Still Not Ginger

Dinky was floating. That much she could tell. Everything beyond that was…hazy. Mysterious. Unknown.

No. Wait. She was cold. Very cold. Why was she so cold? And why couldn’t she see anything?

She closed her eyes again and buried her face in her hooves. All she remembered was Sparkler’s face, blank with fear, as Dinky advanced toward her. She didn’t remember what she had been saying. However, she did remember that something was pulling at her, urging her to make her way toward the terrified mare.

The same something nagged at her again. What was it? Anger? Greed? Or maybe…hunger? Yes. Hunger seemed about right. But this was a new kind of hunger, an odd, aching kind of hunger that sent chills running down her spine. And why did the thought of fear make her feel this way? Nothing made sense in this strange, empty world.

No. She had to focus on her surroundings. She had to get out of here…

A new image flashed in her mind, one of Derpy. Her mother’s eyes were soft and warm. Her wings spread wide in a motherly manner, and her ears pricked forward slightly. She was obviously feeling a strong surge of love.

Dinky pressed her hooves to her stomach, wincing. The hunger was growing, and fast. She wanted food. She needed food. But not normal food. That wouldn’t help in the least. She could eat four full meals, including four servings of dessert, and she would still be hungry. No, this kind of hunger required something more…abstract. And Dinky knew just the thing.

She focused on the image of her fearful sister and her horn began to glow. Slowly energy began to flow into her, spicy and sharp. The edge of the hunger left, but after a minute or two the taste of fear grew bitter and dull on her tongue. Maybe…

Vaguely she could remember the Doctor telling her that the changelings liked the taste of love the best. What if…?

Dinky imagined her mother, feeling the waves of love pulsing from her. Once again her horn glowed and the energy flowed into her. This time, though, the taste was rather enjoyable. It was sweet, tangy, and sour all at the same time. It filled every part of her with immense satisfaction, and when she finally decided she’d had her fill, it left her wanting more.

The Doctor was right, Dinky thought, licking her lips. Love really is delicious.

With a content sigh, she let the darkness consume her.

*   *   *

Sparkler yelped suddenly, leaping to her hooves. “Ow!”

Derpy snapped her head toward her, her eyes wide. “What’s wrong? Did something bite you? Are you hurt?”

“No, I just…” She sat down, blinking absently. “That’s weird. I feel kind of dizzy, like I just ran two marathons in a row.” Her ears twitched. “Maybe I should…OW!” A bright green glow lit up her forehead as she fell to the ground, whimpering. “What’s going on?”

The pegasus glanced around fearfully, her eyes finally settling on Dinky. The filly’s horn was just barely lit up, and a dark smile was spread across her lips. “It’s Dinky! I think she’s absorbing something from you.”

“Well, don’t just stand there! D-do something!”

Derpy blinked before diving toward Dinky, her hooves flailing around. “Dinky! Stop! You’re hurting Sparkler! You have to…” She broke off suddenly as the glow appeared on her own forehead. “Gah! She’s doing it to me now!”

Sparkler lunged forward and grabbed Derpy, pulling her several feet before coming to a stop. For several minutes they sat there, both whimpering, helpless to stop the flow of energy. Finally it ceased and Sparkler gave Derpy a hard look. “Listen to me,” she growled. “I know Dinky’s your daughter and my sister, but she’s dangerous. She said it herself. I hate to say it, but maybe we should leave her here.”

“But—”

“No, Mom. When Dinky stopped whatever she was doing just now, how did you feel?”

“Tired, I guess, but I don’t see how—”

“Stop!” She lashed her tail fiercely. “I love Dinky, I’d do anything for her, but we have to leave her here! She’ll kill us!”

Derpy’s wings flared in anger. “Listen to yourself, Sparkler! She’s only a filly, and, by the way, she’s your sister! What kind of pony would just abandon their sister to die? I…”

“You what?” Sparkler narrowed her eyes.

“Be quiet.”

“What? You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my biological—”

“I said be quiet!” Derpy placed her hoof over Sparkler’s muzzle. “Listen.”

Sparkler fell silent, her ears pricking. Sure enough, there was a faint buzzing coming from farther down the corridor, accompanied by a sharp clicking noise. Her eyes widened with horror and she brushed Derpy’s hoof away from her mouth. “It’s them. It’s really them. Horseapples. I wanted to go down fighting, but of course Dinky had to go and drain most of our energy. What’s up with that, anyway? Do half-changelings have the same powers full changelings do? If so, does that mean—?”

“Sparkler, be quiet.” The gray mare gave Sparkler a sharp glance, her head shaking slightly. “That doesn’t matter right now. So we’re a bit tired. So we’ll probably pass out far before they kill us. We’re still going to fight, right? Besides, we don’t know if any of the other ponies escaped. They might come to help us.”

“That’ll never happen. If they escaped, they’ll be running away as fast as they can.”

“We can still hope, though, right? These changelings may be able to crush us like bugs, they may be able to take away everything we’ve ever known, but there’s one thing they can’t take away, and that’s hope. Giving up isn’t what ponies do. If we just sit back and let them kill us, we may as well join their army, because that’s not what we were born to do. We were born to stand our ground and never give in, and you know what, Sparkler? That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

Her daughter held her gaze for a moment before bowing her head. “Okay, Mom. You’re right.” She took a shaky breath before adding, “As long as you fight, I will, too.” A blatantly fake smile splayed across her lips. “One last thing to bring us closer, huh? You, me, and an army of hungry changelings. What could go wrong?”

Derpy nudged her with her wing, grinning. “That’s the spirit, Sparky. Let’s kick some changeling flank.”

*   *   *

The hunger was back, stronger than ever. It raged through Dinky’s whole body, clawing and ripping at her, determined to destroy her. It howled and bellowed, begging her for sustenance. It roared and it burned and it tore at her until finally she could take it no longer. She parted her jaws and gave a long, earsplitting wail, loud enough to be heard in Canterlot.

It didn’t help.

She had already tried to imagine her family again and draw energy from them, but it was as if a brick wall had gone up between their minds and hers. She had tried feasting on her own emotions. Hay, she had even gone so far as to try and feed off of Metamorphosis. But nothing was working.

To make matters worse, the temperature wherever she was had dropped vastly. She had to use up most of her energy keeping from freezing to death, which obviously didn’t help her hunger.

Things were not going well for Dinky Hooves.

Eventually the cold left her and she stretched, blinking her eyes wide open to try and draw some bit of light from this dark prison. Like before, nothing was—wait.

Something was moving a bit to her right. Something furry and brown.

Doctor! she thought, her tail wagging slightly. The Doctor’s here with me! Wait, how did he get here? I thought this place was just for me.

The dark shape stirred, groaning, “Where am I? Who’s there?”

“Doctor! It’s me!” The sight of him strangely took the worst of her hunger away. “It’s Dinky!”

He fell silent. After a few long moments he said, “Dinky? Are you sure?”

“Well, yeah. Who else would I be, silly?”

“I don’t know, a changel—never mind. But how are you here? This is my dream realm. Only certain creatures can dream hop, and I’m almost certain ponies can’t. I don’t know about changelings, though.”

Something about what he had just said made her uneasy, but she shook it off. “I don’t know how I’m here, I just am. I fell asleep, opened my eyes, and then I was here! I’m really hungry, though. Do you have anything to eat?”

“No, I don’t.” He reached toward her, pulling her toward him. “Do me a favor and stay here, Dinky. You never know what other creatures are here, especially if it turns out changelings can dream hop.”

She was quiet for a second. “Doctor?”

“What?”

“Why am I so hungry?”

He stiffened, letting go of her. “What do you mean? What kind of hungry? I didn’t think you could be hungry in a dream.”

“Well, when I first woke up here, I was really, really hungry. But it wasn’t normal hungry. It really hurt, and I felt sick at the same time, like that time I had to get fluoride on my teeth and I couldn’t eat for a really long time. So then I thought of Sparkler and Derpy and my horn glowed and I felt better. Then when I woke up just now and I saw you I was a little less hungry.” Her voice shook. “What’s happening to me?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Her nostrils flared. His fear-scent was strong; it had been ever since she mentioned her hunger. “You don’t believe that,” she accused, her voice deepening. “You’re terrified. You think I’m dangerous, don’t you?” When the scent grew stronger still, she knew she had guessed right. “Well, you’re right.”

What am I saying? she thought, her eyes growing huge.

“My father is the king of the changelings. My mother has a destiny larger than you can imagine. At nine years old I’m stronger than any other pony, except maybe Twilight Sparkle and the Princesses. Imagine me full-grown. I will shake the very foundations of this nation. I will bring this world to a halt, and then I will destroy the Elements of Harmony and the beloved Princesses. Then, and only then, I will bring my changelings, and we will receive the glory we deserve.” Her legs shook, and she fell to her knees. “And you, Doctor, can do nothing to stop me.”

The Doctor backed away. “Dinky, snap out of it. This is not you. You’re still in there somewhere, I know it. Snap out of it!”

“I’m still in here somewhere, you say? You foal. How can you not realize that this is me? I may not realize it yet, but these things I have said are my destiny. Leave me be. There is nothing you can say to stop the destruction I will bring.” Dinky winced as a hoof struck her face. “Why would you do that?” she asked in her own voice.

“I’m sorry, Dinky, but there was no other way to help you. Are you all right now?”

She blinked, thinking. Was she all right? All that was wrong was that her face was throbbing. Why did the Doctor seem so terrified? “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You…you honestly don’t know?”

“Know what?”

His hooves pressed onto her shoulders, forcing her to squint through the darkness to find his eyes. “Dinky, tell me what just happened.”

“Okay. I told you I was hungry, you looked scared, I told you I was dangerous, and then you slapped me.” She rubbed her jaw. “And that hurt, Doctor. I’m gonna tell my mommy you hurt me.”

“You’re certain nothing else happened?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then, don’t hate me for what I’m about to do.” Before she could even ask what he was doing, he pressed his hooves on her temples and she sank to her knees, her vision blurry. He released his hold on her and stood up straighter. “Whatever you are inside Dinky, I want to speak to you. I won’t hurt you, and I won’t stop you yet, I just want to talk.”

Dinky sat still for a moment, then spoke. “Very well, Doctor. What do you wish to talk about? Know that it is my choice whether or not I answer you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me, just how powerful are you?”

“Very powerful.”

“Fine. Well, then, are you powerful enough to save our flanks?”

“Obviously.”

“Good. Then I think you know what to do, right?”

“What good will come to me if I save you?”

“You will live. Now before you go jumping to brash conclusions, know this: If your host dies, so do you. That much I can tell. So the way I see it, you don’t have a choice. You will save us, and then I will stop you from destroying this world.”

“…I hate you.”

The Doctor nodded. “That’s very well, but you can continue hating me after you’ve saved us. Is that a fair deal?”

“Doctor, allow me to ask you something, since you seem so intent on questioning me. How is it you are so calm in going about your business? Why are you not cowering with fright?”

“You want an answer?” He chuckled. “Let me put it this way. I’m a talking pony with an hourglass on my rump trapped on a magical planet, lost in my own mind in a nest of changelings with a pegasus and two unicorns, asking someone I will probably have to kill later on if they can save my life. I’m not afraid because, quite frankly, I’m having a bit of trouble believing all this. Now, onto business. I believe we are in a large bit of danger at this moment, so now would probably be the best time to wake up. Don’t kill if you don’t have to, and do not kill any ponies. Other than that, do whatever you need to do to save us.”

“You’re a strange creature, Doctor.”

“So are you.” The Doctor reached forward, placing a hoof on Dinky’s head. “I’ll send you out of my dream realm now. Good luck.”

*   *   *

Metamorphosis landed with a low thud, his porous wings rustling. The army was spread out behind him, their blue eyes gleaming with hunger, and his Queen was at his side. Cowering before him were Derpy and Sparkler, while the unconscious Dinky and the Doctor were sprawled out next to the wall of the cavern.

“Well,” he laughed, “it looks like this will be easier than I thought.” He stalked over to Derpy and leaned forward, sneering. “You’re pathetic, Derpy.”

Derpy spat in his face, only to wince as he slammed his hoof into her cheek. Her jaw clenched with anger. Still she remained silent.

“I think I’ll save your death for last,” he went on. “First to go will be our daughter, Dinky. Then I’ll kill Sparkler, and finally the Doctor. Then and only then I will suck every last bit of life force from your body.” He traced her jaw with the tip of his hoof.

She drew away, a challenge in her eyes, and bit her tongue.

“Well? You have nothing to say? Wow, you really are pathetic. Here I am, making death threats, and you sit here cowering like a filly. I guess you finally realized you’re too stupid to be of any use.” Metamorphosis watched her for a minute or two before giving a whine of frustration. “Why is it when I insult you ponies you don’t get angry? It’s not fair!”

Chrysalis sighed, annoyed, and pushed the king out of the way. “Honestly, Metamorphosis, you’re such a foal. That’s not how you get a reaction from a pony. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve never done this before. Now, watch and learn, you blubbering baboon.”

As the queen drew closer, Derpy spread a wing around Sparkler protectively.

“Hello, Derpy Hooves.”

Derpy rolled her eyes. “Hello, Queen Chrysalis. Killed any innocent ponies lately?”

Chrysalis shot a triumphant glance toward the king. “See, idiot? I’ve hardly said a word and she’s already angry.” She turned toward the mare again. “As a matter of fact, yes. Although you can hardly remain angry at me, because you’ve done the same thing.”

“Oh, really? How do you figure?”

“Well, just look around you. There’s the Doctor, your daughters, the other prisoners…all of them will be dead because of you. You befriended the Doctor, so he felt he had to rescue you. He felt he had to rescue you, so your daughters followed him. Your daughters followed him, so you felt you had to escape. And now, here we are.”

A stab of guilt shot through Derpy’s heart, but she suppressed it. I can’t let her win.

“It’s a shame, really. Dinky would’ve been so powerful. After all, a changeling-pony hybrid has never before been seen. She could’ve traveled the universe, saving it again and again. Oh, and the Doctor…well, let’s just say he could’ve continued doing what he’s been doing. But I suppose sacrifices must be made for us to prevail.”

“Shut up.”

“Ah, now there’s the reaction we wanted.” Chrysalis swept her gaze past Derpy and settled on Sparkler. “Sparkler. Poor, lonely Sparkler, never able to fit in no matter how hard you tried. You were so smart. You could’ve been great. Although I suppose it was incredibly stupid of you to follow the Doctor here, but what do I know? Maybe you had some ulterior motive. Or maybe you’re just an idiot.”

Sparkler gritted her teeth. “And maybe you’d better shut up before I tear off your wings and shove them down your throat, cheese-legs.”

Chrysalis laughed. “All bark and no bite. I guess you really are an idiot.”

“Pardon my interruption, but maybe you’re the idiot here, Queen.”

Every head whipped toward the source of the voice, a small unicorn filly. But something was wrong, very wrong. Her eyes glowed green, and her teeth were bared in a fanged sneer. Her voice pulsed with power and had a certain echo to it, like someone had taken two very different voices and pressed them together.

The changelings took a step back in unison. The queen’s eyes were bright with fear. “It can’t be,” she murmured.

“Oh, but that’s the thing, Queen Chrysalis. It can be, and it is.” Dinky smiled even wider. “Did you miss me?”

Sparkler’s breathing grew shallow. She pressed against Derpy so desperately that her mother could hear her rapid heartbeat. No, she thought. No, no, no!

Metamorphosis answered for his queen. “But…how is that possible? I thought you were just an old legend. How are you here? Why are you here?”

Dinky tapped a hoof to her chest as if it explained everything. When that gained no reaction, she sighed and shook her head. “Have you not heard the stories? No matter. That’s not important right now. The Doctor has agreed to let me live for now on one condition.”

“Wh-what’s that?”

At that moment the Doctor’s eyes shot open and he tried to leap up. However, he hadn’t taken into consideration that he was still under the affects of whatever they’d fed him, so he ended up toppling back over like a tipped cow. After a few failed attempts to get up he flopped onto his side and gave a tired groan, turning red. “Sorry about that, I forgot you changelings poisoned me. Anyway, I was trying to make this really dramatic, but that completely failed, so I may as well just come out and say it. I’m letting whatever this creature is live if he or she saves us and kicks your flanks to the moon.” He grins. “I told him or her—could I just call you an ‘it’? What? Why are you glaring at me? Anyway, I told it that it could kill as many of you as is necessary.”

Once again the changelings stepped back and Chrysalis spoke. “You really don’t want to do that, Time Lord. We poisoned you, remember? Only we have the antidote. You’ll die if you kill us.”

The Doctor beckoned to Derpy, and she hurried over, pulling him to his hooves. “The thing is, Queen Chrysalis, I recently regenerated. I was busy worrying that Derpy and the others were dead, so I completely forgot about this for a while, but you know what I can do when I’ve recently regenerated?”

“What?”

He held out a hoof, beaming. “This.”

The queen stared at him, amused. “Nothing’s happening.”

He blinked, then looked back down at his hoof. His brow furrowed. “You know that feeling when you’re about to sneeze so you make a really weird face, and then you end up not sneezing and everyone looks at you funny? That’s pretty much how I feel right now.” His hoof began to glow a pale yellow and he gave a yelp of excitement. “Never mind! Here comes the sneeze!”

The yellow mist swirled around him, twisting and writhing until it obscured his whole body. Then, with a burst of light, it vanished, leaving a healthy-looking stallion standing there happily.

“I love it when things work out splendidly,” he chirped. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes, the thing inside Dinky was about to destroy you.”

Dinky rolled her green eyes and stepped forward. A sickly color lit up her horn, and she slowly tilted her head back, her lips working furiously as she whispered a small chant. Then she slammed her front hooves into the ground and curled her lip. “Doctor, take your little friends and leave.”

Chrysalis snorted and took a step forward. “I know you’re supposed to be strong, but honestly, do you think we’re going to just sit there while these pests get away? Do you think we’re just going to let you kill us without giving a fight?”

“That would be the smart thing to do. Maybe then I’d spare a few of you.”

“Fool.” She narrowed her eyes. “Changelings, charge!”

Suddenly the world became a buzzing world of black. There were changelings everywhere, hissing, clawing, gnawing.

Before too long the ponies were separated. Derpy jostled a few changelings out of her way, trying to find her daughters and the Doctor, only to whimper as others quickly replaced them. And she had thought there were a lot of changelings before, when she was fighting with Vinyl Scratch and the others. But now, she could hardly breath without some changeling’s insect wing shooting up her nostrils.

She gagged as a hoof fell into her mouth and instinctively lashed out, catching the changeling on the nose. Once again she felt herself slipping into what she was starting to think of as her “fury mode.” She kicked and punched, bit and tore, thrashed and writhed. Her wings became like second arms, jabbing changelings in the gut, shoving them away, and slamming the changelings against each other.

The chaos didn’t last long, however. A sudden blast shook the walls and the changelings stopped, turning toward the sound.

Dinky, her eyes still glowing, stood in the center of a horde of unconscious changelings. “I gave you a chance to surrender,” she said softly. “You were too proud to take it, Queen. I don’t like it when creatures take advantage of my mercy.”

King Metamorphosis leapt in front of Chrysalis, growling, “If you lay a hoof on her, I will end you!”

She didn’t flinch. Instead she simply gave a bitter laugh and said, “Ah, Metamorphosis, you just don’t get it. I am powerful, more powerful than you can imagine. Yes, there have been stronger creatures than I, but I am smart, and that is my greatest strength. You don’t have a choice. You two will die at my hooves, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You’ve sealed your own fate, so to speak.” Her nostrils flared. “Your fear-scent is strong. You know I speak the truth.”

Metamorphosis whimpered. “Don’t you dare kill us,” he whispered, obviously trying to act tougher than he was.

“Oh, don’t worry, King. Your deaths will be as quick and painless as possible. All the Doctor, Dinky and I need is to send a message. Dinky is the only living creature that would have the strength to replace you on the throne, and we both know that will never happen. As for the rest of the changelings…once I have killed your leaders, you are to go to the Badlands and never return. I know your kind left you behind. I know you only planned to absorb enough energy to make it home. But you had your chance, fools. You had your chance and you didn’t take it!”

Derpy felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to see the Doctor standing with Sparkler. “That’s our cue to leave,” he said quietly. “The creature will take care of the rest. I promise Dinky will be safe.”

“How do you know?” she demanded, her eyes locked on the confrontation between Dinky and the changelings.

“Because if Dinky dies, so does the creature, and you know it doesn’t want that.”

She flattened her ears, knowing he was right. “What about Vinyl Scratch and the others? They helped me escape, and then they held the changelings off for me.”

His eyes were sad. “If they haven’t escaped already, they don’t have a chance. This place is going to be turned to ash within minutes.” He nudged her comfortingly with his muzzle. “We need to get out of here now. Do you want to watch your daughter murder your husband?”

That thought sent tremors of sadness up and down Derpy’s spine. Nothing will ever be the same again, she thought. Dinky’s half-changeling and has some kind of monster living inside her mind, Night Hooves is really a changeling king and is about to be killed, Sparkler’s scared to death of her sister, and the Doctor…well, he’s here. Nothing will ever, ever be the same, and there’s nothing I can do. Tears welled up in her eyes. “No, I don’t.”

“Good.” He and Sparkler each threw a leg over Derpy’s shoulders and helped her walk away, casting a few glances over their shoulders. The last thing they heard before they broke into a run was a terrible roar.

*   *   *

I did it.

I killed the changelings.

Yes, a few of them escaped, but only the weakest. They will not be a danger to Equestria any more. King Metamorphosis and Queen Chrysalis are dead, erased from the world for all the years to come. Their home, the castle, was destroyed, burned to the ground by the fire I summoned. The only proof that changelings once lived here are the stories that will be told for generations to come, and the three injured soldiers living in the Badlands.

Derpy, Sparkler, Dinky, and the Doctor are very much alive. I did all I had to do for them. I saved them, defeated the changelings, and kept Dinky’s brain from frying up. Now I owe them nothing. I am free to do what I please. Oh, but I won’t attack right away. No, that would be stupid. They’re expecting me to strike soon, so I will wait until they’ve all but forgotten me.

You may think my appearance was sudden. You may think there is no way I was a part of this event until the very end.

But you are wrong.

Why do you think Dinky was having magic surges? Did you think it was only because she was half-changeling? I was there from the start. I entered her mind when she was just a foal, hardly old enough to walk on her own.

Why do you think the Doctor’s TARDIS was malfunctioning? It’s typical for him to have problems when he’s going to regenerate, but who do you think made sure the closest planet was the world of Equestria? That’s right. It was me. I didn’t move the planet or anything stupid like that. I just latched onto the outside of the TARDIS so that when it slipped through the time vortex I was able to manipulate its course.

When Sparkler was younger, who do you think convinced her to foalsit for the Hooves family? I am very good at manipulating minds, very good indeed. It didn’t take much for her to begin to show interest in their little family, and it took even less to convince them to adopt her.

Derpy crashing into Carrot Top’s cart again was not an accident either. It was necessary to get her to help the Doctor. Had she not gotten the day off because of her accident, the fake Doctor wouldn’t have been able to convince her to come with him and none of this would’ve happened. Sure, she was later fired for the many accidents, but sacrifices must always be made.

From the very beginning I was working to force these four together. Their destiny together is larger than they can imagine. Soon the darkness spreading across Equestria will reach them and they will be thrown into situations larger than they can handle on their own. But together, the four of them can do anything.

Well, almost anything. They will have trouble defeating me, that’s for sure.

But they will find that out in time.