A Fathers Love

--The Next Day--

Bumble blitz was comfy in his bed; the sun was shining through his window. As he woke up to the warmth, he felt some pain on his chest; he opened his eyes to see his daughter, Pastel jumping up and down on his chest. She fluttered her wings rapidly as she shouted at him, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! DADDY!!!! Wake up, it time for breakfast!” the little filly wagged her tail and grinned at him eagerly. Bumble Blitz grunted and sat up with his little filly sitting in front of him.

“Good morning, Pastel. What’s all this about breakfast?” He asked with a confused look. Pastel leaped off his bed and darted into the hall, then down the stairs. She yelled back from down the stairs, a remark that made the gray earth pony flinch.

“I made breakfast for you!” Bumble let out a sigh remembering his daughter’s many failed attempts at cooking. Never the less, he went down stairs to see a mess of a kitchen. Pastel was waiting happily for him with a plate. Bumble assumed that the “food” she had put on it used to be toast and eggs.

“Eat up, daddy! I made it special just for you!” Bumble glanced at the food. Then back to his daughter. That was when he noticed his nemesis, the ferret, snickering at him. Bumble got an idea.

“Why don’t you give some of this delicious food to Barnaby?” he said with a smile. Pastel grinned and rushed to the counter and fixed a plate of “toast and eggs” for her ferret. bumbel ducked just in time to dodge an egg thrown by the now irritated ferret.

Presently, Bumble Blitz sat at the table with the ferret beside him. They were both worried about hurting the young filly’s feelings, but neither of them really liked the look of the food. So, to keep his master’s approval, Barnaby dug in and ate it all quickly. After a few gags, he swallowed it all.

Bumble Blitz, on the other hoof, had a secret weapon to combat his daughter’s “cooking”. He walked to a box and searched around inside, even though he and Pastel had unpacked almost everything, there were still a few things left in boxes. He pulled out a jar of honey. Not just any honey, this was honey he got from bees he raised himself. And, true to his bumblebee cutie mark, it was the sweetest honey you could ever eat! After drowning the food in a very generous amount of honey, Bumble ate it, hardly tasting anything but the honey after he finished the last bite. He then gathered the plates and went to wash them. “Pastel, go wash up, we’re going to spend the day looking around Ponyville. And if you’re good I’ll give you some candy, alright?”

At this, Pastel squealed and ran up stairs to the bathroom. Bumble chuckled to himself, planning the day out in his head. “Hmm…let’s see. We’ll look around town a bit, then, I’ll take Pastel to the park. Oh, I can’t forget, I should look into registering Pastel for school.”  And as though on cue, Bumble’s little daughter zipped down the stairs and began hopping up and down at the front door.

“Come on, daddy!! We have lots of places to explore!” and with that, Bumble Blitz opened the door and he and his daughter went off to start exploring every part of this new town.

The day was starting of relatively quiet with ponies everywhere just opening their shops. Pastel let her father do the talking, she was a filly on a mission and nopony was going to stop her! She saw an apple stall with a southern cowpony named Apple…Apple…eh, Pastel didn’t remember her name. She also spotted a carrot stall run by a nice mare named Carrot Top. Pastel also saw a small juice bar that had all kinds of tasty sugary drinks. It was operated by a nice mare named Berry Punch. As Pastel was giving up hope, she spotted her target: A large shop with a slight castled theme. In its windows were every type of candies and treats Pastel had ever seen!

With her eyes bulging, she trotted into the store. Bumble looked up from his conversation and sighed. “Candy castle, huh? Well I’ll let her have a treat for the park then.” with a chuckle, Bumble followed his daughter into the store. Pastel looked around the store and noticed the mare she saw yesterday with the blue and pink mane and a cream colored body. Her dad trotted up to greet her. Pastel, on the other hoof, was having trouble not grabbing everything in sight. She was practically drooling just looking at all the tasty treats!

“Hello there!” said the cream colored earth pony. “My name’s Bon Bon! Welcome to my store, The Candy Castle!” Bon Bon grinned and came out from behind the counter. “Can I help you find anything?”

Bumble glanced back to his daughter, who looked at him pleadingly as her ferret poked his head out of her mane to look around.

“Well…” he said, trying to build suspense for his daughter. “No thank you, I don’t need anything but could my daughter, Pastel Dream look around?”

Bon Bon glanced at Pastel with a happy smile, “Sure! And if she can’t find what she wants, she can place a special order and I can make it in a jiffy!” Pastel squealed in delight and ran off into the aisles of candy to find exactly what she wanted.

At this, Bumble Blitz chuckled. “Thank you for that. I think she’s going to drag me here every day.” He said, smiling slightly. “I’m Bumble Blitz. We just moved here.” And the two proceeded to picking up a conversation.

“That one! Ooh, and that that one! That one, that one…” Pastel pointed out the candies one by one as she walked down the aisle. “Barnaby! Get that one, too!” the cheery filly watched as her little partner in crime scaled the shelves she couldn’t reach and knocked candy down to her.

After a few more minutes of gathering every type of candy he could grab, the ferret jumped down and sat back on the mane of his “commander” as he buried himself, Pastel wobbled through the aisles now carrying a pile of candy twice her size, some on her back, and some in her mouth.

“Ah!!” Pastel squealed as she tripped and fell. She closed her eyes and braced herself for a candy avalanche, but it never came. She opened her eyes and looked up to see her candy floating inches from her in a pale green aura.

“Oh, my! Are you ok, sweetie?” Pastel turned around to see a sea foam green unicorn mare with a white and mint green mane and tail standing before her. She reminded Pastel of mint candies.

“Um, thank you miss. I’m Pastel Dream and I was taking the candy back to my daddy to buy.” The unicorn mare looked at the large amount of candy and wondered what parent would give their child this much sugar? She smiled sweetly at the young bouncy filly.

“Well, let me help you! I’m Lyra Heartstrings, by the way.” Lyra nodded at Pastel and helped her up, and the two walked to the front where Bumble Blitz and Bon Bon were chatting. Pastel ran up to her father, giggling.

“Daddy, this is Lyra Heartstrings and she helped me from being buried by all my candy!” Bumble looked at the unicorn mare, and then to the candy she was levitating, Bumble sighed as he thought that next time he should escort his daughter so she wouldn’t get so much candy.

“Hello, Lyra” Bumble said, nodding. He turned his attention back to his daughter. “Well, Pastel… I think you got too much candy. Pick a few pieces and put the rest back” Bumble’s daughter frowned and she picked a few pieces of candy. Lyra levitated the rest back to their shelves. After being told she could wait outside with her candy while Bumble paid for it, Pastel ran to the door but not before running up to Lyra.

“Here, Miss Lyra! You can have this chocolate, it my favorite!” Pastel set it on the floor in front of Lyra and ran out to eat her candy. Lyra looked a bit confused, Bumble laughed.

“Wow, she must really like you! Pastel is really crazy about her candy and she doesn’t even like sharing with me.” Lyra and Bon Bon laughed at this as Bumble gave Bon Bon bits for the candy.

“By the way…err, I know it’s none of my bumble beeswax, but this looks like a foal’s candy store. What are you doing here, Lyra?”

Lyra, who was not often talked to very much by anypony other than Bon Bon was happy to answer, “Well, Bon Bon is my roommate and best friend! We’re practically sisters! So, sometimes I work here and help out. Uh… I’ve never seen you or your daughter here before. Are you guys new to Ponyville?”

Bumble chuckled a little and replied, “Yes, we just moved in yesterday; and I promised Pastel we would look around the town today. It looks like I’ve gained a daily stop for me and my daughter.” After talking a bit more, the three ponies said their goodbyes and Bumble Blitz left with Pastel right beside him.

“Ok, next stop is the park!”

As the duo left the vicinity, Bon Bon told Lyra, “Well, I think you deserve the day off!” Lyra was ecstatic, she hugged her friend tightly.

“Gee, thanks, Bon Bon! I get to practice more on my lyre!!” Before Lyra made it out the door she heard Bon Bon say something that produced a small blush.

“Be sure to go to the same park as Bumble Blitz! You can woo him with your magical talents~!” said the perky cream mare in a singsong voice. Lyra shot right back, “Bon Bon! Quit trying to play match maker in my love life!!” and with a slight hmph, Lyra stomped down to the park, still slightly crimson. Bon Bon laughed to herself, “Lyra, you’re so easy to mess with.”

--Meanwhile…--

“Come on daddy, we’re almost there!” Pastel said excitedly. Her daddy was spending the whole day with her and they were almost at the park! She didn’t want him to be so slow! She was running in circles around Bumble Blitz, who was glad to see his daughter having the time of her life; they continued their walk and soon found themselves in the heart of Ponyville Park. There were many ponies out and about. Bumble let out a happy sigh at how lively the town was, he was glad he moved here. He looked around to see the various ponies. There was a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane doing various stunts in the air, she looked over and waved at Pastel, who smiled and waved back. There was also a muscular white Pegasus with tiny wings working out; he every so often yelled “YEAH!!!”

Over by the playground were many different fillies and colts playing. A small pink one with a white tiara was barking orders at the others. Over by the swings were the three little fillies Pastel had seen yesterday! The yellow one with a red mane, the white one with a pink and purple mane, and the orange one with a magenta mane! All three were being pushed by a large red stallion with an orange mane who seemed to prefer pushing the yellow filly the most.

Bumble smiled, “Well, Pastel? Where do you want to go first?” there was a moment of silence, “Pastel?” he looked down to see his daughter hugging his forehoof and trembling slightly. Bumble let out a small laugh as he thought, “Pastel, you’re such a bubbly and happy filly but you still get scared around strangers, huh?”

Realizing there were too many ponies for his daughter to handle, Bumble made the decision. He walked over to the swings with the three fillies and the large red stallion. Pastel stayed behind her father’s leg, trying to hide as they reached the four ponies. The red one turned and gave them a warm smile.

“Howdy. Ah haven’t seen you ‘round before. The name’s Big Macintosh. Call me Big Mac.” Bumble reached out his arm and shook the stallion’s hoof.

“Hello, Big Mac! I’m Bumble Blitz and this is my daughter Pastel Dream.” At this, Pastel looked around her father’s leg at the big red stallion, he didn’t seem mean. He looked really warm and fuzzy like a giant teddy bear.

“H-hello, Big Mac. I’m Pastel.” after about a minute the three fillies noticed their swing buddy wasn’t pushing them and they turned around to see two new ponies, and one was their age! The three gasped and jumped off the swings and ran to greet them.

“Howdy-do, you two! Ah’m Apple Bloom!” the yellow one smiled.

“Hi! I’m Sweetie Belle” the white one squeaked

“Sup? I’m Scootaloo!” the orange one said in a tone that just screamed “I’m awesome!”

“Well hello, girls! I’m Bumble Blitz and this is my daughter, Pastel!”

Pastel looked at the three fillies she was excited to make friends but also scared that they wouldn’t like her, she said nothing. Her ferret poked his head out of her mane and suddenly the three fillies zipped up to her.

“Ooh, he’s soooo cute!” Sweetie Belle said, awing.

“Oh! Oh! A ferret! Can Ah pet him?”Apple Bloom asked, jumping up and down.

“Wow, he lives in your mane? That’s so cool!!” Scootaloo said, flittering her wings. The three fillies liked Barnaby. And this gave the young filly the confidence she needed.

“This is Barnaby! He’s my best friend and we go everywhere together!” the three fillies were excited to meet this new filly! And her pet! Then, pastel saw them look at her wings and she felt fear, fear they would run and scream like the kids did at her old home. But then, something happened she didn’t expect:

“Those wings are so cool!” the three said in unison. They liked her and they liked her wings! Pastel was so excited she was back to her old bubbly self in no time!

“Would you girls like to play? I like to play, we should play and be friends!!” At this, the three fillies nodded. Then they ran off to play! The stallions stood there for a moment processing what happened, then Bumble spoke up.

“Well, they sure hit it off!” Big Mac nodded.

“Eeyup” Bumble chuckled and smiled.

“Are you related to any of them?”

“Eeyup. Apple Bloom’s my little sister.” the two stallions looked back to the fillies to see them climbing a tree and falling out, breaking a few branches. Bumble simply sighed at this.

“If we don’t keep an eye on them, they’re going to destroy everything, aren’t they?” Big Mac gave another nod.

“Eeyup” and as they both let out a sigh, they followed the four destructive fillies they had unleashed onto the park.