The beginning of this story was very interesting, but chapters two and three were, to put it charitably, very weak. By far the best part of the story is learning about Derpy's youth and how she met and married Dinky's father, and how Dinky's father later went on what was supposed to be a short journey but then was never heard from again. That is supposed to be the setup for Dinky's adventure in going to find her father.
Therein lies the rub. First, Dinky's adventure begins with her gaining her cutie mark, a symbol that is supposed to represent a pony's special talent or gift. In this story, however, Dinky's mark represents her search for her father. Is that supposed to be her special talent? Finding her father? How many times is he supposed to go missing after this story ends? Because otherwise, that's a gift of fairly limited application. Also, nothing in this story suggests that Dinky is especially good at searching for missing ponies. Nothing she does in the search seems beyond the abilities of any moderately intelligent and capable pony.
Second, the author climbs up on his soapbox to give us a long disquisition on gay clubs in Equestria, which has less than nothing to do with the plot of this story. This is just distracting and, frankly, idiotic. If you want to write a story about gay clubs in Equestria, write a story about gay clubs in Equestria. As it stands, that whole section feels woefully out of place, and, again, as though the author decided to climb up on his soapbox.
Thirdly, much of Dinky's quest, and in fact its entire resolution, is quite anticlimactic. Without spoiling too much, suffice it to say that the thing that caused her father to go missing has already been removed, and he was already on his way back to Ponyville when Dinky left on her quest.
So my advice is read chapter one if you're interested in a novel take on Derpy's youth and backstory, and how Dinky came to be, and then forget the rest, or maybe read the last paragraph or so of chapter three, if you really need to know how it all ends. The rest is not worth bothering with.
Interesting beginning, but very weak continuation.
The beginning of this story was very interesting, but chapters two and three were, to put it charitably, very weak. By far the best part of the story is learning about Derpy's youth and how she met and married Dinky's father, and how Dinky's father later went on what was supposed to be a short journey but then was never heard from again. That is supposed to be the setup for Dinky's adventure in going to find her father.
Therein lies the rub. First, Dinky's adventure begins with her gaining her cutie mark, a symbol that is supposed to represent a pony's special talent or gift. In this story, however, Dinky's mark represents her search for her father. Is that supposed to be her special talent? Finding her father? How many times is he supposed to go missing after this story ends? Because otherwise, that's a gift of fairly limited application. Also, nothing in this story suggests that Dinky is especially good at searching for missing ponies. Nothing she does in the search seems beyond the abilities of any moderately intelligent and capable pony.
Second, the author climbs up on his soapbox to give us a long disquisition on gay clubs in Equestria, which has less than nothing to do with the plot of this story. This is just distracting and, frankly, idiotic. If you want to write a story about gay clubs in Equestria, write a story about gay clubs in Equestria. As it stands, that whole section feels woefully out of place, and, again, as though the author decided to climb up on his soapbox.
Thirdly, much of Dinky's quest, and in fact its entire resolution, is quite anticlimactic. Without spoiling too much, suffice it to say that the thing that caused her father to go missing has already been removed, and he was already on his way back to Ponyville when Dinky left on her quest.
So my advice is read chapter one if you're interested in a novel take on Derpy's youth and backstory, and how Dinky came to be, and then forget the rest, or maybe read the last paragraph or so of chapter three, if you really need to know how it all ends. The rest is not worth bothering with.