Dinky stood in the clearing at the back of the Derpy Mail building. It was mostly empty save for the picnic table and of course Derpy and Dr. Whooves. She let out a big yawn, she hadn’t been sleeping well. Then again any filly would, in the same situation given the excitement of the last few days. She looked back at the new cutie mark on her flank, a simple image of a bow and arrow and thought about how she had acquired it. All she wanted to do was help her mother andcome up with a way to help sort the mail more accurately and from a distance with her magic and while concentrating she suddenly found herself summoning a magic bow and gaining her cutie mark along with it.
That was then and today was today and today she was going to learn all about why she was able to do this and to maybe start on the road to mastering it.
“He’s here! He’s here!” Derpy shouted in excitement, as a unicorn came around the side of the Derpy Mail building.
The unicorn sported the same color coat and mane as Derpy, but his mane was cropped short like the typical style seen among members of the royal guard, his cutie mark was that of a sword swinging in a downward arc, a trail of flames following behind it.
“Blazing Sword! How are you? Did you have a good trip? Thanks for coming on such short notice!” Derpy said in a rapid fire delivery, as she ran over and embraced him.
“Hello Derpy. It’s good to see you too,” Blazing Sword said, in a no-nonsense voice, “Muffin Time sends her regards and apologizes for not being able to come. She also sent some of her special muffins for you….I was weak.”
He levitated a simple box wrapped in brown paper that had at one point been tied with brown string. The top of the box had seemingly been sheared off; the remaining edges were slightly charred.
“You didn’t use your….” Derpy started to say.
“You know I’m terrible at knots!” Blazing Sword shouted, interrupting her.
“Hi Uncle Blazing Sword,” Dinky said, coming over to them.
“Hello Dinky.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you. Derpy’s told me so much about you,” Dr. Whooves said, walking over.
“Who the heck are you?” Blazing Sword said in annoyance.
“This is Dr. Whooves the pony I told you about,” Derpy said.
“Oh right…him…,” Blazing Sword said, “Anyways onto the reason I am here, to educate Dinky on the history of her powers and how to use them properly. I really wish mother could come up for this seeing as she was the last Bowcaster, but she and father are stuck down in Mare-ami, so I will fill in the best I can.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Derpy said, flashing a smile of encouragement.
Seemingly ignoring her Blazing Sword continued, “Now first things first. Summon your bow Dinky.”
“Uh um, okay,” Dinky said nervously, still not sure what the proper method to do it was. She closed her eyes and began concentrating, her horn glowing. She let out a quiet grunt as she strained with the spell. It paid off though as a pink crackling ball of energy formed in front of her that soon elongated into an arched beam. A second beam soon shot between the two points of energy creating the “strings” of a rather rudimentary bow.
“I did it!” Dinky said happily.
“Fifty four seconds,” Blazing Sword said, “I suppose that’s good for starters. But any good weapon-caster should be able to summon their weapon in two seconds. Observe.”
Blazing Sword’s horn began to glow and a similar ball of energy formed in front of him that almost instantly turned into a scimitar of glowing orange energy that seemed to leave a trail of flames behind it when it moved.
“Ooooooo,” Derpy and Dinky, said in awe.
“Yes, yes I know it is quite amazing,” Blazing Sword said, “Intimidating, able to cut through most anything, and of course a most useful tool should anypony ever think about hurting somepony close to me.”
Dr. Hooves gulped as Blazing Sword shot him a death glare during that last part.
Blazing Sword’s horn stopped glowing and the sword disappeared.
“Now then onto some history of this power,” he said, “Weapon-casting is a type of magic bestowed upon a privileged few families of which the Hooves family is a member. It is the ability to summon the form of a magical weapon at anytime anywhere so long as the unicorn caster has enough stamina. The type of weapon can be anything from throwing weapons to melee weapons; however the weapon summoned is exclusive to one family. It is the same Weapon-casting spell passed down generation to generation. That is except for the Hooves family. While some may only get kunai or spears we were blessed with two different weapon-casting spells that alternate with every generation. There is Bowcasting which you have and Bladecasting, which I have and so on and on it goes as stated in the Hooves Family Creed: Bow Blade and Bow the power we have been bestowed!”
Dinky stood in awe at the speech before saying, “Wait I though it was: Neither rain nor snow nor shine nor dead of night nor muffins shall keep this pony from their appoint rounds.”
“That is for the members of the family that don’t inherit the Weapon-casting ability and help maintain the family delivery service…and it was even amended recently.”
The last bit of his comment was directed at Derpy who laughed sheepishly.
“And with this power the Hooves family has served the royal guard loyally for generations. We have helped thwart many attacks on the castle, one of our proudest moments being when mother was training along side grandmother and helped stop the theft of an eclipse bomb from the royal treasury.”
“Does this mean I have to join the royal guard?” Dinky asked nervously, “I was hoping to maybe use my Bowcasting to help mom.”
“No…it’s not necessary to do so,” Blazing Sword said, gritting his teeth.
One of the greatest powers in all of Equestria reduced to helping deliver the mail! Urghhhhh!!! he thought.
“In the past others have used their powers in other pursuits, like your great great great great great aunt who helped rid the wild lands of malboros. Enough about the past though onto your equipment.”
He levitated a box that was sitting at the side of the house over to him and lifted something out of it and placed the item across Dinky’s back. The item had a rather interesting setup, on the left there was a classic saddle bag and on the right was a quiver of arrows.
“They’re just practice ones for now,” Blazing Sword said, noticing Derpy eyeing them and him with concern.
“Huh, I thought maybe I just didn’t know the whole spell and couldn’t summon magic arrows,” Dinky said.
“Yes I know it seems strange that Bowcasting doesn’t come with a magic projectile but it is still one of the most versatile Weapons-casting spells. You don’t need to worry about broken bow strings or carrying around a cumbersome piece of equipment. Plus rather then being limited to just arrows of magical energy you can modify the physical arrows you use, be it placing a tracking spell on them or applying poison to the tips.”
“But…but I could never poison anypony!” Dinky cried in horror.
“You don’t need to, you just have the option,” Blazing Sword said, face hoofing himself.
“Now onto some target practice,” he said, as he scanned the yard, “…why am I not seeing a target anywhere?”
“Ooops, I forgot,” Derpy said sheepishly.
“No need to worry friends,” Dr. Hooves said, as he seemingly produced a dart board from out of nowhere, “In my travels I’ve learned to never go anywhere without a dart board, just in case some rather uncouth characters decide to have a spontaneous game of darts. I’ve also learned to never go anywhere without a bat, just in case you run into a piñata.”
“Just place it over there,” Blazing Sword said in annoyance, as he pointed to a tree trunk further out in the clearing.
Dinky watched as Dr. Hooves ran over to the trunk and set up the dart board where she swore she saw him tear a picture off it that looked like someone had glued a plunger and a whisk to a salt shaker.
When he had returned to the group Blazing Sword addressed Dinky again, “Okay now take a shot.”
“Okay,” Dinky said, before she began concentrating again, her bow having long since dissipated. It took almost a minute to form again, but it came much easier then before. Once she had it in position she levitated one of the practice arrows, which had suction cups for tips, onto it and drew what was equivalent to the bow string back and fired.
The arrow flew down the clearing towards the target and veered left, hitting a tree which it promptly bounced off of, into another tree, and then into another and another, and another, before it finally flew back towards them and hit Derpy in the middle of her forehead.
“Oh my gosh! Mommy I’m so sorry!” Dinky said in horror.
“It’s okay Dinky,” Derpy said, “Look I’m an alicorn princess now too.”
Dinky chuckled slightly at the comment.
“This is no time for jokes!” Blazing Sword shouted in anger, killing the mood, “Take another shot.”
Dinky did as she was instructed and let another arrow fire, this one veered to the right of the target before beginning another chain of ricochets among the trees before turning towards them again.
“Take cover,” Dr. Whooves said, before the arrow angled downward and bounced off the ground and shot straight up.
“Where did it go?” Dinky asked, as she and the others looked up.
“Hey!” shouted a voice from above.
A few seconds later Rainbow Dash descended into the clearing.
“Is this yours?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing to the arrow that was now stuck to her right side, covering her cutie mark.
“Um yes, sorry,” Dinky said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
Rainbow Dash pulled the arrow off and stuck it back in Dinky’s quiver, “It’s bad enough having your mom run into me all the time. Am I going to have to watch out for ground attacks too?”
“S…sorry,” Dinky stammered again.
“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow Dash said before taking flight again.
“I hope she’s not too mad at me,” Dinky said.
“Don’t worry she says stuff like that to me all the time,” Derpy said, “And we’re still good friends…I think.”
Blazing Sword meanwhile had been watching the scene with a look of abject horror on his face.
No..no it can’t be. She inherited the Bowcasting, but did she inherit Derpy’s clumsiness along with it? If she did then the spell just might be corrupted. There’s only one way to find out.
“Fire again!” he shouted.
A short while later Dinky pulled an arrow from the quiver and loaded the bow again. She let the arrow fly and it zoomed down the clearing before finally striking the double point ring on the dart board and sticking to it.
Upon seeing this Dinky let out an excited gasp before smiling broadly, “Yes! I did it! I did it!” she said happily as she jumped up and down.
“Way to go Dinky!” Derpy and Dr. Whooves said.
Yes…yes she did do it, Blazing Sword thought, as he looked around the yard at all the things that were now covered in arrows, the rocks, the trees, the picnic table, even Derpy and Dr. Whooves, It took 257 tries but she actually successfully hit the thing she was aiming for. Maybe the spell isn’t fully corrupted. Plus there’s one other factor that could be affecting it.
“I think that’s enough for today,” he said interrupting the celebrations, “You have a long way to go but you’ve taken your first step. The next one will be taking your magic exam to get rid of your natural limiter.”
“My natural what?” Dinky said.
“You mean you never told her?” Blazing Sword shouted towards Derpy in annoyance.
“I was going to, but I kept getting distracted,” Derpy said.
“This is a big part of a unicorn’s life. Muffins are no excuse,” he said in annoyance, “Well; I guess your education isn’t complete after all. You see Dinky; whenever a unicorn is born a natural limiter is placed on their magical abilities until they are able to prove they are responsible enough to utilize their full magical potential. When they reach a certain age they can take the magic exam administered by one of the princesses and if they pass the limiter is removed. Unfortunately it can’t be placed back on a unicorn so we are often left with having to deal with criminal unicorns in excessive ways, like breaking off their horns.”
Dinky shuddered at that thought.
“Until the limiter is removed it can affect unicorns in different ways be it showing great magical potential at an extremely young age that might no be there anymore when the limiter is removed or affecting a certain spell the unicorn casts, which could be one of the reasons your aim so…off.”
“Do you really think so?” Dinky asked.
“I don’t just think so, I hope so,” Blazing sword said, “So sign her up for the next available testing date Derpy.”
“You can count on me big bro,” Derpy said, saluting him.
“Until then you need to keep practicing,” Blazing Sword said, “Now my time to be here is up and I must return to Canterlot, so goodbye for now.”
“Goodbye Uncle Blazing Sword,” Dinky said hugging him, “Thanks for all your help.”
“Bye,” Derpy said, coming over to hug him as well.
“It was nice to meet you…and be intimidated by you,” Dr. Whooves said offering up a hoof after they had stepped aside.
“Good,” Blazing Sword said, “And remember what I said about all the uses for my blade.”
“Oh I will,” Dr. Whooves said, gulping.
After that Blazing Sword walked around to the front of the building to the waiting cart. He was just about to climb in when he heard the sound of Dinky releasing an arrow.
“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted a few seconds later.
Blazing Sword immediately face hoofed.
Author's Note
Well I hope you guys enjoyed this story. It's been one I've been struggling with for ages. I just couldn't get some of the imagery I had in my head to translate to text. Heck I cut out the scene of Dinky actually getting her cutie mark since it just sounded so freaking silly on paper.
And speaking of the cutie mark, the main reason I chose to do this story is that TVTropes once mentioned under Dinky's character entry that she had been depicted as having a bow and arrow cutie mark. Liking that idea I thought up a story to go along with it.
I'm not sure if the Dinky/Derpy thing still has the same support it used to, but I still like it, tis a cute idea. And while I'm not keen on creating family member OCs I kinda had to for this one. I meant for Blazing Sword to be the polar opposite of Derpy. No nonsense, quick to anger, and overly protective of his family as seen by his interactions with Dr. Whooves. Plus to keep the connection I made him have a love of muffins too, even marrying a muffin cooking pony. Muffin Time actually did appear originally but after delivering her muffins she essentially became a living prop so she was written out.
And most important of all this story is part of my Bad Therapy-verse so it will share connections with other stories down the line. Especially when it comes to that upcoming magic exam.