Drip Drop

by Silver Thread

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2962

Derpy Hooves is different; so much so that everyone knows her "name". But behind her happy, ignorant exterior, is a pony that understands what people think of her...a pony that only wants to be accepted as different, not flawed.

Derpy Hooves has never been like all the other ponies; whether it be her eyes, her expression, or just her nature of making mistakes, she is well-known throughout all of Ponyville. Eventually, everyone in Ponyville called her Derpy Hooves, or Ditzy Doo, due to her derpy nature. She was accepted as the pony who made mistakes and couldn't really be changed, and everyone tolerated her with a hefty sigh.

Though everyone saw this mare as happy and care-free, inside she felt guilt for all the things she did wrong. Comments about her mistakes, and especially about her physical inadequacies, hurt her a lot more than she let on. In the end, there was only one escape for this little mare. The only place she ever actually belonged.

The place her cutie mark came from.

Published 2013-09-21 21:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-27 00:01:47 UTC

But It's Not Funny

The wetness of the clouds just barely touched her hooves as she sat there, staring down at Ponyville below. Ponyville...this little village she called home. She sighed. Could this really be considered her home?

Derpy let her shoulders fall, wings limp on her body as a mist caressed her flank.

"Oh..."

A hummed, sad sigh came from the throat of the defective pony. She had to face it, she didn't really belong here. When she tried, she'd just...got in the way of everypony. Closing her eyes she remembers her first day, showing up at that party, holding her breath as she tried to forget that there would never be a party for her. It'd be easy enough, sure...but Pinkie might not stop at a party. Derpy didn't need someone prying into her past.

The periwinkle pegasus turned her head to the east, to the nearest open waters. Not her favorite place to go, but an option none-the-less. And with that single thought, she turned, haunches and legs leaping unsteadily from her cloud-perch, her wings catching wind rather easily. The mist made it rather unpleasant, chilling her to the bone, but she pushed past. There was only way for her to cheer up.

The open sea.

"Can you say your name?"

The pegasus filly tilted her head up at her mother, mouth parted. Relatives had gathered to chatter, and currently she was in the spotlight.

"Say, 'Drip Drop'. Come on, dear, say it, say 'Drip' and 'Drop'." Gentle eyes fluttered and she cooed at her child. The filly looked blankly but her good eye looked down, and up again.

"Deh. Ba.. Dadeh.. Derder?"

The relatives tried to pitch in, her grandpappy pony saying, "Drip Drop the Drippy Droppy!"

"Derpa?" Her aunt just barely chuckled, with her mother wincing at her sister's lack of consideration.

"Ha. She said Derp. They say the fates know before anyone else, you know?" Though she had attempted to keep a pleasant, kind vocal tone, Drip Drop's mother nuzzled at her filly before snapping her head at her sister.

The mare's voice cracked with pent-up anger, "Just because you can't conceive doesn't mean you have to taunt the one of us who actually CAN. My," she clears her throat, "my filly is perfectly fine! Aren't you, Drip Drop?"

Completely oblivious, Drippy sucked at her hoof, chewing at it barely, as she stared up at her mother...and at the wall. A point which made her aunt look at her with condescension. The mare walked towards the window, and quickly went aloft and away.

Grandpappy began to speak, "Don't worry abo.."

"HOW COULD I NOT?" Drip Drop's mother was red-faced, all legs shaking and at the point of collapse. Still, she stood tall, "All she ever does is try and beat me. She LOST. I have a FILLY! A precious, wonderful, VERY SPECIAL FILLY!!!" Her voice avalanched cloud droplets from the home, disappearing into the air. The gathering went quiet.

"Derpa?" The filly said confusedly, blankly.

"Drip Drop. Please..." her mane covered her face, pockmarks in the cloud below her head as her voice wavered, strongly but brokenly, "My...my precious angel...Drip Drop..."

Too lost in thought, as per usual, Derpy barreled forward, wings fast but inadequately built for the air. The flimsy, aged structure never had a chance. Town Hall was met with more than its architecture could handle. Beams holding the dome-top began to creak from the crash, and Derpy could only listen, dazed, halfway through the roofing as the creaking turned to a loud CRACK...

She pulled away just in time to watch the dome-top of Town Hall fall in on itself.

Her mind blanked. It curled back in on itself, in a defensive way, as she puckered her lips to hold her breath and forget what just happened. Derpy stared at the wreckage. She unfortunately knew exactly who was needed. Flying up to a beautiful rainbow home, she found Rainbow Dash relaxing. The ashamed pegasus cleared her throat.

"Hey Dash?" As always, her voice came out as though nothing was hurting inside of her. And nothing was anymore, she had forgotten it, hidden it all away. Rainbow Dash looked at her with an analyzing face...then disappointment, as she fell back staring at the ceiling.

"What nowww?"

Derpy made sure to grab a darker cloud as they headed back to the Town Hall, where the preparations for Applejack's going-away ceremony were originally going to be held. The cloud rumbled a little, and she was glad Dash didn't know she was bringing it on purpose. Something inside told her she needed it.

It would be better they think she was dull than to let them know she was broken.

In Her Element

The town hall was repaired now, thanks to the efforts of all of Ponyville. All but her. Rainbow Dash had taken her aside earlier during the construction day to talk to her.

"I know you really want to help, Ditzy..." Dash sighed with a hoof scratching her mane, eyes to the side as she walked behind the periwinkle pegasus, "I really do, but you need to know your limits. Maybe you'd just be better off staying home today..."

The wording was a bit painful, unfortunately that was just how Rainbow Dash spoke, but Derpy understood. If she stuck around, any work done may accidentally be un-done by an accidental bump by a certain detrimental mare.

She was still appreciative that Rainbow called her by her assumed name rather than her...unfortunate other name. She knows her birth name was Drip Drop, but her aunt, her relatives and childhood friends came to call her Derpy. The add-on at the end came during schoolyard days as she made...mistakes, and often very destructive ones at that.

Suddenly remembering what she was doing after drifting into though, Derpy nodded with a silly grin at Rainbow, who silently (but still noticeably) sighed with relief and waved goodbye as she took off towards town square. Derpy turned and started walking off to the east, to the open waters she so desperately desired. She shook her body, prepared herself, then took off into the sky much quicker than she planned. She stopped mid-air to steady herself, her wings having yet again tried to foil her plans, and reset herself in the right position as she took off in the right direction much more slowly.

At her slow pace, it took a few hours for her to get all the way out to the sea. The morning had turned into a blazing afternoon under Celestia's hot sun. A slow, stuttered landing left her hooves burning in the warm sands of the beach. She was just north of Baltimare, and out of view of civilization. It was still a bit too near towns for her to truly enjoy the location, which was less-than-scenic, but it was open water.

Derpy scanned the horizon inquisitively, looking for any silhouettes signalling incoming griffons. Not that she was worried, she could easily disappear from notice if it came to that, and not all griffons are bad-tempered. Still, it didn't hurt to check.

Seeing that it was all clear, Derpy trotted over to a dirt hill just at the edge of the beach, with pockmarks dotting its surface. Looking all over with both her eyes, which her being especially tame at the moment, she quickly found what she was looking for: her snorkeling gear. Necessary for anypony going anywhere underwater.

Slowly she placed the mask on her head to protect her eyes form the harsh saltwater, and mouthed the snorkeling tube tight in her mouth so she wouldn't lose it. If Derpy was going to be in the water for a while today, her mouth may end up cramped up again, not that this was abnormal to her. No one in town seemed to question it either, they just placed it among her many strange quirks. Sighing, Derpy shook these thoughts from her head and trotted off towards the water.

It stung. It always did, but every time it felt a little better. The pain didn't get duller, but it made her feel better when she experienced it. It was a reminder that she was where she belonged: the open sea. This was a place of legends and mysteries, as nopony nor creature ever delved down to return the tale to surface-dwellers. Even Derpy was limited to what she could reach on a single breath, despite being able to hold her breath for a substantial amount of time.

Rumour had it that there were creatures as big as Canterlot, fish smaller than crickets, expansive systems of coral and flora underwater with every color imaginable. Some even speculated that there were seaponies, with fronts like a pony and back ends like fish.

These were just rumours, though, and nopony had the ability to determine what truth they may hold, at least not yet.

For now, Derpy just stepped deeper into the chilled seawater, sand shifting in her hooves as her movements became one with the water. Her entire body entered, and wings that were awkward in the air changed to elegant oars, legs moving fluently in the thick, beautiful waters.

A clumsy pony in the air yet again became at one with waters so foreign to most ponies...

The Sea of Griffons

For hours, she had swum through the waters with ease; but time had made her wings stiff, as it would the legs of a working pony or the weather-ponies up in Cloudsdale. Leaving the tourmaline seas, she collapsed graciously on the warm sands of the sunset. The sky now ranged from the kindest orange to a deep azure, as nightfall slowly overcame the beach. Thankfully the quartz grains upon which she spread her wings were still warm with captured sunlight, and aided in drying her sea-soaked feathers.

The utter silence beside the soft ebb and flow of the waves stirred Derpy's mind to go to darker places than she would have hoped. Memories of names and failed tasks fogged her mind, and made her shudder for more reasons than her simply being chilled. The drying process was slow, but necessary; for a pony cannot fly with wet wings.

As her cat-like yellow eyes made out faint stars twinkling into existence, she recalled how she found this place. Despite her rebellious eyes, she could see fairly well, only having problems when it came to depth perception. She would very rarely head to the library, which before Twilight Sparkle was under different ownership. The librarian allowed her in with understanding, being one of few ponies well-read enough to realize aesthetic "flaws" often made for wiser ponies. Also, being one of the few ponies to actually come to read her books garnered her respect in the librarian's eyes.

When Derpy first came to the library, she had just left Cloudsdale after realizing it simply wasn't the place for her. She had not yet found her special talent, and it was yet another thing the others would poke fun at her for. Social interactions were awkward at best, and though she tried her best to put on a happy face, they would attribute it to her being "her derpy self".

What no one seems to realize was that she was on par with the smarter ponies when it came to knowledge, more-so because she had to hide away often to escape their teasing. In her time she would read, she would listen, and above all she would observe. In the case of Derpy, she took all of the unkind things other ponies did to heart, to know what not to do to others. She never wanted anyone to feel like she had to every day.

In the library, Derpy had begun to learn about things she would have never been exposed to otherwise. The mare learned of the thrills of spelunking, the mysteries of the living forest, and the curiosities of the sea.

Now, thinking about it, she realized not all of these things would be suited for a pony like her. When she pondered cave-diving, she thought of her footing and immediately realized it'd be a death-trap. The forest would be a similar situation, with low-hanging branches coming up sooner than expected due to her poor coordination. When it came to the sea, however...something clicked.

Water was something ponies were familiar with for weather and drinking, but not for swimming. Swimming was for the lesser creatures, in general. Very little of the oceanic areas of the world were explored, simply due to the way ponies were built. Ponies needed air, they were built for the land, not for navigating the wide expanses of the sea. Derpy, though, thought a wide, open area with no obstacles would be the perfect place for an accident-prone pegasus like her to explore.

She returned the next day and looked through maps of Equestria, and instead of looking at the named landmasses, she looked at the edges. The labels for the water were less-than-helpful, with no actual place names stated, just warnings of Griffons and Dragons. But it was something. She found the nearest area, apparently between two towns, located near where the Griffons would travel to Equestria from their homelands. This "Sea of Griffons" would be her next stop.

A cold wind chilled her back from her memories, as Derpy realized that night had fallen. Luna's beautiful Moon shone over the water, sparkles of white dancing before her. The pegasus rolled over and shook off the sand stuck in her mane, wings stretching. It was time for her to return home...or...where she called home. A place she wished she could be welcomed.

With one last look at the Sea of Griffons, she took off towards Ponyville, hoping her troubles would be left behind with the sands.

Flashback :: The Party

That party was a defining moment in my life.

No really, if it hadn't been for that one party, I'd probably not be here today.  It sounds silly, right? Like something Pinkie Pie herself might say. But I know, I know for a fact that, as crazy as it sounds...

If it wasn't for that party, you'd never have even known I existed.

It was the start of a less-than-standard day in Ponyville. This was a special day, and everyone had woken up later in the afternoonin anticipation of a long night ahead of them; the Summer Sun Celebration only happened once a year, and this year, it was happening here. In Ponyville. Plain, boring old Ponyville, where mares ruled the roost and little of interest seemed to happen.

Despite the best wishes of my family, I decided I wanted to come to the Celebration this year. I knew I mussed-up a lot, but...maybe if I just stayed in the background like a good mare, no one would think twice of an accident-prone filly who just wanted to watch a fantastical event unfold in Ponyville? Maybe. Probably. If nothing, I could at least prevent myself from doing anything that might draw attention towards myself. Everyone seemed pretty distracted, anyhow.

I didn't really see much else to do but walk at the time. Preparations were on-going around me, fillies and colts even pitching in to get everything ready for the arrival of our Princess of the Sun. I'd have helped, but...I knew better. Sometimes the best thing to do was what you were good at. In my case, that was staying out of everyone's way.

Still, I enjoyed watching everypony in action. Houses not attended to in years were receiving fresh coats of paint, whilst gardens were pruned with pride and care. The skies were still cloudy, but that was of no concern; soon enough, my favorite mare would take care of that. Not everyone would be so confident in her unless they understood just how much pride she took in her job. That pegasus was worthy of respect, and I only wished I could do more than just fawn over her skills. I wished I could help.

My ears went alert as I heard the familiar sound of clouds popping into thin air. Sure enough, the prismatic mare could be seen with her signature mane and tail, soaring through and destroying every cloud in sight. Someone must have told her they doubted her abilities, I thought. Like I said, not everyone had as much confidence in her as I did.

The sound of her cacophonous laughter could be heard from here. I imagine she came down hard from a landing and splattered some mud on somepony. Storms had been pushed before and after the Celebration, so the roads were still damp from a previous day's rainstorm. I only knew this after accidentally ruining a few manes earlier when I'd come in for a landing. They forgave the moment they saw who it was. I both relished and loathed this fact.

I felt my mood slipping and decided it was best to head to Sugarcube Corner, as eating something tended to help distract my mind. Nopony questioned me there; they accepted me as a regular, and would not tolerate any discrimination against me. Not that there was much in Ponyville, but mares have loose gums and gossip flies in small towns. Either way, it was a safe place for me to go.

Maybe later, I could find a party to go to. Something big, where I'd not be seen, where I could...pretend I was accepted for a little while, whilst waiting for the main event in the early hours of next morning. For now, there was a muffin with my name on it, calling me away from my worries. I hoped, if nothing else...it would pass the time.