremely surprised to see it was still clinging on to the edge of life. No wonder why it was always breaking down... that is, when somepony ever used it. They weren't exactly the richest family so they had to cut back on the excess use of unnecessary gas needed.

Three ponies waved from their sad little car as it pulled from the driveway to the two pegasi out the window, returning their goodbyes with equal excitement and cheerfulness.

"Have a safe trip!" Cloud Chaser called out to them.

Like I have control over that, Dinky thought gloomily as the purple and dark gray pegasi became reduced to smaller, blurry figures and then to colorful dots the more and more the car began to pull away from them as it roared down the street. She shivered at the thoughts of hanging around her annoying extended family she usually did her best to avoid for a whole weekend. One. Entire. Weekend. That was like - an eternity when it came to staying with her crazy relatives.

Ahead as she leaned over, she could see the horizon's borderline, cut off by jagged points of trees and shadowed houses in the distance or any other objects that came to stand in the way. As the car screeched to make a sharp turn - this was more like a jolt that shocked Dinky's heart - nothing but gravel, sidewalk, and bland houses of their neighborhood came into view. She sunk into her seat as she allowed herself a second to relax when most of the hardcore, roller coaster-like maneuvering of the car had slowed. Her ears immediately were filled with annoying, long, laments slung from the mouth of her impatient sister as she kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead of her.

"I don't get it!" the older mare hissed, suddenly and without any warning turning onto a more narrow, busy street buzzing with cars and ponies trotting to and from random places. "I mean, what could Cloud Chaser possibly have that I don't?" Even though Dinky could not see her face, she could tell Amethyst was turning a bit red with anger as she always did when she became passionately upset.

"Isn't he a bit old for-" Dinky began, growing amused again now, and smirked as her sister caught her expression through the mirror and growled.

"Shut up. Anyway, I know Cloud Chaser's a nice pony and all, but I really think Thunderlane is missing out." She jerked the steering wheel to the right for the car to obey in a swift, streaking motion that nearly burned the rubber on the black tires. Dinky raised an eyebrow and her sister noticed it, menacingly shooting her a glare quickly before focusing on the road above her. After narrowly avoiding a squirrel that had scampered across the street, and receiving the sound of multiple car horns setting off at her, Dinky spoke.

"Don't you think you shouldn't be driving if you're this upset -"

"I'm not upset," Amethyst interrupted again, obviously lying. "Besides, what do you know about driving? You didn't even get your driver's license."

"Amy," their mother, who had been listening intently to the hostile conversation, snapped suddenly, one of her gleaming golden eyes fixed on her daughter while the other trailed off into some random point out of the window. It was hard for anyone to take her seriously with her eyes' conditions, but Amethyst knew she meant business by the tone of her voice.

In response, Amethyst shrugged and muttered an insincere attempt at an apology. Dinky accepted it anyway. With an annoying older sister like her, she'd take what she could get in the blink of an eye, and she so generously allowed Amethyst to continue on with her rant. The fact that she didn't get her driver's license bugged her, but she did her best to ignore the taunts thrown at her from Amethyst on a typical day's notice.

Two hours in and Dinky was practically begging her sister to get off the freeway and find a place for them to stop and eat, for Celestia's sake. Amethyst waved her off and said that the next exit would lead too far away from their destination and it would take awhile for them to turn back to the freeway.

"But I'm so hungry - You're the worst sister ever - ANSWER ME!" Dinky's angry insults were drowned out by Amethyst's hardcore rock music that was advancing in loudness. Overflowing with frustration, the younger unicorn's rage got the best of her. She had been amazingly patient with her sister's annoying ways for too long and she wanted to be repaid. Not noticing how her mother was growing steadily anxious and nervous, Dinky's hoof bolted out in front of her without even thinking to turn off the radio and cut the startling, insane music.

"Dinky! That was the best part of the song!" Amethyst swatted her hoof away and the two sisters bickered over the music station for a brief moment, the aforementioned's attention being divided between the struggle and her driving. The car swerved into three different lanes due to the lack of care Amethyst began to display.

Their mother watched on, growing shy and more nervous now, and retreated to the corner of her seat, peering out from under her hooves with cautious eyes (something she did not often do when her daughters fought, so this was very strange.) Neither of them noticed her as they were so involved in having their own way.

After Amethyst's pink hoof struck Dinky softly but firmly on the nose, the younger sister screeched, "If you don't exit the freeway right now I'm calling Thunderlane to tell him you have a massive crush on him!"

A loud gasp was elicited from Amethyst and she struggled to hit her sister the more she slunk out of her reach to retrieve her phone (to show she wasn't lying.) "You wouldn't dare!"

Blinded by frustration, Dinky held the phone out of reach as Amethyst's hoof reached back to snatch it from her. The result ended in the car being driven a little more-than-slightly out of control as several other drivers honked furiously at them.

They must have thought Amethyst was drunk or something.

A devious smirk settling upon her face, Dinky laughed as she pretended to dial Thunderlane's number with her hoof, pressing the cell phone against her face and ear when she supposedly finished.

"DINKY!"

"Hello, is this Thunderlane?" she spoke into the phone. "Oh, hi, it's Dinky." Had Thunderlane actually been on the other line, he might have heard several cries of frustration and fury along with burning insults meant for Dinky spoken by Amethyst in the background. "I was just calling to tell you that Amethyst loves y-"

And that was how they ended up eating hayburgers that were strangely colored gray and hay fries that were burnt and overly crispy at the shady, deserted shack of a restaurant by the freeway that reeked of smoke and alcohol despite it surprisingly not being a bar. In other words, it was heaven, according to Dinky, who hadn't eaten in at least twenty-four hours. Though the menacing stares of the waiters who carried strange scents and had tattoos leaking all over their body stirred her, she was too hungry not to appreciate the awful meal. It was at least better and a lot more edible than her mother's cooking most of the time.

Amethyst, however, was not so amazed by the unappealing plate of food sitting before her, the sickly foul smell disagreeing with her system. It was hard to tell if their mother enjoyed the food or not, given the fact that she simply maintained a neutral expression whilst finishing her portion of the meal. She didn't smile or frown. She didn't talk. This was so obviously strange of her, but neither of her daughters pointed it out or acknowledged it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dinky noticed a pair of icy eyes fixed intently on them. The minute she felt unsettled, the pony's head whipped around to see a bulky, scruffy-maned pony turn away from them to hide the fact that he was staring. Unnerved by the stallion, she held him at a cautious look from a distance until she noticed his figure was growing nearer and nearer to her table.

The light brown pegasus obviously had a strange limp, something Dinky didn't notice till he began to edge closer towards them. His icy blue eyes scorched into her soul, making her heart leap with tension and nervousness. Another thing she realized about him was that he had a very strange scar tugging at his left eye, but she tried not to stare out of it as they made eye contact for a brief moment, not wanting to come off as rude or disrespectful. Definitely not to a pony that looked like that.

The looming figure approached their table, carrying a strong and strange scent with him. A crooked smile attempted to climb the side of his face, but ultimately failed as he noticed the weird expressions the ponies before him were shooting him. He reached into the pocket of his apron to retrieve a small notebook and pen. He opened his mouth and hissed in a croaky, raspy voice, "Would you like to see a dessert menu?"

The family exchanged glances and in turn, their mother shook her head but smiled. "No thank you. We'll take the check, please."

The pony gave a grunt that sounded somewhat discouraged and unsatisfied with her answer. The waiter turned and left them, returning to his station with a slow limp.

Amethyst stretched out her arms above her after taking in the strangeness of the moment and attempting to break it. "So... Can I see the map, Mom?"

Their mother froze.

"...Mom?" Amethyst's eyes narrowed and a bad feeling settled in all of their stomachs. Whether it was from the food or not was left unclear at the moment. "Mom? You do still have the map, don't you?" She nearly gritted her teeth waiting for an answer that was not given right away.

Their mother nervously smiled, tapping her soft hooves together slowly. "Um... Well.. You see, uh..." She gulped, and laughed in a hoarse voice. "I... I think I might have lost it..."

"Mom!" Dinky nearly gasped. She just couldn't believe this. After all the trash she had to sit through so far!

"Where could you possibly have lost it?!" Amethyst nearly shouted, seeping with frustration. "We were with you the whole time!"

"I'm sorry!" their mother said back, holding her face in her hooves. "I'm really sorry. It was in my bag, and think I might have left it when we stopped in the public bathroom a long time ago...."

Dinky sighed. "It's okay, Mom.... What else was in the bag?"

"Nothing, just muffins..."

"Alright, well-- Wait, you had food all this time, and didn't tell us?!" Dinky groaned.

"They weren't even that great...I'm so sorry! I should have said something... I'm the worst mother ever!" Her crooked eyes were now watering with tears.

Dinky sighed heavily, and Amethyst crumpled her napkin as a way to safely express her anger without hurting anypony.

"No, no you aren't the worst mother ever, you're a great mother..." Dinky meant this, truly, but she couldn't help being a bit frustrated at both of the facts revealed to her. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It's okay, Mom." The pony reached out to hold her mother's shaking hoof.

None of them noticed their waiter standing by their table until he cleared his throat in a gruff, hoarse octave. He had brought them the check as requested, and had been eyeing them over with his bushy eyebrows raised a few inches more than normal.

"Is everything okay here?" he continued to ask, though he did not necessarily look interested or concerned through his mysterious and dark appearance.

"Augh - do you know how to get to Fillydelphia from here?" Amethyst began, coughing slightly as the tall pegasus towered over their table.

His hoof lifted behind him to scratch the mess of black hair that was atop his head. Deep in thought for a brief moment, he answered them. "Just take the freeway up to Exit 309 and make a left-hand turn, continue down the road until you reach Trotting Street, then turn left again..."

Nothing quite stirred in the murky levels of the foggy forest. The only thing one might have been able to hear was the rumbling in the distance that grew louder-- tires on the gravelly, dark road cruising through the mysterious shade of the woods.

It would have been impossible to see anything three inches away from their noses if it weren't for the pair of dimly lit headlights that were standing on its last legs. They seemed as if they could burn out any minute and leave the vehicle driving into descending darkness, unsure where the heck it was going.

"I can't believe this," a voice from the inside nearly hissed. "You got us lost again!"

"We're not lost!" Amethyst's squeaky, girly voice shot back with the same amount of power. "We're simply misplaced. And I know what I'm doing!"

"No, you really don't."

"Be quiet. You'll wake Mom up. And I do know what I'm doing."

"If you knew what you were doing we wouldn't be stuck in the creepiest place in Equestria at half past midnight!" Dinky whisper-shouted.

"Shut up. I don't need your attitude." Amethyst's eyes narrowed to squint through her level of vision, trying to make out the road in front of her. The forest seemed to go on and on for an eternity - it never stopped, and they would never make it out alive.

"I'm sorry," Dinky said simply, heaving a slight sigh. "I guess I'm just really tired."

"Go to sleep then," her sister snapped in a stern yet quiet voice. "I won't miss you."

Amethyst Star was about to get her wish. But just as Dinky was drifting off, letting the warm embrace of sleep take her to a dreamland...

THUMP.

The whole car shook violently for a brief moment, and Dinky's head zipped up from its position on the uncomfortable, lumpy wall of the car door. Bloodshot golden eyes scraped over her surroundings. "What was that?"

"I dunno..." Amethyst sounded worried, but didn't stop. "I.. I think I might have hit something."

"What?"

"I don't know." The car stopped suddenly after losing speed, the sound of the rumbling tires turning over dirt fading away till the vehicle came to a complete stop.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I didn't." Amethyst groaned loudly, almost loud enough to wake her mother up. "No, no, no. This cannot be happening!" Her hooves beat the steering wheel out of fury.

Before Dinky could respond, her sister's car door swung open into the night. Hooves met the chilly path of dirt and even Dinky could feel the rush of cold air that filled the car through the gap the car door created when open. She shivered, but stared out the window to make eye contact with her barely visible sister anyway.

Soon later, the door shut behind as Amethyst climbed back into the car to keep warm. She would have screamed in frustration had she not been considerate enough as to not wake up her mother who surprisingly hadn't already woken up.

"Hit a rock," Amethyst explained, not meeting Dinky's eyes. Not that there was enough light for her to notice anyway.

Dinky's heart sank. It felt like... like it was losing air inside of it and was slowly deflating. Like the tire of their sad little car, stuck in a forest in the middle of nowhere not far past midnight.

But Dinky hardly had time to mutter "Seriously?" in a voice she struggled to maintain low before Amethyst's horn lit up, revealing a bright rose aura veil that surrounded everything around her. She used her special unicorn magic to cause a cell phone to rise from its position in her luggage in the back of the car and float slowly over to her in a glowing magenta ring.

The unicorn swore under her breath. "No reception," She hissed lowly, holding her head in her hooves. "It's all my fault... I'm so sorry, Dinky... I let you guys down..."

Dinky didn't have the heart to tell Amethyst she told her so. Instead, she let out a deep sigh and placed a hoof around her deeply upset sister's shoulder. "It's okay..." she whispered, trying to find the words. "Uh, the car was going to run out of gas out here inevitably anyway at some point..."

She didn't even notice that tears were streaking down Amethyst's face until her hoof reached to cup the side of it and was met with the feel of it being warm and wet, stained with the matter.

"I'm the worst sister ever," she lamented, rejecting Dinky's offer of comfort by turning her back to her at once and sobbing into the wheel of the car.

"No... C'mon, don't say that." Dinky groaned.

"But it's true! I can't even manage one stupid drive to Fillydelphia! I.. I failed the whole family... I'm so selfish, I - I'm so ashamed of myself, Dinky... I really am..." her sentence was cut off by snivels and soft sobs.

"Be quiet, Amethyst," Dinky growled. "You know that isn't true. That's the opposite of the truth. I don't think I could've done any better. It could've happened to anyone." She shook her head in disbelief - she was certainly not wanting to sound stern, but at the same time was frustrated in everyone suddenly being self conscious and in need of comfort provided by Dinky, their nearest loved one offering such warm, yet forced kind words.

Her sister's eyes pierced burning holes and Dinky swore she could almost feel her flesh peel under the scorching, non-existent sensation of such activity. "I know you couldn't have done any better! You know nothing compared to me! It was my job to get us there!"

Somewhat offended, the younger pony held her tongue and slunk back into her uncomfortable, lopsided seat, replaying several mean things she was tempted to say over and over in her mind. A short time period passed before another growl of frustration leaked out of Amethyst once she had remembered to say it: "And don't tell me to be quiet."

Tapping her hoof solemnly on the cold, shivery, sticky and bumpy gray flooring of the car - (what was that stuff made out of anyway?) - Dinky was too tired to be proud of herself for dominating the tears that were currently straining and stored at the brink of her eye line. Why, oh why does this have to happen to me? That line ran over and over, reeled again and again inside Dinky's tired, hurt mind which suffered violent waves from a strong headache.

A loud, piercing snore that shook the tense atmosphere told the two sisters that their mother was still in her vivid dreamland. Another one followed after the other, and this constant growling of the sleeping pony flooded through the cramped room of their car.

Dinky rubbed the side of her head with her hooves, cold as ice cubes, to soften the effects of the unbearable sharp pain in her temples and let out a soft moan of frustration. If only she were somewhere else! Anywhere but here!

Wood screeched over tiles. A loud slam followed almost instantly, but it was barely audible through the sharp, merciless insults being hurled through the air and into the ears of the pony the insults were meant to tear at.

It might as well have been a zoo in that house - the one by the nostalgic fruit orchard that carried the strong and spectacular scent of lemons and oranges and blossoming honey berries. The pleasant nature of the orchard did not collide well with the overly tense atmosphere radiating from that small house - anyone in Ponyville might have heard the obsessive ponies' intense battle locked in severe, hurtful words of hate

Snarls of horror and hatred fled the mouths of two pegasus brothers; nothing else mattered in the entire, vast and dreamy land of Equestria at that moment. The extreme argument shook the neighborhood; it reduced even the brashest of stallions and mares alike to stoic figures huddled close to each other, peeking their heads through the window ever-so-slightly to catch a glimpse of the furious ponies who were shredding each other with angry words.

"You can't just stay out of trouble anymore, can you? Have you even been listening to what I've been saying?! Nothing matters to you anymore!"

"Like you have something worthy of my time to say!"

"That's your problem! Nothing is ever good enough for you anymore!"

Wings shot up in an angry, aggressive rage and a burning desire to win the argument, to prove a point they so desperately were trying to prove, to have the last and final, meaningful word in their struggle without interruption. The feeling was equally mutual - no matter how hard either of them had to play, their minds were locked on getting their ways.

Rumble hissed and spat defensive lines back at the older, larger and stronger pegasus that loomed over him. All the tension that had been building up between him and his brother Thunderlane had been stressed and noticed.

"You're a stupid, pathetic liar!" Thunderlane screamed with tears flooding down the hot, reddened sides of his dark gray face. "You lied to me! You promised!"

"I'm suddenly the liar?! When did you ever tell the truth?!" Rumble's hoof struck the ground. "You never believe anything I say! You think I like getting into fights all the time? It isn't my fault!"

"YOU'RE A BULLY AND A LIAR!" Thunderlane shouted at the top of his lungs.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING!" Rumble screamed back, his urges to fight and smite his brother with force rising as each demanding second passed. Finally he became overwhelmed as his amazing amount of anger took over him.

Not wanting to hear another word, the pegasus bolted out from his position and strained his ears for the upcoming sound of a door slamming. When it happened, it was louder than he had expected it to be - but he didn't care. With Thunderlane screaming behind him for him to get his sorry tail back in that room at that instant, followed by raging footsteps making their way for the door, Rumble scampered down the hall with tears streaming down his eyes.

How could a pony be so cruel?!

Did Thunderlane think that he liked getting picked on? That didn't dread waiting by the steps at school each day and knowing the familiar shape of the small, evil earth pony make his way down over to him to bully him more? And the fact that the younger, scrawnier Pipsqueak still intimidated him tore him apart.

He thought he'd try it out. Just once. Just this once. He thought he might try to say something to stand up for himself. And of course, what was he thinking? Would Pipsqueak not react negatively to any sign of his showing that he wasn't going to stand for being abused every time their eyes met?

All he said was one word. One word. In a quivering voice, he had spoken calmly. He was tired of being told nopony would ever love him. He was tired of being berated for not accomplishing amazing flying stunts or flying often - something pegasi should apparently waste their time doing forever until the day they died. Rumble simply said, "Stop."

And yet Pipsqueak had been beyond bewildered to hear such a word come from the mouth of the timid pegasus, given the fact that he'd shut himself down lately and stayed out of everyone's way. Heck, he didn't even hear Rumble say one word in a long time. But of the endless list of words Rumble might have said, it was "stop."

What did that mean to Pipsqueak? Did he know the definition of such a word? Had anypony ever told him that in his entire life? Maybe once, twice?

But for some reason that word angered him. Burned holes in his wicked heart. Nopony tells Pipsqueak what to do. Ever.

The school had, of course, called Thunderlane yet again to notify him of Rumble being a bully to the poor, dear Pipsqueak they all loved so much.

And that was what angered him so darn much. Pipsqueak could get away with murder if he wanted to. Nopony ever believed Rumble when he objected to Pipsqueak's lies and wild accusations.

"Don't lie to me, Rumble."

"Yeah, right. That's what they all say, Rumble."

"Don't you know better than to pick on a pony younger than you, Rumble?"

And now not even his own brother believed him anymore when he was indeed innocent. His whole life was based off a bully and a liar, and nopony ever stopped to listen. To hear his side of the story. To take his words seriously. He was just a big joke everyone was supposed to do their best to ignore.

And he was sick of it. He was sick of being berated and tormented and abused and then being accused of doing such awful things. It was a cycle, it happened every single day. And Rumble was tired of dealing with it his whole life.

So there he lay, listening to the roar of the water as he usually did, splayed out on the bed of soft green grass and tiny budding yellow flowers. He didn't even feel like shifting his body so that he reached out in more of the sun that lay in patches around him, flittering through the shady brush of trees that protected him. He didn't feel like doing anything anymore.

A disturbance in the sounding pattern of the rushing waves provoked him slightly. It sounded like a hoarse caw from a crow, being barely able to reach his strained ears through the rage of the waters.

But it wasn't a bird, it was his phone, which was nestled in the soft grass around him, buzzing in an attempt to reach him. The pony let out an inaudible sigh as his head left the pillow of green grass below him, eyes dancing over the ground to lay on the object.

The alert wasn't anything worthwhile, however. It was simply an email sent to him from the school's principal informing him about that month's newsletter regarding the school and its activities held there. His tired purple eyes, half closed, scanned it briefly before he got tired of pretending to care and exited the window.

He lay there, crumpled on the ground like a failure (that he was) and bored out of his mind. Rumble, however, was too tired to stop a random tear from breaking out of his control and sliding down the side of his cheek. He let out a soft sigh as he watched the lone dewdrop splatter across the screen of his phone after it left a trail of sadness down his face and let gravity decide its fate. His arm wiped the screen until the tear was gone, the tips of the straying fur on the limb brushed by faint water.

Dinky's face was covered by her hooves as she sobbed into them. Her life sucked. She had already tried getting cell phone reception herself - there was none, but she could at least try to scroll through her past text messages and clutch the golden chain containing the picture of her father for comfort in a failed attempt to calm herself.

It wasn't fair. She managed to pry her hooves away from her face and sniffle for a second before trying to go back to reading the phone messages she had sent, her vision blurred by soft and painful tears.

She felt so trapped. So useless. So... unlucky.

Rumble began to moan softly at the thoughts of Pipsqueak and Dinky-- two dominant figures in his life at the time that he didn't want to think about.

But his teeth gritted together when his eyes trailed over Dinky's past conversations with him over texting - reminding him of their last painful, awkward visit together that he completely screwed up. It sent a shiver down his spine. And it wasn't from the cold he had been under these past few days.

Still, he continued reading.

Both of them began to read over their undelivered texts that never got to the other. Either of theirs read the exact same thing. Over and over again and again:

Wish you were here.

Nightmare

"Amy..."

"What?"

"Look."

The sobbing unicorn managed to pull her head away from the floor of the rusty car to peer at a flooding light heading their way. Her purple eyes bulged wide with a brimming hope - until she noticed the fact that the blinding, beaming yellow light that fought the darkness intensely and clashed with her watery eyesight, was straying dangerously close to their broken car.

"D-Dinky-"

"Is it gonna stop?"

Surfacing at a quick speed, a truck roared its way down the road in front of them, momentarily lighting the gravel above its trail for a light second and carrying on to get closer and closer to them.

"We're saved." Amethyst wiped the cold sweat running down her forehead.

Before anyone could think to respond, Amethyst's door swung open into the night again. She had no time to lose, and did not hesitate to climb out of her seat to wave her arms frantically in the air.

"Stop! Stop!"

To the sisters' relief, the truck began to slow in speed, eventually barely trailing its way along the road and the sound of screechy, stopping tires filled the cold night air. When the vehicle came to a full stop, the only sound they could hear was their heartbeats.

A moment of silence followed, and it was so silent that they might have been able to hear a pen drop onto the gravelly road below them.

And then the door of the truck creaked open ever-so-slightly. Dinky's eyes narrowed as she squinted to make out the shape of a bulky, muscular stallion climb out of the driver's seat through the harsh, ghostly glow of his headlights.

Amethyst might have whimpered slightly at first when she saw him, but it didn't matter. They needed help, darn it.

Dinky took one look at that pony, and in that same moment the awkward, advancing silence was caught by her gasp of surprise.

"Hey! I know you!" Dinky whisper-shouted as she herself made it down to the ground and out of the car - she knew that scar - it was that pony from the restaurant, their waiter...

WTF?!

The pony only raised an eyebrow and scratched the nape of his neck. "I remember," he said quietly.

Amethyst swallowed. "Listen, I'm sorry to bother you, but we're lost and we're trying to get to Fillydelphia from here. I-I ran a flat tire... Do you have a spare?"

The stallion simply nodded and turned to retrieve said requested object.

Thank Celestia.

It took a minute, but the stallion's silhouette reappeared after vanishing behind the truck momentarily. Pressed firmly to his side was a black rubber tire, held in place by the battered and torn wing of his that was draped over the object. His awkward gate was soon recognized by the mares as he half-limped over to them.

Amethyst's magic gripped the tire and she levitated it across from him, the object slipping from his own grasp and into her hypothetical telekinetic control.

"Thank you so much," she whispered to him, a slight smile abroad her face. Her eyes slipped up to scan his own face for a minute before instantly retreating to the ground once she noticed his scar.

Nopony said anything for a long time. They just stood there, staring at each other, at the ground, at random places in the night's forest until Dinky coughed loudly to break the awkwardness.

"What a coincidence running into you here," she muttered in a pathetic attempt to make conversation with their savior who had appeared out of the thin forest air.

He simply nodded, obviously not a pony of many words.

"So... what're you doing out here?"

"Going home," he simply muttered.

Dinky stood confused for a minute, wondering how he could possibly be knowing his way through the labyrinth of a dark forest, and how he got from the restaurant to here in an effort to get home. (But then again, you never know, she concluded to herself.)

"Do you know how to change a tire?"

The stallion nodded grimly and pried the tire from Amethyst's grip to set it down carefully on the side of the road. He then turned to grab his toolbox from the back of his beat-up old truck.

Scarred and roughed hooves turned the work of a genius, and the mysterious pony had finished for them in a matter of minutes with little trouble.

He simply gave a curt nod at the praise he was offered by the unicorns whom he had saved.

As if he could read Dinky's mind, the mysterious stallion stared into her eyes with his pair of icy cerulean ones. Finally he spoke in a raspy voice. "Just take the straight path through the forest until you reach a wooden sign that says 'Fillydelphia: 30 Miles Away.' It should mark the end of the forest. Then you're gonna need to turn right and dodge through the neighborhoods for awhile until you reach a long narrow street called Saint Pegasus that curves into the city."

Amethyst screwed the knowledge into her brain. "Okay... I think I got it."

Dinky rolled her eyes and shook her head before bouncing off into the warmth and safety of the car to retrieve her notebook and pencil.

She dug around in her saddlebag, which was perched on the pile of luggage flooding the back, her hoof feeling around in the cramped darkness to reach a notebook and pencil.

Her mother's snoring filled her ears and it comforted her to know that she hadn't waken up yet and panicked with them. Dinky knew how much of a heavy sleeper her mother was, and at the same time she suffered from great anxiety at times.

The filly stepped back out into the cold night air yet again to use her golden magic, bringing the skinny wooden stick a few inches away from her face. The steady flowing glow of the luminescent flashlight radiating from her horn allowed her to see as she jotted down the directions and notes given to her.

She concluded her note page by shutting her notebook proudly with a smile on her face. "Thank you," she told him in an excitable yet quiet manner.

The stallion shrugged before turning tail to climb back inside his tall white truck. That would be the last time Dinky ever saw that shadowy figure's scar run across his eye. She hoped that, at least. Still, it was very generous of him to stop and help them out. Dinky wouldn't long to see that creepy-looking stallion anytime soon nonetheless.

As the ponies all settled in their car, shutting their doors so that the cold air outside wrapped around the car's metal cover and tried in vain to leak t through the minor crevices the car offered. Dinky shivered from what she hoped was the cold as she peered over her sister's shoulder and into the shady truck's windshield, noticing those piercing blue eyes carve their way into her chilled soul. The truck reared back, turning to swerve onto its specific side of the road as it was going the opposite way, and the rumbling sound of its shape steamrolling down the path became foggier and foggier with each second. Soon nopony could hear anything, unless they counted their mother's sleep-roaring (which was painfully loud for both pairs of ears.)

Amethyst turned the key that ignited the car's fire in silence. If she said anything at all, it was lost under her mother's incessant snoring. Dinky didn't say anything either, for a long time. She simply tried to doze back into the calm world of sleep while they prepared to roll through the forest.

Creak. The car moved forwards, the new tire edging forward to roll a bit with the others. Amethyst's hoof pressed on the lever that triggered the wheels' movements, and the car began rumbling down the forest lane with low speed.

They were off into the night.

Dinky didn't even remember falling asleep.

Her soft, hoarse voice filled the air as it whispered for anyone. "Hello?"

The only response given was the flicker of a shadowy figure darting to retreat to its stormy caves.

Fear trickled down her throat, where she stuffed the unwanted emotion in an attempt to be brave. Suddenly the pony just felt so... puny as she stared into the depths of the pitch black pools of darkness.

The darkness wrapped around her and she couldn't see anything in front of her. Instinct told her to use her horn magic, but as her brain clicked to enable her familiar aura to course through her horn, it simply flickered for a minute and died out, leaving her stranded in the night.

Dinky gulped and whispered out into the dusky shade: "Hello... Is anyone here?" her voice echoed through the sea of shadows.

A blanket of darkness became her only option as a wandering path - she couldn't see where she was going, or hear her footsteps as she advanced, and even if she stretched her neck in all sorts of directions she couldn't find the slimmest strand of light flittering to reach her eyes as she had hoped it would.

Blindly following her path, she croaked in a raspy voice much unlike her normal one: "He-hello? H-hey! Where am I?"

Dinky had stopped to ponder why her voice had changed so drastically when her hoof slipped out of her control and she found herself being pinned by her weight over the edge of something steep and dangerous. Trying desperately to regain her balance, her heart pounded as she teetered over the edge, limbs flailing and wobbling in an attempt to save herself. It didn't work.

She wanted to scream for help, but her voice was cut off now. The only thing she could hear was the intense blood pounding through her head and the wind rushing through her ears as she gave way under gravity, toppling over the edge at last and falling down into the night that led to Celestia-knows-where.

She couldn't scream or feel or see anything. She was just plummeting through advancing darkness in absolutely nowhere, and her heart leaped as she braced herself for the hard landing ahead of her.

But it never came. Down she fell, her speed rising with every passing second the unicorn charged headfirst into a new inch of the sea of darkness she found herself wrapped in. There was no ground, there was no sky. There was nothing, only darkness and fear down the endless abyss she was falling through.

And then Dinky came to a halt. Her body shuddered and jolted slightly at the sudden strain of action, and she could sense nausea starting to catch up to her as it rushed to her head.

She didn't even know where she was.

She was just floating. In midair. And she couldn't tell how she was doing so or where the heck she was - there was only the shadowy and cold embrace of darkness falling around her as her guide, which wasn't much at all.

Her hooves felt around for the ground - or at least something that could be touched - but there was nothing. It felt utterly strange to just be floating in midair without any help or any visible explanation as to why it was happening, but Dinky's brain was reeling too fast from shock for her to care too much about it.

The pony didn't even flinch or move her body drastically. She just froze up in fear, wondering where she was, and how she had been in this absurd situation. Dinky gritted her teeth as she wondered if she were to move or do something wrong, she would screw up everything and she would go plummeting down into the trench again. She considered this idea and stayed perfectly still, eyes shut tight in terror as she waited for what awaited her coincidentally.

She could see nothing until a faint glowing light teased her closed eyes' senses. Opening them to mere slits, a sudden harsh vibrant light began overflowing her sight.

Out of instinct she winced, shielding her poor eyes from the intense radiance before it died down to a crisp, darkened yet fiery glow.

Dinky guessed it was safe to look now. She didn't even want to, but the pony couldn't stop herself from staring at what there was in front of her.

A pale pegasus with a sleek cut glared at her through the purple rage burning in his luminescent eyes. The light still hurt her own sensitive eyes, as she had not yet adjusted to the level of brightness displayed before her now, and she let out a moan of discomfort as she felt that intense heat burn holes right through her fur. Well, not literally.

"Rumble?" she hissed, eyeing him as he snarled at her furiously. She didn't think she had ever seen a pony so disturbed or so frustrated. He shook himself, but didn't answer. "R-Rumble, what the freakin' hay?! What's wrong with you? Answer me, please!"

She flinched violently the moment his booming voice echoed through her ears.

"You left me, Dinky Doo."

Dinky stood in bewilderment at the sound of his outrageously loud, startling voice.

"What?"

"You abandoned me and now I will burn because of you."

"Rumble, what the hay are you talking about?"

"Shut up!"

She winced again as he hissed out in front of her, rage seeping from the strange pony's glowing aura. Dinky stood in awe as he growled again, this time his voice slightly being less harsh.

"I gave up everything for you Dinky, and you left me to die."

Her stomach churned as he continuously spat out words of hatred that she had never known existed.

"Rumble! What's gotten into you? What's wrong with you?" Dinky whisper-shouted.

"I loved you and you treated me like trash. You left me behind and now I will perish. I hope you're happy with yourself. This is all your fault."

Dinky's eyebrows raised at his last statement, the first sentence spoken painfully working its way through her veins into her heart. She shook her head to clear everything.

"Rumble, what are you talking about?" she screamed loudly, but he did not even barely flinch. He stood completely normal, not intimidated by her anger one bit. She wondered if he could smell fear.

The smell of smoke flooded her nostrils, and she coughed at the overwhelming presence of such a thing. Shutting her eyes in an attempt to block the thick black haze of the smoke out of her senses, she growled as she noticed a wave of the fiery cloud wrap itself around her, cutting air from her lungs.

She tried to squeal as she could barely breathe, what thin air she could reach being pathetic and barely operative.

Dinky opened her eyes at the sound of a distinctly masculine voice piercing the moment to stare at Rumble through the cloud of smoke.

He was now cloaked in a fiery coat of flames that slowly began to engulf him. Shrieks and moans of agony made her shudder with fear as she took in the sincerity of the moment. Those genuine cries of terror mocked her, sending a wave of anxiety down her weak body.

"Rumble?!"

The pegasus was hardly noticeable anymore. Fire stained his coat, burning away at every inch of his body as his desperate cries for help reduced Dinky to tears. Every second sent another intense sensation of deep pain through him as he felt himself roast under the unbelievably scorching flames.

"HELP ME."

Dinky couldn't bear to listen to the sound of his pained voice, and she would have moved if she hadn't felt immobilized.

Her hooves and body were locked firmly into place. The unicorn struggled over a matter of seconds to reach him, so desperately striving to, but she just... couldn't.

A pang of sincere panic shuddered through her. She couldn't let him just burn under those flames. She needed to save him. She needed him. He needed her.

"Rumble!" she wailed, hoping he heard her through the trauma he was pit against on his deathbed. Her heart shattered to a million pieces as there was not even a weak, hoarse response muttered from the burning pegasus.

But she was just so attached to him that it started to drive her insane being stuck in place. The pony temporarily went mad with fury at trying in vain to break free from her invisible prison.

She fought and she struggled and she jerked violently inside, but could not overcome her paralyzed state. The pony screamed in horror and frustration as she grew increasingly anxious to reach him.

A feminine voice barely touched her ear.

"Dinky!"

It didn't matter. She had let her best friend die and it was all her fault. Tears streamed down the sides of her face as she repeatedly shouted his name, hoping desperately that somehow he would spring from his fiery prison into her arms and hold her.

"Dinky!"

She had failed. She was the worst. What a horrible, disgusting-

"DINKY."

Her eyes snapped open to find subtle darkness around her and the cramped space of the backseat in her family's car. Dinky breathed heavily for a second, eyes scanning her surroundings as she tried to remember what the hay had happened just then.

Her older sister merely rolled her eyes. "Hey, sleep screamer. We're here." Her voice rolled off Dinky's ears.

The unicorn blinked out her fear as she realized how much sweat was running down her body. She could barely mutter a hoarse voice. "Wh..Where?"

Amethyst looked at her like she was an alien from a foreign planet. "...At the motel, stupid."

Oh.

The pony rubbed her eyes as she still struggled to overcome her half-awake state. She tried very hard to calm herself down as the memories of her recent nightmare began to be shoved down her throat.

"Hurry up," Amethyst barked, but the pony's pushy tone only became a buzz in Dinky's ringing head as she managed to somehow stumble out of the car without breaking anything. The icy feeling of cold gravel under her weary hooves chilled her and surprised her further, bringing her further and further from her strange nightmarish fantasy she had just been entranced in.

Blinking the confusion out of her eyes, she shook her head as she tried to forget the trauma she had just been thrown into. Well, she knew it wasn't real, but it still had shocked her greatly. Waking up in the backseat of her mother's car really had made her feel better already, even if the pony rousing her hadn't been particularly friendly.

Although it was still dark outside, she could still manage to see the stallion in front of her. He was a tall, skinny unicorn with tired amber eyes and a scruffy, short red mane that fell behind his ears. His faint pale blue coat shone within the moonlight as he took it upon himself to haul their luggage up to their room. The stallion's horn lit up in a dark midnight shade of blue to lift all their bags a few feet from the ground as he guided them through the nightly parking lot and ushered them inside.

Dinky's stomach churned when she approached the old, broken building. Its dusty brown walls sported a thin layer of paint that was chipping away and stained with strange green substances. Cobwebs sprouted up between decades-old antiques that lay still on various black shelves adorned by the creaky walls. Dinky shuddered as she entered the dark room with its mysterious gothic vibe. A cold feeling crept through her fur as she wondered if the ponies painted on the walls, enclosed by the golden crested picture frames could watch her every move as they did in horror movies.

Something stirred in the pain of the darkness; Dinky's eye caught sight of a scruffy silhouetted figure about the size of a loaf of bread bolt out from its hoard of shadows. She could hear its sharp claws scratching against the cold wooden floors as the furry creature scampered lowly to the ground so it could peer at them through the shade. Dinky gulped as she met a pair of wide, glowing yellow eyes that stared into her shaken soul. The figure gave a short, raspy hiss as it stepped forward into what little light fell into the creepy motel lobby.

Dinky relaxed her tense body slightly when she recognized the creature as an old black cat with a raggedy pelt and a long, bent tail. The feline's eyes still shocked her, and it didn't take a long time for her to compare the cat's eyes to the bellman's. They were nearly exactly the same, only differing in color. Everything about this place was beginning to shock her and drive her to the bridge of being slightly creeped out.

The cat gave a flick of her tail as she padded off to keep on the lookout for any stray mice that might have escaped her view earlier. Dinky watched the cat's eyes stare at them directly until the cat turned the corner into places unknown.

The lonely halls of the dusky motel made her shiver as she followed the bellman and her family through to the end of a deep and long hall covered with long paintings of historical figures. She noticed the blood red carpet planted beneath them tended to get torn at the edges or dragged out of place.

Finally they reached a tall, dented wooden door painted blue as the night. Slowly it creaked open to reveal a small room flooded with no moonlight. There were two small, lumpy beds laying across the room from each other that were covered in layers of a thin, short and slightly torn bedspread. Dinky felt uneasy as she noticed the glimmer of glass shine across the room and recognized it to be a tall mirror almost edging up to the ceiling. She swore she could make out the outline of a number of creatures that dwelled in the shadows around her.

The strange bellman nonchalantly set their luggage on the hard floor below them before accepting a tip offered to him by Dinky's mother. He then left them the key to their room before departing back into the creaking sea of darkness with nothing but the faint glow of his horn to guide him.

A light flickered on in the small room, and an unwelcome steady glow of a lamp burned Dinky's vision. She growled as her eyes had not yet adjusted to this foreign source of light.

Their mother soon disappeared into the door at the end of the room as the two ponies checked out their surroundings.

There was a cobweb-infested couch sitting on top of a ragged gray carpet, a black table with a vase of wilted black flowers perched atop its dusty cover, and various paintings depicting strange and abstract art hanging on the yellow, chipped wallpaper.

Dinky snorted.

"What?" Amethyst said sharply.

"We're not... actually staying... here? For the whole weekend?" Dinky stood staring at her surroundings in bewilderment.

"What's wrong?"

She stared at her sister and gave her a look that one typically gave if they were to witness a great disaster. "What? What do you mean, 'what's wrong?' This place has 'haunted' written all over it." She gestured to her surroundings with a sweep of her hoof.

Amethyst Star rolled her tired purple eyes. Oh how they reminded Dinky of her Rumble's beautiful eyes... She shook the thoughts out of her mind, however. There was no need to think of the pegasus she was so desperately trying to save in her dreamscape at the moment. She listened as her sister spoke: "You don't actually believe in that crap, do you?"

Embarrassment flooded through the pony's blood, but she stuck to her guns. "God, look around you. They might as well have called this place The Bates Motel."

Amethyst narrowed her eyes. "That was just a movie. Anyway, before your stupid imagination gets the best of you, let me just tell you that it's not like we have enough money to stay somewhere.... better. So you're just gonna have to put up with this place for the time being."

Normally a pony might have asked if they could stay with the relatives they had come to visit in the first place in their houses. But the ponies that would have done that might have had a normal family with no strange, unnatural and uncommon.... problems. Staying with Dinky's relatives was no picnic. And it wasn't like Dinky's aunts had the best record of safety involving children to brag about.

The ponies shared a mutual yet hostile understanding for a brief moment, just staring into each others' eyes. Dinky blinked out the tension of the moment, shaking her head and sighing.

"I just want to -"

Before she could finish her sentence, her mother burst in through the door she had wandered into a few moments ago. Tucked under her wing were millions of small little glistening stones of soap. Dinky raised an eyebrow at her mother's joyful and childish expression plastered across her face.

"Look, everyone! Complimentary soaps!"

In a second tons of tiny sweet-smelling soaps carved into stones were scattered across the floor as their mother had thrown them in the air to punctuate her happiness. A rain of the soap had fallen onto the dirty floors below them to their respective dooms.

The light pegasus sheepishly grinned. "I'll go get some more," she whispered loudly, and flew back into the bathroom where she had emerged from. She left the floor, polka-dotted with the multicolored soap scattered across its wooden panels.

Dinky turned back to Amethyst and glared at her.

"Don't expect me to be dying to sit around all day in this dump," she growled lowly.

"I never was going to," Amethyst retorted, violet eyes perfectly narrow in a half-closed fashion to display her calm, stern and tired mood. Once again painful memories flashed through Dinky's traumatized mind as those eyes reflected on Rumble's.

The unicorn couldn't sleep. She just... couldn't. She had tossed and turned, gave an unnecessary large amount of effort to find a comfortable position, and ultimately ended up laying awake staring at the ceiling, pondering over her strange nightmares that sent shivers down her spine.

Dinky tried to convince herself that it was just a dream, but it seemed so real. Every single deep feeling she felt during that sequence had been so amazingly valid that it nearly paralyzed her with anxiety just thinking about it - even if it had been a dream, it shook her emotionally.

She had been so incredibly desperate to reach her dying friend - the unicorn had seriously considered leaping into the scorching embers to pry Rumble from death's grip - but if it weren't for her apparent lameness in her horrid dreamscape, she very well could and would have done so. Dinky became curious at this thought.

What drove a pony to be so needy? Did she really need him by her that much to the point where she would not even want to consider life without him? No.. that thought was unbearable.

What would she do without Rumble? The very thought sent a massive wave of anxiety down her throat, and she bolted up to sit upright in her bed. Noticing she was immensely sweaty and the fact that her heart rate had increased rapidly, Dinky whined a second before straying back to her original position on the bed, head falling to rest on the stiff pillow below her.

She didn't even want to think about life without him.

Heck, it was hard to get by without him there, right next to her, curled up in bed with his hooves wrapped around her. She didn't know why it was so hard at the moment, all of the sudden. But after that crazy dream she just wanted someone to be there for her... and she wanted to know he was okay.

A tear rolled down the side of her face as thoughts of her sweet pegasus friend drifted through her tired insomniac mind. She thought of his soft pale fur and the plush tips of his thin feathers. She loved the way it felt to have the feel of his amazing feathery touch curl around her shoulders. She envisioned the face she had seen so many times in her life - that gorgeous face that she hated herself for thinking was gorgeous. She loved the way a few strands of his dark, sleek mane curled to fall in front of his eyes and he would brush it nervously out of his face to look into hers.

She thought about how wonderful he always smelled - he always carried the most entrancing scent of sweet citrus and honey, and some other lush, refreshing scent she couldn't quite place. Whenever he had stayed until late night for a sleepover she had been lulled to sleep after talking to him for hours by that sweet, lovely scent. In the morning when he was absent his scent would linger faintly in the air and she was left to savor its richness and ponder over its mysteriousness.

She thought about how adorable it was that he cared so much about how his mane looked - he was always up at 6:30 to gel his hair back in a sleek style that lately Dinky couldn't seem to stop noticing or obsessing over like a stupid middle school filly. She loved the streak of light that flowed through the shady depths of his silky hair. It was like an oddball ray of sun in a depressing but beautiful dark crevice. And she adored that.

She thought about his perfect face and his smooth jawline. She loved the way his beautiful smile caught the attention of everyone and lit up everything about him. It was such a radiant, cheerful smile full of emotion and genuine care- a true gift to possess. Dinky didn't just love his smile. She loved how often he used it and how amazingly easy it was to be captivated by his sweet smile. He just naturally had the ability to make others laugh and grin and feel better about themselves with his charming innocent smile and happy demeanor. Her mind drifted to the thought of his smooth lips, scratched slightly, but still soft and gentle all the same. A heated blush rose to her face as she remembered the lovely yet surprising feeling of his lips pressed against hers. She still became angry yet again for thinking those ridiculous thoughts.

She didn't deserve him, she didn't even begin to succeed at qualifying to be his temporary girlfriend. And yet somehow, deep beyond in his cluttered mind, he was somehow able to find a strand of sunlight in her deep dark soul. She didn't know why in Equestria he had the capability of finding anything possibly good about her.

She was selfish. She was a coward. She wasn't any of the things he was: compassionate, kind, honest, funny... Dinky wasn't even sure why he saw anything good in her at all. She knew he hated himself, and she abhorred that fact. If anyone should begin to hate themselves, it was her.

She had neglected her friend's feelings and focused on her own. She was just so in love with a jerk that she didn't even realize how her friend felt about her. Some friend she was.

Dinky hid her face in her hooves as if Rumble were in the room with her and she needed to disappear into darkness. The poor pony wept silently into the night without feeling a drop of anything but horribleness.

Just the very thought of him not being there, him not existing or living or breathing, made her utterly disgusted beyond words. Her stomach churned and she instinctively clung to a pillow for comfort, wrapping her hooves around the stiff object as if it were Rumble, the pony she so deeply wanted - needed - to be right there next to her at the moment.

She couldn't stand those depressing thoughts. If he left her, gone off somewhere else... possibly forever... She didn't even want to think about how devastated she would be...

Dinky wanted and needed him; she would do anything to save him even if it meant sacrificing her life to those dreadful flames that enveloped him... She loved him so much that it shocked her to even hear herself repeat those words in her mind like a broken record.

Rumble, I love you.

Love. That word made her heart flutter and her stomach churn at the same time. What did it mean? She supposed it meant to care for someone strongly and passionately to the point where they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the pony in question, and she felt that way unconditionally towards her mother and sister, but....

Romantically?

Dinky had honestly thought she had felt that way about Pipsqueak for a long time. She thought she loved him so much that she couldn't live without him, and when he was her boyfriend she felt a stupid burst of happiness every time his face caught hers. But...

The thought of needing to protect him, to put him before herself had never really occurred to her. Now that she really stopped and thought about it, she wasn't all too sure she would be utterly depressed if Pipsqueak had left her.... Well, she wasn't at the moment.

That was what love did to somepony stupid. It took the form of an illusion and spread itself through somepony's weakened mind to make them think they adored a certain jerk. They made everything that pony did seem like something of that of angel, every kiss feel like heaven was wrapped around her in its sweet embrace. And then when they became such a sucker for that two-faced idiot, the world would turn its cold shoulder on her and she would suddenly be left all alone in the dark, angry and bitter-hearted.

Of course she loved Rumble. To the moon and stars and back, infinitely. And platonically she was certain her love lay on him, but romantically... that was a different question. Year after year he had stood up for her, comforted her, given up everything just for the weak little filly he once knew her as. They had talked and laughed and cried together, and there had been times when they had screamed at each other, finding unique and clever ways to hurt the other emotionally with scathing remarks and hurtful insults. There had always been conflict between the two, what with their different personalities clashing like fire and ice. But for every fight between them there was always a chance to make up and they always took it. Even if it were days later, one of them would bolt up to the other with tears streaming down their eyes telling them how sorry they were for all the mean things they said and they would always end up cradling each other in their arms.

She didn't know if she loved him in a romantic way. They had been through so much together, and she would hate for him to leave, but at the same time, she couldn't figure out her conflicting feelings for him - platonic or otherwise.

Dinky shifted uncomfortably so that her eyes could catch a glimpse of the morning light sweeping through the blinds, pouring out in white strands that fell on the dusty floor. It calmed her to know that her nightmare was nothing more than a nightmare - Rumble was safe and all was well.

But it still troubled her to know that there was a rift between the two. Thinking back on the kiss, that wonderful, sweet kiss... Celestia, here I go again, she growled to herself as those thoughts squirmed into her system.

Yes, she enjoyed the kiss. It was short and sweet and it disgusted her to think that she liked the idea of kissing her best friend, but at the same time it just felt... right. To think that she would want to run back to Rumble right now and capture his lips in another lovely kiss... it made her heart flutter, but did that mean she was in love? And what if-

"Rise and shine," her sister's loud voice flooded through her ears.

The thin and torn blanket was pried off Dinky's chilled layer of fur. Her teeth chattered at the touch and feel of the cold morning air.

"H-hey," she growled, rubbing her tired eyes before pointing them directly in Amethyst's. "I didn't get any sleep."

"Too bad," Amethyst snapped back, turning to nudge her mother gently. "Wake up," she whispered in the pegasus's ear.

Dinky groaned as her sister practically tore the blinds down so the bright light instantly flooded through the room and burnt everyone's eyes.

"Get up, you lazy sacks," Amethyst continued, poking her head out the window for a second to stare into the creepy motel parking lot. A smile formed across her lips and she turned back to them. "We're not gonna be late this time around. We gotta get going if we wanna make it to the aunts' on time."

Their mother made a strange noise and her pupils dilated, both of them trailing off in different directions to pin on the ceiling.

"Aunt Pear Seed said she'll have breakfast for us." Amethyst seemed to show a bright and proud demeanor due to being the one to find out the information first.

Dinky practically collapsed out of bed and moaned. She hated her aunts' cooking.

This was going to be a long weekend.

Secrets

Trying to comfort the wailing foal in front of her, bundled up in a raggedy, thin blanket and screeching restlessly, proved to be difficult for Dinky. She cooed comforting words into his ear, rocked him several times in vain, had even tried changing his diaper - which was utterly useless, considering there was nothing in need of being changed. The infant in front of her, his pain-stricken golden eyes reflecting hers, desperately shook in Dinky's arms and never ceased his incessant whining and wailing. Why should he, anyway? The voices screeching at each other echoing through the house unnerved even the aunts' poor kitty, Jasper, who had taken cover under the warmth of the guest bed's covers and was currently nothing more than a lump lying under the heap of blankets, tail flicking out and occasionally lashing from underneath the bedspread.

Dinky growled frustratedly at the tiny pony she was cradling. The little unicorn foal wriggled restlessly in his disturbed state. She felt compassion, sure, but a great deal of weariness flowed through her tired veins at the same time. One thing was for sure: when she grew older with time, she was never, ever going to have foals. The slightest possibility made her wrinkle her face in disgust. They were cute, and it was true, but she just couldn't see herself being able to cope with and handle the overwhelming amount of stress that came with parenting.

A typical pang of unnerving fear made her heart bolt. Dinky sat straight up, her sudden movement eliciting another long, pitiful cry out of the infant she was holding. No one in this house liked the sound of Dinky's mother and Pear Seed screaming at each other in the back of the lonely house. It had been going on for some time now, and the only cowardly thing Dinky could think to do was conceal herself in the guest room with her two younger cousins - Chirpy was, for once in her lifetime, curled up quietly in the corner of the room, fear written deep in her expression as she listened to the sound of her mother and aunt quarreling loudly in the other room down the hall. As annoying as she was, it was hard for Dinky not to feel sorry for the chubby filly as she noticed her quivering pelt and the state her facial expressions had reached.

"It's alright. Come here, Chirpy," Dinky spoke softly across the room to the shaken pegasus filly.

The suddenly stoic pony briefly hesitated, then slipped silently from her spot in the corner to make a dash for Dinky's comfort, as if her life depended on it.

Dinky threw her arm around her cousin and held Dipsy tight with the other. She could hear the upset, disturbed breathing of Chirpy's as she wailed into Dinky's embrace.

"Shh." Dinky muttered, patting her tangled mane but still straining her ears to listen and see if she could make out what her family was screaming about.

"Dinky?" Chirpy actually referred to her cousin by name, and earned herself a glance from the pony in question.

"Yeah?"

"Has Mom been drinking again?"

Dinky was so amazingly startled that she couldn't bring herself to answer at first. The younger pony pulled away from the hug to sniffle and stare at her with teary pale violet eyes.

Dinky found the willpower inside of herself to whisper a barely audible response. "...What?"

"My mom," Chirpy explained in a hoarse whisper with just as much power as Dinky's strange response. "She drinks a lot. Was she drinking earlier?"

Dinky decided to attempt to sound normal, but the shock of the moment was building in her throat. Perhaps her family had a few darker secrets then they let onto? "...What makes you say that?"

Chirpy sniffled, wiping a straying tear away from her flushed pink face. "She gets really mad when she drinks a lot of wine. She doesn't do it often, but... when she does, it's really scary."

The pegasus filly whined as shouting from the other room ensued, and retreated back into Dinky's small fortress of comfort, gazing down softly at her wailing little mess of a brother.

"He's scared," she whispered, stroking the back of his growing, short blonde mane lovingly and caressing his face with her warm hoof, causing him to settle down and stop his excessive crying a bit. "It's okay," Chirpy cooed to the child as he whimpered with an upset temper.

Dinky looked on in amazement as Dipsy's older sister calmed him slowly, carefully, as if she had known what to do all along. Soon enough the infant had nodded off and the slow, steady rising and falling of his chest told them he was fast asleep.

It was like Chirpy was the only one in the world who could speak to him.

As if she had read Dinky's mind, the pegasus whispered to her in a hushed, fond tone: "This past winter when my dad left us, my mom would shut herself in her room. She rarely spoke to me or anyone. All she did was drink and on some hard nights she would come from her room to yell at us. Dipsy would cry when she did this, so after she left I would have to be the one to comfort him. I found that if you just approach him calmly and stroke his mane he'll fall right asleep."

A pang of guilt arose in Dinky's chest as she realized Chirpy's awful history and the fact that Chirpy was possibly the exact opposite of the little filly she thought she was. She was just so mature for her age, so cautious and loving, sweet and careful...

And it pained her to hear of the young child's past. And here I thought my life was bad, Dinky thought to herself as she snapped at herself mentally for thinking Chirpy was stupid earlier.

"She doesn't do it anymore," Chirpy said quickly, as if she knew exactly what Dinky was thinking. "Not usually. I just thought that maybe..."

Her voice was lost in the shouting of the two sisters outside. Loud, thumping footsteps approached the hall leading to their door.

The minute the door was thrown open, Dipsy started wailing. In shock, Dinky's head darted up to notice the sight of her furious mother standing in the doorway, red face damp with a river of never ending tears.

Chirpy clung to her waist, hooves trembling, but her mother snarled, and Dinky gasped in deep shock.

She didn't think she had ever seen her mother this amazingly angry.

"Come on, Dinky. Say goodbye to your cousins. We're leaving."

Heartache swelled through Dinky's character. "Now?"

"Yes!" her mother screamed, causing Chirpy to slink off of her cousin's grip and dash to the corner where she had been earlier, cowering in fear like a cornered coyote.

The unicorn carefully returned Dipsy to the trembling child, opening her mouth to say her goodbyes, but before she could her mother cut her off in a screeching rage.

"Hurry up! We're leaving this awful town full of awful ponies!"

She glared at her mother. What had even gotten into that pony? She received an equally icy stare that pulled at her heartstrings. But she knew she couldn't just leave the poor children there...

She shook herself. No, her aunts would watch over them, should their mother get... irritable. This thought didn't completely cleanse her worries, but it did help soften the haze of confusion she was in as her mother repeatedly screamed at her to hurry up.

"Take care of yourself, Chirpy," she whispered, grasping the side of the poor child's tear-stained face. "Don't let anyone-"

"If you don't get over here right now I'm taking off! I'm serious!" her mother snarled, face as red as a strawberry.

She didn't have any time to deeply think about her mother's out-of-character attitude. She figured she would interrogate her later. Still, her heart ached at the sight of Chirpy's tears running down her face as she clutched tightly her small, weak, helpless brother being cut short by the door slamming over and leaving them in the room alone.

"Mom!" Dinky hissed as they stormed down the hall. She could hear her aunt Pear Seed's distinct voice rambling on.

"Get out of here, you idiotic freak! I hope I never see your hideous face or your disturbing set of eyes again!" She then proceeded to call Dinky's mother some names that made the confused unicorn's mouth fall open in shock - before her mother slammed the door, shutting the furious pony out of sight.

Amethyst Star had sealed herself in their car, weeping to herself whilst listening to the faint screeches of fury and hatred shared between two sisters. When she noticed the extremely strange sight of her mother, outraged and in tears, she barely had time to mutter a word before they were off on the road again; all three of them sitting in silence as they pulled up in the motel parking lot to retrieve their belongings and check out.

Dinky's stomach churned at everything - every single memory her weekend had given her this far. Their mother sat in the front seat, head buried in her hooves, sobbing softly to herself.

Neither of her daughters had any idea what the heck had happened, but it must have been huge to make their mother snap like this. Usually she was just so cheery, laid-back, easygoing... downright happy-go-lucky. She had never, ever seen her so amazingly distraught and broken as she was now... she couldn't explain it, but it made her want to cry to see her own mother break down like this. It was so extraordinarily unusual that it was beginning to bring back some of Dinky's old depressed and startled emotions she tried her best to keep locked away in the back of her mind.

Her hoof instinctively reached up to cuff the golden locket that hung around her neck, sighing softly as she pulled it against her heart for comfort. She wondered what her dad would do if he were here. In all his troubles, was he brave? Selfless? Compassionate?

She had no idea, but she could only try to be the pony everyone remembered him to be.

"I'm sorry," their mother spoke after a long, continuing and awkward silence. Her voice was strained and hoarse, and Dinky could tell she was still shedding tears. "That was so unlike me.... I shouldn't have gotten mad like that in front of you. I'm really sorry."

Dinky said nothing. She couldn't even begin to think of what to say, but she did lay a hoof on her mother's shoulder encouragingly to show her support. The pegasus acknowledged her gesture by leaning back towards her to reveal her red face, bloodshot eyes flowing with tears that streaked her chin and neck.

"What happened?" Amethyst spoke quietly, though her attention remained loyal to the road ahead of her as she continued to steer the car through the bumpy streets of Fillydelphia.

Their mother sniffled, wiping away a couple of tears, and shook her head in distress.

"You... you two aren't ashamed of how my eyes look?" she whispered softly, pain punctuating every syllable as she spoke.

A short silence filled the air before Dinky spoke up. "No! Of course not!"

Amethyst glanced back at her mother quickly before focusing back on driving, and she muttered with careful affection: "Why would you..."

"Isn't it obvious?" the pegasus shrieked, causing Dinky to give a small jolt at the sudden change in her mother's voice. "Pear Seed says I'm a disgrace to the family tree. That I shouldn't live or come around to bother them. She thinks I'm a horrible mother because I can't seem to control my own eyes for Celestia's sake! And you know what?" She sniffed. "You know what? She's right. I suck. All I do is mess things up! I messed up our family, I messed up my relationships with my sisters, I messed up your relationships with your aunts, heck, Equestria won't even let me drive anymore because I'm. So. Atrociously. Clumsy!"

A long and awkward silence loomed over the head of the dreary old car they drove as it rumbled down the narrow streets. Every so often their mother would sniff loudly or wail for a short second and wipe her eyes.

Finally Dinky spoke.

"That isn't true," she said weakly, not having enough energy to sound amazingly compassionate at the moment. "They're wrong."

Her mother breathed deeply. "I thought that... that if I showed her my personality, she'd change how she felt about me. I... I was wrong." She covered her face in her hooves. "I'm nothing but a big failure."

Amethyst heaved a big sigh. "You're not a failure. Y'know what? Screw Aunt Pear Seed. She never really liked us anyway."

But their mother only shook her head. "No. There was a time when she wasn't like this. She and I used to be so close growing up as fillies. She loved me regardless of my strange eye condition. Stood up to bullies for me. Told me that my eyes made me special and unique."

Dinky stared blankly in disbelief.

She continued. "Then one day, a new colt moved into our neighborhood. Your future father, my future husband, Ponet, was soon enough involved in an absurd love triangle between Pear Seed and I. He chose me, because he loved me, and my eyes stood out to him, but in a good way. He loved that I was unique.

"Pear Seed grew angry towards me and him. I think it was quite obvious she was so heartbroken, but she didn't say anything. She stopped talking to me and more or less ignored everyone. I don't know if it was because we never split up, but she never really did get over that stallion. She didn't even show up to our wedding."

The two sisters didn't say anything for a minute, but Amethyst broke the silence after clearing her throat. "I'm sorry. That's awful."

"Thank you."

Dinky sniffled at the horrible story, never even knowing this had happened. She guessed that love could turn a pony from cheerful to bitter in the blink of an eye. Her heart ached as she remembered how that feeling felt with Pipsqueak.

"...Mom?" she spoke hoarsely, voice crackling under emotion.

"Yes, my muffin?" She noticed her mother had calmed considerably, presumably from letting her stress leak out.

"Do you ever miss Dad?"

She hesitated, swallowing and deepening her frown. "Yes. I miss him with all my heart," she choked, pain surrounding every detail of her voice, "because I loved him. I think about him every day, and I wish and hope with every last fiber of my being that he'll somehow come back to me, to you two. And I know it's crazy. But I know that if he were here, he would have wanted me to be strong. And I have to be strong, for my precious daughters."

Dinky's hooves found the golden locket captured around her neck, teasing over the handle that would open to reveal the picture of her parents at her age. In all honesty, this was meant to soothe her, but all that happened ended up in her sobbing till her mother leaned over to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. She looked up, finally, to see a pair of uneven golden eyes trying to reach her.

"Hush, sweet muffin. Your father loves you. He wants you to be strong, too."

"I'm... not as strong as you.."

"Don't say that, muffin. I wish I were as strong as you."

She caressed her daughter's face lovingly, hoof stroking the sides of her damp face. This was the side of her mother she knew. Her real personality was beautiful, and anyone who thought otherwise was suffering of utter stupidity. Dinky wanted to tell her mother just that, but couldn't muster up the strength at the moment.

Of course Amethyst then had to ruin the moment by pretend-gagging. "Oh dear Celestia, you two aren't going to have a special mother-daughter moment, are you? Because if you are, let me know so I can pull over to throw up."

"Shut up," Dinky purred, a smile creeping up her face at last.

She was going to be brave, because she could try to begin to relate to her mother's devastation due to losing a loved one.

"Dinky?! Help me!"

Her eyes, the size of marbles, frantically skimmed the surface of the ocean water in a desperate attempt to locate the pony behind the shrill calls for help. His pained voice was enough to torture her and drive her into madness.

"RUMBLE! Can you hear me? Rumble!" she screamed to the sky and the thick black clouds above her. Her neck twisting around every second to get another inch of water to cover with her vision, she panicked and screeched his name over and over in hopes that he could somehow hear her.

"Dinky!" the voice spat, sounding as if he was struggling to keep salty water out of his mouth. She could hear the flailing of his hooves and his efforts to scream for help, but couldn't locate him somehow. It felt like he was invisible.

There was only one thing to do.

"Hang on Rumble! I'm coming!" she shrieked, voice shaky and weak.

The unicorn braced herself as she dove headfirst into the rapid attack of waves. The sudden shocking sensation of icy water surrounding her and getting through her pelt made her jolt slightly, and the minute she opened her eyes an intolerable amount of salt stung them rapidly. Growling and spitting, she too strived to keep her head above the water as she paddled with her front legs vigorously to keep herself afloat. "Rumble! Rumble! Where are you?!"

Never before had she been so devastated by hearing an absolute ominous silence.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged back under the waves, ignoring the pain of salt in her eyes as she whipped her head around, trying to scan through the dirty black mess of water she found herself in. Panicking, Dinky felt her lungs drain of air, so naturally she returned to the surface to scream his name some more. There was no reply. There was nothing.

"No! NO!" she wailed, heart beating out of her chest. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She needed to find him.

A horrid feeling made her stomach ache. She couldn't stand not hearing or seeing any sight of him. Her heart was on edge as she racked her brain to think of where he could possibly be, hoping that somehow he would just suddenly appear.

But he didn't, and she quickly slipped back under the water, screaming his name through the thick water that heavily muffled her voice. She could hardly even distinctly hear her own screams through her panicking haze of emotion, and once again bolted back up for another deep breath before diving back underwater.

This can't be happening.

She would die if he drowned. She needed to find him - she just couldn't take life without her precious best friend. Spitting out salty water and bursting into tears after emerging without a sign of Rumble, the pony didn't even care about how her nose, mouth and eyes all stung at once. He had drowned and it was all her fault.

"No. No, no, no, no, no! Rumble!" Dinky didn't even try to raise her voice anymore. It was too painful of a moment to do anything, and she just sat there in the cold dark water, sniffling and crying in defeat.

How could she even begin to process what was happening at the moment?

A rough voice barely managed to catch her ear. "Dinky!"

She didn't care who it was anymore. She wasn't stupid; she wasn't going to pretend that voice belonged to Rumble, no matter how much she wanted it to be, because it didn't. Its distinct feminine properties only further disappointed her as she wished with valid discontent for him to somehow show up in some place. There was only one pony that could even begin to make her feel better at the moment, and he was imprisoned under the deep black pools of ocean water.

"Dinky!"

Her terrified yellow eyes shot open to examine her surroundings. She was in the car, which was parked, and from one glance out the window when she shuffled to regain her balance she could tell it was nighttime.

"Where are we?"

"Home, idiot," Amethyst's gruff voice snapped, the sound of the car door slamming left to ring in Dinky's mind as she tried to collect herself.

When she was all snuggled in bed, her things unpacked and stored in their rightful places, before she could yet again ponder over life and her strange feelings, she let out a deep sigh.

She didn't even begin to try to understand how amazing it felt to be back home.

Sure, her house was old, rickety, creaky, and dusty. But it was still home, and she wouldn't ever want to be anywhere else.

Her comforting thoughts were interrupted by a familiar buzzing sound. The pony's head whipped around to find her phone lit up by a certain text from a certain friend. She gulped.

Deciding to face her fears, her heart pace doubled as she checked all her recent texts. There were tons of them. All sent by the one pony she was having troubles with feelings over, the texts spaced out by a couple of hours.

Hi Dinky.

It's Rumble.

I'm really sorry about what happened last week.

Please forgive me.

Dinky?

I miss you really badly and I just want to see your face again.

Please answer me.

Hi. It's me again. Sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know how you were doing

I'm really sorry, even if we can't be more than friends I still want us to be friends

What I did was wrong and I get it, okay? Please just answer me, you don't even have to forgive me, just talk to me, please

Dinky?

Sorry. I'll stop bothering you

Pale moonlight flittered through the shutters protecting Rumble's window. It fell gingerly on his long blue bedspread, a silky shine reaching up to the shoulders of the depressed gray pegasus. His tired pale purple eyes traced the soft lining of the blankets over his bed, thinking of nothing but the pony he had let down. Himself.

He couldn't believe he had let himself get this way - saddened, angered, not motivated by anything. And over what? A girl.

But it was a girl he loved to the moon and stars and back - he would break dimensions for her, and the worst part was she most likely didn't even know how much she meant to him. It was such a waste. Months of pining for her, wanting her so desperately, had been shattered in one stupid move. If he could turn back time, he would. He might even make sure he never met this amazing mess of a pony whom he adored greatly.

He screwed up. He didn't know why, though. Every single feeling from the moment he first captured her beautiful glowing face in the sunlight to the kiss they had shared on the stone bridge over the rapids had been deeply valid, meaning everything to him but not the same to her. He selfishly wished she would love him.

Suddenly, a sharp, painful twist of a ring provoked his senses, and he turned his head stiffly to glare at his phone which had been alerted due to an incoming text.

It was from the unicorn mare whom he adored.

"Hey."

Goodbyes

Dinky sat and gazed nonchalantly through the side of her coffee, the bitter taste shoving and trickling its way down her throat as she forced it down with a cough. Though she tried not to for some strange reason, she could very obviously see the light coated pegasus sitting across from her, hooves cuffed protectively over his own steaming mug of coffee.

His violet eyes peered directly into the fire of her soul, not only making her shudder with a strange comforting feeling, but sending a pang of guilt coursing through her shaky veins at the very moment.

"I'm sorry," they both managed to stumble over themselves at the same time.

A slight awkward silence filled the tense room till Dinky managed to break it by signaling for him to continue and speak first, also questioning him about why he was apologetic in the first place.

He rubbed the back of his neck for a brief moment before reaching upward the comb the sleek style of his mane as he always did when he was nervous.

"I shouldn't have just surprised you like that last week. And then just ditch school so I wouldn't have to see you." Rumble's guilty eyes shown with embarrassment the moment he began speaking, and if Dinky didn't know any better she could have sworn a faint blush was rising behind his face.

Narrowing her eyebrows and squinting at him, her ears pinned back in mild annoyance. "Thunderlane... told me you had feather flu."

Complete, utter shock fell over the embarrassing state of the moment, and Rumble shoved back in his seat as a way of expressing himself. "Oh! Um." He looked as if he had forgotten about this fact, and sweat was beginning to form under the few strands of his hair that hung loosely above his forehead.

She sighed deeply. "Look. If you didn't want to be around me, you could have just-"

"I do want to be around you," he protested loudly, clearly flustered as several watching eyes of other customers in the busy coffee shop pinned on him. Self-conscious, the equine slid slightly back down into his seat and said in a much calmer, nearly quiet tone: "I do want to be around you. I just... I thought you didn't want to be around me."

She blinked once or twice before making herself take another reluctant short sip of her coffee. The rising steam tickled and brushed her bottom lip as the familiar sight and surrounding of her aura filling the cup's shape levitated the coffee to her mouth. Eventually she spoke.

"Rumble, I was just... surprised. I needed a moment to think."

"Well, you've had plenty," he stated coldly, though his face remained the same and his expression never grew upset.

"I'm not the one who went out of their way to avoid me."

"I'm not the one who didn't return their friend's text messages."

Dinky raised an eyebrow tiredly, though guilt tugged at her stomach. "I was on vacation."

"Vacation." He repeated the word to himself in a hushed voice, as if he was pondering over something. She could very clearly notice and stare deep into the levels of hurt in his eyes. "Where?"

A bad feeling crept through her spine. "Fillydelphia," she choked eventually, knowing what was coming next, "Didn't I tell you?"

He frowned and tapped the table lightly with the curve of his hoof. "No. No you didn't."

She strongly considered apologizing, but embarrassment was mocking her so much at the moment that defensiveness and hostility was provoked in her instead out of fear.

"Thunderlane told me that you wanted to tell me that you wanted me to have fun on my vacation," she hissed, and Celestia, she knew it wasn't his fault and that she was acting like a huge jerk right then but all she could think to do was weakly fight back herself when she clearly wasn't worth it.

"Nopony told me anything."

Shoot. The amount of pain he was displaying wasn't even even subtle anymore, and it tore at her heart. Dinky felt overwhelmed with guilt, and she knew she should have probably said sorry, but being the coward she was she could only defend herself hotly.

"I.... you didn't show up to school for me to tell you that!"

"Why didn't you text me?"

She groaned, not wanting to have this conversation. "I think... I think we just needed to spend some time to ourselves. Without the other around. And now that time is over." She gave him a pathetic excuse for a smile.

"You still could have-"

"Yeah, I know, okay?! I screwed up! We all know that! It's all my fault! Please remind me that thirty more times so I don't forget it! Anything else you wanna add involving how many times I've been acting like a jackass?" She snarled, losing her cool. By now, everyone was staring at them, and immediately the words she had spilled were started to sting. But it sure felt good to get it off her chest, she supposed.

It didn't help the guilt gnawing on her stomach as Rumble stared at her with shocked purple eyes. The unicorn sighed loudly as she began to cool down, anger slowly being cleaned out of her dark soul.

"Look, I... I'm sorry..." Rumble began scratching at the nape of his neck.

Dinky stared him deep in the eyes as she practically felt the tension around her melt into the environment. Both ponies had experienced such hurting, deep emotions recently and had been pining for the other... whether they wanted to admit it respectively or not. She shook her head, gaze softening like the mood. "I'm sorry too."

"I've missed you," he whispered tentatively, tears strangling the brink of his eyes. Just the thought of him crying made her sensitive heart deflate, and she too could feel herself towards the beginning of sobbing. "I thought you would leave me, Dinky."

Like a coward, she couldn't bring herself to meet his pained gaze for selfish reasons. Instead she focused on her chilling cup of coffee which had grown more and more unappealing to her with every passing second. "I would never leave you."

He breathed slowly, and there was no doubt that he failed in trying to conceal the fact that there were tears rolling down his face. She heard the screech of wood on the floor as his chair scooted back harshly, and for a minute she thought he was going to leave till he trampled towards her chair and extended his arms, as if he was waiting for her to return his embrace.

She stood up, too, and sniffled as her hooves wrapped around his neck instinctively and she felt his wings curl around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Dinky felt so comfortable pressed up against her long-time friend, warmth radiating from his soft fur and feathers. She didn't even care that they were in public - she ignored the ponies around them who rolled their eyes and muttered icily under their breath to "get a room."

She whispered softly in his ear, "Let's get out of here."

He silently agreed and gave a purr of satisfaction as they reluctantly climbed off each other. Some other strangers scoffed and rolled their eyes as they walked out together, pressed against each other as if they both couldn't stand being many an inch away from the other.

The two were busy talking and laughing and sharing small, sweet fruit-flavored candies on Dinky's couch, catching up with each other as if nothing had ever happened to cause a rift between them. The TV droned on in the background, reiterating something completely unimportant and boring at the moment, and neither of them were really in the mood to pay attention as they ended up just staring at each other in the eyes.

It was like a strange staring contest - only they didn't try not to blink. Though of course they were both so enamored with the other's company that they very obviously couldn't stand closing their eyes and blocking them out for even a half second if that meant time was draining beneath their hooves. She detected a ray of unhappiness gleam through the purple waves of his irises. Dinky tilted her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just, I just think you... I think you're very pretty," Rumble stammered, the words slipping out of his mouth before he even realized it.

She rolled her eyes, hoof connecting with his shoulder lightly as she delivered a playful punch. "Shut up."

"No, I mean it. I think you're very pretty," he whispered, unable to avoid her golden gaze.

Heat rose to Dinky's cheeks, and she broke the unmentioned staring contest they were having before them. "Thanks," she choked, the one syllable strained and hoarse as a result of nerves.

And suddenly their lips met in a flash.

It wasn't anything like either of them thought it would be - that is, it wasn't like the first one. It wasn't slow, awkward or touchy. It was passionate and full of blaze and hope and life.

When they parted, she could read the bittersweet memories dancing in his expression.

A faint glimmer of hope arose in his eyes. "Thunderlane, the teachers and I talked. Pipsqueak is getting expelled." He laughed softly in triumph and at the sight of her face lighting up like it always did when she received happy news.

"It's about time" was all she could even begin to say, but her expression clearly showed otherwise.

"I..." he stammered, tears rolling down the sides of his face like gentle rapids - the place in which they had shared their first kiss. "I'm leaving."

Dinky stood, dumbfounded.

"I'm leaving," he said in a weak, trembling voice when he wasn't given a response.

She stared at him, not believing a word he said.

He was about to repeat himself a third time when she cut him off worriedly. "Why?"

Rumble sighed. "I... I got into a college, and it's in Manehattan."

His heart broke at her devastated expression, and Rumble moved his hoof up to her face, gently caressing the smooth left side of it as if it were as important to him as the universe - because it wasn't. It definitely wasn't.

It was about a million times more important.

Epilogue

She got to see him more than she realized.

Of course there was the day when it was time for them to part, when all that crying and wailing and pleading made their time worthwhile; every single precious moment together was like a gem filled with irreplaceable memories - one that she would never forget.

She had kissed him, gently on the mouth, whispering softly in his ear and tugging on his scarf lowly with her aura, "Come back and visit soon."

His purple gaze flicked between the mare he loved and the crowded steps of the university - covered with jocks and bookworms and ponies of all sorts saying goodbye to their dear loved ones.

Rumble had only responded by the single tear rolling down his face as he forced himself to put on a weak smile - for her only. "I will. You know I will. And thanks for coming out to say goodbye to me."

Dinky's mouth slowly curved up to match and mirror his broken smile. "Good luck. Don't do anything stupid."

Rumble laughed softly at his girlfriend's expression. "No promises. And keep an eye on that Pipsqueak for me."

They had shared one last kiss before he turned and set out for the next step ahead of him - quite literally this time, as he had to walk up a couple of flights of stairs before he actually got to the doors of the university...

Dinky watched him go, a brave smile planted on her face - and it was most likely going to stay this time. She watched his silver figure dart out of sight and slip into the shadows of his college doors.

He was her Rumble.

She stood alone, turning over her golden locket subconsciously as she stared at the creaky old door to her safe haven of the bedroom. A warm smile was brought to her lips as she could smell the fresh pine needles reaching out to her from downstairs, and the lovely scent of gingerbread baking in the kitchen - hopefully not her mother's doing.

A quick glance downstairs filled her with warm happy memories, nostalgic evidence from her childhood. A great big pine tree scraped the ceiling, decorated and coated with sparkles, shiny red and green ornaments, stars, and the like. She couldn't help feeling a rush of pride as she noticed how good of a job her family did in decorating the house for Hearth's Warming.

The creaky walk down the stairs was nothing to her as a figure caught her eye, its frame glittering softly in the mid-daylight. As she approached the figure, its shape became more and more recognizable to her - it was the old photo of her father, smiling softly at the camera, mane slick and wavered back, light hitting the most delicate areas.

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve," Dinky muttered softly under her breath to the fresh spirit embedded in the lifeless inanimate object.

She pressed a short kiss to the frame, bittersweet memories that never happened overwhelming and caressing her senses.

The doorbell rang.

Dinky barely turned around, eyes finding it hard to take their gazes off the photo depicting her lost loved one. But she had already began to tread across the soft blue mat connecting the tree to the door, and before she knew it, the touch of a blizzard had started to envelope her in its ghostly chilliness.

The wooden door had slung open to reveal the athletic shape and build of a pony who had caught her eye a year ago, the freezing pegasus smiling gleefully up at her while his hooves were buried in snow.

"Rumble!"

Without even thinking, her arms had found themselves already flung over his shoulders, nearly pushing off the scarf lazily slung over his neck as she felt him hug her back with equal joy.

"I wasn't expecting you," she sighed softly into his ear before pecking him lightly on the side of his ice-cold face.

"I had to make sure I came home in time to see you," the pegasus replied simply.

She stood staring at him for a minute, forgetting that they were both standing outside in the midst of what felt like a small blizzard. Then Dinky snapped back to reality almost as fast as she had drifted off from it.

"Oh! Right. Come inside," she laughed shortly, and he took her hoof as the happy couple returned inside, where they would both warm up at last.

He was home, and so was she.

Friend Zone

It was another bright day in Ponyville for everyone-- there was seldom a cloud in the sky, the sun was gleaming a beautiful golden yellow, giving off rays of its warmth and friendliness, and the birds were singing various bird-songs in different high-pithed octaves. Fillies and colts of different colors were scattered around the Ponyville school lawn, chatting and scampering to chase each other across the fresh-mown green grass, their hooves wet with dewdrops that blossomed with the dawn.

Everything was going smoothly that day-- it was a peaceful, sunny, lazy day that was just typical for Ponyville and its ponies. Squeals of excitement and laughter drifted across the yard as several foals tackled each other in a mock-fight after catching up to them. Others played hopscotch and jumprope over by the sidewalk, and there was a group of younger colts and fillies who were all arguing over who was submitted to the swing set next, as usual.

A light violet unicorn who wasn't particularly important sat away from the others, sitting on the fence of the school, the sun warming her back. Her beautiful long blonde hair was practically glowing in the harsh sunlight, her golden eyes all the same. She had a smile on her face as she talked to the only pony in the whole universe who truly understood her, who knew her better than anyone. Her best friend.

"And so then she said to me, 'Forget it, I'm waaaaaay cooler than you anyway!' and she just gave me this totally snobby look as if she was too good for me," the gray pegasus that was sitting to the right of the unicorn told her.

"Whoa, dude," the unicorn laughed. "Did you totally kick her tail?"

"Nah, I sorta just laughed it off," the pegasus responded, his purple eyes full of humor. "I mean, besides, I knows it's," he made a face and put on a false accent to imitate the pony in his story, "like, a lie, man!"

The unicorn giggled. "Rumble! What is her problem with you?"

"I guess she's still mad about me breaking up with her," Rumble shrugged.

"That was two years ago!" She threw her hooves in the air to stress her thoughts.

"I think she's still just holding a grudge on me. Who knows? She didn't even really like me when we were dating! I'm so glad all that drama is over," Rumble said, rolling his eyes at the memories in which he always attempted to shove to the back of his mind.

"Me too," his friend agreed. "She was too old for you anyway!"

"I can't believe I actually dated her," Rumble told her, shaking his head. "That really was a horrible relationship. But I knew I had to break up with her when she told me I couldn't hang out with you anymore!"

"That's ridiculous!" the unicorn stressed. "Why can't some ponies see that fillies and colts can be just friends?"  Suddenly the school bell rang, interrupting their conversation and cutting off the comment Rumble was about to make.

The unicorn didn't wait for a reply; instead she sprung down the fence onto her hooves. Rumble soon followed, landing clumsily next to her, almost falling flat on his face as he had stumbled before leaping off the fence.

She snickered at his failure and he rolled his eyes and smiled too.

"Well, I've gotta go to my next class!" The unicorn said gleefully. "See ya, Rumble!"

"Yeah, see ya, Dinky," Rumble responded, and pulled her into a quick hug.

Dinky smiled as they broke the hug, and galloped down the lawn to the school building's entrance. Rumble watched her go, following her at a slower yet still quick pace. Unfortunately Rumble was a year older than her, and they only had one class together at the end of the day, so they hung out at recess, lunch, before school, after school, on the weekends, pretty much whenever they could if their respective schedules allowed them to.

But Rumble went out of his way to see Dinky whenever he could. There had been times when Dinky cried to him over the phone and he ran out in the storming rain to her house to comfort her, and times when Rumble had stopped bullies from beating her an inch away from death, times where he refused to leave her side if she felt unsafe, times when he had cheered her up when she was scared to death. Rumble and Dinky had been inseparable for years, and Dinky practically depended on him. He knew that he was probably the most important pony in her life right now, because Dinky had a lot going on in her life at home that she sometimes downright refused to talk about, not to mention the hell she went through at school with bullies. Rumble stayed with her because he knew she needed him, and they remained extremely close. And Rumble had grown so attached to her that he might have fallen in love with her.

At first he neglected his apparent feelings for the mare and he went in such denial to the point where he wouldn't even talk to her if she didn't talk to him first for about a week when he finally realized he might have had some special, reserved feelings for her. He never spoke of it, and a lot of ponies were already suspecting that something was going on between them, but they both knew that their relationship was completely platonic at the moment. But Rumble somehow couldn't control his feelings, and his budding romantic interest only grew stronger and stronger as the time went on, much to his dismay. And he never had the courage to say how he felt, he wouldn't even bother flirting with her anymore. He tried quite a few times, but it flew past her radar and she didn't even detect it.

The rest of the day went by slowly; that is until their final period that they shared together: art class. Dinky excelled in that class; as painting and drawing was her natural talent, while Rumble struggled far behind her, lacking the knowledge of artistic talent. Still he tried his best, and aimed to be as good as Dinky was one day.

They sat side-by-side at the corner desk in the back of the room while their art teacher rambled on about some dumb drawing technique that nopony except the two of them bothered to use or pay attention to in class. Rumble roughly copied the picture of the eye the teacher had drawn on the whiteboard in thin blue marker into his own notebook, while Dinky sketched out several different styles and ways to draw eyes, trying to figure out which one was best.

"And there you have it. On another subject," their teacher spoke, eyeing her students, "I don't think anyone was told yet, but the school is having a dance coming up in a couple of weeks, and we're in charge of the decorations."

Everyone in the room immediately sprung to life at the word "dance" and Rumble and Dinky could tell they were far less interested in the decorations than the dance itself and finding a date to go with them.

The teacher began to go on with the instructions and started informing everyone of what they were to do, how they were supposed to stick with a theme and not go out of order, etc. But none of the ponies in the room actually listened. They were probably too busy daydreaming of bringing their crushes to the dance or something.

"Alright, class dismissed!" Their teacher sighed, frowning when she realized she was out of time and that nopony listened to or cared about her speech.

Rumble and Dinky silently walked out of the classroom, camouflaging in the crowd of students struggling to get out of the abandoned room as soon as possible.

As they trotted down the road to Dinky's house as planned, Rumble noticed Dinky's awkward, suddenly quiet expression, and the fact that she refused to speak or look him in the eye. When he asked her what was wrong she simply shook her head.

Rumble rolled his eyes. "I've known you long enough to tell that something is wrong, so what's the matter?"

Dinky looked down at the cement as they slowed to a lazy pace down the sidewalk. "Nothing! It's just... well, the dance is coming up and I... I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"Why are you nervous? It's just a dance," Rumble responded, glancing back at the schoolyard. He put a wing around his best friend. "There's nothing to be worried about."

"No, it's just that there are only a few colts in my class that aren't dating this year, and I don't have anyone to go with," Dinky muttered, her eyes trained on the cement.

"You don't have to go with anyone," Rumble told her, slightly annoyed that she didn't even think to consider him an option, but he tried his best to hide it.

"But then I'll be that one loser in the class who doesn't have a date!" Dinky whined.

"I'm sure that's not true," Rumble shook his head, giving her a comforting glance that made her head turn away in embarrassment. "I'm sure there's got to be at least one other pony who doesn't have a date. In fact, I bet the majority of them don't have a date."

"No, that's not true! The majority of them are dating, or have crushes or something," she said gruffly as she kicked a pebble in front of her.

"Then go with a friend." Rumble shot her another glance.

"Are you even listening? I said I'm probably the only one without a date, not a friend!"

"You know, you don't have to bring a date..."

"But what's the point of going if I don't have a date?!" She glared at him.

"You don't need a date to have fun, you can go with a friend," he assured her.

"That's easy for you to say. You haven't had a date in two years," Dinky spat back.

"That isn't true!" He lied, blushing and turning away from her. "A-Anyway, if going to the dance with a date is really important to you, maybe you should ask a colt to the dance."

Dinky thought it over. "Hm."

Rumble cleared his throat nervously. "Do you have anyone in mind?" He glanced at her with warm, soft purple eyes. "Maybe someone who's already a close friend?" Rumble's face reddened so subtly that Dinky didn't notice.

"Well," Dinky muttered, deep in thought, and seemingly refusing to acknowledge her friend's implications. "No, not really...."

Rumble rolled his eyes and flattened his ears, a bit frustrated, but Dinky didn't notice; she was too busy thinking.

"Maybe your soul mate is someone who already knows you really well," Rumble coughed, eyeing her.

Suddenly her face lit up with a bright smile, and Rumble smiled too at the sight of her sudden ecstatic behavior.

"Oh my gosh! Rumble, I get what you're implying, and I'll totally do it!" She squeaked, making him grin.

"R-Really?" Rumble blushed now.

"Yeah! Totally! Why didn't I think of this first? I'll go and ask Pipsqueak to the dance as soon as I see him!" Dinky clapped her hooves.

The name of the younger earth pony made Rumble's bright grin and happiness evaporate into thin air and his mouth drop. It was soon followed with a pang of shocked disappointment as well as embarrassment for thinking Dinky actually wanted to go to the dance with him.

"Oh," he said so lowly to the point where she had barely heard him, the redness from his face dying away immediately along with any hopes he might have absorbed from within his heart. There was a lump in his throat, and he shook himself and put on a fake smile. "I-- always knew there was a connection between you two," he laughed nervously, practically dying inside from the unexpected heartache. He cursed himself for being too shy and nervous to actually ask her; she'd probably say no anyway, as he'd expected. Tears threatened his vision, but he held them back inside of him, trying desperately to stay cool.

"You really think he'll say yes?" Dinky asked with bright golden eyes that shone within a dream.

As heartbroken as he was, Rumble couldn't bring himself to hurt Dinky's feelings. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

Dinky let out a squee of happiness, throwing her hooves around his neck. "Yay! Thank you, Rumble! I'm soooo excited!"

"Yeah," he sighed, too disheartened to hug her back, so he simply patted her back and pulled away. "Uh, I'm not feeling to well," he lied, not making eye contact with her. He tried his best to keep his expression neutral and emotionless, but he couldn't help noticing he might have come off as a bit dismissive and cold, but at least it was better than acting just plain rude or bursting out into a fit of childish tears, similar to what was happening in his discouraged heart right now. "I think I'm just gonna go home now."

Dinky's cheerful expression withered slightly, but she clearly bounced back moments later. "Oh. Okay. See you, Rumble!" She waved to him as they parted ways.

"Yeah... See you, Dinky," Rumble muttered as his upset purple eyes became fixed on the tear that rolled down his face and down the ground, making its way to the sidewalk before him.

They're Family

"Last chance to turn back."

That comment only earned Dinky a light swat at the back of her head delivered to her by her stern older sister.

"Hey!" Dinky hissed as she rubbed her head, neck twisting to glare at her as they continued to trot up the long stone pathway leading through the overgrown sea of dead grass. "I was just joking. Gosh."

Amethyst muttered something about showing respect that wasn't received by Dinky.

Finally the family of three approached the rickety, old wooden house, painted an ugly faint color of sea-stained green. A loud commotion could be heard emanating from the house's mysterious depths. Dinky sighed as she remembered that the strange house had a queer and unspoken charm riddled with tacky decor and long empty halls - similar to the house in which they themselves lived in.

Amethyst raised her hoof to rap three times on the hollow gray door. They could nearly hear the sound echoing through the strange house.

A long silence followed. Nearly ten seconds had passed by and Amethyst was about to lift her hoof to knock again, but then the faint sound of hooves trotting to meet them was heard and soon enough, the door creaked open to reveal a pony looking almost identical to their mother. Same pale gray fur chalked with a faint dark dusty charm. Same long light gold hair gleaming in the rays of the high sun and flowing with the unique family trait of scruffiness. The only things that could determine who was who were obviously the facts that Dinky's mother was a pegasus, had bubbles for a cutie mark, and had eyes that were... well... off.

"Aunt Pear Seed!" Amethyst threw her hooves around her mother's sister, but the pony remained still as a statue. Dinky's heart churned with an upsetting feeling as she eyed Pear Seed's neutral expression. The pony's golden eyes were locked with Dinky's mother's and she didn't even return the hug.

An awkward, stiff moment passed by. Amethyst eventually slunk off Pear Seed, hooves returning to the ground and a bright, encouraged smile fading into the stoic atmosphere.

"Hi, Aunt Pear Seed!" Dinky grinned, trying to lighten up the strange pony's attitude. Never once in her entire life did Dinky ever witness the slightest sign of emotion escape from Pear Seed.

The earth pony nodded to them and motioned for them to come inside with her hoof. They filed inside the narrow, creaky entrance and almost instantly did Dinky trip over a lump on the scratchy gray carpet.

The lump screeched in a raspy tone at her in anger and pain before it bounded away to hidden troves of darkness in the hallways of the house. Dinky recognized the thin, lithe shape of the aunts' cat for a minute before its fluffy gray tail flicked down the corner and it was gone.

"Sorry," Dinky said guiltily. "I didn't... see her."

Pear Seed blinked and Dinky wondered if she was angry or upset with her. She never knew. Her aunt just stood there, emotionless, unfazed.

It wasn't long before the shape of a chubby grayish-teal pegasus trampled into sight. Her golden mane distinctly recognizable as part of a consistent trait in her family, the younger filly burst into the scene full of amusement and glee.

"Hey, Amethyst! Hey, Aunt Derpy!" the little filly squeaked, voice high-pitched and annoying. Speaking of annoyance, Dinky let the feeling wash over her as she realized her younger cousin didn't even bother to notice or greet her.

The ball of excitement didn't hesitate to fling herself on Amethyst and strangle her neck with her strong arms. The unicorn hissed as she tried to breathe, and pried the filly off her before bringing her in for a safer, shorter hug.

"Hey Chirpy," Amethyst wheezed, setting her cousin down on the floor. It was only a few seconds before the pegasus had coiled herself around Amethyst's sturdy front leg, wrapping her arms tightly around said limb. "Chirpy..?"

"Don't. Leave. Me."

"I..."

Dinky rolled her eyes to the ceiling, which was stained with leaking water from storms and strange foreign lumps all throughout its surface.

They might as well have named that amazingly irritating brat "Clingy."

"I- nobody is going anywhere. We just got here. Alri-"

"I can't wait to show you and Auntie Derpy my collection of different pieces of mold I found!" Chirpy tugged on Amethyst's hoof, prompting her to be dragged back into the kitchen. "C'mon, hurry, you're too slow!"

Shut up, stupid, Dinky growled inside her mind, but didn't dare put her words to speech in front of the filly's mother. She was still hurt at the thought of her cousin's favoritism and failure to acknowledge her existence. Dinky knew she was supposed to love her family, but right now she hated hers.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Pear Seed said in her normal, typical demeanor - plain, average, and without any distinctive, unique properties.

"No thank you," Dinky whispered back, drawing her gaze to the shape of three full-grown mares emerging from the shadows.

The trio of mares with pelts as silver as the moon escaped the ocean of everlasting darkness to face Dinky and her mother.

Dinky didn't even notice the fact that her own mother had tears in her eyes, and when she finally did, she hated herself for it. She couldn't bear to see her own mother cry. It was worse than Tartarus.

"Flutter, Ski, Frosty." Her mother had made a dash for the ponies mirror to her, throwing her arms around the group in an excitable burst of happiness. "I missed you guys so much," she whispered to them as they returned the group hug with equal affection, bliss spreading through the air.

Dinky could not have possibly felt more awkward. She stood off in the corner waiting for her turn to be loved and praised, but it seemed like ages before the loving sisters pulled away from each other.

"It's been... what, nine years now?" the mare with the distinct violet, scruffy styled mane rasped in her crackling voice, punctuating the air with her strange, hoarse accent.

Dinky's mother nodded curtly as her neck twisted around. As it did, her daughter was able to catch a glimpse of her painfully tear-stroke face and it tugged on her heartstrings.

"W..Where's Orange Box?" her mother whispered loudly, eyes scoping about the place in different directions.

"Sl-sleeping in the l-laundry room under the pile of warm cl-clothes. You - you know how she l-loves her naps," the silver-coated pony with an icy blue mane and piercing golden eyes stuttered in her strange speech impediment.

Dinky felt a wave of awkward compassion and respect fall over her chilled self - years ago, way before she was born, apparently her aunt, Frosty Dew, had "gone through an emotionally shocking and devastating experience that left her with problems such as PTSD and stuttering," according to Aunt Pear Seed, who had exposed that entire theory whilst maintaining a set frown. She shook her head. Who was she kidding? Everyone in her family had something emotionally scarring happen to them at some point in their lives. They were all messed up in their own unique ways. That was what made family so special... right?

Her thoughts were taken from her when she was forced to make eye contact with her aunts. Two of them stared at her with the same wide, golden eyes her mother had, the other with deep red contacts. There was clear family resemblance between the sisters, and Dinky wondered about the many days they had spent together, growing up and living united as sisters in their tiny little childhood house.

"Look at you!" the rusty scarlet-maned pony purred as she took her niece's face in her hooves. "I haven't seen you since you were a little foal. You're so big now." The strong scent of perfume invaded Dinky's senses and made her company almost unbearable. The heavy scent was detectable from across the room and even worse up close. Through the horrid haze of the perfume, Dinky could faintly smell the distinct scent of alcohol brushed on her aunt's lips and in her breath.

"Thanks, Aunt Ski." Dinky winced, and was reminded of Ski's queer obsession with the color red as she gazed deep into the maroon-colored contacts worn by the older mare. They were a mesmerizing shade of deep red that seemed to fade on and on. If it wasn't rather rude, Dinky would have been hypnotized by her aunt's eyes the entire weekend. Her gaze flittered to the long red hoop earrings that shone in the light worn by the owner of the strange crimson eyes.

Ski let go of her face, leaving her heavy scent to stay behind and linger through Dinky's nerves. "My husband is out buying more red dye. He should be back in, oh, ten minutes?"

Poor guy, Dinky thought silently as her eyes traced over the curved, bent shape of Ski's glossy lips, stained bright red thanks to her lipstick.

Frosty Dew wrapped her quivering arms around Dinky's. The unicorn felt terribly uneasy towards the feeling of her aunt's shuddering body, each second bringing a different jolt down the poor pony's spine.

"I-I-I. I ha-have something f-for y-y-you," her quiet voice fought to sound intelligible as she stammered out her quick sentence.

Dinky half-smiled graciously. "You do..? What is it?"

A small brown package was tucked under the pony's soft wings, concealed by fluffy feathers to keep it warm and safe. When it was handed over to Dinky by shaking hooves, she could feel the warmth radiating from the package from being pressed against fur and feathers.

She smiled contentedly at the sight before tugging on the long, thin and silky ribbon tied around the soft tissue paper enveloping her present.

Gentle and careful hooves spread the tissue paper down to reveal a bronze-coated watch with a beautiful glimmer that highlighted its shine. Dinky's eyes lit up as she watched in awe as a thin handle protected inside the glass case of the watch ticked with each passing second.

"I-It - it m-might need t-to... to be s-set, I don't kn-know if... if th-the time is c-correct," Frosty stammered shyly, an ever-so-slight smile blossoming across her face.

"I love it," Dinky said gratefully, and before she knew it she was pressed against the shaking pony in a hug as she whispered her thanks a million times. It was hard to believe that a pony could possibly be vibrating so much... it was weird.

"Y-You're w-w-welcome," the pony whispered back as they broke away, joyous to find out that Dinky had appreciated her gift. "Wh-where is y-your s-sister...? I.. I have some-something f-for her t-too."

As soon as she finished speaking, a familiar pink unicorn arose from the depths of the kitchen, followed by an ecstatic and excitable Chirpy. "Here I am!"

After embracing every one of her aunts present at the moment, Amethyst was handed two rectangular packages, each wrapped in the same brown tissue paper as Dinky's watch was and tied with a pretty blue ribbon identical to Dinky's.

It was pretty obvious that Amethyst's presents were books due to the familiar, rectangular book-shape each package possessed. Sure enough, as she tore off the wrapping she was pleased to discover two books that she hadn't read yet (which came as a surprise to Dinky as her sister was such an egghead and adored reading.) The delighted pony threw her hooves around her surprised aunt in a blissful hug.

Chirpy squeaked in jealousy, annoyance embedded in her childish tone. "Hey. How come they get stuff? I want something too! I want-"

"Chirpy. Enough of that," Pear Seed snapped, and her young daughter winced slightly, head lowered.

"Sorry Mommy. I just don't understand why they get gifts," she said in a calmer fashion, pointing to Dinky and Amethyst respectively. This might have been the first time Chirpy ever cooperated with the fact that Dinky existed.

"You live in Fillydelphia," Pear Seed sighed, stress escaping her in her clear and tired voice as she rubbed her temples softly with her hooves after sitting down on the plush couch. "You see them everyday... Frosty hasn't seen Aunt Derpy or your cousins in years."

"And?"

"And... and so they get gifts," Pear Seed growled frustratedly, and Chirpy simply backed down and didn't speak a word. However, her sour expression remained as she ceased to become the center of attention as she usually was, and she poked at the ground in front of her in an angry sense of mind.

The violet-maned pony's strange, scratchy voice cut the air and sent a chill through everypony's fur. "So sorry to hear you guys couldn't make it here yesterday," she rasped, before bursting out into a fit of endless laughter for some strange reason. The cackling lasted a good five seconds before she gasped for breath, coughing and wheezing as she stumbled in her crazy way of speaking and laughing. The pony cleared her throat, willing the concerned ponies around her to relax slightly.

Dinky was forcibly reminded of her aunt Flutter's condition where she would randomly burst into a serious fit of maniacal laughter - even when she didn't intend to - she just couldn't control it. Nightmares plagued Dinky's mind when she was little, each one revolving around that ominous outburst of strange hilarity. Sometimes she would just be standing in darkness with her aunt's insane cackling echoed through her quivering, frightened mind, eyes shut tight in fear.

She was snapped back to reality at the sound of her sister's soothing, calm voice. "I'm sorry too."

"Yes, well," Flutter hissed between unintended, anxious giggles, "It's a real shame you couldn't be here. Carrot Top and her husband Written Script were in town yesterday. Just left last night, actually-" before she could finish she was overtaken by another long period of time intoxicated by psychotic screeches of laughter.

When Flutter managed to control her actions, she breathed deeply, wheezing and growling to herself whilst staring at a random point in the room nopony but her could envision.

Dinky could almost feel the guilt gnawing at Amethyst's stomach.

"Too bad we missed them," their mother said tentatively while deep in thought, pondering over their old friend.

"They told us to tell you hi," Ski murmured in her naturally loud voice.

After a moment of awkward silence, their mother spoke. "I wonder if..."

She was cut off at the sound of the door being thrown open and the screech of the outside wind howling down the lonely roads before it was soon cut off as the door shut behind the pony responsible for opening it.

The stallion before them, fur as white as the fluffy clouds concealed by the cerulean sky, was carrying a small brown bag in his mouth. He blinked as if to greet the ponies he saw everyday, and as he crossed the room to hand Ski the paper bag he noticed the company standing amongst the hoard of familiar ponies he knew.

"Hi, Uncle Icy Drop," Chirpy squeaked loudly as soon as he smiled in their direction.

"Hello girls," he said in his usual nervous, shaky voice, until he noticed his wife was halfway through the task of opening her paper bag. "Uh...!" he cried, suddenly tense.

"There's only two bottles of dye," Ski growled lowly, demon crimson eyes snaking up to his startled and frightened expression. "I asked for three."

"I'm sorry..." he murmured, fear creeping up on him like a lion preying on a gazelle. He gulped, scratching the nape of his neck nervously before he retained eye contact with the frustrated pony before him. "They... they were almost out. All they had were two bottles and..."

"And?" Dinky could feel the tension rumble through her throat.

"A-and..." the poor stallion stammered, sounding more than a bit like Frosty at the moment. "And... you're going to have to do with two for now," he finished bravely, his posture straightening at the release of his words.

Ski simply raised an eyebrow and scoffed before leaving the room without another word, obviously rather offended. Her husband was left to pretend their encounter never happened and start making conversation with his company from out-of-town.

"Is there anything we can get you?" Flutter snorted, laughter falling out of her mouth as she struggled to keep it back in. She managed to fight back and her driven attempts ended up in a sound that reminded Dinky of something along the lines of choking.

"No thank you," their mother whispered quietly, neck twisting to look around the room in hopes of finding her sister Pear Seed, who had disappeared subtly.

"No thanks," Amethyst chuckled awkwardly after clearing her throat.

Dinky's head reeled. She wasn't even paying attention to the conversation, but the words flew through her tired mind as she stared off into space, ready to doze off into a trance if possible. She was so amazingly tired and her whole body ached; she felt as if every passing second demanded another generous amount of energy given at her expense.

"Dinky?"

"Hm...?" She blinked, dizziness reaching the topmost peak of her brain as everything swam before her eyes. A yawn escaped her lips and she shook her head rapidly to clear everything before offering a sheepish, weak half-smile. "Yeah. No, I'm good. Thank you. I think... uh, I just need to lie down for a few minutes."

Before she knew it, she had crashed the minute her head hit the lumpy pillow of the guest room's crude twin bed.

Pulsing adrenaline filled Dinky's body as she trampled through the thick forest haze and deep undergrowth. What was she even running from? She didn't know for sure, but she didn't want to stick around and find out - the only thing on her mind was the basic primitive instinct she possessed - and that was to try as hard as she could to save herself.

Her hooves shot like lightning into the dust, cracking over twigs, speeding through and shaking the brush of tropical jungle leaves and flowers that shriveled in the deep dark light. Her pounding head was filled with the shrill growls of fury elicited from the heart of her enemy chasing her - she could hear its heavy feet stomping on the ground over and over with a thump that shook everything below her each time it dashed forward in an effort to reach the terrified equine.

Dinky gasped for breath as sweat dripped down her chin. She didn't dare take a short look behind her shoulder for fear of losing it in discovery of what the creature may be. She heard the sound of hooves beside her, and as she galloped with all her strength and might through the thick layers of the rainforest she let fear nearly consume her before she decided to glance over to her right.

The light, sleek shape forming Rumble's body caught her eye before she recognized him. He wasn't chasing her; no he was dashing right by her side, looking as equally terrified as his confused unicorn companion. He didn't even look at her; his dilated, glowing violet eyes pierced into the path ahead of him, mapping out a plan of what his next quick move would be. Another hiss of the monster behind the two made Dinky's heart leap and she didn't even notice as a scream escaped her throat. It wasn't heard by anything through the sound of the beast roaring and grumbling right behind them.

She could feel the creature's hot breath on her neck - he was on her tail. The deathly suspense could have killed her - the daring moment drove her emotions insane as fear covered her like sticky tree sap from the dripping pines above her.

Before they even knew it they were halting to avoid dangling off a steep cliff that descended into darkness. Dinky whined in terror as she whipped around to face the snarling beast standing its ground only a few feet away from the shaking ponies.

The massive feline possessed a thick layer of shaggy, gleaming orange fur that clung to its bulky shape. Dinky's heavy and loud breathing increased in speed as she eyed the creature over - massive, muscular shoulder blades leading to the creature's powerful legs, thick and sharp curved claws looming out of the depths of its huge front paws, equally menacing teeth poking out of the threatening cat's blood-stained mouth, jet-black waving stripes that could have hypnotized Dinky if she wasn't so fear-stricken.

The panicking unicorn pressed herself against Rumble's quivering pelt and even the soft, feathery touch of his wings didn't comfort her one bit. She felt like she was staring directly into Death's terrifying eyes.

She didn't want to die.

Rumble whimpered and his hooves scraped the earth as the giant feline loomed over the pair, inching closer ever-so-slightly as if to taunt them a minute before they died. Dinky glanced back into the shadowy trench behind her, shivers breaking down her spine. The two backed up as close as they could get before they had edged off the cliff.

But Rumble wasn't afraid.

In an instant he had abandoned Dinky and stepped out bravely in front of the monstrous tiger, deep eyes pinned on the fierce cat's yellow glare. The cat whipped its tail behind it, letting a snarl escape its curled lips in aggression.

Rumble glared right back at it, his gaze almost nearly as intimidating, boldness and brashness emanating from his brave heart's depths.

He muttered a single phrase, but didn't turn his head to make eye contact with Dinky. "I'll buy you time... Go, Dinky!"

"What?" she whimpered, tears emerging from her nervous yellow eyes.

Anxiety was building in her weak heart, tears clouded her vision.

No, no, no. She couldn't let this happen.

"Dinky!" Rumble snapped fiercely to remind her that time was wearing thin.

She sniveled, standing in shock for a brief moment. Then she spoke. "Rumble! I can't let you -"

"Get out of here!" he hissed sharply, and the sudden coolness of the moment drove the distressed unicorn to obey.

Reluctantly, the pony swallowed hard before she began to set off with one last look at the heroic pegasus. His eyes were fixed on the tiger's gleaming gaze of terror. His feathers were spread to make himself look bigger, wings bent and broken, covered with scars that proved him incapable of flight due to damage.

"I - Rumble!" Dinky cried, not having the courage to leave her friend.

She didn't get a response. The next few seconds were blurry and constricted: they consisted of the horrid sight of the terrible monster lunging at her best friend, the sound of his shrill screams of terror piercing the air as long, curved claws awaited him, and the horror that filled Dinky's head as she was forced to watch in shock and devastation.

Rumble's cries for help tangled with the wild growls and hisses coming from the striped predator as it tore into him. Pained wails of terror jerked Dinky's heart as all she could see was nothing but red, the worst color in the world, the dreadful color a pegasus' blood possessed - and she stood watching the hideous creature tear apart her hopeless best friend.

Anger heated the blood in her veins, the light of battle glimmered in her eyes. A thirst for revenge nearly overwhelmed her at the moment. She couldn't even begin to describe how torn apart she felt right then, despite the tiger not having laid a claw on her-- yet.

In a fit of rage she hurled herself at the manipulative beast, strong hooves striking the tiger with all her might in the ribcage and dealing powerful consecutive blows to the jaw. An animalistic behavior rose to meet her, and she spat angrily at the fearful feline.

The tiger had no time for her nonsense. In a moment she was lying on the ground below the looming predator, not far from the injured Rumble she had once known, his dying wails ringing through her ears as pain fell through her shoulders and back.

She was left to cry out through her stress and tortured state of mind, hating herself miserably for failing to protect her courageous friend.

Is... Is this how it all ends?

Dinky's head shot off the hard wooden panels, shrunken yellow pupils flittering open to eye her surroundings. She was on the floor of the guest room of her aunts' house, lying like the stupid lump she was on the cold wooden floor, fur drenched with sweat as it had been the last time she fell asleep. She must have fallen off the bed and not realized it, she concluded as she shook her head to clear everything.

It was all a nightmare... again.

The pony whimpered as she tried desperately to calm herself down and not break out into a babyish fit of tears. Holding her knees, she rocked back and forth slowly as she tried to register what the heck happened.

Why did she even have these strange dreams all of a sudden - why did they have to include Rumble, the one pony she didn't want to think about at the moment?

Even if she recognized the nightmare as fake, she was still driven with the terror that surged through her body at the memories of Rumble's dream-death - and it devastated her. It was funny how such a made-up situation could drive a pony to tears - even knowing that fact didn't make her feel any better. It felt so amazingly real.

The only thing she wanted at the moment was for Rumble to be right there next to her, calming her, holding her in his arms and whispered comforting words into her ear. The pony shivered and wailed into her hooves.

She felt so awfully homesick at that moment that the first thing she could think of was to go on a full search for her phone...

Which she then remembered she left at the motel.

She mentally smacked herself. Genius! She couldn't even casually say hi to Rumble and pretend like nothing was wrong. Dinky couldn't reach the pony she so desperately wanted to see - to hear, or at least listen to the soothing sound of his calm voice and know that he was alive and well.

She was never going to make it out of this trip alive.

The poor pony whimpered and pathetically sniffled as her rocking slowed. The faint sound of hushed voices caught her attention, and she ceased her quiet whining to herself to be able to eavesdrop by crawling across the room silently to press her head to the door.

Dinky couldn't quite make out the exact words the voices were muttering, but she did appreciate the fact that they almost seemed to lift her recent troubles off her mind. Almost. She shivered yet again at the disgusting memories her dreams captured. Through her worries she could, however, barely catch a few words emanating from the ponies outside her door's adamant-sounding conversation.

"She's not like..."

"....going to have to put up with it for now..."

"...doesn't belong here!"

"Pear Seed... I really don't want to talk about this right now."

"She's not... her eyes... I don't think Chirpy and Dipsy should be around... she's crazy!"

Dinky growled in disgust. Excuse me? Were her so-called "loving" aunts talking about her mother behind her back?

Her blood boiled, and it took every ounce of energy of hers to not barge through the door, march down the hall and tackle the two traitors in her annoying extended family. Crazy? Was that how Pear Seed thought? She wanted to teach that blonde maniac who was really crazy. She gritted her teeth as the thoughts of strangling the pony who dared to even think about questioning her family ran through her reeling mind.

The pony sighed in an attempt to relax as she heard the faint noise of a baby wailing - probably Dipsy, her youngest cousin - and the sound of the two ponies trotting away, hooves descending into the deep distance of the creepy old house. There was no use in being overly irritable, as her mother had told her once. She let herself slide against the door, her back pressed firmly against it, and slunk down to the cold hard floor.

It was just a natural instinct of hers to get defensive at the sound of someone talking down about the ones she loved. That was how she felt with Rumble, and how she so desperately tried to save him but ultimately failed. She didn't know why, but her heart churned with a sudden feeling that felt weird. She got this strange and uneasy thought that no matter what, she wasn't going to be able to protect him some day.. and it scared her. All she wanted was for her best friend whom she cared so deeply about to be alive and well. Anything else was unimaginable. Whether she felt a strong platonic bond or a deep romantic passion for him was unclear at the moment, but a thought sank into her head.

No matter what, as long as she could, she would try her absolute best to protect him, to be there by his side, whenever he needed her for the rest of her life if it was in her control.

She had already accepted the fact that she would never deserve him. Why would she, anyway? She was selfish, a coward, neglecting... Dinky felt utterly disgusted in herself at times. But she would try her best anyway to always be there for him and love him with whatever strength she could - as a friend or otherwise.

Dinky narrowed her eyes as she felt her stomach growl - she was absolutely famished, and if she tried hard she could remember her sister saying something about breakfast her aunts prepared that she probably missed out on during her worthless nap.

It was worth a try, anyway.

All thoughts aside, the pony crept out of the creaky door into the shadows that awaited her to meet her family while they were awake and in one place.