Foalish Misadventures

Chapters

A never-ending party
A search for clues
A sextet of foals
A collection of trinkets
A peaceful conclusion
A toast to friends
A race to the finish

A never-ending party

There was something odd about the town the next day, but Dinky couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.

The morning seemed normal, at least to begin with. Dinky woke up with her mother and helped make breakfast. Her mother seemed unusually happy that morning, whistling merrily, but Dinky didn’t mind that. In fact, she noticed that Ditzy had even slipped an extra candy into her lunchsack, which Dinky appreciated.

School was okay too. Miss Cherilee seemed relatively normal in class, except for a few things. First of all, Dinky could swear that Cherilee giggled unexpectedly once or twice. She also was surprisingly tolerant when she caught Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle passing notes -- she would usually get annoyed at that kind of thing, but today she just said “Foals will be foals” and continued on with the lesson. (And then Dinky had to take cover, because the notes began flying more thickly and a few almost hit her). And, finally, there was the matter of homework – or, rather, the lack thereof of any.

“You’ve been working really hard,” said Cherilee, in a chirpy voice. “So you know what? I’m giving you all a night off. No homework!”

“HURRAY!” cheered the foals.

“I wonder why Miss Cherilee was so nice?” said Twist, as the foals were leaving the building. “Think she’s still happy from the Fair yesterday?”

“Ah know ma brother was,” said Apple Bloom, after they’d all dived to the side to dodge a speeding Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “He was up real early this mornin’, makin’ breakfast. An’ hummin’ too.” She smiled. “It tasted real good, actually. Apple pancakes an’ apple cider!”

Dinky licked her lips. “We should have Fairs more often,” she intoned.

They had quickly arrived at Twist’s house. They hurried inside so that Twist could drop off her bag. “Maybe after the clubhouse we can make more candy!”

“I thought your sister didn’t want you making too much?” called Dinky as Twist scurried into the next room.

“Well, if we don’t tell – oh!”

Dinky looked around the corner to see Bonbon and Lyra sitting on the couch.

“Twist,” said Bonbon, slowly, “Are you planning on sneaking candy from my store for your friends?”

“Uh…” began Twist. “No? I was just gonna make some more from that kit you got me. Please? I--”

“Oh.” And then Bonbon smiled. “That’s okay then.”

“Really?” Twist grinned.

“Sure. Have fun!” Bonbon grinned.

Lyra snuggled up against her. “Having fun is good,” she mused. She sounded, to Dinky, like she had just had a bottle or so of Miss Trixie’s bourbon. “You should have a lot of it.”

“We will!” Twist hurried into the kitchen and got her candy supplies. “Thanks, big sis!”

And then she was running out the door. “To the clubhouse!”

“Yay!” said Apple Bloom, as she and Dinky hurried to keep up.
*

The clubhouse was amazing.

Dinky’s eyes widened as she walked through the thick grove of apple trees and saw the building. “It’s huge!”

“Ah expanded it a little,” said Apple Bloom, smiling. “Just used the one AJ bought ma as kind of a startin’ point. Whatd’ya think?”

Dinky hurried up the steps and inside. It was huge, and clearly well-constructed – it was windy out, but the clubhouse wasn’t shaking at all. “This is really neat!” She paused. “Did you put the apple cobbler room in?”

“Well, ah put the room in right through that trap door there—“

Dinky raced over to it and used her telekinesis to slowly open the trap door. But when she looked inside, the room was empty.

“But AJ says ah can’t put a bunch of cobbler in there. It’d go bad, ah guess.” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Maybe if ah put in a refrigerator?”

“Oh well.” Dinky grinned, peering down into the cellar. “Hey, how much longer can we play? I’d like to look around, but your chores—“

“Don’t worry about that,” said Apple Bloom, grinning. “Big Mac’s in charge today, cause Applejack’s up in Canterlot fer a big Trust meetin’. An’ Big Mac said that ah didn’t have ta do chores today, cause it’s so nice out. He said he’d take care of it.”

“Wow!” Twist grinned. She had already unpacked her candy kit. “All the adults are being really nice today. Dinky, you’re right. We really should have Fairs more often.”

Dinky grinned. “Agreed!”

After the clubhouse tour (and a few sticks of candy), Dinky said goodbye and hurried to meet Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle by Scootaloo’s house. “Hey!” called Dinky, hurrying over. “I’m not too late, am I?”

“Right on time!” Scootaloo hopped into her scooter. “Alright, we’ll just be doing three laps around the town, okay?”

Sweetie Belle was already inside. “Um, Scootaloo, didn’t your dad tell you to put in seat belts? I thought he threatened to take away your scooter until you did.”

“He forgot, and I didn’t have time,” said Scootaloo. “Besides, it’s perfectly safe. Let’s go!”

Dinky gulped and then held on as hard as she could, legs braced firmly against the scooter’s sides, as Scootaloo proceeded to blast across the town.

“YEEHAW!” yelled out Scootaloo as they angled around a corner and plunged through the town square, zipping past the other ponies more quickly than Dinky might ahve liked.

“Are you sure this is safe?” yelled Dinky.

“Course it’s safe!” called out Scootaloo. “I mean, unless we crash or something!”

“…Then it’s not safe?”

Scootaloo didn’t answer, opting instead of yell out another ‘yeehaw!’ and put on a burst of additional speed.

They rounded another corner, but then the scooter went through a mud puddle and lost traction. Dinky squeaked as the vehicle tipped up on its two left wheels, rode over a small incline, and then went flying at a flower patch.

“AAAH!” they all screamed.

At least the landing, in a muddy patch of flowers, was soft.

“Hey!” yelled another pony as Dinky struggled to lift up the overturned scooter and crawl out (Sweetie Belle was helping; Scootaloo seemed to have been thrown clear). “Hey, you foals!”

Dinky managed to get out from under the crashed scooter and saw Lily, a flower merchant. They seemed to have crashed into a small plot of land that she used to show off her prettiest flowers. “Uh, hi Miss Lily.” She smiled as winningly as we could. “Sorry about crashing into your flowers …”

Lily trotted over, looking at the crashed scooter and the foals. “How fast were you going?” she demanded.

“Not that fast!” said Sweetie Belle, at the same time as Scootaloo (from across the field) yelled, “Really really fast! Way fast!”

Lily looked at them a moment longer, and then smiled brightly. “Well, you looked like you were having a lot of fun! Just be more carefully next time, okay?”

Dinky blinked. “… okay?”

“Is it just me, or are the adults being weird today?” Dinky asked.

Snails was in a muddy pit in Whitetail Wood, walking in a large circle and staring close to the ground. “Weird how?”

“They seem a lot nicer than usual.” Dinky thought. “Cherilee didn’t give out homework and Bonbon let us have extra candy and Big Macintosh gave Apple Bloom the day off. And Lily didn’t even mind that we crashed into her flower patch.”

“Maybe Raindrops will let you have more bugs, then!” called out Snips to Snails.

“Great idea!” said Snails.

Dinky looked at the track Snails was wearing in the mud. “What are you doing?”

“Well, see these hoofprints?” Snails pointed ahead of him. “I’m tracking whoever made them.”

Dinky blinked. “…those are your hoofprints. You’re going in circles.”

“Really?” Snails blinked. “Are you sure?”

Dinky nodded.

“Oh.” Snails frowned. “Aw, that sucks. I was hoping I was tracking something cool.” He paused. “Hey Dinky, wanna help me catch some bugs? I'm gonna fill up the whole house by the time Raindrops gets home!"

"But if the house is full, there won't be room for you."

"Oh, they'll make room for me. Bugs like me." Snails grinned. "Besides, the Elements used friendship to beat Corona, right? Imagine how awesome a mage I'll be if I'm friends with a billion bugs!"

"Are you sure it works like that?"

"One way to find out!"

By the time Dinky made it home, it was almost dinnertime.

The town was buzzing. A lot of ponies, Dinky noticed, were eating outside in what was becoming an impromptu block party. There were a lot of ‘adult drinks’ too. Dinky didn’t mind it, exactly, but it didn’t seem normal to her.

I’m probably overreacting. They’re just having fun. It’s good for adults to have fun – they’re always so serious. Dinky smiled brightly, seeing Carrot Top laughing gregariously and embracing Berry Punch over a big bowl of pasta and a couple of glasses of wine. I bet my Momma’s happy too.

And she was. When Dinky returned home, Ditzy put a big party hat on her head. “Hello, muffin!” she chirped.

“Hi Momma! What’s the hat for?”

“Oh, I just thought you might like it.” Ditzy embraced her daughter. “I saw Pinkie Pie today, and she gave me an extra hat, so I thought we’d have a little party.”

And they did. They had a big salad, from a bowl bigger than Dinky’s head, and a loaf of chocolate-chip bread, and real apple cider too. Ditzy said that Dinky’s was ‘soft’ and hers was ‘hard’, which Dinky didn’t understand – they both looked soft to her, since they were liquid – but she didn’t complain.

“Thanks, Momma. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Dinky was still happy as she got into bed later. The adults seemed to be a lot more willing to let the foals do what they wanted now. She wasn’t sure why that was, exactly, but it was kind of nice.

The next day was a little weirder.

Dinky awoke before her Momma, for the first time in months. And Ditzy seemed a bit reluctant to get out of bed too. “Aw, it’s really nice, Dinky, I wanna sleep in.”

“Don’t you have work?”

Ditzy sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

Ditzy seemed out of it, so Dinky tried her best to make breakfast, managing to pour two bowls of cereal without spilling anything or setting them on fire (which put her ahead of Sweetie Belle, at least if the rumors were true). She put a banana to each bowl, paused, removed, peeled and sliced the bananas before putting them back in, and then brought one to Ditzy.

“Thank you, muffin.” Ditzy began to eat her cereal. “Have fun in school today!”

“I will. Have a good day, Momma!”
*

The town square, Dinky noted, was unusually messy.

The block party tables and streamers hadn’t been put away, and they gave the town a sort of haunted feel, like a bunch of ponies had just been there but weren’t anymore. Most of the shops were closed.

Dinky, who had entertained thoughts of maybe buying a muffin – Ditzy hadn’t seemed up to making Dinky lunch for that day, so Dinky had just grabbed a few random things, but she figured she’d want more than what she had – paused by the Sugar Cube. Pinkie Pie was inside, bustling around, but the store seemed closed.

“Pinkie?” Dinky called. “Are you open?”

Pinkie looked up. “Wha? Course I’m open, silly!” She hopped to the door. Her face was more red than pink, for some reason. “Hungry?”

“I was thinking of buying a muffin,” began Dinky. “And—“

“Amazing idea!” Pinkie almost yelled. “But you know what? It’s been too long since we had a party. Let’s have a muffin party!”

“Didn’t we have a party two days ago?” asked a confused Dinky.

“Two whole days? We – hic – can’t go two days without a party!” Pinkie grabbed a tray of muffins and thrust one at Dinky. “Here you go!”

“How much?”

“No charge on party days, silly!” said Pinkie. “Aren’t you going to eat it? Aren’t ya?”

Dinky bit into it. It tasted okay, although not as good as the Sugar Cube’s usual pastries. “Thanks, Pinkie. Um, are you—“

Pinkie ignored her. “HEY, EVERYPONY! FREE MUFFIN DAY!” she yelled.

Dinky quickly ducked below a table just before the hoards of foals, drawn by the promise of free baked goods, descended on the Sugar Cube.

“It was really weird!” Dinky told Featherweight. They were in class, but as Miss Cherilee hadn’t arrived yet, they were just chatting. “She looked, uh…” She dropped her voice. “Like she’d had some of Miss Trixie’s bourbon.”

“But the muffins were good,” argued Featherweight. “Especially the walnut ones!”

The stampeding foals had done a fair amount of damage to the shop in their rush to get the pastries, although, privately, Dinky thought that the few adults who had also come running – including an unusually aggressive Carrot Top – had been the worst. “I wonder if she’s alright,” mused Dinky.

“What’d you get, anyway? Pinkie gave me three cookies! And she said we can have more after school!”

“I got a muffin.” Dinky paused. “I hope she feels okay.”

“What’s going on?” asked Scootaloo, sitting on Dinky’s other side.

“Pinkie was acting weird this morning, and so were some of the other adults.” Dinky shrugged. “They didn’t clean up the square after last night.”

“Yeah, I know. Isn’t it awesome? All the adults are being really cool all of a sudden! Dad let me stay out late last night so I could get in more scooter practice!” Scootaloo laughed. “We gotta have Fairs more often!”

“But are you sure they’re okay? Maybe they need help,” began Dinky.

“Class?”

The foals looked up to the front. Cherilee had just walked – staggered, almost – in.

“Class,” said Cherilee, in a serious tone, “I’ve been thinking about your performances over the past few weeks.”

All the foals stopped talking. Dinky winced. Were they about to get yelled at? Extra homework?

But Cherilee grinned. “It’s fantastic! You’ve been working great! And so have I! We all deserve a day off, so I’m giving us one – no school!”

After a pause, the foals began to cheer.

Scootaloo nudged Dinky. “I don’t think they need help. They’re just being awesome!” She jumped up on her desk. “Alright, everypony. Let’s go!”

The foals cheered and streamed out of the room.

Dinky stayed behind a moment. “Miss Cherilee? Are you okay?”

“Of course, dear. I’m fine!” Cherilee smiled before leaving the room.

Dinky thought for a moment, then followed her back to her little office in the back of the school building and peaked through the crack in the door to see what Cherilee was doing -- she wouldn't usually do that, but she felt a vague sense of concern for her teacher. She didn’t seem to notice Dinky’s spying. Instead, with great concentration and effort, she seemed to be trying to balance a piece of chalk on her nose. “Almost got it…” She murmured. When it fell off she paused, gulped quickly from a bottle from her saddlebag, and then resumed trying.

Dinky hesitated, unsure of what to do about this, then left. Maybe the Elements or some of her other friends could help her figure out the issue.

“We ain’t gonna lose to Pinkie!” Bonbon was yelling. “Free candy day!”

Dinky had to push through the crowds of foals, finally managing to make her way past Snips, who was literally jumping into a big barrel of toffees as if he wanted to go swimming. “Miss Bonbon? Is Miss Heartstrings around?”

“Here I am!” Lyra poked her head out of the backroom. She was staggering worse than Cherilee. “What’s up, Dinkster? Wanna hear a song?”

“Lyra, are you okay?”

“PARTY!” Pinkie Pie jumped in through the front window and dove into the same barrel of toffees that Snips was in. “Free candy FOREVER!”

“Ack!” cried out the now-squashed Snips.

Twist came out from the back room with a big tray of peppermints. “More peppermints, everypony!” She stuffed a couple into her mouth. “Get them while they’re fresh!”

Bonbon ignored her sister to stare at the broken window – and then burst into laughter. “Pinkie, you’re so random!”

“I know! Isn’t it great!”

Lyra, ignoring this, levitated Dinky with her telekinesis and began to sing. Dinky couldn't make out all the words, but it was about some foal who lived on a mountain of candy and swam in a lake of cider, or something like that.

After a minute or so of music, Dinky wriggled out of Lyra’s telekinetic grip. “Miss Heartstrings,” she repeated, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! I feel great!” Lyra grinned. “Never better!”

Dinky blinked, and then quickly slipped into the crowd. Maybe she’d have better luck elsewhere.

*
“Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on,” said Apple Bloom, poking her head out from her kitchen window. “But Applejack’s still in Canterlot an’ Big Mac’s been actin’ real weird! He ain’t done any harvestin’. He’s just skippin’ around the fields!”

“Can you come with me? I’m trying to find somepony to figure out what’s going on,” said Dinky.

“Can’t. Ah promised Granny Smith ah’d look after Big Mac.” Apple Bloom winced as a crash sounded from further away on the farm. “Ah gotta go. Good luck, Dinky!”

“YEEHAW!”

Dinky hurled herself flat as the scooter hurled over her head. Looking up, she saw Scootaloo flare her wings out and manage to slow the scooter as she zipped over a big white line on the ground.

“New record! Across town in two minutes!” cheered Scootaloo.

Dinky hurried over. “Are you okay?” She was surprised that Scootaloo was still alive after going that fast. “I thought your dad didn’t want you—“

“He changed his mind! Said I should race all the time! Says maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in bein’ really fast!” Scootaloo was hopping around in joy. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but it’s really awesome! One day I’ll be faster than Rainbow Dash! I’ll be as fast as my mom and I’ll do awesome things like she did!”

Dinky paused. “Uh—“

“Hey, I’ll bet you two jangles you can’t catch me, even using magic.” Scootaloo hopped back into her scooter.

“I don’t want to! This is important—“

“Bet you’re just scared to lose,” said Scootaloo, grinning. “Are you chicken?”

Dinky was very mature for her age, and was genuinely concerned for the adults. But she was also a foal, and she didn’t like being called chicken. “I am not!”

“Then try to keep up!” Scootaloo giggled before taking off.

Dinky yelped and then began to chase Scootaloo, who was going more slowly (presumably to give Dinky a fair chance). “Hey, stop! I need to talk to you!”

“Only if you catch me!”

Dinky raced after Scootaloo, though she was unable to close the distance between them. “Stop!” she called, feeling very frustrated. “I—“

Scootaloo had glanced back to look at Dinky, and a shop door in front of her opened.

“LOOK OUT!” called Dinky.

Scootaloo turned, made an odd squeaking sound, and then turned the scooter as quickly as she could… wiping out again.

Dinky hurried over. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scootaloo got to her hooves. “Hey, who got in my way?”

“Hmph.” The two turned to see Diamond Tiara striding out from the shop – Rarity’s boutique, it turned out. “If you went at a normal speed, that wouldn’t happen.”

“Would Rainbow Dash go at a normal speed? I don’t think so!” shot back Scootaloo.

“What are you doing?” asked Dinky, wondering if Diamond Tiara might be of assistance. Her father had money; maybe he could hire somepony to figure out what was wrong.

“Getting a new outfit. Or five.” Diamond Tiara smiled. “My father has finally understood the importance of keeping his only daughter beautiful. He gave me a thousand bits and told me to get myself whatever I wanted.”

Dinky could only stare. A thousand bits! She would have to work for Fluttershy for ten years to save up that much! Scootaloo, she noticed, was staring too. "Wow!" Dinky managed.

Rarity strode out behind them. “Diamond, dearie, we aren’t done fitting you!” She hiccupped.

“I didn’t know you made foal’s clothes, Miss Rarity,” said Dinky.

“Oh, dear, most families in this town don't seem to think that their darling children deserve the latest in fashion -- not to speak ill of your mother, of course -- but the Rich family has always been quite clear in their belief that even foals must dress presentably.” Rarity gestured inside her shop, where, Dinky noticed, it looked like Diamond had tried on half her stock. “I’m even giving her a discount because she’s just so cute!”

Diamond Tiara beamed at that.

“Want anything, Dinky dearie? I have a lovely blue dress that would look divine on you!”

“… no. Thank you, though.”

Diamond Tiara turned her attention back to Scootaloo. “Just look where you’re going!” she snapped before heading back inside.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “What’s her problem? I swear, she gets all weird around me.” She grinned. “She’s probably intimidiated by my awesomeness!”

Dinky didn’t respond. She was already going to find another pony that could help them.

Miss Trixie, Dinky guessed, would be able to help. She was an awesome magician and she’d helped save the world, along with her mother and the other Elements. In fact, she was the Element of Magic. Surely she could just cast a spell and make everything normal again.

“DINKY!”

Dinky paused. She’d only just knocked on the door to see it get yanked open and a grinning, giggling Carrot Top poke her head out.

“Uh, hi, Miss Carrot Top. Is Miss Trixie home?”

“Sure she is!” Carrot Top picked her up by the scruff of her neck and carried her inside.

“Hey, I can walk!”

Dinky found herself plopped into the office, where Trixie and Raindrops were busily drinking some brown liquid. Snails was there too, standing at attention like a butler.

“Look who’s here!” slurred Carrot Top. “Now the party can get started!”

“Oui!” cried out Trixie. “Nous commencons!”

Snails smiled lazily. “Hi Dinky. Here to join the party?”

“What’s going on?” asked Dinky. “Why are you partying now? Momma says that parties are for special occasions or late at night.”

“Aw, Ditzy’s bein’ a stick in the mud,” drawled Carrot Top. “We work hard. We deserve a little R&R.”

“Oui,” said Trixie. “Lulamoon parlest ‘oui!’”

Dinky noticed, belatedly, a bunch of knives on the table in front of Trixie. “What are those for?”

“Jugglin’!” said Carrot Top.

Trixie began to toss the knives in the air telekinetically. Snails grinned. “Ooh, Dinky, she’s going to do another trick!”

“She’s doing magic now?” Dinky loved Trixie’s magic, but she wasn’t sure that performing it while she was like this was the best idea.

“Uh huh! And she said if I was their butler and got them stuff from the kitchen, she’d show me some!”

Trixie lazily gestured with a hoof, and a knife flung out and hit a playing card that was mounted to the wall. “Ta daa!”

“Knife throwing!” cheered Carrot Top. “I love it!”

“But – but what if it hits somepony?” asked Dinky, a bit nervous.

Raindrops laughed. “Aww, she wouldn’t do that. She knows I’d buck her into next week.” She bucked out a leg to demonstrate, striking a desk and cracking it in half. None of the adults seemed to mind this.

Trixie nodded. “Les joues de Lulamoon c’est parfait!” She grinned. “Parce que Lulamoon c’est une magicienne brilliante! Et belle aussi!” She tossed two knives at once, bisecting two more cards.

Dinky thought quickly. The other adults could handle themselves, but she had a feeling that something bad might happen if Snails kept hanging around the knife-throwing unicorn. “Uh, Snails, can we talk for a minute? It's really important."

“Really? Aw, that sucks.” Snails frowned, but began to follow Dinky out.

“Come back soon, you two!” called out Raindrops. “Hey Trixie, you should’ve give ‘em a drink! Then they’d loosen up a little!”

“Vraiment!”

Dinky just pushed Snails out the door.

“So you think there’s something wrong with the adults? Why?” asked Snails.

Dinky pointed at the next house over, in front of which Berry Punch was dancing with a lampshade on her head and juggling wine bottles with her front hooves. “Because they’re being all weird!”

“But Berry’s always like that.”

“Not this early in the afternoon. And Carrot Top and Raindrops never act like that.” Dinky frowned. “I’m worried.”

Snails paused. “I dunno, Dinky. Maybe they’re just feeling real friendly! I mean, they’re letting us do whatever we want!”

“But…”

“But if you want, I can look for clues with you tomorrow.” Snails grinned. “We’ll be detectives!”

Dinky brightened. “That’d be awesome!”

“I’ll get a magnifying glass,” said Snails, as if this was the most important part. He began to head off in the direction of the town square, presumably for that purpose. “See you then!”

Dinky returned home at the end of the day, feeling a little disappointed. Something was weird, but she didn’t know what, and all of her friends were more focused on having fun in the absence of the adults than on trying to figure out what was going on.

Maybe I’m too serious. I’m sure they’ll be fine in the end; Momma and the others can do anything and solve any problem. Maybe I should just be enjoying it with the others.

And she was, at least parts of it. She’d enjoyed the free muffin, and the free candy (she’d gone back to Bonbon’s Bonbons before going home, and Lyra had practically dumped a whole carton of marshmallow toffee into her saddlebag), and it was nice to see all the adults being so happy. But Dinky couldn’t shake that feeling of concern.

“Good evening, muffin!” chirped Ditzy. “Ready for dinner?”

Dinner was a light affair; a simple salad and some cheese. Ditzy apologized for the few ingredients, but apparently a lot of the stores had been closed that day for some reason.

“Are you okay?” Dinky asked, examining her mother closely. Ditzy seemed to have that same strange happiness as the other adults, but other than that, she seemed normal. She wasn’t dancing around with a lampshade on her head and singing about ‘great stallions she had known,’ for example, which put her ahead of Berry Punch and a few others.

“Of course. I’m with you, aren’t I?” Ditzy gathered Dinky into a hug.

“And… you’d tell me if you weren’t, right?” continued Dinky.

Ditzy nodded.

“Okay.” Dinky returned to her meal. I trust Momma. I’m sure she’s fine. The others are probably just still having a party, and I’m sure tomorrow they’ll all be back to normal.

When Dinky awoke, she noticed that her mother was gone. She’d left Dinky a big bowl of cereal and a cupcake, and a note (with a few misspellings) stating that she’d gone out for a morning walk.

Puzzled – Ditzy always helped Dinky get up in the morning – Dinky quickly prepared herself for school and then left.

But when she got to the town square, she stopped.

It was a total mess. Several windows were broken and a few stores had doors hanging off of them. She heard voices, but it wasn’t the sounds of ponies selling their wares – it was raucous laughter.

“Look at me!” Dinky turned to see Rainbow Dash zipping around in circles, sending a bunch of clouds into a tight funnel. “I’m a tornado! Wheee!”

“You know – hic! – what this town needs?” Dinky saw Filthy Rich stumbling out of a café door. “Needs more bars. I’m gonna do it. Gonna build a huge bar right there, in town square.” He swept out a hoof, overbalanced, and fell on his flank. Then he laughed. “I’ll make millions!”

Dinky hurried over to the fountain next to the square, but she found it was occupied by a lazily swimming Raindrops. “What are you doing?”

Raindrops opened an eye and spouted water from her mouth. “Just swimming around. I think I’ll be a fish today.” She chuckled. “Hey Dinky, you look really tense. Want a drink?”

“No.” Dinky backed up a few steps. “Um, I have to go now.”

She finally made it over to the school, only to see it covered in graffiti and toilet paper. Cherilee was near the front, unpacking another roll. “Stupid school!” she called out, in a slurred voice. I’ll make ‘em pay for adding more inservice days!”

“Woohoo!” cheered on Principal Diploma, from the sidelines. “You show ‘em, girl!”

Cherilee bucked one of the toilet paper rolls through a window and giggled. “Hee hee. Bet the PTA would hate to see this!”

“Nah, go ahead!” That was Daisy, whom Dinky remembered was the head of the PTA.

“If you insist!” yelled Cherilee, bucking at another toilet paper. Unfortunately, she missed, and ended up laying a layer of toilet paper over Daisy. Fortunately, Daisy seemed more amused than anything, and in a few moments she and Cherilee were laughing happily at each other and exchanging swigs from a bottle labeled ‘rose petal liqueur.’

Dinky groaned. Now what? All the adults were acting crazy, and…

Well, if there were no adults, then the foals would have to fix things. Dinky would just have to get some of her friends to acknowledge the problem. They were smart, and some of them were really talented (like Scootaloo with her scooter, or Diamond Tiara and her fashion sense). Surely they could figure out what was going on.

Dinky nodded to herself and began to hurry back into the town square. It was time for Dinky and her friends to save the day!

A search for clues

Of Dinky’s friends, Snails lived the closest to the schoolhouse, so Dinky went to his home first.

“I got my magnifying glass!” yelled Snails, from his upstairs window. “I’ll be down in twenty minutes!”

“That’s a long time,” complained Dinky.

“Sorry. But I’ve gotta go slowly so I don’t hurt my bugs!”

Confused, Dinky opened the front door, and then froze. The house was swarming with bugs. “I thought Miss Raindrops was only letting you have a few!”

“Yeah, but last night she said I could have as many as I wanted, so I got a few more!”

Dinky watched as a loaf of bread was picked up by a mass of ants and carried off. “A few?”

“Well, maybe a few more than a few. I’ll be down soon!”

True to his word, Snails made it down in about twenty minutes. He was wearing a cloak, a funny hat, and holding a magnifying glass and bubble pipe in his mouth. “I’m ready!”

“Okay, great!”

“I know the first place to start looking for clues!” Snails began to trot off, causing Dinky to scramble to keep up. “Bonbon’s!”

“… why there?”

“Snips was sick this morning. I think he was poisoned by Bonbon’s candy!” said Snails, eyes widening. “Maybe she’s behind this! Maybe this is some plot to make all the adults so happy that they buy her candy, so she can poison them and take over the world!”

“Bonbon wouldn’t do that!” objected Dinky. “She’s really nice!”

“Well, if it’s not poison, why would Snips feel sick after eating her candy?”

“How many did she eat?”

“Only fifty pieces or so,” said Snails.

Maybe that’s why, thought Dinky, but instead she said, “I think we should try to find others to help us. My Momma always says that friends can help us overcome any problem. We should try to find our friends!”

Snails thought hard. “But Snips is my best friend, and he’s sick. Who else is there?”

“If Snips is sick, then let’s find other foals in the class,” said Dinky, beginning to run. “Bonbon’s store is close, so maybe Twist is there. Come on!”

“Help me!”

The two unicorn foals skidded to a halt as they approached Bonbon’s Bonbons. Some pony inside was crying out for help.

“It sounds like Twist is in trouble!” cried Dinky, beginning to run at the shop.

“What if Bonbon’s baking her into her poisoned candy?” worried Snails.

“Her candy isn’t poisoned!” Dinky rolled her eyes. “She’s not crazy or anything! Bonbon’s really nice, and—“

“Help! Bonbon’s gone crazy!” Twist cried.

“Hah!” Snails began to rush on ahead.

The door to the store was unlocked, but the shelves and barrels of candy were all overturned and scattered every which way. In the middle of the store was Twist, who had been bound securely to a chair. In front of her was a table, with several pieces of candy.

And, on the other side of the table, were Bonbon and her mother Honeydew.

“Oh, look!” chirped Bonbon’s mother. She was wearing goggles and a white lab coat. “More friends!”

“You’re just in time!” Bonbon grinned widely. “For the most awesome candy ever!”

Twist groaned. “It’s awful!”

“My dear little BB is finally letting me help her with her recipes!” said Bonbon’s mother. “For years I’ve been trying to get her to make healthier candy, and for years she ignored me, but—“

“But today I feel too good to fight about it,” said Bonbon, giggling like a foal.

Honeydew smiled brightly. “We’ve just finished the… uh…”

“Blastin’ Broccoli Bonanza!” cried out Bonbon. “Now, come on, Twist, eat up! You love candy!”

“Not this candy!”

Bonbon frowned. “Twist! It’s very rude to turn down a gift!” She began to pry Twist’s mouth open so her mother could put the next candy inside.

Snails turned to Dinky. “We have to do something!”

Dinky nodded. “Shut your eyes!” She focused, closed her own eyes, and made her horn glow.

Even through her eyelids, she could see the bright white light. This was the spell she’d used to help get away from the ponies who had tried to abduct her a short while back, and she still had trouble with any amount of light between ‘none’ and ‘blinding.’ I really should work on that more, she thought.

But when she opened her eyes again, Bonbon and her mother were both blinking and stumbling around, temporarily stunned by the blast of light. Dinky raced over to Twist and began untying her, tearing at the bonds with her teeth. “Snails, help!”

Snails sauntered over. “Help what?”

Dinky got the bonds off of Twist just as Bonbon got back up. “Hey, you’re not getting out of here without trying our delicious candy!” She laughed. “Pinkie always says she’s got the sweetest sweets in Ponyville, but I’ll prove her wrong! With Mom’s sciencey stuff on my side, I won’t lose to her!” She swung a hoof upwards, as if to punch at an invisible Pinkie, overbalanced, and fell on her flank and knocked over a big shelf of candy. “I’ll beat her FOREVER!”

Dinky helped Twist out of the chair – but then was tackled by Bonbon’s mother. “Hey!”

“Here you go!” Bonbon’s mother took a candy and stuffed it into Dinky’s mouth. Dinky gagged. It tasted like…

Zucchini! Yuck! Yuck yuck yuck!

“Isn’t it good?” sighed Bonbon’s mother. “And it’s healthy too! Bonbon’s going to make a whole new line of vegetable-flavored candies, to help you foals grow up big and strong!”

Bonbon said something that sounded like ‘More cauliflower, less chocolate!’ but Dinky wasn’t sure. She was focusing too hard on spitting the horrible-tasting candy out of her mouth. “Snails! Help!”

“Coming!” Snails bent his horn at Bonbon’s mother and focused. His horn began to glow, slightly.

A small puff of smoke appeared in front of it.

Dinky sighed.

Twist grabbed Dinky and managed to yank her out from under Honeydew. “Hurry!”

The three foals took off for the door, with Bonbon and Honeydew staggering after them, the latter going on a long rant about how wonderful the new mushroom-fenugreek toffees were. Fortunately, the foals were a lot faster than the adults.

“Thanks for rescuing me!” managed Twist as they exited the shop. “They wanted to make me eat all kinds of vegetable candy!” Her eyes widened. “And Bonbon wants to change her whole candy line to be the veggie stuff! She’s going to discontinue all her other kinds!”

Dinky and Snails could only stare in slack-jawed horror.

“We have to fix the adults!” Dinky eventually managed, a new determination settling over her. “Before Ponyville doesn’t have any more good candy!”

“But how?” asked Twist. “What can we do?”

“We need to find clues,” said Snails. “Let’s go to Bonbon’s and look for them!”

“…we were just there,” said Dinky.

“But we left without getting any clues!”

Twist looked at Dinky. “Hey, can’t Trixie help? Isn’t this what she’s good at?”

“She’s like this too. I think all the adults are.” Dinky thought. “Wait a minute! They all went silly after the Fair, right? Trixie was doing something with magic right before then.”

“I bet she messed up a spell,” said Twist.

“No, she wouldn’t do that,” said Dinky. “Trixie’s really good at magic. She’d never screw up a spell.” She nodded sagely. “But she said she interrupted some other spell. Maybe that’s what did it.”

“Well, let’s go there!” said Snails, who seemed very anxious to hunt for clues somewhere.

“Okay! Let’s go to Whitetail Woods!”

Dinky led the other two foals back to the place where she’d found Trixie a few days ago. It looked much the same, with the remnants of the spell circle and the ingredients strewn everywhere.

“Trixie was right there,” said Dinky. She pointed at the spot. “But I didn’t see anything else.”

Snails had taken out his magnifying glass and began to meander through the clearing. In the meantime, Twist looked at Dinky. “We can fix them, right? I want my mom and my sister to be normal again. It was nice at first, cause they let me have a lot of candy, but now they’re being scary.”

“I’m sure we will,” said Dinky. “My Momma says that when friends work together, they can do anything.”

“My mom said that too. But when I got Apple Bloom and Archer and Bee Bop to help me build the world’s biggest candy apple, we still couldn’t do it. We got halfway there and then we fell into the caramel and Mom made us stop and take baths.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant…”

“Hey, look at this!”

The two foals turned to Snails, who was staring at the ground. “Hoofprints!”

“Really?” Dinky ran over. “Where?”

Snails pointed. “Right there! Come on!” He ran off, following them.

Dinky blinked. The depressions Snails had pointed at looked vaguely like hoofprints, but not like pony hooves. She wouldn’t have noticed them. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah!”

Dinky and Twist began following Snails, who led them through the woods at a fairly rapid place. They soon came to a small clearing full of small, blue flowers.

“Those are pretty!” said Twist.

Snails blinked. “I think that’s poison joke!” He grinned. “I’m gonna pick some and trick Snips into eating it!”

“Poison joke?” Dinky had heard of that plant, from Trixie. “I thought that only grew in the Everfree.”

“It usually does, but sometimes a patch grows in clearings in the middle of other forests near the Everfree, like this one. It happens if bees try to pollinate the poison joke but get lost and wind up in forests away from their usual hives,” said Snails. “Usually the other patches only last for a few weeks, though, and…”

He trailed off. The others were staring at him.

Snails blushed. “I like to collect bugs,” he said. “But one time, I got sick from poison oak, poison ivy, poison leaf, and poison bark all at once. So Raindrops said I had to learn about plants if I wanted to play in the woods anymore.”

“Oh.” Dinky smiled. “I didn’t know you were so good at plant stuff!”

Twist said, “Wait, how can we follow the hoofprints if they go through the joke? I heard that poison joke once turned a pony inside out!”

“COOL!” Snails began to walk towards the patch.

Dinky quickly grabbed him with her telekinesis and dragged him back as best she could. “Not cool! I don’t want to be inside out!”

Snails sighed and looked down. “Wait. The hoofprints go into the patch but come right back out.”

Dinky thought. “Like the pony was running away without looking where she was going and entered it by mistake. But as soon as she realized it she got out and went around it.”

“Yeah!” Snails picked up the trail again, now skirting the path. “This way!”

They continued to move through the woods, passing through clearings and along rivers, until they came to a much smaller open area. Dinky was a bit nervous, having never gone so far from home unchaperoned before. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. The prints get smaller.” Snails bent down, peering at the ground. “Like the pony got tiny or something.”

“Maybe it was the poison joke?” asked Twist.

“Maybe,” said Dinky.

Snails found that the hoofprints went in a big, confused, tangle all over the clearing before going into a small set of roots at the edge.

“I bet the pony got small and got scared and went to hide in the roots!” said Dinky.

“Poison joke takes a week to wear off,” added Snails, “So he’s probably still joked!”

Twist knelt down. “Hey, come out of there!”

There was a small scrambling noise.

And then the world’s tiniest zebra poked her head out of the roots to stare at the foals.

“She’s not a pet,” said Dinky.

Snails nodded his head enthusiastically and mumbled something that sounded like, “She’s little.”

“Foals are little. Are foals pets?” asked Dinky.

Snails paused as he pondered the question.

Twist said, “If it was really her spell that made all the adults act silly, she probably knows how to fix them.”

“But we can’t hear her,” said Dinky. The zebra had shouted something at them… they thought… but she was so little that they couldn’t understand what she was saying. That was why they’d had Snails grab her and carry her back to town, so they could ‘interrogate’ (that was what Trixie would call it) her there after they figured out how to make her audible.

“Can’t Vinyl help?” asked Twist. “She’s real good at making things loud!”

That was certainly true. Trixie had made several comments about things like ‘noise complaints’ and ‘disturbing the peace’ relating to Vinyl. And, to be fair, Vinyl’s sound equipment had been so loud that it had shattered windows a couple (or a few) times. But Dinky liked the white-coated unicorn anyway. Pinkie provided the food for the best parties, but Vinyl provided the music. Besides, Vinyl had offered to let Dinky and other foals learn about her sound equipment—

Dinky paused. “Vinyl’s probably as silly as the other adults, but I think I know a foal who can help us!”

Snails began to open his mouth to say something, but Dinky stopped him before he let go of the zebra’s tiny tail. “Twist, can you go with Snails to put the zebra somewhere safe? I’ll go try to find Vinyl’s student.”

“Okay. Good luck!”

Vinyl’s studio was a total mess. Wires and random machines were everywhere, and the lights were flickering in various places. A low, static-y buzz was coming from one of the speakers mounted over the door. Scattered take-out containers and wheat-pizza boxes were everywhere.

Dinky sighed with relief. It looked like Vinyl was still normal, at least.

Dinky made her way into the central room of the studio, where Vinyl could usually be found. Unfortunately, the DJ unicorn wasn’t there. But the foal that Dinky was looking for was.

“Bee Bop!” called Dinky. “Bee Bop!”

Bee Bop was sitting on a record turntable and spinning merrily. “Wheeee!” She was wearing headphones and sunglasses that were similar to Vinyl’s, and was bopping her head in time to some beat that Dinky couldn’t hear.

“Bee Bop!” yelled Dinky, trying to get her attention. “We need your help!”

Bee Bop didn’t seem to notice.

Dinky climbed up onto one of Vinyl’s tables and then jumped onto the big table with Bee Bop and her record player. “Hey!”

Bee Bop looked over at Dinky, frowned, and got off the table. She removed her headphones with a quick flip of her wings. “Dinky, I’m busy! Vinyl said I could have the studio today, and I don’t want to waste the time!” She smiled. “She even said I could use all her good equipment!”

“We need your help!” responded Dinky. “We think we know who made all the adults in town start acting really silly, but she’s really little and we can’t hear her. We need you to make her voice really loud!”

Bee Bop hesitated. Dinky smiled to herself – Bee Bop did like being loud, so this would likely be a very persuasive argument. But Bee Bop still shook her head. “But I’m right in the middle of a big mix session!”

“You are?”

“Yeah! It’s a new sound! I sit on the turntable while it plays, and then the sound gets all loopy and scratchy. Vinyl says it could be a big thing!”

Dinky thought. She needed to convince Bee Bop to help her. What could she say that would accomplish that?

“…you know, Bonbon said she’s discontinuing her sweet candy and selling vegetable candy instead,” decided Dinky.

Bee Bop’s mouth dropped. “What?!”

“Uh huh. Forever!”

“So there won’t be any candy in Ponyville?” gasped Bee Bop.

“Not unless we make the adults normal again!”

Bee Bop took off her headphones. “Alright. I’ll get the equipment. Let’s save the candy!”

“The adults,” Dinky corrected.

“Them too.”

A sextet of foals

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Dinky.

They couldn’t put the tiny zebra in Twist’s house, because Bonbon and Honeydew were still there and would try to get them all to eat gross candy. They couldn’t use Snails’s house, because it seemed to have been turned into the world’s largest bug hive. Bee Bop’s parents wouldn’t let her use Vinyl’s amplifiers in their house anymore for some mysterious reason, and Bee Bop was pretty sure that they would stick to that even if they were as silly as the other adults. And they couldn’t use Dinky’s house because it was above the post office and Dinky didn’t want to disturb Silver Script and the other workers, in case any of them had shown up that day.

So they ended up in the school.

“Of course!” Bee Bop began hooking up the amplifiers. “Just have the zebra speak into the microphone, and we’ll be able to hear her through the speakers!”

Dinky approached the little ‘jail cell’ – a repurposed hamster cage – that they’d put the zebra in. “Can you hear us?”

The zebra nodded.

“What’s your name?”

The zebra said something, but Dinky would never know what, because as soon as she began to speak the amplifiers and speakers spat out a huge blast of sound that sent all the foals flying into the walls. The remaining windows shattered. A lightbulb fell from the ceiling and smashed, as did the chalkboard.

Dinky lay on her back for a moment, staring at the ceiling and wondering what that funny ringing sound in her ears was.

Twist groaned. “That hurt!”

“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” said Snails.

“Too loud?” asked Bee Bop. She alone didn’t seem disturbed by the loud noise.

“Maybe a little,” managed Dinky.

Bee Bop managed to get the sound system working at a reasonable level, and they could finally talk to the zebra.

“What did you do to the adults?” demanded Dinky. “Why are they acting so weird? You need to tell us right now!”

“Foal, you’ll get nowhere with your pouting, no matter how desperate your shouting,” responded the zebra through the speaker system.

“That’s not very nice,” said Bee Bop.

Twist approached the hamster cage. “Can’t you tell us how to turn them back? Please? You cast it, you have to know how to uncast it!”

“Blame the unicorn, not I; she wrecked the spell that I let fly.” The zebra shook her head. “I’m not certain how to remove the spell, but free me and, what I know, I’ll tell.”

“Okay!” said Snails.

“Wait! What if she leaves without fixing it?” Dinky groaned. She wasn’t good at this kind of thing; that was why they had Trixie, who had described herself as a political expert who always made sure that the mean nobles didn’t hurt the town. “She should tell us how to fix the spell first!”

“I cannot show what I don’t know,” said the zebra, somehow managing to sound smug despite being about six inches tall. “You need to let me get my books. While trapped in here, I cannot look.”

“Trixie told me once there’s spells that reverse zebra magic in general, not just specific spells.” Dinky didn’t know everything that had happened during Lyra’s first big performance in Canterlot, but Trixie had let some details slip later. “Can’t we use one of those?

The zebra paused, and Dinky got the feeling that she’d been assuming that Dinky didn’t know that. “The shortest of those takes six hours; they are beyond foalish power. But the cure for my small size – you could cast that, I surmise. Once I am restored to height, I can lend your friends my might—“

“Or she could just leave!” whispered Twist.

“I know,” said Dinky. “Snails, how long does Poison Joke last?”

“A week,” said Snails.

“And it’s been three days… I know! Here’s what we’ll do!” Dinky smiled. “Zebra, you’re going to tell us how to cure our friends, or we’ll take you on the train to Canterlot and tell the guards what you tried to do. It’ll take less than four days to get there, so you won’t be able to turn back to normal before we arrive!”

The zebra seemed very surprised that Dinky had thought of that, and didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Okay,” said Dinky, a bit happier now that she seemed to have made some progress. “You’re going to tell us what the spell was supposed to do and how to fix it! And we’ll make the fixing-spell work, even if it’s hard, because we’re friends, and friends can do anything!”

Snails frowned. “Snips and I tried to fly one time, but even though we’re friends, we couldn’t do it.”

Dinky sighed. “Friends can do almost anything!”

“As long as it’s not flying,” Snails added.

“… can you please let me talk?”

The spell, the zebra (named Zecora) had claimed, had only been supposed to make all the adults fall asleep for a few days. She wouldn’t say anything at all about why she’d been casting it, trying to play it off as a prank or something. But Dinky wasn’t stupid, and she knew how dangerous even a simple mass sleep spell could be. Regardless, the spell hadn’t gone off as intended, and now all the adults were in some kind of perpetually drunken state.

Zecora had also given them a recipe that, she said, might be able to reverse the spell. Dinky wasn’t sure if she could trust the zebra, though. What if that spell only reversed the Poison Joke’s affect on Zecora? If she were big, she’d be able to escape the foals and get out of town.

But the zebra had told them one thing that Dinky was certain of. The spell was affecting the adults through the ‘adult drinks’ in the town. Dinky wasn’t quite sure how it was affecting all of them, but it at least told her why the foals weren’t being hit too. “As long as we don’t drink any of that stuff, we should be fine,” she told them.

“So what should we do?” asked Twist.

“First, let’s tell the other foals. Next, we’ll go all over town and get the ingredients for the counter-spell. Then… uh… I guess we’ll have to find a unicorn that can cast it.”

“What about Zecora?”

“I have an idea.” Dinky smiled. “But first, let’s warn the other foals!”

They decided on ringing the big school bell to try to get the other foals to come to them.

The rope was heavy, so Dinky and Snails bit on it together and jumped up and down to tug on it. When that only produced a soft ringing sound, Twist and Bee Bop tried to help. They all bit on the rope at the same time and jumped in the same direction.

BONG

It wasn’t quite as loud as Bee Bop’s speaker setup, but it was close.

“My ears hurt,” complained Twist, as they all got up from where the sound had blasted them.

Dinky went back to the rope. “We need to clang it a few more times! Like for school!”

Several ‘bongs’ later, though, only a few other foals had showed up. And some of them weren’t looking very steady.

“You didn’t drink anything, did you?” demanded Bee Bop of Featherweight, who was humming something off-key.

“Trixie said that she was having a special party and she’d let us all have some of her bourbon!” cheered Featherweight. “I always thought she was kind of a jerk, but she’s really nice!”

“Trixie let you have her bourbon?” Dinky blinked. “Really?”

Featherweight nodded.

She must be worse off than I thought! thought Dinky.

“Hmph. I think you’re overreacting,” announced Diamond Tiara, who had arrived last but at least seemed to be her normal self. “So what if the adults are being a bit silly?” She tilted her head to show off her new diamond necklace and pearl broach. “My daddy’s finally treating me right.”

“But what if he never gets back to normal?”

“I hope he stays like this forever!” Diamond Tiara smiled brightly. “He’s just spending all day with my mom and giving me money.”

“But if all the adults are being silly,” Dinky pointed out, “You won’t be able to buy anything because the stores will be closed.”

Diamond Tiara paused. “Uh… maybe, but that’s what mail-order is for.”

“Unless you try to get an Ursa,” complained Snails, though the other foals ignored him.

“The mail isn’t working either,” said Twist. “Silver Script gave us Pinkie Pie’s mail today.” She frowned. “Did you know there are ten different magazines about cake?”

Diamond Tiara waved this off. “Hmph. I’m not worried. In fact, I’m going to find Silver Spoon and we’ll have a little tea party.”

“Hey, that’s right – Silver Spoon’s not here!” said Dinky. Silver Spoon – along with a bunch of other foals, including Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, were absent. “What if she doesn’t know not to drink the adult stuff?”

“We have to find her!” said Bee Bop.

“No you don’t! Silver Spoon has better things to do than to play with you.” Diamond Tiara turned up her nose. “Especially you, Snails. All you do is dig up bugs.”

“Hey, bugs are an important part of the Equestrian ecosystem,” Snails complained.

“Let’s go!” said Bee Bop. “We have to save Silver Spoon!”

The three foals took off, Diamond Tiara running after them and complaining all the while.

Silver Spoon wasn’t at her home, but they found her at Diamond Tiara’s.

And she was looking quite silly.

“Silver!” wailed Diamond. “Did you drink that stuff?”

Silver Spoon had a lampshade on her head, like Berry Punch when they’d last seen her, and had apparently dyed her coat berry-punch purple, also like Berry Punch. (In fact, she seemed to have dyed it with berry punch, judging by the smell). “Spoonie wanted to see what the big deal was.” She grinned. “Your dad gave Spoonie a glass. He’s a nice dad. Can I borrow him sometimes? My dad—“

“No! You can’t! And – and – that lampshade does not accessorize with your jewelry or your coat!” Diamond Tiara ran over to her friend and began trying to wrestle it off of her, but Silver Spoon proved to be a bit stronger, and knocked Diamond Tiara away.

“Do you want some too? We have extra!”

“No, I – wait, we?”

Sweetie Belle came out of a side room, her cheeks bright red. “Hi everypony! I’m getting my cutie mark in having tea parties!” She grinned. “Hey Diamond Tiara, want to join us? Silver Spoon said that we should hold it over here so that you could find it! It’s really cool!”

Dinky looked at the little glass she was balancing on her back. “Isn’t that wine?”

“Then I’m getting a cutie mark in having wine parties! Like Berry Punch!” Sweetie grinned and poked Dinky on her nose. “Beep!”

“No!” Diamond Tiara looked horrified – whether at Silver’s addled mind, appearance, or her hanging out with Sweetie, Dinky didn’t know – and took off into the dining room, the other sober foals trailing behind her and stopping just short of the door. “Daddy! Fix this!”

Filthy Rich and his wife were dancing in the dining room, having roughly shoved the dining table to one side. Dust Buster was at one side of the room, waving her dust rag over everything (and mostly just breaking stuff, though none of them seemed to care).

“Later, sweetie,” said Filthy Rich, before hiccupping. “Your mother and I are busy right now.”

“No! Fix it now! Fix Silver Spoon! Just – just pay somepony to make her better!” she wailed.

Dust Buster had wandered over to Diamond Tiara and looked down. “You look…” she said, slowly, as if from a great distance. “Dirty.”

“I’m not dirty! I’m--”

“You’re filthy! And not like Mr. Rich. You need a heavy dusting,” said Dust Buster, raising her duster like a sword.

“You can’t dust me! You work for me!”

Dust Buster began to dust Diamond Tiara, backing her against the wall so she couldn’t escape. “S’okay, Mister Rich,” she slurred. “I’ll get her nice and clean!”

“Hey! Stop!” yelled Diamond Tiara.

Dinky wanted to help, but Dust Buster saw her watching and bucked the dining room door shut. Dinky blinked. “Now what?”

“Maybe there’s another way in?” offered Snails.

“Maybe we should just wait.” Twist giggled. “Diamond Tiara was really mean to me until I got my cutie mark.”

“We shouldn’t be mean to her,” said Dinky. “We should all be friends!”

“Yeah, but she’s not a nice friend.”

Bee Bop had wandered into the living room and found an old record player. “Oh, hey, it’s one of those things that Vinyl says are for ‘old fogies.’” She paused. “What’s a fogie?”

Dinky tried to get them back on track. “Okay, we have to get Diamond Tiara out of there. Let’s come up with a plan—“

“Want some wine?” Sweetie Belle had ambled back over into their little group. “It’s really good!”

“No, thanks.”

“Are you sure?” asked Silver Spoon. “If you have some you can join the best tea party ever! The three of us are having lots of fun!”

“Three?” Dinky blinked. “Who else is there?”

Silver Spoon didn’t answer but turned and went back through the side door. Sweetie followed, and after a few moments, so did the other foals.

They were in a small parlor. A foal-sized table had been set up with a fancy bottle of wine in the center and fancier little snacks – bits of expensive cheese, crackers, fresh mangoes and grapes – had been set out too. In one chair was Silver Spoon, busily drinking another glass of wine. In another was Sweetie Belle, who seemed to have set one of her crackers on fire and was trying to douse it with a cup of something or other.

In the third chair, tied securely, was Scootaloo.

“Help! They’ve gone crazy!” the pegasus yelled. “I don’t want to do a stupid tea party!”

Silver Spoon shook her head. “So unrefined. Good thing we’ve decided to civilize her!”

Sweetie Belle nodded enthusiastically, and put a bonnet on Scootaloo’s head. “Yeah!”

“I thought you didn’t care about that, Sweetie,” said Twist. “You told me that you argued with your sister about it.”

“I didn’t,” said Sweetie Belle. “But Silver Spoon said that, if I do what she wants at this tea party, she’ll get more wine from her daddy’s secret drawer!” She paused. “I was gonna drink my sister’s, but it kinda burnt up. Besides, this is a lot funner than I thought!”

Silver Spoon put a second bonnet on Scootaloo’s head and giggled. “It’s a ‘let’s make Scootaloo lady-like’ party!”

“YAY!” the two cheered.

Scootaloo screamed in terror.

Dinky blinked and turned to Twist, Snails, and Bee Bop. “We have to rescue Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara!” she whispered.

“We could fill the house with bugs,” offered Snails, as the two drunk foals began to sing about something or other.

“That’s your solution to everything!” said Twist.

“Well, it’s a good one!”

“What’s a fogie?” repeated Bee Bop.

Dinky shut her eyes and tried to think. “Okay. Bee Bop, you help me rescue Diamond Tiara. Snails, Twist, can you get Scootaloo untied?”

“Sure!” said Snails. “You can count on us!”

Bee Bop followed Dinky back to the door to the dining room. “What are we going to do? There’s three adults in there!”

“I have an idea.” Dinky whispered a few sentences to Bee Bop. “Ready?”

“Okay…”

Dinky and Bee Bop bucked the door at the same time, knocking it open. The Rich adults were still dancing, and Dust Buster was still dusting a huddled Diamond Tiara. Dinky ran into the room. “Now!”

Bee Bop took a deep breath. “HI DUST BUSTER!” she boomed.

Dust Buster responded the same way all adults did the first time they met Bee Bop – she stumbled backwards, clapping her hooves over her ears. “Oww!”

Dinky hurried over to Diamond Tiara. “Run!”

The rich foal needed no encouragement. She hurriedly dashed towards the door.

“Hey!” Dust Buster tried to pursue, but she stumbled into a shelf of fancy plates. As the plates began to fall, and Dust Buster dove under them to stop them from breaking, the foals escaped.

Dinky was first to the front hallway. “Snails! Twist! Are you—“

“Yuck!” Dinky turned to see Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon running away from the parlor in a panic.

Dinky hurried in to see Twist, Scootaloo, and Snails giggling. “What happened? Did you summon some giant bug at them?” asked Dinky.

“I wanted to, but my magic’s not that good yet.” Snails shrugged. “So I just stole Silver Spoon’s plate and ran around with it, and then Twist put that yucky candy in their drinks while they were distracted.”

Twist giggled. “Mom put some in my saddlebag before I ran away with you guys this morning. Guess it’s good for something. One sip and they were running to get something to wash the taste away!”

Dinky blinked. Well, that… worked, she supposed.

Dinky coughed when they were all outside. “Okay. Now we—“

“Uh, Diamond Tiara? What happened to you?” asked Twist.

Dinky turned, and got her first good look at the newly ‘clean’ Diamond Tiara. Her coat had been poofed up in various places and styled with ribbons. She looked kind of like a large, grumpy poodle.

Momma says it’s very mean to laugh at how other ponies look, thought Dinky, struggling not to do anything mean. Even if they look as goofy as that…

And then she couldn’t resist anymore, and giggled. The others did too, except for Scootaloo, who seemed to be trying to hold it in.

“Stop!” whined Diamond Tiara. “I’m still more fashionable than any of you!”

“You’re all poofy!” Twist said.

“I’m a pony! Ponies are not supposed to be poofy! That’s for dumb pets like Rarity’s stupid cat!”

Scootaloo finally gave up and burst into laughter. “You look like you got stuck in a dryer!”

Diamond Tiara blushed, a deep reddish hue. “Come on!” she said. “We have to save Silver Spoon!” She paused. “And Dust Buster. I need her to clean my room.”

“What about your dad?” asked Dinky.

Diamond Tiara shrugged. “He can stay like this. He said he’d buy me a--”

The others stared at her.

Diamond Tiara sighed. “Fine. We’ll fix everypony.”

“Yay!” said Snails.

“Let’s go!” said Dinky.

A collection of trinkets

No sooner had the ponies left Filthy Rich’s mansion than they heard a crash from another building. As Dinky watched, a large earth pony – Boxxy Brown, she thought – stumbled into and then through a door, knocking it off its hinges. Similar things were happening at the other houses. Dinky didn’t think she’d ever seen so much chaos. It reminded the foal of the legends of the monster called Discord that Lyra had sung to her one time.

“What are we going to do?!” asked Bee Bop.

“Let’s find the ingredients that Zecora told us to find,” said Dinky. “And then let’s try to cast the counter-spell. Or find a unicorn that isn’t crazy to do it.”

“But that list is really long. It’ll take forever!” said Twist.

“Well—“

“Ahem.” Diamond Tiara strode into the center of the group. “I’ll divide up the list, and we’ll all split up. Bee Bop, you—“

“Why do you get to divide it up?” asked Bee Bop. “You’ll probably take all the fun ingredients for yourself and give us all the dumb ones.”

“I’m a natural leader. My daddy says I’m his little princess, and princesses lead things.”

“I wanna lead,” said Scootaloo. “I’m good at it! I always lead my scooter the right way!”

“That’s not the same thing,” said Bee Bop.

Dinky’s horn glowed as she tried to get their attention. “Snails and I know a little about magic, so why don’t we get the magical stuff from Trixie’s and the other unicorns? Diamond Tiara, you shop a lot, so you can get the stuff from the downtown stores – and Scootaloo, you’re fast so you can help her get there quickly. Twist, you’re friends with a lot of the farmers, so you can get the produce, and Bee Bop, you can help. Okay?”

“Not okay. I’m leading,” insisted Diamond Tiara, before pausing for a moment. “Wait. Me and Scootaloo are together?”

“Uh huh. I—“

Diamond Tiara thought for a few moments. “I suppose a responsible foal needs to make sure that she picks up the things we need and doesn't just scoot around town for hours.” Diamond Tiara thrust out a hoof and poked Scootaloo in the nose. “But we’re going to go at a speed for normal ponies! Not crazy ponies like you!”

“Hmph. I’m not crazy. I just know how to have fun.”

Twist paused. “Hey, uh, Dinky,” she said, in a soft voice, “Maybe it’d make sense to leave Snails behind? We need to move fast, and he’s real slow!”

Dinky frowned. “No. We have to work together. That’s what friends do.”

“But I’m not Snails’ friend! He doesn’t even like peppermint!”

Snails had drifted close enough to overhear them. “Well, you don’t like bugs!”

Dinky groaned as the two began to argue. Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara were continuing to bicker over scooter speed limits as well. “Hey!” she said, starting to become upset. “We can’t fight! We have to work together to save Ponyville! Like – like the adults did when they saved us all from Corona!”

The foals fell silent at that.

“They were really good friends and so they became the Elements. Now we need to be just as good friends!”

Scootaloo blinked. “Wait, does that mean we can also be Elements?”

“Uh… no, but—“

“I’m the Element of Speed!” said Scootaloo, immediately. “No, the Element of Awesomeness! That’s me!”

“I’m the Element of Being Fashionable,” said Diamond Tiara.

“I’m the Element of Bug Collecting!” shouted Snails.

Dinky resisted the urge to bonk her head against the nearest convenient surface.

“HEY!”

That wasn’t a foal. The six of them turned to see a thoroughly unsteady Raindrops staggering up the path.

“Look at ‘em!” cried out Raindrops. “They’re still standin’ straight! Clearly, they’re not partying hard enough yet! Hey, foals! Want some fresh grape wine?”

“Uh, no thanks, Miss Raindrops,” said Dinky.

Raindrops frowned – and then almost immediately smiled, a weird smile. “Sure you do! Come here, I’ll give you some!” She began to run at them. Behind her, Dinky saw other adults – most armed with various bottles – following.

Dinky gulped. Zecora had mentioned that the spell might cause the affected ponies to try to infect the others in town, and it looked like that was starting to kick in more strongly. “Everypony, let’s split up like we agreed on!” They hadn’t agreed, but there wasn’t time to get into details like that. “Meet at the clubhouse when you have everything!”

They all scattered away from the approaching adults.

“Carrot Top’s the Element of Generosity,” said Twist. “She’s gotta give us some carrot tops for the spell!”

Bee Bop flew up and peaked in her window. “I don’t think she’s home. But it’s an emergency, can’t we just take them?”

Twist scrunched up her face in thought. “I don’t know…”

Bee Bop flew over into the field. “Look, they’re right there. We can pay her back later.” She landed and began to dig one up. “We need six carrot tops, right?”

“Yeah.” Twist trotted after Bee Bop, looking nervous. “But we can’t just take without asking first. We should at least leave a note! “

They continued to bicker about it for a few minutes until Bee Bop said, “Well, I’m going to start picking them.” And she did.

Twist frowned as she walked down a row of carrots. “I just think – ow!”

“What?”

“I think one of the carrots just bit me!” Twist looked down, and blinked. Buried in the carrot row, head poking out of the dirt, was a large, orange-haired earth pony.

“Carrot Top?” Twist asked. “Why are you… acting like a carrot?”

“Cause I’m a Carrot Top,” said Carrot Top, giggling. “So I gotta be buried in dirt so I can grow up and be delicious.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Twist. ”May we borrow some carrots, please?”

“Carrots, huh?” Carrot Top grinned. “Sure, but you gotta play a game first!” She jumped and burst out of the ground, spraying Twist with dirt.

“A game?”

Carrot Top went over to a big nozzle connected to a bigger hose. “See, the new irrigation system came with this awesome high-power hose.” She struggled to turn the water on. “You’re just foals, so you haven’t grown up yet. That means I have to plant you and water you!” She laughed, like it was the funniest thing in the world.

The two foals looked at each other. “Um, okay,” yelled Bee Bop – perhaps a bit louder than she had to be, as usual. “Sure.” If she’s just going to dump water on us, I guess we can deal with that. We’ll play with her later if she still wants to—

Carrot Top turned out the hose and began to spray something sweet-smelling at them.

“It’s wine! Run!” cried Twist. “If we drink any we’ll go crazy like them!”

And then the two foals were running through the carrot patch as Carrot Top raced after them, spraying the hose everywhere.

“This is all your fault!” snapped Diamond Tiara.

“Nuh-uh! It’s yours!”

The two of them were holed up in Blossomforth’s (now trashed) boutique as a dozen ponies pounded on the window with mugs of cider and bottles of wine.

“If we hadn’t taken that detour to try to find Rainbow Dash we’d be gone already!”

“Hey, I thought she was too awesome to get hurt by the wine stuff!” Scootaloo frowned. “But she was doing hoofstands in the park. It was kind of weird.”

“She followed us here! That’s how they found us!”

“They found us because you took five minutes to get some dumb hat from Rarity’s boutique!”

“I couldn’t not get that hat!” Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof. “That’s a completely unreasonable thing to ask!”

“No, asking one of the fastest ponies in town to slow down is unreasonable!” Scootaloo paused. “What’s unreasonable mean?”

Diamond Tiara groaned.

“Come on out! Drink with us!” cried Berry Punch, slamming against the window.

The foals squeaked and crowded together under the counter.

There was silence for a moment.

“Wow. You really are poofy.”

“I am not!”

Dinky exited Pokey’s house, feeling a little bad about stealing but deciding that this was one of those ‘exceptions’ that Trixie had told her about. “Snails, I’ve got all the stuff we needed from Pokey’s!”

“Great!” Snails grinned. “I got the things from Trixie’s house!” He gestured at a bulging saddlebag.

“That was fast,” observed Dinky. “Are you sure you got everything!”

“Uh huh! Let’s go to the clubhouse and wait for the others!” And Snails took off.

Dinky shrugged. It was nice for things to go right for once that day. She hurried after Snails. “Wait! Your legs are too long; I can’t keep up!”

“Just magic them bigger!” Snails grinned. “Hey, yeah, that’s right! You haven’t picked an Element yet?”

Dinky sighed. “I don’t think—“

“You have to pick one,” said Snails, in a tone indicating that he would not be persuaded on this. “We all did.”

Dinky quickly said, “Okay. I’m the Element of…” She tried to think of a good one. Her Momma sometimes called her the Element of Cuteness, but she didn’t want to say that to Snails since it sounded a little silly. “I’m the Element of being Dinky.”

Snails frowned. “I don’t think that counts.”

Dinky’s complaints were cut short when she heard a shout behind them. “Hey, it’s Miss Cherilee! And she—“

“CLASS!” called out Cherilee. “You didn’t do your homework today!” She bounced a bottle of cider on her back. “Drink,” she hiccupped, “Two mugs of hard cider and write a report on how awesome cider is!”

The two foals looked at each other, and then took off at a dead run for Sweet Apple Acres.

Bee Bop whispered to Twist, “You dig up the carrots! I’ll distract Carrot Top!”

“Okay!”

Twist ran and hid behind a particularly thick cluster of carrots while Bee Bop flew up and circled back to approach the carrot farmer. She took a deep breath, drawing on her special talent. “HEY, CARROT TOP!”

Her Mom had once told her that, when she yelled, she sounded like a princess. When pressed for more detail, she’d mentioned something about a Royal Voice and left it at that. Bee Bop wasn’t sure what that meant, but she liked princesses and so appreciated the comparison.

Carrot Top seemed to think so too, being bowled over and knocked back a few lengths. “Ow! By the moon, Bee, you’re really loud.”

“I KNOW!” Bee Bop began to fly circles around him. “BET YOU CAN’T GET ME!”

Carrot Top tilted the hose up and began to shoot at Bee Bop, but Bee was fast and manage to evade the earth pony. “HAH! YOU—“

A cyan blast rocketed past her. A moment later, Bee Bop felt something slam into her, and then she was tumbling towards the ground. When she was able to open her eyes and look up, she was staring into the flushed cheeks of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow giggled and poked her in the nose a few times. “Hey Carrot-Noggin! I was gonna say there’s a couple foals downtown who aren’t partying hard yet, but now I find you’ve got some on your farm too!” She poked Bee Bop a few more times. “Come on, Orange-Head, we gotta get the foals to have some fun!”

“Sorry!” slurred Carrot Top, ambling over. “But let’s get her now!” She dug a quick hole. “Put her in here and I’ll plant her and water her and she’ll grow up into a big, strong, partying pony!”

“Hey! I don’t wanna get planted!” said Bee Bop, trying to escape but doing little more than poking Rainbow Dash in the wing a few times.

“But it’s required! Mayor Scrolls just passed a bill requiring all Ponyville residents to have at least two ciders or beers or whatever a day!” said Carrot Top. “You wouldn’t want to break the law, would you? You’d be a criminal!”

“I’M NOT A CRIMINAL!” yelled Bee Bop, forcing Rainbow Dash to flinch and allowing her to get up and begin to scamper away.

“You’re not getting away!” shouted Rainbow Dash, who took off flying into a large bush before recovering and heading at Bee Bop.

“Help!”

The three turned to see Twist sprinting at them.

“Carrot Top’s plow went crazy and it’s going to run over a bunch of, uh, bunny rabbits and foals!” Twist said. “Rainbow Dash, you have to do something!”

Rainbow Dash paused. “But the party…”

“Well, okay.” Twist shrugged. “I’ll just write the Wonderbolts. If you can’t do it, I’m sure they can.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. Even in her drunken haze, she still wanted the Wonderbolts’ respect. “Forget that! I’ll do it and prove that I’m just as good as any one of them! Never fear, the wonderful Rainbow Dash is here!” She rocketed off.

Twist nudged Bee Bop. Her saddlebag had the carrot tops in them. “Run!”

“Hey!” Carrot Top began to chase them as they left the field. “Get back here! I need to plant you and water you!”

“I’m not a carrot!” yelled Twist.

“That’s okay, we can fix that!”

The two foals looked at each other, then sped up as much as they could.

“Okay,” said Scootaloo. “This is my plan.”

“What about my plan? I have a plan! And it’s a better plan!” snapped Diamond Tiara.

“…what is it?”

“This.” Diamond Tiara took a long, deep breath. “DADDY! HELP US!”

Nothing happened.

“I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Diamond Tiara glared at her before looking away. “Fine. What’s your plan?”

“You distract them while I get the rest of the stuff. Then I zip at the door, you jump on, and we get out of here!”

She’s letting me help her with one of her stunts! “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

“Then let’s go!”

Sighing, Diamond Tiara got out from behind the counter and looked at the ponies who were hammering (and cracking) the glass. “Hmph! I see why my daddy doesn’t want me associating with ponies like you!” This was more of a view that she wished her daddy held than one he actually held, but that wasn’t important. “Pounding down the door to see a lady? Were you raised in barns?”

Caramel, one of Applejack’s farm hands, nodded vigorously as he shook a big barrel of cider on his back.

Diamond Tiara saw Scootaloo sneak over to the back cabinet where Blossomforth kept her most valuable flowers, and then begin fighting the lock. The pink foal turned her attention back to the ponies at the window – just as Berry Punch bucked it and shattered it, allowing them to start pouring in.

“HEY!” yelled Diamond Tiara, bringing them up short. “That’s no way to approach a lady! If you want to come in to my home, say ‘please!’”

The others paused. “But this isn’t your home,” said Berry Punch.

“That doesn’t matter!” said Diamond Tiara. (Behind her, she heard a series of loud banging and crunching noises, but didn’t dare turn around to see what in Equestria Scootaloo was doing.) “None of you said please!”

“But… but you’re not partying,” said Caramel. “And that’s against the law now!”

“Neither are you! You’re standing there and knocking down a wall. That’s not partying!” Diamond Tiara shook her head. “It’s not partying at all!”

The adults looked at each other, and then Berry Punch yelled, “Foal’s got a point! Let’s dance!” And they began to bop around and drink the wine they’d brought.

But just as Diamond Tiara was feeling relieved, she felt herself floating up in the air. She turned to see Pokey Pierce levitating her towards him. “You need to join in!” he insisted. “It’s required under the new town regulations!”

Though Diamond Tiara would never admit it to anyone, she immediately yelled, “Scootaloo! Help me!”

“Coming!”

Diamond Tiara let out a small ‘eep’ as a bulb of scummy water – some kind of algae, probably – flew from behind her into Pokey’s head. Pokey yelped and lost his grip on Diamond Tiara. She fell – was caught – and then was zooming out the broken window, past the ponies, at an absurdly fast speed.

“WHEEEE!” yelled Scootaloo. “Hang on!”

Diamond Tiara gripped Scootaloo tightly. “I thought you said you’d go at a normal speed!”

“This is normal!”

Diamond Tiara blinked. “You’re completely insane!”

“Hey, I don’t spend hundreds of bits on silly glittery things—“

The scooter ran over a small incline and lifted a few inches into the air. “Eeek!” Diamond Tiara clutched at Scootaloo tighter. Scootaloo frowned and leaned to the left, and the scooter hit the ground without tilting over. “Diamond Tiara?”

“What?”

“Don’t hold on that tight! I can’t breathe!”

They continued to zip through the downtown, with the adults in fast pursuit.

“What happened to the barn?” asked Dinky. “Wasn’t there a barn here?”

Snails shrugged.

They had collected their supplies, evaded the adults, and made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, where Apple Bloom had her secret clubhouse that they could use to figure out how best to complete their next steps. But one of the landmarks on the way to the clubhouse was a big old barn, except that it wasn’t there anymore.

“Dinky! Snails!”

The two foals turned to see Apple Bloom running at them.

“Watch out! Big Mac got the farmhands drunk or somethin’ an’ they had a big party in the barn an’ knocked it down!”

Dinky grinned. “Apple Bloom! You’re not drunk!”

“Of course not. Applejack says ah’m not old enough ta drink.”

“Then come on! We have to save the adults!” Dinky pointed in the direction of the treehouse. “We—“

“We’re playing Elements!” Snails grinned. “I’m the Element of Bugs!”

“Ah didn’t think that was an Element.”

“It’s a new one.” Snails nodded. “And it’s a really good one. All the others are going to want to trade with me, I just know it, but I’m not going to.”

“Uh huh.” Dinky began to run towards the clubhouse. “Come on!” She heard rapidly approaching hoofsteps mixed with thumps, which she had learned by this point probably meant a drunken pony was wandering into things nearby. “We have to hurry!”

No sooner had the foals made it into the relative safety of the clubhouse secret apple cobbler basement (still, unfortunately, bereft of apple cobbler) that they heard more hoofsteps approaching. Dinky tensed… but it was just Bee Bop and Twist, holding saddlebags full of produce.

“Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash, and the other farmers, are looking for us!” said Twist. “They’re going to make us be silly like them!”

“I like being silly,” said Snails, apropos of nothing.

“But we can’t be silly forever. We have to go to school and learn sometimes, and do chores and stuff. The adults do too.” Dinky frowned. It did sound fun to be partying forever, but given what was happening to the town, she was able to see that it really couldn’t last. You had to stop partying and clean up at some point.

They heard screams, and then the familiar sound of Scootaloo’s scooter crashing into something. “Aaagh!”

After a moment, there were two small ‘splats that sounded like foals tumbling into a mud puddle or something.

And a few moments later, a very muddy Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo entered. Diamond Tiara looked very unhappy, and Scootaloo wasn’t saying much of anything. “Well, we got away from the adults,” the latter managed.

“I’d rather be with them! This stupid poofed coat’s trapping all the mud!” complained Diamond Tiara.

“Did you get the stuff?” asked Twist.

“Is that all you care about? Nevermind that the most beautiful foal in Ponyville’s coat may be stained forever—“ began Diamond Tiara.

Scootaloo nodded. “Yep!”

“Yay!” cheered the others.

Trying to figure out how to make Diamond Tiara stop complaining, Dinky approached her. “Thanks for getting the shop supplies. Those’ll be really helpful.”

“Hmph.”

“I know a mud-cleaning spell,” said Snails, suddenly. “Or at least, I know how to use telekinesis to get mud off stuff! Raindrops made me learn it after I got the house muddy a few times last month. Want me to try?”

“Yes!” Diamond Tiara paused. “But don’t you dare pull off even a single hair of my coat!”

“Of course not!” Snails focused. The mud on Diamond Tiara trembled. And then --

Then it splashed away from her in all directions.

Dinky blinked. She felt, well, muddy. In fact, all the foals in the room were now about equally muddy, with little clumps spattering over their faces and staining their coats. Snails’s horn and Bee Bop’s wings were hit especially hard, with Snails in particularly looking like he had a clump of mud on his head. They all stared at each other.

And then, helplessly, they all burst into laughter. Even Diamond Tiara.

A peaceful conclusion

Trixie was lying in the middle of the circle. The foals cautiously approached her.

“Miss Trixie? Are you okay?” asked Dinky.

“Dinky?”

Dinky scampered over. “What?”

“I need you to do a really big favor for me, okay?” said Trixie. Her speech was slow and halting.

“What is it?”

“Go to Carrot Top’s house. She keeps her spare key under the small rock just to the left of her front door; use it to get inside. Or just break in if the key’s not there. Go to the uppermost cabinet in her kitchen, open it, and take one of the bottles you find there. Bring it to me right away.” Trixie shut her eyes. “It’s, uh, adult medicine.”

“Oh. For hangovers!” said Snails, brightly.

“… yes, fine. For hangovers.”

Dinky grinned. Trixie was back to normal! “Of course, Miss Trixie! You can count on us!”

The foals helped get the adults back on their feet, passing out the hangover cures and assisting a staggering Carrot Top with brewing more. And, by the end of the day, the adults were almost back to normal. The town looked quite damaged, true, but at least the adults were okay.

Mayor Scrolls and Trixie had an impromptu town meeting the next day to talk about what had happened. Standing in front of the wreckage of town hall (it seemed that Cloud Kicker had wandered into an errant raincloud and decided to see how lightning-proof city hall was), Trixie gave a speech. “I don’t remember much of the past three days. I don’t think any of us do,” said Trixie. “Hay, my memory of today is pretty much gone. But, as you can see, we overcame the problem. I was able to lift the spell!” There was cheering.

Trixie waved a hoof to quiet the crowd. “But of course, I didn’t do it alone.” Dinky grinned, wondering if she was about to get honored. “I could never have done it if not for the magic of friendship helping to inspire me! Lyra, Cherilee, Raindrops, Ditzy, and Carrot Top have all helped me to be a better magician, and…”

“What?!” demanded Diamond Tiara. “They didn’t do anything! We did!”

“Of course, dear,” said Filthy Rich, absently.

“Hmph!”

(On stage, Trixie was explaining that, while Zecora had indeed somehow escaped while being escorted to Canterlot by the royal guards, they were confident they’d find her soon. She also mentioned that she’d asked for a larger guard contingent to guard the zebra, and maybe a Shadowbolt anti-magic specialist to help, but nopony listened to her).

Dinky giggled and nuzzled up against her mother. “You’re sure you’re okay, Momma?”

“Of course I am. I have you looking out for me.” Ditzy smiled and placed a wing over Dinky. “What you did was very brave.” A smile crossed her face. “And I think you learned something.”

Dinky thought hard. “Rainbow Dash likes the Wonderbolts?”

Ditzy giggled. (Meanwhile, on stage, Trixie was describing how they were going to get Canterlot to pay for all the repairs. Cherilee had gone up on stage to help detail what forms would need to be filed and what all the ponies would need to say to the government inspectors). “That sometimes we adults know what we’re talking about when we tell our foals not to do something.”

Dinky thought back to Snips, who was still in bed due to all the candy he’d eaten, or Snails, whose house was being debugged (to Raindrops’s dismay). Or, more broadly, all the adults who had been acting like foals for the past few days and just doing whatever made them feel happy, without regards for the town or other consequences. “But I already knew that, Momma.”

Ditzy grinned. “You’re the best daughter in the world.”

“And you’re the best Momma!”

Later, Dinky was enjoying a muffin in the park – Pinkie had worked overtime to get some decent baked goods prepared for the ‘we’re all sober again’ party – when the other foals showed up.

“So, that was kind of fun!” said Scootaloo. “We should have more adventures.”

“No way!” insisted Diamond Tiara. Her coat was still poofy in weird places. “Adventures messed up my coat.”

“I WANT MORE LOUD ADVENTURES!” yelled Bee Bop.

Dinky grinned. “What kind of adventures, though? The town’s saved.”

“Well, your Mom’s part of the Elements because she’s good friends with Trixie and the others, right? Maybe we can all be good friends and do foal-Element stuff!” said Twist.

The foals all looked at each other.

“No way,” said Diamond Tiara. “Nope. Some foals here are just too gross for refined ponies like myself.”

“I can’t be good friends with ponies who are creeped out by cute little bugs,” said Snails.

Dinky giggled. “How about just regular friends then? Good friends can come later.”

“Yeah! And we can fight evil! Like – like if Corona has an evil foal who wants to take over Ponyville!” said Scootaloo.

"I dunno," said Twist. "That sounds like it might take time away from making candy."

"Or playing music!" yelled Bee Bop.

“Eh. I’ll think about it,” said Diamond Tiara.

The foals talked for a bit longer before dispersing, all going their separate ways. Soon, it was just Dinky, but she still smiled as she went home. She felt like she’d maybe strengthened a few friendships. Sure, the foals weren’t all best friends now, but maybe they wouldn’t be quite as isolated from each other (well, Diamond and Silver would likely still hold themselves apart, and Snips and Snails would probably still be treated as gross, but she meant the rest of them). And they’d saved the adults. It was a good day’s work.

Dinky smiled as she entered her home. It had been interesting being one of the most ‘grown-up’ ponies in town for a few days, but she was looking forward to being able to be a foal again.

After all, foals got special treats sometimes.

“Momma? May I have another banana-nut muffin, please?”

“Of course, dear. The hero of Ponyville can have another muffin.” Ditzy grinned and put one on the counter. “But just one more. I wouldn’t want you to get a tummy ache.”

Dinky grinned and tucked in with gusto.

A toast to friends

“Is it done yet?” asked Apple Bloom. “Is it? Is it?” She was practically hopping in excitement.

“Almost!” said Twist. “Just one more minute!”

“Aw, but Ah want it now!” Apple Bloom looked into the mixer again. “It’s taking forever!”

Dinky giggled. “Can mine have cinnamon, please?”

“Of course!”

Dinky smiled as she looked at Twist’s new candy-making kit that was sitting on the counter. Twist had just gotten it for her birthday and had been eager to try it out, but even the smallest recipe made far too much candy for one foal (well, according to Twist’s sister Bonbon, anyway). As a result, Twist had invited a few of her friends over to taste the first batch.

The mixer beeped and stopped, and Twist grinned. “It’s done!” She took the bowl down and carefully divided the mixture into three portions, making sure to add a heavy dusting of cinnamon to Dinky’s and a drizzle of freshly melted chocolate to Apple Bloom’s. She then began to carefully pour the sweet candy mixture into plastic sleeves. “Thanks for the apple butter, Apple Bloom. I think it’ll go really well in the candy.”

“Yeah, thanks!” said Dinky.

Apple Bloom smiled. “No problem.” She paused. “Now is it done?”

“Hang on a second!” Twist finished pouring and capped one end on each of the sleeves. “There we go!” She passed a sleeve to each of the other two foals. “What do you think?”

Dinky eagerly hoisted the sleeve into the air with her telekinesis and then applied just a hint of pressure to squeeze some of it into her mouth.

Or at least she tried.

What she actually did was squeeze hard enough to shoot about half the mixture out the open end and directly into her face, covering her eyes and almost knocking her over onto her flank. “Aaagh!”

Apple Bloom and Twist burst into laughter, and Dinky joined them a moment later. Licking the candy mixture off from around her mouth, she found that it was delicious. “This is yummy!” She paused. “Can I have another?”

The next voice wasn’t Twist’s, or Apple Bloom’s, for that matter. “Sorry, kiddo. I promised your mom I’d only let you have one,” said Bonbon, who had evidently just entered the room. “Otherwise it’ll ruin your appetite.”

Apple Bloom giggled. “But ah can have another, right?” (Dinky had managed to clear the mix off of one of her eyes and saw, to her surprise, that Apple Bloom had already finished hers – and, judging by the way she was licking her lips, she seemed to be enjoying it a lot.)

“Applejack made me promise to only let you have one too,” said Bonbon. “Sorry.”

“Please?” asked Twist. “Can’t I make another set? We’re having a lot of fun, and—“

“I know.” Bonbon smiled and nuzzled at her sister. “But I wouldn’t want any of you to get upset tummies. Come on, Twist. Don’t you have homework, anyway? You need to get it done before the Fair, or Mom won’t let you go.” The Ponyville town Fair was later that day, and most of the foals had been looking forward to it for weeks. Threatening not to let them attend was a very serious issue.

“Aww…” Twist was good at baking, but school wasn’t her strong suit, and Dinky knew that she was behind in math class. “Alright…”

Dinky finished getting the rest of the mix off of her face. “Hi Bonbon,” she said. “How’s your new candy recipe?”

“Hey Dinky. Good to see you.” Bonbon chuckled. “It’s coming alright. Mom still wants me to make it veggie flavored,” she paused as all three foals grimaced, “But I’m thinking something more marshmallow-esque.” She smiled at Dinky again before turning back to Twist. “Alright,” she told her sister. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get your work done before the Fair starts. Say goodbye to your friends, and we’ll start homework in… ten minutes?”

Twist nodded. “Okay, Bonbon.”

“Great.” Bonbon nodded and left the room.

“Hmph.” Apple Bloom frowned. “Ah think we could’ve had one more without getting’ sick.” She paused. “Or three.”

“Well, she’s my big sister.” Twist began to clean up the bowls (with the other two moving to help once they saw what she was doing). “I gotta do what she says.”

“Ah know. But ah still think it’s silly.” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Guess ah’ll head home, then, an’ see if Applejack’s got anythin’ ah need ta do before the Fair… what’re ya doin’, Dinky?”

“Snails asked me to meet him in the park,” said Dinky. “And then I was going to say hi to Miss Trixie.”

“Snails?” The two earth ponies looked at each other and giggled. “Why him?” asked Twist. “He’s kind of gross.”

“He’s funny,” said Dinky. “And he said it was really important. And Momma says that, if a friend says something is really important, you should believe them.” She nodded sagely.

“He probably just found some bug,” said Apple Bloom, sticking out her tongue. “But have fun… an’ can ya come over tomorrow, right after school? Ah’m almost done with the clubhouse, an’ ah wanna show somepony.”

“Sure! I’d love to see it!” said Dinky. Applejack had gotten Apple Bloom a new clubhouse after placing well in a big farming competition, but Apple Bloom had taken it upon herself to add on to it and make it ‘cooler.’ Dinky didn’t think all of Apple Bloom’s ideas would have made it into the final design – the ‘trap door into a secret room full of apple cobbler’ in particular sounded like it might be hard to build – but she still wanted to see what her friend had come up with. “I bet Scootaloo would want to come too—“

“Ah already asked, but she’s doin’ somethin’ with Sweetie Belle,” said Apple Bloom. “Goin’ on some adventure in Whitetail Woods. An’ ah asked Bee Bop too, but she’s doin’ some photo thing with Featherweights.” She shrugged. “Guess ah could try again, though. Ah’d like everypony ta see it. We could make it a secret foal clubhouse an’ not let in any adults!”

“And we could have all the candy we wanted!” Twist added. “Awesome idea!”

Dinky giggled at that. “Great!” She turned to leave. “See you two tomorrow!”

The purple unicorn smiled as she left. Apple Bloom and Twist were really fun friends!

“…that’s a big bug,” observed Dinky.

It was easily half a foot long, with a hundred legs and a bright green shell. When Snails poked it, it waved its antenna around in an unhappy manner. Dinky had the strong feeling that it would much rather the three unicorns stop observing it and let it get back to doing whatever it was that bugs did.

“Isn’t it neat?” Snails grinned. “It’s my new favorite!”

Snips frowned. “You said yesterday that the tarantula was your favorite forever!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know about this one when I said that!” Snails grinned as he poked it with his stick again. “I’m gonna take it home! I’ll name him… Crawly!”

“Didn’t you name your last bug Crawly?” asked Dinky, kneeling to look at the bug more closely. Hi there!

The bug poked an antenna at Dinky’s nose, causing the purple unicorn to scuttle back a few steps. “Hey!”

“Good point. Crawly 2 it is!” said Snails, oblivious to Dinky’s antics. “Thanks for coming out to see him, Dinky. We asked some of the other foals, but they didn’t want to.”

“Diamond Tiara even said we were gross.” Snips frowned. “Can you imagine? Us?” He laughed, burped, and laughed again. “How could anypony think we were gross?”

“How many bugs do you have?” said Dinky, trying to change the subject so she wouldn’t have to answer the question. “You must have collected hundreds by now!”

“I wish,” sighed Snails. “Raindrops only lets me have a few at a time. She’s still upset about that one time I left the box open and they all got out.”

“She’s silly,” said Snips. “That was so cool! It was like a big bug scavenger hunt in your house!”

“She was just upset cause they got into her bed.” Snails frowned. “I wonder why? I wouldn’t mind having a bug in my bed.” He looked at the bug. “It’d be like a stuffed animal, but a million times better!”

The bug had no reaction.

“It’s neat that you like stuff like this,” said Snips to Dinky. “You’re pretty cool!”

“Thanks! You too!” Dinky smiled. “Hey, Apple Bloom’s showing off her new clubhouse tomorrow. Want me to ask her if you two can come?”

They looked at each other. “Nah,” said Snails. “We were going to hang out in the caves under Whitetail Woods.”

“Besides,” said Snips, “I think she thinks we’re weird.”

Snails looked up at the sky. “Sorry, Snips, but I gotta head home or Raindrops’ll get mad. She said she wanted me to get the house cleaned up before the Fair, since she’s doing weather patrol stuff and can’t do it herself.” He carefully poked the bug into a little box with airholes.

“See you later?” asked Dinky. “At the festival?”

“Sure!”

He walked off, Snips hurrying to keep up on his shorter legs. Dinky chuckled as she watched them go. I bet he becomes a bug scientist one day. And then she was hurrying on her way to see Trixie.

Trixie was not home.

“She left about ten minutes ago,” said Featherweight, standing in Trixie’s yard. He had out a fancy camera with a tripod, and was busily snapping photos of Bee Bop unpacking her toy drums. “She said that it was a really big deal, that somepony took something really important to her and she had to get it back.”

Dinky frowned. “That’s awful! Did she say what?”

“No, but Pokey said that it was an ‘adult drink,’ whatever that is,” said Featherweight.

Bee Bop looked up. “Hey, come on. I’m almost ready!”

“Right, sorry!” Featherweight grinned. “This is gonna look awesome in the Foal Free Press. Bee Bop’s going to set a record for playing for longer than any other pony in Ponyville history!”

“I didn’t know there was a record for that,” said Dinky.

“There’s records for everything. Truffle Muncher just broke the ‘most muffins eaten in one sitting’ record last week!” said Featherweight. “And I got the photos of that too. But Miss Cherilee says we can’t print them in the school paper because later that night she got sick.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Actually, Pinkie Pie gave me and Truffle five jangles each for them.” Featherweight grinned. “She said they’re great advertisements!”

“Anyway,” called Bee Bop, thumping a couple times on her (out of tune) drums. “We’re going to be doing more photography tomorrow too.”

“Apple Bloom’s going to be showing off her clubhouse then,” said Dinky. “And Snips and Snails will be in Whitetail Woods. We could all go say hi to one of them!”

“Can’t,” said Featherweight. “Bee Bop’s going to play the ‘Jellybean Jambourine’ while balancing on one hoof. That’ll be another record!”

Dinky hesitated, wondering if she should ask what the record was in, exactly, but decided not to. Instead, she just smiled. “Okay then. Good luck!”

“I don’t need luck!” boasted Bee Bop, thumping her drums more forcefully. “I—“

One of the skins snapped, and Bee Bop yelped and dropped the drums. “Agh!”

Featherweight flew over. “You okay?”

“Yeah, but now I gotta reskin it.” Bee Bop sighed. “Horsefeathers.”

Featheweight pointed down a road. “Pokey said that Trixie was going to Whitetail Woods, Dinky.”

“Okay, thanks!”

Dinky was just approaching Whitetail Woods when she heard the booming, expansive voice of Ponyville’s richest citizen, Mr. Filthy Rich himself.

“This would be an absolutely perfect location!” he was saying. “Of course I’d like to buy it! Diamond, dear, don’t you think it’d be a perfect investment?”

“Yeah, dad,” said his obviously unenthused daughter. “Whatever.”

Dinky crested the hill to see Rich talking with Lotso Lots, a pony who sold houses and property in the Ponyville area. A few feet away were Diamond Tiara, sighing loudly and giving every indication that she was bored out of her mind, and Silver Spoon, who looked at least a little more interested.

Dinky approached them. “Hi Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon! Hi Mr. Rich and Mr. Lots!”

“Dinky!” Filthy Rich grinned. “What brings you here? Not trying to poach this deal from me, are you?” He laughed.

“Oh, no. I’m just looking for Miss Trixie.” Dinky smiled hopefully. “Have you seen her?”

“You know, I do think I saw her run down that path about fifteen minutes ago.” Filthy Rich gestured with a hoof. “She looked pretty anxious, though.”

“Daddy,” whined Diamond Tiara, “Can’t we go yet? I need to get dressed for the Fair!”

“In a few moments, sweetheart.” Filthy Rich glanced at Lotso, who nodded. “Alright, dear. Daddy needs to go sign some forms. You wait right there and don’t go into the woods, okay?” He moved off with Lotso.

“What’re you wearing to the Fair?” asked Dinky, puzzled. Was a Fair really a special enough location that it warranted dressing up?

Diamond Tiara made a ‘hmph’-like sound. “Something beautiful and elegant, of course.”

“It’s an awesome outfit,” added Silver Spoon. “Nopony’s going to look as nice as us.”

“As me,” corrected Diamond Tiara.

“Right, that’s what I meant.”

Dinky approached the two. “What’re you doing out here? Didn’t you say in school that you’d be getting dressed for a few hours before the Fair?”

“My dad wants to put some kind of snack shop up over there,” said Diamond Tiara. “I’ve told him three times that I’m bored and I need to get dressed, but does he listen? No…”

Silver Spoon shook her head in sympathy. “What’re you doing here, Dinky?”

“Looking for Miss Trixie,” said Dinky, wondering if Silver Spoon had ignored her the first time. “Well, I should—“

“WATCH OUT!”

Dinky had just enough time to leap to one side before a scooter sailed past her and directly into a tree.

“Hey!” yelled Diamond Tiara, whose mane had been ruffled by the scooter. “Scootaloo! You messed up my hair!”

“Maybe she’s trying to get a cutie mark in being clumsy,” snarked Silver Spoon.

Dinky looked at the scooter, now upside-down and with a collapsed front end. “Uh, are you okay?” she asked.

The scooter shifted, and Scootaloo poked her head out from under the overturned scooter. A moment later, Sweetie Belle did the same. Scootaloo was the first to speak. “That was AWESOME! We went faster than ever!” Scootaloo grinned. “I bet we set a new record!”

“Yeah, at crashing!” yelled Diamond Tiara. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault! The front wheels came loose!” said Scootaloo, crawling out and helping lift the scooter off of Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle saw!”

Sweetie nodded. Her pure-white coat was muddy and tangled now, but she was smiling brightly. “Yeah! It’s not her fault!” She chuckled. “I bet you two couldn’t drive like that!”

“I certainly hope not!” said Diamond Tiara.

Scootaloo noticed Dinky. “Hey, Dinky! Wanna go for a ride tomorrow after school? Archer bet me three jangles that I can’t circle the town in ten minutes with two passengers. Sweetie’s coming, but I need one more. It’ll be really cool!”

“Oh.” Dinky thought. “I already told Apple Bloom that I’d go see her new clubhouse, but I can ride with you after.”

“Alright, cool!”

“Apple Bloom? Hmph.” Diamond Tiara turned up her nose. “I don’t go anywhere near Sweet Apple Acres. Her sister’s crazy.”

“I think she’s better now,” said Dinky, remembering the chaos that had surrounded a big farming competition earlier that year. Dinky had enjoyed the competition, mostly because she’d gotten to be the Head Taste Tester for Carrot Top’s dishes. She’d even got to wear a special chef’s hat (that was too big for her and almost fell over her eyes, but still). “Besides, Apple Bloom’s nice. When those bad ponies tried to abduct me, she asked Big Mac to save me.”

“You should tell us more about that,” said Scootaloo, who was now examining her scooter for other damages. “It sounds like an awesome story!”

“It really wasn’t,” said Dinky, blushing a little. “It was mostly just scary. Besides, Momma asked me not to talk to other ponies about it without her permission.”

“That’s not fair,” said Sweetie. “We wanna hear about it.”

“I don’t get why they foalnapped you,” said Silver Spoon. “If ponies are going to foalnap anypony for ransom in this town, it should be Diamond Tiara.”

“What?!” asked Diamond Tiara.

“Because you’re worth the most,” said Silver Spoon, brightly. “I bet your dad would pay a lot to get you back!”

Diamond Tiara, for once, didn’t look happy to have somepony note this. “Oh… right.”

Dinky coughed. “I have to go find Miss Trixie. Talk to you girls later, at the Fair!”

“Sure!” said Scootaloo. “I can’t wait! I hear they have some awesome carnival games!”

“Really? I heard it will be more… refined,” said Diamond Tiara.

Dinky quickly extricated herself from the brewing argument. “See you later!” she repeated, and then hurried off.

Whitetail Woods was beautiful in the summer. Dinky slowed down a little, allowing herself the time to examine the flowers and the birds as she moved through the trees.

“I bet Momma would take me for a picnic here if I asked,” she mused. “I bet she’d like that too.” Ditzy hadn’t complained to Dinky, of course, but Dinky knew that she worked very hard. She could probably use a nice, relaxing picnic. Besides, Dinky liked picnics too. Like Scootaloo had once told her, eating outside was just cooler than eating inside.

From down the path came the sounds of an explosion.

Dinky’s eyes widened, and then she did the only thing any reasonable foal would do in that situation – she raced forwards to check it out.

The path terminated in a small grassy clearing. Somepony had drawn a large circle with paint around the clearing, maybe four feet across, and had set up certain items at various positions on the circle. Dinky could see several pieces of silver, a few roses, a big and bright purple flower, and what looked like a plucked chicken.

“Hey, that’s Fluttershy’s!” said Dinky, recognizing Mr. Cluck. “What’s she doing all the way out here?”

The circle was broken at one point along its edge, where somepony had kicked dirt over it. Dinky trotted over to that part and looked around. In the forest, directly behind her, there was a large lump.

A large blue lump.

“Miss Trixie! Miss Trixie! Are you okay?” Dinky ran over.

Trixie groaned and weakly began getting to her hooves. “I really bucking hate zebra magic,” she muttered.

“Do you want me to get help?”

“No, no, I’m fine…” Trixie got to her hooves and shook her head. Her mane was askew and tangled. “Ouch. Dinky, what’re you doing here? Where’s Zecora?”

“Who?”

Trixie looked out at the magic circle. “Dang it, she didn’t get away, did she?” She sighed. “Well, at least I stopped whatever she was doing.”

“Did you use some awesome magic spell?” asked Dinky, eyes shining. If she did, maybe Trixie would tell her a story about it. Trixie’s stories were awesome!

“Uh – yes, of course!” Trixie grinned. “I cast this epic spell that sent Zecora flying, and broke all her curses and enchantments…”

Dinky looked at Trixie. “No you didn’t,” she said, adapt by now at reading Trixie’s face.

“… okay, no, I didn’t. I kicked dirt onto her circle until her spell broke, and then something went boom.” Trixie trotted out into the circle. “Hey, it’s still a victory – aha!”

She sprang into the center of the circle, where a bottle of bourbon was resting.

“Got it! No stupid zebra is going to take my liquor!” Trixie laughed. “I don’t know why she wanted it, or what she was trying to cast on it, but it didn’t work. I’d move the stars themselves to get this back!”

“How’d you find her?” asked Dinky.

“Tracking spell. I have it on all my bourbon bottles for exactly this scenario!”

Dinky blinked. “Just your bourbon?”

“No, all my important things, like… uh…” She trailed off. “Anyway, what’re you doing all the way out here?”

“My Momma asked me to find you before the Fair. You’ve got a package at the post office, but the slip says it contains magic stuff, so they’re not sure if they can safely move it.”

“Why didn’t she find me herself?” Trixie tucked the bourbon into her saddlebag, then began looking around for anything else salvageable.

“She was going to, but I said I’d do it. She looked tired,” said Dinky.

Trixie grinned. “I think I’m getting a toothache. C’mere, kiddo.” She helped Dinky climb onto her back. “Let’s head back to town. I’ll drop you off and then have a little party before the Fair.”

“What about Mr. Cluck?”

Trixie sighed and turned to look the chicken in the eye, after which the bird immediately fell asleep. “Alright, I’ll help carry him home.”

“Wow!” Dinky helped Trixie balance the sleeping, plucked chicken on her back. “Can you teach me that spell? It’d be really useful for when I’m helping out at Fluttershy’s!”

“Maybe when you’re older. Sleep spells are tricky.” Trixie began to trot home. “Although I might use one on myself later, after I have a little party of my own, first.” She chuckled.

“You’re not going to drink that bourbon at the party, right?” asked Dinky. “It could have a spell on it!”

“I broke the spell.”

“What if it’s got part of a spell before you broke it?” Dinky gulped. “What if it turns you into something really mean and ugly?”

Trixie looked at her bag, then sighed. “I guess that makes sense. I’ll have it sent to Canterlot to be analyzed.” She frowned. “Stupid zebras. I’ll make her pay for messing with my bourbon.”

“Why’d she want it?”

“No idea. I’ll check if the Canterlot eggheads have any theories.” Trixie shrugged. “So! How’s your day been going? Having fun with your friends?”

“Yeah! I played with Apple Bloom and Twist, and then I talked to Snips and Snails, and in the woods I ran into Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo and…” Dinky grinned. “I had a lot of fun!”

“Well, don’t tire yourself out before the Fair,” said Trixie. “Because – and this is just a hunch – the Great and Powerful Trixie might do a few illusions to kick things off.”

“YAY!” Dinky grinned. “You’re the best magician ever!”

“You should have a party with all your friends,” said Trixie. “I bet you’d enjoy that.”

“Yeah, but they never do stuff together. Like, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon never wanna hang out with any of the other foals, and most of them stay away from Snips and Snails.”

“Well, Snails did try to get that mail-order baby Ursa.”

“He thought it’d be a cute pet,” said Dinky. “I dunno. I wish we could all do something together.”

“I’m sure you will. You’re really good at making friends, Dinky. I bet you’ll help make all the foals in your class really close.”

“Really?” Dinky grinned.

“Yeah! Maybe it’s even your special talent.” Trixie chuckled.

“You’re really nice, Miss Trixie,” said Dinky, settling down for the ride. “I’m sure all that stuff Diamond Tiara said about you wasn’t true.”

“Wait, what stuff?”

“You know, about how you sacrifice ponies in your basement so you can cast magic spells and turn into monsters.”

“…I think I need to have a talk with Filthy Rich,” muttered Trixie.

Dinky giggled. Miss Trixie was right. She had a lot of friends, and she liked all of them. If only they could all do something together.

My little pony, My little pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahhh...
My little pony
Friendship never meant that much to me
My little pony
But you're all here and now I can see
Stormy weather; Lots to share
A musical bond; With love and care
Teaching laughter; It's an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
How'd I ever make so many true friends?

The Fair was an absolute blast.

There was candy from Bonbon’s Bonbons, and muffins from the Sugar Cube (and Ditzy let Dinky have two whole muffins all to herself, since it was a special occasion). There were lots and lots of carnival games, including Dinky’s favorite, bobbing for apples. And, true to her word, Trixie put on an awesome magic show.

“For my next trick, the Great and Powerful Trixie is going to make a certain foal disappear!” cried out Trixie. “She will need a brave volunteer!”

Dinky quickly climbed up onto her mother’s back so she could be seen above the crowd. “Me! Me! I volunteer!”

And so she was put on stage, and after Trixie whispered a few instructions to her, she was quickly turned invisible. Struggling not to giggle – that would ruin the illusion – Dinky snuck off to the side.

“Uh, hang on a moment. The Great and Powerful Trixie seems to have misplaced the invisible foal.” Trixie smiled. “Oh well. I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually!”

“Oh no!” called out Ditzy. “How could you lose my baby? Dinky, do something so I can tell where you are!” There was general laughter.

That was her cue. Dinky ran out and snatched off Trixie’s hat. To the audience, it would look like the hat was suddenly running away on its own accord.

“Hey!” said Trixie, in mock-anger, as the crowd laughed. “Get back here!”

Dinky giggled and sped away, tightly holding onto the hat in her mouth. Magic was neat!

“Momma?” asked Dinky. She pointed at the cup that Ditzy had just bought from the Green Grape Farm stand. “What’s that? Can I have some?”

“Sorry, muffin,” said Ditzy, nuzzling her daughter. “But this drink is only for grown-up mares and stallions.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a toast!” said Carrot Top, who was trotting up next to them. “To the summer, and the prosperity of the Ponyville Farms!”

Mayor Scrolls and Trixie had taken the stage, both with large cups of the ‘grown-up’ beverage. Trixie, already looking slightly tipsy, cheered. “Let’s give it up for Ponyville, everypony!”

“YAY!” The crowd cheered, and the adults quaffed their beverages.

Trixie drained her cup in a single swig. “Now, everypony, the Fair continues for another hour. Let’s keep partying hard!”

“YAY!” This time, the cheer was just from one pony. Pinkie Pie bounded onto the stage. “Yes, let’s! We’ve only got sixty minutes to squeeze in as much partying as we possibly can! So don’t just stand there, hurry up! Go play games! Eat cake! Dance!” She gesticulated wildly.

Mayor Scrolls gently pushed her to the side. “Alright, everypony. Have a wonderful time!”

Dinky smiled, seeing how happy everypony was. She said, “They should have Fairs more often, Momma.” She giggled. “If I was Princess, we’d have Fairs everyday!”

“Ah, but then they’d get old,” said Ditzy, smiling down at her daughter.

“Not to me!” Dinky shook her head. “They’d never ever get old! I’d have fun every day!”

“I’m sure you would.” Ditzy hiccupped. “Excuse me. Alright, dear. There’s only an hour left. What do you want to do?”

“I wanna bob for apples again!” Dinky hopped up and down. “Can I? Please?”

“Of course, muffin.” Ditzy nuzzled Dinky, then looked at her cup. “I’m going to get another drink – grape juice, I think. Do you want anything?”

Dinky shook her head.

“In that case, have fun! Make sure to get a good apple!” Ditzy leaned in close to Dinky. “And don’t unplug the bottom of the apple tub. They don’t like that.”

Dinky giggled, remembering her Momma’s accidental draining of the apple tub the previous year. “I won’t!”

She raced off, smiling at the thought of getting another delicious apple.

If anything, the Fair was even more fun after the toast, because the adults were starting act as happy as the kids.

It’s like when Miss Trixie has a lot of her bourbon, thought Dinky. She gets really happy and has a lot of fun.

“Y’know,” said Carrot Top, sighing happily, “I’ve been thinking of a new business idea. Hey, Dinky, Scoots, tell me what you think.”

Dinky, and the nearby Scootaloo, trotted over.

“See, what if I sold pre-packed lunches? Carrot salad, carrot sandwich, and a slice of carrot cake for dessert. It’d be real convenient for parents, right?”

Dinky nodded. “I bet my Momma would—“

Before she could finish, Carrot Top looked over to see that Big Macintosh was sticking his head out from one of the nearby tents, smiling.

“Apple lunches,” he said, in a tone of settling a debate.

“Nah. Carrot lunches.”

“Apple.”

“Carrot!”

The two looked at each other before dissolving in to chuckles. Dinky and Scootaloo laughed too.

“What if you sold apple-and-carrot lunches?” offered Dinky. “I bet those would work even better?”

“Or cookie lunches!” added Scootaloo. “We’d all eat those!”

“We can’t sell cookie lunches, your parents wouldn’t buy them,” said Carrot Top, though she was smiling merrily.

“Nope,” added Big Macintosh. “Not healthy.”

“There you are.” Dinky turned to see Ditzy approaching her, Trixie not far behind. “Come on, dear. You have school tomorrow and the Fair’s almost closed.”

“Can’t she stay a little longer?” asked Dinky. “Please?”

“Sorry, muffin.” Ditzy helped Dinky climb onto her back. “But it’s a school night.”

Dinky frowned, but she wasn’t going to argue with her mom. “Okay. Bye, Scootaloo!”

“Bye, Dinky!”

Ditzy began to walk out of the Fair. As she did, Dinky saw Diamond Tiara by a carnival booth. It looked like Filthy Rich had hired another pony to win the carnival games for her, because whenever the other pony scored, the barker gave the prize to Diamond Tiara. But Rich didn’t look annoyed over this, instead, he was smiling merrily.

“Everypony looks really happy, Momma,” said Dinky. “Is it because of the ‘toast?’”

“In part,” said Ditzy. “And also because it’s a party and we’re all being friendly to each other.”

“How come our toast doesn’t make us happy like that?” asked Dinky, thinking of the bread she ate each morning. It tasted good, but it didn’t make her giggly or anything.

Ditzy chuckled. “It’s a different kind of toast, muffin.”

“Well, maybe we should have the other kind all the time. Then we could always be happy!” said Dinky.

“Ah… but like parties, it gets old after a while.” Ditzy paused to adjust her balance so that Dinky wasn’t in danger of sliding off. “It’s fun in moderation, but it would get old if it was all we did.”

Dinky frowned, not sure if she believed that.

“Besides, there’s other ways to have fun. Why don’t I read you a story tonight?”

“That sounds great!”

The two headed home, full of good food and perfectly content.

A race to the finish

The laughter had managed to quell whatever tensions remained in the group, and Dinky began to tell them what their next step was.

“Okay, we have all the stuff. Let’s go back to the magic circle in the woods, fix it, and set up the counterspell. Then we just need a strong unicorn to cast it.”

Dinky frowned. “I think Miss Trixie is still our best bet.”

“But she’s gone crazy!” said Diamond Tiara.

“But zebra magic is just chanting, right?” asked Twist. “She could probably do that even when drunk.”

“But if she said a word wrong, we could all be, ah dunno, turned inta apples!” called Apple Bloom (who was standing guard just outside the door), sounding genuinely afraid of this possibility. “That’d be awful!”

“I don’t think that’s likely.” Dinky smiled brightly. “Her special talent’s magic. And she told me she’s been studying zebra magic too. That must mean she’s really good. Besides, she’d never mess up a spell!”

“Lyra says different,” said Twist, but she wouldn’t elaborate.

“Well, we need a unicorn,” said Dinky, “So unless Snails or I try it, or we can find a unicorn that isn’t all silly, we probably need Miss Trixie.”

Scootaloo paused. “Hey, uh, wait a minute. Do we have to turn back all the ponies?”

“What do you mean?” asked Twist.

“I mean… sure, it’s annoying that the other foals like Sweetie are being really silly, but I kind of like the adults like this.” Scootaloo grinned. “They’re letting us do whatever we want! And it’s not like they’re getting hurt by it.”

Dinky frowned. “But they’re not there to watch out for us.”

“Come on, we don’t need them to do that. We can handle ourselves.” Scootaloo grinned. “It’s just nice to be able to do what we want without them telling us to ‘be safe’ or whatever.”

“But we can’t do what we want,” mused Dinky, slowly.

“Sure we can,” said Scootaloo.

“Okay, what do you want to do?”

Scootaloo thought. “Right now? Uh… maybe get a brownie from Sugar Cube!”

“But you can’t, because Pinkie’s not baking, she’s partying with the other foals,” said Dinky.

Snails stuck out his tongue. “I tried her last batch. They were kind of gross. I think she put worms in them for some reason.”

“Well, then I want to go ride around on my scooter.”

“But the streets are all filled with trash!” said Twist. “Isn’t it more fun riding when the streets are clear?”

“Sure… I guess…” Scootaloo frowned. “Okay, it sucks that the adults aren’t doing their jobs. But isn’t it nice that they aren’t telling us what to do either?”

“No!” Dinky looked a little upset. “My Momma tells me what to do because she loves me and wants me to grow up right. That why all of the adults do it.”

“But they don’t always know,” said Snails.

“…isn’t Snips not here because he ate more toffees than his parents would let him and got sick?”

“Oh. Right.”

“And didn’t you have to sleep outside last night because bugs took over your house?”

“Uh…”

Dinky turned to Twist. “And you told me once that you’d be way behind in math if Bonbon didn’t tell you when to stop doing candy stuff and start doing homework.”

The foals were silent for a while, and then Scootaloo sighed. “Alright, alright. Let’s go save the adults.” She frowned. “But I want a few more days off of school. For being a hero!”

Dinky giggled. “Alright! Let’s go find Trixie and then cure the adults!”

Snails grinned. “Well, we already have her show stuff. That’s halfway there, right?”

“Her show stuff?” Dinky blinked. “Snails, you got the magic items Zecora told us about from her house, right? Aconite, quartz, a hair from a unicorn’s shoulder, an owl quill?”

“What? No, I got much better stuff!” Snails opened up his saddlebag and pulled out a hat and cloak. “This is what Trixie uses to do her magic! With this, we’re good to go!”

The other foals, in unison, bonked their heads against the clubhouse wall.

It was a simple plan.

Dinky thought she knew where Trixie kept all of the ingredients they needed besides one – the bottle of bourbon that Zecora had tried to bewitch. So, Twist and Bee Bop were going to look for the other ingredients, and Diamond Tiara and Dinky would talk to Trixie and try to find out where she’d hidden the bottle. Snails would be the lookout, and Scootaloo, guarding the rest of the ingredients in her scooter, would also help them run away once they had everything. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom would go with Zecora to the train station, and if they didn’t fix everything by nightfall – or the counterspell didn’t work – she would go to Canterlot and give Zecora to the guards.

As they approached the Representative’s Residence, Diamond Tiara had one question. “What if Trixie already drank the bourbon?”

“I don’t think she did. She said she was putting it somewhere safe to send to Canterlot. It would probably be harder to get to than her other bottles, so she’d drink it last.” Dinky smiled. “And she’s got, like, thirty bottles in storage, so she’d have to go through all those before she got to this one!”

They stared at each other.

“What? She can’t drink thirty bottles that fast, can she?” asked Dinky.

Diamond Tiara continued to stare.

“We should hurry, shouldn’t we?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Thanks for backing me up, Diamond Tiara,” said Dinky, as they approached the Representative’s Residence. “I really appreciate it.”

Diamond Tiara shrugged. “Well, you’re being really brave and, uh, leader-y.” She paused. “But don’t you dare tell anypony in school I said that.”

Dinky smiled. “Of course not.” They passed through the gate. “You’ve been scooting with Scootaloo a lot, lately. Is it fun?”

“Of course not! She’s too fast and crazy!”

Dinky giggled. “I think she likes scooting with you.”

“Really? I mean, why would you think that?”

“After she hurt Miss Cherilee that one time, she found you to help her get her presents, right?” Diamond Tiara nodded. “She told me later that she had a lot of fun doing that.”

“Well, I was just helping her. She didn’t know what to—“

Further conversation was made impossible when the door to Trixie’s house banged open. Trixie was there, looking incredibly drunk. “Bonjour, Dinkster! Entrez-vous!”

Dinky trotted in, Diamond Tiara right behind her. “Uh, Miss Trixie? Can we ask you something?”

“Oui oui!” Trixie laughed, stumbling back and forth in the messy hallway. “Always!”

Dinky recalled the story she’d come up with. “Do you still have that bottle of bourbon that the zebra was trying to cast a spell on? I wanted to try a little bourbon, and since you said you weren’t going to drink any from that one—“

Trixie blinked. “Hey, that’s right! I forgot all about that one!” The blue mare grinned. “Yeah, I’ll get it!”

(From upstairs, Dinky heard a soft crash as Bee Bop broke through her upper window, and then a slamming sound as Twist jumped in from a nearby tree branch).

Trixie went to a picture on the wall and removed it to reveal a safe. She opened the safe door, showing that it contained a bunch of empty bourbon bottles. She swept them to the ground with a wave of her hoof and took out a key, which she put in a little, locked drawer in her desk.

Before Trixie could do anything else, she paused as a small ‘thump’ sounded from upstairs. “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” she mused.

“So!” said Diamond Tiara, to try to distract Trixie. “That’s a really love shade of blue in your coat, Trixie. Is it natural?”

“Mais oui! Lulamoon would never dye her coat!” Trixie struck a pose. “Perhaps the mayor does, but never moi!”

“It looks really pretty,” said Dinky. And then, trying to come up with something else to distract her, she added, “And I really like your mane!”

Trixie’s mane was wild and scraggly, having apparently not been combed in days. “Aw, vous etes belles aussi,” she said, ruffling Dinky’s mane hard enough to send Dinky tumbling into a bookcase. The foal ‘eeped’ and jumped out of the way just before a bunch of books fell on her.

From upstairs, Dinky heard the sound of more glass breaking. She frowned, not knowing what was going on. But she had to keep stalling until she could get the bourbon and they could all escape.

Trixie’s horn glowed again, and the bottle of bourbon floated from the desk to the center of the table. “Now, not a word to your mother,” said Trixie, winking to Dinky. “She wouldn’t like it. But eh, what does she know? We’ve gotta have fun!”

“Have you seen Momma?” asked Dinky. She hadn’t seen her mother all day, and while she’d been hoping that meant that Ditzy was hiding in the post office or their apartment or something, she was still a bit nervous.

“Yeah, I went over to her house to invite her over to play!” Trixie laughed. “Mais elle parlez ‘non!’ Your mom’s awesome, kiddo, but kind of a stick in the mud!”

Dinky let out a sigh of relief.

And then, from upstairs came the sound of running hoofsteps, and Twist and Bee Bop dashed down the stairs with bulging saddlebags. “We got all the supplies!” they yelled.

Trixie sprang up. “Quoi?!”

Dinky levitated the bourbon and jammed it into her bag. “Come on!”

“Non! C’est ma bourbon!” Trixie’s horn flashed a bright, angry blue. “Non, non, non!”

The doors and windows seemed to vanish.

Bee Bop, Twist, and Diamond Tiara cried out, but Dinky shook her head. “It’s just an illusion! I know where the exits are!”

“Donnez-moi le bourbon!”

Trixie leapt at Dinky, but she quickly used her telekinesis to hurl the bourbon at Diamond Tiara, who managed to catch it and scampered across the room. Trixie dove at her next, sending papers and knickknacks flying from Pokey’s desk when she crashed into it. Diamond Tiara managed to duck low to dodge her and then hurry to the other side of the room.

How do all those bad ponies that come to town keep getting out of this room? mused Dinky. She carefully levitated a big paperweight with her horn.

Trixie cried out something that Dinky didn’t understand, and Diamond Tiara yelped as she found herself hurled up into the air and attached to the ceiling. The bourbon went flying – but, just before Trixie could nab it, Bee Bop flew up and grabbed it.

This continued for almost a full minute, with the foals passing the bourbon back and forth between them and the inebriated Trixie growing steadily more frustrated with her inability get it back. She would, Dinky have figured, used magic to get it back, but she didn’t want to risk breaking the bottle with telekinesis, and she liked the other three foals in the room enough to not want to just curse them and stick them to the ceiling like she had Diamond Tiara.

“Mauvaises filles!” roared Trixie after another leap at Dinky resulted in her bonking her nose against the wall. (Dinky, for her part, dodged and threw the bourbon to Bee Bop). The blue mare summoned some sort of magic lasso, which she also sent at Bee Bop. Bee Bop tossed the bourbon to Twist just before the lasso wrapped around her wings and sent her tumbling down and rolling into a bookshelf. Another avalanche of books ensued.

“Everypony, shut your eyes!” yelled Dinky, before focusing on her ‘light’ spell. Her horn glowed with a bright, blinding light. She heard a loud ‘thump’ as Trixie crashed into something and went sprawling.

“Eek! Her spell’s coming apart! I’m falling!” yelled Diamond Tiara.

Dinky stopped the light spell and raced to get under Diamond Tiara, but she was across the room. Dinky didn’t think she’d make it in time – but then there was the sound of breaking glass, and Scootaloo and her scooter roared through the front window and under Diamond Tiara just before she fell. Instead of hitting the floor or carpet, she crashed onto the wagon Scootaloo had tied to her scooter, which had a thick cushion

“Woah! That was so cool!” said Bee Bop, getting loose of the magic lasso. For once, Diamond Tiara didn’t dispute that.

“Let’s go! Next stop, Whitetail Woods!” yelled Scootaloo, as the ponies began piling into the wagon attached to the scooter. “Dinky, help me move with your magic!”

“Vous etes mauvaises filles, et je punissiez vous!” cried out Trixie, staggering to her hooves. “Je—“

A small cloud of sulfur, maybe, popped into existence right in front of her face.

“Huh?” said Trixie, gagging at the cloud. “Mon nez! Mon pauvre, belle nez!”

Dinky looked outside to see Snails, horn glowing dully. “Did it work?” he asked, eager to know. “Did the spell work?”

“What was it supposed to do?” asked Twist.

“Summon a giant bug monster to hold her off!”

“No,” said Bee Bop. “It just made a gas cloud.”

“Oh, well… that’s still cool, right?”

“No comment,” muttered Diamond Tiara. She was hanging on tightly to Scootaloo. (Dinky couldn’t help but notice that the other three foals were in the attached wagon, but Diamond Tiara had somehow wound up behind Scootaloo on the scooter itself).

Snails jumped into the wagon, and both Dinky and Snails began using their telekinesis to push the scooter to help Scootaloo move. “Let’s go lift the curse!” said Dinky.

Scootaloo paused as they left through Trixie’s front gate. “Hey, Dinky. Didn’t you say we needed Trixie herself to cast the counterspell?”

Dinky blinked and turned back to the house. “Uh. Should we go back and get her?”

“THERE THEY ARE!”

The foals turned to see what looked like half the adults in town charging at them.

“THEY AIN'T DRINKING YET! GET 'EM!” slurred Berry Punch, running at them and knocking a few lampposts out of her way as she did so.

“No time! We’ll have to cast it ourselves!” yelled Scootaloo. “Everypony, hang on!”

Dinky had once read, in a goofy foal’s book, that if you went fast enough you could go back in time.

At the speed they were going, she wouldn’t have been surprised to wind up in pre-Corona Canterlot.

They zipped through the town, dodging the adults who were charging after them. Some of the adults dove at them, forcing Scootaloo to dodge left or right and send the wagon skidding wildly across the streets. It didn’t help that most of the paths and roads by now were clogged with garbage, making the ride bumpy even in the best of circumstances.

“Hey, that’s the Sugar Cube!” yelled Twist. “… why’s it on fire?”

“CRÈME BRULEE DAY!” screamed Pinkie as they zipped past. “We’ll brulee all the crème in town!”

“Yay!” yelled Sweetie Belle, from an upstairs window.

“Oh.”

“Rainbow Dash at six o’clock!” yelled Scootaloo.

“Six o’clock?” Snails blinked. “Oh, no! I’m supposed to be home by now!”

“That’s not what that… never mind.” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.

Dinky turned to see the cyan weather pony zipping at them, impossibly fast, and with a big barrel of cider balanced on her back.

“I’ll lose her!” Scootaloo turned down a narrow side street and then into a building.

“Are you crazy!” yelled Diamond Tiara as they zoomed past a wagon up on blocks and into a hallway. They seemed to be in a large building with many wagons in various states of (dis)repair.

“No, I know this place! My dad sells them wheels all the time!” Scootaloo grinned. “We’ll do a couple laps until she flies off, then—

There was a smashing sound, and then Rainbow Dash blasted through the ceiling. “Hey Scoots! If you wanna be even half as cool as me, you gotta drink cider!” She sped at them.

Bee Bop stood up. “LOOK,” she boomed. “OVER THERE! A WONDERBOLT!”

She managed to get Rainbow Dashs’s attention, despite her drunken state. “Where?!” The cyan pegasus turned to look – and plowed into a couple of wagons, breaking her barrel of cider and spilling it all over the floor.

“Hurry!” said Twist. “Let’s get out of here!”

Scootaloo nodded and they began to zip towards the exit.

Dinky looked at Bee Bop. “How did you know that would work?”

“Just cause I’m real loud doesn’t mean I don’t listen,” sniffed Bee Bop. “Besides. We live right near her. She’s always talking about how she’s going to join them someday.”

Dinky smiled. “That was really smart!”

Bee Bop grinned.

Dinky had been hoping that they’d lose the mob by ducking into the building – if for no other reason than her getting tired from using her telekinesis to help Scootaloo move forwards – but it was not to be. When they exited the building, they bumped right into Honeydew.

“Dear!” Honeydew grabbed at Twist and hugged her right off the scooter. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”

“I—“

“That you haven’t been PARTYING ENOUGH!” Honeydew laughed and quickly got some candies out of her saddlebags. “You haven’t even tried Bonbonie's newest creation! Okra crunch!”

The foals gagged in unison.

Honeydew frowned and moved right in front of the scooter to block it. “Now, open up, and—“

Diamond Tiara leapt up and onto Honeydew’s back, placing her front hooves over her eyes. As Honeydew squeaked and tried to get Diamond Tiara off of her, and Diamond Tiara hung on, Dinky quickly used her telekinesis to help Twist back into the wagon. “Let’s go!”

They took off, Diamond Tiara jumping back onto the scooter as they zipped away.

“Get back here!” Honeydew began to race after them, quickly drawing the attention of the other adults. She tried to grab them with her telekinesis, but she wasn’t steady enough to succeed. “Stop them! They aren’t having enough fun!”

“I’m having tons of fun!” yelled Scootaloo.

“That’s cause you’re nuts!” responded Diamond Tiara.

“Hang on, I’m gonna try to jump the stream!”

Dinky chuckled. At least they were making progress.

Their route took them by the schoolroom, where Cherilee and some other pony – Flitter, Dinky thought – were counting out candies and bottles of beer from a big bag.

“Now, remember,” Cherilee was saying, “The key to a successful burglary is hiding what you’ve taken.”

“Then why – hic – are we counting it outside?”

Cherilee blinked. “Because it’s too nice a day to go inside.”

The purple mare looked up and saw the foals. “Hey, they’re breaking the law!” She got to her hooves, swaying a bit. “The latest law in Ponyville says you have to be drunk to be here!”

“Uh oh,” whispered Scootaloo. “Cherilee’s really fast too! If she chases us, we’re in trouble!”

“How do you know?”

“She caught me playing hooky once. She chased me halfway to Cloudsdale to get me. And she can’t even fly!”

Snails grinned. “Miss Cherilee,” he called, “Hi! How’re you doing?”

“Just fine,” said Cherilee. “But you’re breaking the rules, Snails. You haven’t drunk nearly enough cider!”

Snails grinned. “I made you something!”

“I… what?”

“A Hearts and Hooves Day present!”

Cherilee blinked. “But that’s not for months.”

“So? It’s right there, under that big rock!”

Confused – but presumably too drunk to figure out why – Cherilee and Flitter went over to the rock, and Cherilee lifted it up. “What --- aah!” A huge mass of ants erupted at her.

Snails turned to the others. “When Raindrops made me get rid of all my bugs two weeks ago, I put them somewhere I knew I could find whenever I needed them.”

“By the school? Ugh!” said Diamond Tiara.

“Wait, we can’t just let Cherilee get eaten by bugs!” cried out Dinky.

“They’re SO CUTE!” Flitter was fawning over the ants, while Cherilee poked them and giggled. “Help me name them, Cherilee! I’m going to name you Fluffy, and you Rover, and you Dinky—“

Dinky opened her mouth to object to the last one, but Scootaloo was already pulling away.

They made their way to Whitetail Woods and back to the magic circle area, where they began setting up the new spell.

“We still need a really good unicorn,” said Twist. “I mean, you’re cool, Dinky, but you’ve never cast zebra magic before.”

“And I don’t think we want Snails casting anything that isn’t gross,” said Diamond Tiara. She was stumbling around, looking a bit woozy from the wild ride, but unusually, she wasn’t complaining about it. “He probably doesn’t know how.”

“I do too!” said Snails. “Because bugs aren’t gross!”

Twist and Bee Bop were repainting the magic circle. “Can’t we just ask a unicorn from out of town? I mean, the Friendship Express still stops in town, right?” asked Twist. “Maybe there’s a unicorn on the next train.”

“But what if they aren’t any good at magic?” asked Dinky. “We need Trixie.”

“THERE YOU ARE!”

The foals all turned to see a dirty and dusty Trixie – with ants in her mane – appearing from behind a tree.

“The Great and Powerful Lulamoon knew you’d be back here!”

“How?!” demanded Twist. “Magic?”

“Psychich powers?” asked Scootaloo.

“She heard you talking about it.”

“… oh,” said Dinky.

“Now she will take back what is hers!” Trixie laughed, and somewhere, thunder boomed. “Donnez-moi la bourbon!”

“No!” Dinky had an idea. “Because that bourbon belongs to Trixie Lulamoon, and you aren’t her!”

“… what? Yes I am! C’est vraiment!” Trixie grinned.

Diamond Tiara seemed to get the idea. “No, the real Trixie can cast magic. Prove you’re her by casting a spell.”

“Yeah!” said Twist. “I bet you’re just an imposter who wants to steal her bourbon!”

“You’re not nearly as cool as she is!” yelled Scootaloo.

Snails blinked. “I think it’s really her—“ but then Twist ran over and put her hoof over his mouth.

“PROVE IT!” roared Bee Bop to Trixie, sending the other foals (and even the blue mare) stumbling back a few steps.

Trixie blinked. “Fine. I will make the stars themselves shake and fall from the sky! I will bring the heavens and the land together!” She raised her hooves, and her horn glowed blue.

“Princess Luna might not like that!” said Dinky. “Maybe you should just cast this zebra spell.”

Trixie blinked. “Zebra spell?”

“Yeah, it’s a really, really hard spell! Only the real Trixie Lulamoon, the best magician in the world, could cast it!” Dinky grinned brightly. “Please?”

Whether it was the ego-stroking or the cuteness that convinced Trixie, Dinky didn’t know, but the Element of Magic strode into the center of the circle – where the bourbon had been placed. The foals quickly set up the rest of the items as Trixie stretched. “Fine. Trixie will cast the spell and get her bourbon back. And then-_” The grasses on the ground suddenly shot up and wrapped around the foals’ legs, trapping them – “We’ll all have a huge bourbon party! It’ll last forever!”

“Forever!” yelled Pinkie Pie, poking her head out of a tree.

Trixie blinked. “…Pinkie, what are you doing?”

“Finding more crème to brulee. All of mine burned up for some reason. Bye!”

Trixie shook her head as the pink pony vanished. She looked at the list of spell words, smiling, and began to chant.

Dinky shut her eyes as the chanting grew in intensity. She could feel the magic moving in the area. What would happen? Would the spell be lifted? Would the town be cursed forever? Would—

There was a great ‘whooshing’ noise, and then all was silent.