I didn’t get much sleep that night; I just laid on my back, and stared at my ceiling in a drunken haze, watching the patterns in the wood swim, feeling like a complete idiot. Damn wine, I thought, as I slammed my fist against the mattress in a fit of drunken rage. I knew it wasn’t the wine, but I found it easier to blame the alcohol than myself for the fact that I'd just screwed things up. And I'd just screwed things up big time. But I did the right thing, right? Derpy needed to know that things can never work out between a human and a pony, no matter how much like a human the pony seems. That was what I kept telling myself, but the muffled sounds of Derpy crying down the hall, and my stinging cheek reminded me that no matter how much I thought an interspieces relationship would never work, I still hadn't handled things as delicately as I could have. I wanted to get up and go apologize to her, but I knew it wouldn't do any good; all I could do was try to sleep, and see how things were in the morning.

The next morning, I woke just as the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon. I climbed out of bed, and quietly made my way through the upstairs hallway, listening to hear if Derpy was still crying. But as I passed her room, I noticed that the door was ajar, and her bed was empty. She must already be up. As I continued downstairs, I was surprised when I was met with the scent of freshly baked muffins, and the sound of Derpy and Dinky laughing.

When I entered the kitchen, Derpy looked up, and for a split second I saw the smile slip from her face, but she quickly caught herself, and turned back to her conversation with Dinky. I helped myself to a muffin, sat at my usual seat at the table, and began spreading butter on the insides. Before I took my first bite, I looked up, expecting Derpy to berate me about the butter like she did every morning, but she didn't even turn away from Dinky. Yup, I'm in trouble, I thought, as I took a bite of my breakfast. I'm not really sure how, but I gotta find a way to fix this.

But I couldn't, or at least Derpy wouldn't let me; over the next three days, any moment I tried to talk to her, she would either respond halfheartedly, or just leave the room. Suddenly I was left without my best friend. No joking, or snowball fights, or late night crossword puzzles, just awkward silence. The only time Derpy acted like nothing was wrong was when Dinky was around. No matter how difficult things were between us, she always put on a smile for her daughter so the little filly wouldn't worry.

It wasn't until Thursday night that Derpy finally spoke to me again.

I was lying on the couch, reading from Daring Do, and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, when she approached me, a downhearted look on her face.

“I just wanted to remind you that I’m leaving early in the morning to go to Trottingham tomorrow with the Weather Patrol,” she said. “You’ll need to wake up early to fix breakfast for Dinky and yourself. I won’t be back for a while, so try to take care of yourselves, alright?” She gave me a weak smile before turning towards the door.

“Derpy, wait,” I called, jumping off the couch, and placing a hand on her back, to try and get her to stay. “Derpy, about the other night, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so insensitive, and-”

“You know,” she cut in, refusing to look back at me, “ever since I was a filly, ponies would tease me about my eyes, calling me weird, or slow, just because I looked different from the rest of them. But I never let it get to me. Then I finally find someone, someone who can look past my eyes enough to become my best friend, and yet he can’t fall in love with me because I look different from him.”

As Derpy talked, I could feel an uncomfortable clenching in my chest, like someone was trying to crush my heart. I hated that such a bubbly pony was so distraught.

“I can leave...if you want me too.”

Derpy sighed, and shook her head.

“No. I just...I just need some time to figure things out.”

Then she turned back, and gave me another half hearted smile.

“Goodnight, Sam,” she said, “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Then she turned, and trotted up the stairs.

Derpy had already left by the time I woke up, and made my way downstairs. In the dim light of the rising sun, I made my way through the house to the kitchen, lit the little lanterns so I could see better, and started making breakfast for me and Dinky.

While the muffins were baking, I took a moment to clean the dishes, brewed some coffee, then sat down at the table to wait for Dinky to wake up. I took a look around the empty room; it was so quiet without Derpy around. She’d been away before, but this was the first time that it felt like she was actually gone. Usually we’d be here, baking, and laughing together, but now the kitchen was silent. And lonely. But I couldn’t let that affect me; I still had a little filly to look after, and I couldn’t let my missing Derpy distract me from that. It’ll be fine, I thought, when I got up to check on the muffins, she’s only going to be gone for the weekend.

When Dinky finally joined me in the kitchen, I took the muffins out of the oven, put one on the filly’s little pink plate, and gave it to her with smile, and a ruffle of her mane, then sat down to eat my own breakfast.

“Your muffin’s aren’t as good as mama’s,” Dinky said, biting into her muffin.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the filly’s bluntness.

“That’s just because I don’t have as much practice as she does,” I said, before taking a bite of my own muffin. Dinky was right; it was nowhere near as good as Derpy’s. "Don't worry, I'll work harder at it so hopefully someday they'll be just as good as your mom's."

After breakfast, we took care of our plates, and went upstairs to prepare for the day ahead of us.

...

“Hurry up, Sam,” Dinky called from her perch on my shoulders, “I don’t wanna miss mommy.” She gave me a gentle kick in the shoulder to spur me on.

“Don’t worry, we've got plenty of time to get there” I said. Besides, I don’t want to go any faster than this; the roads are a bit icy, and I wouldn’t want to slip with you on my shoulders.”

Dinky’s grip around me tightened, as if she was afraid she was going to fall off.

“Sorry,” she said, “I’m just so excited to see mama again.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, although I wasn’t feeling all that enthusiastic. The truth was that I had been dreading this moment since I had woken up Friday morning. Sure a weekend of playing games, building snowponies, and sledding with Dinky had been a good distraction from my problems, but now that we were on our way to meet up with Derpy at the Weather Patrol's rendezvous point, I was starting to feel the weight of what was to come growing with every footstep. But I didn't let it show. I couldn't let it show; I had to be strong for the little filly riding on my shoulders.

When we reached the park, I set Dinky on the ground, and sat down on one of the wooden benches, and watched the little filly play in the snow while we waited for the pegasi to show up. I looked up at the clocktower. 3:28pm it said. Any minute now, I thought, as I turned my eyes to the sky, and began searching for the flying ponies in the direction of the Everfree Forest. We weren't the only ones to show up to greet the Weather Patrol; a few friends and family, along with a few excited pegasus foals had all gathered to greet the returning flyers.

Dinky was the first to notice them. Her little ears twitched when she heard the distant sound of wings beating, and she began searching the sky, frantically looking for her mama.

Then I saw it. At first, It looked like a thin, black storm cloud, but as it got closer, I could just barely make out the tiny outlines of dozens of ponies, quickly making their way towards us.

Within moments the park was filled with pegasi, either rushing over to meet their loved ones, or patting each other on the backs, congratulating themselves on a job well done.

"Alright, everypony," a rainbow maned pegasus called, as she trotted her way into the middle of the fray, "you all did an awesome job helping out the Trottingham Weather Patrol this weekend. I couldn't have hoped for any better from the greatest weather team in all of Equestria."

This was met by a series of cheers from the Weather Patrol.

"Now go home and rest up; most of you are pulling weather duty tomorrow and we're going to need you all in top shape."

With that the crowd around us began to dissipate. Dinky frantically started running around, her tail wagging excitedly as she searched the familiar faces for her mother's.

Where are you, Derpy, I thought, as I followed the little filly through the throng of ponies, checking each one to see if it was Derpy. But she wasn't there.

“Sam, where’s mom?” Dinky asked, her little face becoming filled with panic.

"I don't know," I said, trying to sound as calm as possible, even though in my mind I was feeling just as worried as she was. I scooped up the little filly in my arms, and held her close to my chest, and began frantically scanning the ponies again, hoping that I had somehow missed her blonde mane, and sweet smile. But Derpy was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, Sam!"

I whipped around when I heard my name called, and saw Rainbow Dash walking towards me.

"Rainbow, hey," I said, rushing over to meet her, "Is Derpy here? I can't find her anywhere?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"Before we took off to return home, she told me she wasn't coming back with us, and asked me to give you this note." She reached into her saddlebag, and passed me a sealed envelope.

I opened it and read aloud:

Dear Sam, and Dinky

By now you've probably noticed that I didn't come back to Ponyville with the rest of the Patrol. I had a sudden, urgent matter that I needed to meet with Princess Celestia about, and will be in Canterlot for the next few days. So please don't worry about me. I'll be home as soon as I can.

Derpy

"Thank goodness," Dinky sighed, "For a second there, I'd thought mommy'd gotten lost...again."

I felt all the panic that had built up melt away, as I read the note again. She's meeting with Princess Celestia, I thought, as I finished the letter, and tucked it into my pocket, what would she need to meet with Princess Celestia about? Maybe the Princess had a package that she needed delivered to Ponyville or something; it certainly wasn't unheard of for Derpy to be summoned away to pick up packages. Whatever the case, it didn't look like Derpy would be coming back anytime that day.

"Come on, kiddo," I finally said, scooping the little filly up in my arms, "why don't we go home, have some dinner, read a book, and then get some sleep; I'm sure your mom will be home soon."

Dinky smiled, and nodded her agreement, as she snuggled up close to my chest to keep warm. As we walked, I looked back, imagining the pegasus mare was right behind us, flashing that adorable smile of hers. Hurry home, Derpy, I thought, as I turned back in the direction of the house, hurry home.

Author's Note

So I started going through and made a few edits correcting few things that people have found wrong with the story (i.e. Derpy's unexplained abandonment of her child). I hope that these improvements will satisfy the problems.