Still Not Ginger

No.

Dinky closed her eyes and curled up tighter, trembling slightly. She could faintly hear the Doctor calling her name, but that didn’t matter. Let him keep looking for her.

No.

As soon as Sparkler had disappeared under the rushing water, Dinky had felt something in her snap. She looked at the Doctor for a few moments and began to run. It didn’t matter why she was running, or what she was running from. In fact, nothing mattered.

Finally, when she could go no more, she collapsed beneath a knotted tree. She could feel no pain, or grief, or anger. All she felt was numbness. So she shut her eyes and rested her head on her hooves, her breathing ragged and uneven.

“Dinky!” the Doctor hollered. “Please, come back! It’s not safe out there!”

Why did he have to show up, anyway? Everything had been fine without him. Yes, Dinky had been having magic surges, and yes, her dad being a changeling wasn’t the Doctor’s fault, but if the stupid Doctor hadn’t shown up, Sparkler would still be alive. Changelings wouldn’t have captured Derpy. Dinky wouldn’t be shivering, completely alone, in the Everfree Forest.

She could hear something walking through the trees toward her. Maybe it’s the dragon, she thought bitterly. Let him eat me. See if I care.

“Dinky, are you all right?” The Doctor stood at her side, concern clear in his voice.

No, I’m not all right. My sister is dead because of you. Out loud, she croaked, “Go away.”

There was a faint thump as he sat down. His hoof rested gently on her back. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. If I had jumped in to save your sister, both of us would’ve died. You’d die, too, all alone here. Then, because we couldn’t save her, your mother would die and the changelings would take over.”

“I can take care of myself,” she mumbled, still not looking up. “I’m half-changeling, remember?”

He gave a soft laugh. “Plus you’ve got your mother’s attitude. You’d make any monsters wish they’d never met you.”

She didn’t respond.

“Look, Dinky, I know you’re upset, and you’ve got a right to be. But if you don’t move on, then Derpy will die, too. You don’t want that, do you?”

“…No.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to mourn Sparkly later, but right now we have to get going. So, are you up for it, or do you want to stay here while the changelings grow stronger?”

“I guess we can go.” Dinky lifted her head and sniffled.

The Doctor pulled her toward him, wrapping her in a hug. “That’s the spirit, Dinky.” His voice grew quiet. “I’m going to miss her, too, though. So, anyway! I think we’ve pretty much ruled out crossing the stepping-stones now, so we’re going to have to find an alternate way of getting to the place your father works. Before you ask, I asked around, so yes, I know where their workplace is. Brilliant, isn’t it, I had to ask quite a few ponies before finding out where they work. They really covered their tracks well. Nopony escapes the Doctor, though. Is that the proper term? Nopony? I heard someone use it while I was trying to find stuff out. Oh, dear, I seem to be rambling. Before I was saying how emotional and reserved I was! Silly me. What was I talking about? Oh, yes, other ways to get to their workplace.”

Dinky looked him up and down, her eyes curious. How could he be so calm and quiet one minute, yet hyper and excited the next, especially after something so sad?

“Apparently there’s some bridge or something, but it’s broken. I think crossing old, broken bridges is a bit overdone, so I was thinking we could go a different way. There’s supposed to be a fallen tree to cross downstream, but once again, that’s a bit overdone. That leaves us with one more option. There’s some sea serpent upstream that helps ponies cross the river. I’d prefer it if we go to the sea serpent, but it’s up to you, Dinky.”

“Sea serpent it is,” she said halfheartedly.

“Splendid!” He began to trot toward the river, his ears perked. “I can’t get over how brilliant this is. I’m a talking pony with an hourglass on my rump walking through an enchanted forest, going to talk to a sea serpent so I can stop changelings from taking over a land called Equestria. That’s bloody amazing! Hey, Dinky, why don’t you have a mark on your bottom?”

She stared at the ground. “You mean a cutie mark?”

“Is that what they’re called?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, why don’t you have a cutie mark? Is that a bad thing?”

“Ponies get cutie marks when they discover their special talent. I haven’t discovered mine yet, so I don’t have one.”

“Are they on the fur or the skin? And how do they appear?”

“Magic, I guess.”

“And that’s another thing. How does magic even work? Is it some particle that nobody else has discovered yet? But how does that make sense? And why does—”

“Doctor?”

He tilted his head, studying her. “Yes, Dinky?”

“Will I ever get my cutie mark?” Her voice sounded so heartbroken the Doctor almost stopped walking. “I’ve been thinking about that. Changelings don’t get cutie marks. They can shape shift into ponies with cutie marks, but their true form can never get one. Is it the same for me? Will I ever get my cutie mark?”

“I…I don’t know.” He walked on in silence before saying, “I’d assume that since you’re half-pony, you would be able to get one, but I don’t know for sure. I just arrived on this planet, remember?”

The two of them were silent after that.

*   *   *

The gray mare flinched at the sound of hundreds of changelings roaring in delight. For the past few minutes the king and queen had been bringing in victim upon victim. Most of them Derpy knew, because they’d worked with “Night Hooves” in the Everfree Forest. Some of them, though, were new to her. Every time a new pony was brought in, the queen would create a new cocoon to stick him or her in.

Derpy had thought Metamorphosis looked strange, but he was nothing compared to the queen. Her mane and tail hung like sickly, gray-green rags. Her eyes were large on her face, and her muzzle was a petite little thing. Instead of all her teeth being sharp, she had four long, ugly fangs.

To make matters worse, every time the king and queen were in the same room they made it a goal to act as adoring as they could. They complimented each other to no end, they shot each other loving glances from across the room, and they called each other pet names even when not speaking directly to each other. Derpy knew they didn’t really love each other that much, though. They were only doing it to make her angry. Every compliment they spewed out was dull and lacked emotion. Every “loving” glance was filled with arrogance and loathing. The pet names were simple and dripped with venom. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how much they persisted, Derpy wouldn’t allow herself to feel an ounce of anger.

“Hey, Derpy,” Metamorphosis taunted. “We’ve got something to show you.”

“Let me guess,” Derpy said, “it’s a long love note you wrote for Chrysalis?”

“No, but you’re close. I guess.”

She slouched down, her ears flat. “I’m not going to keep guessing, you know. You could just tell me.”

“Aww, but where’s the fun in that?” He flashed her a cruel grin and flew over to Queen Chrysalis, his green eyes darkening. “What do you think, love bug? Should we show her what we found by the river?”

Chrysalis barked in laughter. “Yes, honey bee, let’s.”

“You heard her, changelings!”

Derpy leaned against the wall, peering out. Half of her hoped it was her daughters and the Doctor, just so that she could know they were okay. But, at the same time, half of her hoped it wasn’t. The shock of knowing Night Hooves was a changeling would be a lot for them, and she didn’t want them to have to go through what she was going through. Her energy was slowly being sucked from her body, making her weaker and weaker. Eventually she’d have no energy left. And then she would…

“Huh? Where…where am I? Am I dead?” came a familiar young voice from down below.

Metamorphosis and Chrysalis flew a cocoon up to Derpy, attaching it to the ceiling near her. Inside the cocoon, Sparkler was sprawled out, soaking wet and shivering.

“Hello, my precious daughter,” Metamorphosis cooed. “Did you sleep well?”

“No, not really,” Sparkler admitted, still not fully awake. “I’m really cold. Did you leave the AC on last night or something? I’m pretty thirsty, too.”

“Sparkler!” Derpy cried. “You’re alive!”

“Huh?” Her eyes shot open and she sat up, breathing heavily. When she saw where she was she leapt up. “GAH! Where am I? What’s this thing I’m in? Sweet Celestia, I’m high up!” She whipped around, only to see Metamorphosis and Chrysalis staring at her. “Who are these weirdos?”

Anger flashed across Metamorphosis’s face. “Weirdos? I’ll have you know I’m the king of the changelings and your father! So think twice before you insult me, you insolent pest!”

Sparkler looked unimpressed. “Oh, so you’re Night Hooves? I was wondering what you really looked like.”

“What do you mean?”

She examined her hoof. “The Doctor, Dinky and I already figured out you were a changeling. We were actually just on our way to come rescue Derpy. But I kind of got separated from them, and, well, you know how that turned out. Hey, you know what I realized? They probably think I’m dead. That’s not good. So if you could just let me out, I’ll be on my way to—”

Metamorphosis thrashed his head from side to side in fury. “You foal! You really think we’d let you out? Nice try! Besides, by the time my changelings reach them, they’ll be as good as dead. Nopony, and I mean nopony, is going to stop us!”

“That’s another thing, Night Hooves.”

“My name is Metamorphosis!”

“Yeah, yeah, Metawhatever-you-said. What is it you guys are doing, anyway? I hardly think you’re destroying an entire nation just because you’re a little hungry. So why are you trying so hard to bring down Equestria? Do you have something against our Princesses? Because I’m pretty sure they’d be happy to talk it out with you.”

Chrysalis glanced at her companion, whose face was tinted red with rage. “Morphy, why don’t you go check the perimeters? I can handle this one.”

Metamorphosis glared at all of them a moment more before storming off.

“Forgive me, worthless creature, my husband is a bit touchy when it comes to our evil plan. You want to know why we’re doing this? Fine, I can tell you, as one last favor before we claim your miserable life.” She narrowed her eyes. “To begin, I must say that this isn’t our home planet.”

“Sorry to interrupt, changeling queen lady, but I kind of figured that.”

“What do you mean?”

“All of you are too ugly to have been born in Equestria. I don’t know what it is, but all aliens trying to look like ponies are really ugly. Take the Doctor, for example. He’s ugly as a mule and he doesn’t even know it. Although compared to you changelings, he looks like a model.”

What is she doing? Is she crazy? Derpy thought, panicked by the sight of her daughter taunting a changeling.

Chrysalis’s eye twitched. “You little—!” She then proceeded to let loose a string of curses, each one more crude and offensive than the one before it.

“Uh-uh-uh, ugly changeling lady, watch your language.” Sparkler dropped her voice to a whisper. “There are children here.”

“I have had ENOUGH!” She whipped around and bucked her legs at the cocoon, shattering it instantly.

Sparkler dropped down, screaming, only to be caught by a few changelings. “Oh. Huh. That’s interesting. I thought you were going to kill me.  Not that I’m complaining or anything, but I thought you said you’d had enough of me.”

“That’s why I’m putting you in a very special place. We had prepared it for the Doctor, but until my changelings drag his worthless flank in here, it will be your prison.”

Derpy watched all this in shock, her mouth hanging open. “No! Bring Sparkler back right now!”

Sparkler looked up, surprised, as if she forgot Derpy was there. “Oh, don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be back. No changelings will be able to keep me locked up. Eventually I’ll drive them so mad they’ll do whatever I say. Right, cheese-legs?”

The changelings carrying her glanced around, asking each other, “Is she talking to me, or you?”

Once Sparkler was taken away, Derpy slapped her hoof to her face in disbelief. No offense to Sparkler, but she’s either the biggest idiot to ever walk this planet, or the smartest. For her sake, I hope she knows what she’s doing.

*   *   *

After what seemed like ages, the Doctor and Dinky arrived in a large clearing. The grass was flattened and hoofprints dotted the area. Torn tents sagged near the edges of the clearing, holes ripped in their sides, and litter was scattered all around. Sleeping bags—or, rather, the remains of sleeping bags—lay under the tents. A lean-to rested in the center, and inside was a small desk with papers strewn across it.

“Where is everypony?” Dinky asked quietly. She had halted just before the end of the trees, her knees locked and her eyes huge.

“It seems to me that they were attacked.” The Doctor gestured to a few specks of what looked like rust. “Normally I would wonder what attacked them, but I’m pretty sure we can make a good guess. The real question here is…where were the ponies taken? There are no bodies, so obviously the changelings took them somewhere.”

A faint coughing could be heard. After exchanging a glance, the two ponies slowly made their way toward the source of the sound.

“If I say run,” the Doctor said under his breath, “you are to run as fast as you can and hide. We don’t know what could be making that noise.”

The coughing was coming from one of the collapsed tents. Slowly the Doctor reached his hoof forward and pushed a flap to the side. A stallion was lying limply inside, his blue coat decorated with cuts and bruises of various sizes. His breathing was ragged, his legs were bent oddly, and his eyes were swollen. Everything about him screamed pain.

Upon seeing the two other ponies, the strange stallion’s eyes flew wide open. His pupils shrank to tiny points. Even though he could hardly move, he scrambled to get away, his tail thrashing about. “Don’t hurt me,” he begged. “Haven’t you done enough? Leave me alone!”

“What? Why would we hurt you?” The Doctor tilted his head in confusion.

“Maybe he thinks we’re changelings.” Dinky squeezed through the gap and was at the stallion’s side in an instant. She touched her nose to his cheek, eliciting a pained squeak from him. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t see that you had a bruise there. Don’t worry, though. We won’t hurt you. What’s your name?”

He seemed to calm down a bit. “Noteworthy.”

“Do you mind telling us what happened?”

Immediately, his shoulders tensed and he pressed himself to the ground. A shudder ran from his nose to his tail, then back up again. “It…they…it was horrible… They were everywhere. In the tents, in the trees, in the bushes, even in the river! We couldn’t stop them. They destroyed everything. Every ounce of information we’d managed to gather, they destroyed.”

“By ‘they’, you mean the changelings, right?” the Doctor interrupted.

“Yes. Then, when they were done trashing our camp, they began to take some of us away. They forced us to stand in a line, and when it was our turn, they’d ask us some questions. They teleported of us away, but I was lucky.” Noteworthy gave a bitter laugh. “If ‘lucky’ is even the right word. Once everypony else was gone, they beat me to a pulp and left me here. I can hardly move, let alone get help. I think that’s what they intended to do; destroy the only witness.” His eyes took on a glassy look. “It was horrible…”

The Doctor looked thoughtful. “What questions did they ask you?” Seeing the look Dinky gave him, he shrugged. “What? It could be important.”

“They just asked if I had a special somepony. I don’t even know why they cared. It seems kind of weird to ask someone if they have a special somepony before dragging him or her off to be tortured. They also asked if I had any close friends or enemies.”

“What did you tell them?”

A blush bloomed on Noteworthy’s face. He rubbed a hoof on his neck, flinching. “Well, ah, you see…I’m not a very social pony…so my answers were no. Never thought I’d be happy to be antisocial, I’ll tell you that.”

“Thank you, Noteworthy, you’ve been a great help. I have one more question for you, and I need you to think very hard. When the changelings teleported the others away, which direction were they facing?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just tell me.”

“I…I think they were facing…north? Why, what does that—?” He broke off, a grin slowly forming on his face. “Oh, I get it. When they’re teleporting something, they have to face the direction they’re teleporting it, right? That’s clever. Wait…you’re not seriously going after them, are you?” Noteworthy frowned. “That’s suicide. Do you know what they could do to you?”

The Doctor leaned forward, his eyes fierce. There was a certain edge to his voice, a certain ferocity, that would’ve made even Celestia herself shiver with fright. “Yes. Yes, I’m serious, and yes, I know what they could do to me, but this filly next to me is half-changeling. Her father is their king, and her mother is an ordinary pony. The changelings kidnapped her mother, and if it’s the last thing I do, I will get her back. I’m the Doctor. There’s nothing, I repeat, nothing I can’t handle.”

Noteworthy’s eyes stretched even wider. “Then I’m coming with you.”

“Unfortunately, Noteworthy, I have to say no. You said it yourself; you can hardly move. Do you really think you’re in any position to go waltzing right into the changeling’s base to defeat them? I don’t think so. No, you’re staying here, safe and sound.”

Dinky huddled closer to the injured stallion. “But, Doctor, what about all the creatures? They’ll kill him if he stays here.”

“And he’ll die if he comes with us,” the Doctor argued. “I’m sorry. I’d take you back to Ponyville, but we don’t have much time. The best I can do is point you to the river. You’ll see a sea serpent there. Tell him your problem and I’m sure he’ll look after you until you return. Come on, Dinky, we have to keep moving.”

Reluctantly, Dinky left Noteworthy’s side and joined the Doctor just outside the tent. As they turned to walk away, they could hear him calling out to them.

“Good luck,” he said gruffly. “You’re going to need it.”

*   *   *

The Doctor and Dinky stumbled forward, their hooves aching and their eyes fatigued. After what seemed like hours of walking north, they were finally here. They had done it. They had reached the changeling’s home.

A tall, old castle loomed high above them, vines weaving in and out of the crumbling stone. Overgrown bushes surrounded the entrance, and the whole place smelled like rotting animals. It had taken them a while to find it, and several times they’d walked right past it. A perception filter had been placed over the dark abode, making it only distinguishable by the trained eye. Eventually the Doctor had realized there was a perception filter and they’d crawled over to it, collapsing in front.

“Well, here we are.” The Doctor stared at the entrance in aversion. “We made it. So this is where the changelings are. This is where Derpy is.” He gave Dinky a long look. “Are you sure you want to go in with me? You look pretty beat.”

Dinky lifted her chin defiantly, trying to hide her exhaustion. “I’m sure. They have Mommy, and if it weren’t for them, Sparkler wouldn’t have died. I’m going in, no matter what.”

The two of them waited a few more seconds, not daring to move a muscle, before taking a deep breath.

“Here goes nothing,” the Doctor said.

Then, seeing no use in waiting any longer, the two stepped inside and immediately found themselves surrounded by changelings.