Octavia looked worriedly outside of her managers office. "Hey, Octavia! What's wrong?" asks Bon Bon. "It's the manager! These last few days we've been so busy with health inspectors, food critics and a journalist that it's been giving a lot of work for him. He's even been coming early and leaving late these days. "Oh," the cook simply says. "You think you can bug him for a second because his phone won't stop ringing!" She says holding the managers cellphone.
"How did you get his phone?!"
"I found it on a tray of dirty dishes. Lyra must of found it on the counter and was planning to give it to the manager but probably forgot she was holding it when she was collecting the dishes."
Octavia stared at her for a second. "Sounds legit." She looks over at the managers office. She carefully opens the door. "Manager?" She looks inside finding her boss resting his head on his desk. She walks over to him and gently shakes him.
Time Turner wakes up. "What?" He says groggily.
"Phone for you," says Octavia while Bon Bon shows off his phone.
Time Turner takes his phone and answers it. The girls decide to leave but freeze when they hear their boss scream.
"What?! Yes! I'll be there as soon as possible!" He hangs up the phone and runs over to get his coat on the hanger by the door. "Octavia! I got to leave you in charge for a while! Something happened that I really got to get to!"
"Yes, sir!" says Octavia.
Time Turner then grabs his keys and dashes out through the back door of the restaurant.
"What you think that was all about?" Octavia asks.
"Don't know but I hope it leads him to a bed. Those bags under his eyes really show," Bon Bon comments.
"I know," Octavia says.
Crash!
Crash!
Alarmed, Octavia looks up at the clock. "Derpy doesn't come in till half an hour!" The two run out of the office and to where the sound came from, the lobby. They found Lyra on her knees on the floor picking up broken pieces of plates onto a tray. Two customers were helping her pick up some of the pieces.
"Lyra, how did this happen?" asks Octavia.
"A little girl. She ran in front of me as I was taking these plates to the kitchen," Lyra tells.
Octavia looks around the lobby looking for a little girl. Only seeing there were only adults and teenagers in the restaurant, "How does the little girl look like?"
"She was small with two different yellow colored hair wearing a white shirt with of a picture of balloons on it," Lyra tells. As Lyra was telling the description of the girl, Bon Bon notices a table with it's tablecloth slowly being pulled towards the other side. She runs to the table slamming her hands holding onto it on time before anything falls while startling the two customers who were sitting at the same table. Bon Bon looks over the table but sees no one on the other side. She looks around but can't seem to find anyone who could've been the one pulling the tablecloth. An idea appears in mind and she quickly checks under the table. There, she finds a little girl kneeling on the floor scowling at Bon Bon. She looks at the girl's appearance. Two different yellow colored hair wearing a white shirt with balloons on it.
"This is her!" Thought Bon Bon. The little girl makes a run for it but Bon Bon was fast and grabs her by the back of the girl's shirt. "I found the girl!" She yells getting everyone's attention. Lyra and Octavia look over. "That's her!" Lyra exclaims. Octavia walks over to the girl. Before she could yell out to ask the customer's who she belongs to, the girl points her finger at her.
"Mommy!"
The whole restaurant got quiet.
Few minutes later. "So, what are we going to do with Octavia's secret child?" asks Bon Bon.
"Don't know. Ask Octavia. She is the mommy," says Lyra.
"You're right. Hey, Octavia!"
"Enough already!" yells out Octavia. "And get back to work!"
"There's only a few customers and they already ordered," says Lyra.
"Doesn't mean there's no work to do," says Octavia angrily.
"What are we going to do about the kid?" asks Bon Bon. All three look at the little girl who was sitting at a table in the lobby.
"The manager isn't here to tell us what to do in this situation and God knows what he's doing right now that got him to leave. I guess the only choice we got is to call the police."
Slam!
"No!" The little girl yells. "Mommy's here! Police don't need to be here! Mommy's here!"
The three look at each other. "So she is your secret child!" Lyra exclaims looking at Octavia. Angrily, Octavia pulls a string from the ceiling dropping a cake on Lyra's head. Lyra shrieks, "Gross! Coconut cake!"
"There will be more if you don't quit calling her my child!" Octavia warns.
"Fine! Fine! I'll stop!"
"Back to important matters. If that girl says her mother is here then is must mean that who ever her mother is must be a regular at this place!"
The three look over at the girl. "Well she doesn't look like anyone I've served," says Lyra. "Same here but you know? She does look somewhat familiar," says Octavia pondering at the thought. "Me too," says Bon Bon. Lyra and Octavia look at Bon Bon. Octavia asks, "But you work in the kitchen! How can she be anyone familiar?"
"Not sure but I'm going to check the files," says Bon Bon.
"What files?" asks Octavia but Bon Bon leaves to the back without answering her question.
"Octavia!" Lyra calls out. "The little girl is gone!"
"Where'd she go?!"
"I don't know? I just looked a away for a minute then she was gone!"
"We got to find her!"
The two look around the lobby. Lyra looks under the table. She excuses herself when she looks underneath the tables that the few customers were occupying. They meet back at the counter after their search. "Where could that girl be?" asks Octavia.
Crash
They turn around as the sound came from the back. The two hurry inside and separately looked in each room. Lyra finds the box of spoons on the floor in the supply room. She looks up finding the girl climbing on the shelves. "Found her Octavia! She's in the supply room!"
Octavia quickly comes in just to have a box full of packets of sugar fall on her and Lyra. The little girl jumps off the shelf making a loud thump on the ground and runs out of the room. Octavia and Lyra quickly look out of the room seeing the girl running through the back room. The door that lead to the back of the restaurant opened, coming in was Vinyl and Derpy.
"Vinyl! Quick! Grab that girl!" Octavia yells. The little girl stops and runs into the closes room next to her which was the bathroom. Vinyl goes after her but is hit by the door when the girl slams it close. Vinyl tries to open it, "She locked it!"
"That's just great!" says Octavia frustrated. "I'll get the key!"
"I know this is a bad time, Octavia, but whose watching over the restaurant?" Derpy asks.
Octavia groans, "Lyra, you get the key! I'll check the lobby."
"Long day?" Derpy asks.
"Yes," says Lyra in a tired tone.
Having hold of the key, Lyra unlocks the door. The three girls are shock to find the bathroom a mess. A roll of toilet paper clogging the toilet while the sink was filling up with water making the two overflow and getting the floor wet. The little girl was hanging on the window sill as she was kicking her legs up trying to climb up at the window.
"Hurry! Someone take a picture of this! If the manager saw this he wouldn't believe it was the work of a little!" says Lyra frantically.
Derpy walks into the restroom towards the little girl. "Derpy?" Vinyl asks wondering what her friend is up to. Derpy grabs the girl by the back of her shirt and puts her down. "You know you look old enough to know from right from wrong," says Derpy in a strict voice. The girl stood still scared of Derpy. "So explain to me. What did you did wrong here?" Derpy asked the girl.
"You ever seen Derpy like this?" Lyra whispered to Vinyl.
"Only whenever Flash Sentry felt like quitting his band a few minutes before the show started," says Vinyl.
On the verge of tears the girl cried out, "I clogged the toilet and the sink so there would be a waterfall."
"Good girl," says Derpy.
"Hey, guys! I just called Dinky's dad! He's on his way right now to see her!" says Bon Bon as she came up to her coworkers. She looks over at the restroom. "Woah! What happened here?"
"I just closed the store for the time being till we clean up whatever mess that girl caused and to see what we should do with her," says Octavia coming over to the group. When she looked over at the restroom she cringed.
"I learned from my files the girl there is Dinky Doo," Bon Bon tells Octavia hoping the news would calm her down a bit.
"Dinky Doo?!" Octavia looks at the girl. "No way! The Dinky Doo I know was much smaller and sweet! Not destructive!" She says ending the sentence with a frown. Dinky just pouts and looks away.
"You know her?!" Vinyl and Lyra said at the same time.
"Yes. Bon Bon and I and also Golden Harvest when she use to work here know this girl," says Octavia. "Her name is Dinky Doo. We known her since she was just a toddler."
"And Bon Bon said she called her dad," Vinyl says. "Does this mean you also known her dad?"
"Yeah and you all will be surprise who he is!" She smiles.
From the back door bursting in came Time Turner, the manager. He was out of breath. He looked at the girl, "Dinky!"
"Daddy!" says the girl happily. Time Turner grabbed her into a hug then lifted her up. "Why did you came here?! Your Grandma and Grandpa were looking everywhere for you at home!"
"Daddy was suppose to take me to the park today but you didn't come!" The girl cried out.
"I said I would after I came home! You got to learn to be more patient, Dinky! Not run out of the house whenever you want!" He says sternly.
"It's daddy's fault," She grumbles.
Time Turner looked over at his employees, "I'm sorry if she was too much to handle."
"She was a monster!" says the girls bluntly.
"Her teacher says the same thing," he says in a tired tone.
"I closed the store for a bit, sir." Octavia tells.
"That's alright. We'll clean the place first then reopen in an hour," Time Turner tells them.
"And what are you going to do with Dinky?" Bon Bon asks.
"Keep her in the break room. Starting now she's grounded!"
"Nooooo!" Dinky whines.
"You ran away from home, came here and made a mess of the restaurant! You are grounded!" He tells her in his strict voice.
Dinky just pouts.
Derpy finished cleaning the restroom. As she was on her way to clean up the next place, she noticed Dinky in the break room sitting on the sofa pouting and saying, "Stupid Daddy!" over and over again. Derpy went in and sat next to her. Dinky flinched when she saw her. "What's wrong, Dinky?"
"Daddy's stupid!" she replies.
"What makes your dad stupid?"
"He's always messing stuff up! Like our play dates and school! I don't like staying forever at school but he makes me stay!"
"Why does he makes you stay?"
"I don't know...because dad is stupid!"
Time Turner walks over to see how his daughter is doing. He stops and stays behind the door when he noticed Derpy there.
"You know, Dinky? Your lucky to have your dad with you at home every night before you sleep and when you wake up you see him in the morning! You know why?" Derpy tells her.
Dinky shakes her head in response of no.
"Because my dad is traveling far away right now. I don't know when he'll be back to visit. I get a letter from time to time or a call but that's not enough. I miss him everyday!" A tear fell from Derpy's eye. She quickly wiped it away.
Dinky pats Derpy's hand, "You can have my dad."
Derpy lets out a small laugh. "No. I don't want you to feel this sadness and loneliness."
"I know that feeling. When daddy is at work and granny and grandpa go back home, I feel sad and lonely, too!"
"I'm sorry to that." Derpy grabs Dinky into a hug. Dinky hugs her back.
After the hour, the store was clean so Golden Hourglass was open again.
"Will Dinky be staying for a while?" asks Octavia. The manager and her were in the lobby behind the counter.
"Yes. I'm letting my parents have a break from her. She'll be okay here. It seems she has a liking to Derpy." The two look over as Derpy takes a customers order, Dinky is next to her with a pencil and notepad of her own.
Closing time came.
"Derpy!" Dinky calls when Derpy came out of the locker room. She was the last one to get out while everyone waited for her so they could all leave. "I got a great idea!"
"What's your idea, Dinky?" Derpy asks.
"You can be my new mommy!" Dinky says happily. "You can live with daddy and me and you and I won't feel anymore sad and loneliness!"
Derpy blushed, "That's sweet Dinky but I can't be your new mommy."
"Yes you can! Daddy says he likes all his employees so I'm sure he would like you living with us! Plus he mentions your name a lot when we have dinner and talk about our day."
Time Turner blushed a bit. Octavia and Bon Bon noticed his reaction and both grinned evilly at each other as the two now had something new they could use to tease the manager about.
"Don't you already have a mommy?" Derpy asks. Dinky nodded, she turns around and points at Octavia.
The rest of the girls gasp.
"Octavia was Dinky's secret daughter all this time!" Lyra says.
"She was lying to us all this time!" says Bon Bon.
"For shame, Octavia! Not taking responsibility of your own child!" says Vinyl.
Angrily, Octavia pulls a string. From the ceiling falls three buckets on the three girls head. "I known you girls since high school! I couldn't possibly be the mother of that child!" She yells.
"What happened to that coconut cake I suggested?" Groaned Vinyl.
"I wasted it on Lyra earlier!"
Derpy looks over at Time Turner, "Who is Dinky's mom?"
Time Turner smiles, "She was my first Second In Command. Is why she keeps pointing over at Octavia because in the photos of her mom she's wearing the same uniform."
"That doesn't really answer my question," says Derpy.
"I'll let Octavia tell you that," He tells her. "C'mon Dinky! It's time to go home."
Derpy noticed that the smile her manager had was a sad one.
When the manager closed the restaurant and left, everyone waited for Octavia to say it.
"Dinky's mom passed away a couple years ago. I barely knew her at the time she was Second In Command because she was too busy taking care of her daughter," Octavia said.
Everyone was quiet for a while not knowing what to say so they each said their goodbye's and went home.