> My darling Derpy; > by ParadoxPony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Derpy. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Derpy; It has taken me a long time to write this letter after I lost you, and even longer to find you. The mail-mare couldn't seem to get past that part. Derpy couldn't decide if she was angry or over joyed about the letter resting on her lap. She had found it laying at the bottom of her mail sack for Celestia knows how long! One could imagine the surprise she had felt when finding a letter addressed to her of all ponies! A mare with no friends, no family and certainly no mail; and yet, here it was, in her father's handwriting, 14 years later. She was a ground mare now at the age of 20 and hardly remember her father except for his eyes, they were kind, blue eyes. She remembered that, and the beatings.A shiver ran down her spine. The beating her mother would give her after every failed flight test, after every mistake and everytime she just....felt like it. Derpy, being the age and mare she was, never thought to tell her dad about it, besides, the bruises said well enough. Derpy cleared her throat and forced herself to finally finish the letter. I know you must be cross with me, and with good reason. i should never have trusted your mother with you, not after the accident...But it was no accident, was it. She did that to you and I should never have forgiven her, I should have taken you and ran after that night at the hospital. But I didn't want to do that to you Derpy. My Derpy. I don't know what happened to you after you left you there, up in the clouds. First I heard you were taken in by a family living in Clouds Dale. I went to find you you know. I never did have the heart to knock on those doors, to see you. it isn't that I didn't love you, but that I was too afraid you wouldn't love me.Not after what had happened. Latest I heard you got a job a a mail-mare. I'm so proud of you, my little girl. I saw your picture in the newspaper for mail-mare of the month and couldn't have been more thrilled! I keep it by me at all times. You look so much more like the beautiful mare you are growing into and I cannot overstate my grief that I wasn't there to see it happen, to see my daughter grow up. But I would rather have lost you the way I did than to have to leave for work another day and leave you in my ex-wife's care. Yes, ex-wife. I still remember the night I came home to find you had a black eye, your mother claiming you started a fight at school. I yelled at you Derpy. And I want to say sorry. I'm sorry I let her hurt you. It was my fault ! I never helped you when you needed it. Coming home day after day, finding she had marked you in some new way. Once I had even come home to hear you screaming in the your bedroom. I Should have known right then and there, but instead, I ddin't. I was never there when you needed me, not truly. Listen to you old man rambling on like this in a letter. Did I ever tell you about when you were a very very tiny filly? when you came home from the hospital, both your mother and I were crazy about you! I must have taken at least a weak off of work to stay home and watch my little girl. Your adorable cross-eyes only added to the cuteness. The doctors had said it wouldn't be permanent ,but it wasn't until you were about a year old when we realized they were wrong. Your mother demanded surgery, but you being so young would only put you in danger. That was when the beatings started. I noticed it first when her spankings became harsher than necessary,using the metal end of the belt and even a roller once. After I put an end to that you were about four. But that was when she did beat you, everyday getting more intense. We would fight all the time about, I'm sure you remember. There was also that one night when I came home to a terribly done attempt at cleaning blood from a carpet. that was the worst of it. Do you still have that doll I gave you? Miss Sweetie you called her? I remember that raggy old thing, you took it everywhere. Derpy stopped reading to wipe a tear from her eye and retrieve what vaguely looked like it had once been a stuffed filly's toy from her satchel and held it close to her face, rubbing the worn out fabric against her fur. . I hope you kept it, it was the last of me I ever gave you. I'm going to tell you now that it wasn't easy for me to send you this letter, and that I'm not a young colt any more, and would understand if you never wanted to see me anymore, but please. My heart is aching and you are the only mare that can take my breath away. If you are willing, could I be your daddy again? Beacause I miss miss you. ~dad. The parchment paper was now dotted with salty tears and wrinkled with her shaking hooves. It wasn't fair! He can't just be her daddy, make her love him so much and then just...let her go. He never mentioned how many time he had thought of knocking on her adopted parent's door in his letter, but Derpy didn't car if it was just once or a hundred times! She loved him, he let her go because of a hunch? Derpy lay her head into the letter and her hooves, crying hysterically. Nopony would hear her out in the meadow. Nopony but the birds. Loosened by the shaking of her body, a small slip of folded paper dropped from the back of her letter onto the grass. She wiped her eyes, clearing all but the natural blur of her vision and carefully unfolded the paper. Inside was the family photo taken when she was a filly. Her hoof grazed the part where her daddy stood. Flipping it over she read the words her had written. I love you, my darling Derpy.