The Underscore Family

 It was the evening time. The streets of Canterlot was quiet. and in the backyard of a home,  where five small figurines of strange eldritch abominations. They stood about a mere five inches and all bore the look of a radiated victim.

There was rustling in the bushes and a young unicorn filly rush out of the bushes she had a gray coat with a bright brown mane. Her tail swishes in the wind as she ran, levitating a small foam pistol in her telekinetic grip.

"You'll never take Lily alive, zombies!" She shouts and fires at the figurines.

Lily knocks some over before turning around, she gave a fake exaggerated gasp as one of the figurines was behind her. "Oh no you don't!" she exclaimed with excitement.

"Left hind buck!" Lily shouts before she rears her legs and kicks the figurine away, it spirals into the air and soon crashes through a nearby window of a small manor.

Lily’s body froze up. "Uh-oh..." She turned to look at the ruined window.

Suddenly frightened, the little filly heard a shout. "Lily Underscore Pip!" shouted a male voice. "Come here this instant."

Lily Pip gulps, her ears folded back. "Uh oh... Middle name."

Mustering up her courage, she uses her magic to gather her toys and trots towards her home. When she did, she seen a tall green coated earth stallion with a red mane. His cutie mark a glimmering hourglass. Lily Pip knew this stallion as one of her parents, Doug Underscore. He is not her biological parent, more of an adoptive one. Her father works as a horologist, making clocks for a living.

Doug looked at Lily with a face full of disappointment. "Mind telling me why one of your wee toys burst through th’ window?" He asked Lily Pip.

She looked down and refused to speak.

Doug sighs, he trots a bit closer to Lily, "Lily Pip... Ya know being silent will only make matters worse."

Even with the ultimatum, Lily refused to speak, she even didn't made eye contact.

Doug gave an agitated whinny. "Fine, until Viewpoint Robin gets here, ya will not leave your room nor will you be celebrating this year's Nightmare Night." He said, ruling out his punishment.

Lily Pip snorts angrily at Doug before she muttered something quiet to him. Doug looked at her, "Do you mind speaking up?" he asked.

Lily Pip gave Doug an infuriating glare before uttering. "I hate you..."

 Doug gave a gasp of shock at what Lily Pip said.

 Lily Pip then clenched her eyes and shouted. "I hate you! Why can't you be like Viewpoint, huh?! At least he understands me way better than some earth pony does!"

If Lily Pip would've opened her eyes, she would of noticed Doug's eyes welling up with tears, he steeled himself and sighs, blinking the tears out. "Well... Thank you for the colorful words... I believe I should be off to go hire a carpenter to fix this window..." He began walking off towards the living room.

Doug heard the scurrying hoofsteps of Lily Pip run upstairs to her room. Once he was certain Lily Pip wasn't nearby, he let out a huge sigh.

A voice called out to him, "She's yelling at you again, isn't she?"

 The voice caused Doug to jump a bit, he turned to look at a purple unicorn stallion with a black mane, his cutie mark a four pointed star in a circle. Doug ran towards the unicorn.

"Viewpoint!" He then wrapped his hooves around Viewpoint. "I just don't get it... How is it you are doing so well with Lily Pip and yet I'm having trouble." Doug sobbed a bit as Viewpoint hugged him.

"It's okay, Dougie. What if I tell you my secret?"

The question Viewpoint asked made Doug look at him with curiousness.

 Viewpoint continued, "If you really want to understand Lily... Just be yourself. You should stop trying to act like a parent and just be her parent."

Doug blinks and then looks at his hooves. "Sometimes Viewpoint... Your point of views always confuses me." Doug then looked at Viewpoint before giving him a peck on the cheek. "But I still love you."

Viewpoint gently rubbed Doug’s chin, "Go talk to Lily Pip." He said and walked into the kitchen.. "Why is the window destroyed?"

Doug smiled and looked at Viewpoint. "Viewy, be a dear and hire a carpenter. I need to talk our Pip." he said and ran up the stairs.

 Viewpoint blinks and then looks at the window, seeing the giant fractures on the window.

Behind the closed doors of Lily Pip's room, was the filly herself. She laid in her bed crying, holding a wrench close to her. Her room filled with various gadgets and gimmicks she made in her free time.

"Stupid dad... Does every earth pony father always talk down to their kids..." She sniffles and held her wrench tighter. "At least you don't hate me."

There were some knocks on her door. "Lily Pip?" asked the voice of Doug. "Can I come in?"

Lily Pip let's out a flare of her nostrils and refuses to speak. "Hmph!" she looks away from the door.

 On the other side of the door, Doug sat on his haunches. "I... I know you are frustrated at me, dear. I need to stop being rough on you when you make mistakes... It's just…” he paused for a bit. “I want to be a good parent to you..."

Lily Pip closed her eyes and seethed in anger when Doug said that.

Doug continued, "And I was so caught up in trying to be a good parent that I wasn't being 'your' parent..."

Lily Pip's ears flickered and she turned to the door.

Doug then continued. "I just didn't want your memories of me be some 'cranky clockwork maker' or some 'Hotheaded Father'."

Lily Pip listened to Doug and focused her magic on the knob. With a twist, the door opens and Lily could see Doug on the other side of the door. He looked back at her, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Lily Pip took a deep breath before asking her father. "Dad... Why are you always giving me punishments?"

Doug looks down a bit before back at Lily Pip. "Because you need to take responsibilities of your actions... cause if you don't, there could be a tragedy you won't be able to take back."

Lily Pip looked at Doug and walked towards him. "Dad... Did something happen to you?"

Doug shook his head.. "Not to me, but a fictional character like you.” He pulls Lily closer to him.

“Before I tell you, have you ever noticed you have a name similar to the character Littlepip... You look like her too, except your mane isn’t brown."

Lily Pip nods her head. "I'm aware of that... I do know that she came from Fallout, I was reenacting the scene where she fought mutants while rushing to safety."

Doug smiles for a bit, but then sighs. "I guess I was afraid that you might meet a similar fate like her.” He paused before resuming. “You see, before me and Viewpoint adopted you, I could read my favorite novel 'Fallout' and look at the various fan art, and animations of the great Littlepip. I could watch her blow a mutants to smithereens." he said as he slightly tickled Lily Pip.

 Lily giggled and squirmed for a bit, but then Doug stops. His seemingly happy expression faltering.

"But then something happened…” His voice got soft, slightly breaking up. “When a ruffian snagged Littlepip and had her bound and gagged in chains... all of a sudden I didn't see Littlepip... I saw you." A few tears left his face.

Lily Pip looked surprised. Her father truly cared for her. "Father…”

Doug rubbed his eyes. "After I had that, shocking revelation, I couldn't sleep well. I was always afraid of what happened to Littlepip would happen to you…” He paused to take a big sniffle. “I know that this world has yet to succumb to the same dark fate like Fallout's... But I do not want anything to happen to you."

He took another pause. "I don't want my Lily Pip to become Littlepip." Doug then felt a hoof be placed on his nose. He saw Lily giving her nose a boop.

Lily stared deeply at him, giving Doug a happy smile.. "You know what Dad, all I want is to know that you don’t hate me." She leaned onto him. “I thought that the reason why you gave me punishments for misbehaving was because you hate me.”

Doug gave Lily a warm hug. “No. It’s because I was trying to keep you safe like a parent should, but I wasn’t trying to be ‘your parent’.”

Lily cuddled closer. “Dad, you are my parent. Sure we get into tiffs and boo-boos like this, but that is included with the hardship of parenthood.”

Doug smirks and let’s Lily go, he gave her a pat on the head. “I suppose you are right, Lily. I’m sorry for being too rough on you with the punishments.”

Lily lightly hops. “Does that mean I’m not grounded?”

“Oh no.” Doug looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Ya broke me bloody window. You’re not getting off th’ hook that easily.”

“Darn… What’s with the pirate talk all of the sudden?”

Doug chuckled and hugged Lily. “I love you Lily Pip.”

“And I love you too, father.” she replied.