Chapter 20

I was dreaming that I was flying around, not a care in the world. Below me was what seemed like the Everfree Forest, with the snow covering all of the trees. As I flew, I came across a clearing, and I saw something that seemed familiar to me, buried under the snow, but before I could get a closer look, a sudden wind brought me to a halt, and I began to plummet to the ground. As the ground got closer, I quickly closed my eyes, bracing for impact, which came as a large ‘thump!’

I opened my eyes, and noticed that I was back at the library, and that I somehow fell out of the bed. I looked at the clock, and noticed that it was about five thirty in the morning. As I went to get up, I noticed that Ditzy wasn’t in the bed anymore. I thought that she might have gotten up early, but I then heard a noise coming from somewhere in the library. I got up and, putting on my hoodie and shorts, I began to go search for the source of the noise. As it got louder, I noticed that the noise was coming from the bathroom. I walked up to the door and knocked on it. Immediately, I heard Ditzy’s voice from inside.

“O-o-occupied.” She said, before I heard the same noise coming from the bathroom again, and this time, I knew what it was.

For some reason, Ditzy was throwing up inside the bathroom.

I quickly checked to see if the door was locked, and thankfully, it wasn’t, so I quickly opened the door, and the sight inside nearly broke my heart.

Inside, Ditzy was sitting on the floor, her head practically inside the toilet bowl, and I could hear the sound of her violently vomiting into the toilet. Once she calmed down a little, she noticed that somepony else was in the room with her, and she weakly looked up and saw me, and she said, “I…I s-said that…t-the r-r-room was…” before she suddenly started to puke again.

I looked around for something that could help her, and thankfully, I found a washcloth, and I quickly soaked it in cool water and placed it on her forehead. As I placed it on her head, I noticed that she had a fever running, and it got me even more worried then before. I stoked her mane and said soothing words to try and make her feel better faster, but she still went on puking. Eventually, after a good couple of minutes, she seemed to have calmed down enough to look up slightly, and slowly nodded her thanks to me. I gave a small frown, and asked her, “You ok, Ditzy?”

She took a few deep breaths before responding. “No…I feel…r-really…s-s-sick…m-my stomach h-hurts…as w-w-well a-as…m-my throat…”

“We need to take you to the hospital.” I said, worried for her health. She nodded, saying, “O…k…”

I quickly cleaned her up, and once I finished, I picked her up with both of my arms, and began to carry her out of the library and to the hospital. Thankfully, I saw the hospital building a while ago, so I knew where it was. It only took a couple of minutes to reach there, and once we got there, Ditzy had already fallen asleep again.

I entered the building, shoving the door open with my shoulder. Inside, there was a reception counter, and behind it, was an orange unicorn pony dressed in what seemed to be a nurse outfit. She seemed to be busy with something, so she didn’t seem to notice me. I quickly fixed this problem by walking up to her and ringing the little bell on the counter.

“May I h-” she began to say, and then she stopped in mid sentence, her mouth hanging open at the sight of me carrying Ditzy. Before she could say anything, I quickly said, “I need a doctor, now! Ditzy was just throwing up earlier, and she is running a high fever.”

The nurse then reacted with almost no hesitation, upon hearing of a sick pony, and she pressed a small button next to a mike, and said, “Nurse Redheart, please come to the front office.”

I waited there for what felt like forever, giving quick looks to Ditzy, who was still in my arms. Her face seemed to have paled slightly, and all it did was get me more worried. Eventually, another nurse came in, this one was a white Earth pony with a light pink mane and tail, her cutie mark was a red cross, and her mane seemed to be in a bun.

“Quick, follow me.” Said the white pony, and I followed her without hesitation. Soon, we reached a room with a small hospital bed inside, and she motioned me to place Ditzy on the bed then made me leave the room, closing the door behind me. With nothing better to do, I just began to pace in front of the door, worried about the grey Pegasus.

After what felt like hours, but was most likely thirty minutes, the white pony stepped back out, closing the door behind her again. “”Well, is she going to be ok? I quickly asked, concern in my voice.

The white pony smiled, saying, “She should be fine, it’s just a twenty four hour bug. It has been going around for some time, and she should be ok by tomorrow. I do suggest that she stays here for the night, though, for she seems to be malnourished. Do you know what could have caused this?”

I began to explain what happened to her, how she lost her home, and that we brought her in. The nurse was quiet for a second, and then she said, “Hmm, I think that she might have caught it during the time that she was living on the streets. That’s my theory anyway. Still, she should be fine by tomorrow, but like I said, we will need to keep her here to monitor her health for the time being.”

I nodded my understanding. We were quiet for a while, and then the nurse broke the silence. “So, how close are you with her?”

“Well, she’s my marefriend, or at least, one of them. It’s funny, cause were I came from, we normally have one special someone, or somepony in your case, not multiple, so I’m still trying to get used to the whole thing of dating multiple ponies at once.”

The nurse was quiet again, and then she said, “well, don’t worry, Mister Drakalian. She will be better before you know it.”

I nodded my thanks, and then asked, “Can I see her?”

“She’s still sleeping right now, so I suggest that you let her be for the time being.”

I nodded, and began to leave. Before I left, though, something that the nurse said finally hit me.

“Wait a sec. How do you know my name?”

She smiled. “Well, it’s not that hard to know who the only human in Equestria is called. Word does get around, you know.”

“Well, may I ask your name, at least?”

“Of course, my name is Redheart. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I’ll let you know of any changes that happen.”

Once again, I nodded my thanks, and then left the hospital. I decided to go and head for the library, since everypony is probably awake by now, and they might be worrying about where Ditzy and I were.

As I entered the door, I saw that everypony was already having breakfast, along with Spike, who for some reason I didn’t see yesterday. Shrugging it off, I closed the door behind me, and prepared myself for the bombardment of questions that they were inevitably going to ask.

Luna was the first one, giving me a worried look on her face. “What happened, Drak? Me and Twilight tried to wake you and Ditzy up, but when we opened the door to your room, you guys were gone.”

I sighed, and began to explain what happened. After a few minutes of explaining, everypony had a saddened expression on their faces. Dinky herself seemed like she was on the verge of tears.

“I-is M-Mamma g-g-gonna be ok?” She asked, giving a few sniffles. I quickly picked her up and gave her a hug, as well as a kiss on the cheek, saying, “Don’t worry, Muffin, Mamma’s going to be just fine. Nurse Redheart told me herself, and she said that she would contact us if anything came up. In the mean time, I should probably take you to school once you finished your breakfast.”

Surprisingly, Dinky shook her head, saying, “There is no school today, with Hearth’s Warming Eve coming so soon, Miss Cheerilee gave us the last few days off until the actually holiday, so we could help our families with the decorations, as well as getting gifts for one another.”

I raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the other two ponies for confirmation, and they nodded. I was quiet for a while, thinking on what we could do. Finally, I said, “Well, in that case, you are going to have to hang out with me for the entire day.”

Dinky suddenly hugged me in a tight grip. “Yay! I get to hang out with Daddy!” I smiled, and just hugged her back tighter before I had to put her down.

“So, Drak, you want anything to eat?” Asked, Twilight. I shook my head, saying, “No thanks, I was going to go to Sugarcube Corner to get some breakfast again, since I did promise that I would talk to Cheerilee during breakfast.” The purple unicorn nodded her understand, and with Dinky in tow, I began to head on out.

Before we could leave, though, both Luna and Twilight stopped me. Before I could ask them why, their horns began to glow, and in floated a couple bags of clothing. I smiled, realizing that Rarity must have dropped them off yesterday when I was at Lotus’s, and the girls just placed it to the side until today.

“I suggest that you wear something a little more warmer, otherwise you might join Ditzy in the hospital as well.” Said Luna, a grin on her face. I chuckled at her joke, and then took out one of the shirts, a red t-shirt, and removed my hoodie before I put the t-shirt on. I then placed the hoodie back on, and took one of the pairs of pants as well. I then said, “If you don’t mind…” to the mares in the room (and Spike), and smiling, they all turned around, with the exception of Luna, who still had a grin on her face. I just rolled my eyes and took my shorts off, with the purple Alicorn staring intently at me. I then put on my new pants, and said, “Enjoy the show, Luna?”

Luna just continued to grin, and she then placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, saying, “We did enjoy thou’st show.”
I smiled, unable to stay upset for something as trivial as this, and gave her a kiss on the cheek as well. “Well, glad you did.” I whispered into her ear.

With that all taken care of, I took my bag of bits and placed it on my pants. I then motioned for Dinky to come with me, and together, we headed out of the library.

As we walked, I decided to try and have a talk with Dinky to see what she might want to do, as well as what she had planned for the holiday. “So, Dinky, you have any plans for this holiday?”

Dinky gave a big smile, and she began to explain how she and the CMC were going to go around and help all of the town’s folks with decorating Ponyville. I smiled through out the entire conversation, glad that she seemed so happy for the up coming holiday. She then suddenly became quiet, a sad expression coming on her face.

“What’s wrong, Muffin? It sounds like you are going to have a blast.” I asked her, concern in my voice.

Dinky stayed quiet for a few second, and then she said, “Well, I was going to get Mamma something, but we don’t have enough bits for it anymore, so I can’t get it for her now.” I was quiet for a second, and then said, “Well, It’s a good thing that I was going to go to the market after my job today, and since you are going to have to stick with me…” I quieted down, leaving the sentence unfinished. Fortunately, Dinky knew what I meant, and she gained a happy expression again, saying, “You mean that I can buy the gift for Mamma?”

“Yup, and I can give you some of the bits for it as well, so you won’t have to worry about the price too much. Just make sure it’s not too expensive.” I said, hoping to Celestia that it wasn’t too expensive.

“Don’t worry, Daddy, it isn’t that expensive.” She said, an innocent look in her eyes. I was just quiet for a moment, an eyebrow raised in disbelief. Not so long after that, we reached Sugarcube Corner, but before we could come in, Pinkie Pie comes zooming out, her tail twitching like crazy.

“Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!” Shouted Pinkie. I just looked at her, a confused look on my face.

“Ok? So you have a twitchy tail, is that supposed to mean something?”

“Whenever I get a twitchy tail, that means that something is going to fall.” Said the pink pony. I then noticed that Dinky was nowhere near me, and before I could start looking for her, I felt a sudden force hit my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I landed in the snow, gasping for air, and I could feel something on top of me. As soon as I could breath normally again, I noticed that it was actually a pony, a cyan one to be exact.

“Oh, flank! I’m so sorry, Drak! You ok?” Asked a worried Rainbow Dash, looking over me. I nodded, and slowly, I lifted her off of me, for she was still on my chest, and placed her down next to me. I got up and checked to see if anything was broken. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be, and everything seemed to be in one piece, more or less. After a thorough search on me, I said, “Well, mind telling me what in Equestria you were doing that could have caused that?”

“Well, I was trying out this trick that I could show the Wonderbolts at the Young Flyers Competition for next year, but I kind of messed it up, as you can tell.” Said Dash, a small blush on her face. I nodded, deciding to ask her who these ‘Wonderbolts’ were at a later date, and said, “Well, at least you didn’t do any permanent damage to me.”

“Hey, have you had breakfast yet?” Asked Dash. I shook my head. “Well, how about I pay for your breakfast now then, as an apology for using you as a landing cushion. Does that sound fair?”

I was quiet, thinking about Dash’s offer. I then nodded, saying, “Sure, I think that would be nice.”

With that all taken care of, both Dash and I entered Sugarcube Corner, where we saw both Dinky and Cheerilee sitting next to each other, and somehow, Pinkie was already behind the counter. I just shrugged it off, and went to go join my daughter and her teacher.

As we got our seats, I asked, “So, does that normally happen with Pinkie?”

Dinky nodded. “Yup. She calls it her ’Pinkie Sense’, and no pony else seems to understand it either. She has all different sorts of weird twitches and ticks that tell her what might be about to happen.” I was quiet for a moment, absorbing the information, trying to figure it out. Dash apparently noticed this, and said, “Don’t even try to figure it out, dude, trust me” I nodded, deciding to just put it with the other things that Pinkie does, and said, “Well, I can see how it could be helpful.” The other mares began to giggle, and then we began to eat our breakfast that was at the table, since Dinky apparently ordered for us. I was about to question how she could have ordered our food, and then remembered whom it was that worked here, and I just stayed silent. After a couple of minutes, Dash spoke up.

“So, I’ve been thinking, and I think that you should be my slave tomorrow, since everything should be closed by then, so that you will have the full day with me.” I thought about it for a moment, and then said, “Sure, that can work. I don’t have anything planned for tomorrow anyways.”

Dinky gave me a confused look, and asked, “Why does Daddy need to be your slave, Dash?”

Dash then began to explain about the challenge that I took on her about me sparing against Shining Armor, and she also began to explain how the fight went, Dinky becoming enraptured by the whole story. I chuckled slightly, and then, noticing that Cheerilee wasn’t saying anything, I decided to speak to her.

“So, Cheerilee, you have any plans for Hearth’s Warming Eve?” This startled the maroon pony for a second, and then she calmed down, saying, “Well, not really. I’m just going to head out towards Trottingham, to visit some family members.”
I nodded, becoming quiet for a little while again, an awkward silence hanging in the air. I then remembered why I invited her to join us to begin with, and asked, “So, you still want to know how I was able to get Diamond to open up so easily?” This got Cheerilee’s attention quickly, and she nodded, saying, “Oh, yes please! That is, if it’s not a problem with you?“

I shook my head and said, “It’s not a problem at all.” and began to explain how I can see a person, or pony’s, feelings just by staring into their eyes, and I told her that this was how I was able to tell that she had been bullied in her past, since I notice a flash of fear once I mentioned that she was once a ‘blank flank’. Cheerilee nodded, intent during my entire conversation, listening to every word that I said. After a while, I noticed that I had to get to work soon, and I quickly finished my breakfast.

“Well, It was nice talking to you, Cheerilee.” I said.

“Same here, Drak. I hope that we can do this a little more often.” She said, blushing slightly. I nodded in agreement, and said goodbye to Dash as both Dinky and I began to head on out to the spa to begin my job.

Before we left, Dash shouted to us, “Hey, just a heads up, the weather team has a blizzard setting up later today, most likely around eight PM, so you better be inside when it hits.”

“Thanks Dash, we’ll make sure that we’re all inside.” I said, thankful that she told me about the upcoming storm. For some reason, the blizzard sounded familiar, but I just brushed it off, and continued walking with Dinky towards the spa.

I got to the spa building and entered. As soon as I entered, I saw that the spa sisters already had everything ready. Lotus was the first to see us enter the room. She walked to great us, a smile on her face.
“Hello there, Drak! And who is this adorable little filly that you brought with you?” Asked Lotus, looking at Dinky with adoring eyes.

“Hi, I’m Dinky, Ditzy’s and Drak’s daughter!” the little pink filly exclaimed, a huge smile on her face as well. This caused all of us to chuckle a little.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Dinky.” Said Aloe, coming to greet us as well. We began to converse in idle chitchat as we waited for the first customer to come in, which, as it turned out, was a few minutes later.

We heard the bell ring, and Aloe went to go and answer it. While the pink spa pony was gone, Lotus asked, “Just out of curiosity, why is Dinky with you, not that me and my sister mind, of course.”

I gained a little frown and explained what happened this morning with Ditzy, and that she is in the hospital right now. As soon as I finished explaining, Lotus gained a mournful expression as well.

“Oh, well I’m so sorry that your mom is in the hospital right now, Dinky, but I’m sure that she will be fine. I remember when I got that bug, it wasn’t pleasant, but thankfully, my sister was able to take care of the spa while I was gone, and I was able to get better quickly, as you can see.” Said the blue spa pony to Dinky.

Dinky gave a big smile and said, “I know that Mamma is gonna pull through, she’s very strong.”

“That she is, Muffin, that she is.” I said, chuckling slightly, ruffling her mane a little. Before we could say anything else, Aloe walked back in, along with our first customer, who was no other then AJ herself.

I smiled as my country marefriend came into the room, and walked up to her and gave her a big hug. “AJ! It feels like it’s been forever!”

“Aw, shucks, sugarcube. It has only been two days.” Said AJ, a blush forming on her cheeks. I just smiled, giving her a kiss on her reddening cheeks, and said, “Well, it felt like forever to me.”

Suddenly, we were both tackled down by Dinky, who gave us an equally big hug as well. “Hi Applejack, you remember me?”

“Of course ah do, partner. You’re Dinky, Ditzy’s daughter, and since your mom is in our herd, that makes you mah newest cousin as well.” Giggled AJ, giving Dinky a friendly rub on her mane, making the filly giggle.

As we got up from the floor, Dinky said, “Wait, that means that Lotus is my auntie now too!” Before we could do anything, Dinky suddenly runs up and grabs Lotus into another hug, making all of us laugh. Once Dinky and Lotus were done hugging, Aloe cleared her throat and said, “Well, Drak, I think you might know why Applejack is here.”

I nodded, turning to face AJ. “I assume you’re here for the massage by me, right?”

AJ nodded, and with that, I led her to the closest massaging table, with Dinky following me, while Lotus and Aloe went to the waiting room to wait for other customers. I told AJ to lie down on the table, and then I began her massage, starting with AJ’s shoulders first, Dinky watching intently the whole time.

The massage was fairly normal, and it went as well as it should. I decided to avoid touching the cutie marks, since this was a professional area and not private, (as well as Dinky watching us) and once I finished her rear hooves, I asked, “Would you like me to do your forelegs, AJ?”

AJ smiled, lifting her right foreleg first, saying, “Please do, sugarcube.”

I smiled and began to work on her foreleg. When I got to her hoof, I hesitated, not sure if I should do her front hooves as well. AJ apparently noticed my hesitation, and said, “It’s ok, sugarcube, you can massage mah front hooves as well.”

I was about to say something about Dinky being here, when suddenly the pink filly herself spoke up. “Come on, Drak! I want to see what it’s like when an Earth pony gets their front hooves massaged.”

I turned to face my daughter, wondering if she knew that an Earth pony’s front hooves were very sensitive to pleasure, and then, Dinky said, “I already know that their hooves are one way to begin foreplay, but I just want to see what it looks like.”

At this, both AJ and I looked at the unicorn filly, surprise on both of our faces. Dinky noticed this, and blushed slightly, saying, “Well, w-we kind of l-learned it in…uh, sexual education. You know…at school.” I raised an eyebrow, having it hard to believe that they taught sex ed. at such a young age here, but then realizing that they most likely had a different curriculum here then were I came from, I just shrugged it off, and began to do AJ’s front hoof, causing her to gasp in surprise, before she moaned in pleasure, practically melting in my grasp like Lotus did. After a few minutes, I finished with both of AJ’s front hooves, and motioning her to get back on the floor, the orange pony took a few steps to see how relaxed she was. After a few test steps, she smiled, and gave me a big kiss on the lips, to which I responded in kind, Dinky giggling at the scene.

When we separated, AJ said, “Thanks for the massage, sugarcube. Also, ah was wondering…well…are you free anytime tomorrow?”

I was quiet for a few seconds, thinking what I had to do tomorrow, and then remembered the promise that I made to Rainbow, and shook my head sadly, saying, “I wish I was, AJ, but I promised Dash that I would give her the reward for the challenge then, so no. Once again, I’m really sorry.”

AJ was quiet for a moment, and then she nodded, saying, “Well, ah guess that ah can understand.” I smiled, glad that she was ok with this, and gave her a quick peck on the lips, saying, “I might have some time after today, when I finish with my training with Twilight and Luna, so if you want a more ‘personal’ massage…”

AJ knew exactly what I was hinting at, and she gave me a seductive smile. She leaned in slightly, and whispered into my ear, “I would love that, as long as you’re ready for another ride, partner.” Her whisper literally sent shivers of anticipation down my spine, and I quickly nodded, causing AJ to giggle slightly, along with Dinky, who I believe had a good guess as to what we were talking about despite not being able to hear what we said.

With that planning done, AJ left the spa building, leaving me to finish my work here with a giggling filly as company, not that I really minded, of course.

We left once again a few hours later, my bag of bits slightly heaver from the payment that I received today, and headed off towards the market. We saw all sorts of different stores along the way, along with AJ’s apple booth, which we did stop by to get some lunch in the form of some apples and apple fritters, which were some of the most delicious apples that I have ever had. We continued to walk as we ate our lunch, and then we reached a stall that had all sorts of different stuffed animals. At this point, Dinky stopped and began to look at the stall with longing. I quickly looked at what she was looking at, and notice that there was a stuffed muffin on display. I chuckled, knowing what she wanted, and said, “You want the stuffed muffin, Dinky?”

Dinky was silent for a moment, and then she said, “Well, kind of. I want to get it for Mamma. I think she would love it as a Hearth’s Warming gift.”

I chuckled, nodding myself. “I think so too, Dinky. I think so too.” With that, we went up to the stall, and purchased the muffin for 12 bits (thankfully, the stalls here did allow bartering, for it was 20 bits to start with.) We began to walk again. Dinky held onto the muffin like it was a stuffed toy, except it was a stuffed…muffin…anyways, we soon approached a jewelry store, and I remembered what Ditzy and I talked about last night. I asked Dinky, “Hey, you know what the necklace was that Ditzy wanted?”

Dinky nodded. “Yup, she would sometimes take a peek at it in the store, and then sigh unhappy like. Why, are you…oh, you are!” said Dinky, jumping up excitedly. I smiled, and said, “Just don’t tell Mamma, ok?” Dinky nodded, making a zipping motion with her hoof across her mouth, and with that, we both walked into the store.

Inside the store, there were loads of different types of jewelry, arranging from hoof rings to necklaces, and even a few tiaras. ‘This must be were Diamond got her tiara then.’ I went up to the counter and tapped the little bell, and a white Earth pony mare with a curly blue mane comes walking in, her cutie mark is the shape of a diamond ring.

“Hello, my name is Red Ruby, is there anything you are looking for?” she asked in a happy tone. I raised an eyebrow when she said her name, giving another look at her cutie mark. “Red Ruby? I would have thought it was Diamond or…something.” I said, trying not to sound too rude.

Ruby giggled at this, and then said, “Don’t worry, you’re not the only pony who’s asked that question. Ponies are always confused when they see my cutie mark, and then I say my name is Red Ruby instead of something like Diamond Ring. So, what do you need?”

I was quiet for a second, and then I said, “Well, I’m looking for something for my special somepony, and-”

“And you’re going to give it to her during Hearth’s Warming Eve? Oh, What a romantic thing to do!” She said, swooning a little like Rarity. I once again raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. “So, would you like to see our selection?”

“Actually, My daughter, Dinky, already-” I began to say, gesturing to my daughter, and then realizing that she was no longer next to me. I quickly looked around, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her staring intently at a certain object already. Ruby and I walked up to her, and I noticed that it was a necklace, most likely the necklace that Ditzy wants as well. It had a simple silver chain, and the main jewel to it was a good-sized topaz in the shape of a heart, with gold angel wings on the sides of it.

“This is it, Daddy, this is what Mamma really wants!” exclaimed Dinky. I chuckled a little and patted her on the mane, before I said to Ruby, “Well, I think we found the one. So, how much is it?”

Ruby was quiet for a moment, calculating the price, most likely, before she said, “Well, the design of this particular piece is called Angel’s Heart, and it is really popular with the mare’s at the moment. I believe the price on this particular one is…159 bits.”

I gave myself a mental smack at the price, already knowing that I wouldn’t have enough for it. I looked at Dinky with a sad look, saying, “Sorry, Muffin, but it looks like I can’t get it yet.”

“But I want you to get it for Mamma, she would be so happy.” Said Dinky, on the verge of tears.

“I know, Dinky, but we can get Ditzy something else this-”

“Wait, did you say Ditzy?” Asked Ruby. I turned to her and nodded. “Yes, why? Do you know her?”

“Well, I knew her when she was the mailmare, and it broke my heart when she was fired. Such a shame, for she was really good at it, even if she did crash every once in a while.” At this point, even Dinky was quiet, listening to Ruby talk. “So, wait, Ditzy is the special somepony that you want to give this to?”

“Yup Ditzy’s my mamma!” Exclaimed Dinky, puffing her chest proudly. Ruby and I chuckled at that, and then Ruby seemed to remember something, and said, “Wait, I remember you now.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t already.” I said, a grin on my face.

“Well, besides that. I mean I remember seeing you carrying her from the library to the hospital.”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I didn’t think anypony would be up that early.”

“Well, I had some things that needed to be taken care of at the store, so I had to get up pretty early. As I was getting the store ready, I noticed that you were outside, and that you were carrying a grey Pegasus mare to the hospital. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but if that was Ditzy, then I’m truly sorry about it, and I hope that she will feel better.”

“Yea, I do too. Nurse Redheart said that it’s a 24 hour bug, so she should be fine to come back tomorrow.”

“Yea! Mamma’s stronger then any stupid bug!” Said Dinky, confidence in her voice, which once again made Ruby and I chuckle. We became quiet for a little bit, before Ruby cleared her throat.

“Well, as a get well soon gift, I think I can half the price of the necklace then. How does…74 bits sound?”

I thought about it for a second. While it was definitely cheaper then the original price, it would still take most of my bits. I then looked at Dinky, and noticed that she was once again giving me the puppy eyes. I chuckled at her, and then, turning towards Ruby, I said, “I think I can do 74 bits.”

At this Dinky jumped in the air, shouting, “YAY!” before she landed, shaking with excitement. This made both Ruby and I laugh again at the silly filly, and with that, I purchased the necklace and Ruby placed it in a bag before she gave it to me. As we were walking out, I saw something that caught my eyes. On one of the store mannequins, I saw a white hair band that had a pink lotus on it, and inside was a medium sized pearl in the middle of the flower. As I was looking at it, I heard Ruby say, “Something else catch your eye, sir?”

I nodded, and said, “The hair band looks interesting, but judging by the size of the pearl, I think it might be too expensive for me right now.”

“Actually, the pearl itself isn’t that expensive, since it’s on sale. I would say the whole thing would cost you…27 bits.”

I raised my eyebrow (I seemed to be doing that a lot lately) and asked, “How much is it usually worth?”

“45 bits.”

I was quiet for a second, and then I nodded, saying, “If it’s all right with you, I would like to buy this hair band as well.”

“Well, of course, sir, let me just take this and bring it to the counter.” Said Ruby, taking the hair band off of the pony mannequin. Dinky noticed that I wasn’t following her, and when she saw the hair band, said, “Why are you getting that, Daddy? We already got something for Mamma.”

I smiled at her. “I know, but I have other marefriends too, remember?” Dinky made an ‘oh’ with her mouth, before she started to giggle again, saying, “I know who that’s for, now!”

I smiled at my daughter before I gave the bits for the hair band, and now that we were finally done, Dinky and I decided to head on out and back to the library.

As we walked, I began to think to myself about a few things, the biggest thought in my head was what was I going to get for the others? It was easy for me to get one for Ditzy and Lotus, since these seemed to just scream that they were for them. I decided to ask Twilight about what I should get them, and then, I noticed that we were already at the library.

I opened the door, and I could see both Luna and Twilight setting some things up. I smiled, remembering that I was going to start my training today.

“So, Drak, you ready for some magical training?” Asked Twilight, both of them with smiles on their faces. I smiled myself, and then proceeded on taking my hoodie off, since I was inside now. I sat down next to Luna and Twilight, with Dinky sitting to the side, wanting to watch me with my training. We began similar to what Luna and I did on the train, starting with the simple lighting spell and the telekinesis spell, which I was able to do better this time. After a good hour, I was already able to hold the energy in my hands to make a light for a good five minutes, while I began to effortlessly hold onto my bow staff, not quiet getting the hang of holding multiple objects at once for a long period of time. I even lifted Twilight by accident at one point, which brought a bout of laughter from everypony, seeing her flail about in the air for a few seconds before I lost concentration and accidently dropped her to the ground. We continued this for a good while, and I even was able to learn a basic magical bolt for defense purposes, when we suddenly heard a knocking on the door. At this point, the blizzard that Rainbow warned us about had already begun to pick up, and while it didn’t snow as much as I expected, it still snowed quiet a bit, as well as being very windy. I went to open the door, and waiting outside was AJ, wearing her scarf. I smiled, and welcomed her into the library. AJ smiled back at me, giving me a kiss as she walked pass.

“So, AJ. What brings you here?” Asked Twilight.

“Well, Drak here promised that ah could have a private massage after his here training, but ah kind of got inpatient, so ah decided to come and see how his training was going.” She said, a small blush on her face. I smiled back at her and said, “I don’t mind it at all, AJ. You’re more then welcome to join me during my training.”

“Speaking of training, Daddy, when are you going to teach the Crusaders about karate?” asked Dinky. I was quiet for a second, and then I said, “Well, I think I might start it after Hearth’s Warming Eve, since I do want to take it a bit easy for a while.”

“And you haven’t already?” Giggled Luna, making us all laugh as well.

Once we calmed down a bit, I decided to show AJ how far I had progressed with my training. After a few minutes of showing off, AJ said, “Wow, ah never saw somepony get that good at magic that quickly, with the exception of Twilight here.”

Before we could say anything else, we heard another knock on the door. “Did you see anypony else behind you, AJ?” I asked the orange mare, who just shook her head, saying, “The only pony tha’ ah caught was mah sister, for she wanted to go and see that Trixie fellow again, which ah still don’t agree with her seeing her at all, but that mare can be stubborn sometimes.”

I chuckled as I went to open the door again. “She most likely got it from you.” I said, making everypony giggle. I opened the door, and there, shivering from the cold, was Applebloom, wearing only a scarf.

“Ah thought ah told ya ta stay home, Applebloom!” shouted AJ, anger and concern coming out of her eyes. AB, however, ignored her sister, and instead, looked at me. I could see lots of worry in her eyes, and when she spoke, I could hear her shivering from the cold.

“T-T-Trixie is in t-t-t-trouble.” Said the yellow filly, her teeth chattering.

“You know ah don’t like you going to tha’ mare, sis, especially since-” AJ began to say, before I interrupted her.

“I understand that you don’t particularly like Trixie, but does that mean that we shouldn’t help her?” I asked her. AJ was quiet for a few seconds, and then she sighed. Defeated, she said, “Ah guess not, sugarcube.”

I looked back at AB again and asked, “So, what’s wrong with Trixie?”

“H-h-her h-home j-j-just c-c-c-collapsed under a-a-a b-bunch of s-s-snow. A-a-and s-s-she’s s-still inside.”