Dinky Doo: The Scion of Wind

One of the perks of living above a confectionery is that your room always smells like sugar. Is that why Pinky is always so hyper? She's a real enigma, even to her friends.

Wafer crisp crumbs percolated off the wall I was leaning on.

Night was approaching. It was starting to get dark enough to see my reflection in the window I was staring blankly at. I had gone up here with Dash to watch what could only be described as a descent into lunacy. In a twist of irony, Pinky was playing no part in that descent; in fact, it almost seemed like she was trying to prevent it.

I didn't realize I had missed lunch.

"C'mon, c'mon… curiouser… and curiouser…!"

Whatever Twilight Sparkle was doing, it looked painful. Even from my vantage point, which was a few feet away, I could see the sweat squeezing out her pores. I was watching with mild interest bordering on indifference. I saw the reflection of her face as she pushed, and it was red with strain. Her neck was rigid, taut with effort; looking at her, you'd think it was her turn to push Whinnyphus's boulder up that proverbial mountain.

It wasn't a boulder she was pushing, though; more like a looking-glass, to borrow from Mister Carol.

Pinky popped up behind the reflective oval. "I'm tellin' you, Twi. It's not gonna work this time."

"But why… ever… not!"

"I dunno," Pinky mumble-said, shrugging. "Something or somepony doesn't want us coming in, I think. I mean, you wouldn't want somepony coming in when you're using the bathroom, right?"

But Pinky remained in her peripheral vision, sadly ignored.

Twilight continued to push, red webbing her eyes, her grunts of effort devolving into groans of frustration.

When a soft whine came beside me, I noticed my hindleg being hugged. Stooping onto my knee, I looped my foreleg around the soft bouncy pink mane of Fluttershy and pulled her closer.

I flipped a bang off my face.

We watched Twilight collapse onto her haunches, defeated; the object of her frustration showed the bags in her eyes.

"Aww…" said Pinky, walking into view, her gait slow and bereft of that energy that I had taken for granted. Sitting beside poor tired Twilight, Pinky let her fall into her lap. Pinky began to brush the highlights in Twilight's hair with her hoof.

I would have chastised the rest of Twilight's friends for not joining in. But they really weren't doing much better.

Apples lacked that distinct scent of country as she paced past us; her mane was wild with stress and worry. If Fussy was doing any better, she would have made a motherly fuss about it. But she was also pacing, her brow furrowed, her nervous mutters sweeping our way before she followed Apples.

Dash was more distant; she was leaning on a windowsill, seeming to wait for the sun to set. I could only imagine the lifelessness in her unseeing fuchsia pupils. Light beams passed her, like dim searchlights that she was finding harder and harder to care about. It was getting steadily more orange, darker still as the anxious moments whiled away. The soft glow of dusk permeated the room; it would have been comforting, maybe even breathtaking.

Those twins I helped rescue a while back were crying downstairs. Their parents, the landlord and the landlady, were trying and failing to calm them. Were they not so pre-occupied, they probably would have come upstairs to ask Dash to stop tapping the floor. Or maybe they just pitied us too much to. Personally, I had gotten used to the knocking. And the wails of the not-so-missing foals.

Apples finally had it. "Dagnabbit," she shouted, red in the face. "What is that hot-dang Celestia thinkin', keepin' us all cooped up in here?"

A flash and a bang announced Twilight teleporting in front of her.

"Applejack," she said like a schoolteacher. "Stop. You mustn't speak ill of Princess Celestia like that."

She was pointing a hoof in Apples' face.

A thousand bits said the aforementioned hoof would soon be bitten off.

When instead Apples snorted, Twilight withdrew it, stumbling away, almost falling backwards.

Until I caught her backside in my wing.

Noticing me, she faced Apples and got back on her feet.

"Y'all think it's so easy, don't'cha?" Apples went on, stalking forward. "Your family is home, safe and sound. While my sweet lil' Applebloom's still out there, 'lone and scared! No, even worse; she's with that filthy long-snout varmint. Who knows what he's plottin' to do with her? By now I reckon he's draggin' her all the way to hot foreign desert country while she's a-kickin' and a-screamin' wantin' to go back home! And you! All y'all can worry about is disrespecting that high and mighty hero of yours, what by the way, ain't done nothin' to git the lil' ones back!"

She stamped to punctuate the end of her diatribe.

Twilight's move.

Aghast, Twilight was swiveling her head from side to side in disbelief. Something seemed to be stuck in her throat. "Excuse me!" she said, finally, throwing the words at Apples. "But I'll have you know Princess Celestia has already sent an airship to go and rescue them."

Dash sighed; without looking away from the window, she responded. "That was a day ago, Twi."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded. Dash did not flinch at being addressed thus; nor did this seem relevant to Twilight. "In case you've forgotten, airships typically take a day to get from here to as far as Saddle Arabia. If you are expecting a prompt rescue, then I must remind you that even Her Royal Majesty has her limits."

An appalled snort came to answer her.

"Then why," Fussy began, "why hasn't she gone to rescue them personally? Surely, nothing more could be precious than the lives of four lost foals, foalnapped by a dangerous rogue!" She stamped her hoof in a dignified manner that only thinly concealed her anger. Her eyelids were lowered; below them she surveyed Twilight. "I, for one, would like to know why she insists upon proceeding with the Summer Sun Celebration, when such a crisis weighs so heavily upon us now!"

In quick succession she stomped twice more, a demand to Twilight for a swift response.

When it came, it was anything but swift; the seconds that had preceded were uncomfortable, to say the least. "It is an age-old celebration, Rarity!" Twilight said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Fussy raised a painted eyebrow ominously. "Oh, truly? Truly? Then perhaps you ought to explain why it's come up on such short notice, hm? Why, I haven't even gotten a chance to roll out my spring line yet!"

Apples raised her own eyebrow. "Spring line?"

"Why, yes," Fussy said, "I'm so very flattered you asked, Applejack, but as it so happens, we've much more pressing concerns than that at the moment."

I rolled my eyes while Twilight sighed.

"I admit," she said, "the Summer Sun Celebration coming so soon was unanticipated. And true, it is a bit peculiar, but — "

Cracks spread from where Apples's hoof kissed the wooden panels of the floor. "But nothin'! There's somethin' fishy goin' on 'round here. Y'all just don't wanna admit it!" she said, this time pointing her hoof in Twilight's face.

This time, Twilight really did fall backwards, this time into Fluttershy's winged grasp.

I had leapt in between Twilight and Apples, using my metal wing to push the latter back; she was growling at it. "Look," I said firmly to her. "Look at yourselves."

I swept my eyes over the room.

Apples was silently defiant.

Fussy caught my eye; she was not glaring.

For the first time in hours, Dash turned away from the window, and now she was shooting me an expressionless look.

Stupidly, I hadn't even realized that they were silently hinting at something of mine, something I had tried to keep hidden for so long. It was anger, which had gone unnoticed and unheeded, concealed behind that cool distant façade that I had worked for years to build up and maintain.

Until then.

Relaxing, Apples noticed and approached; she was about to lay a concerned hoof on my shoulder. "Y'all doin' alright there, pardner?"

Slapping the hoof away, I pointed mine at her. "I only just recently found out I had a niece," I hissed at her. She backed away. Good. "I just recently realized how much I love her. And she was the one that Haissanian was after. If anypony in the room should be scared and Celestia-knows-what-else right now, it's me."

Everypony cleared a wide berth for me. Again, good.

I was a lot of things at the moment.

Scared.

Confused.

Pissed.

I didn't realize I had been panting; the buzzing in my head had arrested my senses.

"Um, Miss Daring?" somepony said.

Who, you ask? Don't know, don't care.

Swatting away whoever it was, I let my bangs shadow my eyes. "I only just reunited with that klutz of a mailmare, Applejack. I only just realized how much I had taken her for granted! I had thought I could just waltz into Pony Town any time I like, and see her. But I was wrong; she didn't want me back. And just when I thought I did have her back for good, POOF! SHE'S GONE! JUST LIKE THAT!" I blew a cold bitter breath. "And I'm not even sure if she'll even be right when she wakes up — if she wakes up! Last time, it took an alicorn's love to put her right again. And last time I checked, there aren't any alicorns loving her enough to bother fixing her. The worst part is, I know exactly how Dinky feels. Scared. Alone. Guilty. Like I couldn't live with myself. Like all I did anymore was hurt everypony I cared about. It's my fault that little scamp went off. I should have talked to her more. I should have spoken to her about the important stuff. But I was too ashamed; I still couldn't shake off the guilt. I ruined my sister's life. She healed. But from that moment onwards, she was cursed, and by me, no less, her own sister! Everyday, she and I walk around in the same house, pretending it didn't happen. But I know she hates me. I know I sure do." A sigh chilled my throat. "I should have spoken to that kid about what I did eight years ago. Maybe then, she would have understood. Maybe then, she wouldn't have run off like the horrible excuse for a sister I am!"

I won't sugarcube what happened after I collapsed onto my knees.

I cried. I cried like a foal in diapers. Eight years of pretending I could live with myself, when really I couldn't. Not until I was given the courage to was I finally able to admit it.

I shuddered.

That's when Fluttershy looped her foreleg around my frazzled monochrome mane to pull me closer to her. And I breathed. My shoulder relaxed, now that the weight of Twilight's head was on it. Her locks were neat and orderly; they also sort of itched. The weight of a white hoof was on the shoulder opposite of her. "Darling, I mean, Daring," Rarity said close to my ear. I felt like a little filly again; I missed my dad.

The looks Dash and Applejack were casting me were solicitous and tearful. Even though they couldn't show it, I knew they meant to, and that meant all the world to me.

Somepony was hugging my stomach tight; my chin was really begging for a scratch, since the mane beneath it was so frizzy.

The sun was still setting after I was done.

I stood up to find all their eyes on me. My composure was returning; I felt myself returning to my tough self again. For a moment, I was ready to announce that I was going to return with the foals singlehoofedly, like in a previous life. But I already knew that was impossible. So did they; I wasn't too broken up about it.

I spoke to Twilight. "There isn't any chance," I said, clearing my throat to let the surface of coolness and mellow relayer itself over my voice, "there isn't any chance you could get that dragon butler of yours to send a missive to Princess Celestia, is there?"

It was a long shot, but maybe Princess Celestia could work miracles just as well as her dead sultan brother.

"I'm sorry, Daring. But Spike hasn't been able to get a reply from the Princess for the past couple of days."

"Still think somethin' ain't quite right, Twi?" asked Applejack, cocking her head. "Somethin's goin' on, and I sure don' like it."

"Well, duh, AJ," Dash said, rolling her eyes; she hovered close to Applejack's face. "Missing foals. Have you been paying attention?"

Pushing her away, Applejack said, "'Course I have. But I just can't shake the feelin'. First, the new batch of invitations, then the trains, and then the guards. I'm tellin' ya, Dash. Something ain't quite right!"

"There has to be some reason why we're not being allowed out of town," I said; I had the feeling that I was the only pony in the room brave enough to voice that fact.

"For our own protection obviously," said Twilight.

"Well, some job they did," Dash said. "They didn't even show until after the foals got napped."

Applejack and Rarity nodded their assent.

"It is strange," I said, rubbing my chin. "But that isn't the important part."

"Hm, I concur, Miss Do," Rarity said, stepping forward; giving an offended scoff, she pointed pleadingly out the window. "Why, not even my seductress act had any effect on those brutes! No. No. Apparently I wasn't resplendent enough for them." She gave a dignified flick of her mane, which was still bouncing when she continued. "All they seemed concerned about was my Cutie Mark." Twilight shot her an exasperated stare. So did Applejack. So did Dash. So did I. She was walking towards the window I had been staring out of. "What?" she whined, pulling it open. "It's getting a bit stuffy in here, do you disagree?"

I pounded one forehoof over the other. "She's right, though," I said, regaining their attention, "there are too many pegasi to rush past, even if I did feel like going solo again. Every corner of Pony Town is being watched."

Nopony bothered correcting me.

I was walking towards Rarity, or rather, towards the window she had pulled open.

I felt everypony's eyes on me as I peered outside.

A halo of fuzzy shadows was looming over town, like agents of some dark god. They were just guards from the castle, but they seemed to project that ominous air all the same. The air was spiked with anxiety; it was hardly the happy friendly town Ditzy had first welcomed me to. Right now, that town seemed like a half-forgotten dream.

After I poked my head back in, I laughed.

…What?

It's not like I found the situation funny; it was more ironic, if anything. The first day I had gone to Pony Town, I couldn't wait to leave. The first day I had moved in, I never wanted to leave. Now, on the one day I did want to leave, I wasn't able to.

Luckily, everypony in the room knew I wasn't being serious.

I yawned.

"Come now, darling," said Rarity, "now is hardly the time for such uncouth behavior, I should think."

I smacked my lips. "Sorry," I said, her pompous exasperation blurring in my vision. "I couldn't sleep last night. Nightmares."

"Well," said Applejack, "ya ain't the only one, Miss Adventurer."

"I couldn't sleep, like, at all," said Dash, "couldn't stop thinking about poor Scootaloo."

Rarity whimpered, said nothing, and hid her face.

Fluttering over, Fluttershy put a wing around her and walked her over elsewhere.

It was true, though, what I said.

The night before, I kept having the same dream of the day Dinky escaped. It kept repeating, over and over again, torturing me by reminding me how helpless I was. On each replay, I was in the exact same place: by the doorway, frozen. I wasn't able to look up in any of the loops; either my dream-neck was determined to not bend that way, or I was afraid of what I'd see. I did remember trying to stop Dinky from leaving the dream-library. I don't know; maybe I wanted to live a life where Dinky was still here, even if that life wasn't real. But no matter how much I tried, Dinky always seemed to phase right through my hopeful forelegs like I was a ghost. Not to sound entitled, but I wished somepony had been there to comfort me through it all.

I've had to fill Ditzy's horseshoes more and more lately. I wasn't doing a very good job at it.

I found myself leaning against that same wall again.

My dull fuchsia gaze rested on the slant of the same open window.

Tension pulled at everypony's nerves. The Elements of Harmony were in disharmony lately. Foals were missing, including my favorite niece. I didn't know if I'd ever get to see my favorite sister again. I had never thought I'd be alone so soon.

I never did bother to ask what Twilight and Pinky were doing with that mirror. Not like it mattered anyway.

My forelegs were recrossed.

I closed my eyes, hoping to not return to that same nightmare from the night before.

My bangs swayed.

And I blew a wistful sigh. "Please wake up, Sis."