Dinky wasn't crying; it was just the wind in her eyes. Wincing, the five-year old filly bowed her head. She clung close to her mother from where she hung in the left pocket of Ditzy Doo's saddlebag. The evening air over Ponyville billowed in little blistery gusts, but Ditzy's strong wings kept them both straight, even if her eyes weren't. All around them, the stars above Equestria twinkled with magical brilliance over a mellow blue countryside.

    "Well, all in all, I’d say it was a pretty entertaining talent show this year," Ditzy said. Her voice was pleasant enough, though it trailed with the raspy stretch of a long day of delivering the mail. Dinky felt the words more than she heard them, relishing in the warm vibrations of her mother's voice through the saddlebag. "Even if it got a little wacky towards the end. 'Cutie Mark Crusaders?' I don't remember Miss Cheerilee labeling anything on tonight's program as a 'Comedy Act.'"

    Dinky peeked one amber eye open, then the other. She glanced up, spotting the gray silhouette of Ditzy's wingfeathers against the night's canvas. Her jaw clenched tightly shut.

    "Still, weren't those two roller skating ponies absolutely amazing?" Ditzy's voice took on a melodic tone as it danced along the breezy currents, shooting past Dinky's ears in mid-flight. "What were their names again...? Oh! Sunny Days and Peachie Pie! So adorable... Now there's a poetry recital I'll never forget! I bet their parents are so proud."

    Dinky felt a sudden chill overwhelming her. Only, this time, she figured it wasn't the wind. It gnawed persistently at her heart, growing into a deep ache that throbbed harder and harder in her gut. She tried ignoring it, choosing instead to gaze at the rolling starlit landscape below.

    The dim green fields of the Ponyville Park gave way to gold-thatched rooftops and two-story buildings. The sleepy town was even sleepier at night, with the occasional chimney spilling smoke into the crisp, cool air. Ditzy veered past the hazy columns with nimble grace, tracing the dirt paths of Ponyville to where the streets densely converged in the center. Their apartment waited for them only a few blocks away.

    "You'll be starting kindergarten soon, Dinky," Ditzy hummed. She bore a silver smile in the moonlight. "In just a year or two, it'll be your chance to perform on stage! Now wouldn't that be exciting?"

    The filly squirmed in the saddlebag. Her eyes pulsed, making it hard to concentrate on the dark lawns and patios blurring by underneath.

    "Why're you so quiet tonight, my little muffin?" Ditzy cooed, giving her flank the tiniest of shakes. "Awwww... I bet you're tired. Mommy's tired too. Don't worry; I'll have you home and tucked safely in bed soon enough." The last words rang with a trailing giggle, something very warm that punctured the cold embrace of night.

    Perhaps that's what finally did it. Dinky committed to her next breath. With jaw unclenched, the foal's voice came out in a high-pitched tone: "Mommy...?"

    "Hmmm? Yes, Dinky?"

    "Did Daddy do something mean to you?"

    Almost instantly, Ditzy's wings stopped flapping. Her body turned colder than the night as she glided stiffly ahead.

    Dinky's tiny hooves kneaded the edge of the bag. "Is that why he doesn't live with us?"

    What followed was ten petrified seconds of silence. There was no response, only the gentle th-thumps of spry hooves as Ditzy Doo landed four blocks away from home. She simply sat there, in the dead center of an abandoned street, with such quietness that it began to scare Dinky more than silence had ever done so before.

    Dinky pivoted in her saddlebag. With a gaping expression, she squinted through the veil of night at her mother.

    Ditzy's head was shaking. This tremor spread through her body until it consumed her flanks and drooping wings. Dinky felt each quiver through the saddlebag, and it almost distracted her from the sudden gasps and whimpers coming from her mother’s muzzle. The filly craned her neck just in time to spot reflective beads of moonlight on Ditzy's eyelashes.

    "Mommy...?"

    "I'm so sorry..." Ditzy clenched her teeth. She turned to look at her daughter head on, an imperfect accomplishment with her stubbornly wandering eyes. "Oh, Dinky, I'm s-so sorry." She fell—a very slow collapse—until her body deflated against the rough dirt of the road. Her face hid between two outstretched limbs, and all she did was repeat the melancholic mantra: "I'm so sorry... I'm s-so sorry..."

    "Mommy..." Dinky bit her lip. Fumbling with tiny foal hooves, she stumbled out of the saddlebag. She tripped once, falling awkwardly onto her side. Just as quickly, she got back up and waddled over to her mother's face. There, she leaned in and nuzzled Ditzy, careful not to poke the pony's gray coat with her tiny stub of a horn. "Why are you sorry? It's okay! You didn't do anything wrong!"

    Those words were of little help; Ditzy only sobbed harder. Dinky felt a stab of guilt rip through her heart, and her blood ran cold with the thought of having done something to hurt her mother. Not knowing the reason for those tears was enough for her to start shedding three times as many herself. The stars dimmed overhead as the whole world shrank, and suddenly it was just the two of them. Dinky leaned in as close as she could possibly get, burying her face into her mother’s neck.

    "Mommy... M-Mommy please..." She sniffled. "Whatever you're sorry for, I forgive you. Please don't cry."

    A pitiful squeak found its way through Ditzy's lips. Eyes closed, she blindly felt a hoof forward, reaching. Dinky leaned into it, and Ditzy scooped the little foal up in the crook of her fetlock, holding her close and closer as she quietly wept there in the center of the road.

    "Mommy loves you, my little muffin," Ditzy whispered, kissing Dinky lightly—repeatedly—on the cheek, ear, and horn. "To the moon and back..." She held the child close in the cold breath of night, as if afraid the wind might suddenly carry her off. "To the moon and back."

    Dinky felt sad, scared, and more than a little bit confused. But she also felt warm, warm and safe in her mother's embrace. Somehow, half of her knew that nothing would ever be the same again, but the other half realized it didn't matter. So Dinky simply chose to stay there, in the only place she knew, until Ditzy Doo's crying spell ended and she quietly, calmly carried her tearful Muffin home and to a warm bed.

    Two years later, Dinky Doo stood on the crest of a hill, legs locked tight as the periwinkle pony gazed eastward into the rolling countryside of Equestria. A strong gust of warm wind came up from the valley, rustling at the tall grass on either side of the filly. Dinky's curly blonde mane billowed behind her stubby horn, and she felt like giggling from the chill, but chose instead to remain resolute in her stance, amber eyes firm as she glared into the horizon like a valiant and fearless bastion of—

    "Dinky?" Sweetie Belle's voice ripped against the wind like a proverbial record scratch. "Diiiiiinky???"

    The tiny filly winced, immediately ripped out of her tiny little world. "Uhhh..." She turned and waved with a guilty tremor. "Up here, Sweetie Belle."

    "There you are!" Sweetie Belle galloped up the hill, which was no easy task. She came three feet short of Dinky, bending over and wheezing for breath. "Whew! Well I’m certainly not getting a cutie mark in mountain climbing!" Inhaling heavily, the older unicorn stood up. Because Dinky was on a higher part of the hill, it allowed the two fillies to look eye-to-eye, an adorably odd thing. "Somepony should put a bell on you! You slipped away just as we were getting ready to speed off for Manehattan!"

    "Oh, I-I'm sorry." Dinky pawed at the springy grass, biting her lip. She had only been an Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader for an hour and a half and already it felt like she was messing things up. In truth, she wasn't used to having to impress three ponies at once, much less fillies just a couple of years older than her. "I do that to Mommy sometimes. I should know better."

    "It's okay!" Sweetie Belle smiled, her snow-white dimples eating into her green eyes. "You don't have to be so hard on yourself!"

    "Sometimes I feel like I'm half here and I'm half somewhere else," Dinky said with a shrug. "I'll try not to do it again."

    "Try not to do what again?" Apple Bloom asked, trotting up behind Sweetie Belle.

    "Yeah... just what were you doing right now?" rasped Scootaloo, not far behind. The wind kicked at her violet mane as she gave a devilish smirk. "You were standing all funny on the hilltop while you were alone!"

    "Well... uh..." Dinky's blush chased the gray out of her cheeks. There was a persistent, knifing, yet playful tone to Scootaloo's voice. Dinky knew she couldn't hide things from her for long, or the other Crusaders for that matter. "We're about to go on a big adventure and all, and so I guess I felt like... well..."

    "You were striking a heroic pose!" Sweetie did a little hop, beaming. "Weren't you?"

    Somehow, Sweetie Belle saying that out loud gave Dinky a bit of relief. She smiled, nonetheless squirming a bit. "Maybe..."

    "We're about to become Cutie Mark Crusaders Taken Twin Trackers, Dinky," Apple Bloom said with a confident smile, full of pride and country grit. "T'ain't nothin' wrong with feelin' heroic about it."

    "Or looking heroic about it!" Sweetie Belle added with a wink.

    "Pfft!" Scootaloo marched up the hilltop with a wry smirk. "Not if you're doing it wrong!"

    "Buh?" Sweetie Belle blinked.

    "Oh puh-lease." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Go on and tell us, Prancealoo. Just how do you do a proper 'heroic pose?'"

    "Not the way Dinky was doing it, I'll tell you that!" Scootaloo stared Dinky down. "Seriously, what was with the whole stiff-legged thing? Were you trying to be a crusader or a greyhound?"

    "Uhhhh..." Dinky smiled up at her sheepishly. It was moments like these that she remembered just how tiny she was compared to her three older companions. "Neither?"

    "Go on, Dinky." Scootaloo nodded with a grin. "Show me 'courageous!'"

    "Okay... here goes!" Dinky inhaled the spring air and shot up, ears perking into the wind. In her head, she envisioned Ditzy arriving home from a long day of delivering the mail. There was always a limber step to her mother's hooves when she touched down from an enduring flight. Dinky liked to secretly watch her from the apartment's front window as she landed and strolled towards the household entrance, her stalwart body poised stiff and rigid, like a royal guard on patrol. So, naturally, Dinky tried emulating it. If she had wings, they'd be pointed skyward with their sharp feathered ends fully extended.

    The last thing she expected to hear was a chorus of giggles. But, alas, she glanced down to see Sweetie Belle plopped back on her flank and chortling her heart out. Beside her, Apple Bloom was holding a hoof to her yellow muzzle. "Shucks... you do look like a greyhound, Dinky!"

    "Yeah! A cute puppy one!" Sweetie Belle added, red-faced.

    "Ugh..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "You call that courageous?"

    "Errr..." Dinky slouched, relaxing her shoulders as she simpered. Perhaps looking "heroic" had to wait for when she was her mother's age. "Could I settle for righteously indignant?"

    "What are you, a dictionary?" Scootaloo tapped the unicorn's chest, gently pushing her aside. "Move over, kiddo. Lemme show you how it's done." She jumped straight up, wings buzzing, and came back down in an agile squat, her front body low to the earth as she hiked her rear legs up along with her hips. "Now... see this? You wanna look fierce, like you're ready to spring into action! Grrrrrr!" Scootaloo's nostrils flared as her teeth showed from beneath her devilishly curved lips. "Then you gotta drag your hoof across the ground like this... see? That's 'Danger Horse 101.' It's how you tell the world 'Hey! Back off! I'm on a mission and you can't stop me!'" Her tail flicked vibrantly in the wind. "Then you give your tail a bit of a shake, y'know, like a war banner... of justice. Heheh—yeah, just to show everypony you mean business!"

    Scootaloo's monologue was heinously cut short by the incessant giggles of her comrades.

    The spry pegasus blinked at them, not once breaking out of her stance. "What's so darn funny? I'm trying to teach our Honorary Crusader something here!"

    "With what?!" Apple Bloom snorted, red in the face. "Mud wrasslin' moves?"

    "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle pointed, struggling to contain her tittering chirps. "Are you taunting foalnappers, or didja become a kitty cat overnight?"

    “Reckon I’ve got a ball of yarn somewhere,” Apple Bloom winked at Dinky. The little unicorn giggled.

    Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well…” She trudged down the hillside and past them. “I wanna see you guys come up with an even cooler pose than that!"

    "Oh! That's easy!" Apple Bloom stood up straight. "I'd just—"

    "And I mean without boring ol’ hoofie kicks!" Scootaloo's voice barked up the hill. “We’re crusaders, not cheerleaders!”

    "Awwwwww..." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle deflated in unison.

    Dinky smiled sweetly at the two as she stood beside them. "How about I help you save the twins first, and then we figure out an awesome pose?"

    "Heh, now that's the spirit," Apple Bloom said with a smile.

    "I like the way that you think, Dinky!" Sweetie Belle playfully fluffed the filly's mane. "With your head!"

    "Come on, y'all." Apple Bloom trotted down the hill. "We've got everythang gathered in the wagon for our adventure trip."

    "You know..." Sweetie Belle shuffled after Apple Bloom, followed closely behind by Dinky. "There's gotta be a better way to say that."

    "Say what?"

    "'Adventure trip.' It just doesn't roll off the tongue very well." Sweetie Belle licked the inside of her mouth, then brightened. "What if you combined the two of them?! Adventrip!"

    "Are ya serious?"

    "What in Tartarus is an adventrip?" Scootaloo blurted as the others joined her at the base of the hill.

    "Scootaloo," Apple Bloom hissed upon the flagrant mention of the underworld. Her voice took on a curiously motherly tone as she stepped in between Scootaloo and Dinky, as if she could somehow block the exclamation with her earth pony body. "Do ya mind? Dinky's lil' ears!"

    "What? She's like... only a year and a half younger than us." Scootaloo scratched her own head, face scrunched. "Two years?"

    "Hey..." Dinky craned her neck, spotting a large cardboard box positioned beside the wagon that was hitched to the back of Scootaloo's scooter. "What's that?"

    "Ask Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo droned. "She's the one who brought it."

    "Yeah, what's with the box, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom remarked, rubbing a hoof across her scarlet bangs. "You didn't pack half of Carousel Boutique into that, didja? I know we're tiny ponies n'all, but so's the wagon."

    "Relax, girls!" Sweetie Belle waddled over and reached into the container. "I just brought a few necessary things! The box stays."

    "Like what kind of things?" Scootaloo squinted.

    Sweetie Belle spun about with three crimson capes dangling over her legs. "Crusader things!"

    "Oooh!" Scootaloo's eyes brightened as her little orange wings buzzed. "Those are my favorite kind of things!"

    "Woohoo!" Apple Bloom spun about, her flank facing Sweetie Belle. "What are you waiting for? Suit me up!"

    "Hold still..." Sweetie Belle licked her pale lips as she fitted the first cape around Apple Bloom's neck and shoulders, tying it firmly, but not too tight. "There! Perfect!" She turned towards Scootaloo. "Scoots! Your turn!"

    "This is so rad!" Scootaloo beamed as she let Sweetie Belle apply the cape. "We're going to look absolutely badflank as we burst in on the foal nappers while wearing these babies!"

    "I know, right?" Sweetie Belle grinned wickedly as Apple Bloom stepped up to fit the third cape around her. "They'll never forget that it was the Crusaders who stopped them in their evil tracks! And neither will the rest of Ponyville for that matter! We'll be heroes all over the nation! They'll write songs about us and stuff! Well... I'll write songs about us. Heehee."

    "Wow..." Dinky smiled, blinking at the velvet red capes bearing blue patches embossed with prancing golden ponies. Once or twice, Dinky had seen the three fillies wearing those outfits. Somehow, she'd always assumed they were just preparing for a performance, like a stage play. Suddenly, realizing that the capes were acquainted with something much dearer to the Crusaders' hearts, Dinky felt both a strange rush of pride and a bubbly tingle of amusement for something so delightfully absurd. She couldn't help but giggle. "They really are pretty!"

    "You bet!" Sweetie Belle did a little twirl, allowing the undersides to flare. "I made them! Just like my big sister! I even lined the bottoms with this special gold silk that took so long to—" She froze in place, her pupils shrinking. In an instant, she hid her shameful, blushing expression behind her cape. "Oh Dinky," she murmured in a muffled tone. "I'm so sorry."

    "Sorry?" Dinky practically saw stars from the concussive shift in Sweetie Belle's tone. "What for?"

    "Erm..." Scootaloo fidgeted, one hoof resting on the scooter. It was strange seeing even the barest hint of guilt on the little pegasus' face. "Well, you see, Sweetie Belle made these two years ago. All this time, we've been the only Cutie Mark Crusaders to ever need them. Just the three of us."

    "We weren't expecting something as awesome as a new member to come our way," Sweetie said. "Otherwise, I'd have another cape made especially for you."

    "But Mr. And Mrs. Cakes' foals are being whisked away to Manehattan right as we speak," Apple Bloom added with a sad twang. "We really dun have the time for Sweetie Belle to stitch together a new crusader cape. Not if we wanna track 'em down in time, that is."

    "B-b-but I'll totally m-make you one as soon as we save the day and we come back with the twins!" Sweetie's voice squeaked in desperation, as earnest as her bright green eyes. "Pinkie Pie Promise, I will!"

    Dinky smiled at them all. In many ways, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the same pony, if that pony had three mouths.. and maybe was an alicorn. They spoke with one voice, even when apologizing. It was a strangely adorable thing to behold, and it tickled Dinky even more to think that these ponies now considered her a friend. She was a Crusader now. Official or not, that was still a huge honor, and suddenly Dinky wondered if she too would one day be speaking in rhythm with these like-minded fillies. There was no conceivable way that she could not giggle at the thought of it.

    "It's okay, girls," she said, shaking her head in the brisk wind. "I don't have to wear a cape to feel like I'm one of the Crusaders. Just being here with you is enough!"

    "Awwwwwwww..." Sweetie Belle needed no greater excuse to lean forward and engulf the smaller unicorn in the sincerest of hugs. "That's so sweet! You're so sweet!"

    "You're both sweet," Scootaloo groaned, already slapping a bike helmet over her head. "Now let's get to foal-saving already!"

    "Erm... come to think of it..." Apple Bloom fidgeted, putting on her own helmet. "We don't have much in the way of headgear for Dinky either."

    "Not to worry!" Sweetie Belle hopped back a step. "I have a solution for that! And for the cape problem!"

    "You do?" Dinky blinked, her little heart skipping a beat. A part of her had feared that maybe she wouldn’t fit well into this group. However, the enthusiasm with which the three fillies inducted her was so palpable and mesmerizing. So long as they were charismatic about the whole process, Dinky reasoned there was nothing to be worried about. She waited with bated breath for what Sweetie Belle would present next.

    After having plunged into the box, the older unicorn came back out, brandishing a long burgundy towel and a dimpled grin. "First, the cape!"

    Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Awwww now that's just silly." She face-hoofed while Apple Bloom giggled.

    "Now, I know it's not much in the way of being fashionable..." Sweetie Belle turned Dinky around and began fitting her with the pastel length of terry cloth. "...but it's nice and thick and comfy and it'll keep you warm when it gets chilly at night!"

    "That's so thoughtful of you, Sweetie!" Dinky exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Wow, will we actually be chasing the bad guys at night?"

    "Of course! There's no telling how long this adventrip might take!"

    "Uhhhh, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom glared from underneath her helmet. "Tomorrow's Monday. If we don't bring the foals back by sundown, we'll get in trouble for not showin' up to school in the morning."

    "Pfft! As if!" Scootaloo gave her own helmet a slap and leaned smugly against her scooter, forelimbs crossed. "We'll crush those foalnapping Haissanic creeps' dreams by suppertime!"

    "R-right!" Sweetie Belle smiled nervously. "Like, how long can it take?" She bounced in place once more. "And! For the helmet..." She reached into the box once more and came out with a glittery metal bowl that was pockmarked all over with tiny perforations. "Ta-daaaaaa!"

    "Oooh..." Dinky leaned forward. "Shiny."

    "Sweetie Belle..." Apple Bloom winced. "Ain't that... erm... one of them thangs that adult ponies use to rinse out salads and pastas in the sink?"

    "It's a colander!" Sweetie Belle chirped proudly.

    "I thought Apple Bloom's dog was a colander," Scootaloo muttered.

    "No, that's a 'collie.' This is a colander. I took it from Rarity's kitchen cabinet before meeting you guys here. The moment I thought of it, I realized what I could use it for! Look!" She reached forward and plopped the thing over Dinky's petite skull. "Voila! It fits like a—" Her grinning features deflated the moment she saw the thing resting crookedly on account of the tiny filly's horn. "—glove."

    "Hah hah hah!" Apple Bloom slapped her knee, eyes tearing.

    "Way to go, genius." Scootaloo smirked. "After all, she's only a unicorn. Like you."

    "Ugh! How could I have forgotten about the horn?!" Sweetie's voice cracked as she stomped her hoof. "I mean—it's so... so..."

    "Dinky?" Apple Bloom wheezed.

    "Exactly!"

    "Don't feel bad, Sweetie Belle." Dinky tilted the thing up with a sweet smile. "Sometimes I forget about it too." She shrugged. "Maybe I can sit on the bowl instead? Protect my tail?"

    "Uh uh." Apple Bloom shook her head. "We ain't doin' this so long as ya risk bumpin' yer head!" She rested a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder. "We promised to keep ya safe, remember? Them two foals aren't the only ones we're fixin' to bring back to Ponyville in one piece!"

    "That's really sweet of you girls," Dinky said. "I just know Mommy would appreciate the gesture, either way." She smiled warmly at them.

    Dinky could sense that the three fillies only wanted what was best for her, which was especially charming considering that there was still a pair of foals that needed to be saved.  Perhaps, Dinky reasoned, this was what it meant to be a Crusader. They looked after their own, even if Dinky had only been one of “their own” for the course of half-a-day.

    They must have seen something in her, Dinky thought. Just what that was, Dinky hadn’t a clue. Admittedly, one of the reasons she decided to tag along with the three fillies on this quest was the chance to uncover it. Life was a beautiful gift full of self-discovery, and if the Crusaders were about to give that to Dinky—and still save foalnapped twins at the same time—then Dinky was totally and completely on board.

    "Unnngh..." Sweetie Belle grabbed the colander from Dinky and turned it over in frustrated hooves. "Dumb metal! Guh... if only one of these gazillions of holes was a lot bigger, then it'd work! Oh well..." She shrugged. "Guess I have to go back into town and find something else that'll fit Dinky's head."

    "Ohhhhhhhh no." Scootaloo shook her helmeted head. "Screw that noise. Here, gimme." She yanked the colander from Sweetie Belle's hooves, trotted over to a rock, and raised the metal bowl over her head.

    Sweetie Belle squeaked like a high-pitched chipmunk in labor. "No, Scoots! Don't—"

    Thwack! Whack! Wham! Smack! Finally, on the fifth consecutive impact of colander to rock—CRACK!—it split down the middle, leaving a huge gash in the side, big enough for a tiny-tiny limb to reach through.

    "Hah! There we go!" Scootaloo trotted over and dropped the thing snugly over Dinky's head. Her little stub of a horn fitted through the fracture. Suddenly, a fully fitted metal-and-fuzz facsimile of a Cutie Mark Crusader stood amidst the veteran trio. "Sure, she stands out, but a rookie's gotta be broken in some way or another. It's like those flank-bugly Wonderbolt suits that the Academy Fliers gotta wear." Scootaloo briefly winced. "Erm... I mean that in the nicest way possible, Dinkster."

    "No worries." Dinky smiled, her pearlescent yellow eyes peering out from beneath the rim of the metal dish-helmet. "I don't plan on flying anyways." She swiveled about, squatted low, and raised her tail like a certain little pegasus did on a hilltop just minutes ago. "Okay, crusaders!" she kitten-growled in an adventurous tone. "Let's go track those twins!"

    "Uhm..." Apple Bloom smirked, pulling Dinky into a normal stance and leading her inside the wagon. "Let's just have a seat and psych-up during the journey, alright?"

    "Meh..." Sweetie Belle lingered, her fuzzy face pouting as she slowly strapped her own helmet on. "I'm not a big fan of Dinky's headwear now. Rarity's gonna ground me for a century when she sees what's been done to her bowl."

    "Oh please," Scootaloo groaned. "By the time your big 'I'm afraid of sweating' sister ever comes close to cooking pasta, we'll have saved—like—two dozen more foals. And maybe a baby hippo." She jumped onto the scooter and slapped her hooves over the handles. "Can we go now?"

    "Eeyup!" Apple Bloom sat at the very back of the wagon, holding Dinky close while Sweetie Belle was the last to step aboard. "Onward to Manehattan! Foalnappers or bust! Giddyup, Scoots!"

    "About time..." Scootaloo hiked her cape up, exposing her wings as they began buzzing. "Say goodbye to Ponyville, Dinky!"

    "'Goodbye to Ponyville, Dinky!'"

    Sweetie Belle covered her giggling muzzle. "This is gonna be the most adorable adventrip—"

    Fwoooosh! Scootaloo rocketed forward, propelled by orange wings.

    The wagon rattled after it, rolling along at a brisk rate and stretching Sweetie Belle's voice into a prolonged echo. "—everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

    The verdant fields of Equestria glowed with an emerald sheen under the bright gaze of a noonday Sun. With each hilltop that the crusaders scaled, more and more rolling plains undulated eastward before the cruising quartet. Soft, dim shadows of clouds rolled over the continent in nebulous patches, which only served to further accentuate the beauty of the expanse that lay ahead. Every ten minutes or so, Scootaloo glided the group's wagon past an errant cottage, a cobblestone bridge, a crooked country fence—all beautiful and rustic structures of antiquity—lined with flowers that bloomed brilliantly with the full might of spring.

    Dinky found herself absorbed in the blurring scenery. The world was a beautiful, natural stage, framed by ice-tipped mountains that faded into the haze of a clear blue sky. More than a few times, she leaned forward towards the edge of the wagon with a gaping expression only for the metal "helmet" on her head to slide forward, blocking her bright yellow eyes. Apple Bloom tilted the thing back, as well as the petite unicorn herself, holding her in place with protective hooves.

    "You enjoyin' the sights, Dinky?" Apple Bloom shouted over the noise of whipping winds across the fillies' ears. "Equestria's really dazzlin' from the back of Scootaloo's wagon!"

    "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle giggled, leaning back and lazily propping her hooves behind her head. "This is the only way to travel! It's one of the best things about being a crusader!"

    Dinky took a deep breath, relishing the scent of flowers as Scootaloo drew them across a dirt road and right past a pond buzzing with dragonflies. Dinky had traveled long distances before, but always while riding inside one of Ditzy's saddlebag pockets. All of her life, she knew she enjoyed something few unicorn foals did: a chance to see the majestic landscape of Equestria from a bird's eye view. She never once considered bragging about it, but now that she was riding in the back of a blazing red bullet across Equestria’s navel, she realized she didn't have to. This trip was beautiful in its own right, a different kind of gorgeous. She reveled in the scents of the world that had often been lost to her in all those high altitude flights she took with her mother as a dinky... Dinky.

    "I've seen it all before," she heard herself murmur. The next few words came out through a smile. "But it feels brand new somehow."

    "That's because it's your first day as a crusader!" Sweetie Belle chirped.

    "Breathe it in nice and slow," Scootaloo said from the front of the scooter, grinning into the wind. “It only gets awesomer from here!”

    "Speakin' of awesome!" Apple Bloom spoke up. "What kind of cutie marks y'all suppose we're gonna get for stoppin' the foal nappers?" She grinned, immediately speaking at the end of her own query. "I'm thinkin' of a big ol' lasso! Y'know... for 'catching' them varmints in the act!"

    "Oooh! Oooh!" Sweetie Belle bounced in her side of the wagon. "I'd absolutely die for a magnifying glass on my flank!"

    Apple Bloom gave her a questioning look. "A magnifyin' glass?"

    "Yeah, you know..." Sweetie Belle rubbed her front limbs together with a cute smile. "Like a sleuth or a detective would use. Sherclop Holmes, anypony?"

    "But what if it means that yer just bad at seein' thangs with yer own eyes?"

    "What? No!" Sweetie Belle frowned, pouting with red cheeks. "Only a supremely talented unicorn would be able to snoop out these creeps with the small amount of evidence available to her!"

    Apple Bloom chuckled. "Sweetie Belle, don't ya think we oughta get to Manehattan first before we start sleuthin'?"

    "Hey! A clever pony thinks ahead! Tracking these twin-takers down is just what I need to show I'm good at following tiny details!" Sweetie Belle tilted her nose up like a haughty fashionista. "Besides, it takes a lot more skill than earning a silly lasso for a cutie mark!"

    "Hey! Don't diss the lasso!" Apple Bloom stuck her tongue out. "That would make for a real whizz-banger of a cutie mark!"

    "Says you."

    "Darn tootin'!" Apple Bloom smirked. "It'd mean I'm good at wranglin' up bad guys! Just like my sister Applejack bags up pests when they start nibblin' on fruit all across the orchard!" She grinned. "Her, Big Mac, and even Granny Smith back in her hayday—every member of the Apple Family has gotten good at hog-tyin' at some point or another! It runs in our blood! Makes sense I get a lasso for a cutie mark! And when it happens, you can put it under a magnifyin' glass all you want! Ha!"

    Before Sweetie Belle could retort, it was Scootaloo's turn to bark. Somehow, Dinky expected no less. "You two can fight over your cutie marks all you want!" their driver said. "It doesn't matter! 'Cuz mine is going to be the coolest one of all!"

    "Oh really?" Apple Bloom rolled her eyes under her helmet and smirked. "And just what is this mind-blowin' cutie mark?"

    "Pffft! Duh! A scooter on flaming wheels set against a big fiery explosion!"

    Apple Bloom chuckled while Sweetie Belle leaned forward, smiling. "That's... oddly specific."

    "Don't you mean oddly awesome?" Scootaloo grinned.

    "And just how are you going to get this specific cutie mark?"

    "When I totally drop in on those two creeps and buck them across their ugly faces in one fell swoop!"

    "All while ridin' yer scooter, I reckon," Apple Bloom said.

    Scootaloo looked back. "How'd you guess?"

    Sweetie Belle fidgeted. "Scootaloo, wouldn't you have to—like—start gliding from a really high up in order to drop kick these guys?"

    "Yeah, so?"

    "And wouldn't the foal-nappers pretty much have to be standing perfectly dead-still for you to be able to hit them both at once?"

    "Errr..."

    "You know they both have wings, right? Even one of them uses his wing as a fourth leg! Dinky's Mom said so! These bad guys have been flying for years and years—maybe even across the Big Blue! So what makes you think that they won't just take off before you so much as get a running start—?"

    "Look, it doesn't matter!" Scootaloo grumbled. "One way or another, when we finally track down these bozos, I'm soooo going to kick their teeth in! And it will be totally radical!"

    "And just what will we be doin' while you have yer moment of glory?" Apple Bloom asked. "Hmmm?"

    “Good question.” Scootaloo shrugged, gliding the scooter down a grassy crest between two sloping hills. "Probably standing back so I don't accidentally hurt you guys with my killer flank-kicking moves!"

    "And let you have all the glory to yourself?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Then how will we get our cutie marks?!"

    "Pffft. I dunno. I figured you'd get them already from your... magnifying glassing and lassoing. Whatever."

    "Scoots!" Apple Bloom frowned. "Yer lookin' at this all wrong! Either all four of us tackle the foal-nappers at the same time or we don't earn our cutie marks!"

    "Oh come on..." Scootaloo shook her head, smirking. "Now you're just being paranoid."

    "We are not!" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked. "Remember what our sisters and their friends said! They all saw Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom when they earned their cutie marks!"

    "Yeah!" Apple Bloom nodded. "And they all got their cutie marks at the exact same time!"

    "Right!" Scootaloo beamed, her wings buzzing faster. "So, when we get to Manehattan, you girls can watch me be awesome like Rainbow and you'll get yours too!"

    "Unnnnnnngh..."

    "Oh come on, guys. Stop whining," Scootaloo said. "For crying out loud, this is the Crusaders' chance to finally shine! I mean, saving the Cakes' foalnapped twins is just too epic a thing for us not to get our cutie marks! There's no way we'll be coming home from this with blank flanks!"

    Dinky spoke up for the first time in minutes. "And if we don't get our cutie marks?" She shrugged. "So what?"

    And just like that, the whole world stopped blurring by. Scootaloo braked so hard that the wheels beneath them nearly caught aflame. The whole wagon jostled, and each filly bumped into one another, their helmets colliding like two coconuts and a school bell (on account of Dinky's colander).

    Dinky winced. She rubbed her head through the makeshift headpiece and squinted her eyes. She half-expected the other fillies in the wagon to be glaring angrily at Scootaloo for the sudden and jarring stop. Instead, they were all staring at her... gaping at her, Scootaloo included. At first, Dinky was immeasurably confused. She felt like she had greedily eaten a sandwich in the refrigerator with another pony's name tagged to it, or accidentally drowned a baby foal's first puppy. Shrinking back from the weighted three-fold gaze, she hugged herself and shivered.

    "Uhm... is something the m-matter, girls?"

    "'So what?!'" Apple Bloom murmured.

    "'So what?!'" Sweetie repeated in a squeaky tone.

    Dinky half-expected Scootaloo to utter the same two words. In the next few heart-throbbing seconds, she scoured the sun-lit recesses of her mind. Dinky was a bright little unicorn, so it didn't take too long for her to experience an epiphany. "You mean... about not getting our cutie marks?"

    "Dinky..." Scootaloo shook her head, muzzle agape. "Why do you even think we're going on this trip?"

    "Adventrip!" Sweetie added.

    "Same difference!" Scootaloo hissed.

    "Uhhh..." Dinky nervously toyed with the ends of her terry cloth "cape." She suddenly felt guilty under their gaze, as if she didn't deserve the article, though she didn't understand why. "I thought we were doing this because Mr. and Mrs. Cake had their baby twins stolen overnight at Sugarcube Corner and we wanted to find them and bring them back to their family."

    "Yes, that—" Scootaloo winced before she could begin her sentence. "I mean, you've got a very good... er... uhm..."

    Apple Bloom cleared her throat. "Dinky, we want to take back the twins just as much as any pony!"

    Dinky gulped. "Don't we?"

    "Of course!" Apple Bloom smiled. "But the difference in us doin' it and—say—Rainbow Dash and Daring doin' it is that we get to earn our cutie marks in the process!"

    "It's like this situation was especially made for us to find our super special talents!" Sweetie Belle said with a bright grin. "Finding the foals is our destiny! That's why we gotta go get them! If we can't, nopony can!"

    "But..." Dinky fidgeted in the wagon across from them. "Daring and Rainbow aren't the only ones going after them. I mean, even Mommy flew off just yesterday for Manehattan—"

    "Kid, do you really think she and Daring have any hope of working together?" Scootaloo chuckled. "I mean, for real."

    Dinky's ears drooped from beneath her metal "helmet." She stared deep into the grassy soil on either side of the wagon as her mind's eye floated back to the startling events of yesterday. Within the span of an afternoon, she had discovered that not only did she have an aunt, but it was none other than Daring Do. The sudden joy of finding long-lost family had been quickly overshadowed, however, by her mother’s unexpected and explosive anger at the mere mention of the mustard mare.

    "Because I'm ashamed of her!" was Ditzy's response when Dinky asked her mom why she had never told her daughter about Daring. Just thinking about the tone in her voice when she spat those words out sent a cold chill down Dinky's spine. Dinky was no stranger to witnessing anger in her mother. Between the insolent ways she had been treated by her co-workers at Hoover's Movers or the rough days she’d had as Ponyville's loyal mailmare, Ditzy had come home more than once with a frustrated frown lingering on her muzzle. But yesterday was the first time that something Dinky had said ended up setting her off, and so suddenly too—right in front of the Crusaders.

    True, Dinky had never known about Daring, and it was clear that Ditzy had reasons for that to be. One thing that Dinky couldn't ignore was the unmistakable feeling that if Daring Do's relation was a complete mystery, what else did she not know that might set her mother off, and why didn’t she know in the first place?

    "No, I guess Mommy and Daring wouldn't work well together," Dinky muttered, though she had half-forgotten the question that she was answering.

    "Right," Scootaloo said with a nod. "And do you want your mommy dealing with that frustration forever?"

    Dinky's head jerked up. "No!" she gasped. "Not at all!"

    "That's why we gotta do this! Together!" Scootaloo grinned. "Cuz we're Cutie Mark Crusaders! We're as together as it gets!"

    "We'll save the foals while the adults are too busy squabblin' with one another!" Apple Bloom said.

    "And we'll earn our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle added with a grin. "One for each of our talents!"

    "It's basically a win-win-win scenario!" Scootaloo said. "Don't you get it?!"

    "Yes." Dinky nodded. Nevertheless, she imagined the poor little twins, crying as they were carried off somewhere in the foal-nappers' grip. A sharp pain scraped across her heart, but she chased it away with a warm breath, anchoring herself to the three bright grins being aimed her way. "Yes, I get it!"

    "Thatta girl!" Sweetie Belle patted her metal helmet. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually!"

    "Sorry, I..." Dinky bit her lip. "I didn't mean to make everypony angry."

    "Oh please." Apple Bloom waved a hoof while Scootaloo kicked at the earth, pushing the scooter and wagon back into an easy glide. "It's yer first day as an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader. There're bound to be a few bumps along the way."

    "Not on this journey!" Scootaloo said loudly. She smirked into the whipping winds as she coasted the group down a sloping valley of springy grass and wildflowers. "This is going to be a smooth, swift ride to Manehattan! From now on, we Crusaders don't stop for nothing!" Next Chapter: 2 - The Gas for That Has Just Run Out Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 26 Minutes