Chapter 2: The Question That Never Gets Answered

DINKY'S DADDY

CHAPTER 2:

THE QUESTION THAT NEVER GETS ANSWERED

Time Turner glanced over his shoulder with worried eyes to look at the unicorn filly that was sitting on his back, her hooves wrapped around his neck, and her face buried in his coat.

He sighed. He had been very excited when Dinky asked him to speak at Family Appreciation Day, and he had done his best to make it as interesting and entertaining as possible.

But then things had gone terribly downhill.

School had ended, and Time Turner had stayed behind for a few minutes to have words with Diamond Tiara and her father Filthy Rich. Time Turner greatly pitied the poor stallion - he seemed to be at his wits end at trying to get his bully of a daughter to behave. Now he was taking Dinky back to her house, where he was planning on staying for dinner with Derpy Hooves and their other good friend Carrot Top.

Looking back at Dinky once again, Time Turner let out another sad sigh. "Dinky, I'm sorry for what Diamond Tiara said. Honestly, sometimes I think that filly is psychologically incapable of being nice to anypony,"

"Didn't you say those kind of ponies are called sociopaths?" Dinky muttered into his neck.

Time Turner smiled. "Well, sort of. I don't know if I would call Diamond Tiara a sociopath just yet," he said. "Let's wait until she hits puberty,"

"What's puberty?"

"...................I'm sorry for what Diamond Tiara said," Time Turner repeated, wisely choosing to ignore the filly's question.

Dinky sighed, and lifted her head up. "I don't care about Diamond Tiara," she said softly, looking down at the moving ground as Time Turner walked on. "She's just a stupidhead,"

Time Turner probably should have reprimanded her for using the word, but he wasn't really concerned about that at the moment. He was more concerned about his honorary niece's feelings.

"Then what is the problem?" he asked. He already knew what the answer was.

Dinky sniffled. "I wish I knew who my daddy is..." she whispered, hugging Time Turner around the neck tight.

Time Turner's heart broke upon hearing Dinky's words. He had known the little filly ever since she wasn't even a year old, when she and her mother Derpy first arrived in Ponyville via train six years ago. Time Turner had been at the train station to say goodbye to his cousin Crescent Moon, who had been visiting from Manehatten. When the train departed, Time Turner noticed a gray pegasus mare standing on the platform, looking around with an unsure and nervous expression on her face, and a tiny little foal wrapped up in a pouch on her back. Time Turner immediately went over and introduced himself, and offered to show her around. It was, in his opinion, one of the best decisions he ever made.

Since he had known Dinky practically her entire life, he also knew that for her entire life, there has been one thing that frequently came around and troubled the little unicorn's mind.

Her father.

More specifically, the absence of her father.

Time Turner opened his mouth to offer Dinky some words of comfort, but he couldn't think of anything to say. He looked up and became relieved to see Dinky's house, a one-story building on the outskirts of Ponyville, was coming up.

He sped himself up until he was at the door to the house. Knowing it would be unlocked, Time Turner pushed on the handle and opened it up, stepping into the house and shutting the door behind him. Dinky remained on his back, still very quiet.

"Oh, Dinky, Time Turner, is that you?" a cheerful voice called from within the house.

Dinky's mother Derpy Hooves appeared from an open door and smiled, happy to see her daughter had gotten home. She trotted over to the two ponies, and leaned down to nuzzle her daughter.

"Hi, muffin! How was Family-" Derpy was startled when Dinky suddenly shot away from her, running off through the house and out of sight. "...Appreciation Day?"

Derpy turned around and stared off to where Dinky had gone, confused and worried. "What's wrong with her? Did the presentation go badly?" she asked, turning back to face Time Turner.

He shook his head. "No, it went fine, the entire class loved it," he replied. "But after I finished talking, all the foals were asking questions....It turns out, a lot of the kids thought I was Dinky's father,"

At the word "father", Derpy's expression dropped. "Oh," she said quietly, realizing just what had gotten her daughter so upset.

Time Turner patted Derpy's back sympathetically. "I'm sure she'll be fine," he said.

"She always is fine," Derpy said with sadness in her voice. "But every single time this gets brought up, it takes her longer and longer to be fine again,"

Time Turner just let Derpy lean her head on his shoulder for a few moments. "I should probably go talk to her," Derpy muttered.

The stallion nodded, and let go of his friend. "Do you want me to get dinner started?" he asked.

Derpy shook her head. "Carrot Top is already here, she's got a soup going. You're welcome to go help her though," she said, turning around and trotting off to Dinky's bedroom.

Time Turner sighed, and headed towards Derpy's kitchen. Once he got there, he saw a golden yellow Earth mare standing diligently over the stove, where a pot of steaming soup was boiling. She turned her head, her orange mane bouncing with the movement, and smiled over at him.

"Hello Time Turner! How was Family Appreciation Day?" Carrot Top asked, smiling pleasantly.

The smile dropped when Time Turner sighed once again. "Could have gone just a teeny smidge better, I'd say," he said.

Derpy stared at the door to her daughter's bedroom. Taking a second, she looked over the bright purple wood of the door. Dinky had painted it herself when they moved into the house when the filly was four years old. Derpy smiled at the memory, recalling how her daughter had managed to somehow get herself entirely covered in paint. It took hours, and the combined efforts of Derpy, Time Turner, and Carrot Top to clean the filly up, but it had been fun.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Derpy focused on the task at hand. Inside the room, her daughter was in need of comfort.

She knocked on the door. "Muffin? Dinky, can I come in, sweetie?"

She heard what sounded like a grunt. "I'm going to take that as a yes," Derpy said, pushing the door open. Her daughters bedroom was simple for a child - a snug bed, a lot of toys filling up every corner (most of them gifts from Carrot Top and Time Turner), and a cabinet with a mirror. Dinky was lying on her bed, curled up around a pillow.

"Oh, Dinky," Derpy cooed, moving to the bed and sitting down. Her daughter immediately shifted to hug her, and Derpy wrapped her wings around Dinky.

For a few seconds, Derpy stayed silent and just held her daughter close. Then Dinky sniffled and looked up at Derpy.

Derpy smiled back at her. "Now, there's my precious muffin!" she said, hugging Dinky. "I'm sorry for what happened at Family Appreciation Day, Dinky,"

"I'm not upset about Diamond Tiara!" Dinky suddenly snapped, ripping herself out of Derpy's arms. Derpy blinked in shock, but Dinky continued speaking, facing away from Dinky. "Uncle Time Turner apologized for it too, but that's not what I'm sad about! I'm sad because everypony in my class thought Uncle Time Turner was my daddy, but he's not! He's my uncle, and my uncle can't be my daddy! Nopony can be my daddy because I don't have one!"

Dinky began sobbing into her hooves, and Derpy felt herself begin to tear up. She hated seeing her daughter upset. She tried to hug Dinky again. "Oh, muffin, it will be-"

"NO IT WON'T!" Dinky shouted, smacking Derpy's hooves away.

Derpy gasped. "Dinky!"

Dinky was glaring at her mother, tears still spilling down her cheeks. "It won't be okay! It won't be okay because it doesn't how many times I get sad about not havin' a daddy!" Dinky was shouting now. "No matter how much I want a daddy, YOU will never ever tell me who my daddy is!"

"Dinky," Derpy started, trying to keep herself calm. "I've told you-"

"Dinky, it's complicated," Dinky interrupted her in a mocking tone. "Dinky, you're too young for me to explain everything to you! Dinky, I'll tell you all about your daddy when you're older - I promise! Well when are you going to keep your promise?! You've been saying all those things my whole life! Why can't you tell me who my daddy is NOW?!"

"Dinky," Derpy started, feeling her heart twist painfully. Her daughter was nearly shaking, and Derpy longed to just hug her and not let go until everything was better. "I...I know I keep telling you the same things over and over again, but that's because they're all true,"

She was stumbling mentally, trying to find a way to explain things to her six year old foal in ways that would help her understand. "The things about your daddy...it's a very, very complicated thing-"

"I'M SICK OF HEARING THAT!" Dinky shouted, louder than before.

"Dinky, stop shouting at me this instant!" Derpy cried back before she could think about it. "I'm sorry that I've never told you about your daddy, but you are just not ready to know-"

"WHY?!" Dinky interrupted her again. "Mommy, I am ready to know! I've been ready to know my whole life! Don't you know what its like to see all of my friends playing with their daddies? I hate coming every day and not having a daddy to hug me and ask me how my day was, and read me a lullaby to sleep!"

"Me and your Aunt and Uncle do those things, aren't we enough for you?" Derpy asked. She instantly chided herself for blurting that out - it was obviously the wrong thing to say.

"No!" Dinky sobbed. "No, it's not! If you could just tell me that my daddy was dead or that he isn't here because he doesn't want to be here or something like that, I'd be okay with at least knowing! But what I hate is that you won't tell me ANYTHING about my daddy! You won't tell me how you met, or his name, or anything about him, and you won't tell me why he isn't here with you and me! I hate not knowing anything! Why can't you just tell me something about my daddy? Does he live in Ponyville? Is he dead? Does he even know that he's my daddy?!"

Derpy opened her mouth to speak, but she hesitated for a brief second. "I-"

A lot of ponies assume that because Dinky is only six years old, she must not be the brightest of foals. The truth was that Dinky was actually much brighter than a lot of ponies think, especially for her age.

Dinky heard the hesitation in her mother's voice.

She stared at her mother, and her bottom lip quivered. "I-Is that it?" she asked. "Does my daddy not know about me?"

"D-Don't be silly, Dinky," Derpy stuttered. "Of course he would, why wouldn't your daddy know-"

"Remember that movie you took me to last month?" Dinky said. "It was about a pony who finds out he has a daughter, and she helps him get back together with her mommy! Sometimes ponies don't know they have kids!"

Shoot, why did I take her to see that? Derpy thought. There goes one part of her daughter's innocence.

"So is that it? Does my daddy not know about me?" Dinky demanded.

"...Dinky," Derpy started.

"PLEASE ANSWER ME MOMMY!"

Derpy actually flinched at how harsh her daughter sounded. "...No, he doesn't," she replied, looking down.

Dinky's tears increased at those words. She fell down onto the bed, and pushed her face into the pillow. Derpy's already broken heart shattered when she heard her daughters sob into the pillow.

"D-Dinky," Derpy spoke again, unable to keep her own voice from breaking. "I-I'm sorry that I never told you that, but..."

She took a deep breath, and finally admitted the truth. "But I'm not ready to tell you..." she whispered.

Dinky didn't look up. She only continued to cry into her pillow. Derpy sat on her daughter's bed, feeling helpless as she simply sat with her crying filly. In the hallway, a teary-eyed Carrot Top stood out of sight in the hallway. Time Turner stood next to her, himself shedding tears for his beloved friend and honorary niece.

And somewhere in Equestria, a stallion went about his day, completely unaware of how much his daughter wanted to know him.