CHAPTER 1: A MOTHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE

The sun had long set behind the rolling mountains of Equestria. Derpy sat in the red comforter reading to Dinky her favorite bedtime story. Halfway through, she saw Dinky's eyes growing heavy as her little head started to nod off to sleep. She closed the book and gently scoop the tiny filly into her hooves, carrying her to her bedroom.

Dinky's room was nothing to show, but it certainly had thought put into it. White painted clouds adorned the cyan-colored wallpaper and paper pegasus strode along the dresser; a nice little touch that Derpy added. Being as quietly as she could, the grey pegasus try to carry the little unicorn to her bed. It was long before she started feeling Dinky's yellow mane rustle against her shoulder and begin to stir awake.

"Sorry, Muffin," whispered Derpy. "Did I wake you?"

"No," cooed Dinky, rubbing her eyes with her hoof as her mother tucked her underneath the sheets. "Mommy... how come you never talk about Daddy?"

Derpy stopped in mid-fold as the little filly laid wrapped in the blanket, her large golden eyes staring intently up at her.

"Well, Muffin," began Derpy as she looked for the right words to explain to her five-year-old filly. "I guess the reason I don't is because there isn't much that I can say about him. I never knew him very well."

"But what was he like?"

Derpy hesitated. She didn't want to confess the truth to Dinky, that she didn't know who Dinky's parents were. That she was just an abandoned foal left to die in a dumpster those five years ago when Derpy first found her. She didn't need to hear that story. Even now, just thinking about it made Derpy want to cry.

She looked at the little pink unicorn with a smile and answered: "I suppose your daddy was very noble and courageous. If he only knew how precious and wonderful you were, I'm certain he would be here right now."

This made Dinky smile. She let out a great big yawn and nestled further into the covers. "Thank you, Mommy."

The grey pegasus stroked the little filly's yellow mane until she was sound asleep. "Goodnight, Muffin."

Derpy found herself soaring high above the clouds, her mail pouch slung around her back. The sky was a margarine orange from the last light of sun sinking in the horizon as wisps of clouds flew past her almost like tongues of fire.

She should be home at this time. She should be reading to Dinky and getting her ready for bed. She glanced down and noticed she still had at least fifty letters to deliver. She quickened her speed as she tried to make it to Cloudsdale before the sun disappeared. For some reason, the mail felt unusually heavy today for her...

When she glanced again, there were now a hundred letters.

That's impossible, Derpy thought, I was certain there were fifty letters. She shook her head with disbelief. Maybe I miscounted, she chuckled to herself and checked again to be certain.

There were now 250 letters.

Derpy's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. To her surprise, her mail pouch was growing larger and larger with more and more letters. She began to feel the weight of the letters pulling her down from the sky. The more she tried flapping her wings, the heavier the pouch became on her back.

She started to descend from the sky... more like falling. Her wings were no longer able to support her. She landed on the ground with a large thud, her face kicking up a mound of dirt from the impact. When she regained her consciousness, the pouch had grown five times as big as her. She tried to budge from the weight of the bag, but found it impossible. She was pinned down.

Suddenly, a voice started crying out. It was a voice she knew so dear to her. "MOMMY!"

Dinky!

Derpy found herself in her house... No, she wasn't in her house, but she could see what was going on at that very moment. She saw Dinky, her sweet, dear unicorn. Hiding underneath a bureau dresser, trembling with fear.

Derpy didn't know what was wrong. She wanted to fly over, wrap her inside her wings and comfort her daughter... but could barely move from the heavy mailbag crushing on top of her...

Then she saw what Dinky was hiding from.

Standing there by the door was a black, ominous creature of gigantic size Its long, slender coils lashing about in a mad frenzy, its large form filling up the room. It was a horrifying sight. Although she could not see its face, Derpy could feel the cunning evil of its green eyes... Glaring at her Dinky.

Derpy's heart began racing like a leaf shaken by a storm. She tried to wedge herself from from the bag, but without success.

THRASH!

The creature smacked away the dresser, exposing the shivering Dinky in plain sight. The little unicorn's eyes bulged with terror as the monster slinked its way over to her, its long coils reaching out for her. In one quick swoop, the monster grabbed the terrified filly, squeezing her tightly within its coils.

Dinky's eyes streamed with tears as she cried out, "MOMMY, HELP ME!"

Derpy tried to cry out to her but found her lungs were getting crushed with every second the bag weighed down on her. She watched, helpless as the monster's coils began to choke the life out of Dinky, her cries growing fainter and fainter... Its arm extending over to its gapping mouth, ready to swallow to tiny filly...

"NNOOOOOOOOO!"

Derpy bolted up from her bed, her mane drenched with sweat. As her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she found herself alone. She was in her bedroom. She checked her back, but found there was no large mailbag overflowing with letters.

She was able to regain her breathing, no longer feeling crushed. But her own safety was far from her mind.

Where was Dinky?

She zoomed out of her bedroom and into her daughter's room. She found the little unicorn, sound asleep in the sheets of her bed. Derpy had to make sure she still wasn't dreaming. She flew over to the bedside and with her hoof, gently touched the snoozing unicorn on her shoulder. She was real! She was alive. She was safe. Derpy felt a sudden and overwhelming joy sweep over her. In the midst of all this confusion, all of this worry, she truly felt Dinky's life was in danger.

She began to cry.

Her sobs started to stir Dinky awake. Derpy tried to stop herself, but found it pointless. The more she tried stifling her tears, the louder her gasps became. Soon, the little filly was awake and saw her mother standing by her bed, crying.

"Mommy," whimpering Dinky, her eyes wild with confusion and fear. "Why are you crying?"

Derpy's heart leap when she heard Dinky's voice break like that. To hear her daughter's voice was more than she could bare. She pulled the little unicorn out from her bed and held her against her as tightly as she could. She wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen to her.

Derpy's tears began to fall on Dinky's mane, which made the little filly even more terrified of something bad was going on. She too began to cry.

"Mommy..." weeped the little unicorn, her hooves wrapping around Derpy's neck. "Please... I'm scared..."

Derpy finally was able to calm down to realize what she was doing. She lowered Dinky back down onto her bed and looked at her. Dinky's eyes were glistened with tears as they looked to their mother for some kind of resolution. Some kind of reassurance.

"I'm sorry, Muffin," whispered Derpy. "Just a bad dream. That's all."

These were not the words of comfort that Dinky was looking for. The little filly started to cry even more, burying her face into her tiny hooves. Derpy panicked as she found her daughter becoming hysterical. She placed the crying filly on her lap like she use to when Dinky was only a tiny foal and started to sing:

"Fifteen, fifteen she said to me,

"Fifteen muffins is all I'll need,

"To bring them home, to bring them home

"To my filly, what joy they'll bring."

Although she never could carry a tune, Derpy did her best to make the song sound merry and cheerful. She glanced down at Dinky again. The little filly had simmered down enough to dry her eyes and was smiling up at her mother. Derpy's songs, no matter how nonsensical they were, never failed at calming Dinky down when she was upset or frightened. The little unicorn nuzzled into her mother's chest as she closed her eyes to fall back to sleep. Derpy sat there, rocking her little filly gently in her hooves until her breathing at returned to a steady pace.

If only Derpy could be as relaxed as Dinky was at this moment. The dream had really shaken her up. The only thing Derpy feared most in the world was some pony, or some thing, coming into her life to steal her Dinky away from her. She knew Dinky was not biologically hers, but over the years, she had become one of her own. She just wanted to wrapped her inside her wings and protect her from any harm in this world. However, Derpy knew she was limited in what she could do for her daughter. Even she could not fight off any dark magical creature that may come into their house at night, while she was away. She had no magic of her own to protect Dinky...

But she knew someone who could...