"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PAINTERS!!! YAY!" Three fillies yelled out loud.
"Applebloom, we need more blue!"
"Ah'm on it! Sweetie Belle, get us more brushes."
"Okay! Scootaloo, how's the paper?"
"It's still drying!"
Three best friends chatted about supplies for their latest scheme to get their cutie marks faster. One pony watched them from afar, a spotted colt, younger than most of the other foals in Miss Cherilee's classroom. Pipsqueak had a hard time making friends, aside from the ponies he hung out with on Nightmare Night. Those fillies were being nice to him, since he had just moved to Ponyville at the time. Pipsqueak hadn't really talked to them ever since. He had talked to and became friends with one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, an orange filly pegasus. Scootaloo had decided to become Pipsqueak's first real friend. But they didn't really get chances to hang out. Scootaloo was always busy with her crusading, so Pip didn't really have anyone to hang out with at school.
The colt sighed, "I wish I had someone to talk to."
"I can talk with you!"
"Who said that?" Pip looked around. He saw a blonde unicorn sitting at his table.
"Me! My name's Dinky, Dinky Doo. You're Pipsqueak, right?" The unicorn seemed very cheery.
"Yeah, but you can call me Pip. I think I've seen you around before, but I haven't really seen you so excited.”
"Oh, that's because I'm shy. I wanted to talk to you earlier, but I didn't want you to get picked on. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon keep teasing me, and I thought if I tried to talk to you, they'd see me and make fun of you too. But Diamond Tiara is out sick today, so Silver Spoon didn't feel like bugging me." said Dinky.
"Really? Wait, what did they tease you about?" Pip asked.
"Oh. They make fun of me because of my family. They say my mom is clumsy, dumb... embarrassing..." Dinky sniffed as tears began to form in her eyes.
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know. You don't have to talk about it." Pip tried to comfort her.
"...Thanks. But I still think my mom is awesome. She gives me a fresh baked muffin every day in my bag lunch! But... I never really get to eat it. Some colts take it away from me and promise to not bully me." She said sadly.
"That's terrible! You don't ever tell Miss Cherilee?" he asked.
"No. They tell me if I do, they'll get their other friends to bully and tease me." she said.
"They're probably just lying. Don't worry about them. At lunch today, you eat your muffin that your mom made for you, and not any bully colt. I'll make sure they won't bully you." Pip told the unicorn.
"Really? How?" she asked.
"Don't worry about how. Just know that as long as I'm here, no one will bother you, I promise!" Pp said.
"Oh thank you!" Dinky hugged Pip. "I'm so glad we're friends now... We are friends, right?"
"Of course! Friends 'till the end." Pip said with cheer.
********************
At lunch, Dinky did as Pip told her to. She unwrapped her bag lunch, took out her muffin and took a huge bite. As soon as she did, she was gripped by the flavor. No wonder the bullies wanted her muffin every day. Speaking of which, the colts began to walk towards the table Dinky sat at.
"Hey, Donky! Where's my muffin?" one of them said. Their leader stared Dinky down.
"I-it's Dinky, and I already started eating it, so I can't really give it... to... you..."
"You bit it? I see. I thought we had a deal. Guess you went back on your end of the deal, huh? Oh well, guess we'll have to teach you a lesson. Right guys?" the leader asked.
"Yeah, a lesson.” one of the other colts said.
"No. You're going to let her eat her muffin. It doesn't belong to you." Pipsqueak came over to Dinky's table, defending his new friend.
"Is that a fact? What if I say it's my muffin, huh? What are you gonna' do about it, runt?” their leader said.
Pip felt scared, but he was determined to defend Dinky. "I-I'm gonna' stand my ground. I won't let you hurt Dinky. Leave her alone, and let her eat in peace. Stop taking her muffins."
"Make me. Oh wait, you can't. You're just a little, weak, colt. Oh wait, that's not right. I should say filly." The colt sneered at Pip while his friends laughed at Pip.
"I'm n-not a filly." Tears began to well up in Pip's eyes. "I'm not weak either. Leave Dinky alone."
"Oh look! The little filly's cryin'! I'll let you in on something. You don't cry in public. It lets us know you're weak. How weak? I dunno'. Let's find out. Snips, Snails!" their leader barked.
"Yeah boss?" the two colts said in unison.
"Hold him to the ground. I'm gonna' teach him a lesson about cryin'."
"B-but won't that hurt him?" Snips asked.
"It's either him or you. I got more than one colt to help me out. You refusing to help only means more lessons to be taught. Now do it!" their leader ordered.
"Okay... sorry Pipsqueak, we don't wanna' get beat up." Snips said to the spotted colt. Snips and Snails grabbed Pip's hooves, holding him to the ground.
"Let go of me! You guys don't have to do this. You can help me!" Pip yelled.
"Shut up!" their leader kicked Pip. Pip let out a sharp yelp of pain. He began to let tears fall.
"Leave him alone! You guys can have the muffin. I'll ask my mom for more tomorrow, just let him go!" Dinky pleaded. By now, a crowd had formed, witnessing the young colt being beaten, but not doing a thing about it. One pegasus, however, seemed to be missing.
"It's not about the damn muffin anymore! It's about teaching him a lesson to not cry in public, and it looks like it’s not working!" the leader kicked Pip again, causing more tears to come out of the little colt. "Shady, hold her back. I'm not done teaching him."
"...Okay." Shady Daze, another one of the leader's minions, grabbed Dinky.
"Let me go!" Dinky screamed.
"Sorry Dinky, can't. I wanna' help, but I don't wanna get beat up either." Shady held Dinky back from Pip.
"You don't have to! If you and Snips and Snails join forces with me, we ca-AHH! Please stop! I can't breathe." Pip was suffering, groaning, crying. The leader wouldn't let up.
"I said shut it! You still crying? That's nothin'! Rumble, come help me! Let's show this brat why you don't mess with us!"
The leader called out to another member of the group, a pegasus named Rumble.
"Okay." Rumble began to walk through the crowd and joined his leader.
"Go ahead Rumble. Take a shot. Hit him with everything you got, or I will. On the both of you." he snarled.
"Please help." Pip was silently crying now, in so much pain he could barely keep his eyes open. By now, Snips and Snails were looking away, too ashamed of how they were helping, of how they were being cowards.
"I'll hit him with everything I got. And more." Rumble glared at Pip.
"Good to see you don't hesitate. Go ahead." the leader looked upon Rumble in a proud way. "Him him as hard as you can!"
Rumble raised his hoof. He swung. Pip flinched, but heard a different pony yell out in pain. He also heard everypony gasp. Rumble had punched his leader, hard in the eye.
"What the buck is wrong with you!?" he yelled at Rumble.
"You said hit him with everything I had, so I did. Just a different him. I'm not gonna' let you beat up Pipsqueak over a muffin." Rumble said with fierce eyes.
Both Pip and Dinky stared in disbelief, silently thanking Rumble for standing up for him.
"Why you little-"
"That's enough!" Miss Cherilee had entered the lunchroom, with Scootaloo at her side. The crowd opened up, letting Miss Cherilee through. "Lance, you're coming with me. So are Snips, Snails, Shady Daze, Rumble, and Pipsqueak. Scootaloo, thank you for telling me about this. I only wish you came sooner so that I could've prevented these injuries."
"You’re Welcome, Miss Cherilee. I wish I told you faster, too." Scootaloo was staring at Pip and his injuries.
"Come on boys, let's go." Miss Cherilee escorted the colts out of the lunchroom, putting an end to the scuffle, leaving a very saddened unicorn behind.
********************
A week after the fight, Dinky was alone at a lunch table, silently eating her lunch. Pip had been taking to the hospital after Miss Cherilee contacted his parents. He didn't tell Dinky that he was very frail, so Lance's beating left him severely injured. Rumble, Lance, and the other colts were all suspended. Lance was expected to be sent to an academy for young colts on account of his violent behavior. Dinky felt guilty for bringing Pip into this whole mess. She was comforted by Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, whom she befriended a while after the events. But she still felt terrible. Every day that Pip wasn't at school, she was reminded of what happened. She only wished Rumble could come back sooner so she could thank him for standing up for them. She wished even more that Pip would get well faster, so she could apologize for the whole mess.
"Leave him alone! You guys can have the muffin, just let him go!" Dinky pleaded.
"It's not about the damn muffin anymore. It's about teaching him a lesson he'll never forget! And I know just how..." Lance pulled out a shiny object.
Dinky soon realized what it was. "No! Please don't!" she cried.
"Too late!" Lance plunged the object into Pip's chest. Dinky screamed as she saw red splat on the floor. Pip tried to cry out, but choked up from the immense pain.
"Pip!" she screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Din...ky." Pip said softly as his eyes began to close.
"No!!!" Dinky screamed.
"AAH!!!" Dinky screamed. She shot up, panting heavily, knocking her bed sheets on the floor. A combination of sweat and tears rolled down her face.
"Dinky! What happened?" Her mother flew into her bedroom, a look of concern on her face.
"Mom, it was terrible! Lance, he... He hurt Pip. Badly… Pip... The way he looked at me when it happened... It... It's all my fault!" Dinky shut her eyes and sobbed, burying her face into her mother's forelegs. Her mother embraced her, trying her best to soothe her terrified child.
"Shh... Its okay, sweetie. It was just a bad dream. Pip's not hurt, he's okay," her mother said.
"But he's not! He's still in the hospital because of me! I dragged him into my own mess! He was just trying to help me... And look where that got him..." Dinky continued to sob.
"Dinky, that's not your fault. Anypony would've helped you if they knew what those boys were doing to you. Pip is a brave colt, and his actions weren't in vain. If it weren't for Pip, those boys would've continued to harass you. Thanks to him, they're being punished for what they did." her mother told Dinky in a soft tone.
"Pip... I just wish he would come back to school... I just want to know for sure if he's okay, and I want to see him so I can thank him. Rumble, too! He helped me too, and he also saved Pip... Because I couldn't do anything..." Dinky slumped down, her depression getting worse.
"That's not true. I'm sure Rumble was afraid to do what he did, but he must have felt awful because of what those colts were doing to you. You may not feel it, but you probably helped Rumble get over his fears to stop Lance from making both you and Pip miserable. You helped to stop them too." Dinky's mom told her.
"I don't feel like I helped at all..." Dinky continued to sulk.
Her mother frowned, feeling sad. Then she thought of something. "Tell you what, why don't we go visit Pip tomorrow? That way, you can see that he's okay. "
Dinky looked up. "Really?" she asked.
Her mom nodded, "You can visit Rumble, too, and thank him for helping out."
Dinky smiled, "Okay." She hugged her mother.
"But first, you need your sleep. You don't wanna fall asleep on your way there, do you? Come on, I'll tuck you in," her mom said.
"Thanks, mom," Dinky said, yawning. Her mother smiled. She tucked her daughter in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
"Anything for you, my little muffin," she said quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~
The automatic doors slid open. Dinky was greeted by a circus of sounds. Beeps, squeaks, wheelchairs, coughing, slight murmuring, and a nurse on the intercom merged into one big jumble of noises. Her mother walked into the hospital and up to the front desk, Dinky following behind. There, a female Unicorn receptionist was sorting some papers. "Excuse me miss, I'm looking for someone," her mother said.
The receptionist looked up. She levitated some files to the counter. "Right, and who might that be?" She asked.
"His name is Pipsqueak." Dinky's mother replied.
The receptionist used her magic to look through the files. "Pipsqueak... And what relation do you have with the patient?"
"He's a good friend of my daughter." Dinky's mom said.
"Hmm... It says here that Pipsqueak doesn't have any friends." The receptionist said.
"But he knows me!" Dinky said. The receptionist peered down, looking at Dinky. "In fact... I-I'm... the reason he's in here..."
"Honey, it's not your fault." Her mother said. "Look, may we please just visit Pipsqueak? We promise we won't be of any trouble to him," she asked.
The receptionist raised an eyebrow. "Hmm... Alright." She levitated a pen and a form towards Dinky's mom. "I need you to fill this visitor's form out."
"Oh, alright. Is there a place where I can sit? My hooves are a little sore." Dinky's mom asked.
"Yeah, it's right over there." The receptionist pointed to an alignment of chairs. Dinky and her mom sat down to fill the form out.
Dinky's mother took the pen into her mouth. "Let's see... First name... Derpy… Last name... Hooves…." Dinky eyed her mother's writing. It was legible, but a few scribble writings were connected to her name. "Relation to patient..." Eventually, Dinky's mother returned the form, completely filled out.
The receptionist eyed it for a moment before taking back the pen with her magic. She tore a slip of paper from a small book that looked like a checkbook. "Here you go, a visitor's pass." Dinky's mom took the pass. "Pipsqueak's on the third floor. Take the elevator, and he'll be in the fifth room to your right."
"Thank you." Dinky's mom guided her daughter towards the elevator and pushed the third floor button. "There, you see? We'll be able to see that Pip's alright."
Dinky began to feel nervous. She shut her eyes tight, and began to think. What if he doesn't want to see me? What if he's mad at me for doing this to him? The elevator doors opened. They began walking down the hallway. Dinky opened her eyes, beginning to feel determined, and started to think. No! Pip's not like that! He's in here because he helped me, because he was brave enough to stand up to those bullies! Now I'm gonna help him. I'm gonna make sure he gets better, and after that, I'll do something for him. They made their way to the fifth room to the right.
"You ready dear?" Her mother asked.
"More than ready, mom." Dinky looked up at her mom, smiling, a fierce look in her eyes. Her mother was surprised at first, but soon grew happy that her daughter was now anticipating visiting Pip more than ever, without any fear or doubt.