Sandstallion

Storm the Oven Fortress!

- The utmost important ability of us is to be able to keep one’s self hidden even in friendship -

Old Sandstallion dictum

Dark...

That's the only possible word that could describe Ponyville during the late hours.

Of course there were many different light sources; street lamps that illuminated long rows along the streets now empty of their busy daily activity. In the distance there were dots of light up and down the town, where the lights were still on in few of the houses and food places that operated at late hours, like the pizzeria.

It seemed really off to see a country town so wonderful and colourful in day swathed in darkness, when a pony could barely see a hoof in front of their face.

Moreover, there was this nighttime peace.

On one particular street, right in the middle of the largest hub of apartments under the few street lights, this peace was to be broken by a single wanderer. A brown cloak covered the figure completely. His head was covered by a hood, which hid everything except his brown muzzle and the steam of his breath.

Despite the fact it was freezing out in the dark, the stallion kept its eyes firmly forward and fixed on the house that stood in between another apartment and a corner shop, which was one of those that kept open even in these hours. A clear silhouette of a pony was visible at the window, which happened to open right at the shadowy figure, who now moved out of the lamp light as the clerk turned away.

No sound rang out as the cloaked pony ran up to the door of the small house, leaning close to it as much as possible to get away from the street light.

This, however, only lasted a couple of seconds, before the figure flung around and faced the door to see a 'Welcome' doormat beneath and a red mailbox attached directly onto the wall.

Derpy Hooves

Nevertheless, the figure turned its attention onto the lock, which obviously was tightly locked and wouldn't budge despite its rusty look.

The pony raised its chestnut hoof from under the cloak and at the lock, only inches away. Around it was wrapped what looked like a glove, except it didn’t stretch far up his hoof like you’d expect and from the tip of it stuck out a rod, dark like iron yet light enough to be carried around with ease.

Without any warning, a spark escaped from the end of the rod and hit the lock in a blink of an eye.

*Click*

Without further thought, the figure tucked the door open and entered the house, leaving the door behind open. Some of the street lights shone inside and lit up what seemed to be the main living room. From  there, the room opened up into two sections; a frame that led into a kitchen area with a tile floor and stairs that led upwards

The cloaked pony quickly darted past the sofa and leaped up the steps until he hit the second floor, which was only a tiny corridor with three doors. Directly opposite to the stairs laid one that had the letters WC painted on it. The one on the left had been painted grey and had bubbles on the sides. Loud snores echoed from behind it, despite the fact that it was closed and looked bulky.

The pony didn't stop there, instead moving on to the last door and finding it already ajar.

As the purple door fully opened, the sight was enough to have the pony stop dead in its place.

The room itself looked decent; there was a chest filled with toys at one corner, a small work desk at another with a bookcase next to it, filled with many fairy tale books and a couple of school books. The walls were filled with many pictures, some painted with watercolours but most drawn in crayon.

But it wasn't this that caught the intruder’s attention.

Under the window, which was opposite to the door, laid a simple single bed. On it was a sleeping unicorn filly, her head resting on a pure white pillow while the rest of the pale body laid beneath a Wonderbolts blanket. Around her pillow laid couple of plush animals, each unique in look, and one which looked a like a brown bunny that the little filly hugged with her tiny hooves as if her life hinged on it.

As the stranger stopped next to the bed, the unicorn rolled over in her sleep and some sweat had already dripped down from her forehead and onto the sheet.

But then, the chestnut hoof rose once more and now the rod neared the little filly, specifically her horn.

The spark escaped from the tip...

And the world literally froze for Whooves.

~~~~~~~~

Shallow...

That's the only possible word that could describe how Whooves felt when his senses came back to him.

Argh, has it been this long?

He rolled over from his back, evoking a loud groan, and shakily stood up, which proved to be difficult as there literally wasn't much space to move one's hoof without hitting... a broom?

Hang on a second. That's a bucket and that's a brush and a....

Seconds later, Whooves smacked a hoof over his forehead.

Out of all places to be transferred, it had to be a cleaning closet. This is definitely not going to be included in the report.

But then, he quickly fell over at the bucket and with one disgusting wretch, emptied his stomach into it.

"Ugh, the pleasures of entering a dream," the earth pony groaned afterwards when the bucket fell from his grasp. Yet he felt a lot more better than at first and his steps were firm as he reached out for the doorknob.

Time to see where I am.

Luckily, the door pushed open without any problem, opening on a wide hallway. As it closed behind him he looked over the white limestone walls. They were mostly covered by rows of large curtains, bearing colours of purple and grey, that stretched up to a ceiling that itself wasn't visible.

Still, Whooves was impressed.

Simply fascinating! How a young filly could-

His thoughts, however, were interrupted as a voice rang out.

"This way your Highness!" somepony shouted around the corridor and then Whooves heard steps rapidly near him. Panic crept up to him, as he saw that the other end of the hall was too far away to gallop. So instead, he swooped behind one of the curtains just in time as the steps grew louder and louder every second that passed by.

Odd...

Those sound more like-

"Awful, just awful..." the voice faintly mumbled. "You two, check ahead and secure the way. I will stay here with Her Royal Highness."

-thumps.

Whooves heard faint 'cling' sounds, like arms being presented, followed by more of those weird ‘thump’s.

"Are we safe here?"

Now his ears perked up when he heard that new, chirping voice and he turned to smirk.

Aha! Found her, and this has to be a new record.

Without further ado, he grabbed the curtain and swept it away.

The sight he was presented with would have been enough to drive anypony else to the point of collapsing from the lack of oxygen, due to the amount of hysterical laughter that would have followed.

However, Whooves had seen far more sillier stuff in his years.

"What?! Who are you?"

There, in front of the chestnut stallion, stood a salt shaker. However, this one stood at same height as himself and it was ‘wearing’ a full-tuxedo outfit over its ceramic surface. But as Whooves noticed, the shaker didn’t bear any facial features, just begging the question how it let out any voice.

Next to it stood the filly alicorn Dinky, his patient.

Heh, every little filly's dream come true...

Over her head, and behind her horn was a small silver tiara that had an orange opal in the middle of it. Around her neck hung a silver necklace that bore same kind of gem. However the biggest difference was the two tiny wings that stuck out of her back.

"Oh, who are you mister?" Dinky asked and took a step forward, but the elegant shaker came in between them.

"Stay back Your highness! Guards!"

"Calm down, I mean no harm," Whooves calmly expressed as he saw two other kitchen utensils appeared from around the corner; a knife and a fork both wearing military insignia.

"Now now, don't be a sil- Augh!"

"Stop!"

Both of the guards retreated from the stallion, who rubbed his flank where the fork had struck. They and the salt shaker bowed as Dinky passed them.

"But-"

"Quiet, Sir Too-Much," Dinky ordered, making the butler shaker blush, and turned back at the chestnut pony.

"Now, who are you mister and what are you doing in here?"

Whooves grinned and presented his hoof her

"Greetings, I'm the..."

"GRAAAAAAARGH!!!"

In an instant, he swung around to look down the corridor.

A cupcake.

Why of course.

Indeed, a huge sprinkled, cyan cupcake stood at the entrance. However this certain cupcake had a wide row of razor sharp teeth alongside fangs resembling long stakes and two demonic eyes.

He could hear Dinky's scream when the baked bad began to move towards them.

"Quickly Your Highness, run! We'll hold it off!" the shaker spoke and bowed along with the knife and fork. Then the three utensils charged at the monster, which responded with a deep growl.

But the stallion acted fast, and threw the still stunned Dinky over to his back.

"Hold on tight."

~~~~~~~~

*Crash*

"I think... we can hide in here... for a moment," Whooves slammed the door shut, panting, while Dinky leaped off of him.

"Geez mister, how can you be tired?" the filly asked honestly, but the stallion grunted as he leaned against the door and continued to inhale the sweet air. He did in fact taste a hint of sugar with every breath taken.

"What are you talking about? I'm at my fittest, I’ll have you know!" he exclaimed out loud and Dinky could only giggle as the two began to walk into the room, which appeared to be a some sort of storage facility from the looks of the many cardboard boxes that littered the floor.

"Anyways," the stallion began as he sat down on one box, "can you tell me what's going on?"

Dinky sat down beside him and gave him a stern look.

"Not until you tell me who you are and what you are doing in my mother's Oven?"

He snickered and quickly covered his mouth with a hoof so as not to upset the little filly.

"I beg your pardon, but did you just say an oven?"

Dinky looked confused. "Yeah, you're inside the Oven Fortress where my mother, Princess Derpy The Bubbly, She Who Wears the Sacred Mittens and the Holder of The Egg Clock That Yak, resides and rules over the land."

"The Egg Clock That Yak?"

But Dinky didn't seem to hear his question as she looked away.

"Well, at least she used to rule..."

Whooves knew how she must have felt, even if all this wasn't actually real and only happened deep inside her mind, fueled by dreams reflecting the real world. However, now those dreams were at risk, and the Sandstallion knew this perfectly well.

"Dinky, I'm here to help," the stallion assured her and gave her a comforting hug. "You can talk to me."

The little unicorn buried her head into the brown stallion’s chest and stayed quiet for a bit before speaking. “This morning, I was awakened by Sir Too-Much and he told me that we needed to escape from the Fortress as soon as possible. When I asked why, he said that the Princess had gone missing and that the Evil Pastry had taken control."

Though he found it hilarious, he knew better than to laugh at the situation.

"It was a mess; everypony was fighting one another, but in the end the Royal Guards were overwhelmed and taken captive. Worse, the Evil Pastry had taken a hold of the hatch-gate, so we were basically prisoners in here."

"Hmm... Typical of a weak Nightmare, using the actual dream world against-" the stallion mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"Oh nothing,"Whooves lied to the filly, whose only response was to raise an eyebrow to him. As the stallion dropped down from the box, he faced the door from where they had just barged in only moments ago.

"Well come on, what are you waiting for?" he pointed out. However, Dinky stayed put.

"Not until you finally tell me who you are!" she replied and the stallion knew his moment had come.

He sighed in defeat, before staring at her round eyes.

"I'm the Doctor and I'm here to save this dream."

*Crack*

Suddenly, the wooden door snapped off its hinges and flew directly at Whooves, who was just barely able to dodge it by diving onto the floor. As he recovered from the sudden drop, his eyes locked onto the door frame from which four chocolate doughnuts rolled in. As the stallion stood up, he noticed that Dinky now stood beside him.

Whooves also noticed that the doughnuts had turned their middle sections towards the pair.

"I think we should-"

Before the earth pony could finish, four blasts of icing shot at them, missing only by an inch.

"RUN!" he finished while taking Dinky by the tail and quickly galloping to the left, down a narrow path between the boxes. He could hear how the boxes behind were trundled over and so he paced himself, now taking a turn to the right while the purple filly flung back and forth below him.

The path he had taken led nowhere except to a large balcony.

"Oh horseapples," he mumbled as he gave a quick gaze over his shoulder, only to hear the rolling voices growing nearer and see boxes being thrown off to the sides.

Dinky had now escaped from his grasp by hitting his hoof and before he got to shout anything else, the filly began to gallop towards the balcony.

Just when he was about to yell to her, the first of the killer doughnuts appeared and began to shoot more icing at them, one shot actually partially hitting Whooves when it struck a box next to him and splattered.

"Mmh, banana! I love ban-"

"Doctor!"

"Oh yes."

He quickly flipped over and ran up to the filly, who now stood over the white hoof railing, though still eagerly licking his face clean from the 'collateral damage'. As he heard another shot ring out, the stallion briefly turned his head to catch one whole blast, however he quickly spit it out.

"Yuck, pearAAAAAHHHH!"

Without noticing it himself, he had been sent off the balcony by the recoil. He was heading directly towards the ground beneath, which was painted in a similar colour to Dinky's coat while the sky above shared her blond mane's colour from horizon to horizon.

However, Whooves couldn't find himself to be amused by this. One, he knew already that they were going to be like that and two, he now looked up as Dinky leaped off from the balcony and soared after him. It took her only a second to catch up to him, thanks to her light build, and take him by the hoof, drastically slowing the fall and soon coming to a stop.

All this, and without shedding a single drop of sweat.

"Hehe, thanks," he laughed and the little ‘dreamer' replied with a smile, though it soon dropped as they heard sound of breaking rock.

At the balcony, the three doughnuts had rolled down onto it at the same time while not slowing down. The hoof railing couldn't support their force and had been broken on the first impact.

Whooves and Dinky could only watch as their pursuers fell down until disappearing out of the sight.

Sandstallion grinned as he watched three blobs of brown pop up below him. However, Dinky had by then pushed her wings down and up, slowly but firmly making her way upwards.

~~~~~~~~

Simply fascinating! This kind of dream world inside a three year old filly that has lived in a countryside town her whole life; an adorable achievement.

*Whump, whump, whump*

Whooves hung upside down in the middle of the air, enjoying the view offered by the unique vantage point.

And just look at that Oven! If real world ovens looked anything like that, I'd be cooking every single day.

The Oven Fortress indeed lived up to its name; its outer appearance resembled an oven, but it also had many aspects that castles had like a moat filled with lemonade, a drawbridge made out of a gingerbread slice and more. At the top of the fortress stood five towers, four of which stood at the spots where the burners would have laid. Between them, directly on the centre, rose the last one; its shadow engulfing the other four.

*Whump, whump, whump*

"We’ll be there soon," Dinky cried out, now pacing her speed and beginning to glide in order to save strength like a proper pegasus flier that had flown for years. Although their speed drastically fell, and nearly to the point of being in place, he still couldn’t feel the wind pushing against himself.

That's actually one thing that has always bugged. How come natural elements never, ever, appear in dreams? Not that it really matters but when even your side knows so little...

But in the end, he shrugged and instead looked to his left, where the tallest of the towers now stood. For the past minute or so, they'd been in the air, searching for any clues pointing to Princess Derpy and the throne room seemed to be the best place to start.

For Dinky that is.

Okay, let's wrap this case up.

"There! Can you land on that balcony?"

"Sure mister. Just hold on, this’ll be a bit rough."

Dinky let herself drop down, sending the stallion’s stomach up to his throat, and partially spread her wings in order to lower their speed and regain some form of maneuverability whilst they approached the stone tower.

The landing was perfect.

"I hope you enjoyed the ride, mister."

But then, Dinky saw the stallion looking down upon her and he had a serious look on his face. He wore an otherwise overall bland look, expect for his narrowed down eyes that shone brightly.

"Dinky, I need you to listen to me very carefully."

Dinky nodded, so Whooves went on.

"Don't. Do. Anything. I repeat, don't do anything. And whatever I might do, don't panic or we're doomed, got that?"

Honestly, Dinky was shaking due to the sudden mood change and didn't respond, instead staring up to him with awe and fear.

Sandstallion sighed, and kneeled down in front of her.

"Don't be scared; I'm an expert on this stuff and I can assure you nothing bad is going to happen to either of us."

Dinky gulped. "P-promise?"

"Heh, I’ll tell you what. I promise to repay your bravery afterwards. Does that sound good?"

The filly's face began to gleam and she rushed up to the glass door that led inside. Behind, Whooves couldn't help but to smile at the enthusiastic unicorn, who waved at him to follow.

Yet, the stallion did sigh deep as he took the first shakily step.

"Stand back," he ordered and soon bucked the door into tiny shards that broke even more as they hit the stone floor.

Ah, this has to be the lair.

From where they now stood, just at the door frame, opened a magnificent view of the throne room. Or that’s what Whooves suspected it to be; many spiral pillars formed a grand hallway, on which a long purple carpet had been laid onto the path to the throne. Attached to each pillar was a sconce that held a lit torch, burning with a bright cyan flame like a firework.

And that was everything that there was to see; the sides along the path laid in utter darkness, not a single shred of light penetrating its depths.

Whooves could see Dinky weakly lean onto him and whimper out of fear.

"Shush now. I won't let the boogie monster eat you."

"I'm scared..."

He sighed and lifted the purple unicorn to his back. Her tiny hooves wrapped around his neck while she planted her head down, trying to hide behind the earth pony whilst he placed his first hoof over the carpet, soon followed by the others and the distance between the throne and them grew shorter.

All the while, he would occasionally glance to the darkness at the sides of the room, only to confirm that there indeed was something else here besides them.

And in vast numbers...

Yet he timidly kept going on, trying to focus his head onto the matter on the hoof.

"Bung bung bung bung..."

"Umm, what are you humming mister?"

He didn't answer, knowing this one trick worked perfectly well; do something utterly pointless in dangerous situations to get your head to finally snap.

That, and they had gotten just couple of feet away from the throne.

Utter silence filled the void, the only voices being the raspy breathing over at Whooves's neck and the faint clopping of hooves as he took the final steps up to the dais where the throne, made out of single huge muffin, stood in its full glory.

This filly sure does like sweets. Wouldn't want to be her dentist.

But he stopped, as he felt movement across his back. He looked up to see Dinky resting herself atop his head.

"Huh?" the filly murmured in utter confusion.

"What is it, Dinky?"

"That throne..."

"What of it? Has somepony taken a bite out of it?"

"It’s not the same."

A second passed.

Then another rather quickly.

Whooves's gaze slowly dropped down to the 'throne' while he also began to back track quickly. Just as he planted first hoof down, a single large eye dead-centre on the muffin opened up, its dark red pupil reflecting his image.

"Aaah! Muffin-Munster!"

Quickly, Whooves stumbled around, only see that his route had been cut-off.

The whole outer area around the throne stand was filled with pastries; from those killer doughnuts to the cyan cupcake, from tiny chip cookies holding long spears to cream puffs ready to fling themselves at them.

Yet none of them moved in the slightest.

"Hehehehe..."

As the chestnut stallion turned back, he saw that the Muffin-Munster sat at its place while the humongous eye stared forward at his general direction.

"One of you..."

Whooves groaned. "Yes yes; 'har har, oh I finally caught you and now I'm going to exterminate you, like you've done to my many comrades."

"Heheheh... Wait, was that an insult?"

"Anyways, lets get down to business, shall we?"

"Indeed."

Sandstallion could feel Dinky tuck in closer to him as the wave of pastry had begun to move.

"Tsk,tsk,tsk; honestly, if I were you, I'd call those things back." he smirked while the large red eye narrowed, yet he could hear how the voices on the sides faded away.

"Entertain me..."

He chuckled. "Cause I've already cracked this case," he said before pointing his hoof at the nervous eye that had darted open in the instant Whooves had finished his last sentence. "Face it, it's over. But I'll let you go if you'll leave peacefully."

"You’re merely bluffing!"

"Oh really?" the stallion laughed before looking to his side where Dinky was staring at him, her jaw hitting the floor and eyes shining from awe.

"No...Please, I beg you!"

"Say Dinky, how's your Mommy's cooking been for the last couple of days?"

"Quiet! Please keep her quiet!"

Whooves laughed and pointed his hoof at the muffin chair, that literally chewed itself due to all of the sudden tension.

"You know what I want."

"Fine, you win," the giant muffin stated quietly, as red eye's lid closed.

In the silence that followed, the Nightmare was engulfed in a dark azure glow, followed by the rest of the pastries surrounding it. In matter of seconds, the minions crowding the room started to vanish into dust, however they flowed through the air and massed together in mid-air, directly opposite to him.

As the last of the humongous cupcakes vanished, the mass of pastry dust  finally began to push itself together. The same glow from the chair moved onto the dust, which began to take its form. As the seconds ticked by, the dust and glow merged together and solidified to form what resembled a chunk of gem.

"You know...your kind is doomed, Sandstallion..."

Whooves tilted his head down. "So is yours, Nightmare. So is yours..."

"Doctor..."

The gem blew up in a bright flash, engulfing everything and everyone.

~~~~~~~~

"Whew," rang the light breath of relief and Whooves smirked as he checked his hoof to see that the tiny azurite gem was safe and sound.

As the wrapped hoof fell back down under the cloak, so did the hood to reveal the smiling stallion. His eyes looked down upon the little filly, now sleeping calmly on her place.

She even had a tiny smile.

The earth pony couldn't help but to gently pat her and even give her a small kiss on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Ms. Dinky Hooves."

~~~~~~~~

*Ding*

"Ah, finally ready."

The light brown hoof reached out from the table and to the toaster on top of the counter. At the same time, his other hoof took a plate from the left and soon he had two crispy slices of hay-toast ready, both covered in butter and on top each was a slice of a cheese accompanied by delicious strawberry jam.

A basic Trottingham breakfast at its finest and the only proper meal he ever managed to deliver.

Without any burns, that is...

Whooves took from the caddy his favourite green tea pot and started the tea water heating up, so that it would be ready by the dessert pudding. With that in mind, he also took the ready-pudding from the freezer before grabbing the hay slices and walking over to the table.

"Heh, I deserve a treat."

Although visible bags hung loose under his eyes, the chestnut pony otherwise seemed fine, both in flesh and spirit. As he placed the dish onto the table, he couldn't help but to feel satisfaction as he eyed his food.

Alongside the hay-toast, he served himself buttery mashed potatoes with a tiny amount of bean sauce on top. In a row next to them laid three deep boiled eggs, ready to be smashed and their innards to be eaten out. And to top it off, there was already a glass of fresh orange juice ready and also a free teacup for when the water was ready.

In a sense, the perfect dish to kick start the upcoming day, especially if you happened to be awake seventeen hours each day.

Drops of drool dripped over from his muzzle and down his cranked neck, as a low grumble echoed from his stomach while Whooves sat himself down, still staring down at his breakfast.

Quite fascinating indeed. Already I had forgotten how much energy this work needs.

He didn't even wait to tie a napkin around his neck and instead hastily took the first jam toast in his hooves.

His mouth eagerly opened up and his eyes closed, ready to savour the taste in peace.

*Knock knock knock*

His eyes darted open.

"Oh bollocks..."

*Knock knock knock*

"Honest to Goddess, during my break-"

*KnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnock*

Whooves groaned as he got up from his seat, of course leaving the delicious bread behind and untasted. It was in fact really quite odd; during the whole month Whooves had been in Ponyville, this was the first time anypony had come by.

Also, the fact it was Saturday and eight in the morning made it even more weird.

*KnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnockKnock*

"Geez, hold onto your hoof! I'm co-"

The rest of the words didn't come out as the opening door revealed very distressed looking grey pegasus. "OhpleasepleaseWhoovesIneedafavourOhpleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Unfortunately he didn't understand even the slightest thing Derpy was saying. In the end, he just stood there dumbfounded and could only rub the back of his brown mane.

"Uhh. Well-"

He didn't get to say anything else, as the earth pony soon found himself buried in a firm embrace of grey feathers and fur.

"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyousomuch."

Then Derpy planted a kiss on the cheek of the stallion and backed off, fastening the straps over her mail saddlebag and bending her wings out.

"ThanksagainI'llbebackbytheafternoonanddon'tworryI'llrepaythisbyeeeeeee!"

And with that, Derpy shot up in the air. As her wings pumped faster and faster, her speed gradually increased and it didn't take long for the pegasus to disappear out of view into the horizon.

The only thing Whooves managed to do was to raise his left hoof and to feel the wet spot over his cheek.

"Mister?"

The hoof fell down and so did his gaze, it landed on-

Somehow his eyes shot even wider, eyes now nearly bulging out of their sockets and even his breathing savaged, as he saw the little purple unicorn filly staring up at him with her large yellow eyes. The earth pony even had his mouth partially open and gag sounds come in deep.

"Why are you red like a tomato, mister? Are you sick or what?"

"Oh, umm..."

Whooves turned over and gave a brief look at the vestibule mirror, to see his outrageously blushing face, looking very much like a... a tomato.

"Well, you see... I..."

However, Dinky giggled and turned around, to reveal the small Wonderbolt saddlebag on her back.

"Heh, I'm just playing with you. Well, aren't you gonna come?"

But he just stood there, ashamed by both the random blush over a stranger pony, a filly no less, and how he still had not a single clue over what the hay was happening.

In the end, however, he regained some form of self control as his mind gave an awful mental jolt.

"Y-yeah; hang on just a minute."

The hay’s going on?

That question dominated inside him as he locked the front door to his house, and placed the key under the front mat. Checking the straps of his old saddlebag for the second time, he turned around to see the unicorn filly impatiently tapping her hoof down.

"Come on, we'll be late."

"Now hold on a minute!" Whooves exclaimed out loud, generating a tiny squeal from over Dinky, and trotted over to her. "Nopony is going anywhere until you explain to me why you're here and your mother isn't."

Dinky rolled her eyes.

"Urgh, didn't you listen to Mommy?"

"Well Mommy didn't, to be honest, really make much sense. Care to explain once more?"

~~~~~~~~

"So let me get this straight... Your mommy is on a special delivery mission over to Canterlot for the whole morning and she won't be returning until late afternoon. And until she gets back, you're under my supervision?"

The little filly smiled and nodded her head, not stopping with her tiny hops.

"Heh, you pretty much summed it up!"

Whooves nervously chuckled as the two of them turned around the corner and only to arrive to yet another empty stretch of a road, it's emptiness only fueling his current downer mood.

And I was having such a fine morning...

"So Dinky, do you have any idea how I came to be picked for this job?” he sincerely asked the bouncing filly.

"Well... I dunno really. Mommy just said that you told her how you were good at taking care of young foals and seeing that you also basically live right next to us."

Note; from now on never, ever, under any circumstance leave your assertive speech unfinished.

Whooves nervously chuckled, to which Dinky responded with an adorable giggle.

"So... you haven't yet told me where we are going," the stallion pointed out to the excited filly.

"Oh, I got a club meeting at the school," Dinky told him while reaching out to her saddlebag and taking out, not to his surprise, a crayon picture.

"Want to take a look? I drew it this morning."

Whooves shrugged and took a look of the picture.

A second passed.

Then another.

A rather slow third...

"Are you feeling well mister? You look very pale," Dinky worriedly asked while slowly moving closer to the stallion.

All four of the chestnut hooves began to violently shake and it didn't take long for him to fall down onto his haunches, while the piece of paper flew away from his grasp and onto ground beneath.

"H-h-h-how..."

Black colour filled all of the corners and it faded down into the white background as it neared the center, forming an oval circle. Occasionally, a pair of red eyes stuck out from the dark.

"I-i-it isn't..."

Inside this circle were three different figures.

The first one, and also the smallest, was a purple alicorn wearing a tiara and a necklace that both were grey in colour. The figure was crouching down, however its look laid upwards.

The second one, and the largest, was a darkish brown chair that had a large open eye in middle of it, its red pupil staring forwards and onto a piece of glowing azure gem that floated in mid-air.

However, it wasn't either of these that Whooves reacted to.

Oh no...

In between these other two, stood a brown pony with a stern look over its face and a hourglass on its flank. It reached out towards the bright gem with its head hung low.

"...possible."

Dinky leaned over to get a look of his face. "What isn't possible, mister?" she asked and the stallion leered at her.

"Dinky... I need you to think very, very carefully."

Dinky laughed and nodded, so Whooves took the picture and waved it in front of her.

"What does this depict?"

Dinky continued to laugh until pointing her hoof at him. "Shouldn't you know?" She leaned closer to the fearful pony. "Doctor."

At that point, the clock bell over in the distance rang out.

*Klong, klong, klong, klong, klong, klong, klong, klong*

Dinky gasped loudly as she practically pushed herself away from Whooves.

"Oh no, I'm going to be lat-"

Yet as she tried to gallop off, she found herself staying put. As she gazed back, she saw the gloomy stallion holding her by the tail. And he had that stern look from last night. Without saying anything, Whooves himself turned around and slowly started to make his way, dragging the little resister along with him.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Auh! Let me go! I'm going to be late!"

However, at this point he couldn't care a donkey’s ass about some Saturday morning club. He was going to find out the truth of this little unicorn right there, right now.

"Stop resisting, I just want to clear some things up."

~~~~~~~~

For many ponies, Saturday morning was the longest one as rather nopony got up until before the sun had made its way over from the horizon and over to the top of the town. Of course there were some ponies that already moved around. However, most of them consisted of night shift workers that somberly trembled their way to their homes, not caring much about the dawning day.

Frosty Treat wasn't one of those and he continued to set up his ice cream stand on his regular spot. It was actually a very sought after place, especially on sunny days and weekends. To make sure his business lasted, he got up very early to check on his equipment and materials before dragging his wagon down to his spot in Ponyville’s park.

It was the most perfect spot; on the side of the road that led out through the park and just before it crossed into three other paths, making this a traffic stop. Making this location even more desirable was the fact that the dance floor, the center fountain and the playground all lay only seconds away.

As the cote flung up, Frosty saw something very unusual, enough to get him to gasp.

Some ten feet away, and steadily nearing him, was somepony else.

Instantly, Frosty put on his normal social smile while lifting his paper hat to the brown pony.

"Greetings. Fine morning, isn't it?" Frosty politely greeted him.

The strange stallion smiled back and glanced over to the list stuck onto the cart side.

"I'll have... I’ll have two vanilla ice creams with as much butterscotch as possible."

"Right on, sir," Frosty responded, scooping up the first of the balls while thinking why the customer was getting two when he was alone. In the end, he decided not to question this and instead eagerly took the bits from the stallion, who then turned around carrying one of the cones in his mouth and the other in his hoof.

As his customer slowly walked away, Frosty shrugged and returned back to his work, mainly just checking out the daily paper.

The totally opposite thing was going to happen with Whooves, who now made his way forward while eating one of the ice creams and staying quiet. He continued to make his way up and down the dirt road.

The sapphire eyes stared forward, occasionally glancing over to the bench close to the park fountain where the purple unicorn sat down, hooves crossed on her lap and yellow eyes turned downwards onto the dirt beneath, not moving in the slightest even when he sat next to her.

"Hey, I brought ice cream."

This didn't dazzle the filly at all. Even when she took the cone and began to lick it in long strokes. Whooves continued to eye her a bit, until turning to look at the fountain that hadn't yet began to pump water.

"Look, I'm sorry," the earth pony apologized to Dinky. She leered at him from the corner of an eye, finally letting out a snort and putting on a tiny smirk.

"It's okay Doc'."

Whooves shivered a bit when he heard 'that' word being said by her.

Now Whooves; you're mortified. I'm mortified so let's just get down to the point, shall we?

"I'd... I’d like if you would call me Whooves instead of... you know," the stallion said to Dinky and she shrugged to him while licking the frosty treat, now a bit more enthusiastic.

"If that's what you wish, mister. Though I don't see what's so bad with the Do-"

Whooves put his hoof over the filly's mouth and shook his head.

"Understand that it's important that nopony hears that and I cannot risk for that name to be said out loud."

As his hoof fell down, so did his gaze and away from the small filly.

For Celestia's sake! How in the hay it is even possible that I'm in a tight spot like this?

"How come, mister Whooves? Why can’t other ponies know that you're 'you-know-what'?" Dinky asked. He faintly smirked to her, his eyes closing and leaving him in the calmness of the dark void.

A minute passed.

It was a very long minute for Whooves, while his mind pondered his current situation and grasped for an acceptable answer to the filly’s question.

There he was, a middle-aged male pony, sitting next to a foal who wasn't only less than quarter to his age, but who was able to recall his interference in her dream. Something that was supposed to be impossible for anypony to achieve.

And she was a filly, no less...

A tiny part inside him found it extremely amusing for some odd reason.

So he decided to give a honest answer.

"Dinky, do you know the tale about the... 'Sandstallion'?"

Dinky's face gleamed and she fiercely nodded.

"Oh yes! He's the pony that watches over everypony's dreams when they sleep. Mommy used to tell me about how if I couldn’t sleep, I'd need to close my eyes, whisper out his name and he'll come to sprinkle his magic dust that makes everypony sleepy, however haven’t done that in a long time cause I’m a big filly."

His eyes opened and turned at the excited filly.

"How would you react if I told you I am that stallion?"

A giggle broke out as Dinky pointed her pale hoof at the chestnut stallion.

"I'd call you crazy and to prove it."

Whooves smiled as he reached into his saddlebag. Soon, a tied napkin came out and he laid it over between them. As Dinky continued to look, Whooves with one shift pull opened it.

Dinky's eyes popped open.

On top of the napkin, laid a tiny azure gem.

"Do you recall this?" Sandstallion asked from her and Dinky nodded, her eyes locked onto the shining gem. Then her hoof reached out, however he shiftily took the napkin and tucked it away to the saddlebag.

"I guess I don't need to ask if you believe me now, do I?"

Suddenly, he felt an impact on his side. As he gazed down, he saw the little filly hugging him with all of her might while her smiling face stared up at him in obvious awe.

"Thanks for defeating that awful monster, Mister Whooves!"

Something clicked deep inside the stallion.

It was an idea. A very dangerous and risky one. Something that could effectively ruin the rest of his life if anypony were to find out.

Heheh. Whooves, you silly pony, you're over thinking once again. And besides, wouldn’t you wanna slap those bureau fellows for once?

A brown hoof fell over Dinky and it brushed her gently, making her giggle a bit.

"Say Dinky, isn't it time for you to leave for the club?"

Dinky rolled her eyes, much to his amusement and he tried to holster his laughter.

"What, really mister?"

Whooves nodded as he lifted up the filly and placed her down to the ground, laughing as she looked back at him with a hint of frustration.

"Now don't you worry. As soon as you get back, I promise to tell you everything you want to know."

The filly’s mouth dropped open.

"Wow, really?" Dinky gasped, and as soon as he nodded, she checked over her Wonderbolt saddlebag straps and kneeled over, taking a gallop posture. Soon, she shot out leaving behind a wavering cloud of dust.

"I'll be back by dinner!" she shouted as the dust cloud passed the fountain.

It didn't take long for Dinky to gallop out of view, and Whooves waved to her all the way.

Did I make the right decision?

A cocky smirk rose to his face

Most likely not...

.......Bollocks, I left the tea water on!