Dinky didn't like to think about Father's Day.
At the end of the school day, when little Dinky started walking home, her classmates Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon followed her. After a few blocks, Diamond reached into her saddlebag for a moment. She said to Silver, "I wonder if Dinky even has a father?"
Silver answered, "I've never met him. I don't think I know anypony who has."
"I wonder what Dinky does for Father's Day?"
After a moment, Silver replied, "Who knows? Maybe she just lays down in bed and cries."
Diamond said, "That makes sense. I would cry a lot, if I was Dinky."
"It must feel bad, to know your father doesn't want to ever have anything to do with you."
Diamond nodded, with a fake expression of innocent concern. "I wonder what Dinky ever did, to make her father hate her that much?"
"Maybe it wasn't Dinky at all. Maybe it was her mother. Maybe Derpy did something so bad, it made Dinky's father not want to ever see either of them ever again."
"I can't believe that. But it would sure explain a lot."
Dinky ran away, leaving the two cruel fillies behind.
Diamond Tiara pulled a stopwatch out of her saddlebag, tapping a stud on the side. "Fifty-two seconds. Not bad, but we could do better."
Silver Spoon asked, "But does it really count if we don't see her cry?"
"Even if you're rich like us, you can't always have everything."
After Dinky ran around a few corners, she slowed from a run to a trot. Dinky remembered what her mother, Derpy, had told her. Sometimes when Derpy felt upset, exercise helped the mailmare feel better. But if you run as fast as you can, you can't keep running for very long. You have to pace yourself, if you want to keep going and going and going.
Dinky wanted to be able to keep moving for as long and as far as she might choose. So when she exercised, she tried to follow her mother's advice.
***
When Derpy came home from the post office, Dinky asked, "Mommy? Do I really not have a father?"
"Yes," Derpy said.
"But how can that even be?" Dinky asked.
Derpy stuck her tongue slightly out of the side of her mouth. Dinky knew her mother sometimes did that when she was thinking hard.
"I'll tell you what," Derpy said. "Let's go to the library."
***
The library was built into a huge hollow oak tree. Dinky wondered how many hundreds of years old it must be, to have grown that big. And how long did it take to grow more space for more books?
Derpy led the way inside. "Twilight?" she asked the librarian. "Can you show me where that book is, about those lizards?"
A purple unicorn looked up from her books and paperwork. "Derpy? And is this your daughter?"
Dinky stuck out a forehoof. "I'm Derpy Doo's daughter, Dinky."
Twilight shook hooves. "I'm delighted to meet you. Don't let this make you conceited, but in some university biology departments, you're kind of famous."
Dinky's eyes narrowed, and she glanced back and forth between the librarian and her mother. "It's not nice to make fun of ponies."
Twilight sighed. Twilight walked to a bookcase, and pulled out a big volume about reptiles. "It would be best if you read this book. Or at least the chapter about the parthenogenetic lizards."
"Parthe--what does that mean?"
"The book will tell you."
Dinky sighed. Grownups could be so annoying. But at least reading the chapter would probably take less time than 'wait until you're older.'"
Partway through the chapter, Dinky started laughing. Twilight glanced over from her own book, but said nothing. Derpy, reading over her daughter's shoulder, was careful to keep from distracting Dinky.
After reading the entire chapter, Dinky asked, "Mom? Were you living in marginal habitat at the very edge of your range? And what does that even mean?"
Twilight closed her own book. "Derpy? Is it ok if I listen in? I don't think you've ever told me the whole story yourself."
Derpy nodded. "I might want you to help explain some of the more sciencey parts." She turned towards her daughter. "Dinky, when I was nineteen, I was shipwrecked on a faraway island. I was all alone, and I didn't even know which way the mainland was. I tried flying very high to get a better view, and I tried flying different directions. But I didn't want to fly so far that I might get lost and not know where any land was at all."
Dinky said, "Wow. Like Robinson Croupsoe."
"Yes. Like Robinson Croupsoe."
"What was it like, being shipwrecked all alone?"
Derpy bit her lower lip for a moment. "I had do everything myself, or do without. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The island had grass and flowers to eat. When I found a cave, it was cold and damp, but I made a platform to be above the mud, and I dried straw to stack up and sleep on. But it was very lonely."
"Oh. How long were you there?"
"I was there for three years."
"Wow. You must have been SO LONELY."
"I was. I wished so much for somepony to keep me company. And then I started getting fat."
"Like FAT fat? Or PREGNANT fat?"
"PREGNANT fat."
Dinky snorted. "You sure must have been surprised."
"VERY surprised. But when you were born, after I'd been on the island for fifteen months, I was so happy."
"Fifteen months." Dinky did a little arithmetic in her head. "So THAT'S why you wanted me to see the book first."
"Yes, Dinky dear. That's why."
Twilight said, "After your mother and you were rescued, some researchers did a DNA test on the two of you. Genetically, you and your mother...you're kind of like identical twins. Twins born twenty years apart. You were created from just your mother's genes, with no father."
Dinky laughed.
"I know it's hard to explain--"
Dinky laughed again. "Then how come my mom's a pegasus, and I'm a unicorn? And she's gray, but I'm only grayISH, mixed with a tiny bit of purplish?"
"Well...sometimes our hair colors change as we get older. When your mother was a foal, her mane and tail might have been a little lighter than they are now."
"Yeah, but I'm a UNICORN, not a pegasus."
"Dinky...do you know much about pony genetics? How pony genes work? Like did you ever wonder, why is it that Mr. and Mrs. Cake are earth ponies, and their foals are a pegasus and a unicorn?"
Dinky frowned. "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said some things about that. What they said wasn't very nice. They're mean little foals. I mean, Diamond and Silver can be mean."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Dinky. About Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."
Derpy said, "But what about Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake?"
"Yeah," Dinky agreed. "What about them?"
Twilight said, "The relationship between what a pony is like, and that pony's genes...can be complicated. Scientists think, everypony has the genes for earth pony traits, AND pegasus traits, AND unicorn traits."
"Ha!" Dinky said. "So why aren't we all alicorns?"
"It's one thing to have the genes...but sometimes not all our genes are expressed. That means, sometimes a gene doesn't have its full effect. The pathways for expressing earth pony traits, pegasus traits, and unicorn traits usually conflict. If you express one, it blocks expression of the other two types."
"Huh. That's weird."
Twilight said, "In this case, it's like they get in each other's way, and trip each other up. Usually, a foal whose body fully expresses all three of those traits is stillborn. That means, she dies before she's even born."
Dinky cried out, "That's terrible!"
Twilight nodded. "It's very sad. But I guess that's how Harmony works. And can you imagine if everypony was an alicorn, how many ponies we'd have trying to push the sun and the moon around all day?"
Derpy joked, "All the foals who don't like their bedtime, saying, No! The sun's still up!"
Dinky said, "But that stillborn thing...it's still sad."
Twilght nodded. "It is." She took a deep breath. "But with most ponies that never happens, and they're born ok. Like you."
"But why am I a unicorn instead of a pegasus?"
"Scientists are still figuring out all the things that can affect which of our genes are expressed when. There are whole systems inside our bodies that affect which genes get turned on, and which get turned off. Ponies have barely started to begin to understand how epigenetics really works...epigenetics is how the switchable genes get switched on and off.
"You asked whether your mother was living at the edge of her range? The range of a type of animal is where that kind of animal lives. And your mother was living all alone, in a place where life can be hard. In a way, your mom really was on the edge of her range, in a marginal habitat."
"Hmm. Science is weird."
"Yes, it is weird. But that's one of the things that can make it so fun!"
Dinky asked her mother, "Mom? Is Twilight weird? Is that why she likes science so much?"
Derpy chuckled. "Twilight is a very special pony. But that's a good thing. If she didn't like learning about strange things, maybe she wouldn't have known how to deal with the return of Nightmare Moon. She's special, but that's good."
"Mmm-hmm," Dinky said. "Mom, you seem to like Twilight a lot. Is it true that sometimes, when two mares love each other very much..."
"I wasn't anywhere NEAR that island!" Twilight said.
Derpy laughed. "If Twilight WAS on the island with me, we might have rescued each other. Twilight is very resourceful."
Dinky looked back and forth between the two grown up ponies. "Maybe if Twilight was on the island, my mother wouldn't have WANTED to be rescued."
Twilight blushed. "That's...I..."
"I'm sorry! I was teasing, but I didn't want to make anypony upset."
Derpy smiled at her daughter. "Dinky? If you keep making up silly stories, maybe I'll never get to tell you how I was finally rescued."
"Tell me! Tell me tell me tell me! How did you get off the island?"
"Well..." Derpy grinned playfully. "I think you've already met a pony who helped with the rescue."
"What?" Dinky stared at Twilight. "So Twilight DID rescue you? Is Twilight my father?"
Derpy laughed and laughed. "Oh, Twilight. You should run to a mirror and see the look on your face!"
Twilight said, "We should stop teasing Dinky, and tell her how you two really got off the island."
"Yes," Derpy agreed. "Dinky, do you know what magic surges are?"
"Of course I do! When a unicorn is a little foal...it's like a stage they go through. Magic leaks out of their horn, and does all kinds of crazy things. Once I heard about a unicorn foal who turned her parents into potted plants. Isn't that crazy?"
Twilight blushed. "Yes...I've heard that can happen."
Derpy put a forelimb around her filly. "Once when you were a tiny foal, I was holding you like THIS..." With one wingtip, Derpy tickled the filly.
"Ha ha! STOP it."
Derpy relented. "I held you like this, but with more tickling. And suddenly, you had a HUGE magic surge. It was like fireworks going so high in the air! Probably higher than the Canterhorn is from here."
"Wow."
"It's a good thing we were outside, and not in the cave. If we were underground, I don't know WHAT might have happened."
"Do you think the cave might have exploded?"
"I don't know. But because we were outside, we watched the magical fireworks go SO HIGH up in the air. And a minute later, I heard something."
"What did you hear, mommy?"
"I heard a deep pitched, loud horn, like a big boat has. It blew again and again. An hour later, the big boat arrived and anchored offshore. Some sailors lowered a little boat into the water, and rowed it to the beach, and came ashore to give us a ride to the big boat, so we could go back to Equestria."
"So a big boat saw the magic surge, and found us!"
"Yes, that's how I was rescued. I was rescued by the cutest little foal on the whole island!"
"You said I was the only foal."
"So you must have been the cutest," Twilight said. "That's just logic."
Dinky snorted. "You two."
Derpy said innocently, "We two what?"
"If you two keep acting like this, maybe someday I'm going to have a little sister."
Twilight said, "I like your mother...but maybe not THAT much, in THAT way."
Dinky snorted again.
***
When Dinky and Derpy had dinner, Dinky said, "I've decided."
"Ok. What have you decided?"
"What I'm doing for Father's Day."
Derpy nodded. "What are you doing for Father's Day?"
"I never really had a father. But you did a lot of the work of two parents."
Derpy said, "I suppose I did. But other ponies help out too, here and there."
Dinky agreed, "They do. Like instead of you having to tell me all about where I came from, Twilight helped explain it to me."
Derpy smiled.
"There are so many ponies who help us out here and there, a lot of them doing a little bit of what a father might. So for Father's Day, I'm going to thank all of them."
"Huh. That seems like a nice thing to do."
"And I'm going to make a LOT of muffins. So I can give a muffin to you, and to a lot of other ponies."
Derpy said, "That's very sweet of you. On my way home tomorrow, I'll pick up some extra baking supplies."
***
A few days later at Ponyville School, Cherilee told the class, "Dinky has an announcement to make about Father's Day. And she has a little something for everyone to enjoy during recess."
Dinky went up to the front of the room, holding a box.
"I don't have a father," Dinky said. "But what I do have, is a lot of ponies who help out. Like when my mother, along with doing a mother's work, also does a lot of the work that a father would do. And when Twilight helped me learn some things about science, that a father might never even have thought to teach me.
"There are so many ponies like that. What I do have is a lot of ponies who bring something to my life, each in your own way. So I decided to celebrate all of you." Dinky opened the box. "I baked muffins yesterday...enough that everypony here can have one."
Cherilee said, "Why, that's so sweet! Thank you!"
Foals came forward. One by one, each took a muffin. Most of them thanked the little unicorn filly.
After almost everypony had taken a muffin and gone outside to play, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hung back.
Dinky asked, "Don't you want muffins too?"
Silver Spoon huffed. "My parents can buy me BETTER muffins than anything YOU could make."
Dinky looked at Diamond Tiara. "Diamond?"
"I don't want a muffin, thank you."
Dinky asked, "Feeling guilty?"
"I just don't want any of your stinky muffins, that's all."
Dinky shrugged. "Ok."
"You don't have a real father...so I guess my muffin can be your father. Ha ha."
Silver Spoon chimed in, "Dinky has TWO fathers. They live in a muffin box, and get stale togther." She laughed.
Dinky said, "I know we're all foals here. But someday..." She paused. "I guess because of my situation, in some ways I had to grow up a little earlier than some other ponies. Have either of you ever made muffins yourself?"
"Hmmf!" Tiara snorted. "I don't HAVE to bake muffins myself. That's what poor ponies have to do."
"Someday everypony has to grow up, at least a little. Or you can be a foalish brat forever, I guess." Dinky turned around, and walked out of the schoolhouse, into the playground.
"Well, at least I HAVE a father!"
Dinky kept going.
Author's Note
Parthenogenesis really happens in a few species of lizards, and in some other types of animals, like some insects. I don't know of any parthenogenetic mammals, but MLP ponies might be different.
Vertebrate parthenogenesis on Earth can happen through more than one method.
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-komodo-d/
"Evidently, in the case of these Komodos [Komodo dragons], the doubling of the egg genes occurred when, in essence, another egg, rather than sperm, did the job of fertilization. Oogenesis, the biological process of making an egg cell, typically also yields a polar body--a mini ovum of sorts, containing a duplicate copy of egg DNA. Normally, this polar body shrivels up and disappears. In the case of the Komodos, though, polar bodies evidently acted as sperm and turned ova into embryos."
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/asexual-lizards/
Some "all-lady lizard species (of the Aspidoscelis genus) from Mexico and the U.S. Southwest .... maintain genetic richness by starting the reproductive process with twice the number of chromosomes as their sexually reproducing cousins. These celibate species resulted from the hybridization of different sexual species, a process that instills the parthenogenetic lizards with a great amount of genetic diversity at the outset. And the researchers found that these species could maintain the diversity by never pairing their homologous chromosomes (as sexual species do by taking one set of chromosomes from each parent) but rather by combining their sister chromosomes instead. "Recombination between pairs of sister chromosomes maintains heterozygosity" throughout the chromosome, noted the authors of the study, which was led by Aracely Lutes, a postdoctoral researcher in Baumann's lab."
- The above are just two examples of how various the mechanisms can be.
Epigenetics is a real field too.
The world is weirder than you might think. Even if some people's 'amazing' stories are lies, you don't have to tell lies to find amazing things!
***
Inspired partly by a possibly-accidental story prompt from SigmasonicX.
