“Scootaloo! Wait!” Running as fast as her stubby legs would allow, Glass Slipper begged for Scootaloo to slow down so she could catch up. “You promised you’d look after me… you Pinkie Pie sweared!”

“So I did,” Scootaloo said as she slowed down. Glass Slipper saw Scootaloo’s heard turn as she finally caught up to Scootaloo’s side.

Working up the saddest looking face that Glass Slipper knew she was capable of, she turned it upon her big sister. “I get lonely at home.”

“I know… I’m sorry,” Glass Slipper heard Scootaloo reply.

Reaching out, Glass Slipper poked Scootaloo in the shoulder. “Spike has homework and he’s all serious and grumpy about it.”

“I have homework too now that you mention it…”

Worried about the way that Scootaloo’s words just sort of died out, Glass Slipper prodded her sister once more on the shoulder. “You promised you’d look after me!”

“I can look after you while I’m doing my homework,” Scootaloo said.

Feeling a little miffed, Glass Slipper sat down near her bigger sister and blinked. “How come you don’t like me?”

Scootaloo’s response was immediate and Glass Slipper could see her sister’s mouth opening and closing as she tried to say something. As her chest grew tight, Glass Slipper said, “You always ditch me any chance you get. You don’t play with me. You get huffy puffy with me when we have to spend time together. And you never wait for me.”

Scootaloo deflated and sat down on the packed dirt lane. “I’m sorry… you’re right. I’ve been a bad sister.”

“Why?” Glass Slipper asked.

“I dunno why… you’re little… I’m bigger and older. We do different things. You like to go slow and I like to go fast… I dunno.”

“Mama Dash told me to tell you that you’re little and she’s bigger and older if you said that,” Glass Slipper said in a hushed whisper. “She still made time for you.”

Glass Slipper saw one of Scootaloo’s front hooves rise and then Scootaloo bonked herself in the head with a hollow sounding -conk!- sound. As they sat there together in the lane, other ponies walked around them and the sounds of Ponyville filled Glass Slipper’s ears.

There was a big stallion pulling a wagon; in the wagon were couches, a table, several chairs, and a large artificial palm tree. A shop was getting new glass in the window. A pegasus was nearby applying a fresh coat of paint to a sign hanging over a door. Nearby, vendors were selling root vegetables in their stalls.

Above them, Glass Slipper failed to notice that many pegasi were watching them, keeping them safe, and making sure that no harm befell them.

Nearby, a garbage eating golem shouted, “DO NOT LITTER!” to one very frightened and cowering unicorn that had dropped a candy wrapper. The golem was monstrously large and had the fires of Tartarus burning within.

“I’m a bad sister,” Scootaloo said.

“Ayup.” Glass Slipper listened to the drawl coming out of her ears, trying to figure out if she liked it or not. It was something she had picked up from the Apple family during one of her many visits.

“You’re not supposed to agree with me!”

“Why not?” Glass Slipper asked.

“Because you're just not supposed… oh never mind.”

Glass Slipper became aware of a shadow looming over her and Scootaloo. She turned, slowly, fearfully, trying to see whom it might be. And then, she saw him. “Daddy!”

Flash Sentry looked down at the two foals sitting on the side of the lane. “What do we have here? Two little troublemakers… loitering.”

“Nuh huh daddy.” To let her daddy know she meant business, Glass Slipper shook her head at him. She rose up from her haunches, stood up on her hind legs, threw her forelegs around Flash Sentry’s foreleg, and squeezed it tightly.

“Hi Flash.”

“Hello Scootaloo. Looking after your sister?” Flash Sentry asked.

Glass Slipper turned her head just in time to see Scootaloo squirming and to hear Scootaloo say, “Yeah, but I’m doing a lousy job. I’m a bad big sister.”

“Hmm… sounds like you need to talk about it. How about the three of us head off to Sugarcube Corner and get a treat?” Flash Sentry asked.

Yawning, Luna blinked her eyes and looked down at Erebus. “Why must you wake your mother just after she goes to sleep? Why must you always be so hungry?”

The foal did not reply, but continued to feed, and Luna could feel the warmth of his body against hers. Her thoughts turned to love for a moment, love in all of its many forms.

Like the love of a good prank.

“I wish I could have seen my sister’s face when she discovered her office,” Luna said, mostly to herself. “I do believe it is going to take her a while to figure out how to do undo Bucky’s water puzzle. Erebus, is mama a bad pony for recreating her sister’s magical signature and framing her for a harmless prank?”

Once more, the foal did not reply, but Tiberius, hanging from a nearby candelabra by his tail, squeaked at the interruption of his slumber.

Unable to stop herself, Luna yawned once more. “Since Celestia was there at Bucky’s farm at the time, it was all too easy to make it appear as though she did it.” For a moment, Luna pondered the fact that she was revelling in her own cleverness to an audience that consisted of a possum and her own colt.

No matter, it was still better than the rocks she spoke to on the moon.

Closing her eyes, Sunset Shimmer fought back a wave of nausea. She fell over on her couch, her head resting upon the arm, and she took a deep breath as she tried not to throw up. Panting now, her horn aching, Sunset Shimmer tried to gather her thoughts.

She felt someone crawling up onto the couch beside her, and Sunset Shimmer knew from the feeling of the small body that it was Bartleby. “Sunset?” she heard him ask. Cracking open one eye, Sunset peered at the toucan beaked griffon fretting over her.

Her barrel still heaving, Sunset tried to control her breathing so she could speak. The skin around her horn felt clammy as it tingled strangely. “Bartleby… something is wrong with my magic.”

“I know… you cracked your horn, love,” the griffon said and Sunset Shimmer took comfort when she heard his soft words.

“You seem to be struggling. Is it still weak?”

Trixie’s voice was low, distant, she was on the other side of the room, working at her table, preparing a lesson plan for her class. Sunset Shimmer could hear a faint worried sounding wavering in Trixie’s usually smooth and well spoken voice.

Sunset Shimmer swallowed, hard and a painful lump traveled down her throat. “No… not too weak… too strong. When I go to lift a pen, it takes all of my control to keep from shoving it through the ceiling. I’m carving through paper and into the table. I’m scared of my own magic.”

“Fear leads to surges,” Trixie said and Sunset Shimmer could hear the panic in Trixie’s voice as she reached up to rub her aching head.

“I know Trixie, I know… I’m fighting to hold back surges… I can feel them… something has changed.” Still rubbing her head, Sunset Shimmer thought about Master… he had cracked his horn and had come away stronger. Sunset’s horn was not fulgurite, but something had certainly changed. “I don’t trust my own magic anymore.”

“Confidence helps. When Trixie wore the alicorn amulet, not only did the amulet give me powerful magic, it gave me the confidence and the will to control it. It prevented me from feeling fear. Because Trixie did not feel fear, because Trixie had the utmost confidence, Trixie had perfect control over her powerful magic… I… I… I don’t want the alicorn amulet back, but I do wish I had the confidence that it gave me. I want nothing to do with dark magic ever again.”

Unable to get her voice to do more than a weak mumble, Sunset Shimmer said, “We should form a club… ponies who have experienced dark magic and have sworn off of it completely.”

Torn between the urge to throw up and giggle, Sunset Shimmer squirmed as Bartleby crawled over her body, his talons and toes tickling her as he clambered over her. She felt him lay down on top of her, his body was warm against her ribs, and she could feel the faint weight of his head upon her neck. She felt his forelegs wrap around her left foreleg, and hold on tightly.

“Yeah… no more dark magic ever. Trixie will leave that to the Dark Lord Buckminster, He of the One Creepy Eye… woooOOOooOooOOO.”

“Trixie, what are you doing? Why do you speak of Master in such a way?” Sunset asked, her eyes closed as she continued to rest her head upon the arm of the couch.

“Trixie is being dramatic… when school resumes the next lesson is dramatic components of speech.”

Unable to help herself, Sunset Shimmer giggled.

Feeling very peculiar, Dinky settled lower into the deep water of the bathtub, looking to her mother for comfort. Confused, frightened, ashamed, Dinky was overwhelmed by everything that had taken place. “I had a little surge… I don’t know what happened.”

Looking at at her mother, Dinky saw her mother’s amber eye. One was squinted shut so her mother could see better. The other eye was fixed on Dinky, and Dinky took comfort in seeing her mother’s eye.

“Dinky, you are growing up… Lyra told me that this might happen.”

“If I’m growing up I shouldn’t be wetting myself,” Dinky said. Dinky sunk ever lower into the tub water, keeping only her nostrils and eyes above the surface as she looked up at her mother. “So embarrassing.”

“Dinky Doo… you didn’t wet yourself… you…”

Dinky heard her mother’s voice die. Afterwards, her mother’s ears went completely limp and fell down beside her head. “I did too wet myself,” Dinky insisted in a petulant voice.

“Dinky, love, listen to mama for a moment. This is really hard for mama to talk about. You performed a powerful bit of magic… you teleported a good sized rock… mama doesn’t understand it, but she knows that you did it, and you had a surge because everything felt so good. And… uh… um… because it felt so good, other parts of your body had a reaction. A very grown up and adult reaction. Anyhow… this reaction made you wet back there, but you didn’t pee on yourself. Mama isn’t doing a very good job of this,” Dinky heard her mother say.

It still hurt down there. Everything was cramped and achy, like it was when Dinky fell down on her plot too hard. The hot water was soothing, but the ache was still present.

“Dinky, you’re growing up. You’re getting to that age where you are going to notice a lot of changes. Your voice is going to change a bit. Your body is going to change a lot. Eventually, you are going to have your first heat… and mama is not looking forward to that day at all because mama really wants her Dinky to stay cute and little forever… but mama also knows that she needs to let Dinky go so little Dinky can grow up…”

When Dinky saw the tear in her mother’s eye, she began to feel tears stinging at her own eyes. Squeezing her hind legs together and wrapping her front legs tightly around her own barrel, Dinky tried to squeeze away the sad feelings she felt. “So many ponies saw what happened.”

“Embarrassing accidents happen all the time… it is a good thing Dinky… you will know who your friends are when they come to you to help you through this and try to make you feel better.”

Contemplating her mother’s words, Dinky’s mind began to pick apart the situation. “Piña didn’t laugh at me. She was right at my side a moment later trying to help me and telling the others not to laugh at me.”

“Well, Piña is your sister and your best friend. See? She did the right thing… doesn’t that help make this not so bad?”

Still squeezing herself, Dinky drew in a deep breath, struggling against her own constriction. “I guess so mama.”

Derpy leaned over the edge of the tub, and Dinky felt two lips press into her nasal bridge. As she watched her mother pull away, she asked, “So, mama, can you tell me more about what happened and why I suddenly went all wet back there?”

“Well, mama can try… but Berry Punch or Loch Skimmer might be better at this than I am Dinky Doo. This is a tough thing to talk about with a foal… but I’m willing to try…”

Author's Notes:

I really loved writing this chapter. Especially the first part.

Suffer not a typo to live!