The Derpy I Know And Love Volume 4: And The Children Shall Lead

Just last year:

The bell at the front door rang, announcing that somepony had just entered.

“Cookie, is that you?” called Muffins from the kitchen.

“Mom!” said Dinky, “I wish you wouldn’t call me that in front of my friends! It’s embarrassing.”

Muffins walked into the front room. There were Dinky, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“Sorry Miss Grown Up Smarty-Pants.” Said Muffins, coming into the room. “If they’re real friends, they’d not mind any family pet names and wouldn’t make fun of you.”

Muffins looked around, and noticed with the kids home from High School, Dawn should have been home by now.

“Have any of you girls seen Dawn?” asked Muffins.

“No mom,” said Dinky

The rest of the girls said they’d not seen her either. They all went upstairs to Cookie’s room.

“Twilight,” called Muffins. Twilight was in the kitchen, she came trotting in.

“Yes Honey,” said Twilight, “anything wrong?”

“Have you seen Dawn? She should be home from school by now.”

“No,” answered Twilight, “perhaps one of the princesses need the cart. Do you want me to send a note to Canterlot?”

Before Muffins could answer, the front door opened. It was Lyra Heartstrings.

“Oh good, you’re both here.” Said Lyra.

“Hello Lyra,” said Muffins, “how are you?”

“I’m doing great, thank you. Bon-Bon asked me to come see if you could come to the candy shop,” said Lyra, “we think you should see this.”

Muffins and Twilight just looked at each other with a concerned look.

“Cookie!” cried out Muffins, “we’ll be right back!”

“MOM!” replied Dinky.

Twilight and Muffins walked with their friend the couple of blocks to Bon-Bon’s shop. They noticed one of Princess Celestia’s carts parked outside. The harnesses were empty.

Once inside the sight was amusing. There at a table was Dawn with a very large dish of ice cream in front of her. At the table were two of the Palace Guard Pegasi. The Guards saw them enter and stood to attention.

“Lady Twilight!” they acknowledged.

“What is going on?” asked Twilight.

“Well, My Lady,” said one guard, “it’s like this…”

Dawn interrupted;

“I said they were too slow, so I bet them I could get to Ponyville before them. They just laughed and said they’d bet a large dish of ice-cream I couldn’t.”

“We didn’t think she was serious, My Lady,” said the other Guard, “but she jumped out of the cart and took off. We tried our best, but she out-flew us. She was here and ordered the ice-cream before we’d landed.”

“Please don’t tell your brother, My Lady,” implored the first Guard.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Twilight, trying not to laugh, “you two can go back to Canterlot. I’ll deal with this. Did you pay for the ice-cream?”

“No, My Lady,” said the Guard.

“Good, you’re dismissed,’ said Twilight.

After the Guards had left. Twilight and Muffins sat at the table.

“So, young filly,” said Muffins, “how are you going to pay for this?”

“I bet the Guards, they were going to pay,” said Dawn eating the ice cream faster, she was sure it was about to be taken away.

“Bon-Bon, would you please come here?” asked Twilight.

Bon-Bon came out from around the counter.

“Yes Twilight?’ said Bon-Bon.

“Do you have any particularly nasty chore which needs done?” asked Twilight.

“Well… I’ve got four tubs of cream which have gone bad.” Said the cream colored pony, “they need to be dumped, cleaned and sanitized before I can use them again.”

“Good,” said Twilight, “I’ll pay for the ice-cream, and Missy Dawn here will take care of your cream tubs. Make sure she does it correctly before you send her home.”

“And because Bon-Bon is an Earth Pony,” said Muffins to her young Alicorn daughter, “you’ll have to clean them the Earth Pony way. No magic!”

“Aunt Pinkie is an Earth Pony and she can use magic,” said Dawn trying to use reason.

“No magic!” said Muffins and Twilight together.

Bon-Bon smiled and appreciated the situation.

Twilight gave Bon-Bon the bits for the ice cream, Dawn finished the ice cream and then followed Bon-Bon to the back.

Later that evening, Dawn came home, accompanied by Bon-Bon and Lyra to make sure she got home okay.

“Thanks girls,” said Muffins. “We’ll see you at the ‘Old Mares Club’ meeting.”

“No problem,” said Bon-Bon, “I’m looking forward to that. But I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning those tubs.”

The Heartstrings and the Sparkles laughed, Dawn didn’t see the humor in this.

Lyra and Bon-Bon left the library still chuckling.

“Mommy! What was that for?” said the filly, “okay, I probably shouldn’t have bet the Guard. But what’s wrong with me flying myself?”

“You’re right, young filly,” said Muffins. “You shouldn’t have bet the guard, and they shouldn’t have let you. But you’ve not been flying very long. There are colts and fillies who can’t fly until they are several years older than you are. Some think you’re just showing off. I’d bet that some of your classmates don’t know how to handle you, being an Alicorn and all. The kids you go to school with are talented and gifted ponies as well, but you being what you are gives you an advantage. This can be taken wrong if it’s not handled with tact and humility.”

“Tact and humility?” asked Dawn.

“Just think of Aunt Rainbow,” said Twilight, “and don’t act like that.”

Dawn giggled at that.

“Plus you’re not the awesome flyer you like to think you are, yet.” Said Muffins, “do you know what your Aunts Celestia and Luna would do to us if we let anything happen to you? Do you know what would’ve happened to those Guards?”

“They’d throw us in a dungeon! Or banish us! Or they’d banish us and then throw us in a dungeon in the place they banished us to!” Said Twilight, starting to get a tremor in her voice, thinking of the imagined shame.

“Honey,” said Muffins, “lighten up, will you.”

“Dawn, it’s not that we fear something would happen to us if something happened to you,” said Muffins, “but both of us, Twilight and myself, would die if anything happened to our baby.

As we’ve tried to explain in the past, you’re a very special pony, the only Alicorn born in Equestria for many, many centuries, the first since Aunt Luna.”

“What about Aunt Cadence,” asked Dawn.

“Aunt Cadence was born a Pegasus,” said Twilight, “she was elevated. That is, she became an Alicorn after doing some very special magic”

“But most importantly you’re the daughter of two mares.” Said Muffins, “that in itself is special, but what you truly are is the product of a very special love. I like to say Twilight and I love each other so much it couldn’t be contained in just two ponies, you’re the extension of that love. How could we not love you so deeply.”

“Don’t think we don’t love your sisters.” Said Twilight, “we love Dinky and Sparkler just as much. And if anything happened to them, we’d be just as hurt.”

“I’m sorry, mommies,” said Dawn, truly feeling sorry for upsetting her mothers. “I’ll remember.”

Twilight and Muffins hugged the little filly.

“Okay,” said Muffins, “go upstairs and tell Cookie dinner will be ready soon.”

“MOM!” called out Dinky, overhearing what name her mother just used.