The Derpy I Know And Love 4 or And The Children Shall Lead

CHAPTER THREE

Flash Back to Dawn 3

Just last year:

The bell at the front door rang, announcing that somepony had just entered.

“Muffin, is that you?” called Bubbles from the kitchen.

“Mom!” said Dinky, “I wish you would not call me that in front of my friends!  It is embarrassing.”

Bubbles walked into the front room.  There were Dinky, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“Sorry ‘Miss Grown Up Smarty-Pants’.” Said Bubbles, coming into the room. “If they are real friends, then they would not mind any family pet names and would not make fun of you.”

Bubbles looked around, and noticed that with the kids home from High School, that Dawn should have been home by now.

“Have any of you girls seen Dawn?” asked Bubbles.

“No mom,” said Dinky

The rest of the girls said that they had not seen her.  They all went upstairs to Dinky’s room.

“Twilight!” called Bubbles.  Twilight was in the kitchen, she came trotting in.

“Yes honey,” said Twilight, “anything wrong?”

“Have you seen Dawn?  She should be home from school by now.”

“No,” answered Twilight, “perhaps one of the princesses need the cart.  Do you want me to send a note to Canterlot?”

Before Bubbles could answer, the front door opened.  It was Lyra Heartstrings.

“Oh good, you both are here.” Said Lyra.

“Hello Lyra,” said Bubbles, “how are you?”

“I am doing great, thank you.  Bon-Bon asked me to come see if you could come to the candy shop,” said Lyra, “we think you should see this.”

Bubbles and Twilight just looked at each other with a concerned look.

“Muffin!” cried out Bubbles, “we will be right back!”

“MOM!” replied Dinky.

Twilight and Bubbles followed their friend the couple of blocks to Bon-Bon’s shop.  They noticed one of Princess Celestia’s carts parked outside.  The harnesses were empty.

Once inside the sight was amusing.  There at a table was Dawn with a very large dish of ice-cream in front of her.  At the table were two of the Palace Guard pegasi.  The Guards saw them enter and stood to attention.

“Lady Twilight!”  they acknowledged.

“What is going on?”  asked Twilight.

“Well, My Lady,” said one guard, “it is like this.”

Dawn interrupted;

“I said that they were too slow, so I bet them I could get to Ponyville before them.  They just laughed and said that they would bet a large dish of ice-cream that I could not.”

“We did not think she was serious, My Lady,” said the other Guard, “but she jumped out of the cart and took off.  We tried our best, but she outflew us.  She was here and ordered the ice-cream before we had landed.”

“Please don’t tell your brother, My Lady,” implored the first Guard.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Twilight, trying not to laugh, “why don’t you two go back to Canterlot.  I will deal with this.  Did you pay for the ice-cream?”

“No, My Lady,” said the Guard.

“Good, you are dismissed,’ said Twilight.

After the Guards had left.  Twilight and Bubbles sat at the table.

“So, young filly,” said Bubbles, “how are you going to pay for this?”

“I bet the Guards, they were going to pay,” said Dawn eating the ice-cream faster, sure that she was about to lose it.

“Bon-Bon!” called Twilight.

Bon-Bon came out from around the counter.

“Yes Twilight?’ said Bon-Bon.

“Do you have any particularly nasty chore that needs done?” asked Twilight.

“Well I have four tubs of cream that have gone bad.” Said the cream colored pony, “they need to be dumped, cleaned and sanitized before I can use them again.”

“Good,” said Twilight, “I will pay for the ice-cream, and Missy Dawn here will take care of your cream tubs.  Make sure that she does it correctly before you send her home.”

“And because Bon-Bon is an Earth Pony,” said Bubbles to the young alicorn, “you will have to clean them the Earth Pony way.  No magic!”

“Aunt Pinkie is an Earth Pony and she can use magic," said Dawn trying to use reason.

“No magic!” said Bubbles and Twilight together.

Bon-Bon smiled and appreciated the situation.

Twilight gave Bon-Bon the bits for the ice-cream, Dawn finished the ice-cream and then followed Bon-Bon to the back.

Later that evening, Dawn came home, accompanied by Bon-Bon and Lyra to make sure she got home okay.

“Thanks girls,” said Bubbles.  “We will see you at the ‘Old Mares Club’ meeting.”

“No problem!” said Bon-Bon, “I am looking forward to that.  But I was not looking forward to cleaning those tubs.”

The Heartstrings and the Sparkles laughed,  Dawn did not see the humor in this.

Lyra and Bon-Bon left the library still chuckling.

“Mommy!  What was that for?” said the filly, “okay, I probably should not have bet the Guard.  But what is wrong with me flying myself?”

“You are right, young filly,” said Bubbles. “You should not have bet the guard, and they should not have let you.  But you have not been flying very long.  There are colts and fillies who cannot fly until they are several years older than you.  Some think you are just showing off.  I would bet that some of your class mates do not know how to handle you, being an alicorn and all.  The kids you go to school with are talented and gifted ponies as well, but you being what you are gives you an advantage.  This can be taken wrong if it is not handled with tact and humility.”

“Tact and humility?” asked Dawn.

“Just think of aunt Rainbow,” said Twilight, “and don’t act like that.”

Dawn giggled at that.

“Plus you are not the awesome flyer you like to think you are, yet.” Said Bubbles, “do you know what your aunts Celestia and Luna would do to us if we let anything happen to you?  Do you know what would have happened to those Guards?”

“They would throw us in a dungeon! Or banish us! Or throw us in a dungeon in the place they banished us to!” Said Twilight, starting to get a tremor in her voice, thinking of the imagined shame.

“Honey,” said Bubbles, “lighten up, will you.”

“Dawn, it is not that we fear that something would happen to us if something happened to you,” said Bubbles, “but both of us, Twilight and myself, would die if anything happened to our baby.

As we have tried to explain in the past, you are a very special pony, the only alicorn born in Equestria since aunt Cadence.  You are truly the daughter of two mares.  That in itself is special, but what you truly are is the product of a very special love.  I like to say that Twilight and I love each other so much that it could not be contained in just two ponies, you are the extension of that love.  How could we not love you so deeply.”

“Don’t think that means that we don’t love your sisters.” Said Twilight, “we love Dinky and Sparkler greatly as well.  And if anything happened to them, we would be just as hurt.”

“I am sorry, mommies,” said Dawn, truly feeling sorry for upsetting her mothers.  “I will remember.”

Twilight and Bubbles hugged the little filly.

“Okay,” said Bubbles, “go upstairs and tell Muffin that dinner will be ready soon.”

“MOM!” called out Dinky, overhearing what name her mother just used.