Young, alone, and pregnant with the foal of a married stallion, Ditzy Doo is certain that she is going to be the worst mother Equestria has ever seen. Ditzy's new friends in Ponyville will do their best to help, but only one pony can help Ditzy to overcome her own fears.
A non-canon Lunaverse story, based on the events of Family Matters. Knowledge of the Lunaverse is not required, although this story may contain minor spoilers for Family Matters.
Part of the Lunaverse monthly writing event for May 2013: First Meetings.
Chapters (1)
All of my likes.
ALL OF THEM.
Just to reiterate what I said in the PM, I think my favorite part about all your stories is how equine you manage to write the ponies; the little movements and traits and habits and such that really make me remember that these are ponies, not humans. It's something I need to get better at.
you deserve a medal for this.
Awww.
I liked the Pony maternity ward, they just seem to get it easy on the birthing front compared to us Homids.
Pearl's pep talk was nice as well.
The only fault I can see if that Fluttershy seems rather bold for her L-verse persona although it is an usual situation I'd think she'd need to push herself more to go into Ponyville and the hospital. Her sending Dash in her place might fit better and having Dash act as the father during the birth (and probably faint or be very soppy) would be fun.
It's a shame I didn't know about this as I was writing my Ditzy story with some changes I could have made it a prequel to this, oh, well, que sera sera.
2572828
Most mammals actually have very easy births compared to humans - there's hardly an evolutionary advantage to screaming pain and the disturbingly real risk of death for both mother and child, after all.
The thing is, humans were becoming bipedal at the same time that we were growing smarter, i.e., getting larger heads. So the birth canal on women wasn't growing at the same rate that newborn babies' heads were. However, we got smart enough to keep new mothers (and new babies) alive despite this for natural selection to do something to fix the problem (like giving us cone-heads or women wider hips or something).
Of course, Equestrian ponies have pretty big noggins too, so I imagine mares don't have quite as easy a time of things as do Terran equines. But it's still probably easier than humans.
Now that was very touching! Well done!
This was so touching. I wanted to hug Ditzy and smack her at the same time, then hug her again.
2573179
Their babies are particularly melon-headed, too.
2564946 Just because they are not humans does not mean you treat them like common ponies. They are an evolved species of their lesser counter parts. Also remember these equines have more rounded (humanoid like) heads to accommodate their larger brains too. And they are probably smaller than regular sized ponies in both size and weight in that regard. Plus I bet pushing out a pony with a horn protruding from its head wasn't an easy task either.
Now as for the story... I find Ditzy was a real slut. I mean my god! She fucked the dude in his home with all the family's pictures strewn about. Talk about a whore! But simply looking into her (well not really hers) daughter and suddenly it all becomes clear she wants nothing more than to want to be this foals mother wtf? I am just confused with this story. She lied, acted like a complete tramp, and was going to totally run out and abandon the filly, but now everything is ok after a few words from a complete stranger?
I think it's great she is trying to redeem herself, but the path leading to it was strewn with lies and deciet.
Oh this was simply beautiful
The emotion was great through out but that pivitol moment when Ditzy met Dinky was brillantly done.
Not more I can say aside from LOVED IT
2575374
She's also been hanging out with Fluttershy for ~11 months. Plus if you read Family Matters, you'll see that she got to witness first-hand the pony she slept with's family falling apart, that probably had an effect on her, as did just being pregnant as well.
Well Done
2575374
I am confused by your emotional reaction.
Yes, she did wrong by having sex with a married person without their spouse's consent but......yanno, it takes two to tango.
The fault here is mostly with Dinky's father; while Ditzy herself is not blameless, since she let a bad situation go on for quite some time, he was the one who lied to his family and choose unfaithfulness.
Also also; are you seriously upset by people enjoying sex and trying to have more of it in their life? Jesus, man....
anyway, about Ditzy abandoning her child; if she believed herself to be an unfit parent, wouldn't it make more sense for her to help her child by putting it in foster care, where it would probably be cared for much better? (according to her worldview).
My criticism is that she could have contacted an adoption agency beforehand or something, but, heh, whatever.
And choosing to keep the baby after it was born? I don't know if you can follow the logic, but people tend to be more attached to their babies once they're actually born;
or so I've heard.
At least, in every frigging tv series where this kind of plot crops up this is what happens
2576588
Not every one...actually most notably I'm thinking of Friends, where the teen mother Monica and Chandler adopted their twins from, she almost went back on it, but ultimately decided to still give them up.
You sir have my feels. All of them.
Very nicely done. I did like the genuine equestrian foaling references, research can oft lead in unexpected directions.
2573179
I'd think birthing a Unicorn would not be easy although their horns don't seem to be very sharp normally, I guess you have to pity Pokey's mum.
It's interesting that human birth is comparatively difficult, it sort of forces us to build communities. In order to birth reasonably safely you need a midwife whose seen the process several times thus humans can't breed in small groups you need an extended family or clan to have someone with the skills needed in it. It also gives a reason to protect and feed the elderly as they will have had time to pick up the nessicery skills.
Very sweet. Lots of conflicting emotions running through L!Ditzy. I gotta give props to how you involved Rarity & Sweetie Belle's mom. So many fanfics simply kill her off instead of allowing her some character growth... Twilight's parents get plenty of love, why must Pearl and Magnum suffer, right? Bravo.
2578676
Not sure why we'd want to kill them off, given that we've seen them alive...
2579136
Not the Lunaverse, but other AUs that I've read have done this as an explaination for why Sweetie Belle continues to live with Rarity after we only see their parents at the beginning of Sisterhooves Social.
Heck with Ditzy as best mother, I think Pearl is a real contender for it in this fic. Or at least best pony.
Very nice story.
Such a sweet story! I love Pearl.
2564946 Thank you again! I think having two cats in the house helps, and one of my girlfriends went to an agricultural high school (and doesn't identify at 100% human), so I get her to help with body language a lot.
2572572 Aww, thank you! I love your work, too!
2572790 Well, the way I see it, Dinky's special talent seems to be about making friends, so it's possible than when her magic surges happened, ponies would ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOFOAL
2572828 Real world horses have it incredibly easy compared to humans - in fact, compared to a lot of animals, really. Of course, Equestrian ponies are bound to be different, but I liked the stuff I read on Wikipedia so much that I wanted to use it. Newborn foals running around are just excessively cute.
It was a pretty big deal for Fluttershy to go into the hospital, it's true. Getting through town wasn't too hard, because she was riding in a hansom cab pulled by Rainbow Dash, with the curtains drawn, so nopony could see her. (I'm not sure why she doesn't do that more often, in fact.) Rainbow Dash would be pretty adorably sappy in the maternity ward - I just watched Baby Cakes again, and she is very vulnerable to cute foals, despite her tough exterior.
I didn't want to prejudice anyone else's stories with mine, because I know I would have felt awkward writing in an area which I knew someone else was covering. I do really like your story a lot, though!
2573689 Thank you! I really enjoyed writing it, too.
2573987 That's pretty much the appropriate reaction.
She is still a very foolish teenager, albeit one who has had to grow up a lot in the last few months.
2575566 Aww, thank you! I'm glad it worked out on paper the way I imagined it.
2576588 Indeed - in fact, licking the foal clean after birth is not only done for hygiene and to stimulate the foal's blood flow, but it is a vital part of the bonding process between mare and foal. And yes, contacting an adoption agency would have been the more rational approach, but then she would actually have to say out loud to another pony, "Hey, I think I'm a terrible pony and would be a dreadful mother, so take my baby?" I imagine she would find that difficult. Besides, I think Equestria's government agencies are pretty good at handling abandoned foals. Nurse Redheart knew what Ditzy was planning, and it wouldn't have been the first time she'd seen it.
2576819 Thank you!
2577468 Thank you! I love doing research for fanfic. Some people don't. I don't understand these people.
2578676 Pearl doesn't get a lot of good appearances in fic. She's a controlling, overbearing harpy at worst, and an annoying embarrassment at best. (Granted, that's also canon.) But she obviously loves her daughters, so I thought I'd give her a good showing here.
2579186 I do think Pearl is a pretty good mother here, yeah. I noticed that we have two unicorn kids of about the same age, with pegasus mothers (Dinky and Snails), so I thought it'd make sense that somepony could help them with that, and Pearl already went through that with Rarity. I'm sure the hospital has pamphlets about it, too.
2579235 Thank you! Sometimes it can be really fun just to pour compassion and understanding into a character. Even one as unclassy as Pearl.
2576466 Thank you!
Thanks for reading, everypony! I had a lot of fun with this story.
I want to slap Derpy, and then hug her.
MIXED EMOTIONS ARE TAKING PLACE!
I swear man, you make the best one-shots in history.
2963512 That is the reaction I was going for.
She's made mistakes, but is doing her best to make the most of things.
2989070 Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Oh my god, I literally screamed "NOOOOOO!!!!" When I found out what Ditzy was about to plan, even though I knew she wouldn't go through with it. But the way you've set up the entire situation made the uncertainty in me feel so real even if I knew the outcome. I really teared up when Ditzy finally saw Dinky for the first time and I felt so elated when she finally decided to keep her. This just made my day, I love Ditzy/Derpy she's my favorite pony and this fic was just so well done! I applaud you my good Author!! Fav and Thumbs up!!!
3419740 Thank you for the lovely review! I'm glad the seriousness of Ditzy's situation came through, despite the ending being entirely preordained. It's always great to be able to bring out the intended emotions in a story like this. Thank you!
What a beautiful story, thank you! When Ditzy held her breath in front of Dinky, I did it with her! "Will she change her mind?"
3534358 Thank you, I'm so happy that you liked it! I'm glad the decision moment came across with the right tension, even though I'm sure the outcome was obvious in advance.
3540353 Huh, that's true! Didn't think of that as I read, though, and that paid off.
D'awww.
I didn't really know why everyone loved Derpy so much, now… I think I'm starting to like her.
Awwww, this is soooo sweet...
Thank you so much, dear author. You made my day and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ^^
I just realized something;
Even though this story sort of takes place in the Lunaverse, it's written in such a way that it actually fits right in with the mane verse.
I have no idea if that was intentional or not, but either way it's still a great read
6389595 Thank you! I really enjoyed writing it, too. I guess it could work in the usual setting, yeah! Good point.
6391650 You're welcome.
Have a Derpy
D'awww! Adorable Dinky is adorable.
Why isn't this fic canon?
That was so beautiful, I'm crying
i realy love it...