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// Chapter 2: Like Mother, Like Daughter 
// Story: I'll See You in the Sky 
// by John McDoe 
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After a few minutes of flying the two ponies had finally reached Derpy’s house. It was just a normal yellow Ponyville house. A few failed DIY attempts dotted the outside, a broken bird house and a crooked table, but other than that there wasn’t anything to distinguish the humble house from any other Ponyville home. There was, however, a large tree in the garden, with various fairy lights hung over it. This was probably just a Hearth’s Warming Eve decoration, Derpy had always been one to enjoy the festivities of the day. There was also a hastily hung up wreath hanging on the small wooden door. But Rainbow didn’t pay attention to these things for so long, instead watching the still bawling Derpy Hooves as she quietly opened the door. The two trotted in.

The inside was a stark contrast to any of the festivities that were going on outside, there wasn’t a light on in the whole house, and not even a single decoration. Rainbow’s relative happiness took a sudden drop as she walked through the morbid abode. She went past a kitchen, which didn’t have anything cooking, a meagre living room with walls that seemed almost bare. No Hearth’s Warming Eve decorations, and just a picture of Derpy and DInky in one corner to adorn the walls, and a garden that was even messier than the one at Scootaloo’s house. Just being in the house made Rainbow feel saddened and let down, and she was starting to feel uneasy. There was nothing about the house that even hinted at any sort of festivity, except for the outside. 

Rainbow followed Derpy up a flight of stairs. The second floor was just like the first; sparse and empty. A few frames hung on the walls, the floorboards uncovered and in need of some care. The two ponies walked up to a door that had a finger painted sign that said Dinkyz Room. The grey pegasus opened the door and trotted in, Rainbow gulped and followed her. The room had pink walls and a light blue rug, there were a few hoof paintings and childlike drawings stuck onto the walls. They were mainly crude depictions of Derpy and Dinky playing together, one had the caption I luv my mummy! on it. In the middle of the room was a large quilted bed, with a lamp on a bedside table beside it that gave off a dim glow. 

On the bed lay the filly, Dinky Hooves, and indeed she seemed to not be moving at all. Rainbow could see that she was still breathing, but any sign of other movement had gone from her body. The filly’s face was deathly, bags hung under her eyes and her whole nose had reddened. Her lilac coat had grown pale, until she resembled a ghost. Rainbow didn’t know what was the matter with Dinky, all she knew that the poor filly was not well at all. 

“She’s been really ill for ages and today she’s gotten really bad! I’m worried, Rainbow Dash!” cried Derpy as she closed the door behind her. 

“Well, sorry Derpy, but I don’t know what’s wrong, what’s happened!” replied Dash. 

“Dinky had been really ill for ages and then this morning she just stopped moving! She’s really worrying me Rainbow Dash!” 

“Derpy I don’t know what’s wrong, and I do not know how to help her!” said Dash in an agitated tone. 

Derpy sighed and trotted over to her daughter, laying her hoof upon her motionless body, and starting to cry even heavier than before. Rainbow just looked at the distressing sight, she wasn’t tearing up, and that worried her for a moment. But she definitely wasn’t smiling, her face had turned into one of grief, sorrow and distress. She tried not to look at the two ponies and instead glanced outside the window that was shining dimly on the room. Outside it was still snowing and a few pegasi blissfully flew past, lobbing snowballs at each other and laughing. They were having the time of their lives, but Rainbow was far from having that right now. 

Suddenly, in a fit of coughs and sputters the small filly burst back into life. Her mother jumped back in shock since it happened so quickly. Rainbow’s sombre expression lightened up, and so did Derpy’s tears. Dash began to ponder why Derpy had even brought her here, or why she even followed her in the first place. Why didn’t Derpy just call a doctor? Why did she try to get help from random ponies? Why did she leave her obviously very ill daughter? Rainbow didn’t bother to come up with a proper answer for any of these and just brushed it off as something Derpy would do, she wasn’t the most together pony after all. Rainbow looked back at the mother and daughter, who were now just staring into each other’s eyes. 

“Mummy... I had,” Dinky was interrupted by a rough cough, “the most amazing dream!”

Derpy smiled at her filly and said “Well then, tell me about it.” 

“I was on a massive balloon then out of the sky, muffins rained down! You were there with me, I was so happy!” coughed the filly. 

Next to Dinky lay a small teddy bear, its eye had been ripped out somehow and wool poured out of various holes, it had clearly been played with a lot. The filly grabbed the bear and brought it up to her lap, she gave a quick glance at her mother to show that she wanted her to play with it. Derpy picked up the bear with her mouth and began to make it do a little jig in front of the filly, who smiled in delight. Derpy’s crossed eyes stared at her gleeful daughter, her tears had dried up and she was happy once again. 

“Well, it seems like everything’s fine. I guess I should leave then.” said Rainbow Dash, awkwardly scratching her neck. She was itching to go and get back to Scootaloo’s house. 

“No, don’t, Rainbow, I want to give Dinky her present!” replied Derpy. 

“Well, I guess I can stay a little longer.”

Derpy wandered out of the room and into another, she grabbed a small box wrapped in a patterned paper and brought it back into the filly’s bedroom. She skipped over to her daughter and placed the box on her lap. Dinky looked down at the present in both excitement and confusion, she wondered what this mysterious package could be. Derpy looked into Dinky’s eyes and gave a quick nod, telling her she could open it. Dinky proceeded to tear the wrapping paper off with her hooves, sending small bits of the paper flying over the room. Inside was a small box, with the words Property of Derpy etched onto it. The filly opened it up to reveal a small bubble blower, covered in tiny etchings of swirls and spirals. Dinky glanced up at her mother with a confused grin. 

“This is the first ever bubble blower I ever owned! I had it when I got my cutie mark. Go on, give it a blow,” giggled the cross-eyed mare. 

“Uh, mummy, I need some of that stuff to make bubbles.”

“Go on, it doesn’t need that!”

Dinky put the strap that was attached to the bubble blower around her hoof and brought it up to her mouth. She gave a short blow and, like magic, bubbles burst out even though there wasn’t even any liquid inside. The filly stared in amazement at the shining bubbles, she hadn’t seen anything like this before. Tens of tiny bubbles floated around the filly’s head, her eyes followed them in pure glee. 

“Mommy,” said the filly.

“Yes?” 

“Thank you.”

Suddenly, the filly broke into a fit of coughing. Her body started to violently convulse, throwing sheets off the bed. Derpy tried to hold her down and stop her shaking but the violent fit made her grip break. The pegasus burst into a shower of tears and Rainbow glared in shock at the convulsing filly. 

“Dinky! Stop it! You’re scaring mommy!” cried Derpy, once again unsuccessfully trying to stop her daughter’s fit. 

With those words, Dinky stopped her fit and fell back onto the bed, motionless. Derpy started to weep tears of joy and gave her the biggest hug a mother could give. She squeezed the filly as hard as she could, just assuming she was fine. When she let go of her daughter and looked at her, she wasn’t moving. Derpy ran to the other side of the room and grabbed the bubble blower, which had been thrown off the bed. She went back to her daughter and started to blow bubbles over the filly in a desperate attempt to wake her up. 

“Look Dinky, bubbles!” wailed Derpy, trying extremely hard to smile. 

Rainbow Dash, who had been standing at the back of the room, ran to her friend and tried to comfort her. Derpy didn’t notice the pegasus that was now standing beside her and blew a few more bubbles. The filly continued to lie there. This didn’t stop her mother from trying more things to encourage her to wake up. Derpy picked up the bear and made it do a little jig above the small pony.Eventually, In a final attempt at waking up the filly, Derpy ran outside, grabbed a large plate of muffins and galloped back inside, waving the treats under the filly’s nose. Dinky continued to neither move nor breath. Derpy’s heart sank as she realized what had happened to her only child. 

“Come on Dinky, wake up for mommy! You can do it, come on Dinky!” Derpy cried desperately, “Dinky please, don’t do this to mommy! Just wake up, please just wake up!”