My Little Dashie: 2020

by Rdasher12

April

Author's Note:

First off, I would like to apologize for the delay in the new chapter. The final half of my semester at college hit me like a truck and I was fortunate to get the grades that I did by the end of it last week. Since then, I've been working on this chapter to get it out to all of you loyal readers as soon as possible without sacrificing quality. Expect new chapters to come on a much more frequent and regular basis from now on. I plan to finish this story by mid-August before my new semester of college starts up. Lastly, I would like to thank all of you for your patience these last few months and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Feel free to comment with any suggestions and feedback!

Rdasher12

*April 12th, 2020* Easter Sunday

If you had told me back in 2012 that my Easter Sunday would look more different than usual today, I might've been able to guess that pretty easily. It was the year that I found Dashie, so it meant that my Easter weekends would no longer be filled with loneliness and constant reminders that I had very little when it came to friends or family. I finally had someone, somepony for that matter, to spend not only Easter with, but every other holiday that my family used to celebrate together. New Year's, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, birthdays, Labor Day, Cinco De Mayo, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and my personal favorite, Christmas. Now that I think about it, America sure has a lot of holidays, not that I'm complaining about that. If it gives me an excuse to spend more special time with Dashie, I'll accept it in a heartbeat.

However, if you had told me that I'd have an unusual Easter today last year, then I would've been puzzled. 2020 may mark the first year of the new decade, but that doesn't necessarily mean much of anything really.

I find myself getting lost in thought as to how I might guess why this year's Easter would be different compared to the last several years. A snowstorm? Up here in Michigan, it's certainly possible to get snow during this time of year, but a full-on snowstorm would be unlikely. Maybe we've moved to a new house? Yeah right, I have been saving up for that for quite some time now, but unless I somehow win the lottery or get lucky at some casino randomly that won't be happening anytime soon.

Of course, the real reason that this Easter is so different from the rest is one that I couldn't have possibly predicted. As it turns out, the virus that made its way over here last month from China decided to book an extended stay. The government has urged that everyone stay at home and only go out for the necessities like groceries and things like that, so any foot traffic that we were getting through my neighborhood before this pandemic started has certainly disappeared by now.

To be completely honest, not a whole lot has changed in our lives so far... It's not like Dashie and I ever go out aside from a park visit every weekend, so in a funny way, we've sort of been quarantining since before it became a normal thing. On top of that, the local Walmart that I work at certainly hasn't lost any business due to this whole ordeal. So far, the worst thing to come out of it is that we've run out of toilet paper stock. I was lucky to grab some for my own house before they were all taken by customers.

If anything, my boss has been trying to get me to work overtime to help keep up with the increased demand. I've been shying away from it for now, especially for this weekend, but I do doubt that I'll be able to avoid it for too long.

Now, I'm not saying that the pandemic is a good thing for the country or the world as a whole, but it has had its bright side during these past few weeks. Park visits for Dashie and I are taken in less fear than ever before due to everyone being holed up inside, and although her favorite sports are on pause, for now, it has given her time to go back and watch seasons from before she existed in this dimension, that is if there are actually multiple dimensions and she is in fact from another one. I haven't gotten any closer to figuring out the answer to that burning question, and I don't see myself getting any closer over the years to come. The bright flame of a question that was once in my mind has since dipped into no more than a minor ember. The answer simply doesn't matter to me anymore, as long as my little girl is happy.

Speaking of my little girl, the Easter bunny has brought her some surprises this year despite everything going on in the world. I guess it wanted to make sure that the best boys and girls around the globe still got the treats that they deserve.

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Dashie eventually leaves her room later that morning and comes into the dining room with a grin upon her face. "Happy Easter, Pops. What did the Easter bunny bring us this year?"

On the table lies her Easter basket, filled to the brim with goodies and decorated hard-boiled eggs on top of that distinctive plastic grass that usually goes in Easter baskets.

I chime in with a smug face. "Oh, ya know Dashie, the usual stuff... But I do have a fun game for us to play."

"Sweet, I love games! Whatcha got up your sleeve to try and beat me this time, Dad?" Dashie asks with a wink and a chuckle. We used to play games all the time when Dashie was growing up. She developed such a competitive personality, just like on the show. After a few years of this, however, she started to get the upper hand on me. I eventually stopped doing them very often unless Dashie begged me to since I knew I would lose and have to witness her victory chant every time. But, this time, I had a different strategy entirely.

I smile as I take two of the decorative hard-boiled eggs out of the Easter basket and hand one of them to Dashie while keeping the other. "This Easter-themed game requires a lot of balance. I want you to put that egg on top of your head, and I'll do the same with mine. Whoever drops it first not only has to clean up any mess that comes from it but is also the loser. How does that sound, Dashie? Think you can beat me? I must tell you that I've been practicing and preparing for this all week."

Dashie perks up at the thought of a competitive competitor for the first time in a while. I'll tell you, it must get tiring always beating me in games and never having anyone else to play against. "Ha! All the preparation in the world wouldn't be enough to beat the one and only Rainbow Dash, Dad! I do admire your spunk, though. Let's do this thing."

We both walk and fly into the living room respectively as we get ready to start the contest. I had totally lied when I said I had been preparing for a whole week now. As a matter of fact, I had only just come up with this idea last night and had no intentions of winning. My loss may hurt during her victory chant, but the real victory will come to me shortly after.

After a moment's silence, staring each other down in anticipation, I chime in to start the contest. "Ready... 3... 2... 1... Go!" Dashie and I both place the multicolored eggs on our hair and mane respectively and begin balancing our eggs as our lives depended on it.

One of the big advantages that my little girl has over me in these little contests is her wings. Just like in the Iron Pony Competition, it has proved to be a worthy asset over the years. If I was a sore loser, I'd simply make a rule prohibiting their use, but that's no fun to me. Since I can use my fingers and opposable thumbs, Dashie should be able to use her wings to make up for it in some way.

Dashie gracefully glides throughout the living room, not breaking a sweat while she balances the delicate snack atop her head. I, on the other hand, was struggling to produce the same results. I stepped all throughout the room in some attempt to keep the egg from falling in a place where it'd make a big mess. I knew I was going to lose from the get-go, but I could at least cushion my loss by keeping a clean floor. I hastily bobble my head towards the kitchen as Dashie follows me in confusion. I eventually reach the trash can and open it with my foot before safely dropping the egg inside.

I breathe a sigh of relief as my plan had so far gone accordingly. Dashie grins from ear to ear at her victory. "What, did you give up, Pops? I don't blame you. You would've had to cheat if you wanted to beat me. I win!" She triumphantly flies around the common area, chanting her victory theme.

🎵"Cause I'm ten percent luck, twenty percent cool. Zero percent donkey, I ain't no mule! It's sixty percent skill and ten percent pain. That makes 100% reason to remember my name!" 🎵 "Rain-bow Dash, Rain-bow Dash, Rain-bow Dash!"

I can't help but smile as my little girl chants. Those lyrics sure have gotten annoying since she heard that song years back, but when else does she get the chance to gloat about a victory? It's not like I can just sign her up for women's soccer, or anything. I'm glad to help boost her morale when I can. But today, the real victory will go to none other than yours truly.

Through her entire chant, she was still balancing the egg on her head as if it were nothing. It's crazy just how talented my daughter turned out to be, true to the show or not. However, those skills of hers are going to be her one downfall today.

I cast a smug look upon my face as Dashie finishes her chant. "Congrats, Dashie. You really outdid yourself today. You've managed to balance that fragile little thing up there for five whole minutes now! I think that might just be a new world record."

She lights up like a moth to a lamp in disbelief. "Is it really, Dad?! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Can we call Guinness?!"

Finally, after preparing for everything all this time, my plan was complete. I had rented a lot of the Guinness World Record books from the library by my work when I was teaching her how to read. It was a good foray into what the extremes of our lives can look like as well as a reading lesson. She's always loved them, and the fact that she mentioned it just now only makes this play into my hands all the better. "Well, we totally could... But I'm not sure if you'd appreciate the title they'd give you."

She raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh, why's that? Wouldn't it be something cool like 'The Queen of Balance' or 'Over-Easy' for how easily I won the egg game?"

Now is my time to shine. "No, Dashie. Those are some great suggestions, but I looked it up in the book before I returned it last week and they would actually dub you 'Master Egghead'."

Dashie pauses for a moment as she realizes what she's done to herself. By beating me in a game of balancing eggs on our head, she has quite literally made herself the 'Egghead' of the house. While I hadn't seen much of season two of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I did manage to catch "Read it and Weep" where the term "Egghead" was coined thanks to the Daring Doo books. I think I heard somewhere that they actually printed out copies of the first book in its entirety. Maybe I can find it online for her birthday later this year as a way to ease her into her origin. After all, I still haven't told her. But that's not important right now. When the right opportunity presents itself is when I'll be doing that. For now, I just need to bask in this rare victory.

Dashie slowly drops to the living room floor in defeat. "I'm an egghead..." as she says this, the hard-boiled egg finally yields and falls to the floor without making any mess. Thank the Lord.

Feeling satisfied with my victory, I pipe up. "Yes, Dashie. You are an egghead. My most favorite egghead in the whole entire world. But hey, at least you beat me still, right?"

She finally looks up at me with a straight face. "Yeah... But at what cost?.. On second thought, maybe we shouldn't call Guinness. I'm perfectly cool with someone else getting to keep the title of 'Master Egghead'."

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Shortly after that, I gave up the bit and explained everything to Dashie. She got pranked hard with that one, and it felt good. But she is still my daughter, and I could never leave her feeling defeated for too long. Her mood eventually improved and we enjoyed the rest of our Easter holiday as we would any other year.

To be completely honest, it's been very easy to forget about the pandemic while at home so far. Seeing how we don't watch the news very much, nor access the internet, my only real reminders about it are when I go to work. We've still got plenty of customers, but we have had to spend extra time sanitizing everything that comes in and washing our hands thoroughly. I've kept Dashie up to speed on the whole thing and have been doing research on the developing matter when I can. It's hard to say how long this will be around, but some are saying that it doesn't spread very well in hot temperatures. Maybe come summertime it'll be mostly gone, then.

As I said before, the virus has had its ups and downs for Dashie and me as a family. But, I think as long as neither of us gets sick, we'll be alright through this.

I now lay in my bed after an enjoyable day, I need to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to provide for the two of us. I have been doing what I can to prevent either of us from catching this mysterious virus so far. We wash our hands and hooves regularly, and I usually shower first thing after getting home just in case I brought any of it home with me somehow. Our state has been floating around the idea of requiring masks to be worn inside buildings and in large crowds, which makes sense, I think. I might need to look into getting some for myself, as well as seeing if the regular masks fit Dashie. If they don't I suppose I'll have to find a way to make some for her myself. That is if she ever ends up needing to wear one. It's not like she ever goes anywhere, but it might be a good idea to prepare just in case.

I slowly doze off to sleep as I think about what the rest of the year might look like, as well as how it might impact our future plans for holidays as well as eventually moving out. From the time that my parents passed away until I found Dashie, life had always been tough, so I'm no stranger to hardships, even if the ones this whole thing might bring are a complete unknown right now. We'll take it day by day, for now, I guess. I wonder if there will be any leftover Easter candy when I get out of bed tomorrow?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Comments

[Bronycommander]

its fine better late than never. NIce work!

[Viatorem]

Good to see a new chapter

By the can considering the pandemic isn’t technically over I’m starting to wonder if the fic will end in June/later and not diciembre 2020 itself. But that’s just something I’m starting to be curious about.

Now April, this was when things began to get interesting/horrendous, although at least for me may of last year was the more notorious in comparison (hard believe is has been a year now).

Any way, as always I’m very curious to see how the fic is going to continue.

Also I enjoy a lot the fact that you show dashie’s dad taking extra precautions like showering after work, it really helps to show the strong relationship the 2 have

[Rdasher12]

10815137
Thank you my friend :)

[Rdasher12]

10816951
I appreciate the feedback! Unlikely it will go into 2021 because things are close to normal around here. It’ll end on New Year’s Eve 2020 probably.

[Bronycommander]

10817088
You're welcome

[Viatorem]

10817092

Ending the fic in 2020 New Year’s Eve makes sense... however I would recommend you to write an epilogue going over 2021. Thing might be going back to normal but they aren’t 100% back to what they used to be.

Besides I need more my little Dashie content in my life XD

[Rdasher12]

10817454
You and me both! XD if I finish 2020 before the end of summer I’ll Defo consider it based on your recommendation. However, even if I don’t, that won’t be the end of MLD content whatsoever. After this story I’ll take a break from writing new ones in order to create readings for all the ones that I’ve written so far. I’m so looking forward to it! Feel free to DM me with story suggestions for after this one. It’s been getting difficult to make story topics that are interesting and haven’t already been written.