Chapter 4: New day
It had been a week, I think, since the six ponies enter the ever free forest. While there are still few ponies who held hope of their return, most ponies had accepted their unconfirmed death. due to the "long" night, many crops died, and food is becoming scarce. the food shortage was only part of the problem, due princess Celestria's absent, ponies no longer have a leader to turn to, and slowly Equestria is falling into chaos. Who would have thought that such changes would occur in just a week.
While most places in Equestria had fallen into chaos; however pony ville was one of the only places that ponies banded together to resolve the problem, thanks to Mayor mare's leadership, and every pony sharing their food. Although we manage to resolve the current crisis, it is clear that before long, our food will run out. While Mayor mare and elders of pony ville tries to come up with a long term solution, many ponies try to get back to their normal lives. Miss Cherilee decided to re-open "school" in her house, since her house is closer, and also since we try to at least regain some normality in our lives. Due to the chaos, many ponies became jobless, I'm being one of them, apparently when the whole Equestria is in utter chaos, no one writes letters.
It was "morning", when got up. As I slowly moves down stairs, I hear a knock on the door. When I open the door, I saw Golden Harvest standing outside. Golden Harvest like me are currently jobless, since due to the lack of sun, most her crops had died.
"Morning Golden Harvest, what brought you here today?" I look at the pale gold mare wonder why she was here so early. She didn't give a reply, I invited her in. as I turn toward the kitchen, trying to make breakfast with what little we have on hooves.
"Ditzy, what do you plan to do?" Golden Harvest's word had been in my mind for some times now. With the way things are going, before long food will run out, and what will happen then? I turn towards Golden Harvest, I can see the concern in her eyes. With my condition, I couldn't do very much, and Dinky is so young. If food does run out, what then?
"I don't know." I replied, Golden Harvest looked at me. She paused for a second, collected her thoughts.
"The Cakes and I plan to leave Pony ville. If we stay as a group, maybe we will stand chance. We could take you with us, if you like." The thought was not a pleasant one. To leave pony ville? Pony ville is our home, where we lived for seven years, where Dinky grew up. the thought put tears in my eyes. But at the same time, I know this maybe my only chance. While many ponies do not say it, most ponies think of me as a burden. In a time like this, no pony will take me with them. While I want to grab hold of this chance, I hesitant to make the decision.
"When will you leave, can I talk with Dinky before I give you an answer?" I still hesitant to leave my home. Golden Harvest looks at me with the warmest and comforting look.
"Sweetie, we'll be leaving tomorrow." With a smile, she heads towards the door. As she left, many emotions erupted inside of me. Fear for what is to come, sadness of leaving our home, anger for what nightmare moon had caused, and so many more. After finally calming down, I went upstairs to Dinky's room. If we are going to leave, I should at leave talk with her. While the filly is still very young, she is much more mature than one would give her credit for. When I enter her room, the little filly still lies in her bed. Sleeping like an angel, not a care in the world. I was almost tempted to let her sleep, let her enjoy maybe her last moment of happiness without a care in the world. waking her up today was the hardest thing I ever had to do, even harder than when I had to told her about our past, granted she forced my hoof on the matter. As I call out to her, I saw the little filly pulls the blanket over her head.
"Just another few more minutes, mom. I promise I'll get up in a few more minutes." An almost scripted morning routine, that occurs every day. but after a moment later, when I didn't pull her off the bed, she slowly crawled up. looking at me suspiciously, wondering what is going on. The morning routine have always been, I came to wake her up, she bargains, follow by me forcefully yanking her out of the bed, either by the tail, or by the hoof, usually the major deviation is when I pull her blanket off the bed. but today, I broke the routine. Dinky looks at me with suspicion for another moment, until she finally confronted me.
"Who are you? And what have you done to my mom Ditzy." She jump off her bed, raised her front hooves, looking like she was ready knock me, if I gave the wrong answer. After our eyes meet, she dropped her hooves, and concern fills her face.
"Dinky, we have to talk."
Dinky took the news better than expected, while she share my reluctances to leave our home, she also understand this maybe our best chance to survive if things continue the way it is. Also, if the night ever come to an end, which no pony is holding their breath to it, we could come back. Dinky went back into her room to pack, while I headed out to tell Golden harvest our decision, and find out more about the details. When I arrive, I found the Amethyst star, Bon Bon, cakes, and Lyra was also there, along with Golden harvest.
"Welcome Ditzy, so you decided to join us." Golden harvest saw me, and welcomed me. I nodded to Golden harvest's question.
"And who invited you?" Lyra shot me a look. I lowered my head, not wanting to see her cold eyes.
"I did, while Ditzy may be a bit clumsy, she is a Pegasus, she can help us. Also Dinky's magic could come in handy also." Golden Harvest lift my head, and shot Lyra a look that is so cold, I'm sure it caused frost bite.
"If we need a Pegasus, we could find someone else. As for magic, you guys already have an unicorn, me. Derpy here is beyond clumsy, she will only slow us down." Lyra protested, which made me question if I should have come.
"I think Ditzy will be a great addition to our group. She maybe a bit clumsy, but she have a good heart, which you seem to lack. Remember last week, when this all started, Ditzy went and deliver mail to every pony in pony ville. While it may not seem like much, it helped bring the community together. If not for what she did, pony ville could very well have become like many other places in Equestria." Mrs. Cupcake spoke out in my defense, while Lyra still seem unwilling, she accepted the group decision.
"So back to our discussion, before we were rudely interrupted. Where do we plan to go after we leave pony ville." Lyra continued, but not before she takes another shot at me. every pony dislike the way she attacks me, but they decided to ignore it as long as Lyra don't make a habit of it. after a while, we came up with a plan in which we would head toward Canterlot, since there appear to have enough food. And since it is the capital, Canterlot appear to still maintain certain degrees of order. We were told to go back and gather any food that we have, and any belonging we want to bring along, and then meet back at Suger cube corner the next day. with that, every pony left, leaving just me and Golden Harvest.
"do you really think I could be of any help?" I questions Golden Harvest's logic for letting me join the group, but she just smile at me.
"While Lyra is not completely wrong about we could bring a different Pegasus. And perhaps she is also right about you may slow us down. But you have something that most ponies in Equestria do not have. And I believe that will be very helpful on our trip. Anyway, you should probably go back and pack. Also you don't want to leave Dinky all alone now, do you?" Golden Harvest gave me a smile. With that I headed back home.
On my way back, what Golden harvest said stayed in my mind. What is it that I have, that other ponies do not? Could it be my wings? But every Pegasus have wings, and most of them flies a lot better than me. It can't be my wits or skills, if it were before the incident, I could understand that for a reason, but now I can barely do simply task. As I pounder what could have made my special, I ran into a tree. Crushing back down to the ground, I landed on something soft. Sitting there still a bit dazed from my crush, I hear a voice coming from under me.
"Dear lady Mare, could you possibly remove yourself from on top of me?" as I looked down, I saw a Brown stallion with an hourglass for cutie mark. I quickly got up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." I lower my head in shame. The stallion got up, and he lift my head with his hoof. He had a smile on his face, which was strange, since most ponies are angry when I fall on them.
"Well, on the bright side at least you didn't get hurt. But you really need to be more careful." His blue eyes were so gentle, for a moment I almost Mistake him for Muffin. as his eyes and my eye met, his smile widen.
"So you are the infamous Derpy, I have heard about. although I never would have thought of you as such charming mare." His words made me blushed a bit.
"My name is Ditzy not Derpy. I have to go. Sorry again about what happened." I turned and flied off.
I got home shortly, and this time I focus on flying, so I didn't ran into any more trees. When I enter the house, I saw Dinky was not down stairs. As I move towards the stairs, I heard some sounds coming from Dinky's room. I quietly flies upstairs not making any sound, and then looked into Dinky's room through the door, without her noticing. What I saw broke my heart. Dinky was cry on her bed. Wanting to know what's wrong, I push the door open slowly. As soon as Dinky heard the door, she attempt to stop crying. Try as she may, her wet muzzle, watery eyes, snotty nose And drenched pillow are enough evidence for even a fool to figure our she have been crying.
"What's the matter muffin?" I approach her. She turns away, not wanting me to see her face. I got to the side of her bed, and then once again try to figure out what is wrong. The question didn't remain for long, until I saw a picture of miss Cherilee's class with her in it. while she acts tough when I told her about leaving, it must really rip her up on the inside, knowing she may have to leave all he friends.
"muffin, if you want to talk, I'll be in my room." Leaving her to be alone may not be the best course action. but what else could I do? As I slowly wonder into my room, the reality hit me also. Holding back the tears, I went and packed some of my stuff.
The next morning came, as I open my eyes, I realize something was off. before could even figure what was off, I hear a loud knock on the front door. I move towards the door, still half asleep. The second I open the door, the sun light blinded me. It took me a minute to adjust to the light, and standing outside was the pale gold mare.
"They did it! They did it! Those six did it! The sun is back." Her excitement was only rival by Pinky. As I take it all in, I looks at Golden harvest.
"Who Did what? Calm down, breath, and start at the top."
"AJ, Dashy, Fluttershy, Pinky, Rarity and Twilight are back. And they manage to defeat nightmare moon." my jaw nearly hit the ground. Not only were those six came out of ever free forest alive, they beat nightmare moon also?
"Princess Celetria, and those six are at the town square. Get prepare and go seem them." Before I could even say anything back, she disappeared, no doubt going to tell the good news to every other pony she knows. I went upstairs, and wake Dinky, she especially didn't want to get up today. But after I told her about what happened, she ran into the bathroom in a cloud of smoke, and return moment later ready to leave out of the door. Her ability to get ready, when she wants to, is astonishing.
We arrive at the town square, to every ponies' surprises. A dark alicorn was with Princess Celestria. The dark Alicorn strangely resemble nightmare moon. But most ponies didn't pay much attention to the dark alicorn. The six ponies were held as heroes, and was adored by every pony. The crowd slowly calmed down, when Princess Celetria approached Twilight.
"What is with the sad look, my faithful student. Are you not overjoyed at the thought of finally returns to your studies at Canterlot after such long journey?"
"Princess, I have always been devoted to my studies. And I would love to return to doing so. However, the dilemma lies with the fact that, I have finally made so many friends, and only just learned how wonderful they are, and how important they are to me. But yet I now have to leave them." Twilight replies, Princess Celestria, smiled upon hearing Twilight's reply, she then turns to the weird purple lizard that have been with Twilight.
"Spike, take a note. I, Princess Celetria hereby given the unicorn Twilight Sparkle a new task. She will further her study on the subject of friendship, And she shall report her findings to me. At her new home, here at Pony ville." As soon as Princess Celetria finished her order, the other five ponies jumped onto Twilight. And the crowd cheered at the arrive of our new member in pony ville. To think, only yesterday we were on the verge of leaving our home. Today the sun shine brightly, and as the sun are bright, so seems the future.