My Little Dashie: Additions

Chapters

First Pizza
Swimming Lessons
The Garden
The Box Fort
The Racing Game
The Lie
Dashie's Scare
Dashie's Friend
Dashie's Day At The Office
Dashie's Flight
Dashie's First Christmas
Dashie's Sister

First Pizza

It had been a long week at work, and I was glad it was the weekend. I couldn't wait to get home to Dashie. There was a forecast for rain that weekend, so we'd have to spend it indoors, but I'd thought up some fun activities to pass the time. I stopped for a pizza on my way home, feeling like treating myself. I also bought Dashie some fresh carrots as we were running out, it was hardly a special treat but I know how much she loved them.

When I stepped in the door, I found Dashie sat on the living room floor, colouring in some blank pieces of paper. She still wasn't very good at drawing with her mouth, but at least she was learning. She had accidentally coloured a lot of the carpet in during her efforts, but I didn't mind. As I closed the door, she turned and looked at me. The smile she gave me was all it took for me to forgive her.

“Daddy!” She yelled as she ran over to me. She began running around my feet as I walked in the door carrying the pizza and her dinner. “Daddy, come look at my pictures!” She said excitedly as she ran over to pick up her best one to show me. She came hurtling back over towards me with a picture in her mouth, dropping it onto the kitchen floor next to my feet, she then began head butting my ankle. She certainly was eager.

I bent down to look at the picture. It appeared to be a rainbow, though Dashie hadn't got the hang of the shape yet, It was recognizable. “It's lovely Dashie!” I said. “I'm going to put it on the fridge!” I turned to the fridge and stuck it on with a magnet at about Dashies height, so she could see it as well. She stood there, looking at it proudly.

“Thank you Daddy! It took me all day to draw!” She smiled. I loved when Dashie smiled. It always warmed my heart.

“Are you ready for dinner now, Dashie? I've got your favourite Carrots!” I said, turning back to the kitchen work top and slicing them up onto a plate for her. “Go tidy up and I'll bring them over to you.”

She ran back to the living room floor and began picking up her crayons and dropping them into her art box. I'd given it to her a few days ago to keep her occupied during the day while I was at work. I wanted to move her onto paints at some point, but thought better of it for now. A little filly with tubs of paint would only result in a terrible mess.

Dashie finished putting her crayons away and stacked her pictures by the art box. She then jumped up onto her reclining chair and sat down, looking at me eagerly. Clearly she was hungry. I brought her plate over and put it on the chair in front of her, then went and got my pizza. She had already began chomping away. I sat down on the sofa nearby and turned on the TV. Spongebob was on, and Dashie loved watching Spongebob with her dinner.

As I picked up my pizza and began eating, Dashie stopped and looked at me. “What's that, Daddy?” She said inquisitively over a mouthful of carrots. I swallowed my bite of pizza and looked at it. I'd never given Dashie pizza before. I wondered if she'd like it or not. Either way, I didn't want to give it to her on a regular basis, or she might become unhealthy. I'm sure pizza isn't good for a little filly like herself, even if she is from a cartoon.

I looked at it again, then looked back to her eager face. I decided to give some to Dashie, a small amount wouldn't hurt, I thought. I cut up half a slice into small squares and put it on her plate. “Here you go Dashie. It’s a cheese pizza! Careful, it might be hot!” I said. She looked at it quizzically, and sniffed at it on her plate. She must have liked what she smelt, as she soon began chewing away at it and wolfed down the lot!

“Can I have more, please Daddy?” She looked at me with her cute little expression. I couldn't resist. I cut up the other half and gave it to her.

“But you have to finish the rest of your carrots afterwards, okay Dashie?”

“Yes Daddy!” she said as she chewed on the pizza crusts, a happy smile on her face. Once we were finished eating I washed up the plates, with Dashie passing them to me from the floor. She yawned when we were done, so I put her to bed early. I read her a bedtime story from her favourite book, the hungry caterpillar. She always loved the story, even though she knew how it ended. I tucked her in tightly, kissed her gently on the forehead, turned on her night light and said goodnight.

“Goodnight Daddy.” She whispered. “Thank you for the peeza.”

“You're welcome” I said, as I pulled the door to, leaving a gap so she could get out in the night if she needed me. I went to bed straight after as I was tired myself.

I woke up at about two AM to hear the sound of running water and a light coming from the kitchen. I got up to investigate, and found Dashie sat in the sink, the tap running, her blanket laying on the floor. “Dashie, what are you doing?” I said sternly. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“No! Daddy, go away!” She screamed, her voice cracking. I felt so upset. Dashie never got angry with me unless I had upset her. What had I done wrong? I walked towards her to pet her mane, when she squeaked again. “No! Daddy, please!” She began crying. As I stood there, I began to smell it. She had been sick in bed, and it was all over her mane. Half digested bits of pizza and cheese stuck to her fur and muzzle.

She had obviously been embarrassed by it, and tried to bath herself so I wouldn't find out. “Daddy...” She sobbed. “I made a mess.” She lowered her head and sat crying. “I'm sorry.”

I walked over to her and lifted her head up so she was looking at me. “Hey. It's okay Dashie. I shouldn't have given you that pizza.” I said. “Clearly it doesn't agree with you.”

I turned the tap off as Dashie had been running cold water only and hadn't managed to get the plug in the sink. I lifted her out and sat her on the draining board, and began running the hot water and filled the sink with her favourite bubble bath. Once the sink was full and the water was the right temperature, I lowered her in. I began to scrub her belly and the fur around her flank. She must have rolled over in it as it was everywhere. She sat there quietly, clearly still upset by the ordeal.

“Hey, Dashie. Wait here, I've got something for you.” I left her in the sink for a minute to clean herself, while I went to my bedroom. I'd gotten Dashie a gift for the next time she had her weekly bath, but thought she might like it now. “Close your eyes Dashie!” I dropped the rubber duck into the sink, making a splash that startled her. She opened her eyes suddenly, and as soon as she saw the ducky, she began to giggle. She knew what it was from watching Spongebob, and I figured it was only right that a little filly needed some bath toys to play with.

She began to push the duck around the bath, making quacking noises with it while I washed her mane and muzzle. She squirmed as I did it, but she had bits of cheese all over her face and some stuck up her nostrils. After about half an hour, she was clean. I drained the water out of the bath, and Dashie let out a little moan as her duck hit the bottom of the sink. I turned the tap on to a lukewarm temperature and rinsed her off, just to make sure I'd got it all.

“Okay Dashie, can you go sit in the living room and dry yourself off while I clean your bed?” I asked her as I put her on the floor and draped a kitchen towel on top of her.

She nodded and ran to the sofa. She stopped halfway, and turned to face me. “Thank you Daddy.” She said, starting to sound like her usual, cheery self.

She then ran up to the sofa, and began rubbing the towel against it to dry off. I picked up her blanket and put it in the washing machine, then went and stripped her bed off. There was vomit all over the bed, and on the wall. I put it all in the machine and cleaned the wall off, by the time I was done, Dashie had fallen asleep on the sofa, wrapped in a wet towel.

I picked her up and carried her to my bed, placing her snugly under the duvet. That's the last time you're having pizza. I watched her, as she burped in her sleep.

Swimming Lessons

I woke up to the sound of rain pounding against my bedroom window. It had been raining all night, and the ground was sodden. Dashie had been looking forward to playing outside today. She was going to be so disappointed. I got up and went to her bedroom to check she was okay. She was sat on the windowsill behind the curtain, looking out into the garden.

“It's raining Daddy.” She said solemnly. I went over to her and picked her up off the windowsill. She sighed as I did so, and looked up at me with disappointment in her eyes. We'd not been able to play outside for a week now, the rain just hadn't let up. Dashie was getting bored of being indoors all the time. I decided that the weather wasn't going to let up, so we may as well go out and play anyway. I took her into the kitchen and set her down on the floor.

“Tell you what Dashie. Let's have some breakfast, then we can go out and play in the rain. Does that sound like fun?” I hadn't even needed to ask her really, as soon as I finished the sentence, her face was beaming and she was jumping up and down, yelling.

“Yaaaay! We gonna go outside!” She began running around the floor, ineffectively flapping her wings in celebration. She loved to do so when excited.

I gave Dashie a bowl of oats for breakfast and had porridge myself, though Dashie was so excitable she barely ate her food. She just couldn't wait to get outside again. I finished up and then left the bowls on the table. Dashie had began to run about again, and was hopping up and down near the back door impatiently. I dressed for the rain, putting on my coat and hood. I debated making a raincoat for Dashie, but it would probably take too long, and I didn't want to upset her by making her wait any longer.

I packed several towels into my shoulder bag, so that when she got too wet or cold, I could dry her off and carry her home inside my jacket. I even filled a hot water bottle and placed it in the bottom of the bag, so when she got cold, she could easily warm herself up again.

When I came back into the living room, Dashie was sitting on the windowsill, looking out into the rain with her nose pressed tightly against the glass. As soon as she heard me, she leapt down and ran over to my feet.

“Going outside now?” She said, looking up at me in my rain coat.

“Yes, Dashie, we're gonna go outside now.” I said back, and at that she ran to the back door again and sat on the mat, looking up at the handle. “No Dashie, I thought we'd go out for a walk today, rather than playing in the garden. It might be a bit too muddy out there for you.” She looked up at me again, her eyes beaming with such excitement. She ran at me and jumped straight into my arms, and began nuzzling her face into my jacket. We rarely went anywhere except the garden, so I figured we would do today, since Dashie had been so patient waiting for the rain to stop.

I put Dashie inside my shoulder bag with all the towels, and she snuggled down comfortably among them, peeking her head out of the flap to see where we were going. I left the house and locked the door behind me, and began walking to an old country road where Dashie could play without being seen. It was raining so heavily, I didn't expect anyone to be out in it anyway, so we'd be safe. When we got there, Dashie stuck her head out of the bag again and looked around. A drop of rain fell off a tree branch onto her head, she shuddered and retreated back into her warm cocoon.

“Dashie, don't you want to play in the rain now?” I said, gently stroking her inside the bag. She timidly poked her head out again, this time looking around more. “Don't worry about getting wet Dashie, that's what the towels are for. I can dry you off if you get too wet. Just have fun.” She looked up at me and nodded her head.

“Okay Daddy.” She said. I lifted her out of the bag and gently placed her on the ground. She shuddered for a moment as she got used to the temperature change. She was looking reluctant, until she saw a bird fly down and start splashing in a puddle. Dashie loved chasing birds, and so was soon running after it, splashing through the puddle herself. She found this great fun, and began jumping in and out of several puddles on the ground.

“Whee!” She said, as she ran full speed to a puddle and leapt into it. She was enjoying herself so much, although she was soaking wet and covered in mud all the same. She loved kicking the water around and making the biggest splashes possible. She then saw a giant puddle, far larger than the rest, and began to run towards it even faster than before. She took a running leap into it, and as she hit the surface she disappeared.

I ran over to the puddle as quickly as possible and reached in, it was shoulder deep at least. I felt around and quickly felt Dashie, kicking and flapping her wings under the water, in a vain attempt to stop herself from sinking. I grabbed hold and pulled her out. She looked terrified, and I could hardly blame her after that. “Oh Dashie, I'm so sorry!” I said, holding her tight to my chest. She was shivering and shaking. I quickly grabbed a dry towel out the bag and dried her off. She didn't say anything, she looked completely shocked. I bundled her back into the bag and rushed home with her, gently petting her mane all the way.

Once we got back home, I sat Dashie down next to a radiator and gave her a juice box to try and comfort her. I filled the sink with water, so I could wash her and get her clean. “Dashie? Are you ready for a bath now?” I asked her. She looked up at me and nodded. I hoped she wasn't too upset, and maybe playing with her rubber ducky would cheer her up.

I lifted her up and lowered her into the water, but as I did so, she started screaming. “No, Daddy! I don't like the water!” She squealed. I placed her back on the counter, and looked into he eyes. Tears had begun to run down her cheeks.

“Dashie. I know that was scary today, and I'm sorry. But you're safe now, and I need to give you a bath so you can get clean. Look I've even got your ducky! You like him, don't you?” I mimicked a quacking noise to try and distract her, placing the duck on the counter, but she just kicked the duck onto the floor, and turned away from me. She definitely wasn't happy. After much deliberating, I washed Dashie on the counter using a damp cloth. She still squirmed uncomfortably, but I got most of the mud off. I didn't want to upset her any more that she already was.

I dried her off after this, and put her in bed for a nap. She looked tired, and I hoped she would cheer up a bit after a rest. I tucked her in and kissed her gently on the forehead. She smiled slightly as I did so, but then turned away so I wouldn't see. At least she still liked me a little bit, though I still felt bad for what had happened. I pulled the door to, and left her to nap. I resolved to sort her fear of water out as soon as possible, before it got out of hand. I wanted her to learn how to swim, so that if she was ever in danger and I wasn't around, she could fend for herself.

Once she woke up from her nap, she came out into the living room looking bleary eyed and tired. “Daddy?” She said. “Can I have a cuddle?” I was so glad to hear her say those words. I nodded and placed her on my lap. She shifted until she was comfortable, and then sat quietly while I stroked her mane. After an hour of this, she had fallen asleep again. I put her on the cushion next to me, and went to the bathroom. I began filling the bath tub up with water, no more than a few inches. I then went and roused Dashie, and brought her into the bathroom with me.

She had never seen the inside of the bath tub before, and I think it scared her a little bit. The sides were really tall for a small filly. I gently lowered her down and into the water, so it was only up past her hooves. She stood in the water and looked at me, confused. I smiled. “It's okay Dashie. We're just going to have some fun, alright?” I said.

“Okay Daddy.” She looked at the water around her ankles. “Can I have some bubbles, please?” She said, looking back up at me.

“I'm sorry Dashie, not right now. We're going to teach you how to swim, okay? It’ll be fun, trust me.” She looked back at the plain water, bored and disappointed. She started kicking at it with her hooves, which must have reminded her of the puddles, as she began to panic and kicked more vigorously, thrashing about in the water. Her wings flapping, trying to get out. I reached in and gently steadied her hooves so she couldn't kick. “It's okay Dashie. Trust me, you're safe here.”

I began to fill the bath up with more water, so it started to reach past Dashie's body. She squirmed, but I reassured her it was okay. I placed her rubber ducky in the water with her as a distraction, and she seemed to like seeing it bob up and down with the ripples of the water. I turned the tap off, and then reached in and placed my hand under Dashie's belly.

“Now Dashie. I want you to start kicking your legs like you're trying to run, okay? Can you do that for me?” She nodded. I held onto her belly and lifted her up, so she couldn't touch the bottom of the bath. "Now Dashie!" She began kicking her legs, and as she did so, I moved her around the water, a smile appearing on her face, as she enjoyed the feeling of the water moving around her legs. While we were doing this, I subtly turned on the tap and filled the bath up with more water, until Dashie could no longer touch the bottom.

As she kept kicking, I slowly lowered my hand from under her belly, which made her sit lower in the water. She started kicking harder as this happened, which was what I had hoped for. “Hehehe” She giggled. She was enjoying herself again, and it made me so happy to see. I eventually moved my hand away so it wasn't touching her belly at all, and watched in awe as she swam around the bath on her own, chasing her ducky around the water.

I was so pleased, I gave her a round of applause. As I did this, she looked at me, realising I wasn't holding onto her, she stopped kicking and began to sink. She started flapping her wings in panic as the water rose above her back. I reached in and quickly lifted her up before she went under the surface. “It's okay Dashie, you were swimming on your own! You can do it, just try again!” I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Okay Daddy.” She said, and began kicking again. It didn't take long for her to master swimming without me holding onto her. She looked so happy as she chased the duck around the bath, paddling around. Once she tired of this, I drained the water out so she could sit on the bottom again. She looked at me, really pleased. “Thank you Daddy.”

“You're welcome Dashie. I love you.” I said. “now, how about those bubbles?” She beamed as I mentioned the bubbles. I poured the bubble mixture into the bath around Dashie, and lifted her up so she wasn't touching the bottom again. “Swim Dashie!” I said, and as she paddled, the bubbles frothed around her body, enveloping her. She began giggling as she made the bubbles herself.

"Yay! Bubbles!" She cheered, A large smile spreading across her face.

The Garden

“Dashie! Where are you, Dashie?” I heard Daddy calling me. I was sat inside the box fort we had made earlier that day, when Daddy came in and peeked inside the window. I giggled as he looked inside for me, I liked hiding. Daddy soon walked away from the box, so I jumped out the door.

“Boo!” I said. Daddy turned around and smiled at me.

“There you are Dashie! Do you want to go outside and play, now that the sun has come out?” He said. I smiled. I liked going outside.

“Yes please!” I nodded. I ran to the back door and sat down by it. Daddy came over and turned the handle. As the door opened, I smelt the fresh air and the flowers. I ran out through the gap as soon as possible, and began jumping around on the grass. It felt nice on my hooves, it tickled them. As I jumped about, Daddy came out and started tidying up my favourite flower bed. I ran into it, the flowers were so tall and I couldn't see where I was going, it was like a maze. They smelled lovely as I ran through them too.

I soon came to the long grass at the far end of the garden. Daddy warned me not to go too far, but I liked running around in it, it was taller than the flowers, and was like being in a big jungle. I ran around in the grass for a bit, and liked trying to find the flowers among the grass, and pretending I was an explorer.

As I played, I heard rustling near me. “Daddy?” I asked. As I sat down, the grass moved behind me. I turned around, and a furry, brown thing walked out in front of me. I think it was a dog, like I'd seen on TV. “Hello doggy!” I said, smiling. “Do you want to play?” The doggy made a “gwwwr” noise back at me.

“Tee hee!” I giggled. I liked that noise. “GWWWR!” I said back loudly. The doggy walked closer and started sniffing me. I sniffed it back, and It smelt funny, but I wanted to play, so I started running about. The doggy began chasing me, it wanted to play too! I ran about giggling, I liked having someone different to play with.

It was still behind me, as I could hear it panting. It sounded tired, so I slowed down so it could catch me, when I felt it pull on my tail! It really hurt as it pulled tightly. “Oww!” I said. I felt like crying, it hurt a lot. The doggy then made a louder “gwwwr” sound than before, and it pulled harder on my tail. It started pulling me backwards, and some of my tail hairs came out. It let go, and started chewing on them.

I was scared now, and started running as fast as I could, trying to go back to Daddy. The doggy was chasing me faster, making it's “gwwwr” noise, louder than before. But I was lost in the long grass, I didn't know where the house was, and the doggy was close behind me. “Daddy! Daddy help!” I yelled.

“Dashie? Dashie, what's wrong?” I heard Daddy say. I ran to the sound of his voice, and saw him standing above me. I ran past him indoors, the doggy was still following me. I ran inside the house, and into my box fort. I hoped I would be safe in there. The doggy was too big for it, so it started chewing on the wall. It was really scary.

“Daddy! Daddy help!” My fort was shaking about as the doggy ripped the box. I curled up in a ball and tried to hide as far away from the doggy. It soon stuck its head inside the hole it made, and started biting at me, its lips were all wet. “Ahhhh!” I squealed. It was so close, I felt it breathing on me. “Go away!” I squeaked. “Daddy, Help!” I was so scared, I had an accident in my box fort.

I closed my eyes, hoping it would go away soon. I put my hooves over my ears to try and hide the sounds. I heard Daddies voice shouting something, and then my box stopped moving. I sat in my box, shaking. After a minute, I uncovered my ears, and looked up at the hole the doggy made. It was gone, but I didn't hear Daddy.

“Daddy?” I said, hoping he was out there. “Daddy, are you there? I'm scared.” There was no answer. I crept to the window in my box, and looked outside. As I did, Daddy bent down and looked in. “Ahh!” I screamed and ran back, bumping into the wall.

“Ohh, Dashie. I didn't mean to startle you. Come on out, it's safe now.” He said. I tried to move, but found myself unable to. I sat cowering in the corner. Daddy reached in and picked me up, carrying me out of the box. He started stroking my mane. “Are you okay, Dashie? Did the mean dog bite you?” He asked.

“It...it bit my tail Daddy. It didn't bite me anywhere else, but It was so scary.” I said. I looked at my tail, it had bitten half of it off. It looked all mangled and rough. I buried my head into daddies sleeve, and cried.

“Shush, it's okay Dashie. We'll get you clean, and tidy your tail up.” he kissed me gently on the head, and I felt a bit better. I looked up at him, and he looked upset. I looked back down at the floor, and saw some red stuff on the ground.

“What's that?” I asked him.

“Nothing Dashie. I'll clean it up in a bit.” He said. We sat on the sofa and Daddy put on the TV. I sat on his lap, and noticed Daddy had a towel wrapped around his hand. It was red as well. We watched some cartoons for ten minutes, and I felt a bit better, but I was still shaking. Daddy wrapped his jumper around me and held me tightly. It felt nice.

“Will you be okay here for a minute, Dashie? I just need to clean this up.” He asked me. I nodded my head, and wrapped myself up tighter in Daddies jumper. I watched Daddy go to the sink, and he started washing his hand under the cold tap. He put some white stuff around it, and then started cleaning the floor.

“What's that white stuff?”

“It's a bandage, Dashie. The doggy bit me as well, but the bandage will make it all better. I'll be okay, you just watch your cartoons.” Daddy said. I went back to watching the TV, and I eventually stopped shaking. After daddy finished washing the floor, he gave me a bath, then put me on the counter. “Okay Dashie, I'm going to trim your tail for you, so it looks nice again. Can you sit still while I do it?”

“Yes Daddy.” I said. Daddy then got a pair of scissors, and trimmed the rough bits off. It looked really short when he was done, and it made me sad. I liked my tail being really long.

“Don't worry Dashie, it’ll grow back soon.” He said, stroking my mane. “It looks nicer like this now, better than being all different lengths. Here, I'll even give you a bandage.” Daddy went and got some more of the white stuff from the cupboard, and wrapped it around the end of my tail. It looked funny, but it made me feel better.

“Thank you Daddy.” I said. I lent in and licked his cheek.

“you're welcome Dashie. But lets not go play outside until we can find the hole in the fence, okay?” He said, and I nodded back. I didn't want to play outside anyway. I snuggled back up in Daddies jumper, and he started rubbing my belly.

The Box Fort

“Hey, Dashie. Dashie, wake up.” I said, gently rousing her from her nap. She rolled over and looked up at me, smiling. “Are you ready to make a new fort?” She nodded and rubbed her eyes wearily. I picked her up and carried her into the living room, placing her on the floor, next to a large pile of boxes.

“Are we using all these boxes?” She asked, looking at the tower of cardboard that stood before her.

“Yes Dashie, we're going to make you a fort even better than before! This time with bridges and everything!” Dashie seemed to like this idea, and ran into the closest open box and peered out of it. I took the largest box to hand, and started cutting out openings for doors and windows.

“How's this for the ground floor? Too big?” I asked, but knew nothing could be too big for Dashie. She looked at the windows I'd cut, and prodded the box with her nose.

“Can I have a window here please?”

“Of course you can Dashie. Stand back so I can cut it out!” She walked backwards and watched as I took the scissors to the box and made another window. I smoothed off the edges so it wouldn't be sharp, and risk it hurting Dashie. She liked the new window, and ran back to it, poking her head through it and looking inside.

After a bit more cutting and moving, the ground floor was made. I cut a hole in the other side to make the ramp to the next floor. I put the box aside and Dashie began inspecting it. While she did this, I took the larger boxes, and stacked them so it was a higher, second floor. I cut a few more door and window holes for Dashie, and then joined it onto the first box, which Dashie was still climbing around in.

“How's this looking?” I asked, as she climbed the ramp between floors and poked her head out of the higher windows. She had a big smile on her face as she looked down from her little tower.

“Hehe! I like this!” She said, as she pulled her head back inside and ran to the next window I'd made, poking her head out again. “Booo!” She giggled, and then pulled her head back in, running to the lower window and poking it out down there. “Booo!” she said again, giggling, and retreated back into her box fort.

“Okay Dashie, come out now, I need to cut some more holes and then make the house sturdy for you! Otherwise it might tip over.” She slowly came back out the fort, and sat down, looking at it happily. I cut one or two more windows so she could see what she was doing once inside, then I taped it all together, and stuck it down to a wooden board I had to hand. This way it wouldn't tip over, no matter how much Dashie ran about inside.

“Hey Dashie, would you like a little flag on the roof?” I asked her, so she could feel involved in making it still.

“Yeah! I want a flag!” She nodded and jumped about happily, flapping her wings.

“Okay then, Dashie. How about you go get your art tools, and draw a flag up for your fort? I'll finish up here.” She darted off to her room, and brought out her little art box and put it down on the floor next to me, she then went back to her room and fetched some paper.

She sat down and started colouring, while I went and got a stick from the garden to make the flag pole. I sat down next to Dashie, who was still drawing intently.

“What's the flag going to look like then?” I asked her, as she coloured in a section In blue. She spit out the crayon and looked up at me.

“It's a secret Daddy! You'll see when I'm done!” She giggled, and went back to drawing. I left her alone to draw it, I didn't want to crowd her. I looked back at the fort, and felt as nice as it looked, it was a bit bland. Just some brown cardboard boxes. I went into my bedroom and got down the paints and brushes I had bought for Dashie when she got a bit older. I brought them back out to the kitchen, and fetched some small tubs to put paint in.

I poured out a few basic colours into the tubs, so Dashie could get to them easier, and opened the pack of paint brushes. I turned round to see Dashie had finished her flag, and was looking at it proudly.

“All finished then?” I asked her. She looked at me and nodded.

“Come see Daddy, you'll like it!” She sat down next to it, and watched me walk over. I bent down to look at it. It was a drawing of Dashie and me stood in the garden, with a rainbow behind us. I loved it so much.

“Now it's our fort, we can share it!” She said, jumping up and down.

“It's lovely Dashie! Lets put it on the roof!” I picked up the drawing and attached it to the stick, before taping it to the roof where Dashie could see it. She sat down and looked up at it, a great smile on her face.

“How does that look?” I asked her.

“Looks great! Daddy and Dashie's fort!” She giggled. I reached down and petted her head, she rubbed back against my hand.

“Okay Dashie, I've got one more treat for you. How would you like to add some colour to your fort?” I went to the kitchen and put the paints on the floor in front of Dashie. She looked at them confused, and sniffed them. She bent down to try and drink them.

“No Dashie! These are paints, we use them to colour things in, like your crayons. You don't drink them, they're dangerous and would make you ill if you did!”

“Okay Daddy.” she said. I got a paintbrush and dipped it in the paint, showing her how they work. I then painted part of the wall and Dashie smiled widely when she saw the brown box became a bright blue.

“Can I have a go? Please, please!” She jumped up and down.

“Of course Dashie, that's why I got them, for you to use! Here's a paint brush, let's paint the outside blue, shall we?” I gave the brush to her and she placed it in her mouth, and dipped it in the blue paint. The brush was heavy for her to hold, and heavier still with the paint on it, but she managed to carry it to the box. She rubbed It on the side and giggled as the box became blue before her eyes.

“Hehe! Bwue!” she said while holding the paint brush in her mouth. We kept painting the outside like this for a while, I did the high bits while Dashie painted the lower sections. She decided to paint it in blue, red and purple. The end result was a vibrant, colourful fort. Dashie spit the paintbrush out of her mouth onto a sheet of paper.

“I like my new fort, thank you Daddy!” she smiled and gave me a hug. But I knew we weren't done yet.

“Now Dashie, the outside looks really nice, but someone needs to paint the inside too. Do you think you can manage that on your own?” I asked her, and she grinned.

“Yeah, I can do that!” She then picked up a smaller brush, dipped it in the purple paint and carried it into her fort. I watched carefully as she did it, making sure she didn't swallow any of the paint. After about an hour of Dashie painting the inside with a bit of my help, the walls were done. She came back outside and put the brush down.

“All done?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“Not quite Daddy!” she then walked over the a shallow tray of green paint, and jumped in, getting paint on her hooves. Dashie ran back into the fort and began running through all the rooms, putting little hoof prints on the floors. She soon finished up and jumped back out the front door again.

“Done!” She giggled. She sat down and looked at her fort. It looked wonderful, and Dashie clearly liked it a lot more than the last one, as she couldn't wait to go back inside and play. I had to stop her as the paint was still wet.

“Come on Dashie, let's get you washed up so you don't walk paint everywhere else, and then once the paint is dry on the fort, you can play in it.” She looked at her green hooves, and giggled. She liked having green hooves it seemed.

“Can I leave my hooves green Daddy? I like them green.”

“Sorry Dashie, but the paint won't be good for you if we leave it on there. Come on, let's get you clean.” I picked her up and carried her to the kitchen sink. I ran her a bath again, and scrubbed the paint off her feet and hooves. I had bought water soluble paint for this exact reason, so it wouldn’t take much to get off. I knew she would be a messy painter.

Once washed up, I cleaned the paints up while Dashie sat down, looking at her fort again. She sniffed the paint and got a bit on the end of her nose.

“AAAACHOO!” She sneezed. I turned round and saw a red nosed Dashie sat on the floor, rubbing at it. I grabbed a wet cloth and wiped it off again. “Thank you Daddy!” She said again, and decided to leave her fort alone until it fully dried. I came back over to her after cleaning up and sat down with her on the sofa.

“Can we read a book, please?” She asked. I nodded, and as I did so, she hopped to the coffee table, picked up a story book and dropped it in my lap. She then cuddled up to my arm and we read the story together, with Dashie learning the words as we did so.

The Racing Game

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when Dashie came running into my bedroom and began jumping on my bed. She had always woken up before me, but usually kept herself occupied with toys in her room. Today was an exception to the rule.

“Daddy! Wake up!” She whispered into my ear. I rolled over and saw her face staring back at me. “Daddy, can we do something new today? I'm bored of my toys.” She kicked the bed sheets up and crawled in next to me.

“Like what?” I asked her back.

“I dunno. I like my racing cars, something like them!” She said, as she crawled about next to me.

“You want more cars to play with then?” She stuck her head out from the sheet, shook her head, and began crawling around under the bed sheet again.

“No, I want something different, but still cars!” She said, crawling around my knees. I gave it some thought, and then realised I saw the perfect thing for sale the other day.

“Alright Dashie, I'll go out now and get you a new toy, but on one condition. You have to tidy up the living room. Can you do that for me?” She kept crawling around my legs and feet, clambering over them. She soon climbed onto my chest, crawled up to the top of the bed and poked her head out.

“I can do that! What are you getting me then?” She asked, smiling widely.

“No Dashie, I'm not telling you. You'll have to wait and see, okay?” She looked down trodden, but agreed to my idea, and went to the living room to start tidying up. I got out of bed, dressed myself, and went to get her new toy. I'll be back in a couple of hours Dashie, stay safe.” I said, as she began pushing her toy cars to the toy box. I shut the front door behind me, and left her to it. I expected Dashie to get the house tidied by the time I got back, I hadn't asked her to do a lot, after all.

I went to the local shop and bought the game I'd seen for sale, and brought it home for Dashie. I'd been gone about an hour, so I expected Dashie to have finished tidying. I closed the front door behind me.

“Dashie! I'm home. Are you ready to set up your new toy?” I asked, but as I looked around the living room, I noticed a distinct lack of tidying had been done. There were still books and magazines on the floor, and some of Dashies toys scattered about. I set the bag on the floor, and went to look for her in her bedroom.

“Dashie, are you in here?” I looked inside, and saw her sat on the floor, pushing her toy cars into each other. She turned around to look at me, and grinned.

“Daddy! You're home! where's my new toy?” She asked, and ran into the kitchen to see it. I followed her quickly, and picked the bag up off the floor before she could look inside. “I wanna see!” She yelled, as she jumped up and down, flapping her small wings.

“Dashie. Why haven't you tidying the living room?” I crossed my arms and gave her a stern look. She turned around to the mess, and looked back at me sad faced. I didn't like to upset her, but I had asked her to do something for me, and she hadn't done so. She needed to be taught a lesson.

“I did tidy it.” She said back, looking at the floor, and rubbing her hoof on the ground. I bent down to seem less intimidating, and asked her again, using a softer voice. I feared making her cry.

“But Dashie, those toys were there when I left, weren't they?” She nodded her head and kept looking at the ground. “So what happened?” I asked. She curled up around my feet and rested her head on my foot.

“I'm sorry Daddy. I got distracted by my toys, and I forgot you asked me to tidy.” She said in her saddest tone possible. I wanted to pick her up and cuddle her then and there, tell her to forget about it, and just play games, but I needed to make her learn from her mistake. It hurt me a whole lot to tell her off, she was still really young after all.

“Okay, well can you tidy it up for me now, please? Then when you're done, we can play with your new toy.” She lifted her head, and smiled when she realised she still was going to get her new toy.

“I will!” She said, and raced to the living room, and began pushing her toy cars under the sofa.

“Properly, please! They go in your toy box by the TV, okay?” She looked back at me, nodded her head, and crawled under the sofa to get them back out. She picked them up in her mouth, and put each one in her toy box. I left her to work, and went to my bedroom to get some boxes.

I came back to the living room and started stacking the boxes in front of the TV. Dashie looked up at me and grinned, a book in her mouth.

“Almosht done!” She mumbled. As she carried it to the big pile she had been making. She placed it on top, and then went to get the last magazine. I gave her an approving grin, and got the games console out of the cupboard under the TV. Dashie stopped and looked at it. She'd never seen it before now. I had stopped playing when Dashie joined me, as I thought playing scary video games around her was a terrible idea.

Once Dashie had put the last magazine away, I picked her up and gave her a gentle cuddle. “Now that wasn't so hard, was it?” I kissed her on the head, and she giggled.

“You just need to stay focused, and things get done, don't they? I'm sorry for getting cross with you as well Dashie, but you needed telling off. Don't you feel better for doing it honestly?”

She nodded her head. “Yes Daddy. I'm sorry I didn't do it when you asked.”

“That's quite alright Dashie, now, lets set up your new toy, shall we?” I said to her, as she began to grow excited. I put her on the ground, and put the shopping bag in front of her. I lifted the box out, and her excited face turned to a confused one as she tried to work out what it was.

“It's a racing game Dashie, you play it on the TV! Here, let me set it up and show you.” I began unpacking it, and placed the bits and pieces on the floor for Dashie to inspect. I had gotten her a game that included a steering wheel and pedals, thinking it would be a nice change for her to actually control a car. It needed some adapting for her to use, but that's what the boxes were for.

As I set up the steering wheel, Dashie looked at the pedals, and stepped on them, pressing the pedals in.

“Uh oh. I think I broke it Daddy.” she said, looking worried. I turned to face her, and saw she still had her hoof on the pedal.

I smiled at her. “It's not broken! Lift your hoof up Dashie, you'll see.”

She looked at me, and slowly raised her hoof. She gasped as the pedal sprang back against her hoof. “Hehehe!” She laughed, and began pressing it in and out. I let her play with it for a bit, then took it as I needed to set the rest up. Once done, we both had a steering wheel and set of pedals each so we could race.

I loaded the game, and then sat Dashie down in front of her box setup, and showed her how to use it. She was so interested in watching the car on the screen, she wasn't paying full attention.

“Here Dashie, these pedals make the car go, look.” I pressed one of the pedals in, and the car on the screen moved. She grinned brightly as it did so. “and if I press this one, it stops!” After a few quick lessons on the pedals, I taught Dashie how to use the steering wheel. I had to modify it a bit so she could get a grip on it, the steering wheel was too big for her to bite, so I attached a small broom handle to the front for her to grab onto, but it all seemed to work okay.

I sat down and watched her race a few practice laps on her own. She was a bit slow, but it was to be expected for a small pony. After she got the hang of it, I asked if she wanted to race her Daddy.

“Yeah! I'm gonna win!” She said, and began steering her car enthusiastically. I sat down to my set up, and started a new race. I didn't give it my best, as I didn't want to upset Dashie, but I made sure to over take her a few times to make it interesting. She crossed the finish line in first place, and cheered.

“YAAAAAY! I WON!” She jumped up and down, and beeped her cars horn in excitement.

“Well done Dashie! You sure are faster than me!” I said. “Want to race again?” I asked her, and she nodded her head. Of course she'd want to race again. We raced over and over, and Dashie always enjoyed beating me.

I even beat her a few times, and while she was happy the first time, the second time she chose to crash her car into the wall and sulk. I drove back around the track, and nudged her car and beeped my horn. She seemed to enjoy it, and beeped back, before driving away full speed. She giggled as her car made a cloud of smoke in front of mine. We kept playing all day, until I made her take a break to rest her eyes. I left it set up so she could play later on, and put her down for a nap.

“Thank you for my new toy Daddy, it's really great. Can we play more tomorrow?”

“Of course we can Dashie. You just get some rest, it’ll still be there for you when you want to play it again.”

I tucked her into bed, and kissed her on the forehead. She rolled over, and went to sleep making car noises, beeping and “vrooming” to herself. I found it adorable, and set about decorating her box set up to look like a drivers seat, just for her.

The Lie

It had been a long day at work today, and I came home exhausted. Looking forward to a relaxing evening. I stepped in the door, and shut it behind me. “Dashie, I'm home!” I called, and she trotted out into the living room.

“Hi Daddy! How was your day?” She asked me, smiling.

“Exhausting, but I'm better for seeing you.” I picked her up and gave her a tight hug. She loved her hugs, and giggled. “Okay Dashie, I've got to make dinner now, do you want to help me?” I asked. She looked at me with a disappointed face.

“You want to colour, don't you?”

“Yes please!” She said.

“Alright then, you go colour me a lovely picture!” I put her back down on the floor, and watched her dart into the living room, and begin colouring in a new picture. I left her to it, while I made dinner. I prepared her a meal of lettuce and banana, so she could have something different, and just microwaved a ready meal for myself. I was too tired to cook properly.

“Come on Dashie, it's dinner time!” I called to her, as she kept on drawing. She smiled, and dropped the crayon she had been holding, and jumped up onto her chair. I put the plate down in front of her, and she began to nibble quietly at her lettuce and banana.

“Did you have fun today, Dashie?” I asked her, as I ate my lasagne.

“Yes, thank you Daddy. I played some more of my racing game, and then coloured in lots of pictures of cars!” She giggled, and nibbled at some more of her lettuce. I noticed she wasn't eating as much as usual, so I thought she might be thirsty.

“Would you like a drink with your dinner?” I asked her.

“Yes please! could I have an orange juice?” She said to me, as she picked up a piece of banana.

“Sure thing, I'll go get it, darling.” I put my dinner next to me, and went to get an orange juice out of the fridge. I came back and gave it to Dashie, putting the straw in for her. She had nearly finished her dinner now, and started supping on the straw, making cute little faces as she did so.

After a few more minutes of nibbling, she'd had enough, and pushed the plate away. I took it from her, and washed up. I was a little concerned she didn't eat all of her food, but I let her be, maybe she just didn't fancy the lettuce tonight. It wasn't as fresh as it could have been. As I was drying the plates, Dashie came over holding her empty juice box. She dropped it by my feet.

“Here you go Daddy! It's for the... the... recycwing people!” She said, struggling with her words. She'd made leaps and bounds on her vocabulary as of late, and I was so proud.

“Thank you Dashie.” I said, that's very kind of you. I washed up the rest of the plates, and went to empty the bins outside. I left Dashie to play in the living room, while I carried the bins out to the gate. By the time I was done, Dashie had disappeared from her drawing, so I went to check she was okay. She seemed in a funny mood tonight.

I went into her bedroom, and couldn't see her in there. I checked the bathroom, my own bedroom, and the living room again, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Dashie?” I called out. “Dashie, where are you?”

“In here Daddy!” I heard her voice cry back, and followed it into the hall. It sounded like it came from her bedroom. I stuck my head inside the door, but still couldn't see her.

“Dashie, are you in here?” I called out, and as I did so, she emerged from under the bed, grinning.

“There you Are! Come on, let's go play some more of your video game. I bet you want to show me your new skills!” She nodded and ran into the living room, turning the console on with her nose. She sat down at her steering wheel, and started a race. As she sat racing, I was interested by what she had been doing under her bed.

I looked back into the living room, and saw she was focused on the race, so I ducked into her room to take a look under her bed.

I hated the fact I was prying into her personal belongings, but something felt off when I came home. It felt like she was keeping a secret from me. I shut the bedroom door, and bent down to look under her bed. Hidden right at the back was a small shoe box, with the lid half off. I reached under and pulled it out.

As I removed the lid, I saw a huge amount of sweets and chocolate bars hidden inside, and even more empty wrappers littered inside the bottom of the box.

It looks like Dashie has been hiding sweets. This explains why she wasn't hungry, she's been filling up on sweets all day. I picked the box up, and took it out into the living room with me. Dashie sat cheering at the game as she won.

“Daddy, are you gonna come race me now?” She asked, looking round at me. As she did so, she saw me holding her shoe box. She started looking worried, as I put it down in front of her.

“Dashie, what's this?” I asked. She looked at it, and then looked up at me, sad faced. Her secret had been found out.

“Have you been taking sweets without permission?” I said, stern faced. I was annoyed she had been taking them when I was out at work, let alone hoarding them in her room.

“I haven't Daddy. I didn't know that box was there, honest! It was under my bed already!” She answered, starting to weep. She covered her eyes with her hooves, ashamed of herself.

“Rainbow Dash. You know better than to steal, and to fill up on sweets all day. You need to eat properly. I'm very disappointed in you right now. As punishment, you are not getting any more sweets for two weeks.”

I bent down to pick the box up and put it away in the cupboard, when she leapt up, reached into the box and snatched an unwrapped chocolate bar, running into her bedroom again and kicking the door shut behind her. I heard her crying from inside her bedroom.

I would have chased her and taken it back, but I decided to leave her alone to think about what she had done for now. I took all the sweets out of the cupboard and hid them in my bedroom. I wasn't going to let her take any more without me knowing.

After about an hour, I went and knocked on her door. “Can I come in please?” I asked, only there was no answer. I slowly opened the door and walked in, and found Dashie sat under her bed, licking the chocolate from the wrapper. She saw me looking in, and turned away, hiding her shamed face.

“Dashie. You should know that taking chocolate without asking isn't allowed, and eating chocolate instead of a proper meal isn't good for you. Now, lets put this behind us. Come on out so I can give you your bath, and put you to bed.”

I reached under the bed and picked her up. As I got out, and turned her over, she was crying.

“I'm sorry Daddy. I just wanted some more sweets. They were so tasty. I won't take any more, I promise.” She said, and covered her face again.

“That's all I wanted to hear, darling.” I lifted her to my face and kissed her on the end of her nose, and gently stroked her mane again, calming her down. “Come on, let's get you washed and to bed.”

I put her in the sink and gave her a longer than usual bath, leaving her to soak and relax for a bit. I dried her off, and read her a bed time story on the sofa, to reassure her she was still safe with me. She fell asleep in my arms halfway through, so I carried her to bed and gently tucked her in. I hoped she would be in a better mood in the morning.

Dashie's Scare

It was a late night, and Dashie had gone to bed early, she'd spent the entire day trying to fly and had tired herself out. She hadn't managed to take off at all, but she was making progress. Though I hoped she wouldn't learn to fly just yet, as I feared her flying too high and hurting herself.

I sat down on the sofa to watch some TV, when I looked down at the games console still plugged in. Playing it with Dashie had made me miss some of my more mature games. I really wanted to play them again.

Fuck it. Why not. I got up and went to check Dashie was still asleep before I began. I peered into the room, and saw her sleeping gently under the covers, the duvet moving up and down with each breath. I left the room and pulled the door further shut, so she wouldn't be woken up. I went back to the living room, and plugged in the regular controller, and loaded up a personal favourite of mine; Dead Space.

I sat down and started playing it from the beginning. I must have played it for a good four hours before I got weary eyed, and became too tired to focus properly. I turned the console off and went to bed, hoping to play some more the following night.

I woke up the next day, only to find it was already eleven AM. I had slept straight through my alarm and wasted most of the morning. But it was strange Dashie hadn't come in to wake me up for breakfast, like she usually does. I got out of bed and went to see if she was okay.

“Dashie? Dashie, are you alright?” I called as I walked into the hallway, putting my jumper on. The first thing I saw at the end of the hall was the TV in the living room, only it was still turned on, the game was on a game over screen. I know I had turned it off before I went to bed. I ran over and quickly turned it back off. The controller was on the floor next to Dashie's steering wheel.

“Dashie? Dashie, come to Daddy, now! It's okay, I know you must be scared, but it's only a game!” I panicked. Dashie must have gotten up early to play her racing game, and because I left the disc in, she ended up playing Dead Space instead. I hoped she wasn't too traumatised by it. I went into her bedroom to try and find her, only she wasn't there. I checked under the bed, and under the duvet, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Dashie? Please Dashie, come on out, let's talk about it!” I called out, hoping she'd answer. As I did so, I heard a small whimper coming from the bathroom opposite. I opened the door, walked in, and turned the light on.

“Ahhh!” I heard Dashie cry.

“Dashie? Dashie, it's me, it's Daddy!” I looked around the room, but couldn't see her anywhere.

“In here Da...Daddy...” she whimpered. I turned around and realised it was coming from inside the washing basket, which was shaking slightly. Dashie's blanket lay next to the basket. I looked inside to try and see Dashie, but couldn't see her. I reached in to find her, and to comfort her, but as soon as I did so, she started screaming and kicking violently in the basket.

“AHH! NO! GET AWAY!” She screamed, her voice shriller than I'd ever heard it before. I pulled my arm out and gently moved the clothes so I could see her. She was sat right in the middle, wrapped in a jumper of mine, violently shaking. As I moved the clothes, she turned to face me, looking relieved as she saw my face, but she continued to shake.

“See? It's only me Dashie. Come on out, let's talk about what you saw.”

“N...no. No!” She answered back meekly. She then pulled her head inside the jumper and put her hooves over her ears.

“Dashie. Come on, it's only a game, it can't hurt you. Let's get some breakfast and watch a cartoon, that’ll take your mind off of it.” I said, and reached in to lift her out again. As I put my hand close to her body, she kicked her legs violently at me, and began screaming again. I pulled my hand out before she could break a finger. Her kicks had gotten a lot stronger lately.

“No! I'm not coming out!” She yelled again, and began whimpering. “Go away!” I decided then and there, that there was only one way to solve it. I picked up the entire washing basket and carried it out into the living room. I put it down on the sofa, and turned the TV onto the kids channels.

“You watch some TV Dashie, and I'll get you a special breakfast. You can stay in there as long as you need to.” I patted the top of the pile of clothes to reassure her, as trying to touch her was only making her worse.

I went and made her a special breakfast of pancakes with syrup, with fairy cakes to follow. I put them down in front of the opening she was peering through, and sat down next to her again. She slowly stuck her head out and ate at the pancakes. She looked up to me nervously throughout, but ate her breakfast before retreating back into the washing. As pained as I was at watching her being scared, it was still really cute watching her reaching out to eat her food, like a turtle coming out of its shell.

This unfortunately went on for most of the morning, with Dashie staying inside her cocoon, watching TV. She had slowly started to calm down, she no longer appeared to be shaking, and I heard a giggle or two during the morning. After another hour, she spoke up.

“Daddy?” She asked meekly. “Daddy, is it safe to come out now?”

“Of course Dashie. It's been safe all morning. Come on out.” I said, and bent down in front of the opening, smiling at her. She looked back at me and smiled feebly. She slowly crept out of the washing, looking around her uncertainly. She leapt into my arms once she was completely out. I hugged her tightly and stroked her mane to reassure her.

“I'm so sorry I left that scary game in the console Dashie. I'll never play them again.” I said, and gently kissed her on the head. She smiled as I kissed her, but then looked up at me confused.

“What game, Daddy?” She said, frowning.

“The one you were playing this morning? The games console was turned on, and the controller was by your chair.” I asked, confused by Dashie's response.

“I didn't get to play my game Daddy. I got up and turned it on, and then went to get my blanky from my bedroom as it was cold. I had wrapped up in my warm blanky, and I turned round to go back to the game, when I saw a scary man standing in the doorway, he was wearing a funny mask thing. He saw me, and I ran past him into the bathroom, and hid in the washing basket. He came in and was looking for me, he was whispering 'here doggy doggy' and he started reaching into the basket...” She started to whimper and cry as she told me, so I held her close.

“He grabbed my leg Daddy, so I kicked him and he let go. I heard the door close, so I stayed in the basket, I was so scared Daddy. Then you came in, but I thought it was the scary man and I...”

She broke down and started crying hard into my arms. I stroked her mane and gently shushed her.

“It's okay Dashie, you were very brave. I'm sorry I scared you when I came in to find you. That scary man won't be back ever again. I promise.”

I sat down on the sofa with Dashie and cuddled her for hours, gently rocking her from side to side and stroking her mane. After she fell asleep, I gently sat her on the cushion next to me, and went to find how the burglar had gotten in.

After a few moments, I found the back door had been forced open, so I wedged it shut, and checked all my valuables were still present. I went to the bathroom and picked up Dashie's Blanket on my way back, and wrapped it over her on the sofa. She sighed as I placed it around her. I sat stroking her for a another hour, and then put her to bed when I was sure she was fast asleep.

I called the police and reported the crime to them, but didn't expect anything to be done as nothing was taken. All that mattered was my little girl was safe. I fixed the door, fitted a heavy duty lock, and ordered a new alarm system to be fitted, using the money I'd been saving for a new TV. Dashie's safety was far more important to me.

I went back to Dashie's bedroom, and found her stirring in her sleep. I gently roused her, though she awoke with a start at the sight of me, and began kicking and flapping her wings.

“Hey, it's only me Dashie. You were having a bad dream. Come on, let's go read a story. How's that sound?” I said to her, and she nodded back. I placed her in my arms, and she let out a small yawn, and rested her head on my arm.

Dashie's Friend

It had been another stress filled day at work. The boss had decided we needed to do team building exercises, which I always hated as it meant interacting with the entire work force. I loathed having to talk to people for hours at a time. Still, the day was over now, and I could spend an evening with Dashie. I stepped in the front door, and prepared the usual evening meal, when I noticed Dashie wasn't in the living room.

“Dashie?” I called out loud, but there was no response. I washed my hands in the sink and went to see if she was taking a nap. I walked over to her bedroom door, and found it pushed shut. I gently nudged it open and went inside, finding the room rather dark as the curtains were still drawn. I saw Dashie's figure behind the curtain, her rainbow tail dangling over the edge of the windowsill. She appeared to be talking to herself, so I made sure she knew I was there.

“Hey Dashie, what are you looking at?”

“Shh!” She said in a whispered tone, while still looking straight ahead. I slowly walked over and pulled the edge of the curtain back to see what she was doing, only to see a stray cat running away. Dashie let out a discontented moan as it disappeared over the fence, out of sight.

“Were you watching the cat, Dashie?” I asked her, as she jumped down from the windowsill.

“Yeah! It looked really cool. Can I go out and play with it next time?” She said hurriedly, her voice squeaking.

“No, that's probably not a good idea, darling.” I replied solemnly. “It was a stray, so might be dangerous. You're better off staying away from it in future.”

She looked up at me and dropped her head, walking out into the living room. I hoped I hadn't upset her too much, but it had to be said. I went back out to the living room, only to find Dashie was now staring out the window by the front door, murmuring to herself. I decided to leave her to it while I finished making dinner.

“Dashie? Dinners ready.” I said to her as I sat down, placing her food on her favourite chair. She let out a sigh and jumped down from the window, slowly trotting over to her chair. She sat down and began to eat in silence.

“So, what did you do today, Dashie? Anything exciting?” I asked over a mouthful of food. She lifted her head to look at me and simply shook it from side to side, before carrying on eating. I turned on the TV hoping to cheer her up, but mainly to break the silence.

“Daddy, I'm lonely.” Dashie said suddenly. I turned to face her. She was now laying down on her stomach, curled around her plate, gently playing with her tail. I went and sat down next to her chair and gently stroked her mane.

“Why are you lonely Dashie? You've got me here.” I said, and began tickling her belly and underneath her wings. She squirmed and giggled, letting a smile spread across her face.

“I know Daddy, but I get lonely when you're not here. It gets scary sometimes too.” She said quietly. “That's why I was watching the cat, I wanted to let it in so I could play with it, and cuddle it. But I remembered the scary doggy, so I was watching it, to see if it was friendly.” She began to play with her tail again, stroking it with her hooves.

I was alarmed by Dashie's comments, but was glad she knew better than to let it in. However, I felt guilty as I watched Dashie sat alone, stroking her tail. I hadn't considered how much she needed a friend to talk to besides me. I had forgotten that just because I don't care to make friends, doesn't mean she would be the same.

I scooped her up in my arms and gently rocked her back and forth. She smiled at me, but still clutched her tail in her hooves. She eventually began to fall asleep as I rocked her back and forth, so I carried her to her bedroom and tucked her into bed. She awoke as I placed the covers over her, looking up at me expectantly.

“Don't worry Dashie, I'll sort out a friend for you. You get some sleep.” I kissed her gently on the head and turned out the light. Once I was sure she was sound asleep, I locked the house up and went out for a quick errand. I knew exactly what I was going to get her.

The next morning I snuck into Dashie's room, and gently woke her up. She rolled over, clutching her blanket in her hooves, she let out a yawn and smiled at me.

“Morning Daddy!” She said. “What's going on?”

“Come out into the living room Dashie, there's a friend waiting there for you!” I said to her. As soon as she heard the words, she leapt out of bed and ran into the living room, wings fluttering wildly. As soon as she got out there, she saw a box on the floor, and began to nudge it with her nose.

“What is it Daddy? Can I see?” She asked, running back and forth eagerly. I walked over to the box and gently lifted it up. Dashie's face went from excited to bemused.

“What's going on?” She said, scrunching her face up. I picked up the cuddly cat and placed it next to Dashie.

“Don't worry Dashie, this is just so you've got something to cuddle when you get lonely. Your real friend is over here!” I said, and walked over to a bigger box I had hidden behind the sofa. I carried it out and put it down in front of Dashie. Her eyes lit up as she looked at the tall box, and heard the sound of movement inside.

“Hehe, open it Daddy! Open it!” She said, sitting down on the floor, clutching her new cuddly toy in her hooves, a wide smile covering her face.

“Now, it might not be what you expected, but I'm sure you'll love it!” I said. Dashie looked at me, still smiling, and nodded her head.

I took hold of the string on top of the box, and slowly lifted it up, revealing a bright green parakeet sat in it's cage, hopping back and forth. Dashie walked closer to the cage and tilted her head, a mild look of confusion on her face.

“Hello?” She said, watching the bird tilt it's head in response. The parakeet began to chirp and whistle back at Dashie. “Hehe! Tweet! Tweet tweet!” Dashie said back, mimicking the parakeets voice. She smiled and began flapping her wings, the parakeet responded in kind, flapping her wings in the cage.

“This is a parakeet Dashie. She's going to be your new friend, but you need to think up a name for her! Any ideas?”

Dashie stood watching the bird, still smiling excitedly. “I'm gonna call her birdy!” She said, keeping her focus on her new friend, as she flew about in the cage.

“That's a lovely name for her, Dashie. But remember, she's delicate, so don't let her out of the cage, and don't jump about near her too much, she might get frightened!” Dashie nodded and walked around the cage quizzically. “Also, if you talk to her enough Dashie, she might learn to talk back, so make sure you spend enough time with her, okay?” She looked at me, smiling wider than before.

“It can talk back!?”

“Yes Dashie, it might take a while, but she could speak to you one day, so be nice!” I joked. Dashie leapt up into my arms and began rubbing her head on my neck.

“Yay! Thank you Daddy, thank you so much! I love her!” I kissed Dashie gently on the head, and put her back down on the floor by the cage.

“You're welcome darling. Now, you get to know Birdy, while I get ready for work.”

I went to the bedroom and dressed for work, hearing Dashie making tweeting and chriping noises from the living room. She seemed a lot happier, and I hoped she would feel comfortable home alone now. Who knows, maybe one day, she could fly around with Birdy.

Dashie's Day At The Office

It was a dark, cold night when Dashie woke up. She rolled over and looked at the clock she had next to her bed. It read twenty past eleven.

That's still the middle of the night! Dashie thought to herself, but she still got up. Daddy had to go to work late, so she had decided to wake up to say goodbye to him before he left. She climbed out of bed and dragged her blanket with her, wrapping it around her small body to shield herself from the cold.

Dashie walked quietly into her Daddy's bedroom, only to find he was still asleep in bed, wrapped up in his duvet. She didn't want to wake him up, but she didn't want to go back to bed without saying goodbye, either. She then looked around the room, and saw her Daddy's bag by the foot of the bed. Dashie walked over to the bag and climbed in, curling up with her blanket inside.

Daddy will be surprised to find me when he gets up! She thought as she lay hidden under her blanket. She giggled excitedly, unable to wait to jump out and surprise him, his little Dashie waving goodbye from inside his bag. She let out a little yawn while she waited, hoping he would get up soon. She was never usually awake at this time, and didn't know how long it would be until he got up. She decided to sleep for a bit, hoping she would wake up when she heard Daddy's alarm clock.

When Dashie woke up, she heard a funny droning noise she had never heard before. She lifted her head out from underneath her blanket, and looked around, only to see that the bag had been closed with her inside. She squirmed about and managed to make a big enough gap to poke her head out of the bag to see what was going on. She looked around and saw the night sky and bright orange street lights speeding past the car window. Dashie then saw her Daddy sat in front of her, looking ahead.

Daddy didn't see me! She realised, aware she was in his car, on the way to work with him. She wanted to speak up so he knew she was there, but she didn't want to get in trouble with him, or make him late for work. She pulled her head back into the bag and kept watching the orange lights speeding past, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble for hiding. Dashie rested her head back down under her blanket and went back to sleep, hoping she'd be able to stay hidden.

Dashie woke up with a start as she hit the floor with a thump. “Oww” she muttered under her breath, rubbing her flank with her fore hooves. She lifted her head up to the opening of the bag again and peeked out, this time seeing a different sight to before. Around her was a plain blue carpet, and lots of desks. It looked different, and Dashie felt lost as she looked around the foreign place.

Her rump was still aching, and she wanted Daddy to stroke her mane until she felt better. She looked forward again, and then saw a pair of feet dangling in front of her, the persons face obscured by a desk.

Daddy! She thought to herself, and cautiously crawled out towards them, to make sure he was still nearby. Having him nearby made Dashie feel safer, and maybe he'd forgive her after all.

As she reached the feet, she looked up, only to see a blonde haired woman sat at the desk, looking straight ahead. Dashie recoiled sharply and climbed back into the bag before the person saw her. She began quivering in the bag, curling up under her blanket, clutching her tail between her hooves.

Where was Daddy? She wondered, scared by the stranger in front of her. She turned around and looked out the other side, watching for people, when a pair of legs suddenly appeared in front of her, startling her into pulling back sharply into the bag. She eventually got the courage up to climb out of the bag again, and crawled forwards to see who it was, only to see her Daddy! Relief washed over her, and she smiled widely as she saw his familiar face. She crept closer, and gripped the end of his shoelace in her mouth. It felt damp and gritty between her teeth, an odd taste of dirt on her tongue. She was about to pull on it to get his attention, when it was yanked sharply from between her teeth as he stood up and walked off.

Dashie let out a little sigh as she watched him walk away again. All she wanted was a cuddle, to let him know she was there, to be reassured by his comforting grip. As she stood waiting for him to return, she realised how cold it was in the office. She reached into the bag and pulled her blanket out, wrapping it around herself again, laying down on the floor. As she lay waiting, her stomach grumbled loudly, she quickly placed her hooves over her belly to muffle the sound. She hadn't eaten for a while, and was hungrier than she had expected.

Maybe Daddy has some food in his bag! She thought to herself, and she quickly turned to the bag and began rummaging around inside, trying to find something to eat. Unfortunately, it was void of anything edible.

“Humph.” She said, sitting down, but not before quickly leaping back up, stifling a yelp as her flank throbbed from her bruise. After a few minutes she could stand it no longer, her stomach growling furiously, she had to find something to eat. She made sure her blanket was tightly wrapped around her, and checked no one was around. She then darted quickly out from under the desk and ran in the same direction she'd seen her Daddy go in, hoping she could find him.

Dashie ran down the corridor as quickly as she could, past several closed doors, fortunately there wasn't anyone about, but she couldn't find her Daddy either. She kept running, but stopped suddenly when she spotted a kitchen to her right. She peered around the corner to make sure no one was inside, and then darted in quickly. Sat before her on the counter was a massive bowl of fruit. Her face lit up at the sight of it all, as she quickly clambered up to it.

Dashie had picked up an apple and was almost done eating, when she heard voices coming down the hall. Her ears perked up, and the filly dropped the apple mid bite. She looked around frantically, noticing a cupboard open in the corner. She picked up another apple in her mouth, and leapt onto the floor, running into the cupboard, she dropped the apple inside, and pulled the door shut behind her just in time, as two tall men entered.

Dashie cowered at the back of the cupboard, she sighed quietly, and wrapped herself up in her blanket out of sight, hoping she wouldn't be found. She began to tremble as the two men stood outside of her cupboard, talking and laughing. She clenched her eyes shut, and placed her hooves over her ears to block out the sound.

When she woke up It was pitch black around her. Dashie slowly crawled to the cupboard door, and nudged it open, peering into the darkness. There was no one around, so she stepped out the cupboard into the kitchen, the lights overhead flickered into life as she did so, slowly illuminating the room around her.

She stood in the kitchen, looking around, and climbed back onto the counter to see what else there was to eat. She walked over to a tub of coffee, and sniffed it inquisitively, before taking a mouthful.

“Bleh!” She cried out, and began spitting onto the worktop. She trotted to the sink, and turned the tap on, washing her tongue under the stream of water. That was horrible! She thought to herself, wondering what it was, until she was distracted by a vending machine full of chocolate bars.

Barely containing herself, she leapt off the counter, and ran over to it full speed and stood wide eyed, gazing up at all of the sweet treats inside. She smiled widely, letting out a gasp at the sight, licking her lips in anticipation of the treats that sat before her.

Dashie stood on her hind legs and leant against the machine to get a closer look, when she accidentally pushed in the door on it, and fell inside the machine, her blanket falling off her back in the process. Once in, she reached up and grabbed the lowest chocolate bar she could reach from the rack, pulling it free. She sat down inside the machine and began tearing it open with her teeth, chomping into the chocolate bar right there, savouring every bite.

“Teehee, this is yummy!” She said aloud as she ate the chocolate bar, before reaching up for another. Her Daddy never let her have chocolate at home, so she took the chance to eat as much as she could while she had the chance. Dashie sat inside the machine, eating bar after bar of chocolate, having forgotten all about where she was. She reached up and grabbed another chocolate bar, when a hand reached in the drawer and grabbed her by the belly, pulling her out of the machine.

“Ahhh!” She screamed, and began kicking and flapping her wings, her blanket was suddenly wrapped around her body. She began to panic, until she heard a familiar voice shushing her. She was soon put down, and shook the blanket off her body, ready to run away, when she looked up and saw Daddy looking at her from the drivers seat of his car.

“Shush Dashie, it's only me. Come on, let's get you home.” He said, and stroked her mane gently. She shied away from him, lowering her head.

“Sorry Daddy. I didn't mean to come to work, I fell asleep in your bag.” She said, her voice timid.

“It's okay Dashie, don't worry. I should have checked you were safe before I left home. But next time, don't run off on your own, okay? Just stay where you are, and I'll find you.”

“Yes Daddy...” she said meekly. “I just, I came to find you, and I got distracted.” She licked her lips, a sly smile sneaking past her frown.

“It's okay, come on. You need to get home and go back to bed, it's way past your bed time, and you've eaten too much chocolate for a little filly.” He said, as he reached across and put the seatbelt around her small body. “Now you just sit tight, and I'll get you back to bed.”

He drove her home, while she sat quietly in the passenger seat, looking up at the stars in the night sky. He carried her indoors and put her back to bed, tucking her in tightly before returning to work. Dashie lay in bed looking up at the ceiling, and couldn't help but feel excited about her day in the office, even if it was scary, and made her Daddy cross.

I want to go out to more new places. She thought, as she drifted off to sleep.

Dashie's Flight

It had been a long day when I arrived home. I walked in the door, dropping my bag as soon as I got in. I let out a heavy sigh.

“Dashie! Dashie, I'm home!” I called out, getting no response. “Dashie?” I called again, making my way to the bedroom to find her.

As I got closer, I heard the sound of an electric fan whirring, and Dashie's friend Birdy, chirping loudly. I opened the door to her room, finding it empty. The sound was coming from my bedroom. I opened the door and stepped in, only to see my large electric fan spinning at full speed, while Dashie stood up in front of it bracing herself, her eyes clenched shut, as she leant into the wind. Her wings were flapping violently, blowing about from the force as she struggled to keep them open.

I quickly reached to the plug socket and turned it off. As I did so, Dashie opened her eyes, bemused at why the fan had stopped. She walked close to it to try and work out why, when I coughed to get her attention. She turned with a start at seeing me, before trotting over smiling.

“Hi Daddy! How was your day?” she asked happily, all the while her wings were twitching upon her back.

“Fine, thank you Dashie. How was yours? what are you up to in here?” I asked her.

“It was fun Daddy, me and Birdy were bored so we decided to play explorers!” she said gleefully, as she trotted over to Birdy's cage, grabbing the handle of the cart it sat on, and began pulling it behind her.

I had bought a cart to stand the cage on so Dashie could move her friend around the house with her, but it was something I was starting to regret. She had been taking her everywhere. Dashie began pulling the cart behind her into the living room, trotting away happily. I checked nothing had been broken in my room, and followed her back into the living room, as she stopped the cart by the sofa and sat down on her chair.

“What were you up to with the fan Dashie? It's a dangerous thing, not a toy to be played with.”

She looked at me and blinked, her lips slowly lowering into a frown. She turned away from me, before turning the TV on using the remote, pressing the button gingerly using her hoof. She sat down and focused intently on the TV. I walked over and sat down next to Dashie, turning the TV off before putting the remote in my pocket.

“Dashie. Were you trying to learn to fly, is that it?” I asked outright. She suddenly turned straight to face me and stared. “Well?” I said as she kept on staring, her wings still twitching all the while.

“Yes Daddy. I thought maybe it could make my wings stronger if I stood in front of it,” she said timidly.

“Did it work? I notice your wings are twitching a lot more than usual!”

Dashie stopped and looked at her wings before stretching them out on her back, flapping them vigorously, she began to blow some of her pieces of drawing paper off the coffee table and around the room. Her wings emitted a sharp whooshing noise as they cut through the air. I reached out and patted her head to get her to stop.

“Well done Dashie! That's amazing!” I said, as I squeezed her tightly in a warm embrace, she smiled brightly as I did so.

“Thanks Daddy!” she said, her voice squeaking highly. “I've been trying to learn to fly for a few weeks now, but I still can't fly completely.” She lowered her head and folded her wings away.

“Why didn't you tell me Dashie? I could have helped you, or made sure you stayed safe!” I said, feeling heavily concerned for the risks she might have been taking.

“I'm sorry Daddy,” she said. “I didn't say as I didn't want to upset you in case I couldn't do it. But Birdy made me want to fly more, so I kept on trying.”

I felt saddened she had felt the need to hide it from me, but I was glad she hadn't hurt herself before now. I decided I had to help her master flight, as she kept her head lowered sadly, and decided I had to help her out.

“Wait here Dashie, I'm going to get you some safety equipment.” I got up and went to the bedroom, fetching my duvet and pillows, I placed them on the living room floor, as well as a few sofa cushions. “Let's get some more practice in, shall we?” I asked, only to see her nod happily and jump off the sofa, landing next to me on the floor.

I moved Birdy to the kitchen so she wouldn't get hurt during our attempts. I then returned to Dashie, who was sat on the floor, flapping her wings with reluctance.

“What's the matter Dashie? I thought you were excited to try this?”

She looked up at me, her eyes dropping. “What If I get it wrong Daddy?” she replied meekly. I bent down and picked her up in my arms, holding her tightly.

“Hey, you won't get it wrong Dashie. And it doesn't matter if you do, as you'll have tried your best, and I can't ask for any more from you than that. Don't worry Dashie, you'll be safe with me, and you won't have a scratch on you. I promise.”

I smiled at her in my arms, and she smiled back, nodding her head. I bent down and put her back on the floor. She soon began stretching her wings with more confidence than before, smiling eagerly as she did so.

“Ready Dashie?” I asked, to which she nodded back at me. I bent down and picked Dashie up under the stomach, and lifted her up about four foot off the floor, over the cushions below. “Now, I want you to flap your wings, and I'll slowly lower my hands, okay? I'll catch you if you fall, so don't panic!”

Dashie nodded, took a deep breath, and opened her wings as wide as she could. They were still small, but looked big enough to support her weight. She then began to flap her wings while I held onto her. She giggled loudly as she flapped harder and harder, the breeze blowing her mane about, a blur of colours trailing behind her, all the while I struggled to keep my eyes focused as she flapped hard, the wind blowing into my eyes.

“That's it Dashie, keep going!” I said, raising my voice to be heard. She flapped harder and harder still, until I realised I was no longer holding Dashie's weight, but holding her down, stopping her from flying out of my grip.

As she kept flapping, I slowly loosened my grip so I wasn't touching Dashie's body any more, but had them ready to catch her if she fell. As I let go, she began to lift higher than I had been holding her, before slowly flying in place. I lowered my hands entirely, and she still remained aloft. It was nerve wrecking, I felt my heart racing a mile a minute as Dashie flew by herself, four feet off the ground, without any help. My heart was in my mouth, my stomach churned, I was drenched in sweat as I stood ready to catch her in case she fell.

But she never did. She kept flying and giggling, so I decided to show her she was doing it on her own. I cautiously walked around and stood in front of her, and smiled widely at her as she kept flapping her wings. She saw me, and a look of panic and confusion washed across her face. She looked down to see I definitely wasn't holding her. I panicked at that point, afraid she'd get scared and stop flapping, falling suddenly.

Instead she smiled even wider than before, and giggled loudly. “Daddy! I'm flying!” She cheered, as she kicked her hooves freely in the air below her.

“You sure are Dashie! I'm so proud of you!” I said, fighting back the tears that were streaming down my cheeks.

She didn't look tired, and kept flapping her wings, before leaning forward. She began to fly towards the hall, slowly learning how to manoeuvre in the air. I followed her hurriedly, ready to catch her if she got it wrong, but she still managed to keep herself up. I followed her around the house for another five minutes, my heart racing, before she decided to land slowly on my bed.

As soon as she touched down, she exhaled heavily and sharply. She had been as nervous as me, but she hadn't shown it. I leapt onto the bed and lay down next to her, gripping her in my arms, hugging her as tight as I could without hurting her. I never wanted to let her go.

“Hehe, Daddy! I flew!” she cheered, and all I could do was to smile on at her, tears still running down my cheeks. “Daddy? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?” she said sadly, after seeing the tears streaming down my face.

“No, Dashie. Not at all. You just did so brilliantly, and I'm so happy for you right now!” I said, no longer trying to hide the tears. I was too happy right at that moment. “I'm so proud of you. Come on, let's go get you a special treat!”

I picked her up, and carried her to the living room, replacing the sofa cushions before setting her down. I went to the kitchen and prepared her the largest bowl of ice cream possible, and sat down next to her again. I put the bowl in front of her, only to see her look up at me, wide eyed and beaming.

“Is this all for me, Daddy?” she asked inquisitively.

“Yes Dashie. Every last drop. You earnt it today for flying so brilliantly. I'm just so proud of you right now!” I rubbed her head, and she smiled happily before eagerly plunging head first into the bowl of ice cream before her.

I sat next to her, gently stroking her tail and massaging her wings while she ate her ice cream. I wanted to make sure she was well rested after her first flight. My heart rate slowly lowered, but I still felt like it was going a mile a minute. She lifted her head up to look at me, smiling wide, ice cream all over her face. I knew I'd have to wash her later, but I didn't mind at all.

“I'm so proud of you Dashie. Just promise you'll never fly outside without me around, okay?”

“Yes Daddy!” she said cheerfully. “I will only fly when you're here, I don't want to get blown away!” she giggled and went head first back into her ice cream, licking the bowl clean.

Dashie's First Christmas

“Daddy? What's Christmas?” Dashie asked me one morning during breakfast, her mouth full of porridge.

“Where did you hear about that, Dashie?” I responded, intrigued how she knew about our yearly holidays.

“They keep mentioning it on the TV, saying it's coming, and we need to give stuff to people. Does this mean I have to give away my toys, Daddy? I like my toys...” she said solemnly, lowering her head, looking into her bowl of porridge.

“No Dashie, not at all! They just want you to buy stuff to give to other people as presents, that's all they mean. Don't you worry your little head about it, you can keep your toys.” I said to her, smiling. I reached over and ruffled her mane, causing her to smile back happily.

“So what is Christmas, Daddy? Are we doing Christmas?” she said, furrowing her brow trying to understand.

I sat looking at her and thought about it. I had never really told Dashie about Christmas before, as I hadn't celebrated it for years, not since the passing of my parents. After that, well I never had anyone to celebrate it with, it felt pointless. Truth be told, I'd almost entirely forgotten about it, just another passing holiday. Except I have Dashie now. I hadn't considered doing Christmas at all, until she mentioned it.

Another important question was how to explain Christmas to Dashie. I could hardly explain to her about Jesus Christ, or how we celebrate his birthday by giving presents to each other. I don't want my Dashie learning about religion, it would only confuse her.

Dashie sat on the other side of the table, still looking at me, waiting for an answer.

“Christmas is just a time that comes once a year in December, where we celebrate the passing year by giving each other presents to show how we care for each other. It's kind of like a birthday, except everyone gets a present,” I said. Dashie's eyes lit up at the prospect, her ears perked up and her mouth dropped agape. “And we are celebrating it this year Dashie, so we'd better start preparing. It's Christmas eve in five days!”

She cheered happily at the idea and flew out of her chair, kicking her hooves in the air in excitement. She flapped her wings and drifted over to me, landing in my arms. I held her tightly as she nuzzled her snout against my neck.

“Yay! Thank you Daddy!” she said excitedly. “What do we do then? Do I need to get you a present?” she continued, speaking frantically in excitement.

“Yes Dashie, that's the idea of Christmas. But don't you worry, I’ll sort it all out. I'll go out in a minute and get the stuff we need, so we can have a wonderful time. You just play as usual, until I get back, okay?”

“Okay Daddy!” she replied eagerly. I picked her up and put her back down on the floor, watching her run off to her bedroom to tell Birdy all about Christmas. I dressed to go out and left Dashie playing.

I came home a couple of hours later, arms laden with Christmas decorations and cheer. I dropped the bags on the living room floor and began to unpack. I went back to the car and carried in the Christmas tree I'd bought, setting it up in the corner of the living room. It stood roughly six foot tall, and just seeing it brought back fond memories of my childhood.

“Dashie? Dashie, do you want to come help decorate?” I called out to her. After a minute she appeared from her bedroom, trotting happily out to see me. She stood before me and looked up, smiling widely.

“What are we decorating, Daddy? Is this the stuff?” she said, plunging her head into a bag full of boxed decorations.

I bent down and placed my hand under her chin, and lifted her head out of the bag, before motioning to the tree that stood behind her. She turned around and let out a gasp at the sight of it, before tilting her head trying to understand.

“Why is there a tree in the living room?” she said confusedly, trotting over to it and sniffing it, before biting one of the branches. She quickly spat it back out. “Bluergh! It's sharp and pointy!” she said, turning back to face me, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she spat out the loose pine needles. I laughed at her expression as she rubbed her tongue with her hooves.

“We celebrate Christmas by putting a Christmas tree in our houses, Dashie! We then decorate it with lots of bits and pieces to make it look nicer. So, do you want to help me?”

“I think it looks nice as it is Daddy! I like having a tree in the living room!” she replied, as she began to poke around underneath the branches. “It smells really nice too!”

“It does, doesn't it? Now come on, let's start making it look really festive! You'll love it even more when we're done!”

I bent down and unpacked several of the items I'd bought; tinsel, baubles, a series of lights, a star for the top, as well as several bits of ribbon and other trinkets. Dashie soon ran over and began inspecting what I'd bought. She nudged the baubles and laughed as it began to roll away from her. She started chasing it around the floor, kicking it around.

“Here you go Dashie, this is tinsel. You take this end, and I'll take this one. We'll wrap it around the tree, okay?”

She nodded back at me, and walked over, grabbing hold of her end in-between her mouth, giggling as it tickled her nose. Dashie let out a sudden sneeze and sent her end flying across the room.

“Hehe! I'll get it!” she said, and ran after it to pick her end up again.

I bent down at the base of the tree and wrapped the tinsel around the lower branches, and turned to Dashie, only to see her poking her end into the lower branches as well, leaving it hanging slack on the floor.

“It goes around the entire tree, Dashie! I was thinking, you could hold it in your mouth and fly around the tree, wrapping it all the way to the top! Can you do that for me?” I asked. She nodded back and quickly flew off the floor, tinsel trailing behind her like a long, silvery mane.

She soon flew around and around the tree, going higher and higher. I had to untangle it in a few places, but it wasn't long until she reached the top and let go. She landed back down next to my feet, and admired the tree. She looked up and smiled, quickly trotting off to get more tinsel to wrap around it. I left her to it, while I put on the other, more fiddly decorations, including the delicate lights.

After an hour of decorating, the tree was almost done. Baubles hung about neatly while the tinsel trailed around it beautifully. I bent down next to Dashie; who was sitting on the floor, resting her wings.

“Nice work, Dashie! It looks fantastic, thanks to your effort!” I said cheerily, as I stroked her mane. “However, there's one more decoration that needs doing, and I was hoping you could do it, so long as your wings aren't too tired.”

Dashie looked up at me, smiling. She flicked her wings out and flapped them quickly, blowing my hair about on my head. I smiled and took that as a yes. I pulled out the silver star from the bag, and gave it to Dashie.

“This star goes on the very top branch. Can you fly up there and place it on the top?”

She looked at me, nodded her head and gripped the star in her hooves, flying up to the top of the tree, before delicately dropping the star onto it.

“Done!” she cheered, and flew laps around the tree, before landing to rest on the sofa. She lay down, breathing heavily.

“Here Dashie, have a drink, or you'll be ill,” I said, as I fetched a glass of water.

She drank heavily, and gasped for air after downing the glass in one gulp. “Thank you, Daddy, that was hard work!” she said, before laying back down again, resting her wings.

I carried on decorating the rest of the living room, when I turned around to see Dashie fast asleep on the sofa. I took this as the chance to bring the rest of the stuff in from the car, mainly her presents. I crept out the door and gently shut it, before bringing the rest of the bags in. I snuck them past while she slept, and began wrapping them in the bedroom.

About an hour, I had just finished wrapping, when I heard the sound of hoof steps approaching my bedroom door. I quickly hid the last present under the bed, just as Dashie burst through the door.

“Hi Daddy!” she said cheerily, “What are you doing in here?” She looked at the wrapping paper on the floor, and poked it with her nose. “What's this for, Daddy?”

“It's for wrapping presents in, Dashie! Come on, let's go and have some dinner, you must be starving after all your hard work!” I said, trying to stop her seeing her wrapped presents. I quickly picked her up and carried her out of the room before she could see, though she kept trying to peer over my shoulder to see what I had been doing.

I put Dashie down on the sofa and made a quick meal, before sitting down next to Dashie. We ate our usual dinner, watching TV when I realised I hadn't turned on the Christmas tree lights. I got up and walked over to the plug socket, as Dashie watched me. As soon as I flicked the switch, the tree came alive with bright, colourful lights twinkling all over the tree.

“Oooh! I like that!” Dashie said, looking at the tree lit up beautifully.

I walked back over to the sofa and sat down, to finish my meal. Dashie however was mesmerised by the tree and couldn't stop staring.

“Finish your food first, then you can watch the tree after dinner,” I said. She reluctantly turned back to her plate and gobbled the lot, before darting off the chair and sitting down in front of the Christmas tree, eyes focusing on the lights as they changed colour.

I finished eating and went to wash up, walking past Dashie, who still sat in front of the tree, amazed at how pretty it looked. I washed up on my own, leaving Dashie to enjoy the festive season.

“Are you going to sit around the tree until Christmas day? Because then the presents won't appear under the tree!” I joked. Dashie smiled as I mentioned presents, until her face changed to a look of panic. She let out a gasp and suddenly darted down the hall. I heard a rustling sound, and then her bedroom door being shut.

“What's the matter, Dashie?” I said, walking towards her bedroom, knocking gently on the door. “Dashie? Are you alright?”

“Yes Daddy!” she said from behind the door. “I just need to do something quickly, I'll be out in a minute!”

I left her to it, after all, I had a pretty good idea what she was up to. I went back to the living room and tided up after Dashie. After half an hour she trotted back out of the bedroom, smiling happily and talking to herself.

“Everything okay, Dashie?”

“Yep!” she replied, giggling quietly to herself.

“Err, Dashie. You've got something stuck in your tail,” I said, holding back a laugh. She turned around to see, only for her tail to elude her. She chased it around for a few seconds, before realising she could sit down and reach her tail. She grasped it in her hooves, and pulled out a piece of sellotape with her teeth, before spitting it out onto the floor. She began to blush when she realised I was still watching.

“Huh, must have happened when you came into my bedroom, right, Dashie?” I said, winking at her. She nodded her head and quickly trotted over to the sofa and turned on the TV, pretending it didn't happen.

I woke up on Christmas day to the sound of Dashie calling my name loudly from her bedroom. I rolled over to the clock, noticing it was only half past six in the morning.

“Daddy! Daddy, Daddy, come quickly!” Dashie continued calling. I leapt out of bed, only to find her head first inside a pillow case on the end of her bed. “Daddy! I woke up and this was on my bed, and it's full of sweets and fruit! Is it all for me?” she asked, her voice muffled by the fabric.

I laughed at the sight of her little legs and rainbow tail sticking out of the case, waggling about excitedly.

“Yes, Dashie! It's all for you! Clearly you've been a good girl, and earnt your presents!” I said, as I held her by the legs and pulled her out of the bag. She came out with half an orange in her mouth, the juices dribbling down her chin.

“Mmmm! It's yummy, Daddy! Did you want an orange?” she asked, dropping her orange onto the bed. She reached into the case for another one, climbing out with it between her teeth. She dropped it onto the bed, and nudged it with her foot. “Here you go!”

I sat down on the bed and peeled the orange, placing a few pieces in my mouth. Dashie sat next to me and ate hers messily, spraying juice everywhere. I couldn't help but smile at how happy she was, for receiving a simple orange.

“Merry Christmas, Dashie!” I said, playfully ruffling her mane. She swallowed a piece of orange and hugged me tight.

“Merry Christmas, Daddy! I love my presents!” she said, her face beaming with joy. I looked around the bed, noticing orange peels and a few sweet wrappers.

“Dashie? I think there's something else inside the pillow case that you haven't found yet!”

She looked at me blank faced, and suddenly leapt head first into the bag again, her hooves frantically groping around looking for something new. She suddenly stopped moving and gasped, before squirming and wriggling her way back out again. In her mouth was a small parcel, wrapped in colourful paper.

Dashie sat down and held it in her hooves, before looking up to me, tears ran down her cheeks in excitement.

“Is this also for me, Daddy?” she asked.

“I dunno Dashie, you better read the tag on it!” I said, pointing to a label attached to it. I turned it over for Dashie to read.

“To Dashie ... From Daddy,” she said aloud, and leapt into my arms again. “Yay! Thank you Daddy, thank you!” she cheered, her wings fluttering wildly on her back.

“Well, you better open it and see what you've got then, hadn't you?” I joked.

She flew out of my arms and practically fell onto the bed, bouncing on the mattress. She tore her present open with her teeth, her eyes grew wide when she saw her present. Inside was a small toy car; bright blue with red stripes, with her initials stencilled onto the car. Dashie squeaked happily at it and leapt into my arms again.

“I love it!” she squeaked loudly, and flew onto the floor, running over to Birdy's cage. “Look, Birdy! I got a new toy car!” she said, holding it up to her friend. She then sat down and began to push it about on the bedroom floor, watching it slide across the carpet and hitting the wall.

“Hehe!” she giggled, running over to it, and pushing it back the way it came.

“Well Dashie, do you want some breakfast, or are you full up with oranges and sweets?”

She rubbed her belly and shook her head from side to side.

“I'm still hungry! Can we have pancakes please?” she asked happily, jumping up and down, her wings flapping. I nodded my head.

“Sure we can, come on, let's go eat!”

Dashie pushed her car out the bedroom door and chased after it, running into the living room. I stood waiting for a minute, when I heard Dashie squeal in excitement, as I'd expected.

“Daddy! Daddy! Come quickly!”

I stepped out the bedroom door, only for Dashie to run back in and under my feet in a split second. She ran around me, and began pushing the backs of my legs with her head.

“Daddy! It's amazing, come look!” she said rapidly, biting the leg of my trousers, pulling on them. I walked into the living room and faced the Christmas tree, looking at all the presents I'd put under it for Dashie. They completely surrounded the tree, and to her, probably appeared endless.

“Are all these for me, Daddy?” she asked, looking up at me.

“Yes, Dashie. I think so!” I said to her. She hugged my legs as tightly as she could, and ran over to the tree, leaning against the boxes, climbing over them trying to see what they might be. I felt incredibly happy seeing Dashie enjoying herself. I missed this feeling of happiness on Christmas, and I was glad Dashie was enjoying it with me. I walked over to the kitchen to begin preparing food, when I heard the sound of paper being torn.

“Dashie, we're not opening presents just yet! Come have some breakfast first, then you can open them!”

Despite my instructions, I still heard the sound of paper being torn. I walked to the tree and saw a rainbow tail and a blue flank waggling about between two of the larger boxes. I reached down and grabbed her mane, lifting her out. She squirmed about and quickly flapped her wings to take the pressure off her mane. I adjusted my grip so she rested in my arms comfortably.

“Daddy! I want to open my presents!” she squealed, looking forlornly at me.

“Breakfast first, Dashie. Your presents will still be there! Besides, you wanted pancakes, didn't you?”

Dashie looked at the tree, then turned to face me again, licking her lips.

“Hehe, okay Daddy, I do want some pancakes!” she giggled.

I put her down on the floor again, and went to the kitchen to finish making breakfast, while she ran about the living room floor with her new toy car, pushing it around under the sofa and bumping it into walls.

As I made pancakes, I glimpsed out the kitchen window, only to notice it had snowed overnight. I couldn't wait to take Dashie outside to play in the snow after opening presents. She's never seen snow before, so it should be a fun experience for her. After a few more minutes, the pancakes were ready. I turned to call Dashie, only to find her sat around the tree, gently poking each present with her hoof.

“Dashie! Breakfast is done!” I said, carrying a plate of pancakes over to the sofa. I put it down next to Dashie's favourite spot, as well as a large plate of different fruits and syrups for her to put on her pancakes. She leapt onto the sofa and smiled widely when she saw her breakfast.

“Is all of this for me, Daddy?” she said, piling fruit onto each pancake.

“Yes Dashie, it's all yours. Eat up, you'll need your strength when we go outside later on.”

She looked at me and tilted her head in confusion, before turning to look out the nearest window. She furrowed her brow when she saw the snow falling, and got up to go take a closer look.

“Daddy! The grounds all white outside!”

“Yes, Dashie. That's snow, we get it some times during winter. It's frozen water, and it's light and fluffy. We can go outside and play in it later on if you'd like?” I said as Dashie trotted back to her pancakes.

“Okay Daddy!” she replied, before munching more of her pancakes, constantly glancing at the Christmas tree and the presents underneath.

After breakfast was finished, Dashie darted over to the pile of presents again and began running around excitedly, eager to open every one. I went and sat down next to her, ready to open them all.

“Here you go Dashie, your first present!” I said, as I pulled out a small Santa hat I had hidden behind the tree, and placed it on Dashie's head. Dashie looked up to try and see the hat without success, so she quickly trotted over to the TV and looked in the reflection of the glass to see it.

“Oooh, I like this!” she giggled, and began shaking her head about, making the hat wobble back and forth. She trotted back quickly and clapped her hooves together when she saw me put on mine. I smiled, and then looked at the massive pile of presents.

“So, which one do you want to open first then, Dashie?” I asked, only to see Dashie dart quickly under the tree, running between several of the boxes. She ran all the way to the back and started pushing out a small box I hadn't seen. She pushed it out and stopped it in front of me. The box was covered in shreds of wrapping paper and sellotape, slightly crushed and dented.

“Is this one for me, Dashie?” I asked, amazed I hadn't seen it the night before.

“Yep!” She grinned. “I put it out last night, but it got hidden by all of these presents this morning, so I was looking for it earlier. I hope you like it, Daddy.”

I couldn't believe how much attention Dashie had put into giving me a present, even wrapping it and hiding it for me to find. As I looked down at it, I felt a tear in the corner of my eye. This was the first present I'd been given in years. My darling Dashie was sitting in front of me, smiling widely, waiting for me to open it, just so she could see how happy It made me. She wanted to see me happy before herself.

I leant forward and gave her a big hug as tears ran down my face. She began to laugh as she hugged me back.

“You've not opened it yet, Daddy! You'll like what's inside!”

“Just the fact you've given me a present is enough to make me happy, Dashie. Thank you so much.”

I put her back down on the floor and rubbed her head playfully again, before turning to my present. I picked it up and gently shook it to work out what it was, but also to make Dashie even more excited. I slowly began to tear the paper away, until I was left with an old, tattered box.

I slowly tore open the box, and pulled out a massive stack of paper, covered in drawings. I picked up the one on the top. It was a drawing of a Christmas tree with myself and Dashie decorating it. I picked up the next one, to see another drawing of Dashie flying in my arms. I flicked through the entire box. It was full of pictures Dashie had drawn, of all the fun times we'd spent together.

“Dashie, I love it!” I said tearfully. “This means so much to me that you drew all of these for me. I'm going to cherish them forever.” I leant over to her and gave her another hug.

“I'm glad you like them, Daddy! These are all the pictures of the fun times we had, and I thought you might like to have them!”

“I do, Dashie. I really do. I'm going to put them in a photo album, so we can both look at them everyday.” I replied, fighting back tears.

I picked up the one on the bottom and noticed it was a picture of Dashie sitting on my sofa the first night I brought her home. Around her was her favourite blanket I had first given to her. She had a big smile in the picture, and a heart around her head, while I was sitting on the sofa next to her, feeding her bits of carrot. I felt my eyes water again and my heart ache, as I remembered the night I brought her home, how scared she was, and how she grew to trust me. How much she had grown up already. How much I loved her.

“Come on then, Dashie. Let's open some of yours now!” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes, as I carefully put my present to one side, cherishing it.

I picked up the largest box to hand, and put it in front of Dashie, completely blocking her from view. She poked her head around the side of the box and grinned.

“This giant one is all for me!?” she said happily. I nodded, only for her to dive straight into it and begin shredding the box and wrapping paper off.

Dashie soon got in a mess and was covered in all the wrapping paper, and couldn't see the present itself. I laughed and lent over to help her out, lifting the paper off her body. She gave me a thankful look, before running over to her present. She tilted her head trying to read the words.

“scale...lec...trix? What's that, Daddy?” she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. I unpacked it in front of her, and she soon grew excited when she saw it contained small cars.

“It's a racing game Dashie, you put the cars on a model track, and you race them around in a circle! I'll set it up for you in a bit and we can play later. Come on, let's open another present!” I picked up another box from under the tree and pushed it over to Dashie, who began shredding the paper with her teeth.

While she tore away at the box, I set the scalectix set up around the living room, going under the sofa and around the coffee table. She kept on watching me excitedly, unable to decide whether to join me, or continue opening presents. She turned back to her current box, and tipped it over with her hoof, a large red ball rolling out of it.

Dashie giggled loudly and chased after the ball, nudging it about with her hooves and nose. She bounced it past me and began chasing it, when she stopped and saw the scalectrix was almost done.

“Can we play with it now, Daddy?” she asked gleefully. I nodded my head, and placed the car's down, handing Dashie the controller. She struggled to work it at first, before managing to hold it down with her hoof.

Dashie had the red Ferrari, and I took the blue one. We raced them around the track, while I let Dashie win a few times to make sure she enjoyed herself. Every time we got to a corner however, she went too fast and her car flew off the track. She just laughed and ran after it, picking it up and bringing it back to me.

We kept racing for a half hour, until I noticed Dashie still had one present left under the tree. I picked it up and gave it to her, watching her eyes light up when she saw it.

“That's mine as well?” she said, looking at the large box, a bow sat on top if it. I simply nodded and held the ribbon out to her, letting her untie it. She let the box fall open and looked inside at the car that sat in the box. As she sat staring at it, I secretly pressed the controller I hid behind my back, causing it to race out of the box. Dashie was startled by it at first and ran away, before realising I was controlling it.

“It's a remote control car, Dashie. Look, you control it with this!” I said, handing her the controller. She looked at it, and nudged the sticks with her hoof, watching in glee as the car sped forwards across the floor. She giggled and pressed it harder, making it speed into a nearby wall with a loud thump.

“Hehe!” she laughed, and ran over to it to push it back from the wall. I simply reversed it as she got close, causing her to jump again. She then noticed I was controlling it, and ran back to take over. She pushed the sticks with one hoof, and tried to steer with the over. It took her some doing, but she got the hang of it and began to drive it around the sofa, using it to bump her red ball around the room.

“This is great, thanks Daddy!” she said, stopping for a minute to give me a hug. I hugged her back tightly, and looked out the window, noticing it was still snowing heavily.

“Hey Dashie, want to go outside in the snow now?” I asked her, causing her to look up at me, blank faced. She turned back to her toys, and then looked at me again. “Come on, Dashie. You can play with your toys this evening, but we can only play outside while it's still daylight!”

Dashie looked up at me, a large smile spread across her face and she nodded.

“Okay, Daddy!” she said, as she stood up and ran over to the back door. I went to the coat rack and put on my heavy duty coat.

“Now, Dashie, it’ll be cold, so if you start getting cold, we can come back inside, okay?” I said, turning around to face her. She looked back at me and nodded eagerly again. I walked over to the door and opened it, feeling the brisk air blowing against my face. I looked down to Dashie, who was suddenly standing reluctantly at the door, looking out into the garden.

The snow fall had been a lot heavier than I had expected, and it loomed over Dashie's head. She looked up to me, unsure on what to do. I bent down and stroked her mane gently.

“Come on, Dashie. It’ll be fun, follow my lead!” I said, as I leapt out the door way and landed in the heavy snow as it crunched under foot. I turned around to Dashie, to see her giggling. She jumped up and flew out the door, flying about the cold ground.

Dashie looked around her nervously as she saw the entire garden blanketed in white snow. She flew about among the white flakes that drifted down around her cyan body, shaking her flank every time one landed on her back. After a few moments, she landed on the ground and slowly sank into the deep snow.

“Ahhh!” she squeaked, as she sank. She flapped her wings furiously to fly back up, causing snow to spray all around her, and all over me. She climbed out of the hole and walked about on the snow, jumping up and down as her hooves sank. She looked over to me, giggling when she saw me covered in snow.

“Come on Dashie, let's make a snow pony!” I said, wiping the snow off my coat as I began to roll up balls of snow. Dashie flew up into the air and landed on my back while I was bent down, scooping up snow. “Dashie, are you okay?” I asked, feeling her hooves poking and prodding me.

“Yes Daddy.” She nodded. “It's just cold on my feet, so I don't want to stand on the ground for too long!”

I was about to suggest that Dashie sits inside my jacket, when she suddenly flew off my back. I stood up to see where she had gone, when a large amount of snow fell on my head. I looked up to see Dashie, perched on a tree branch above me, laughing to herself and grinning sheepishly.

“Oops! Sorry Daddy!” she giggled. “I thought I'd be out the way up here, but it's still cold!”

“Come on, Dashie, you can sit inside my coat to warm up for a bit.” I said, holding my jacket open. She flew down in a flash and was soon nuzzled up inside my coat. I zipped it up, leaving her head poking out the front while I worked on the snow pony. Dashie kept on darting her head back and forth, amazed by all the snow around her. Her little Christmas hat wobbled back and forth as she looked around, tickling my nose.

After a couple of minutes, the snow pony was finished, or near enough. It didn't look fantastic, but Dashie seemed pleased, as she wriggled out of my jacket and landed next to it. She stood beside it, and laughed to herself, running under it's legs. I reached into my pocket and took out a carrot, handing it to Dashie.

“Thanks Daddy!” she said, as she took a bite out the end of the carrot, chewing it happily. I laughed and took it away before she ate the rest.

“No, Dashie. It's for you to put on the snow pony, as a horn! We'll make it a snow unicorn instead!”

She giggled at the idea, and gripped the carrot in her mouth. She flew up to the snow ponies face, and placed the carrot on the top of it's head. She giggled as she looked at her snow unicorn, with a bite taken out of it's horn.

“Hehe, it looks funny now, Daddy!” she said, before flying back to me and climbing into my jacket, head first.

“Are you still cold, Dashie?” I asked, knowing the answer, as I felt her body shivering in my jacket.

“Yes,” she said, her voice muffled by the coat.

I took Dashie back inside and set her down on the sofa. I took a warm blanket off a nearby radiator and wrapped it around her body. She let out a contented sigh as the warmth flooded over her.

“Thanks Daddy, that was fun!” she said, smiling at me.

“No problem, Dashie. Any time. We can go out and play in it some more tomorrow. I'll try to make you a warm jacket as well, so you won't get as cold, how's that sound?”

She nodded her head, before burying it back inside the blanket, her white bobble on the top of her hat sticking out. I went to the kitchen and made her a warm cup of hot chocolate. I topped the mug with whipped cream and little marshmallows, before giving it to Dashie. She looked at it in awe.

“Is that all for me?” she asked excitedly.

Yes, Dashie. Every last drop, it is Christmas after all!” I said, handing it to her. She drank a large mouthful, her nose covered in whipped cream when she put the mug back down.

“Mmm, Yummy! Thank you Daddy, and Merry Christmas!” she replied.

“Merry Christmas, Dashie.” I said, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

I lifted her up and placed her on my lap, stroking her mane as we watched a few Christmas specials on TV. She handed me her mug of hot chocolate, letting me take a sip. I handed it back to her, letting her finish the last few drops. She licked her lips happily and gave me the empty mug. She slowly curled up on my lap and fell asleep, breathing gently, her wings fluttering in her sleep.

Dashie's Sister

The Christmas holidays had ended, and I had reluctantly returned to work the following day. Dashie and I had spent the weeks playing together; playing with her games and presents, watching TV and reading stories. But it had to come to an end sometime, and that was today. I went back to the office and spent another day in monotony, bored at my desk, just picturing Dashie sat at home, bored and unhappy, all by herself. How I wished I was at home with Dashie. Once the day finally ended, I rushed home to cheer her up, and to cheer myself up too. I hated returning to work.

I stepped in the door and shut it behind me with a dull click, turning to the living room. As I turned around, to my surprise Dashie wasn't there. I called out to her as I made my way to her bedroom, wondering why she wasn't playing with her toys. As I reached the door, I heard a gentle sobbing sound emanating from behind the door. I opened it and called her name again.

“Dashie? Dashie, are you okay?” I stepped into the room, only for Dashie to run from under her bed and smile at me, jumping up and down.

“Hi, Daddy! I'm fine, how are you?” she said loudly.

“I'm fine Dashie. Are you sure you're okay? I heard crying a moment ago.” I said, tilting my head to the side, listening to the ambience. I could still hear faint murmurs from somewhere, when Dashie looked up at me and frowned, before quickly grabbing my trouser leg, pulling me towards the door.

“Come on Daddy, I'm hungry! Let's go eat something!” she said through gritted teeth, continuing to pull on my trousers.

She appeared more determined than usual, and began flapping her wings to pull me along. I finally relented and followed her out into the kitchen, making her a quick salad. She sat down on her chair and smiled, eating her food happily. I switched on the TV and let Dashie watch a few cartoons, while I went to wash up. Once I was satisfied Dashie was distracted, I made my way back to her bedroom and shut the door quietly.

I knelt down in her bedroom again and went to look under her bed. She had hidden things from me before, and it was always under her bed. I only hope this time it wasn't anything serious, given her tears. I looked under the bed, and saw Dashie's favourite blue blanket wrapped up in the far corner. I reached out for it and grabbed the corner with my hand, dragging it out.

As I pulled it towards me, it felt heavier than I'd expected. Dashie had hidden something inside. I finally got it out and sat down on the floor, the blanket scrunched up before me. I grabbed the top of the blanket and began to unfold it, revealing what was hidden inside.

I sat there, mouth agape. I couldn't believe my eyes. I dragged my hands over my face, thinking I was imagining things, but I knew in my heart I wasn't. Laying there, curled up inside the blanket was a small, white pony, with a purple mane.

It was a baby Rarity.

I looked at her again, as she lay there half asleep, murmuring to herself. I reached my hand out to touch her, to make sure she was real, when the bedroom door opened, and Dashie stuck her head into the room. I looked up to her, only to see her looking annoyed, her lips in a grimace. I stared at her for what felt like an eternity, unable to think what to say. My mouth still hung open, when I finally managed to utter the first word that came to mind.

“How?”

She just stood there looking at me, but her face had changed. She no longer looked at me with anger, but her eyes looked sullen, the corners of her mouth hung low. She turned away from me, and trotted back out of the room, leaving me alone with Rarity again. I looked back down at Rarity, who now had woken up, rubbing her eyes as she gazed up at me, equally confused by what was occurring.

“Hi there,” I said, smiling gently at the little filly, not wanting to startle her.

She looked at me and started sobbing again. I instinctively reached down to reassure her, when I realised why she was crying. Her mane was soaking wet, as was the rest of her coat. She'd catch pneumonia if I wasn't careful, so I quickly scooped her up in my arms and carried her into the kitchen to give her a warming bath.

I walked past the living room on the way, where Dashie now sat on her chair, silently watching TV. She turned towards me, her face straight and expressionless as I walked past. I was worried about her, but resolved to talk to her once I had made sure my new guest was safe. New guest. New person to look after. The thoughts raced through my head as I realised what I was in for. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind, and continued to the kitchen, putting Rarity in the sink, quickly filling it with warm water.

Her sobbing soon stopped when the warm water began to lap around her hooves and belly, though she still looked uncomfortable. I gently stroked her mane and kept on smiling.

“Don't worry, you're safe with me.” I said, trying my best to make her happy. She smiled feebly, and began looking around her new surroundings, confused.

I turned the tap off once the water reached a safe height, before picking up a bottle of shampoo to clean the filly's hair. I turned back only to find Dashie was now sat on the counter next to the sink, looking at Rarity. Rarity sat in the bath water looking back at Dashie, no longer smiling.

Dashie reached her fore hoof out and prodded Rarity's side, smiling. Rarity looked unhappy, yet Dashie did it again, giggling as she did so. She was about to prod her a third time, when I reached down and held her hoof.

“Dashie, what are you doing?” I asked, as she looked up at me, her face now looked sullen. She turned back to Rarity again, and looked to me.

“Daddy, can I help wash her?” she asked softly, as she reached into the sink and splashed some water at Rarity. She shied away from the splash of water and began to whimper and cry.

“Dashie, that's probably not a good idea. She's scared right now, and needs comforting. I'll wash her on my own, then you two can get to know each other and play together a bit later on, okay? Let me wash her for now, then I'll come talk to you in a bit.”

Dashie looked at me and frowned, before flying into the air, causing water to spray all over Rarity. Rarity looked up at me, tears in her eyes, so I smiled at her, trying to reassure her. I started to pet her mane, trying to cheer her up, but without any success. I then saw Dashie's rubber duck nearby and handed it to Rarity. I made a quacking noise, which caused her to stop crying and begin to giggle. I put it in the water with her, and she smiled and began to push it about in the water, giggling louder.

I turned around to see Dashie hovering in the other side of the kitchen, watching us and frowning. I could swear I saw a tear run from her eye, when she flew off down the hall as fast as possible.

Please don't be sad, Dashie. Please.

I turned back to Rarity and finished washing her up, before drying her with the usual towel I kept by the sink. I made sure she was dry and warm, and carried her to the living room. I didn't want her to hurt herself by falling off the sofa, so I put a cushion on the floor, and wrapped her in my jumper, before setting her down on the cushion. She sighed and curled up in a ball contentedly. I walked quietly away to talk to Dashie about what had happened while I was at work.

“Dashie? Dashie, may I come in?” I asked. There was no answer. I slowly opened the door, and saw her sat in the corner, pushing her toy cars around. I walked over and sat down next to her. “Dashie, what's wrong?”

She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “You don't love me any more!” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I scooped her up in my arms and held her tightly against my chest.

“Dashie, why would I stop loving you? Nothing could make me stop!” I said, rubbing my cheek on the top of her head. She smiled slightly, before frowning again.

“You like that new pony better than me, I saw you give her my ducky you're replacing me, aren't you? I'm not good enough!” she continued, suddenly wrenching herself from my grip and flying over to her bed, burying her head in the pillow.

“Dashie, please. You're not being replaced. Trust me, I still love you. I just gave her your ducky to calm her down, It's still your ducky as well, don't worry! But, I need you to tell me. Where did she come from, why was she under your bed?” I asked, reaching down to her, gently petting her mane. She lifted her head and looked at me.

“You'll be angry Daddy. That's why I hid her.”

“What do you mean? I promise not to get angry Dashie, just tell me. Please.”

She looked at me and nodded, wiping the snot from her nose and rubbing the tears from her eyes. “I found her outside, Daddy. I've been going outside on my own when you're at work.” she said, her voice trembling in fear of telling me the truth.

In all honesty, I was angry. I was concerning for Dashie's safety more than anything, but I was angry she felt the need to lie to me, despite what I'd taught her. That, and the fact she has been playing outside, in broad daylight where anyone could have seen her. Where anyone could have taken her. I looked at Dashie, sitting on the bed, trembling in fear, her head hung low.

“It's okay Dashie. I forgive you, but please, don't go outside without me around. Ever. It's not safe, as you should know.” I said, picking her up and cuddling her again, trying not to drive a wedge between us. I took a deep breath as I held her and said “But, where did you find her outside? Was there anyone else there?”

“She pulled her head out of my shirt and shook it from side to side. “No, there wasn't anyone else there. I had been flying around and saw a purple thing in the snow. I went to get a closer look, and found her buried under the snow, crying and shivering. I... I brought her in, as she looked scared. But I didn't want you to find her and tell me off for going outside, so I hid her.” She rubbed her hooves together nervously, before continuing. “So I thought I could hide her and look after her myself, and you wouldn't know. I'm sorry, Daddy.”

“It's okay, Dashie. You did the right thing. She needed our help, and it's a good thing you found her, or she might have died. But in the future, if you need help with anything, you know you can tell me, right?” She looked up at me and nodded her head. “Good. Come on then, let's go see if she's okay.” I stood up and carried Dashie with me to the doorway, when she looked up at me, puzzled.

“Daddy, where did I come from?” she asked.

I froze up. Had I heard her correctly? I hoped not. I dreaded telling her, for the fear she'd hate me for it. But it seemed inevitable I'd have to tell her one day. I looked into her eyes, and knew it was time. I couldn't tell her off for lying, and then keep lying to her all the same. I sat back down with her on the bed, holding her tightly in my arms.

“What makes you ask that, Dashie?”

“Well, I found that baby outside and-”

“Rarity” I corrected her.

“Yeah, Rarity. Well I found her outside all alone, so I wondered where I came from? Where did she come from too, she was all alone!”

I took a deep breath, and decided to tell her. Not all the details about how she is a fictional character mind you, that would be too much to let a small child know. But I had to tell her the truth, at least in part.

“Dashie...you...you were abandoned when I found you.” I stammered. My eyes began to water as I remembered that night. “You were in a cardboard box, just lying in the road. I bought you home and cared for you, raised you as my own. You were badly hurt when I first found you, and if I hadn't found you, I dread to think what might have happened. The same as you saved Rarity, and bought her home. If you hadn't, then who knows what might have occurred.”

I paused, and looked at her, waiting for her to ask a hundred questions. She looked deep in thought, as I imagined the worst possible scenarios that could follow.

“So, why was I put in the box?” she asked, looking confused.

“I don't know Dashie. Your parents must not have wanted you, whoever they were. But it's their loss, as you're the best daughter I could ever have. I'm sorry that it ever happened Dashie, I really am.” I said, fighting back the tears that ran down my cheek.

Dashie looked up at me, no longer looking as confused, but she was now fighting back tears. She suddenly leant forward and hugged me.

“I'm not sorry. I can't imagine being looked after by anyone else. You're the best. Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for being there for me.” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks, matting her fur. She buried her face against my chest to hide her emotions.

I hugged her back, and kissed the top of her head. “You're welcome Dashie. I love you, so very, very much.”

“I love you too, Daddy.” She replied. We sat together crying for a few moments, until Dashie spoke up. “So, does this mean Rarity has been abandoned by her parents as well?” she asked, sobbing gently.

I nodded. “Yes Dashie, it does. But we can't tell her until she's older, when she can fully understand what it means, okay?”

Dashie nodded. We then sat together playing with some of Dashie's toys to cheer her up and to reassure her I wasn't replacing her, after half an hour I looked at my watch and noticed the time.

“Come on, let's go see how Rarity is doing.” I said. “How your new sister is doing, to be exact.” I added, causing Dashie to look up at me and smile.

We walked out into the living room and sat down next to the cushion Rarity was sleeping on, gently breathing in and out, the jumper moving up and down with each breath. I peered at her head to make sure she was okay, and felt the top of my jumper. It was warm to the touch, and I felt relief knowing that she was feeling better. Dashie peered in as well, and reached forward to hug her sleeping body, eager to say hello. I put my hand on her hoof and shook my head.

“Dashie, she's very little, and she's probably had a bad day. Let's leave her to rest for a bit longer, she'll wake up and want to play later.” I whispered. Dashie looked at me and nodded, putting her hoof back on the ground.

I stood up and went to the bathroom, opening the cupboard under the sink. I took out one of the old packs of nappies I'd had left over from when I first got Dashie. This was one of the many things I wasn't looking forward to doing again. I sighed heavily and hoped it'd be easy enough to do, like it was last time. I returned to the living room, only to find Rarity now sat up on the cushion, cowering away from Dashie who appeared to be staring intently at her.

“Dashie, is she okay?”

Dashie looked at me and nodded her head. “Yes Daddy, she just woke up!” she replied, before turning back to Rarity.

Rarity backed away slowly, until she rolled off the edge of the cushion onto the floor. Dashie quickly darted round and helped her sit up, as I rushed over and picked her up, gently rocking her back and forth. She soon smiled, and I was glad to see she wasn't injured.

I carried her to the kitchen and fitted her with a nappy while Dashie began playing with her toy cars on the floor. I put the nappy on Rarity, who kicked her legs playfully all the while. She then began squirming around after being fitted with her new nappy, seeming to not like wearing it.

“Don't worry, you'll soon grow out of them,” I said playfully, before picking her up and carrying her back to the living room.

I put her back down on the floor next to Dashie, hoping playing together would take her mind off of it. I knelt down next to Rarity, trying to get her to warm to Dashie and me. Dashie trotted over and rubbed her head on Rarity's own head, causing the filly to smile.

Dashie then trotted over to one of her toy cars and pushed it across the floor towards Rarity. Rarity watched intently as it rolled towards her, stopping in front of her. She smiled, so I pushed it back to Dashie for her, when she began to crawl after it across the floor, crawling towards Dashie. She soon reached the car and picked it up with her mouth, drooling all over it as she sat back down and smiled.

She continued to suck on the toy car, when Dashie stood up and yanked it from her mouth.

“We don't eat the cars Rarity, and this one is my favourite!” she said angrily as Rarity's began to frown and started to cry. Dashie wiped her drool covered car on Rarity's coat, before walking away and playing with her car by herself.

I ran over to Rarity and picked her up once again and began shushing her, as I gently rocked her back and forth, trying to calm her down. I looked over at Dashie who saw me hugging Rarity. She trotted off to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Dashie, what's gotten into you? I thought, as I wiped off the drool from Rarity's coat and began to calm her down a bit more.

“Hey, it's okay little one. She's just a bit upset at the moment, don't worry. She'll soon become your best friend.” I whispered to Rarity, as she lay in my arms. I hoped she'd believe it, as I certainly didn't. I hadn't expected Dashie to change like that. I looked back down at Rarity, as she lay in my arms. Her stomach grumbled suddenly and she began to frown.

“Are you hungry by any chance?” I asked, knowing fully well that she was. I took her to the kitchen and made up a bottle of milk for her, using Dashie's old milk bottle. I hoped it'd also take her mind off of Dashie, who wasn't being as friendly as I'd expected.

I placed the bottle in her mouth and watched as she cutely suckled on the bottle top, guzzling down the milk in a matter of seconds. She soon finished and I took the bottle away, putting it on the side. She smiled, but not before gurgling and contorting her face. I gently rested her over my shoulder and rubbed her back, causing her to burp quietly. I smiled at the cute sound and carried her into my bedroom, to made up a small bed for her. I opened my bedside table drawer, and lined it with jumpers and blankets to make a bed.

I didn't want her to sleep too far away, or to wake up alone and scared, so I knew this would be a safe bet. I did the exact same thing with Dashie when she was a foal, and she never complained. I gently put Rarity down inside of it and wrapped a blanket around her small body, before sitting with her, gently whispering a lullaby until she fell asleep. Once she had dozed off, I went off to talk to Dashie again.

I stepped into her bedroom and found Dashie sitting on her bed, cuddling her teddy while wrapped up in her favourite blanket. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, before focusing back on her teddy again, hugging him tightly. I sat down next to her and just silently stroked her mane, until she eventually spoke up.

“I don't want her playing with my toys, Daddy. Can't she get some of her own?” she said, continuing to look down at her teddy.

“Dashie, she's only little, and she has no idea about what ownership is. She'll play with anything she can get a hold of. What's wrong with her playing with some of your toys, anyway? She just wants to play with you, and I thought you wanted to play with her?” I asked Dashie, who began to furrow her brow in confusion.

“But she's gonna break them, and drool on them Daddy! I don't want her drooling on my toys.” she protested.

“Come on Dashie, she won't break them. Trust me. Just give her a chance, she wants to play with you, and she wants to be your friend. But she won't be your friend if you snatch things away from her like that.” I said, as Dashie contemplated my words. “Besides, If she starts trying to break your toys on purpose, tell me and I'll ask her to stop. Don't just yank it from her, or you'll upset or risk hurting her. Okay?”

Dashie sat still, holding her teddy tightly. “Okay,” she mumbled, barely audible.

“Good. Now come on, it's getting late. Let's get some sleep, and wake up fresh tomorrow, then we can start the day on the right note. How's that sound?”

“Okay, Daddy.” Dashie said solemnly, before crawling into her bed and hiding under the covers. I bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the head. I hoped a good nights sleep might change her mind.

“Good night Dashie.” I said, but got no response. I turned off the light and closed the door, before returning to my bedroom. I checked Rarity was still comfortable in her drawer before going to sleep myself.

I woke up the next day at seven AM, as usual. I rolled over and looked into my bedside drawer to see Rarity laying there, coo'ing and babbling. She had been awake a while as her blanket lay on the floor, and she was laying on her back, kicking her hooves in the air. I climbed out of bed and dressed myself, before lifting her out of the drawer and gently bouncing her up and down playfully.

I carried Rarity to the living room, planning to leave her there while I made breakfast. To my surprise Dashie was already up and gathering all her toys up from the living room.

“Morning Dashie! You're up early!” I said, as I put Rarity down onto the floor. “Why are you up this early on a Saturday?”

She looked at Rarity, then looked at me and smiled. “I decided to tidy up my toys and find some for Rarity to play with!” she said happily. I nodded my head in approval, and went towards the kitchen.

“Do you want some breakfast?” I asked.

“Yes please Daddy!” I heard her call back. I was glad she sounded happier than she had yesterday. I made Dashie her usual bowl of oats, and made a second one for Rarity, carrying both back into the living room. I put Dashie's on her chair, and then lifted Rarity onto the sofa and sat next to her, bowl in hand.

I tied an old handkerchief around her neck as a makeshift bib, before I scooped a small amount of food and began to slowly hand feed her as she slowly but steadily ate her breakfast. I had to stop every few spoonfuls to wipe her mouth off when she spat it out, or dribbled, but I found it adorable all the same.

As Rarity chewed each mouthful, I occasionally glanced up to check Dashie was okay, only to see her smiling and looking towards us. As soon as she saw me looking she smiled wider and quickly took another mouthful of food. I scooped another spoonful of oats and gently fed it to Rarity, who was now a lot more comfortable around me.

After finally finishing up, I put Rarity back onto the living room floor and carried her bowl back to the kitchen. Dashie followed behind me, carrying her empty bowl in her own mouth. She flew up onto the counter and placed it into the sink, before giggling.

“Daddy, she's fallen asleep. Can I go put her to bed?” Dashie asked, smiling.

“Okay then, but be gentle, and make sure she is comfortable in the drawer.”

Dashie nodded and flew out into the living room, carrying Rarity to bed. I finished washing up and then went to my bedroom to see how they were getting on. To my surprise Dashie was on the floor and the drawer was shut.

“Dashie, where's Rarity?” I asked. Dashie smiled widely and looked at the drawer.

“I put her to bed Daddy! She's in there!” she said, continuing to smile.

I then heard Rarity begin to whine and mumble as I realised what Dashie had done. I rushed over to the drawer and opened it, finding her inside, crying to herself, sucking on one hoof, while kicking the rest about. I scooped her up and rocked her back and forth, calming her down.

“Dashie, why did you shut the drawer with her inside?” I asked. Dashie looked at me, confused.

“I thought that's what you did, so she didn't fall out.”

“No Dashie. Not at all. You've upset her now, go back to the living room while I calm her down, okay?”

Dashie looked at me and turned around, trotting back into the hall. I continued to calm Rarity down until she stopped crying and began to fall asleep. I went to put her back in the drawer, when she started crying loudly again, kicking her hooves.

“You don't like the drawer now, do you?” I asked the filly, who calmed down as I lifted her away from it. “Fine, let's put you in the big bed.”

I turned to my bed and took a pillow, opening the case I put Rarity inside with the pillow, like a small bed of her own. I then laid it on top of the duvet and sat with her, trying to get her to fall asleep. Unfortunately she wasn't trying to now, so I ended up taking her back to the living room, hoping she wouldn't end up cranky later on.

Dashie saw us come back in and smiled.

“She sure is a messy eater, Daddy! Look at all the oats on the sofa! I never made this much mess, did I?” Dashie said, boastfully.

“True, but she is very young. Come on, let's sort out which toys you're giving her, since she can't sleep now.”

I put Rarity down on the floor and watched as Dashie ran over to a pile of toys she had gathered and began to pick one to give to Rarity. She took hold of a old battered toy car of hers and rolled it towards Rarity, stopping it in front of her. Rarity looked at it and smiled at Dashie, before pushing the car back and forth. Dashie went and got a car of her own and began to roll it around next to to Rarity's car.

Dashie began to race her car faster and faster, until Rarity started to bash her car into Dashie's, crashing it about and laughing. Dashie began to grow annoyed and took the car from Rarity.

“No Rarity, you roll it along the floor, like this!” Dashie pushed the car towards Rarity, hoping to roll it back and forth.

Rarity tried to stop it with her hoof, missing entirely as it rolled between her legs, coming to a stop. Rarity bent down, trying to reach it without success. Dashie smiled and walked over, reaching down to grab it with her mouth, when she suddenly jolted backwards and scrunched up her nose, flapping her wings vigorously.

“Eww, Daddy, she smells!” she cried, continuing to flap her wings, fanning the odour away from her. “It's horrible Daddy, I can still smell it! I think it's on my nose, bleurgh!” Dashie leapt into the air and flew up to the ceiling, placing a hoof onto her nose, rubbing it frantically.

Rarity looked up at Dashie, her lower lip beginning to tremble. She began to tear up as she crawled away quickly, hiding behind the sofa. I looked up at Dashie, disappointed with her actions. I tip toed over to the sofa, sneaking up behind Rarity, who had now curled up into a ball, embarrassed. I stuck my hands under her belly and lifted her up, carrying her with me to the bathroom. I changed the nappy, and once done I began to tickle her stomach, causing her to smile widely and laugh heartily.

“There, isn't that better? Who's a ticklish pony?” I playfully said, continuing to tickle her as she laughed happily. I carried her back to the living room and sat her on the floor, before fetching an old ball from my bedroom for Rarity to play with. Dashie flew down onto the floor and walked over to Rarity, stroking her with a hoof.

“Sorry Rarity,” she said, before walking over to her art box. She removed a crayon and began to draw a picture, while Rarity looked up to me expectantly, noticing the bright red ball I was holding.

I sat down on the floor opposite Rarity and gently rolled the ball towards her. The ball stopped just in front of her, as she looked at it, puzzled. She rested her lips on the ball and began sucking on the surface when she leant against it and fell over as the ball rolled away. I rushed to her, afraid she was going to start crying, only to find she sat back up giggling.

I picked the ball up again and gently rolled it over to her and Rarity soon nudged it back with her head. We sat down rolling it back and forth for an hour, when Dashie trotted over and sat next to me.

“Daddy, can I join in with you two now?” she asked, watching as Rarity gently nudged the ball back towards me. I nodded and passed the ball to Dashie, so we would roll it back and forth in a triangle.

Dashie took the ball and began to run around, nudging it with her head. She ran over to Rarity and ran around her in circles, while Rarity struggled to keep up with Dashie's speed. She eventually passed the ball back to me, so I gently rolled it towards Rarity. Unfortunately Dashie ran into it and grabbed it before Rarity had a chance.

“Come on Dashie, we need to pass it to Rarity. She's too little to run about with it at the moment.”

Dashie looked at me and frowned before kicking the ball back towards me. She sat down and carried on rolling it around in a circle, bored. Rarity saw her looking fed up and crawled over to her, sitting down on Dashie's legs. She smiled and waited for the ball to be passed. I gently rolled it over, and Rarity rolled it back again, giggling as she lay amidst Dashie's blue legs.

Dashie looked down at Rarity and began to laugh with her, helping her roll the ball back again. She lifted up Rarity's tail and began to fluff it about in her hooves, before grabbing her tail and laying it over Rarity's body. The little filly giggled at this and pulled on it, sucking a few of the loose strands.

“Daddy, can we look at my new pictures now?” Dashie said, pulling her tail out of Rarity's mouth.

“In a minute Dashie, Rarity wants to keep playing.”

“But Daddy!” Dashie cried.

“Not right now Dashie!” I said. Dashie got up and trotted off again, choosing to play with her toy cars again.

I rolled the ball back to Rarity, when she decided to stop playing and let it roll past her. She got up and began to crawl away, beginning to explore the house some more. I followed her into my bedroom, only to find she had disappeared from sight.

“Rarity, where are you?” I called, when I heard giggles coming from under the bed. I snuck up on her and lifted the side of the sheet, finding her laughing and clapping her hooves. “There you are, come on out silly!” I reached in to grab her when she ran off into the hall. I gathered she wanted to play hide and seek, so I waited a few minutes before following her.

I stepped into the hall to seek her out, when Dashie came over to me.

“Daddy, can you please come look at my drawings now?” she whined.

“Not now Dashie, Rarity is playing hide and seek. Have you seen her?” I asked playfully. Dashie just shook her head and walked off to the living room again. I heard a sudden unmistakeable giggle sound coming from the bathroom, which shortly turned into a low moan. I followed the sound and found her sitting inside the washing basket.

“found you!” I said, and reached in to get her, only to notice she was weeping. “What's the matter Rarity?” I lifted her out, and found she had a sock stuck on her horn, she was struggled to get it off with her hooves, and begun to shake her head about, trying to remove it.

I laughed to myself and pulled it off, before kissing her head better. “There, happy now?” I asked, which caused her to smile. I put her down and watched as she ran back into the living room, heading over to Dashie.

Rarity ran over to Dashie and began to nuzzle her head against Dashie's body, prodding her with her horn. Dashie pushed Rarity away, until she saw me. She smiled happily and grabbed her picture from beneath Rarity.

“Daddy, look at my picture now, please look! Please!”

“Okay Dashie, let me just get Rarity first.” I said, as I picked up the little filly and carried her to Dashie's picture. I bent down to take a closer look, and saw Dashie had drawn a picture of herself and I, sitting on the sofa smiling.

“That's great Dashie!” I said. “Look Rarity, that's me, and that's your sister, Dashie!” I pointed out myself and Dashie to her. Rarity looked closer. “Where's Rarity in the picture then, Dashie?” I added, realising she was looking for herself.

“She's there!” Dashie said, placing her hoof on the picture.

I leant in for a closer look, when I noticed Dashie had drawn Rarity sitting on the floor, a frown upon her face, stink lines around her. I was about to tell her off for being horrible, when Rarity let out a giggle and clapped her hooves upon seeing herself in the picture, causing Dashie to smile and flap her wings happily again. I put Rarity back down on the floor and left her with Dashie, who was drawing intently again while Rarity watched.

Dashie held a crayon out to Rarity. She sniffed at it and opened her mouth to take a bite, so I quickly reached down and snatched it away.

“Don't give her any crayons Dashie, or she might choke, okay?” I said, handing Dashie the crayon again. She nodded and carried on drawing, while Rarity watched. I left them to it as I prepared to go out and get more supplies for Rarity. I went to my bedroom and picked up my bag and car keys before going back to the living room, walking over to Rarity I bent down next to her, smiling.

“Okay, I'm going out for a bit now Rarity, So your big sister Dashie is in charge. I won't be long, so don't get upset. If you need anything let Dashie know, she'll look after you. I love you little one, stay safe!” I said, before holding her in my arms and giving her a big cuddle. I then put Rarity back down and rubbed her head playfully.

“you're in charge Dashie, look after Rarity, make sure she doesn't get hurt.”

“Okay! Bye Daddy!” Dashie said, smiling. I shut the door behind me and hurried to my car, not wanting to be gone for more than an hour.

I ran to the front door and looked out the window to watch Daddy leave. He didn't give me a cuddle goodbye. I missed his cuddles. I sat and watched him drive off, not coming back to give me a hug. I flew back to the living room and saw Rarity curled up on my pictures. She was Daddy's favourite now.

She saw me and got up, crawling over to me, rubbing her head against my chest, making babbling noises. I pushed her away and went to my bedroom to talk to Birdy, she was my friend. She understood me. But Rarity followed me into my bedroom and saw my bedsheets. She began to pull on them, trying to wrap herself in them, all the while trampling all over my drawings on the floor, giggling and jumping up and down.

“Hey! Get off my drawings of Daddy!” I yelled, but she kept jumping on them all.

She looked at me and frowned, before sitting down and crying. I pushed her off my picture and picked it up, finding it was all wet and horrible. I grabbed her by the mane and carried her out into the hall, before going into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. She tried to open the door by pushing against it, when I heard her start to cry so I opened the door again and she ran into me, resting her head against my body, smiling.

I led her to the living room and sat her by the sofa. “Come on, let's play with my box fort,” I said as I walked over to it. Rarity followed me inside and began to crawl about, exploring it happily. She began to wriggle about through the doorway, and her nappy fell off. She then laughed and clapped her hooves, before running inside the fort again.

“No Rarity, come back! You need to put this on!” but she kept on running around, and started to make a mess on the fort floor, wee'ing everywhere. She's running Daddy and Dashie's fort!

I chased her and grabbed her tail, but she got me wet, so I let go. It was all horrible and smelly. Then she began to climb out one of the windows and fell out onto the floor, beginning to cry. I ran outside quickly and picked her up, putting her down by the sofa. I tried to calm her down, but she kept on crying and making a mess. She was even wetter and smellier so I walked away, when she began to waggle her arms in the air like the silly baby she is.

“No! You get all of Daddy's attention! He's mine, I was here first! I wish I'd never found you!” She kept on reaching out for a cuddle, so I walked off and got her ball. “Here, cuddle with Daddy's favourite ball, silly baby!”

I kicked the ball towards her, It hit her chest and she fell backwards onto her back, unable to get up. I felt guilty, but then remembered that Daddy would still hug her and not me. I tried to make her stop crying by rubbing her head and poking her on the head, but she kept on crying.

Why is Daddy so kind to her? I was here first, he should love me more! I'm more fun than that stupid Rarity anyway. But he'll blame me for this, so I've got to hide it. I walked back to my fort and dragged her nappy outside. I dropped it as soon as possible, it smelt as horrible as she did. I put it next to her on the floor so it looked like she took it off.

I then went and got my drawings and went to my bedroom and hid. I didn't want Daddy to tell me off for it. Rarity kept on crying in the living room and I felt kinda bad, but I waited for Daddy to come home. I didn't want to touch her, she was really disgusting.

As I approached the front door, I heard Rarity crying loudly before I was even inside. I rushed in through the door and put the bags down, running over to the sofa where Rarity lay on the ground, rolling about.

I bent down and picked her up in my arms, noticing she had taken her nappy off, and was soaking wet.

“Shush, there there. Who's a silly pony? Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Where's your big sister then? She was meant to look after you, but it looks like she did a poor job.” I said, rocking her up and down as her wails turned into gentle sobs. I went to the kitchen sink and filled it with warm water and a load of bubbles, before gently placing Rarity into it.

As I began to gently wash her small body, I heard the sound of Dashie's hooves on the kitchen floor. Turning around I found her standing there, frowning.

“Dashie, what happened? You were meant to look after her!” I said quietly, not wanting to shout and upset Rarity further. Dashie looked at me and hung her head.

“After you left she started to cry and pulled her nappy off. Then she began to roll around and went wee wee everywhere. She got some on me, and I felt sick so I went and hid, because I didn't want to get covered in it. I'm sorry Daddy.”

Dashie began to sniffle, so I bent down and rubbed her mane. “Hey, it's okay. But next time, try to watch her better, she could get seriously hurt if we're not careful. Come on, you can help me clean her up, how about that?”

Dashie nodded and flew up onto the counter, smiling at Rarity. Rarity shied away however, and began to sob louder in the bath, covering her eyes with her hooves. I looked at Dashie who looked equally confused. I began to gently rub her small purple mane, when Dashie suddenly leapt into the sink, splashing water and bubbles everywhere.

“Wheee! We can wash together!” she cried, as she began to slosh the water around, trying to make more bubbles. Unfortunately as she got in the water, it rose higher and Rarity began to struggle to keep her head above the water and the bubbles. I quickly reached in and lifted Rarity out as she began to cough and splutter. I put her over my shoulder and patted her back, making sure she hadn't inhaled any.

I frowned at Dashie, who looked back at me, now sitting motionless in the bath. I turned away and carried Rarity to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. What is Dashie playing at? I filled the bathroom sink with water and washed Rarity alone in there. She began to smile again, until I began washing her chest where she started to wince and squeal. I took a closer look and noticed a small bruise had started to appear. I apologized and gently kissed her head, taking extra care to clean her up.

Once I was satisfied she was clean and happy, I put a new nappy on her. “Now, don't take this one off, okay?” I said, rubbing her head playfully, causing her to smile and hug my arm. I picked her up and left the bathroom, only to find Dashie sat outside the door, waiting.

“Come on Dashie, apologize to Rarity for ruining her bath.” I said, putting Rarity down on the floor next to Dashie.

“Sorry Rarity.” Dashie mumbled. Rarity looked at her, before crawling towards the living room. I watched as she crawled off, and decided to follow her.

“Okay then, let's go watch some TV to take our minds off of it.” I said, and watched as Dashie raced ahead and flew onto her chair, while Rarity crawled along as quickly as she could, trying to beat her.

I picked Rarity up and put her down on Dashie's arm chair, sitting next to her. Dashie looked at Rarity as she crawled closer to Dashie to cuddle, so I went to put on a DVD when I heard a thump. I turned around, only to see Rarity laying on the floor with Dashie looking over the edge of the chair, concerned as Rarity lay on the floor, whimpering.

“Dashie, what did you do!?” I said, running over, picking up the little filly.

“I didn't do a thing Daddy! She fell off on her own, honest!” Dashie protested, as she flew up to my arms to check if she was okay. I turned around so Dashie wouldn't upset her further.

“No Dashie. That's enough, go to your room. I'll be in to talk to you in a bit, but for now just go sit in there and think about how you've been acting today.” I said sternly. Dashie stormed off to her room and slammed the door shut, the force of the air blowing down the hall.

“Come on Rarity, let's get you to bed. You've had a rough morning.” I gently bounced her up and down as I carried her to my bedroom, putting her in the bed itself. I tucked a blanket around her body and sat with for half an hour, gently shushing her and stroking her mane until she fell asleep. Once she drifted off, I went to talk to Dashie.

I opened the door and stepped right in, not waiting to knock. To my surprise Dashie sat on the windowsill, the window wide open, a bag of her toys next to her side. I quickly ran over and grabbed a hold of her stomach as she flapped her wings violently, trying to get away.

“No! Let go, I don't want to stay with you any more! I hate you!” she screamed, as she started kicking me in the chest, even trying to bite my fingers.

I wrestled Dashie onto her bed and wrapped the blanket around her wings so she couldn't fly, which gave me enough time to shut the window. I turned around only to see Dashie now sat on her bed, crying. I walked over and sat down next to her, I attempted to reach out a calming hand, only for her to wrench herself away from me.

“What's gotten into you, Dashie?”

“You give her all the attention. You've done everything for her, and just ignored me. We've not done anything together all day!”

“Well she is a baby, Dashie. She needs extra care and attention, she's not a big pony like you!”

“No! I don't want to be a big pony if it means I don't get hugs!” she cried, wiping her eyes.

“Dashie, you'll still get all my love, you just need to be more responsible and patient. Come on, tell me what happened. What really happened.”

Dashie sighed and looked away from me before speaking.

“She kept on touching my stuff and ruining my drawings of you, so I pushed her outside of my room. Then she went into my box fort and wee'd all over it. She's horrible Daddy, she made a real mess!”

I felt angry at Dashie again, she needed to learn some respect. But I let her continue.

“Then she fell out of the fort Daddy and hurt herself, but she wouldn't stop crying, so I left her alone. I didn't want you to tell me off... I'm sorry Daddy...” she finished, and buried her head in her pillow.

I picked her up and gently cuddled her, trying to calm her down. She kept on sobbing and crying loudly, before looking up at me, with a concerned look on her face.

“Is she.. okay?” she said, sniffling.

“Yes Dashie, she is, but did you push her off the chair?”

“No Daddy, honest. She tried to cuddle me, but she fell backwards and fell off. I tried to grab her, honest!”

“Okay then, come on. Go say goodnight to her, and we'll tidy up your box fort. Just the two of us. But you need to be kinder to her from now on, or you won't be allowed to play with her until she gets older.”

I carried Dashie with me to the bedroom and held her next to Rarity's bed. She looked at the slipping filly and smiled, reaching out to stroke her. She gently petted her side, before turning to me and apologising. I nuzzled her head and we sat together watching Rarity sleeping for a while. After half an hour we went back to the living room and made Dashie a new fort to play in, just the two of us together.

She seemed happier throughout, until we heard Rarity crying. I went to get her, when Dashie looked at me.

“Can I go get her, Daddy?”

“Sure thing Dashie,” I said, as she trotted down to the bedroom. I followed her to the bedroom and stood outside the door, listening. I heard her gently talking to Rarity, who began to giggle softly.