Chapter 3: Yes, a trail

Derpy was at the castle just a day before I met her. The princess had called upon her by name. She told her that she had a very important package that had to be delivered to Ponyville. Everyone at the castle was shocked. The princess had given the package to such a derpy pony. They could not help but question the princess’ sanity, but the princess had her mind made up. She wanted Derpy to deliver it.

With the package in her pack, Derpy departed from the castle determined to deliver this package. Suddenly her stomach began to rumble. She was hungry. She slowly and loopily made her way to Donut Joe’s Bakery. Once inside, Derpy made her way to the muffin cabinets.

“Derpy! Long time no see!” Donut Joe emerged from the backroom staring at Derpy.

“Hi Donut Joe!” Derpy said to the baker with a smile and turned back to face the muffin cabinet. She could not decide between blueberry and banana nut.

“On a delivery I see! Who’s the lucky winner?”

“Oh, I have to deliver this package to Ponyville. The princess says it’s really important.” Derpy said never once taking her eyes off of the muffins.

“The Princess?!?” Donut Joe couldn’t believe his ears. He began to wonder if the princess had lost her mind.

Donut Joe knew Derpy since she was just a little filly. She had always gone into his shop and headed straight for the muffins. He knew she was a little off but he welcomed her all the same. She easily was his favorite customer, aside from the purple mare’s dragon assistant who loved his donuts. But he still couldn’t understand the decision to make Derpy in charge of such a huge delivery.

“Derpy, do you think you can handle this? I mean, do you think you can deliver this package safely?” Joe asked concerned. Derpy turned to the baker and walked over to him this time. She had a furious expression on her face. Immediately he thought that he had offended her. “Derpy,” Joe began, “I-“

“I can’t decide which muffin I want.” Derpy said, cutting Joe off. Her face drooped and she began to tear up.

“Why not get both?” Joe asked concered.

“I only have enough bits for one.” She began to cry.

“Uh… go ahead and get both. My treat.” Joe told her in an effort to cheer her up.

Suddenly Derpy’s expression changed. She was no longer crying, but had a huge smile on her face. “Yay! Thank you so much!” She ran to the cabinet and waited for Joe to wrap them up for her.

“Derpy, you becareful now, ya hear? This sounds like a huge delivery, so just head straight for Ponyville and deliver the package. Don’t make anymore stops.” Joe said to Derpy as he wrapped up her muffins. He wasn’t sure how much the Pegasus had heard, but he hoped that she understood what he said. He didn’t want something bad to happen to her. “Here you go.” He handed her the muffins.

Derpy couldn’t contain her excitement. She grabbed the muffins and ran out the door. Joe watched her as she ran out. He was used to her doing that, but this time, he felt upset.

Derpy left the bakery continuing on to the gates of canterlot. She was really happy that she had two muffins. She pulled one out and started eating one. Just thinking about them made her mouth water.

The Guards at the gate watched as Derpy exited Canterlot eating her muffin. Little did Derpy know, that there was a cliff shortly following the gates and proceeded to walk straight off. The guards gasped in shock. They couldn’t believe she walked straight off, and before the guards that were pegasi took off to save her, Derpy flew back up flying in the direction towards Ponyville. The guards let out a sigh of relief.

Derpy flew for half an hour before it started to get dark. She was halfway to Ponyville when something caught her eye. It was another Pegasus. The Pegasus flew at a blinding speed past Derpy. Worried that the Pegasus was in trouble, Derpy flew after them as fast as she could. She could almost see them in the distance.

Suddenly something hit Derpy hard in the side, sending her spiraling downwards. As she struggled for control, a dark figure watched as she fell. In his hand was her delivery bag – and her muffin! Derpy quickly gained control and flew up towards the dark figure, but by the time she reached where they were, they were gone.

Upset and about to cry, Derpy slowly descended to the ground. She stumbled a couple steps and fell on top of something. She stood up and noticed that it was the Pegasus she saw earlier. They were out cold. She pulled his pack off of his back and laid it on the ground next to him.

An hour went by and Derpy still was waiting for the Pegasus to wake up. She began to nudge them. They weren’t moving. She began to wonder if they were ever going to wake up.

Derpy reached for her muffin, but found that her bag was missing. She forgot she had lost it to the dark figure. Just then the Pegasus began to mumble something in his sleep.

“Hello?” Derpy said hoping that the Pegasus was awake.

“P-p-p-…” the Pegasus mumbled.

“Paper.” Derpy finished what the Pegasus said.

“P-p-p-…”

“Pumpkin!” Derpy said, thinking it was a game.

“P-p-p-i-…”

“Pirate?” now Derpy was confused

“P-p-p-i-i-…”

“Pie!” Derpy shouted

“Pie…” the Pegasus mumbled. Derpy, assuming she won a game, began to prance around saying, “Yay! I win!” She was very proud of herself. Once again she reached for her muffin, only to find that it was still gone. She was upset.
Derpy laid down next to the Pegasus, pulling their coat over herself. It was a cold night, and she was very tired. ‘Hopefully I’ll find my muffin tomorrow’ she thought as she fell asleep.

Derpy awoke to daylight just peeking over the trees. She began to get up when she realized that a hoof was around her. She looked at the Pegasus and found that he was snoring. She carefully got up and stretched her legs. The ground wasn’t as comfortable as her bed was, but at least she was able to stay warm.

Derpy began to walk around the clearing and noticed that there was a stream nearby. She walked over to it and began to drink. Just then, an apple fell from the tree above her and landed square on her head.

“OWWW!” Derpy yelled, falling into the stream. She began to rub her head and looked around. The apple that struck her was on the ground just a few feet from her. She picked it up and took a bite. ‘Delicious’ she thought.

She flew up and picked an apple from the tree to give to the Pegasus. Upon returning to them, she noticed they were tossing and turning. She removed their coat and they began to mumble “Soarin’…. Soarin’” in their sleep. Just then she noticed the Wonderbolt pin.

Derpy took a step back. ‘Are they a Wonderbolt?’ She walked a few feet away with the coat and began to look at the pin. She looked at the back and realized that there was a note.

The note said,

“To my little brother Midnight Skies,

I believe in you little brother. One day, you and

I will fly as a team on the Wonderbolts. Until that day,

follow your dreams and never give up.

Your Big Brother,

Soarin’ Skies”

Just as Derpy finished reading the note, the Pegasus screamed “NNN NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”. Scared out of her mind, she hid under the coat. She heard them get up and start walking over to her. ‘So, he’s a wonderbolt’s brother?’ she wondered.
Suddenly, the coat began to lift. Derpy did the first thing she thought of… yelling “BOOOOOO!”

Derpy finished her story and I put my pencil and paper away. She left out a lot of details about what happened so I had to wait till much later for her to tell me everything. This adventure was going to be a tricky one. First off, we have no idea which way the dark figure went and second-

Something caught my eye in the bushes. I walked over to the bush and picked up an envelope. I looked farther into the forest and noticed a small wrapped object. I walked over to it while Derpy followed closely behind. I picked up the wrapped object and began to unwrap it.

“A blueberry muffin?” I asked pulling off the rest of the wrapping.

“Yay! You found it! Thank you so much!” Derpy said giving me a huge hug and taking the muffin from my hoof.

“You’re welcome…” I said, my face growing hot. This must be the direction in which the dark figure went. “Hopefully they didn’t leave this trail on purpose, cause this could be false.”

“A trail?” Derpy mumbled, chewing on the muffin.

“Yes, a trail.”

Author's Note

I like this chapter. It was very interesting to write, and I feel I captured the spirit of Derpy, just a little bit. She comes off as naive and klutzy. Like I said, I don't want to cripple her as a character so she would be somewhat helpful rather than being a liability and a nuisance. Hopefully you like this chapter, because the best is still to come. Also I edited Midnight's eyes in chapter 2, making them gold if they already were not. I think it'd go better, seeing as he is strikingly similar to Soarin'.