“Good, good. Hold it right there!” Rainbow Dash zipped around, checking all of the corners of the newly constructed building. “Almost perfect. Now we just need this one last piece.” She pointed to a large pillar being carried by eight different pegasus. “Slowly... slowly...”
“Careful now.” She flew backwards a few meters to admire the new creation. She raised two hooves into the air and aligned them with the structure below. Her tongue flopped out. “Almost...”
The pillar shifted neatly into place. “Perfect, don’t forge—”
No sooner had she uttered a word, the pillar slid backwards. Three of the pegasus lost their grip, and the pillar dropped like a lead weight.
“Nononono.” Rainbow Dash flew underneath the pillar and tried to hold onto it. Her muscles bulged as gravity continued its work. Despite her flailing wings and tensed-up body, she couldn’t even slow it down, let alone stop it.
“Rainbow Dash! Get outta there!” shouted Raindrops, one of the pillar-carriers.
“But...” Rainbow’s face contorted as the wind blew past her face. She looked downwards at the incoming ground. If she didn’t move, she was going to make one heck of a pancake.
“Do it!”
Seconds before the pillar slammed into the ground, Rainbow Dash flew out from underneath it. She hovered nearby, shaking her head and pinching her snout with a hoof. A loud boom struck the air, and a large crack appeared on the pillar.
“No! Horseapples!” Rainbow Dash sprinted forward, but it was too late. The crack spread from the top to the bottom in a zigzag pattern. She could only watch in horror as it split in two.
“Quick. Four of you hold up that side.” She pointed at the smaller piece of the pillar. “The rest, help me hold this end.”
Before they could move, the largest piece of the pillar came tumbling down, right onto the brand new factory. Smashing through the middle, it kicked up a cloud of dust and concrete. It shattered into dozens of pieces, leaving nothing but scrap metal, broken shards and piles of junk. Nopony was in there, but still...
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth in the air. “Oh man, oh man, oh man. This is gonna set us back by weeks!”
She rounded on the group of ponies. “What happened!?”
Seven of the eight ponies stepped back and all pointed at a single grey pegasus. She tilted her head and smiled. One of her eyes stared at Rainbow Dash while the other looked at the wreckage. “Err... oops?”
Rainbow Dash threw her hooves into the air. “Derpy?! Again? Ugh!” Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head.
“Sorry.” Derpy patted a hoof at the ground.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, we can still fix this.” Rainbow looked at the destruction. “I think.” She clapped her hooves. “Alright then, we’re a bit behind schedule but we can still do this. Medley, Blossomforth, Raindrops, you clear the rubble around the building while the rest of us move the bigger pieces out of the way.”
Derpy trotted forward, a silly grin plastered on her face, when Rainbow Dash placed a hoof in front of her.
“Hmm? What is it, Rainbow Dash?” Derpy looked up into her eyes.
It was hard to follow both eyes at once, so Rainbow glared at the center of Derpy’s forehead. “Not you. Just... err... we can handle it.”
“But...” Derpy’s smile turned downwards.
“Just... go home. Take the rest of the day off. We can handle it here.” Rainbow Dash pointed off towards the direction of her home.
“Okay...” Derpy trotted in the other direction, her wings dragging along the ground.
As Derpy went away, Rainbow Dash massaged her temples. She didn’t want to seem mean, but sometimes Derpy was a hoofful.
A cry rang out from behind her, followed by a quick “sorry.” Derpy had bumped into somepony, causing them to drop the piece they were holding onto their hooves. They glared at her as they massaged their broken appendage.
Rainbow Dash took deep breaths.
As Derpy made her way home, she couldn’t help but notice that everywhere she went, ponies would always stare at her. Some of them were glares, from ponies that she had accidentally wronged, while others were curious stares. Harmless really, but it kept her on edge regardless. Derpy forced herself to smile, like so many other days.
“Mommy, why are her eyes like that?” asked a small foal.
“Don’t do that. It’s rude to point.” The mother picked up her foal by the neck, but the look she gave Derpy just shouted “freak” at her. No matter how many ponies saw her eyes, it’s like they never got used to them.
She tried to mentally force her eyes to go straight, but it only lasted a few seconds before they drifted back into seperate directions. She sighed. Like always, she wished she wasn’t so different from everypony else.
Of course, that wasn’t the only problem she had. Because of her eyes, she had trouble with depth perception and was really clumsy due to it. She tried her best, she really did.
She even volunteered to help out with the rebuilding of the new factory, but things didn’t go according to plan. Once again, another perfectly good thing gone wrong. She teared up. It’s not like she wanted to disappoint Rainbow Dash. It was an accident, really.
With nothing left to do, she decided to head to her night job early. She had scarcely set hoof through the front door when a loud shout assaulted her ears.
“Derpy! You mixed up the packages! Again!” The gruff voice came from a green stallion. The veins in his neck bulged when he spoke, and his muscles quivered with every movement. He towered over Derpy.
Derpy’s ears bent backwards and she clasped her hooves together. “Ah! I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Do you have any idea how much these ‘mix-ups’ are costing this company? Do you?” He bent down, yet still hovered over Derpy’s small-in-size body in comparison. He snorted, letting out a burst of air from his nostrils.
“I... I’m sorry.” Derpy curled into a ball and quivered on the floor.
“I’m sorry too. If this keeps up, who knows what will happen?” He paused. Derpy tried to fight back tears. His face softened.
He waved his hooves around as an attempt to explain. “I don’t want to go out of business, you know. The other ponies, they’re starting to talk. Stuff about this business being ‘unreliable’ and ‘tardy’. I’ve got a reputation to uphold, you know?”
Derpy sniffled.
“If nothing changes... I’m gonna have to let you go.”
“But—” Derpy stood up.
The gruff stallion held up a hoof. “With business the way it is, I can’t afford to keep covering for you. This will be the last time I’ll be able to. This is your last chance.”
Derpy stared at the floor in silence.
“Tell you what. Take tonight off. I’ll cover for ya. How does that sound?”
“Okay,” Derpy replied reluctantly.
She turned to leave, and right as she crossed over the threshold, she heard another coworker whisper in the back. “With all the mistakes she’s made, why hasn’t she been fired before this?”
“I feel bad for her. It’s tough raising a foal on your own, especially with... well, you know.”
“Still. Sometimes I wish she’d just go someplace else.”
Tears rushed down Derpy’s cheeks as she stumbled towards home. Some days, it felt like no matter what she did, all she did was make other ponies angry. They were always staring at her. Judging her. Sometimes Derpy wished they were the ones that went away.
She took a seat on the nearest bench, placed in front of Sugarcube Corner. She stared at the ground. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but nowadays she felt... drained. She did her best, but despite that, things... just kept happening. Sometimes, It felt like it was too much to deal with.
“Heeey, Derpy!” a voice called out. A pink pony, bouncing in place with a tray of cupcakes on her head, waved towards her.
Derpy looked away, she didn’t want Pinkie Pie to see her like this. Taking a deep breath, she wiped her face. She had to stay strong. To put on a mask. After all, it’s not like anypony cared. To them, she was just... clumsy.
“Hi, Pinkie Pie.” Derpy waved back dejectedly.
Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and tilted her head, somehow keeping the tray carefully balanced on it. “What’s wrong?”
Derpy shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
Pinkie paused, then put a hoof to her chin. “Oooh! How about a cupcake?” She leaned forward, lowering her body so that the tray sat in front of Derpy.
Derpy gently pushed the tray away. “That’s okay.”
“Are you suuuuuuure?” Pinkie Pie leaned closer, a few inches from Derpy’s face.
Her stomach growled. Derpy tried to silence it with a few pats, but it only grew louder like a lion’s roar. She didn’t realize it, but the last time she had eaten was when she left her house in the morning. “Yes.”
“Yes, you’re sure that you don’t want a cupcake or yes, you changed your mind and you do want a cupcake?” Pinkie’s tongue moved so fast, it became a blur.
“Uh... I’m good, thanks. I don’t want it.”
“Aww, come on. It’s free!” Pinkie Pie stared at her with one eye open, expanding as big as a dinner plate. She looked Derpy up and down before she said, “Take it! It’s on the house.”
Derpy placed her head between her forelegs.
Pinkie frowned. “Heeey, what’s wrong?”
Derpy looked at her pleadingly. She tried to fight back the waterworks, but it came anyway. She threw herself forward, hugging Pinkie’s neck. “I’m sorry. I... today hasn’t been such a good day.”
Pinkie comforted her with a pat on the back. “It’s okaaaay. We all have days like that. When you do, just remember all the ponies that love you.”
Derpy rubbed her muzzle. Her stomach acted up again, unleashing a sound like a dying cat. Pinkie beamed and shot Derpy a knowing look. She offered the tray again and nodded towards it.
Derpy sighed.
“Eh? Eeeeh?” Pinkie Pie pointed towards the tray with a huge foam finger that appeared from nowhere.
“Fine.” Derpy didn’t really like cupcakes that much, but her stomach didn’t really care at the moment. “Thanks, Pinkie.”
“Noooooooo problem!” The smile on her face was so big, it covered three-fourths of her face.
As she took a bite out of the cupcake, Derpy thought back to what Pinkie had said. Somepony that loves you, huh?
“How does this look?” Dinky held up her creation, a crudely drawn picture of Carrot Top, herself, and her mom.
“Perfect!” Carrot Top smiled warmly. “Your mom will love it.”
“Are you sure?” Dinky pored over her drawing once again. “It’s not... ugly?”
“No! Of course not.” Carrot Top patted Dinky on the head. After glancing at the clock, she said, “I’m sure she’ll be home soon enough. Then you can show her yourself.”
“Yay!” Dinky squealed, her tiny limbs quivering.
“Let’s go see how your muffin is doing.” Carrot Top walked towards the kitchen, and lowered the oven door. She handed the oven mitts to Dinky. “Now be careful.”
“I will!” Dinky slipped on the oven mitts and bent over the racks. Slowly, gently, Dinky reached forward and picked up the muffin. Lips pursed, she brought it out of the oven. Setting aside a chair to stand on, she jumped onto it and set her muffin onto a plate on the table. The muffin was slightly burnt on the side, but it should still be good. Hopefully.
The sound of the front door opening attracted Dinky’s attention, causing her ears to perk upwards. “Yay! Mom’s home!” She leaped off the chair and sprinted towards the living room.
After closing the door behind her, Derpy only had enough time to grunt as Dinky flew into her hooves and grabbed her by the neck.
“Mommy!” They both hugged for a moment. “How was your day?”
Derpy paused for a moment, her face momentarily turning into a frown. However, it disappeared just as quickly into a smile. “Same as always. How about you? Did you have fun with Carrot Top?”
“Yes! We baked muffins and played some games and I even made you a present!” Dinky crawled onto Derpy’s mane and sat on top like a hat.
“Oh?” Derpy raised an eyebrow. “What was it?”
“Let me get it.” Dinky pointed towards the floor, so Derpy picked her up and set her down. Dinky ran into the other room, soon returning with her picture levitating in the air. Dinky bounced up and down, her eyes widening as Derpy grabbed the picture.
After a few seconds, Derpy looked away from Dinky. She held a hoof over her eyes and tried not to let herself tear up again.
“Mom?” Dinky craned her neck.
Derpy rubbed her nose. “It’s nothing. I just... Thank you.”
“So you like it?” Dinky clasped her hooves together.
Derpy embraced Dinky in another wide hug. “Of course I do.”
“Oooooh! I have something else for you too!” Dinky grabbed Derpy’s hoof and pulled her into the kitchen. She pointed towards the smouldering muffin on the platter. At the sight, Derpy’s eyes immediately lit up. Carrot Top was in the kitchen cleaning some dishes.
“That’s for me?”
Dinky nodded.
Derpy reached towards the muffin just as Carrot Top turned around.
“Wait, it’s still—” Carrot Top said.
Derpy picked up the muffin and tossed it into the air. It flipped several times, then landed neatly into Derpy’s mouth. Just like that, she swallowed it whole.
“—hot. Nevermind...”
“Did you like it?” Dinky looked at her mom pleadingly.
“Perfect.” Derpy gave her a wide-toothed smile. The picture was still in her hooves, so Derpy grabbed a magnet and stuck it to the refrigerator. “Are there any plans for tonight?”
“Lyra and Bon Bon are coming over to watch a movie. Any preferences?”
Derpy thought for a moment. “Doesn’t matter to me. As long as we’re spending time together, that’s all that matters.”