It's My Fault...

by Spirit Shift

Rating: everyone
Tags: Lyra, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dinky Hooves, Other, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, Doctor Whooves, Sad
Length: 10197

A strange filly shows up at Ditzy Doo's home in the middle of the night, who is she and why does she look so much like herself.

A strange filly shows up at Ditzy Doo's home in the middle of the night, bruised and beaten beyond belief. Who is she, and why does she look so familiar.

My Second story and the first to have cover art designed and created my me. Criticism and likes are appreciated

Published 2014-05-09 04:00:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-09 21:31:35 UTC

Part 1

Part 1

Ponyville is known to be the home of many things, Princesses, heroes, friendship, all three tribes, and even a dragon believe it or not, but one thing that may stand out in many ponies eyes, are the excess of absolutely adorable fillies and colts that roam the town. Some would say that it's a great tourist attraction.

Those are the ones who are run out of town, threatened by a sharp quill or burning book.

Some of the most adorable foals include the (in)famous Cutie Mark Crusaders, although they are the most well known, they are also the most destructive. Eager to get their cutie marks in just about anything, they sometimes cause more trouble than their big eyes can get them out of. Another pair of foals that rank in the top would be the recently born unicorn/pegasi twins of the earth pony Cake couple. Though not as mischievous as the CMC, these foals have magic and flight to back them up, and bigger eyes to defend with.

There are others that ponies would speak highly of, such as the accented Pipsqeak, feisty Rumble, Berry Pinch, or the gamer Button Mash, but even so, there was one undeniable fact. One fact that just about everypony in town would agree on, and that was who the cutest foal was. That foal went by the name of Dinky Doo, a light purple unicorn foal who's outlook on life is as bubbly as her mothers cutie mark, always happy and always smiling, she would give a heart bursting hug to anypony that looked even a little downtrodden. She once got into a hug contest with Pinkie Pie and won.

She is the most adorable filly in Ponyville.

Said foal lives on the edge of town in a one story house with her single mother. Currently, however, they were engaged in a deadly serious battle of wits and endurance. Both sat across from one another, neither moving, for fear that they would lose.

"Remember mommy you can't close your other eye" Dinky whispered in her adorable voice, only to get no response from the cross-eyed mare in question.

This was her time, Dinky thought, she had trained for this moment, the moment when she would challenge her mother, Ditzy Doo, national staring contest champion, to a title match. They had been like this for a little over an hour and Dinky felt herself reaching her limit. Just by looking she could see no such limitations on her mother as she sat still as a statue, not shaking in concentration like she was.

"Blink mommy" Dinky almost begged as she herself tried desperately hard not to blink.

"Still staring Ditzy doo (Derpy Hooves to her friends) stared back with unblinking misaligned eyes. "I wouldn't be world champion if I blank because you told me.

Dinky began to panic as her eyes burned, she's going to lose, she had to do something, she needed to-She had an idea!

"Mommy! The Muffins are burning!" Dinky cried out in mock worry. Without hesitation the gray mare sped into the kitchen to check on her confections. As she left Dinky jumped into the air in victory.

"Yayyy! I win 'cuz mommy left! I'm the cha...cham" she stopped as she began to sound out the word before giving up and proceeding to do a little dance. "Winner!!"

She stopped dancing when she saw her mom come back into the living room wearing the most neutral face that she had seen. This unnerved Dinky as her mind flashed a million thoughts in that one moment. Is she mad at me for winning? Is she mad that I told a fib? She thought.

Not many things could bring this little filly spirits down, but if there was one thing, it was the feeling that her mommy was mad at her, she just couldn't handle it. "Uh-uhmmmm your diskoala.....disqaaa.....you left the room...so I win right? Those are the rules right." Dinky stammered out, shrinking back from her mothers neutral gaze. She back up some more when she did nothing but slowly edge toward her.

"So, uhmm me and Pip played pirates at school the other day, we thought we found treasure but it was just Diamond's Tiara...." She said in a foalish attempt to change the nonexistent subject.

Another step forward. Another step back.

"Uhhmmm I saw Mr. Doctor Turner yesterday......he asked how you were again...I think he likes you!" She said, trying to ease the imaginary tension.

Another step forward. No more steps back for Dinky had reached the wall.

Not knowing what else to do Dinky curled up into a cute little ball for protection against the coming onslaught. "I sorry for fibbing!" she confessed.

In the blink of an eye Ditzy pulled Dinky up from the ground and placed her back down on her back. Dinky knew this was coming but before she could defend herself Ditzy had already began her attack. Tears rolled down her face as Ditzy tickled her mercilessly, no part of Dinky was safe from her feathery wings, not her small hooves, nor her belly. Her whole body had become a target of the tickle attack.

"I thought I told you fibbing was bad!" Ditzy lectured, smirking all the while.

"I'm *laughs* Sorry *squeal* I won't do it again! *laughter that become squeals* I promise!

Ditzy's smirk become as smile at this but just as her tickling lets up she realizes her mistake. Dinky jumps up to her mother and begins to return fire. Being smaller mean that she had access to other spots like under her mothers fore legs, as well as being hard to catch. Dinky knew to use this to her advantage.

The two sided tickle war went on for hours before ending, anyone who had passed the house during that time, and heard the family's cries of laughter, instantly found themselves smiling uncontrollably.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually the laughter died down and turned into exhausted panting as both ponies lie on the backs on the ground of their home.

"*puff* ok we'll call that one a tie" Ditzy began, still huffing and puffing.

"Ill *gasp* win next time!"

"Funny *huff* thing, the muffins were just about done when you called" Ditzy began.

"So *puff* it wasn't a fib!?" she said excitedly.

"No....but you said it even though you thought it was, that's why you get tickled. Ditzy explained.

"Ohhhhhhhh"

Silence reigned for a few more minutes as the mare and foal caught their breath. Ditzy spoke first, somewhat hesitantly.

"Soooooo.....did the doctor actually say anything about me?" she said, a blush glowing lightly against her gray coat.

Dinky looked over at her mommy and smiled her heartwarming smile. Even she knew that her mommy liked that brown colt, even though she didn't know why, but her mom was always happy and red when she talked about him, so it must be a good thing. And she loved it when her mommy was happy. "Uhuh he asked how you were, and if he could see you sometime, his face was just as red as yourses is now." she said excitedly.

Ditzy only blushed further. "Is that so...."

"Yeah I weeeeaallhy think that he likes you mommy. Ms Lyra said something once. Uhmmm" she put her hoof to her muzzle in thought. "Oh I remember, she said that you should just bang and get it over with, but i didn't know what that meant and she said to ask you or Mr Turner.

During that sentence Ditzy sat up and did a spit take, odd because she wasn't drinking anything.

Dinky laughed her childish laugh "Mr Turner did that too when I asked him! What does it mean mommy!"

Panicking Ditzy glanced over to the wall clock "Oh look it's time for bed!" she almost yelled, her face crimson at this point.

Dinky looked over to the same clock "But mommy it's only........big hand on the 5 time I don't sleep till 6pm right? It's only 5....so i have another hour.

Ditzy looked back at her foal, her face faded back to its normal hue, and chuckled at her misunderstanding of the concept of time. "Oh Dinky, you're great at math but terrible at time telling. The little hand tells the hour and the small one tells the minutes. Didn't Turner tell you that."

Dinky shook her tiny head "No! Mr Turner told me that the little hand was the minutes and that the large hand was the hour."

Ditzy looked at her incredulously before figuring out what happened and puffing out her face in mock anger. Dinky recognized this face that her mom made when she was not really angry at something and put the pieces together for herself. "Wait! Did he fib?"

Ditzy nodded.

Dinky adopted the same face but with a much more adorable cheek puff. "Ohhhh i'm gonna tickle him so hard tomorrow"

Ditzy nodded in approval before picking up her child and setting her on her back. "But that's revenge for tomorrow, now, lets go eat and get ready for bed."

Both ponies made their way to the kitchen and ate dinner which consisted of dinner muffins and some salad. Eventually they got to the bathroom and proceeded to brush both their teeth and each others as they freshened up for bed.

Dinky proceeded to spend about 5 minutes trying to climb up onto her bed, refusing any help in the way that foals tend to do. Eventually she made the climb and stuffing herself under the covers. Ditzy wasted no time in fluffing her pillow, tucking her in and placing a soft goodnight kiss on her for head under her horn. Tired from the days play the filly had already began to drift off. Ditzy began to trot out of the room.

"Mommy" a groggy voice said, stopping her in her tracks.

"Yes Dinky?" she said curiously.

"Promise me that you'll talk to Turner tomorrow? I'd love to have a daddy too....."

Ditzy got a soft blush but ignored it as she gave her child a warm motherly smile Always worried about others happiness, this one. she thought. "I promise honey"

"I love you mommy" She said as she finally fell to the sandmares spell.

Ditzy turned the lights off before softly muttering "I love you too" and closing the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A....are you sure doctor?" a flustered gray mare stammered as she sat across from a brown colt currently staring intently at her.

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life, but please, call me Turner, I didn't get a doctorate for the title and you know that." he stated plainly in his normal Trottingham accent.

"But i'm clumsy, and cross-eyes, and I have a daughter!"

The cold shook his head "None of that matters to me, I choose to stay with you and your daughter"

Ditzy blushed furiously as she brought her gaze back to the diamond hoof ring that the colt held out. That looks expensive.......what kind of doctor was he again? Ditzy thought in a vain attempt to distract herself from the current situation in front of her, as much as she loved it. "Ummmm ok, i'll marry you" she squeaked out, her voice reminiscent of another shy mare.

"You Will! Wonderful! I love you Derpy Hooves!" he reached in to give her a kiss. After hesitating for a second she reacted in kind.

Their lips nudged ever closer until the finally-

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

Ditzy's lips hit her pillow as she jolted awake. Quickly looking around she tried to find the source of the noise that interrupted her favorite dream.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

Quickly reaching under her bed, Ditzy brought out her weapon of choice. The Muffin Mace!

A few years ago, while she was cleaning Ditzy found a sinful sight, a stale muffing under her bed. In an attempt to rectify this, she accidentally broke 3 teeth trying to eat it before her best friend, Lyra had to stop her. Denying her advice to throw it away, instead, Lyra had Time Turner attach an iron pole to it and make it into a hammer for self defense.

Currently Ditzy wielded this particular weapon as she crept down the stairs, just in case she were being robbed. Personally she couldn't care less about what they took, she didn't have much anyway. But if they tried to hurt her or her foal then they would have a problem.

Looking around she saw no signs of an intruder but she would've sworn that she heard banging-

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

There it is again.....it's coming from the door.....but it's not as loud as before she thought, slowly lowering her guard. Well if they're nice enough to knock then they must not be bad.

Setting the hammer against the wall she optimistically trotted up to the door.

*bang..........bang.......thump*

This one took Ditzy by surprise, the banging trickled down to a few taps, and that last could could be described as somepony falling. Quickly throwing the door open, Ditzy's lopsided eyes took in the form of a small pegasus filly laying barely conscious on her doorstep. The filly looked oddly familiar but she pushed that thought back as a new one rang like bells in her mind.

This filly is injured!

Scratches and cuts littered the poor filly's body. Not thinking twice, Ditzy quickly but gently picked the foal up and lightly sat her down on the couch in her living room, then leaving to fetch the first aid. She galloped into another room before a plethora of odd sounds rang out, ranging from a tuba to what sounded like glass breaking.

Eventually coming back, Ditzy noticed that the filly lie awake and had started glancing around, seeming to tired to actually get up herself.

"Don't move! Who hurt you like this!" Ditzy said urgently as she cantered over to the battered filly.

Said filly looked up at her with purplish-blue eyes and muttered something that Ditzy couldn't hear. "Wait say it one more time" She said as she leaned her head in further.

"mommy" the pegasus filly managed to whisper out as she fell back into unconsciousness.

To say that Ditzy was stunned could be considered an fairly accurate assumption, so say that she had gotten angry was a serious underestimation.

She was furious!

Stomping over to her phone Ditzy almost literally punched in a certain number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This had been quite a week for one Lyra Heartstrings, one surprise after another appeared, each one more stunning than the last. It all began in the morning when she woke up from her awesome dream about humans and keys and gummy things. First she found out that she had gotten into the Canterlot royal orchestra, she thought that was neat. Later she heard that her old rival Octavia had fallen in love with a rowdy unicorn DJ, this stunned Lyra, but not so much, as she always suspected that her rival preferred the grassy planes over the mountains anyway. She just didn't figure that she'd go for a DJ, let alone Vinyl Scratch, Lyra personally knew both of them and they never got along.

The bigger surprise had been when her longtime friend and roommate Bon Bon sat down in front of her in their living room and confessed her love to her. Lyra really didn't see this one coming, she had no clue that Bon Bon had a thing for her. But overall, the biggest surprise had come to her beginning in the form of a phone call late at night. Her childhood friend had only ever shown 3 emotions, happiness, sadness, and disappointment. Never once had Lyra seen anything on her friends face that could be described as anger......well aside from her adorable mock anger face.

So, like a good friend, she found herself running across town in the middle of the night to her best friends house. Lyra remembered back to when they were younger, how Derpy would always get picked on for her eyes, only 3 ponies ever stood up for her. One brown earth pony colt, one mint unicorn, and one cyan pegasus. Ever since all three of them had become best friends, and it became a rule that only her very best friends could call her Derpy. She briefly wondered if she called Turner over as well.

Eventually she reached her friends house and knocked on the door. Quickly the door opened and she was pulled in. Another surprise greeted her face as she saw two things that she had never seen before.

One: Derpy was indeed angry, if her frown and glare could be any indicator.

Two: Her eyes were perfectly aligned, this in particular unnerved her as she felt scared for some reason, but being the mare that she is she briefly wondered if she could make her angry later and see if the same thing happens.

"Stop that!" Derpy said coldly in a way that made Lyra flinch in more than one way.

"Stop what?" she asked innocently.

"Your thinking that if you make me angry later my eyes will uncross again...." Derpy deadpanned

"Am I that easy to read?" Lyra murmured as she scratched the back of her head.

"Yes now come over here." She said as she turned and trotted over to the couch.

"Aye Ayeeeeawhhooaaahhhh" Lyra exclaimed as she looked over the injured body of a young filly. Most of her cuts and bruises had been covered but Lyra was perceptive enough to know what was up.

"Derpy......what happened to her" Lyra whispered, her playful mood now gone. Being one of Ditzy's closest friends, she was one of the only ponies that had the right to call her by her nickname without offence.

"When she woke up I asked her.........she said it was her mother who did it." Derpy muttered beginning to clench her teeth. Lyra began to reach the same levels of anger. Foal beating had been known to be one of the worst crimes known to ponydom, the last recorded crime had been over 20 years ago, and the penalty was harsh enough to scare others from doing it.

Lyra tried to hold back her anger but she was not as good as her friend in that regard but just as she was about to scream terrible expletives, that even unconscious, the filly shouldn't hear....she stopped as something rang in her mind.

"Derpy.....she kinda looks like you as a filly......" Lyra said, referring to the filly's gray coat and blond mane, both the same shades as the mare standing next to her.

This took Derpy by surprise as she looked over to a photo hanging from the wall behind her, then back to the foal, then back to the filly.

"Nahhhh" she said as she shrugged it off. "Coincidence, but seriously.." She began as she turned back to Lyra. "I'm going to take her to the hospital later, I need you to watch Dinky." She asked in what sounded more like a command than a favor.

"WHAAAAAT!" Lyra whined "But I wanna come with so i can slap a pony for doing this." Clearly she was still mad at the alleged foal beater and wanted to beat them in exchange.

"No! somepony has to watch Dinky for me."

"Get Turner to do it, he loves Dinky."

"Nah they'll just spend the day tickling each other, and she needs to get to school" Derpy said, choosing to ignore the fact that she did the exact same thing. Lyra looked on in confusion but choose not to pursue that topic. Finally she relented and nodded.

Derpy swept her up in a grand hug that Lyra quickly returned. Derpy was known to give the absolute best hugs in Ponyville, as they we always filled with the warmth that reminded you of your mothers hug. Fluttershy could do the same thing but hers were rarer to receive. Pinkie Pie's hugs were just a little too bone crushing and Dinky's hug's would be filled with so much adorableness that she almost always had some sort of heart attack. Derpys was just right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, slightly before the rise of Celestia's Sun Derpy found herself on the road to the library with the still sleeping pegasus on her back. Even though she had still been angry, she had calmed down enough that her eyes had reverted to their normal lopsided gaze.

Trotting into the hospital Ditzy had found herself bombarded with the sight of dozens of nurses and Doctors running back and forth in a frenzy, some had clip boards and some had stacks of paper, all of them looked very worried. Playing the pony version of cross the street Ditzy finally made it to the receptions desk. "Excuse me, nurse Redheart....what's going on. Why is everypony so.......rushed this early in the morning."

Redheart took notice of the gray mare, she recognized her as she frequently came in for check ups due to her constantly flying into trees. "Oh Ditzy, it's terrible, we have a foal missing. She came to us about a week ago, badly injured, but she vanished yesterday, and we can't find her. Everypony's sending out lost foal flyers and who is that on your back?"

Instantly all action in the lobby ceased as Ditzy felt at least a hundred stares focus on her flank....or at least what lie on top of it. As if a switch had been his all the nurses ran over to her, she found herself lost in the commotion and at the end of it she realized that she had been dropped on the cold floor while the doctors and nurses carried the filly in several magic auras and surrounded by flying pegasi.

It took a while for Ditzy to get her already misaligned eyes to stop spinning before she got back to her senses and recognized a voice calling out to her.

"Oh i'm very sorry miss were....Ditzy is that you? A light brown unicorn with a white lab doctors jacket called out.

Sitting up she recognized the face of her regular Doctor, Doctor Stable Heart. "Oh Hi Doctor Stable, what happened just now." she asked, still slightly delirious.

Stable looked a little nervous to Ditzy for some reason, but he answered anyway. "Well we here at Ponyville General really care for our patients so when one goes missing we all get a little frantic. So when this one vanished we assumed the worst."

Ditzy looked confused for a second before responding. "What do you mean "this one" who is she, and why did you assume the worst?" she asked with a concerned tone.

Stable quietly muttered to himself "its now or never" lifting his head he took a large breath and motioned to a nearby room. "Ms Doo would you follow me please." he said in all seriousness.

Author's Note

Finally! tbh i had this mostly written since the trade ya episode but i didnt want to upload this until i got my tablet and draw the cover art.
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Well that, and plain old procrastination!!

Part 2

Part 2

Stable led her over to a empty waiting room, just a few doors down from where the filly lie. Stable made sure that it was soundproof as well. Trotting over, he poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine in the corner. "Want some?" he asked the mare behind him.

"No thanks, that stuffs too bitter for me, I drink chocolate milk with muffins in the morning!" she exclaimed with a smile. Chuckling a little, Stable motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs near the center of the room as he sat in the chair directly in front of her.

Settling his nerves he began. "If you say so. To start, please tell me how you found her."

Ditzy told him the tale from last night, including what had been said and done. Stable watched with a carefully crafted Doctor style poker face, quietly sipping his coffee.

"I see, it does make sense, so I can see how that happened."

"I don't who is that filly is, but why did her mother beat her up," Ditzy said in both anger and concern.

Stable looked her in the eye, as much as he could anyway and answered. "Her mother didn't beat her, not in the way that you think."

"What other way could you beat a foal in that way!" Ditzy almost screamed.

".......lets start from the beginning then" she said, no longer willing to meet her eyes, he knew what he had to do and he hated it, it was one of the burdens of being a doctor. He know if he did't do it now he would hate himself more later.

"Ditzy, just know that i'm sorry."

"Wh...what do you-"

"That foal you found didn't tell you that her mother beat her"

Ditzy seemed taken aback by this before regaining her position. "What do you mean! When I asked her she said it was her mother."

Stable didn't flinch. "No, from what you've told me, she only said one word, and that was mommy. She said that because she saw you, Ditzy Doo.

Ditzy pulled back in offence "I didn't hit her!!"

Stable sighed "I know you didn't Ditzy, let me explain....i guess im embarrassed right now. A Doctor like I shouldn't have let this happen but you need to know." Stable took a calm breath before continuing. "It's my fault, I should have monitored the procedure more closely.

"What? I don't understand" she muttered softly, beginning to get worried. She had never seen her Doctor so flustered and nervous, he was usually so nice and calm.

Stable finally gathered his resolve and looked Ditzy right in her good eye. "6 years ago there was a mix up between your foal, and another mares. That foal, in the other room, is your real daughter, the real Dinky Doo."

This news hit Ditzy like a ton of bricks covered in gold and lead. Her head fell and here pupils shrank as she processed this information. She began to deny it but her mind raced back to what Lyra said earlier about them looking alike. She was also a pegasus just like Ditzy. The coat, the mane, the colors, they all looked like her own. She remembered seeing the fillies eyes when she was awake......they looked just like his. A part of her realized that it made so much sense.

She promptly told that part of herself she stuff it, and went into complete denial.

She grit her teeth and stared back at Stable with a completely aligned gaze. "NO! I know my own daughter, i've raised her from the time she came out of me. She is a unicorn filly with a blond mane!"

Even though he had expected this, it still shocked him to see the normally bubbly gray mare angry, even more so when he noticed that her eyes had aligned. He managed to keep his composure using his experience as a Doctor that frequently delivers bad news to family's.

"I'm sorry but it's true. That foal and the one you have been raising were switched accidentally by the nurses at some point." Stable looks toward the direction of where the foal, the real Dinky, lie. "The reason she was so injured was because she came from a broken home, so you were half right when you thought that her mother beat her. The thing is, that neither her father or her mother ever actually laid a hoof on her. What they did was more passive aggressive in nature....but only barely."

Ditzy seemed to calm down and looked on, interested. "How can they hurt a foal passively, did they yell at her.

Stable continued "More or less, you see.......As a pair of unicorn pure blood nobles they already resented having to give birth in a low class town like Ponyville. But when they saw that it wasn't a unicorn they got angry, they screamed at the nurses and stormed out, taking the filly with them as soon as they got the chance. They hated having a pegasus daughter and they showed it to her in spades, but they knew the law, they knew that they couldn't physically abuse her, or even mentally." Stable began to get angrier as he went on.

"So do you know what they did? They put her in harms way on purpose, even hiring others to torment and bully her mercilessly, never doing it directly. They spent money to that they could take out their rage on the foal from the time she could barely walk." He spat out.

Ditzy gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves, tears forming in her eyes.

"Yes, eventually the law caught up with them, an off duty cop saw them send her into the dangerous animal exhibit on purpose, repeatedly, so he shadowed them for a while in suspicion. Saw them pay off some kid and order them to beat her up. Apparently they were getting worse as she grew older, I guess they thought she could take more, or they got angryer as she learned to fly.....I don't know really." He chuckled darkly as his eyes remain downcast, no longer meeting her gaze.

"When the police caught them they were just about to do something horrible to her."

Ditzy let in a soft gasp "Did they beat her?" she whispered.

Another dark chuckle "Nothing so tame, tell me Ditzy, how would you feel if someone tried to take your eyes out and give you a new pair.....to correct you?"

"What!? wait.....no....they didn't" Ditzy exclaimed as she put the pieces together.

"That's right, they somehow got it into their heads to 'fix' their child by drugging her and attempting to cut her wings off....and glue on a unicorn horn. LITERALLY! GLUE! They found all of their supplies, including sub-par medical equipment. Those ponies were deranged!" Stable shouted.

Ditzy gave no response, only imagining what it would be like if someone hated her race that much....to that extent, her face became one of complete and utter disgust. "That's.......horrible" she finally whispered.

Yes but luckily we got her in time, the cop who began the investigation got an award, and she was safe. Naturally we had to take a blood test, we...uh.... discovered that they weren't even related to her. Due to police we were forced to search Ponyville's records of birth. After some digging we came to you, I denied it of course, i'm the one who delivered your child. I told them that you only had one pregnancy. Eventually i was forced by the higher ups to examine Dinky.....you know what I found.

Ditzy's tears had already began to leak from her face. "No.....don't say it...please" she chocked out behind her barely held back sobs.

Stable couldn't stop now, he hated this,but he couldn't stop. He hated this more than diagnosing a patient with a terminal illness, it just didn't compare to telling a mother that she has cherished, loved and cared for the wrong child her whole life. To know that she'll never get that childhood back, that everything she thought she knew about her family was a huge lie. He looked toward the ceiling, his own tears threatening to break through.

"We discovered the switch, they got what they wanted, a proper unicorn daughter. I guess you could say that you saved her from the abusive life that she would have had."

Meanwhile Ditzy had already began to cry openly, sobbing and wailing openly. Even so, she lifted her head and screamed, her eyes swollen and red.

"SAVED HER!! IT'S MY FAULT I DOOMED HER!!!!" She hollered before crying harder than before. "If....if i didn't take the wrong foal....they might've been nicer to her.....given her all the things shes ever wanted!!!! She would've had a proper unicorn life! Learned magic, wouldn't have been made fun of for having a retarded mom!! They would have loved her!! she cried out.

"They were deranged!!!! Who knows what they would've done to her!" Stable screamed in retaliation, temporarily losing his cool. Tears running down his face as well.

"Well now we'll never know will we!? It's too late and it's my fault that's shes scarred like that." Ditzy began to stomp on the ground. "She was bruised, and beaten and scared and it's all my fault that she almost became handicapped,....my fault that she's homeless now." he said in a voice that lowered to a whisper by the end of her rant.

"WOULD YOU RATHER THAT DINKY WENT THROUGH ALL THAT!" Stable screamed

"At least it wouldn't have been nearly as bad!"

"You don't know that! It could have been even worse!!"

For a time nopony spoke, the only sounds to come from the two occupants were Ditzy's quiet sobs and Stables silent tears hitting the ground.

"You could take her in yourself." Stable began "You are her biological mother so there's barely any paperwork to be done, might even be able to sue the estate for foalnapping and endangerment." The broken doctor suggested with a pitiful smile.

"I could be tried for the same thing you know......foalnapping" she replied venomously.

This one hit Stable in the gut, mainly because he was the doctor in charge...he should have handled everything personally which child was cleaned first, what race each were, eye color, mane shade.....anything.

"What would I even call her...."

There it was....part two of this horrible explanation the Stable had been dreading, for this would break the last of what she thought she knew about her daughter.

"Her legal name its Dinky Doo as signed by you on her birth certificate." He chocked out. "According to current Equestrian law, you're unable to change her name until she reaches 16 to give consent or do it herself. Their can't be two ponies in the same family with the exact same name, just like their can't be two of the exact same cutie marks or hoof prints.....i'm sorry..i'm so sor-"

"I KNOW THAT!!!" she screamed, tears running anew. "What do I call the other one.....the one at my house, sleeping. If that foals name is Dinky then what do I call my daughter now!! What...........what...was...that foals name?"

Stable knew what she meant, he was just stalling......trying to out it off for just a little longer....for this was the worst and final part of this. "Nopony knows" he responded as he shut his eyes as his tears broke through their dam, flowing freely. Ditzy looked visually shocked, then potently angry. She lunged forward and grabbed Stable by his collar and forcing him to look her in her now aligned eyes. Her swollen red, aligned eyes. Stable couldn't blame her....not in the least.

"How can she NOT have a name! How can nopony know her name!!" She screamed in his face.

"When the police showed up to their place, they set the whole thing up in flames.......burned everything, every document, every file.....gone in the blaze." he reluctantly admitted.

Ditzy didn't give in, her eyes going wide and frantic. She pulled him in closer "School records City Hall copies, government files, royal archives! Blood type, age ANYTHING!!??" She screamed in his face her tears dropping onto it as well

Stable just looked at her sympathetically, his tears mixing with hers. He had to finish this or he wouldn't be able to sleep at night......

........no he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, not after this.

He stook his head slowly. "All gone....nopony knows how they did it, maybe they had been planning this from the start, or maybe they had friends in high places. All I know was that they were to to completely rewrite her identity, systematically erasing every piece of evidence that she existed, physically, medically, and academically. She had no friends and she was home schooled so no school has her record. Nopony besides her parents knows what they named her. This all transfers over to the filly at your house of course......"

Ditzy, shocked beyond belief, couldn't believe what she was hearing. She slowly released the doctor, one lone thought rang out in her mind, against all of her will, the thought escaped her mouth. "What about the filly....."

"Like i said.....complete rewrite......they wiped her memory, most likely while she was unconscious. When she came her she couldn't remember a thing. Plus....I doubt that they ever referred to her by name anyhow. I'm sorry....i'm so sorry..." he cried as he finally broke down in sob himself....finally revealing everything, he'd done his job....and he couldn't feel worse.

What made Doctor Stable a renowned medical expert, wasn't his skills or his fancy degrees and certification. It was his sense of sympathy and empathy. It made him likable as a Doctor....more trust worthy to be around. He was an emotional colt who would freely cry alongside his patients. However, he had never cried so hard for himself before. He blamed himself for this, he knew that Ditzy would never blame him, even now, he knew that even if she didn't forgive him, she wouldn't blame him. She was too nice. He blamed himself for possibly singlehoofedly ruining Ponyville's brightest family. He turned the bubbly cross-eyed mailmare turned into a regretful wreck and the towns favored foal rendered image less and nonexistent, a blank space in the world. And it was all his fault.

Ditzy however, could feel her hear heart crack and shatter, not because of the story.....no that wasn't it......not because she mixed her foal up.....but that was part of it. The real reason that her heart began to die inside was due to the implications of what this news meant. Every birthday, every holiday spent together, every minute of every day for the past 6 years had been spent with some stranger who wasn't really her daughter, she was just a pony with no name, no history, no relation to her.....No it finally dawned on her that all of that went to her real daughter......her real Dinky. The sad filly that lie in a bed in the other room was her real daughter and she needed to accept that.

She reasoned that she would take care of both of them but she'd only give her attention to one....to make up for lost years....for forgiveness. Even as she thought this one question kept reappearing in her mind. "How do I tell her? How do I even begin? What do I tell Di-that filly in my house" She asked softly, not having any more strength to yell anymore.

Stable gave no answer as he still sat facing the ground in shame.

Both ponies sat their for an undetermined amount of time before Ditzy got up and headed for the door, having run out of tears to shed. Before she left however she still had a few more things to say. "How did she find me Stable.....last night, if she has no memory, how did she find me.

"She must have woken up and heard us talking, probably snuck out and looked for your house, im surprised she actually found you out of every house in town. She's pretty tough....just like her mother." Stable said with a small unnoticeable smile.

Ditzy gave visible response only muttering a short "Thank you Doctor" before trotting out and closing the door behind her. Leaving the once proud Doctor Stable Heart behind in a pool of his own tears.

Part 3 Finale

Part 3 Finale

Still depressed, and stuck with a million thoughts running through her head, Ditzy absentmindedly wandered through the hospital. She didn't want to go home, she couldn't go home and face her, but she couldnt just roam around town this early. Looking over at the clock she noticed that it was only 7:30am. When had she arrived.....she couldnt remember, not that it mattered.

Eventually she found herself in front of 'Dinky's' room, slowly dragging her hooves, she wandered inside to see the filly still sleeping blissfully, perhaps for the first time in years.

Regret.....disappointment......pity......shame, these were all the feelings that washed over her as she looked over the various scars and injuries that littered this poor fillies body. Ditzy hoped more than anything that they wouldn't leave any lasting marks. She already felt terrible but she would hate herself more if she ended up like herself...... deformed and made fun of.

Ditzy chuckled bitterly. Her mother...that's what she was now, she was this poor filly's real mother.

"What does that make her then?" Ditzy mumbled to herself referring to the no named filly in her house right now. "I guess i'm still her mother as well but......." Ditzy couldn't finish that thought as she tossed her head down and muttered 'I'm sorry' over and over. If one loked closely, one could see her coat darken ever so slightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's mommy?" Dinky asked hopping around her 'Auntie' Lyra in a circle. Waking up fairly recently she quickly noted that there were no breakfast muffins on the table, then realized that there was a mint unicorn sitting at that same table. Being the morning filly that she was she was already energetic enough to bounce up and hug Lyra before releasing her and bouncing around asking questions, like one does when their curious about something.

"Did you two have a sleepover? Was there a pillow fight? What does bang mean, mommy and Mr. Doctor Turner wouldn't answer they just did this spitting thing, heheee their faces looked weird. Are you ok?"

Lyra meanwhile didn't notice Dinky enter the kitchen and had been taken by surprise by the innocent filly's hug of cute death. She was currently nursing her recent internal explosion that resulted from the hug and the bouncing. Eventually she calmed down and began to answer her questions.

"Yes and it was awesome, no there was not, go ask Cheerilee, *bursts out laughing* and your moms out right now doing Derpy stuff, so i'm here to watch you. Got all that Dinks?"

Dinky nodded fiercely "I got it!"

Speaking of Cheerilee, was there something that Derpy wanted me to do?.........nahh Lyra thought briefly before brushing it off. "So you wanna play a game?"

Dinky tensed up and her eyes grew to take up the majority of her face as they began to shine and sparkle. Playing at home, instead of going to school. Twas a dream come true in the mind of the little filly. Dinky nodded her head rapidly until she became dizzy, and fell on her side.

Lyra chuckled and giggled at the overexcited filly. "Looks like we've already began" she said with a competitive glint in her eyes. "I'm not going to lose!" she declared before she stood tall and began to run around in a tight circle. "How long can you do this and not get dizzy" her voice rang out from the circle.

Dinky quickly caught on as she also jumped up and began to run around as she chased her tail, not willing to lose to her aunt. Eventually both ponies fell to the ground in a dizzy heap, laughing all the while. Looking over at her aunt she giggled childishly "you eyes look just like mommy's!' she managed to get out between giggles.

Lyra looked back toward Dinky and copied her action, "You could talk, so do you!" she responded though her own laughter. The laughs continued between them in a until they heard the door open and close and a voice ring out from the doorway.

"Lyra, you still here" the voice called. Something in her mind alerted the mint mare to something that was off just now but before she could analyze it she had noticed Dinky shoot to her hooves and bolt out the door.

"Mommy!!" Dinky yelled as she jumped up and wrapped her forlegs around her mothers neck in adorable hug attempt, expecting to get the same warm embrace that she became so used to.........but it never came.

She felt cold for some reason, looking up, she noticed that her mother wasnt smiling like normal, in fact, her eyes wasent even looking at her, either of them. There was no love or warmth in her eyes, following them she found that her mom had never taken her eyes off Lyra who had just entered the room.

"Lyra.....why isn't she in school right now? she asked in an icy tone that made everypony in the room flinch.

Lyra stood in complete shock at this scene before her. Derpy Hooves....Ditzy Doo, this mare had been known to be many things: Clumsy, clueless, accident prone, and of course, a little derpy, but one thing that nopony could argue was that she was the best mother in the Equestria. To see her not hug her child was nothing short of a sin. She never passed up the chance to hug her foal. Something was extremely wrong here. Working quickly she grabbed Dinky, who stood draped around her mothers neck.

"Dinky it's time for school, here.." she said as she used her magic to reach into the kitchen, grab some food from the fridge, stuff it into a bag to give to Dinky while pushing her towards the door. "Have a good day!"

"Aww really.......well now I Get to go see my friends" All traces of disappointment gone the filly brightened up almost instantly before running off down the road to school.

Lyra watched her go with a small smile That filly never got upset for too long does she? she thought as she promptly shut the door and turned to face the gray mare behind her. Looking closely she noticed that Derpy's eyes, while still misaligned, weren't as bright or golden as they used to be, they looked.......dull. Taking another look she realized that her friends coat had become even more gray, almost monotone. Lyra briefly flashed back to a crazy time when 6 mares were running around in a similar fashion, but that isn't relevant right now.

"Ok what's up, you didnt hug Dinky....you don't just ignore a Dinky hug, especially you! Her mother!" Lyra said pointing an accusing hoof.

"Thanks for watching her for me"

A stray thought suddenly popped into Lyra's head, a part of her thought it might be nothing but considering the situation, it might be worth checking out.

"Watching who?"

Derpy noticably flinched and broke eye contact. "You know......"

"Humor me...."

She began to visually shake "No"

Lyra took a step forward. "Why not"

Derpy gave no response as she continued to shift both her eyes to avoid meeting her gaze.

Lyra began to grow concerned her glare dropped into one of concern. Galloping the last few feet she reached up and grabbed her head with her fore hooves and forced Derpy to meet her gaze. "Derpy.......why won't you say Dinky's name....why won't you hug her................What happened at the hospital?" she said softly. "Whatever it was, you can tell me."

Derpy gazed into her friends eyes, those eyes the same shade as her own. Realizing that she couldn't hide the truth anymore than Stable could from her, she relented. "Because........that's not her name anymore any she's not my real daughter.....she never was.

Lyra dropped down on four legs and recoiled in horror "Oh geez, is she a changling!!?? Has she been using her adorableness to suck the love out of the town!" Lyra waved her hooves around frantically.

Derpy shook her head "No it's not that....but it might as well be....everything I knew was a lie." She began to recount most of what Dr. Stable told her, mainly about the mix up, amnesia, and loss of identity. Eventually she finished and awaited her reaction.

"......ok so?"

This visually stunned the gray mare as she at least expected some anger, pity, even disappointment......not apathy. "What do you mean 'so'! I pretty much abandoned my foal for a unicorn that wasn't even mine to begin with, and because of that she lived her life in fear and abuse." she nearly shouted.

Lyra replied in a calm manner normally unlike her, but if shes going to play role reversal and be mad, then she would play along and be the calm one. "No! You didnt abandon her, it's not your fault, its the staff at the hospital's fault. Don't blame yourself for everything that filly went through and don't treat Dinky any less because you feel that you need to make it up to the other one." Lyra stepped over and started harshly poking her in the chest with her hoof. "You raised her, you brought her up to be who she is now. So she is and will always be your daughter no matter who she is now.

Silence reigned for a time before both mares heard a soft sound.......almost life sniffing. Both mares turned toward the door to see two fillies standing in the now open door.......

........and one was crying.

"I......I" one of them choked out between sobs before galloping off down the road. Lyra quickly looked back to see if Derpy would give chase, but all she saw was her weakly reaching out a hoof and not moving otherwise. Realizing that she wasn't going to move any further anytime soon, Lyra decided to give chase instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week of surprises for Lyra Hearstrings continued unimpaired, in fact it began to hit her rapidly. In the span of an hour she managed to witness multiple things that have never happened before.

"Derpy not hugging Dinky, mismatched children, horrible unicorn parents, and now Dinky crying? What the hells up with the world today." Lyra quietly muttered to herself as she continued to bolt after the sobbing filly. She thought back to when Dinky was a baby, to all the times when Dinky would even look like she might cry and Derpy would leap into action and do something funny or stupid to get her foal laughing. She once confessed to never wanting to see her daughter cry.

Well so much for that wish. Lyra mentally scoffed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ditzy Doo stood face to face with her actual daughter, but instead of a tearful reunion, only tension hugged the air. Neither knew how to begin but Ditzy as the adult took it upon herself to start. "Dinky-"

"NO!"

Ditzy took a step back from the sudden yell from the filly in front of her. Said filly took a small breath before she continued in a more normal voice.

"That's not my name....it's hers, it always has and it always will."

Ditzy flinched again and decided to take another route. "H....how did you get her i thought you were in the hospital."

"I snuck out again.....I remembered last night and nothing else..........and I wanted to see you again. Dinky found me while I wandered around." The filly answered, beginning her flashback.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mommy!! Mommyyyyyy" a small filly called out as she wandered down the road, clearly lost.

Geez this is hopeless, i barely remember what she looks like let alone where her house was. I know she lives around here, so wonder if anypony could help me. Looking up and around she saw a bright young unicorn filly trotting happily down a the pathway some distance away.

"Hey!!" she called out grabbing the attention of the filly in question, causing her to dash over an run around her curiously. What's she doing? She wondered briefly before the filly stopped and broke into a wide smile. Somehow this caused her to smile as well.

"You look just like my mommy!" the bright filly exclaimed in joy. "Hi i'm Dinky Doo." This in turn filled her with hope that she might be of some help.

"Really? I'm looking for my mom, could you get your mom to help me find my mom."

"Ok my mom's an awesome mailmare so she knows everypony in town! We can find her, it'll be just like hide and go muffin!" Dinky exclaimed, literally hopping in place with excitement.

This only brought confusion to the other filly. "Hide........and go muffin?"

Dinky stopped hopping momentarily, but never lost her smile. "Oh well sometimes, me and mommy play hide and seek but we always end up eating the muffins that we made before finding the other one. So now instead of one of us hiding, one of us hides the muffins for the other to find It's really fun!"

"It does sound really fun"

"What kinds of things do you do with your mommy?"

This sudden question brought a frown to the filly's now downcast face. "I....I don't remember...I can't remember anything, not my name, not my mommy, not-"

Before she could finish her lament she found herself wrapped in the embrace of the unicorn in front of her. Slightly stunned the filly took a second before hesitantly returning the gesture.

"Hugs drive the sad away, that's what my mommy told me. She's a great hugger and I wan't to be just like her when I grow up." Dinky said softly and she tightened her hold ever so slightly.

Her words seem to hold some truth to them as the filly did in fact feel the sadness leave her body, replaced with an odd feeling that she swore that hadn't felt before. She couldn't quite place her hoof on it, but it felt.....nice.

The two fillies sat there for a time, one comforting the other before finally separating, both feeling renewed. "Common, lets go get my mommy, she's the best, so she'll definitely help you find your mommy!" She said as she immediatly ran off down the path with the other filly in toll.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

".......when we got here we heard you talking, Dinky thought that you were making plans for her birthday or something fun so we listened in. I kinda wish we hadn't now. I watched it happen, I saw her face break into something that had no right being there." She looked back up at the visually stunned and teary eyed gray mare.

"I don't remember anything from before a few days ago, so I don't remember anything that those other unicorns did. But if it did happen and I have to live with you two now.....I don't want you to treat Dinky any differently." The unnamed filly took a few steps forward. "She's not a stranger, she's still your daughter and now she's my sister. Please don't make her sad..."

This seemed to break down the wall of regret that Ditzy had began to build around her heart. She broke down crying tears anew as she realized that she had just done something that she had sworn never to do, make her daughter cry.

Ditzy felt a pair of small hooves warp around her low hanging neck, she opened her eyes to see that she was being hugged by the one lecturing her.

"Hugs drive the sad away.......a friend of mine told me that. She said that her mother taught it to her." She said, giving her the strongest embrace that she could.

"Mommy...." a small voice squeaked out.

Ditzy's head snapped up like a whiplash toward the voice. Her eyes took in the vision of a small sobbing filly standing next to a larger panting mint unicorn.

Quickly the filly bolted into the arms of her mother, the other filly barely getting out of the way in time to not become a pony sandwich.

Bawling her eyes out, Dinky cried into her sobbing mothers chest. "Say it's a fib please!! Say that your still my mommy, ill be good I promise!"

Likewise Ditzy cried back "Of course you're still my daughter, i'm so sorry I made you cry I love you so much!"

This went on for a while as Lyra and the unnamed filly stood back and watched with smiles on their faces, Lyra noted that her friends coat had considerable brightened from before. Lyra turned and noticed the look on the filly next to her, she looked slightly dejected.

"Don't be jealous, that'll be you in a second." Lyra said, nudging the filly's side with a elbow, only to get a confused look that lasted all of two seconds before she had also gotten snatched into a hug by Ditzy.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been a good mother to you, i'm sorry that you had to go through all of that-

"Don't worry about it. It doesent matter now." she interrupted.

Ditzys hug suddenly gained weight as every other pony in the room joined in, making a giant group hug that squished the foal in the middle. Although she never felt so squeezed, she felt more safe than she ever had.

They all stayed this way until Ditzy let go first. Being the hug expert she knew when it was time, and everypony followed her lead, becuase she knew that if a hug lasted too long, it would lose its effectiveness.

Now only one question remained.......

"So we know that your going to take her in, can't stop you there. But, what do we name her it's legally Dinky Doo........so what do we call Dinky now." Lyra began.

They all sat together and thought fiercely, Lyra looked up and noted that all three of the ponies in front of her had the same scrunched up thinking face.

Wow....they really are all related. She thought as she held back a chuckle.

"OOOOOOO" Dinky gasped as she raised her hoof into the air. "I know she can be Dinki! With an I instead of a Y.

Ditzy seemed to think on this for a second before shaking her head. "I don't think that'll work, we can't change her name until she's 16." she said dejectedly.

"Ohhhhhhh, well she can have my name then" Dinky said without hesitation, shocking everypony present.

"No I won't take your name, it's yours!" The no name filly protested.

"Dinky bopped her in the shout gently, her own smile dropping a bit. "No, your Dinky it's yours, i'm just a nopo-

She couldn't finish as she found herself swept up into another hug. "Don't say it! You're you! No matter what your name is. The filly cried out.

Ditzy watched this scene for a few second before looking back up and trotting towards the door, her eyes showing a steeled resolve. "Lyra watch the foals."

"Where are you going this time.

Ditzy Doo gave no response beside a glowing smile aimed at the 3 ponies behind her, before trotting out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So" a brown maned stallion began. "This was a nice surprise, I had just got the nerve to ask you out.....and you come and blurt it out first." He said chuckling slightly at the curious chain of events.

The gray mare that sat across the table visually blushed in response. "I know, you don't have to remind me." she whispered.
hiding her face behind a menu.

"I know, i'm just having a wonderful time here...........are you having fun?" He asked nervously.

The shy mare peaked her face out from behind the menu. "Of corse Doctor, i'm having a great time with you."

"Oh thank Celestia, I was worried that I was boring you Ditzy. Please though, call me Turner, or Timey like you used too, I didn't become a doctor just to be called one." he huffed in mock indignation.

"Oh sorry, but please call me Derpy then. Please. Anypony can call me that it's ok now."

"Oh really? Alrighty then." Turner said as he gave a smile that almost sent her wings flaring out. Derpy proceeded to thank Celestia that she remembered to tie them down for this date, didnt want to have an accident.

"So I heard that you adopted a young filly a while ago. True?"

"Well.....in a way yea....do you wanna see a picture of her."

"I would love too. I heard she looks just like you."

Quickly reaching into her purse, Derpy pulled out a small, recently taken picture of herself and two fillies, a unicorn and a pegasus. "Turner, I would like you to (re) meet my two daughters. Dinky and Ditzy Doo."

Author's Note

Not gonna kid myself, I suck at writing sad stories. So if this seemed rushed or whatever, that's cuz it probably was. I had this idea during Trade ya and like all of my ideas it stuck until I began writing it. Originally going to be a one shot, I ended up adding more and more details that i didn't know what to do with. I thought about making it into a lengthy story but like I said, I suck at writing sad stuff so I knew that if I lengthened it I would only get worse as I go along.

So in the end I stopped here, maybe ill stick an epilogue in focusing on Dinky getting her name back in the future or Derpy comforting Stable or something.

So if this story disappointed you i'm terribly sorry bout that, but if you're reading this then that means that you've probably read the whole thing and for that I Thank You!