Finally giving birth to a healthy filly makes Derpy forget about all of her other pains in life, such as what Ponet had done to her. The sight of her daughter’s smiling face was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Derpy was just so happy, and the only other time in her life that brought her this much joy was the day she found out she was pregnant. Derpy knows she can always count on Rainbow Dash as a friend, but now Derpy has her own family which means she would never have to worry about being alone again. After letting Derpy hold her filly for a few minutes, Rainbow Dash asks her:
“So Derpy, you named your daughter Dinky? I think it’s an awesome name”
“Why y-yes Rainbow that’s wh-what I named her, Dinky, b-but how did you kn-know?”
“Well Derpy, when I came back with our friends to see you, you passed out while murmuring I love you Dinky, after I had told you they were making sure your filly was going to be all right. So I just kind of assumed her name. ”
Derpy then focuses her attention back to Dinky and Rainbow Dash signals the rest of her friends to reenter the room. As soon as she does Pinkie Pie bursts through the door, and her first glimpse of the newborn filly causes her hair to regain its curls. Pinkie Pie makes Rainbow Dash lean over the bed so she can take a photo of her, Derpy, and Dinky. All the other ponies file in as well, and for a few moments the room is filled with the expected aww’s of the other ponies. Rarity states this reminds her of when she was there for Sweetie Belle’s birth not even a year ago. Fluttershy softly tells Derpy just how overly happy she is for her and lastly Applejack congratulates Derpy for pulling through in spite of everything. All the ponies spend the next few minutes huddled around Derpy’s bed trying to get as much time with the filly as possible, but this is interrupted when a unicorn nurse walks in floating a pen and clipboard.
“Excuse me ladies but I need to speak with our new mother; you can stay in the room but you all need to step aside. Now Ms. Hooves I have a few simple questions I need answered. Firstly have you named your filly yet?”
“Yes ma’am I h-have, I have n-named her Dinky.”
“Thank you, now my next question is, will the father be arriving here today?”
This question makes Derpy extremely uncomfortable, she had just forgotten about all the pain Ponet had caused and now it was all coming back to her; even her filly sensed her mother’s pain and stopped smiling. Derpy takes a moment to calm down and answers:
“W-Well no, he isn’t go-going to be in my filly’s l-life.”
“Oh I’m so sorry to hear that, now just one last question, do you plan on going home tonight or would you like to stay here for a few days?”
“I would l-like to go home pl-please, this place is t-too much for me.”
The nurse does some writing on her clipboard, flips through some pages, does some more writing and finally says:
“Okay then and thank you for your answers Ms. Hooves. Now I will have to take Dinky from you for a while to take a few more tests. Then she will be ready to leave the hospital.”
With a zap of her horn the nurse levitates Dinky away from Derpy and takes her out of the room. As she does so Dinky starts crying again and squirms around in her blanket. This makes Derpy extremely unhappy and she starts hopelessly calling out to Dinky, begging the nurse to bring her back. Rainbow Dash attempts to get Derpy to settle down by saying they need to do that for all newborns, and that it is done with Dinky’s safety in mind; but her efforts are futile. Derpy can still hear her filly crying from down the hallway and it hurts her deeply to not be able to be there for her daughter. Right after the nurse leaves the room, two large stallions, one earth pony and one unicorn, wearing black ties and dark sunglasses enter the room. They state:
“We are here on behalf of Foal Protective Services, is there a Miss Rainbow Dash present?”
“Yeah that’s me, what do you need?” Replied Rainbow Dash.
“We have some business to discuss in private, please follow us into the next room over.”
“Oh okay then I’ll be right with you. I’ll be right back as soon as I can Derpy, don’t worry.”
Rainbow Dash follows the two stallions out of the room and the rest of the ponies gather around Derpy to comfort her. As Rainbow Dash enters the other room one of the stallions shuts the door and says:
“Miss Dash, the hospital informed us you were the one that brought Derpy in correct?”
“Yes sir, it was me and then I came back with my friends.”
“Thank you for that information but your friends are not of importance. On being admitted Derpy had told the staff you were to be her foal’s guardian should anything happen, in absence of any immediate family.”
“I guess that’s nice to know but why are you telling me? It seems like Derpy is pulling through.”
“You see Miss Dash, Derpy has been listed in the hospital records as mentally impaired, and as such deemed unfit to be a mother with the absence of the father, meaning she won’t be allowed primary care of her foal.”
Rainbow Dash gets right up in the stallion’s face with a mean look in her eyes and shouts:
“So what? Derpy may not be normal, but she is the most kind hearted pony I know, and would be a great mother; and if I have anything to do about it you won’t be taking her filly away. She needs her after everything she has been through, her fiancée and filly’s father abandoned her for Celestia’s sake.”
“We are sorry Miss Dash but the laws are what they are, which is why we wanted to speak with you. Since you have been listed as the foal’s guardian, you are being given the chance to assume the responsibility of being the foal’s primary caretaker, rejection of this offer sends the foal to the custody of the state. It is then your decision if the foal lives with you or Derpy, but you will be held legally responsible for the foal. Do you accept our offer?”
“What are you guys a couple of eggheads? Of course I accept! I will do anything to let Derpy keep her filly!”
“Very well then Miss Dash, all of you have to do is sign these papers and everything will be taken care of. We must also get Derpy’s consent of the whole situation before she leaves the hospital. After signing our business is done and you can return to your friends.”
The unicorn then floats a clipboard and pen to Rainbow Dash who quickly signs the papers without a second thought. The stallions then leave the room and go off down the hallway. Rainbow Dash then quickly returns to Derpy’s room. Upon entering all the other ponies wanted to know what it was about since normally ponies from FPS don’t show up after a foal is born. To not alarm anypony Rainbow Dash lies and says”
“Oh nothing serious, since the filly’s father is absent and I was the one who brought Derpy in, they just wanted my information to contact me in case of an emergency.”
Derpy had been worried when FPS showed up to question Rainbow Dash, but let out a huge sigh of relief after Rainbow Dash explained. There wasn’t much left to do except to wait for the hospital to return Dinky and tell Derpy she can leave. So everypony leaves except Rainbow Dash, who tells Derpy she will be with her for the next few days to help her out with Dinky. Derpy and Rainbow Dash spend the rest of the time talking about how Derpy’s life will change having a filly to take care of now, and they do this for about two hours. Eventually though the cries of Dinky become louder and louder, until the nurse reappears with her and gives her back to Derpy, saying that Dinky was as healthy as can be, and that they could leave the hospital now, and then leaves the room. As soon as Dinky is returned to the arms of her mother she stops crying and begins smiling again, wiping away any of the worries Derpy had at the moment. The only thing different about Dinky that Derpy noticed was that Dinky had a wrist band now. The wristband listed some basic things such as her gender, blood type, size, and weight. Most importantly it said that her name was Dinky Hooves and that her mother’s name was Derpy Hooves. Derpy began to cry tears of joy as she now had proof that this was her filly and no one else could say otherwise. A few minutes after the nurse had left; the two stallions from Foal Protective Services enter the room and shut the door. Rainbow Dash quickly tells Derpy:
“Hey Derpy, I lied earlier about them and these stallions from FPS have something very important to ask you.”
“Wh-What can I help you w-with?”
Derpy knows who these stallions are and what they can take away from her, so she holds Dinky even closer in fear of what might happen next, which causes Dinky to squirm around in her blanket.
“Hello Miss Hooves, our goal at Foal Protective Services is to ensure the safety of foals in Equestria and we are here to follow through on that. The hospital has informed us that you will be a single mother without the help of the father or immediate family, and the hospital records show you are mentally impaired, and as such the law states you are an unfit parent for the foal. So the decision has been made to…”
Derpy interrupts them and yells:
“NO YOU CAN’T HAVE MY LITTLE DINKY, SHE IS MINE AND NO ONE IS TAKING HER AWAY FROM ME!”
“Ma’am please calm down, that’s why we are here to offer you the ability to stay with your foal. We have these papers here that if you sign will grant primary care to Rainbow Dash, after which the two of you can work out where the foal lives, with Miss Dash having already signed.”
“You w-would do that f-for me Rainbow?”
“Oh course Derpy, You are like a sister to me, I just couldn’t stand the thought of you losing your precious Dinky, especially after everything you have been through.”
“Why th-thank you so much Rainbow, this m-means the world to me. Y-Yes I’ll sign, give me t-the papers.”
The unicorn floats the pen and papers over to Derpy and she quickly signs them. The other stallion then says:
“Thank you Miss Hooves, and that is all we need from you now. You will be meeting the FPS periodically so we can monitor Dinky’s safety.”
The two stallions then leave the room taking the signed papers with them. Derpy returns her focus back to Dinky and tells her:
“Its ok-okay now my little Dinky, mo-mommy is here and no p-pony can separate us now.”
This seems to calm Dinky and she stops squirming; Dinky then lets out a large yawn and falls asleep, Derpy herself begins to feel tired and hands Dinky over to Rainbow Dash before falling asleep herself. Dinky can sense she is no longer being held by her mother which makes her squirm around a bit as she lets out a small moan which saddens Rainbow Dash. After a few moments of holding her, Rainbow Dash’s heart melts when Dinky lets out a cute little sneeze while sleeping. She can’t wait to start spending time with her outside of the hospital. Eventually Rainbow Dash finally feels the weight of this long stressful day and dozes off to sleep.
After a few hours of sleep, the ponies except for Dinky are awakened by both the doctor and the nurse entering the room. The doctor says:
“Why hello there Miss Hooves, after looking over all of Dinky’s test results I am happy to say she couldn’t be healthier for a pre mature born foal. You can leave as soon as you want now and my nurse has brought you a bag of things to get you through the first week with your foal. It seems the operation did a real number on you so I’m having you sent home in an ambulance carriage which is waiting for you outside. Have a nice day and good luck with Dinky.”
The nurse floats a saddlebag over to Derpy and then leaves the room with the doctor. Derpy looks inside it to find some diapers, jars of foal food, some bottles of filly formula, and a small brochure on caring for newborn foals. Rainbow Dash Helps Derpy out of her bed and carries the bag while helping Derpy walk to the ambulance. Derpy is still feeling weak and struggles to walk while also carrying Dinky, but manages with Rainbow Dash’s help. The ponies make it to the carriage and set off to go back to Derpy’s home.