It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when Dashie came running into my bedroom and began jumping on my bed. She had always woken up before me, but usually kept herself occupied with toys in her room. Today was an exception to the rule.

“Daddy! Wake up!” She whispered into my ear. I rolled over and saw her face staring back at me. “Daddy, can we do something new today? I'm bored of my toys.” She kicked the bed sheets up and crawled in next to me.

“Like what?” I asked her back.

“I dunno. I like my racing cars, something like them!” She said, as she crawled about next to me.

“You want more cars to play with then?” She stuck her head out from the sheet, shook her head, and began crawling around under the bed sheet again.

“No, I want something different, but still cars!” She said, crawling around my knees. I gave it some thought, and then realised I saw the perfect thing for sale the other day.

“Alright Dashie, I'll go out now and get you a new toy, but on one condition. You have to tidy up the living room. Can you do that for me?” She kept crawling around my legs and feet, clambering over them. She soon climbed onto my chest, crawled up to the top of the bed and poked her head out.

“I can do that! What are you getting me then?” She asked, smiling widely.

“No Dashie, I'm not telling you. You'll have to wait and see, okay?” She looked down trodden, but agreed to my idea, and went to the living room to start tidying up. I got out of bed, dressed myself, and went to get her new toy. I'll be back in a couple of hours Dashie, stay safe.” I said, as she began pushing her toy cars to the toy box. I shut the front door behind me, and left her to it. I expected Dashie to get the house tidied by the time I got back, I hadn't asked her to do a lot, after all.

I went to the local shop and bought the game I'd seen for sale, and brought it home for Dashie. I'd been gone about an hour, so I expected Dashie to have finished tidying. I closed the front door behind me.

“Dashie! I'm home. Are you ready to set up your new toy?” I asked, but as I looked around the living room, I noticed a distinct lack of tidying had been done. There were still books and magazines on the floor, and some of Dashies toys scattered about. I set the bag on the floor, and went to look for her in her bedroom.

“Dashie, are you in here?” I looked inside, and saw her sat on the floor, pushing her toy cars into each other. She turned around to look at me, and grinned.

“Daddy! You're home! where's my new toy?” She asked, and ran into the kitchen to see it. I followed her quickly, and picked the bag up off the floor before she could look inside. “I wanna see!” She yelled, as she jumped up and down, flapping her small wings.

“Dashie. Why haven't you tidying the living room?” I crossed my arms and gave her a stern look. She turned around to the mess, and looked back at me sad faced. I didn't like to upset her, but I had asked her to do something for me, and she hadn't done so. She needed to be taught a lesson.

“I did tidy it.” She said back, looking at the floor, and rubbing her hoof on the ground. I bent down to seem less intimidating, and asked her again, using a softer voice. I feared making her cry.

“But Dashie, those toys were there when I left, weren't they?” She nodded her head and kept looking at the ground. “So what happened?” I asked. She curled up around my feet and rested her head on my foot.

“I'm sorry Daddy. I got distracted by my toys, and I forgot you asked me to tidy.” She said in her saddest tone possible. I wanted to pick her up and cuddle her then and there, tell her to forget about it, and just play games, but I needed to make her learn from her mistake. It hurt me a whole lot to tell her off, she was still really young after all.

“Okay, well can you tidy it up for me now, please? Then when you're done, we can play with your new toy.” She lifted her head, and smiled when she realised she still was going to get her new toy.

“I will!” She said, and raced to the living room, and began pushing her toy cars under the sofa.

“Properly, please! They go in your toy box by the TV, okay?” She looked back at me, nodded her head, and crawled under the sofa to get them back out. She picked them up in her mouth, and put each one in her toy box. I left her to work, and went to my bedroom to get some boxes.

I came back to the living room and started stacking the boxes in front of the TV. Dashie looked up at me and grinned, a book in her mouth.

“Almosht done!” She mumbled. As she carried it to the big pile she had been making. She placed it on top, and then went to get the last magazine. I gave her an approving grin, and got the games console out of the cupboard under the TV. Dashie stopped and looked at it. She'd never seen it before now. I had stopped playing when Dashie joined me, as I thought playing scary video games around her was a terrible idea.

Once Dashie had put the last magazine away, I picked her up and gave her a gentle cuddle. “Now that wasn't so hard, was it?” I kissed her on the head, and she giggled.

“You just need to stay focused, and things get done, don't they? I'm sorry for getting cross with you as well Dashie, but you needed telling off. Don't you feel better for doing it honestly?”

She nodded her head. “Yes Daddy. I'm sorry I didn't do it when you asked.”

“That's quite alright Dashie, now, lets set up your new toy, shall we?” I said to her, as she began to grow excited. I put her on the ground, and put the shopping bag in front of her. I lifted the box out, and her excited face turned to a confused one as she tried to work out what it was.

“It's a racing game Dashie, you play it on the TV! Here, let me set it up and show you.” I began unpacking it, and placed the bits and pieces on the floor for Dashie to inspect. I had gotten her a game that included a steering wheel and pedals, thinking it would be a nice change for her to actually control a car. It needed some adapting for her to use, but that's what the boxes were for.

As I set up the steering wheel, Dashie looked at the pedals, and stepped on them, pressing the pedals in.

“Uh oh. I think I broke it Daddy.” she said, looking worried. I turned to face her, and saw she still had her hoof on the pedal.

I smiled at her. “It's not broken! Lift your hoof up Dashie, you'll see.”

She looked at me, and slowly raised her hoof. She gasped as the pedal sprang back against her hoof. “Hehehe!” She laughed, and began pressing it in and out. I let her play with it for a bit, then took it as I needed to set the rest up. Once done, we both had a steering wheel and set of pedals each so we could race.

I loaded the game, and then sat Dashie down in front of her box setup, and showed her how to use it. She was so interested in watching the car on the screen, she wasn't paying full attention.

“Here Dashie, these pedals make the car go, look.” I pressed one of the pedals in, and the car on the screen moved. She grinned brightly as it did so. “and if I press this one, it stops!” After a few quick lessons on the pedals, I taught Dashie how to use the steering wheel. I had to modify it a bit so she could get a grip on it, the steering wheel was too big for her to bite, so I attached a small broom handle to the front for her to grab onto, but it all seemed to work okay.  

I sat down and watched her race a few practice laps on her own. She was a bit slow, but it was to be expected for a small pony. After she got the hang of it, I asked if she wanted to race her Daddy.

“Yeah! I'm gonna win!” She said, and began steering her car enthusiastically. I sat down to my set up, and started a new race. I didn't give it my best, as I didn't want to upset Dashie, but I made sure to over take her a few times to make it interesting. She crossed the finish line in first place, and cheered.

“YAAAAAY! I WON!” She jumped up and down, and beeped her cars horn in excitement.

“Well done Dashie! You sure are faster than me!” I said. “Want to race again?” I asked her, and she nodded her head. Of course she'd want to race again. We raced over and over, and Dashie always enjoyed beating me.

I even beat her a few times, and while she was happy the first time, the second time she chose to crash her car into the wall and sulk. I drove back around the track, and nudged her car and beeped my horn. She seemed to enjoy it, and beeped back, before driving away full speed. She giggled as her car made a cloud of smoke in front of mine. We kept playing all day, until I made her take a break to rest her eyes. I left it set up so she could play later on, and put her down for a nap.

“Thank you for my new toy Daddy, it's really great. Can we play more tomorrow?”

“Of course we can Dashie. You just get some rest, it’ll still be there for you when you want to play it again.”

I tucked her into bed, and kissed her on the forehead. She rolled over, and went to sleep making car noises, beeping and “vrooming” to herself. I found it adorable, and set about decorating her box set up to look like a drivers seat, just for her. Next Chapter: The Lie Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes