Derpy Cardcaptorby SotsimChaptersThe Book of FaustThe Shadow of a CarrotThe First DateThe Book of Faust(Bing) (Bing) (Bing) -A strange red book with a stranger cover it’s there…- “Who… Who’s calling me?” -The moon is enormous. I can see a giant building… and letters… and I hold some kind of staff in my fore hooves… I whisper something… and wings appear in my hind hooves… There’s a winged unicorn foal floating at my side that nods to me…- -…and I jump- ________________________________________________________________________________________________ *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* “EEP!” It was just a dream. And that was Mr. Alarm going off as it does almost every morning… Which means… “Derpy! Breakfast is ready!” “I’m going!” Thus, the young and gray coated Pegasus mare got up of the bed and grabbed a brush to make her blonde mane, which was of the same colour as her eyes, perfectly straight. Hi! My name is Derpy Hooves! I’m a student in Ponyville’s High School and my favourite signatures are music and P.T. I’m well known for my eyes, which are almost always pointing at opposite directions because if I don’t my head spins and I feel dizzy… Sometimes this makes my sight a little bad and I cause mistakes that make some ponies really mad at me. However, I’ll still try my best to do all of the things right! Once she finished, she went down the stairs of her home to have breakfast. “Good morning!” “Hey, what was all that uproar?” Derpy looked a bit angrier “I haven’t done any noise!” “Oh, sure? Because your hooves sounded like the ones of a buffalo…” said the gray coated earth pony with a smug grin on her face. “Bring it on!” said Derpy while trying to hit her, but the mare, which had a black mane, purple eyes and a purple G-clef for a cutie mark, stopped her just by putting her cup of coffee on Derpy’s head. She’s my sister Octavia! She’s always screwing with me by calling me ‘buffalo’, but one day I will becoming very very big and then I will crush her! Then Derpy imagined the scene and then lifted her head and left fore hoof: One Day. “I see you two got a lot of energy this morning.” Said an earth pony with a fuscia coat, a purple mane that matched her eyes and a strawberry with a bunch of grapes for cutie mark while carrying breakfast. She’s my foster mom Berry Punch. She’s a really smart and hard-working mare that manages Ponyville’s farm of berries and grapes and is very good with many manual labours. And where’s our real parents, you ask? Well, we don’t know about our father but our mother is living with the angels (or that’s what my sister always tells me) and Berry was a close friend of our mother, so she decided to take care of us when she couldn’t find our dad. “Thanks for the breakfast, mother” “Have you finished already, Octavia?” “Yes, I have a rehearsal today” “Okay! Here’s your lunch” “Hey! Wait for me, please!” and Derpy began to chew as fast as she could the delicious breakfast. Afterwards, she rushed to her room, grabbed her school saddlebags and run down the stairs again. “Do you have a rehearsal too?” “Yes!” “Okay then, here’s your lunch!” “Thanks, mom! Bye!” and after grabbing the lunch she went out of the door and started to fly really close to the ground. Octavia had a bike that she used to go to her school and Derpy had to glide at ground level if she wanted to spot her clearly with her eyes. She noticed that the spring had made some of the trees blossom and then she found Octavia, who had her cello case attached to her back. “WAIT!” “Even if your school is in the way of the university, why are you so interested in accompanying me these days?” “Uh... it’s nothing special!” Actually, there is a special reason I try to go with her every day. It’s because in her way, Octavia always meets… “Hey Fancy!” ...him. At one side of the road there was a tall stallion with a white coat and blue mane. He also had eyes of the same colour and he had three crowns as cutie mark. “Hello, Octavia! And good morning to you too, Derpy. You have gotten up really soon today, isn’t that right?” “Yes…” “And she chewed up the breakfast as if she were a buffalo” commented Octavia just before receiving a powerful kick from her little sister. Then Derpy looked again at the stallion and laughed awkwardly. “I see you’re as enthusiastic as always!” he said before mounting his own bike and started to go beside Octavia. Derpy followed them from close behind. He is Fancy Pants. He is in the same class as my sister but I can’t understand why they’re friends. I mean, he is so smart… and so… kind… and so muffin… “Well, we’ll separate here.” Lost in her thoughts, time runs fast and soon she sees the bell tower of Ponyville’s school. Already here? “Hey Derpy! Catch this!” and Fancy throw at candy at her. Derpy catched it and her eyes brighted up with a magical spark. “Wow, you’re lucky” Derpy got frightened and turned around to see an earth pony with a curly orange mane and tail, a yellow coat and green eyes pulling off a cool pose. Her cutie mark was three carrots. “If a colt gives you candy that can mean a lot of things. And the bright on your eyes just now… *sigh* why haven’t I brought my new camera to film that beautiful face?” “It’s not necessary to keep filming me all day, you know…” “When I have the most famous pony of the school as a friend? Of course it is! This is art, sugarcube!” This is Golden Harvest. We are best friends since we were little foals and we friendly call her Carrot Top because she belongs to the Carrot family and she looks like a carrot. As you see, her hobby is to film things… specially me. “Anyway, we should hurry or we will miss the class”, said her friend. “Sure!” answered Derpy ________________________________________________________________________________________________ “I’m home!” shouted cheerfully Derpy while she opened the door to her home. However, she was not as happy as she looked. She had been thinking about that dream all the day. In history she drawed the foal she saw before waking up, which almost coasted her missing the lecture they were doing, and in P.E she mistook the regulative can for the strange staff and hit herself in her little head. This prompted puzzled looks from her friends since -inexplicably- Derpy was the best of the class with the can. Nopony greeted her as she entered, so she went to the living room to see if they have written something on the board they use to leave messages to the others before going anywhere and she found that Berry wrote that she wouldn’t return until 9:00 PM, so she was going to be alone until then. As she grabbed a muffin from the pantry she heard strange noises coming from Berry’s library. As a manager, Berry had a lot of books down there that talked about numbers and managing things to make them efficient (something she called “economy” or something similar) and also she liked to store some history and science books so her “daughters” could learn more anytime they wanted. But this was no moment to think about that. She grabbed the regulative can in case she had to defend her home or herself and very afraid she asked “Is somepony there?” and she obtained no response. This made her feel more afraid and she wished her sister or her mom would be in home to help her. But she had to be brave. What if there’s a thief? I will take a quick glance and if there’s some bad guy there I will call the police! And so she opened the door and went down the stairs that connected the library on the basement with the rest of the house. She turned on the lights and she was amazed at how big the room was, with various bookshelves on display. She didn’t entered the room frequently, mainly because that’s the place her mom worked when she was home and Derpy doesn’t want to interrupt her even though she and Octavia had full permission of entering when they wanted. As she slowly trotted through the room putting all of her senses on her surroundings the noises were more clear and could be heard better. They were like roars, but they were too low and not enough angry to be that. She was about to reach a dead-end, the corner of the room where there would be no escape for the thief since there was two bookshelves at the sides and on in the back. When she gulped and jumped to surprise the assailant nothing could prepare her for the big surprise she was about to have. Nothing. Although the noises were crystal clear to Derpy and the structure of the bookshelves made it impossible to the thief to hide or be in another place, there was nothing but books in the dead end. There’s nopony here! To make herself sure she spun around to check a desk where Berry did her work and then she heard a light noise from behind. She spun around again and she noticed that one of the books at the back shelf was glowing with golden light. Unsure about what to do she decided to grab the can with only one hoof and approach to the strange book in order to inspect it. When she was about to touch it the book stopped glowing, which made Derpy a little unsettled. She could read in big black letters “THE FAUST” in the spine of the book, which was red with a golden ornament in the top that had a six-pointed star hole. When she picked it out of the shelf and looked at the cover of the book she dropped the can. “It’s the book! The one of my dream” she exclaimed. There was a pony face with yellow glowing eyes, a horn, a pair of white wings that seemed to go from its neck and a long undulated mane with the colours of the aurora. There was also a big sun-like emblem in the lower part that was covering part of the wings and chin of the pony face and it was connected with two chains to each of the wings. Derpy could also read “THE FAUST” on the top of the front with a little crescent moon between the top of the wings (it also covered a little of the title). There was also four little rubies (surrounded by gold ornaments) in each of the corners and the book seemed to have a lock on the right. A little light erupted of the lock and making a little noise the lock was released, which startled Derpy and almost made her drop the book to the floor. Nevertheless, she still had the book in her hooves and the eyes closed with her head tilted to the side. Slowly, she opened her eyes and with an insatiable curiosity she opened the book. Usually, what you would expect from a book is to find long pages filled of words that contained all sorts of information, but what this book contained was… “Letters?” The poor Derpy was even more confused than before. She grabbed one while holding the book with the other hoof and she saw the back: a big circle with three squares oriented differently to form a lot of triangles and a big sun in the centre (separated of the squares) was drawn. It also contained a smaller circle on one side that included a crescent moon inside (the moon was touching the circle) drawn over the sun and the squares. She flipped it and she saw a drawing of a big mare with a long mane and a strange body, which looked like a dress but Derpy was positive it was the body. In the lower part there was some letters that said “THE WINDY”. As she started to go out, Derpy began to read it aloud. “Win…Wind…” was repeating the gray mare without noticing that a small wind was being formed around her hooves. “Windy!” One second after she finished the word the letter glowed blue and a circle of light with the same design as the one in the back of the letter magically appeared below Derpy. “Aaah!” Then, a strong gale of wind emerged from the circle and Derpy had to close her eyes. Shortly afterwards she began to hear strange noises from the book. She opened the eyes and she saw that those noises were the letters flying away due to the wind. Somehow, the letters managed to go across the walls and the ceiling of the room and escaped out of the house until there was no letter left inside the book or the library more than the one Derpy was holding. She dropped the book to the floor, which landed with its cover showing up, and she dropped herself down on her rear hooves too. But that was not all, no sir. The book began to glow again, but this time it was different. “Waahh!” A pony slowly emerged from the front. It was a unicorn foal that appeared to be female. Her mane was short and yellow, her coat was purple… and so her wings. “Good morning!” she shouted while smiling, raising her hoof up to salute at the same time. Derpy was so confused that no word could describe her face. “Thanks for waking me up, you have been very kind!” “Yo…You’re welcome…” “Oh, how wonderful is to be out of that book! I thought I would be inside forev-aaaaah!” She couldn’t finish as she was suddenly grabbed by Derpy. “What are you? A chicken? A monster? A dictionary? Why do you have wings if you’re a unicorn? Or why do you have horn if you’re a pegasus?” “I AM NOT ANY OF THAT STUFF” she yelled while escaping the blonde mare. “I belong to the race of the alicorns, or winged unicorns, and I’m the Guardian of the Seal” she continued while landing on the back of the book. Derpy realized that there wasn’t that unicorn face with wings in the cover anymore. “Seal? A dinky little thing like you?” questioned Derpy “Exactly” She jumped out of the book and levitated using her magic. “My task is to prevent the letters inside the book to cause any trouble, do you see them?” Said while pointing her hoof to the hole where the letters were, but when she glanced towards it… “THE LETTERS!! WHERE ARE THE LETTERS?” Derpy looked at the letter she was holding and she gave it to the foal. “Are they like this one?” The foal turned and grabbed it “Yes! Precisely! They are like this one! Well, where are the others?” “Well, I said Windy…” “Yes,” “…And a strong gale of wind appeared…” “Aha.” “…and they all flied out!” “Oh! I see!” and then both of them laughed. “Hahahaha… WHAT?!” the foal screamed. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy ate her dinner at full speed and as soon as she finished she grabbed a muffin from the pantry and headed out of the living room. “Where are you going with that?” asked her sister. “It’s for having something to eat in case I get hungry” she answered while trotting up the stairs. She entered the room and the foal was levitating over the book while glowing with a bright light. “So?” asked Derpy. The foal just stopped floating and sat on the book “Nothing. I have no idea where the letters may have gone.” “Here, you must be hungry.” And with a smile she handled the muffin to the foal. “Thanks, this looks delicious!” She smiled shortly just before putting a worried face again. “You know? Those weren’t any ordinary letters. They were the Faust Letters. They’re magical and dangerous. They were created a long time ago by a mighty alicorn named Lauren Faust. Each has its own life, power and personality and they are powerful enough to conquer the world and do what they please with it, so there’s almost nothing that can stop them. Luckily, Faust put them under control before they could do any damage and she created a book to store them. Then she put a Seal on the book and she made me the Guardian of said Seal.” Derpy looked a little puzzled, but she managed to grasp the important parts of the explanation. “Now I have the responsibility of retrieving them… and YOU are going to help me!” “Huh? Why me?” “In the first place, because it was you who called The Windy and sent all of them flying!” “Well… yeah… but I don’t know what went wrong! Besides, it is you who was supposed to guard the Seal! How much have you been sleeping, anyways?” “Uuhh… around thirty years” the foal answered while beginning to sweat. “Thirty years?” “IT’S A TOUGH JOB, OK? I HAD TO TAKE A NAP!” the foal busted out covered in sweat. “So those noises were your snores…” “It may be, but the fact that you were able to break the seal demonstrates that you have magical powers! What’s your name, by the way?” “Derpy. Derpy Hooves.” “… That is a kinda rare name…” “Hey, don’t insult me just because of my name! As if you had a better name yourself!” “Why, of course I have a better name! My name is Cel…” “Dinky! I will call you Dinky! How’s that, huh?” “B-But I… my name is…” “Dinky Hooves! That’s settled! Hehehehe!” The foal sighed and then, resigned, she told Derpy to stand in front of her. She glowed her horn and then her entire body. Afterwards the circle that was drawn at the back of the letters appeared again around the hooves of Derpy. “Key of the Seal…” When she said this, a sphere of light containing a red small key with the shape of a phoenix’s head which was decorated with white wings appeared from the book and floated between Derpy and Dinky. “This filly will keep the Sacred Promise. Her name is Derpy. Key, grant her your power…” then Dinky pointed her right fore hoof to Derpy and shouted: “RELEASE!” When she shouted that last word the sphere illuminated all the room, almost as if it had expanded itself and the key turned into a staff. Derpy was covering her face with one fore hoof and closed her left eye but she kept her right eye opened. “Derpy! Grab the staff!” With her eyes closed, she did her best to get closer to the staff and then she grabbed it with both of her hooves. “That’s it! I hereby name you Derpy Cardcaptor!” “Cardcaptor… wait… WHAT?” She looked shocked at Dinky, who began to eat the muffin. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “No way! No, no and no! I can’t do it” Derpy looked way more worried than usual while using a dryer to heat up her mane. “This is very comfy!” Dinky was bouncing on the bed just before Derpy grabbed her with her hooves. “I can’t be Cardcaptor! I mean, you’re telling me that the world is in danger and you want to send me, who still goes to school?” “And why not? Don’t forget that is your fault that the letters were set free in the fist place!” “And shouldn’t we remember the guardian that was supposed to be awake?” They exchanged some angry looks until a lot of wind went inside the room from outside. Surprised by such a strong wind, Derpy decided to look out of the window and search for the source. She saw nothing but the starry sky of the night. “Derpy! Look!” said Dinky while floating on Derpy’s shoulder and pointing her hoof upwards. Derpy gazed on that direction and she saw a bizarre creature that could be described as a giant hawk flying just above the house. “What’s that huge animal?” “That’s a Faust Letter!” “What?” “The Sight, to be exact” “Ohh…” “Don’t stay here doing nothing! You gotta do something!” “But what should I do?” “Here begins your job as Cardcaptor!” “WHAT?” “Just go!” “O...Okay… I guess is time to save the world!” With a more determined look she flied out of the window since she couldn’t exit from the front door. The hawk-like monster could be seen into the distance landing on a point outside the town, so Derpy started to glide at ground level towards the site where the beast had landed with Dinky at her side. “Wouldn’t you go faster by flying across the sky instead of ground level?” “The thing is… I am a little bad at seeing things from above… one of the effects of my eyes, you know?” Dinky sighed. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong pony? But the time to chit-chat was over. The beast was in front of them. With a battling of its wings, the creature sent both of them flying away but they landed safely on the ground. “And how should I face it?” “Do you remember what I taught you before? Use your magic!” “Hold on a minute! What’s a Cardcaptor?” “The job of a Cardcaptor to capture all of the Faust Letters *munch*” “And how do I do that?” “With the Key of the Seal, of course! When it has the form of a staff it will let you summon the power of the Faust Letters as well as turn wild spirits into Faust Letters again *munch*” “But I can’t go with this strange staff on me all the time!” “Do not worry; you can turn it into a key again and vice versa with the following spell, *munch* so pay attention!” “O key that holds the powers of the dusks… ehh… Reveal me the nature of your true might… uuuhh… I command you by the grade I have been given…” While Derpy was pronouncing this words the Magic Circle appeared around her hooves once again and a blue light sphere wrapped the key that she was holding. “Re…RELEASE!!” Suddenly, the key with the phoenix head shape transformed itself into a red staff with a phoenix head with wings and a yellow beak in one end and a small yellow ornament in the other end. It was the staff of her dream and also the staff that she received along with the title of Cardcaptor. “Yeah! That’s it, Derpy! Now, The Sight needs wind to fly, so you should use The Windy to tie it up!” “Underst- WAHH!” The beast flied just above them and the wind he lifted made them lose the concentration. “Derpy! Use The Windy, quick!” “I’m trying!” and Derpy got the letter out of nowhere, holding it with one hoof because she was holding the staff with the other, but the beast dashed once again above them, this time very close to smash them. The next attack would hit them for sure, so they started to fly away. “I can’t! I just can’t!” “Don’t say that! You’re the Cardcaptor, you can do it!” “But how should I do it?” As they were flying a slim tree on one side of the hill called her attention. “Hold on… I have an idea!” and she boosted toward the tree. Dinky got distracted by Derpy and since she slowed down she got carried by Sight’s wind and the wind made her fly high through the air. “Where’re you going now!? Derpy!!” Derpy aimed to the top of the tree and she pressed it with her hind hooves. The tree reacted as if it was made of rubber: it acted as a catapult and launched Derpy to the air. Using her wings, Derpy glided until she could fly right over the back of the beast. Immediately, she threw the letter of The Windy in front of her and started to swing the staff. “Make a chain to tie this birdie up…” and the Magic Circle appeared again beneath her. “WINDY!” and she touched the Letter with the beak part of the staff. The letter turned blue and the mare that was drawn on the front of the letter appeared, creating a golden chain of wind at her wake and wrapping the massive hawk with it. The beast couldn’t fly as well as before and it crashed to the grass of the meadow. Derpy landed behind the beast. What now? What now? Wait… I think I remember… “We have spent almost all the afternoon, but I see you finally memorized it…” “I’m sorry” said Derpy while putting her tongue out and closing her eyes. “Oh no… I almost forgot it! There’s another spell you must remember in order to capture the Faust Letters! One to turn them into Letters again! Listen up, Derpy!” “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!! When she was finishing that sentence, Derpy began to swing the staff. When she pronounced the last two words she swung down the staff at the same time and the staff created a blue light in the shape of a Letter that was sending out waves of blue energy. The light seemed to being swallowing thin parts of the beast as if it were a whirlwind and soon all of the beast was absorbed by the light and the light went off, leaving just a letter on its place. The letter had the drawing of the hawk-like creature and at the bottom of the letter “THE SIGHT” could be read. “Alright! You did it really well!” said Dinky while patting on her head. “WAAHH! That was so scary! I thought I was going to die!” “But I didn’t. And that’s why I chose you.” “Wait a second, I haven’t agreed to this yet.” “Well, I had to see you in action first and I think you’re more than valid for this.” She smiled and she also made Derpy smile. “Anyway, since you have acquired another Faust Letter why don’t you try to touch it with the beak and summon it?” “Why? What’s gonna happen?” “Just do it!” “Okay, okay. Sight!” a light erupted from the letter and made Derpy’s eyes shine. “My… My eyes! I can see straight now!” and she was right. Her eyes had just stopped pointing at opposite directions. “Indeed. The Sight improves the view field of the user” “Great! Because there’s one thing I have wanted to do all of my life!” Derpy took off to the sky and flew way up high with the staff still on her hooves. “Feels great, huh?” asked Dinky, who flew at her side “I agree! I can see so good right now…” “I know I can trust you, Derpy Cardcaptor!” “Eeyup! Wait a minute… when did I accept the job, huh?” *End of Chapter 1* ______________________________________________________________________________________________ (Author’s Note: This is majorly an adaptation of the Spanish dub of the anime, so I’m sorry for any differences between this fic and the original Japanese dub or the English dub if you’re more costumed to those ones. Also, this is my first fic so I need as many critics and opinions as possible. Thanks for reading!) On the next chapter: “Good morning Derpy!” “You have come really soon!” “It seems I am not the only one.” “Did you have to pick up the class too?” “No. I want to show you something before the class starts!” After saying this, she put a camera on Derpy’s desk. “A video?” “Yes! I filmed something incredible tonight!” The video started. The Moon could be seen and something blurry in front of it too. “D-Don’t tell me…” and her classmate smirked slightly. “Let’s zoom in that blurry figure…” In the next second, Derpy with the staff and Dinky clearly appeared on the camera screen, flying across the starry sky. “WWAAHH!” The Shadow of a Carrot“Derpy? Derpy!” *ZZZ* “~That’s enough, I can’t eat all of those muffins~” *ZZZ* “Why did you set up the alarm at seven o’clock? Didn’t you want to get up soon today?” Derpy finally began to open her eyes. Huhh… What a strange voice. Nopony in my family has such a high-pitched tone… Then she sat up to search for the source. When she looked up she saw a winged unicorn foal with purple coat and yellow mane looking directly at her. “AAHH!” The scream startled the foal too. “A FLYING UNICORN!” The foal sighed. “You’re still asleep, huh?” Then she got close to Derpy’s head and started hitting it weakly while saying: “C’mon, wake up, wake up.” The knocks made Derpy’s eyes spin in circles until she came to realization. “You’re the Guardian of the Seal, the one that protects the Faust Letters!” The foal stopped her pounding and smiled. “That’s right! I’m Cel-” “Good morning, Dinky!” interrupted Derpy. “Aww, I was hoping you had forgotten about that… Anyway, good morning to you too, Derpy Cardcaptor.” she grinned. “As I told you yesterday, I never said I accepted the job.” “Don’t be modest! After all, you captured The Sight all by yourself” and Dinky levitated the book with her magic and she opened it to show Derpy that specific letter. “See?” “But that was a way too close call…” “Breakfast is ready!” “I’m coming!” When Derpy brushed her mane and her tail she went downstairs and she found that it was her sister who was cooking the breakfast today. “Good morning, Octavia!” Octavia turned with mild surprise on her face. “I only had to call you once? Now, that’s a paranormal phenomenon…” “It’s because I have been awakened on time, you brainy egghead!” Octavia showed a more surprised look. Awakened? By whom? She thought. Oh no! I can’t let my sister or my mom find about Dinky and my powers or they could heavily punish me! “I was referring to Mr. Alarm, of course!” and she blurted one of her awkward laughs. Octavia was very used to her sister’s crazy antics, so she just brushed it off and hanged up the apron she was wearing. The situation was safe for now… Berry Punch entered the living room. “Good morning, girls!” “Hi Mom, Good morning!” they both responded at the same time, although with different tones. Derpy’s tone was enthusiastic, while Octavia’s was duller. “Hmmm… This breakfast looks delicious, Octavia!” Then they all sat down at the table. “Not like the ones Buffalo Hooves does here…” After saying this, she received a buck under the table from her sister, strong enough to make her drop her head. Berry was perplexed at Octavia’s reaction, at which Derpy just smiled and said: “Let’s eat or it will get cold!” Few minutes later, Derpy was the first to finish eating her breakfast. “It was delicious, thanks!” “You have been really brisk this morning, sweetie.” “It’s because I have to clean the class.” Answered Derpy near the sink, where she had left the empty dishes. She saw a tiny basket with cookies near and after making sure her relatives weren’t watching her she grabbed a pair and she went up to her room. Dinky Hooves was floating over the desk, where the book laid closed. “Welcome back.” “Here, these are for you Dinky.” and she gave her the cookies. Dinky’s eyes sparkled. “Great! Thank you!” Derpy started to prepare her school saddlebags. “I have to go now. In a few minutes my sister and my mom will go out too, so you can stay here and play with my dolls or watch the TV.” Dinky looked down at the saddlebags and then back to Derpy, who was searching for something in her closet. “But you can’t exit my room under any reason or excuse. Is that clear?” “Sure, okay!” Derpy took the Key of the Seal from a drawer. After returning home the previous day she had added a lace to it so she could carry it around her neck in case of emergency. After placing it into one of the saddlebags, she glanced at the alarm clock of her room (the already famous Mr. Alarm) to check what time it was. “Oh no! I must hurry!” and she caught her saddlebags immediately and dashed out of the room. If only she had looked to her desk once more before leaving… _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy opened the door to her classroom. “Good! I’m first!” And this is not the first good thing this morning. I can’t believe that I found Fancy Pants at his home and he gave me a flower for my classroom from his garden! All is going perfect today… She thought dreamily while trotting to her desk. Just after she sat down on her chair and she putted her saddlebags on her desk somepony else entered the classroom. Somepony she recognized. “Good morning, Carrot Top!” “Good morning Derpy!” “You have come really soon!” “It seems I am not the only one.” “Did you have to pick up the class too?” “No. I want to show you something before the class starts!” After saying this, she put a camera on Derpy’s desk. “A video?” “Yes! I filmed something incredible tonight!” The video started. The Moon could be seen and something blurry in front of it too. “D-Don’t tell me…” and her classmate smirked slightly. “Let’s zoom in that blurry figure…” In the next second, Derpy with the staff and Dinky clearly appeared on the camera screen, flying across the starry sky. “WWAAHH!” And then something erupted in a flash from one of the saddlebags as if it was a bolt of lightning. “What happened? Are you fine, Derpy? Is there a Faust Letter? Where is…” In her outburst, Dinky failed to notice an earth pony standing right in front of her. “…it?” Derpy was starting to panic. She didn’t know neither what just happened nor what should she do next. It was exactly the same she felt when she encountered Dinky for the first time. Carrot Top was astonished. She slowly looked into the screen of the camera and back to the flying unicorn in front of her. There was no doubt. “It’s her! The flying unicorn of the video! So, does that really mean that the pegasus flying in the video it’s you, Derpy?” Derpy furiously glanced at the foal. “I TOLD YOU TO NOT EXIT MY ROOM!!” “I’m sorry…” and she returned back to the saddlebag she just came from. “Carrot… It’s a big secret… I can’t tell anypony!” “I promise to shut my mouth up, sugarcube.” “But it’s a long story too…” Derpy started to look down, a little embarrassed by the situation. “Well… Since the others are about to come, why don’t you tell me later on lunch?” and Carrot gave her a smile to reassure her. Derpy sighed. “…Okey dokey lokey…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Ponyville’s school, situated in the middle of a meadow near the pathway, was a big and red wooden building that incorporated a bell tower on top and a playground outside. The playground had nice equipment: from various types of swings to all sorts of chalk-drawn sports fields. It even had some spotlights and streetlights for nocturne activities and a pony-shaped bush at one side of the entry, which was supposed to represent Innocence and Youth. In lunch time there were a lot of ponies playing in the playground, some of them were practicing sports while others could be seen on the swings. Derpy and Carrot sat down against the opposite side of the building, making sure nopony could see or hear them. Carrot was only carrying her lunch, while Derpy had to carry all of her saddlebags since one contained Dinky and her lunch and the other contained the Key and the books. She had to take the Key with her in case a Faust Letter suddenly appeared and attacked them or the students. When they were settled, Dinky came out of the saddlebag. “Phew… that saddlebag is too narrow.” “Why did you get into the saddlebag in the first place, Dinky?” Derpy was less mad than before; but nevertheless she was angry. “I-I just wanted to see an average day in the life of a Cardcaptor…” Carrot was beaming. She was fixed in Dinky, so that probably meant she liked her for no apparent reason. “So… her name is Dinky?” “For heaven’s sake, I don’t deserve this! My name is…” she looked at Derpy, who was giving her a puppy face powerful enough to make a minotaur stop in his tracks. She sighed. “… Dinky Hooves. At your service, uuhh…” “My name is Golden Harvest. Still, my friends call me Carrot Top; so that name is okay too!” She smiled and she looked to Derpy. “And what is that Cardcaptor thing she mentioned before?” “Well, uuhh… I think Dinky here can tell you better. If that’s okay, I mean.” “But of course! Let me tell you everything about Derpy Cardcaptor, Carrot Top!” ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The time flew while Dinky described everything that took place the earlier day from her point of view, which caused Derpy to correct her once or twice. Meanwhile, the other two fillies ate their lunches and the other students of the school kept playing on the playground. The movement of their shadows was weird, though… “…And that’s how Derpy captured The Sight in an incredible and somewhat lucky act of bravery!” Carrot couldn’t contain herself from clapping her hooves in admiration towards her friend. “That’s simply amazing! Derpy Cardcaptor, protecting our town from the evil Faust Letters! It just sounds fantastic!” Derpy began to blush a little. “I-It’s not exactly like that, really” she said waving a hoof dismissively. “Nonsense! I think you’re 100% able!” “And that makes two, Derpy!” Dinky beamed. “Oh! Could you please show me some of that magic?” “W-What?” Dinky clapped her fore hooves. “Yeah! Just a little display, Derpy!” “B-But… what if…” “…somepony discovers us, you were going to say? Don’t worry; nopony has even come close to us in all this time! If you’re quick then everything should be fine!” Dinky said calmly. Derpy sighed and reached for her saddlebags. She took the Key of the Seal from one of them and stepped away from the other two ponies. She extended her hoof with the key on it, and began to recite the magic formula: “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given!” Once again the Magic Circle appeared on the ground around Derpy’s hooves and the key got surrounded in a sphere of blue light. Carrot stared with her mouth open at her friend while Dinky didn’t show any special reaction. “RELEASE!!” At the shout, the light expanded and the key became a staff. Carrot was truly amazed. “So, you can do magic with this staff?” “Only if I own the letters…” replied Derpy. “Like this one, from example!” Dinky appeared from the saddlebag lifting The Sight with her magic. “Dinky! Don’t show them off like that!” Derpy was still afraid of being caught by somepony. “Please tell me you have a special pose!” “Huh? What?” Carrot’s eyes began to shine with deep inspiration “You know! Poses! Like the magicians of the circus or the movies!” “I… I think you need to relax a little, Carrot. You are starting to make me feel dizzy…” Carrot giggled. Lunchtime was about to end, so they finished eating and they headed back to class. At the end of the morning, the shadows of the students began to drift away from their owners… ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The next day began with another glorious morning. Pegasus ponies cleaned out the sky early and the sun wasn’t too bright. Derpy glided towards the school but when she approached the playground she noticed that there was a huge mass of students gathered there. She approached a trio of fillies in particular: her best friends aside Carrot Top. The first one was a pegasus with light gold coat, light cyan mane and moderate cyan mane. Her cutie mark was three drops of water, one bigger than the others, and her mane and tail shared the same style as Derpy’s ones. The second one was an earth pony with green eyes and a yellow green coat. Her mane was pale orange with an almost white stray and it was curvy; although it went straight up instead of falling in front of her eyes like Carrot’s one did. Her cutie mark was a bee posed on top of a big blue flower. And the last one was a unicorn with a light brilliant yellow coat and moderate raspberry eyes. Her light cornflower blue mane was a little curvy too, but it was shorter and less curvy than her other friends’ manes. Her cutie mark was three hearts: one green and the other two blue. “Raindrops! Junebug! Lemon Hearts! What’s going on?” The three turned around. The other pegasus, Raindrops, answered. “Uhh… It’s better if you take a look by yourself, Derpy.” Then the earth pony, Junebug, moved to one side so Derpy could approach and see better. Derpy’s eyes widened. “W-What’s the meaning of this?” A lot of classroom desks and gym material was stacked up in the middle of an athletic field without any order or pattern. “I don’t know! It was already like that when I arrived!” Raindrops commented. Lemon Hearts put her hoof to the chin and tried to concentrate “Hey, If there are desks here…” Then, she gasped on realisation and looked to the others. “Oh my… The classrooms!” The other three gasped too and Junebug was the first to run off saying “Let’s go!” Shortly after, they opened the door to their classroom revealing yet another surprising sight. All the desks and chairs were clustered on the centre too. “Who could be the responsible of such vandalism?” exclaimed Lemon Hearts. Raindrops’ ears flopped. “Who cares? We will have to pick it up anyway…” The others let out a resigned whine and started to clean the mess. Carrot Top entered the class and gasped too. “Hi Carrot…” commented Derpy just before moving out a chair from the top. “Boy, this sure is a big mess. I wonder who could have done it...” Then she gasped once again and when Derpy landed on the floor with the chair on her hooves she approached her and whispered something. “Do you think it has been one of those Faust Letters?” “Huh? Don’t be ridiculous! This couldn’t…” She stopped a few seconds and looked at the ceiling, searching for thought. “… Actually, is pretty likeable! We will ask Dinky about it later. For now, we should clean this up and focus on the classes.” Carrot Top nodded in agreement. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy invited Carrot to her house for some fresh lemonade and a talk about the strange incident with the little alicorn. Up on her room, they told Dinky everything about it and after asking if the culprit could have been a Faust Letter the foal crossed her fore hooves in order to ponder the possibilities. “Hmmm… Yeah, that’s quite their modus operandi”. Carrot grinned. Derpy stared with confusion, one of her eyes pointing at the ceiling. As if she could read the mind of the blonde filly, the next thing Dinky said was: “Their way of acting, Derpy. In other words, the Faust Letters always love causing strange phenomena so as to call attention and bring chaos to the world!” “I-I already knew you were referring to that, silly.” Derpy creased her lips and shifted her eyes from one side to the other, as if she didn’t want anypony to notice something. “So that means I’m right! Oh boy, this is just getting more and more exciting!” Carrot clapped her hooves and giggled. “And what Letter caused this, Dinky?” Dinky crossed her fore hooves once again. “I cannot think of a concrete Letter, Derpy. It could have been several of them.” She answered brief seconds later. “Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t capture it at the light of day; there would be a lot of ponies watching.” Dinky shrugged “Then that’s simple. We go there at night” Derpy’s eyes shrunk and she shook her head. “NO! No way! There is absolutely NO WAY I am going to the school at night! Everypony knows that there’re plenty of frightening ghosts and other paranormal things on schools at night!” Carrot grabbed Derpy’s fore hooves with her owns “Do not fear, Derpy! I will be at your side the whole time!!” A smile formed on Derpy’s face. “Really, Carrot?” Then a sparkle appeared on Carrot’s eyes. “Yes! I have to film the mighty exploits of my friend Derpy; the only one who can bring the Faust Letters’ evil deeds to an end! Derpy looked at her best friend with the best puzzled face she could have ever imagined. “… Aren’t you overreacting about this, Carrot? You make it sound like I am the protagonist of some kind of fiction novel!” Carrot released her friend’s hooves. “That’s the point, Derpy! You have been blessed with magical powers! What could I do less than making a film about you?” Derpy hanged her head low “Ugh… I give up. Do as you please.” “Okay then! Let’s go to the school; it’s time to teach someone a lesson!” “You say it, Dinky!” They both bumped their right hooves and smiled. “It’s ninja time!” _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Several hours after the twilight, the school was empty and silent. Moreover, the whole zone was empty and silent except for a grey pegasus and a winged unicorn flying at her side. Few minutes later, a yellow earth pony with a saddlebag galloped across the road until she reached them. “Howdy, Derpy!” “Hi Carrot!” “Well, where should we start to search?” Derpy rubbed the back of her neck with one of her hooves. “I… I haven’t thought of anything specific.” Carrot snatched her video camera from the saddlebag with one hoof while moving the other dismissively. “Then I have an idea. There was a pile of desks on the athletics field too, right?” Carrot smirked. “You know what they say: the criminal always returns to the crime scene. I think we should start there.” “I guess that’s better than nothing. Let’s get going!” When they arrived there the whole pile of desks was gone and there was absolutely no trace of weird activities. “I don’t see anything strange here, Carrot. Maybe we should-” Suddenly, a peculiar noise sounded behind them. It came from the other side of the building. “D-Did you hear that too, Carrot?” “B-But it doesn’t make sense… I’m sure there is no nopony around here at this hour!” The noise was growing in intensity and clearance: Whatever was causing it, it was getting closer to them. In a brief instant, the pony-shaped bush of the entry appeared flying from behind the corner and propelled towards the fillies at incredible speed with no visible strings or unicorn magic surrounding it. The girls avoided it by a hair and the bush got stuck inside the ground. “WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! A GHOST, A GHOST, A GHOST A GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!!! I TOLD YOU IT WASN’T A GOOD IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” screamed Derpy at the top of her lungs while hugging Carrot in pure fear of the flying bush that just attacked them. Nevertheless, Carrot maintained her repair and examined the ground around the bush. She noticed something. “Hold on Derpy! Look at its shadow!” Derpy was really afraid, but she supposed that a quick look couldn’t hurt. The bush was flying few feets over the field and there was nothing around it. However, in the ground under the bush, the shadow of a colt lifting the shadow of the bush was visible even though there was nopony there more than Derpy, Dinky and Carrot. The bodiless shadow threw the bush’s shadow forward and the bush itself did the same, following the motion its shadow was doing. The girls narrowly avoided it and the bush discomposed when hitting the ground. “What kind of Letter is this, Dinky?” Many shadows of fillies and colts, all students of the school, appeared from the ceiling, the walls and the swings towards the one that was attacking the girls. “I have no doubt, this must be The Shadow!” “… Very well. Please Dinky, stay with Carrot Top and protect her!” “Understood!” They nodded at the same time and the pegasus filly trotted some metres away from them and after approaching the other shadows she grabbed the key that was hanging from her neck. “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given! - - RELEASE!!” One again, the Magic Circle appeared beneath and the key turned into a staff. Meanwhile, Dinky and Carrot had hidden behind a near bush to keep an eye on Derpy. Carrot began to film with her camera. All the shadows of the students gathered to form a big mass made of shadow that surrounded the Cardcaptor. Derpy got out The Windy and threw it to the ground. The shadow mass emerged from the ground and formed several waves made of shadow that lunged towards her. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” Derpy touched the Letter with the beak and several yellow tendrils of wind emerged from the letter and tied up the waves strong enough to tear them apart. However, the broken pieces came to life and assaulted Derpy one by one. Derpy did her best to avoid them, even having to swipe some of them with the staff. “Derpy! Flee to the air, quick!” encouraged Dinky from the bush. Few seconds later, Derpy touched The Sight with the beak while pronouncing its name and flew towards the starry sky, hovering various feets over the field. “This is bad. The Letter must have gathered the shadows of all the students of the school to make itself huger and stronger.” “Is there something we can do to help?” asked Carrot without moving the camera. “The Shadow is more powerful when it’s surrounded of other shadows. We are on a full moon night, thus the shadow of the Moon is giving the Letter a great advantage. If only we could light up the zone…” Carrot stopped recording and stored the camera inside her saddlebag. “Then I have an idea.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ *CRASH!* Desks were thrown from the classrooms towards Derpy, breaking the windows on their course. Derpy dodged them with no easiness, and focused into one of the classes just to see that the desks were being manipulated by the shadows of the students. I knew I couldn’t do it… This time I’m done for! The large shadow mass that Derpy left behind on the athletic field took advantage of Derpy’s distraction to form a huge tendril that went higher and higher until it captured Derpy’s left back hoof. Derpy tried to fight it off by flying farer, but the sticky shadow form wouldn’t let her move an inch. “Hey! Let me go!” She began to panic. “Somepony please help me!!” The more she fought, the stronger the tendril was pulling her towards the ground. It was a desperate situation and Derpy was beginning to give up. Suddenly, a miracle took place. All the highlights and streetlights near turned on one by one, illuminating the whole field. The shadow mass completely vanished, making Derpy tumble back towards the air due to the force she was making to escape. Derpy glanced over all the school ground from the air and spotted Carrot and Dinky waving their hooves and smiling from a window. She approached them. “All the shadows disappeared! What happened?” Carrot was by a panel to control the electric power. “We can’t make the Sun rise, but that doesn’t mean we cannot make light appear on the field, right?” Derpy beamed. “Thank you very much, Carrot! I’m lucky to have such a good friend!” This made Carrot grin. “Aww, it was nothing sugarcube!” Dinky gasped “Derpy! Over there! That’s the true form of The Shadow!” Dinky pointed towards the centre of the athletic field, where a pony with a big dark purple cloak was walking away on her back hooves. “This time it is I who won’t let you escape, buddy!” and Derpy chased the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony turned to reveal that in fact the cloak was empty and it had no hooves whatsoever. The monster made two big shadow tendrils where the holes for her fore hooves were and attacked Derpy with them. This time Derpy dodged each with grace and easiness thanks to her improved sight. Far away, Carrot Top was filming the scene. “Nice moves Derpy! That’s what I call bravery!” Dinky cheered Derpy at top of her lungs. “Finish him off, Derpy!” Derpy landed next to the figure and got out The Windy once again. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” The mare that represented The Windy appeared from the Letter and laced the empty cloak with a yellow and green chain of wind. “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!! Derpy swung down the staff and a blue letter-shaped light appeared in front of the beak, emanating several waves of energy of the same colour. The cloak turned into a dark purple tornado and got absorbed by the light. A Letter with the inscription “THE SHADOW” and a drawing of a huge empty cloak in the front appeared from the light and fell on the ground. “Victory! That’s my Derpy Cardcaptor!” Carrot Top filmed Derpy retrieving the letter and putted down the camera. “Simply awesome.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “Good morning Raindrops! Do you know where Carrot is?” “Good morning, Derpy. I think she is at the Projection Room.” “Okay! Thanks! ” Balancing a bag of candy on her back, the young pegasus opened the room to the Projection Room. “Hello Carrot! I want to give you these candies for helping me ton…” In the projection room, Carrot was viewing all the scenes she recorded that night. “Y-You were recording me the whole time?” “But of course! Your performance was simply amazing! Something worth of a cinema award, I tell you!” “Don’t you remember? You can’t tell anypony about this!” She smirked. “Only if you take me with you when you go capturing letters!” “Huh? Why?” “Because I have to immortalize your heroism! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” “Uhh… I don’t think you want to hear my answer for that question…” “Then is settled! I will be like your sidekick!” She squealed. “I can’t wait for the next chance for using my camera and record your incredible feats of justice!” Derpy sighed. “If only you were in my place, Carrot…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (Author’s Note: This is majorly an adaptation of the Spanish dub of the anime, so I’m sorry for any differences between this fic and the original Japanese dub or the English dub if you’re more costumed to those ones. Also, this is my first fic so I need as many critics and opinions as possible. Thanks for reading!) On the next chapter: “How about I invite you to eat tomorrow? I want to thank you for the pancakes!” Derpy’s eyes narrowed “Are… Are you serious?” “Of course! Let’s meet tomorrow at 13 PM at the park, okay?” “Th-That’s fine by me…” “Very well then. Until tomorrow!” Then he trotted elegantly on the direction Derpy came from. Derpy flew off while waving a hoof. “B-Bye!” When she was far enough, Derpy squealed in sheer happiness and even flew in circles. “WOOOW!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!! MY FIRST DATE WITH FANCY PANTS!!!!” The First DateSpring. A beautiful season where the temperature rises, the sun shines up in the sky… “WOAH!” …and the animals are more vivacious after the long hibernation. “Look at that!” the excited grey Pegasus pointed at the colourful fish that just jumped out of the water. “That’s just amazing!” Derpy’s eyes shined with illusion and amazement; and her other friends were not less impressed. “I must admit it, Lemon Hearts. Suggesting a trip to Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort was a wonderful idea!” encouraged Junebug. “They are so beautiful! I wish we had fishes back in Cloudscale.” Raindrops said with an enthusiasm that matched Derpy’s. After all, her home was in Cloudscale, so she wasn’t costumed to the many creatures of the land and the water as her classmates were. “Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet darlings. Just wait to the weekly dolphin exhibition and you will need new mouths to replace the dropped ones!” Lemon Hearts was visibly proud. She knew this place since she was very little and now she could share with her friends so they could enjoy it as much as she did. “That sounds interesting, sugarcube.” commented Carrot Top. Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort is a special establishment built around the Lake of Wonders, which is situated at the outskirts of Ponyville. It was created to enjoy the beautiful species that lured in the lake, but it also has other exotic aquatic animals that were found in other places of Equestria and then they were put in water tanks under the special conditions they needed. That’s why the place has a lot of cabins with many facilities such as souvenir shops, cafeterias or those specific water tanks. A loud buzz from a near pony with a megaphone and dressed in some kind of uniform called their attention. ‘Attention to all our visitors! The dolphin exhibition will start in 10 minutes! If you desire to attend it you must head to our special water tank at the other side of the hill! Those of you who doesn’t know where it is placed please follow me! That’s all!’ Then she turned off the megaphone and she headed to the mentioned hill. Some ponies began to trot behind her and the whole class did the same after being told so by their teacher. Some minutes later the show started. The tank was not high but it was wide and made of transparent crystal so the visitors could see the spectacle without any risks. There was a platform installed around the borders and it had a door too. A young sky-blue mare with the same uniform was swimming inside the tank. When she hanged one hoop from her hoof the dolphins jumped through the ring. A while later she also feed them some fishes and told them to salute the spectators. The dolphins happily obeyed her and the mare seemed very happy with them too. But suddenly, about the end of the show, something bizarre occurred. A whirlwind formed around the mare’s right back hoof and it pulled her down in the water. The public was very frightened and even though the mare tried to swan away to the surface the whirlwind kept getting bigger and stronger. A dolphin tried to break the whirlwind with its snout but the whirlwind expanded and trapped the dolphin’s body. Derpy panicked and even began pounding the crystal, which was harder than it looked. “No! Get out of there little dolphin! You will get hurt!” Carrot Top got close. “Calm down Derpy! You can’t do anything from here!” Derpy stopped pounding but her worry wasn’t calmed down. “But we gotta help the dolphin somehow!” A familiar grey mare with black mane and cleaning uniform appeared on the platform and gasped at the situation. Derpy gasped too. Octavia? “What’s going on here?” Octavia asked to the trapped mare. “A whirlwind has caught me and a dolphin! Help us, please!” “A whirlwind? In a water tank?” Octavia jumped inside the water and examined the troubling whirlwind. She put her hooves around the whirlwind and then she tried to tear it apart by moving each hoof in opposite directions. She succeeded and the whirlwind disappeared, thus freeing the dolphin and the mare. The mare let out a sigh of relief as well as the public. But apart of relieved, Derpy was confused too. What is my sister doing here? ______________________________________________________________________________ “WHAT? YOU ALMOST DROWNED?” “Dinky! I didn’t say that! And you’re not listening to me, right?” “Uhh.. I’m sorry, but since it’s the first time I get out of your room because nopony is home... Also the smell of those pancakes you’re baking doesn’t help at all…” She drooled. “Anyway, the other ponies say that the whirlwind was caused by the plug of the tank going off. The problem is… I don’t think that’s the cause.” “What do you mean?” “When I looked at the whirlwind I had a strange feeling. Almost as if I had seen it before...” Derpy finished cooking the pancakes and placed them on the table. Dinky followed. “Perhaps it’s a Faust Letter.” “Now that you mention it, the whirlwind was formed by some currents that looked like Windy’s chains of wind…” Derpy nodded. “That has to be it.” “I’m back.” Derpy recognised the voice of her sister while she entered the house and panicked. “Oh no! Dinky, you have to hurry and hide somewhere!” She quickly grabbed her with her hooves and ran into the stairs. She threw her upstairs and then stood at the first step just in time to greet her passing sister with an awkward “Hi”. But then, she remembered she needed to ask her something. “Wait Tavi, why were you at the Lakeside Resort today?” and she followed her towards the living room. Octavia touched the familiar board with one hoof and said “Do we have to teach you to read again?” ‘Octavia: Working at the Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort’. Derpy stared for some second. “Oohh… I didn’t know it, really… And since when do you work there? What’s your job?” Octavia glanced searched something inside the freezer. Finding nothing, she got up “Feeding the dolphins.” “Oooohhhh! That’s so incredible!” “No it isn’t.” Then she glanced the pancakes over the table, quickly grabbed a fork and ate a piece. “Hey! That’s mine!” She started to helplessly wail her hooves towards her sister. “I’ve been saving bits for months to afford them, you little-” “Are you going to stay at the door forever?” she shouted towards the hall. A voice replied from the entrance. “Excuse me, Octavia. I thought it would be rude of me to enter without your permission.” Derpy stopped. She recognised that sweet voice. A tall figure entered the living room. “F-Fancy Pants!” “Good evening Derpy.” He noticed the pancakes. “Those look delicious! Did you bake them on your own?” Derpy’s face turned a deep tone of red. “I-It’s nothing, really…” “She’s right. They’re horrible.” Derpy kicked her sister’s hoof once again. “W-W-W-W-W-Would you li-like to t-taste one of t-the pancakes?” Fancy kneeled enough to make direct eye contact “Ah, but didn’t you just say that you saved money for months to buy them?” “I-I don’t really mind. Here you can have them!” Her blush grew with even more intensity. Fancy Pants levitated the plate with his unicorn magic and with a simple smile he closed his eyes and said. “That’s really generous of you, thank you very much.” Derpy froze. Something that just happened set her on some kind of stand by. Octavia frowned slightly and headed upstairs, motioning her classmate to follow her. “Remember we have tasks to do. Let’s get going.” “Very well, Octavia. Well, see you later Derpy!” and he followed the grey earth pony with the pancakes close behind. Derpy unfroze and sighed. “Y…You’re muffin. I mean, welcome.” ______________________________________________________________________________ “Lakeside… At the lake… water…” Dinky was sitting on the bed, meditating about what Derpy told her. It was crucial discovering what Faust Letter could have caused the incident so they could know how to face it. But Derpy suddenly entered the room, completely breaking Dinky’s concentration, and closed the door. Sighing and with a deep blush, she let herself slowly slide on the floor. Dinky flew over her. “Hey! Equestria calling to Derpy! We have a Letter to ca-” Derpy hugged Dinky tightly. “Ohhhhh, Fancy Pants!” This was the first time Dinky saw Derpy so happy. Still… “Agg! You’re squeezing me! Let me go!” Derpy closed her eyes. “I’m the happiest filly in the world.” “So you don’t care about the dolphins? You want more ponies to get hurt?” Derpy quickly opened her eyes. She set Dinky free and sat properly. “No. That would be horrible!” Dinky caught her breath and continued. “Good, let’s focus then. You say the trainer and the dolphin were in the water, right? Did you notice something else?” Derpy waved her hoof dismissively. “Besides the whirlwind I didn’t see anything more.” After some seconds of thought, Dinky finally nodded. “It must be The Watery.” Derpy clapped her hooves. “Great! Now we just need to defeat it and-” “That won’t be easy.” Dinky interrupted. “As long as it is in the water, we won’t be able to see it. And even we make it get out, it could scatter so much that we wouldn’t be able to capture it. We’re talking about one of the Four Elementals, after all.” “Four Elementals? What are you talking about?” “Ah, excuse me. You see, there are four letters more powerful than the others. These letters are made of the four basic elements: Wind, Water, Earth and Fire. Currently, you only possess The Windy, The Sight and The Shadow; among them only the Windy can match up The Watery in power. And even if you use that letter it wouldn’t be enough to defeat The Watery since it is more wild and dangerous than The Windy.” Derpy contemplated her three letters. “Then… what can I do?” “You’ll have to come up with another solution.” Dinky plainly commented. “But… perhaps if I use all of them at the same time-” “It won’t work.” Interrupted Dinky. “That requires a lot of magic power and even if you had such magic power it wouldn’t work. The letters can only be used together if their elements can be combined, and I don’t see how those letters could be combined.” “Mmm…” meditated Derpy. Inspiration struck by surprise. “Maybe you can use your unicorn magic to help!” “No I can’t, Derpy. I don’t want to explain it but… My powers are very limited without the letters. Right now, I’m at the same level of an 8-year old filly.” Dinky shamefully gazed the floor of the room. “It’s okay, nopony is perfect. I should have guessed it early; you couldn’t help me with the other letters after all.” Derpy did her best to give a reassuring smile and it seemed to work as she saw the little foal smiling slighly. Right after that Derpy frowned and put the letters on the floor, beginning to think of anything else. The more she thought about making a plan, the more frustrated she got. I can’t come up with any more ideas! What am I going to do now? ______________________________________________________________________________ Derpy was mentally absent during school the next day. She spent the whole morning thinking about The Watery, very worried about what could happen if she failed. But at the same time… How can you catch water? It’s just impossible… Carrot noted Derpy’s sullen expression and asked her what was wrong when the school ended. Derpy told her all about it. “… That sure is a big trouble.” “Tell me about it.” Commented Derpy while trotting aside Carrot. In the middle of a bifurcation, she suddenly got in front of her and smiled. “Thanks for listening to my problems, though. You are a real friend.” Carrot beamed at Derpy’s smile. “It’s nothing sugarcube. I personally think that happiness fits you better than sorrow.” She let out a tiny gasp. “Almost forgot it!” Then she immediately began to search for something in her saddlebags. She got out two mysterious rectangular devices. “A friend of my father has created a new product and I asked him to give me some samples to test it. It’s called a mobile phone! It works just as a telephone but it can be used anywhere. Here, these two are for you and Dinky; I already have one myself. We will use it to keep in contact, got it?” Derpy was very shocked. She grabbed them, quite unsure about it. “Are you sure? Could I really have them?” “Of course! They want to test it and my father gets along very well with them, so they didn’t refuse to give me these three.” She smiled. Derpy got happier. “In that case, thank him in my place!” “I will. Bye Derpy!” “See you!” and they went different directions, Derpy now starting to glide as she was costumed to. It didn’t take long before her mind started wandering about the issue. She felt a little better thanks to Carrot, but The Watery was still free and that’s something only she could change. Too bad she was too concentrated when she turned around a corner and saw a random walker just in front of her. She managed to not bump into the random pony by miracle. However, the sudden move made her lose stability and she almost fell into the ground. Almost. When she dared to open her eyes, she was being surrounded by a blue magic aura. She was being levitated. “Are you hurt, Derpy?” Derpy looked up to see the random pony and she gasped. “F-Fancy Pants!” The stallion used his magic to flip over the young filly and set her properly on the ground. He smiled. “I say, it’s dangerous to fly around without looking.” “Y-Yeah… I’m r-r-really s-sorry.” Derpy tried to apologise, but all she could do was stutter in front of the pony she had a crush on. “I-I hope you’re o-okay too.” “Of course I am, my dear! Luckily, you managed to dodge me.” Thank goodness. Said Derpy for herself. “Oh! Thank you very much for those pancakes yesterday. They were certainly delightful.” Derpy blush increased a lot. “T-There’s no n-need to! P-P-Pancakes are simple, after all!” and she gave a kinda awkward laugh that made Fancy laugh too. “How about I invite you to eat tomorrow? I want to thank you for the pancakes!” Derpy’s eyes narrowed “Are… Are you serious?” “Of course! Let’s meet tomorrow at 13 PM at the park, okay?” “Th-That’s fine by me…” “Very well then. Until tomorrow!” Then he trotted elegantly on the direction Derpy came from. Derpy flew off while waving a hoof. “B-Bye!” When she was far enough, Derpy squealed in sheer happiness and even flew in circles. “WOOOW!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!! MY FIRST DATE WITH FANCY PANTS!!!!” ______________________________________________________________________________ Derpy trotted happily to the park. She had become a completely different mare since the day before, which she mostly expended day-dreaming about the date and talking with Carrot about it via phone. The whole town seemed prettier for her and her heart kept beating faster for each inch closer to the park. When she arrived at the park Fancy Pants was there, reading a book near a tree’s shadow. When he saw the little filly approaching he stored the book in a saddlebag and he started to walk at her side. Derpy panicked. “Oh… I’m late, right? Please excuse me! Sometimes I lose track of time a-and I” Derpy stopped her hasty speech when she noticed that Fancy was laughing. “Don’t worry, my dear. You came 15 minutes early!” “T-Then why…?” Knowing what Derpy was about to ask, he smiled. “I arrived 30 minutes early so as to not make you wait.” Derpy blushed. Not even 5 minutes passed before they reached their destination. ‘Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort’ could be read in giant letters above the entrance to a giant cabin. “Huh? But this is…” Fancy predicted what she was about to say once again. “Ah, that’s right. You were here the other day, didn’t you?” “Uh-huh. But the trip was cancelled because of an incident…” Fancy smiled. “There’s a cafeteria they’ve settled at the lake’s edge so ponies can eat while enjoying the scenery and I’m very interested in paying it a visit. Do you mind eating there?” “Absolutely not!” cheered Derpy while she headed for the entrance and Fancy followed behind. A bush behind them rustled when they entered. “So that’s the place, huh? Perfect! Now we can detect where the Faust Letter is…” A foal’s voice whispered. “…And we can film Derpy’s first date at the same time!” A feminine but older voice whispered too Carrot Top and Dinky emerged from the bush. Carrot was wearing transparent sunglasses, a fedora and a brown jacket that resembled the ones that films’ detectives wore. Dinky was wearing darker sunglasses and a bowler to hide her tiny horn. They smirked and they bumped their hooves. “Mission start!” they said in unison and galloped towards the entrance. ______________________________________________________________________________ They sat down at a table. Derpy’s heart never slowed down even a beat. It was beating a fast melody of love that Derpy didn’t seem to notice because she was too lost in Fancy’s perfect eyes, mane and behaviour. The waitress didn’t take too long to appear. “Well, well. What we got here?” Derpy’s focus broked. D-Don’t tell me… Fancy smiled at the waitress. “Why, hello there Octavia!” Derpy’s sister was standing there with a bartender uniform and a smug grin. “S-Sister!? Weren’t you working at the water tank with the dolphins?” Octavia placed two menus on the table and she looked at Derpy. “After the incident the water tank was emptied in order to investigate it.” Derpy kept silent, worry starting to sink down in her interior. If that’s the case… Where’s the Letter now? Without closing his smile, Fancy continued the conversation. “Well, at least now you don’t have to get inside the freezer where they stored the food for the dolphins.” Octavia sighed. “Actually that’s incorrect, because now I have to make a lot of ice creams.” Fancy turned to Derpy once again. “The ice-creams they make here are wonderful. You should try one!” Derpy’s eyes shined “C-Could I order a chocolate one?” Fancy laughed. “Of course my dear! Well then, one chocolate ice cream for her and one vanilla ice-cream with three hay sandwiches for me.” “W-Wait a second. THREE hay sandwiches?” After taking notes, Octavia glared her sister. “Oh, didn’t you know? Fancy eats at least twice as much as you and me together.” Fancy shrugged and laughed. “I guess I have a lot of appetite.” Meanwhile, in a higher floor… “Ugg… This is more boring than I thought! When are they gonna kiss?” “Patience, Dinky. This is not some kind of romantic novel where ponies kiss each other at first glance. There are many steps before, you know?” “Right, right…” She slumped. Then she got up very suddenly. “I sense something!” Carrot gasped. She zoomed in with her camera. “I think I saw something at the lake too!” A big pillar of water came from the lake and completely flooded the cafeteria floor. It dragged all the ponies in the place towards the stairs and the walls, and they tried to go up the stairs the fastest they could. However… Carrot got highly frightened when she couldn’t see her friend. “Get out of there Derpy, quick!” Inside the large mass of water, Derpy had closed her eyes by instinct. When she dared to open them, she saw a big problem around her back right hoof: A dark whirlwind of water. The Watery! From the surface, Octavia was trying to find the two newer customers. “Derpy! Fancy!” she desperately called, hoping to hear a response. Suddenly, a ditch that went downhill appeared in the ground. It swallowed all the water and Derpy could finally swim to the surface. Octavia grabbed her and put her on top of the stairs. Carrot Top and Dinky rushed to her side. “Derpy! Are you alright?” almost shouted Carrot, touching Derpy on her shoulder. Derpy recovered her breath and opened her eyes slowly. “Carrot?” She gasped “Where is Fancy Pants?” Fancy Pants was at the side of the ditch, horn glowing and quite soggy. However, he was smiling and waving a hoof on her direction. “No need to worry about him.” Commented Octavia before parting in another direction. “Now I’m positive. There certainly is a Faust Letter!” Dinky whispered to Derpy. Derpy nodded and murmured. “I saw it. It was The Watery!” “You saw it?” exclaimed Dinky the lowest she could. “Wait a minute… What are you two doing here?” asked Derpy with slight indignation. They looked at each other and shared an awkward laugh. Luckily, before they could explain anything, Fancy walked up the stairs. “Are you okay Derpy?” “Ye-Yes.” “It’s a pity that we couldn’t taste those ice-creams, though.” “That isn’t important, at lease no big disaster happened.” The filly, however, could not betray her mind. Oh, I would have given my left hoof to eat those ice-creams with Fancy Pants… Ice-creams… Ice. …ICE!! Eyes widened in realization and a spark in her eyes that matched the bright idea she just had, Derpy embraced Fancy Pants in a tight hug. “That’s it!! That’s a WONDERFUL idea!! THANK YOU!!” Fancy glared unknowingly at the filly. “Uh… You’re welcome?” Derpy opened her eyes. Pupils as tiny as particles of dust, her grey tone became a very intense red when she realized what she had just done. “Umm… s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry…” She finished the hug and looked at the ground so at least could hide the embarrassment in one of her eyes. The stallion laughed “It’s okay.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Hours later, the only trio that knew about the Faust Letters was gathered in Derpy’s house listening to Derpy’s idea. “Wow… That is brilliant Derpy!” exclaimed Carrot. “Yeah! Now you sound like a real Cardcaptor!” encouraged Dinky. Derpy got all serious. “I also wanted to talk about that, Dinky.” “Huh? What do you mean?” “Being a Cardcaptor… I accept.” Both of them were puzzled. Carrot was the first to talk. “Beg a pardon, sugarcube?” “Remember that I’ve been claiming to never have accepted the job? That’s what I’m referring to. Now I want to officially become Cardcaptor.” Dinky still was very confused at the filly’s sudden change of decision. “… You’ve already caught two Letters and you possess the magic to release both the Key and the Book! You have always been a Cardcaptor in my eyes! Why are you…?” She couldn’t finish the line before Derpy continued. “I have considered the Cardcaptor stuff as some kind of hobby that I could decline whenever I wanted… But now I realise that it isn’t a thing I want to do or don’t… It is a thing I must do!” “Derpy…” worriedly commented Carrot. “The Faust Letters are dangerous and evil. This letter here tried to hurt the dolphins and it even tried to kill first the trainer and now me! They aren’t a joke… they aren’t a game…” At this point she was visibly shaken and traumatized. She even seemed to be trying to cry while she recalled those events. “… They’re a treat for our world and for the ponies I care so much about! That’s why I have to stop them! That’s why I cannot be a coward! That’s why… I accept the job. To protect all the things that these Letters threaten. TO PROTECT MY FRIENDS AND MY FAMILY!” She almost shouted while putting a heroic posture… but not glance. Those eyes where really annoying when trying to get serious. But after some seconds of silence Dinky nodded. “… Very well, Derpy Hooves. As I have stated many times you possess some unique magic powers that led you to the Book and the Letters. And now, only you can gather them once again using those powers, the Key and your bravery. Are you sure you fully comprehend the risks and situations this mission will present? Derpy thought about it for some seconds and then nodded. “Yes I do.” Dinky smiled. “Then I hereby declare you Derpy Cardcaptor. You must submit all the wild Faust Letters by finding them, turning them into letters again and write your name on the Letters, got it?” Derpy was confused. “Huh? I’ve never done that last thing.” Dinky blushed. “Oh… yes, that’s right. It serves to signal that you’re the new owner. It also serves to make the most violent ones obey you forever. Since all the letters until now were pacific and you never said you accepted the job, I didn’t tell you all about it… But now, consider it a crucial step to your mission. Is that clear?” Derpy saluted. “Yes sir - I mean, Ms. Guardian!” Carrot, moved by the entire speech and scene, put her hoof on her heart. “You can always count with me Derpy. I will aid you the best I can as your best friend!” Derpy hugged Carrot. “Thanks buddy. Because, actually, I need your help with my plan.” Carrot grinned. “No problem!” ______________________________________________________________________________ Night had fallen over Ponyville. The security guard at the counter of Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort was distracted watching a hoofball match on the TV and failed to notice two crawled fillies and one foal furtively entering the building. “Are you sure about this, Derpy? We shouldn’t be here at this hour…” “So? We cannot enter here at daytime with all the visitors! And there’s no way I’m letting this happen one more day! Just trust me, this will work!” she whispered at her friend. “Let’s see… Over there!” Dinky was pointing uphill. They separated, Derpy following Dinky’s indications and Carrot wandering around the various cabins the resort had. The first ones reached a water tank at the top of the hill. “Here’s where the presence is stronger. The Letter must be inside the tank.” Derpy got out the new device her friend gave her… out of her mane? and dialed a number. “Hey Carrot.” “Howdy!” “Did you find it?” “Indeed. Not really hard to see it: it’s a clear blue-painted hut near the dolphin hill.” “Okey-dokey! Stay there and take cover, soldier!” “Roger!” and the phone did some beeping sounds. Dinky decided to not ask what that was all about. She had a question, though. “How are you going to make it get out of here, Derpy?” The mare smirked. “I’ve noticed something. Whenever I get near a Letter, they tend to manifest themselves and attack me. It happened with The Sight, it happened with The Shadow and I don’t need to tell that I almost drowned this morning. So… here we go.” Wow… she’s getting good. Thought Dinky. Derpy stood over the edge of the tank and hanged the already transformed staff over the water. “Watery! Show yourself!” The water seemed to shake a little until a grand pillar of water emerged from it and seemed to point at Derpy, although it didn’t have any specific part to do so. She could feel its anger. “Go away, Dinky!” When the foal flied away, Derpy got The Sight out of nowhere and casted it. Then she flew away too and the pillar started to chase her. Derpy flew downhill to where she had come from. At the beginning, the pillar tried to catch her and was starting to get left behind. But after some seconds, the mass of water changed to medium-range combat by splitting into various tendrils that lunged towards the fleeing pegasus one by one. These tendrils splashed when touching the ground and they left some puddles where they had impacted. Derpy barely dodged them and started looking around the Resort for the dolphin hill. The water tendrils formed once again from the puddles and continued the assault. Suddenly, Derpy caught a glimpse of her orange friend. Holding her camera with her left hoof, she motioned to her right with her right hoof. Then she waved the same hoof and got out of the way. Derpy followed the indicated direction with the water pillar following behind once again and found what she was looking for: A big cerulean hut with a door at the front. She landed there and turned to face the live water pillar, which was forming a dragon mouth looking at Derpy’s direction. The magic circle formed beneath Derpy “Windy!” she shouted touching said Letter with the beak of the staff. The mare that represented The Windy appeared and with five golden chains she opened the door of the hut, letting a freezing puff come from it. Derpy got shivers but she held herself in place to keep using her magic. After the door was opened, The Windy surrounded the mass of water with some more chains and led it inside the hut. When Derpy glanced inside the room, the pillar of water was forming a big whirlwind on the floor and there, at the end of the pillar, a young dark blue zebra with long hair and sapphire eyes growled at the Cardcaptor. Then Derpy closed the door tightly so as to let The Windy finish the job… Derpy put her back against the door and let out a sigh of relief. She had to fly really fast to avoid the mass of water and now she was very tired. Some minutes later she saw Dinky and Carrot galloping towards her. “Great job, Derpy! Once The Watery is frozen, it will be unable to move!” Derpy nodded. “It was Fancy Pants who told me about the freezer where the food for the dolphins was being kept. It seems that now they use it for making the ice-creams, so I thought that perhaps it would be cold enough to freeze water!” Then she turned her head to Carrot Top. “Thanks for finding it for me, Carrot!” “Glad to help, sugarcube. Well then, shall we see if our little sculpture is done by now?” Derpy nodded. She got on four hooves and opened the door. The interior of the chamber was completely surrounded by frozen water. An ice sculpture of a zebra with no more legs than the water pillar stood out in the centre, trying to reach the freezer’s door. “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!!” Once again a blue letter-shaped light that formed at the peak of the staff. It made the ice shatter and then it swallowed the small pieces, which presented no resistance at all. When the Letter formed, all the ice of the room was gone. The Letter showed the drawing of a young, female and long-haired zebra with closed eyes and a fish’s tail instead of back hooves. ‘THE WATERY’ could be read at the bottom of the drawing. “You were very clever this time, Derpy!” cheered the little winged unicorn. “It wasn’t my idea. The idea was from…” she sighed and her eyes ‘derped’ once again, a blush appearing on her muzzle. “…Fancy Paaaants…” Dinky hovered in front of her and waved a hoof from side to side, getting no reaction at all. “I think she got frozen too…” Carrot giggled and kept filming her. Dinky sighed and put a braver pose. “Well, frozen or not, she’s the one and only Derpy Cardcaptor!” ______________________________________________________________________________ [Author’s Note: Consider the ‘introduction period’ over. From now, I’ll try to create my own adventures (and perhaps my own Letters!) or change as many features of the original adventure as possible to make them more interesting and original (These three chapters have been way too similar, but it’s all I could do)! However, I still need as many constructive criticism as possible, be it good or bad, so don’t be shy to speak your mind below in the comments. Also, this is the last time I will put a note in a long time because I don’t feel like bothering you chapter after chapter. So… keep enjoying the fic and goodbye!] On the next chapter: The orange foal turned her head towards the pegasus and beamed. Derpy didn’t notice before, but she had a lot of white freckles on her muzzles. “Howdy Miss Derpy! I hope ya like Sweet Apple Acres!”
The Book of Faust(Bing) (Bing) (Bing) -A strange red book with a stranger cover it’s there…- “Who… Who’s calling me?” -The moon is enormous. I can see a giant building… and letters… and I hold some kind of staff in my fore hooves… I whisper something… and wings appear in my hind hooves… There’s a winged unicorn foal floating at my side that nods to me…- -…and I jump- ________________________________________________________________________________________________ *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* “EEP!” It was just a dream. And that was Mr. Alarm going off as it does almost every morning… Which means… “Derpy! Breakfast is ready!” “I’m going!” Thus, the young and gray coated Pegasus mare got up of the bed and grabbed a brush to make her blonde mane, which was of the same colour as her eyes, perfectly straight. Hi! My name is Derpy Hooves! I’m a student in Ponyville’s High School and my favourite signatures are music and P.T. I’m well known for my eyes, which are almost always pointing at opposite directions because if I don’t my head spins and I feel dizzy… Sometimes this makes my sight a little bad and I cause mistakes that make some ponies really mad at me. However, I’ll still try my best to do all of the things right! Once she finished, she went down the stairs of her home to have breakfast. “Good morning!” “Hey, what was all that uproar?” Derpy looked a bit angrier “I haven’t done any noise!” “Oh, sure? Because your hooves sounded like the ones of a buffalo…” said the gray coated earth pony with a smug grin on her face. “Bring it on!” said Derpy while trying to hit her, but the mare, which had a black mane, purple eyes and a purple G-clef for a cutie mark, stopped her just by putting her cup of coffee on Derpy’s head. She’s my sister Octavia! She’s always screwing with me by calling me ‘buffalo’, but one day I will becoming very very big and then I will crush her! Then Derpy imagined the scene and then lifted her head and left fore hoof: One Day. “I see you two got a lot of energy this morning.” Said an earth pony with a fuscia coat, a purple mane that matched her eyes and a strawberry with a bunch of grapes for cutie mark while carrying breakfast. She’s my foster mom Berry Punch. She’s a really smart and hard-working mare that manages Ponyville’s farm of berries and grapes and is very good with many manual labours. And where’s our real parents, you ask? Well, we don’t know about our father but our mother is living with the angels (or that’s what my sister always tells me) and Berry was a close friend of our mother, so she decided to take care of us when she couldn’t find our dad. “Thanks for the breakfast, mother” “Have you finished already, Octavia?” “Yes, I have a rehearsal today” “Okay! Here’s your lunch” “Hey! Wait for me, please!” and Derpy began to chew as fast as she could the delicious breakfast. Afterwards, she rushed to her room, grabbed her school saddlebags and run down the stairs again. “Do you have a rehearsal too?” “Yes!” “Okay then, here’s your lunch!” “Thanks, mom! Bye!” and after grabbing the lunch she went out of the door and started to fly really close to the ground. Octavia had a bike that she used to go to her school and Derpy had to glide at ground level if she wanted to spot her clearly with her eyes. She noticed that the spring had made some of the trees blossom and then she found Octavia, who had her cello case attached to her back. “WAIT!” “Even if your school is in the way of the university, why are you so interested in accompanying me these days?” “Uh... it’s nothing special!” Actually, there is a special reason I try to go with her every day. It’s because in her way, Octavia always meets… “Hey Fancy!” ...him. At one side of the road there was a tall stallion with a white coat and blue mane. He also had eyes of the same colour and he had three crowns as cutie mark. “Hello, Octavia! And good morning to you too, Derpy. You have gotten up really soon today, isn’t that right?” “Yes…” “And she chewed up the breakfast as if she were a buffalo” commented Octavia just before receiving a powerful kick from her little sister. Then Derpy looked again at the stallion and laughed awkwardly. “I see you’re as enthusiastic as always!” he said before mounting his own bike and started to go beside Octavia. Derpy followed them from close behind. He is Fancy Pants. He is in the same class as my sister but I can’t understand why they’re friends. I mean, he is so smart… and so… kind… and so muffin… “Well, we’ll separate here.” Lost in her thoughts, time runs fast and soon she sees the bell tower of Ponyville’s school. Already here? “Hey Derpy! Catch this!” and Fancy throw at candy at her. Derpy catched it and her eyes brighted up with a magical spark. “Wow, you’re lucky” Derpy got frightened and turned around to see an earth pony with a curly orange mane and tail, a yellow coat and green eyes pulling off a cool pose. Her cutie mark was three carrots. “If a colt gives you candy that can mean a lot of things. And the bright on your eyes just now… *sigh* why haven’t I brought my new camera to film that beautiful face?” “It’s not necessary to keep filming me all day, you know…” “When I have the most famous pony of the school as a friend? Of course it is! This is art, sugarcube!” This is Golden Harvest. We are best friends since we were little foals and we friendly call her Carrot Top because she belongs to the Carrot family and she looks like a carrot. As you see, her hobby is to film things… specially me. “Anyway, we should hurry or we will miss the class”, said her friend. “Sure!” answered Derpy ________________________________________________________________________________________________ “I’m home!” shouted cheerfully Derpy while she opened the door to her home. However, she was not as happy as she looked. She had been thinking about that dream all the day. In history she drawed the foal she saw before waking up, which almost coasted her missing the lecture they were doing, and in P.E she mistook the regulative can for the strange staff and hit herself in her little head. This prompted puzzled looks from her friends since -inexplicably- Derpy was the best of the class with the can. Nopony greeted her as she entered, so she went to the living room to see if they have written something on the board they use to leave messages to the others before going anywhere and she found that Berry wrote that she wouldn’t return until 9:00 PM, so she was going to be alone until then. As she grabbed a muffin from the pantry she heard strange noises coming from Berry’s library. As a manager, Berry had a lot of books down there that talked about numbers and managing things to make them efficient (something she called “economy” or something similar) and also she liked to store some history and science books so her “daughters” could learn more anytime they wanted. But this was no moment to think about that. She grabbed the regulative can in case she had to defend her home or herself and very afraid she asked “Is somepony there?” and she obtained no response. This made her feel more afraid and she wished her sister or her mom would be in home to help her. But she had to be brave. What if there’s a thief? I will take a quick glance and if there’s some bad guy there I will call the police! And so she opened the door and went down the stairs that connected the library on the basement with the rest of the house. She turned on the lights and she was amazed at how big the room was, with various bookshelves on display. She didn’t entered the room frequently, mainly because that’s the place her mom worked when she was home and Derpy doesn’t want to interrupt her even though she and Octavia had full permission of entering when they wanted. As she slowly trotted through the room putting all of her senses on her surroundings the noises were more clear and could be heard better. They were like roars, but they were too low and not enough angry to be that. She was about to reach a dead-end, the corner of the room where there would be no escape for the thief since there was two bookshelves at the sides and on in the back. When she gulped and jumped to surprise the assailant nothing could prepare her for the big surprise she was about to have. Nothing. Although the noises were crystal clear to Derpy and the structure of the bookshelves made it impossible to the thief to hide or be in another place, there was nothing but books in the dead end. There’s nopony here! To make herself sure she spun around to check a desk where Berry did her work and then she heard a light noise from behind. She spun around again and she noticed that one of the books at the back shelf was glowing with golden light. Unsure about what to do she decided to grab the can with only one hoof and approach to the strange book in order to inspect it. When she was about to touch it the book stopped glowing, which made Derpy a little unsettled. She could read in big black letters “THE FAUST” in the spine of the book, which was red with a golden ornament in the top that had a six-pointed star hole. When she picked it out of the shelf and looked at the cover of the book she dropped the can. “It’s the book! The one of my dream” she exclaimed. There was a pony face with yellow glowing eyes, a horn, a pair of white wings that seemed to go from its neck and a long undulated mane with the colours of the aurora. There was also a big sun-like emblem in the lower part that was covering part of the wings and chin of the pony face and it was connected with two chains to each of the wings. Derpy could also read “THE FAUST” on the top of the front with a little crescent moon between the top of the wings (it also covered a little of the title). There was also four little rubies (surrounded by gold ornaments) in each of the corners and the book seemed to have a lock on the right. A little light erupted of the lock and making a little noise the lock was released, which startled Derpy and almost made her drop the book to the floor. Nevertheless, she still had the book in her hooves and the eyes closed with her head tilted to the side. Slowly, she opened her eyes and with an insatiable curiosity she opened the book. Usually, what you would expect from a book is to find long pages filled of words that contained all sorts of information, but what this book contained was… “Letters?” The poor Derpy was even more confused than before. She grabbed one while holding the book with the other hoof and she saw the back: a big circle with three squares oriented differently to form a lot of triangles and a big sun in the centre (separated of the squares) was drawn. It also contained a smaller circle on one side that included a crescent moon inside (the moon was touching the circle) drawn over the sun and the squares. She flipped it and she saw a drawing of a big mare with a long mane and a strange body, which looked like a dress but Derpy was positive it was the body. In the lower part there was some letters that said “THE WINDY”. As she started to go out, Derpy began to read it aloud. “Win…Wind…” was repeating the gray mare without noticing that a small wind was being formed around her hooves. “Windy!” One second after she finished the word the letter glowed blue and a circle of light with the same design as the one in the back of the letter magically appeared below Derpy. “Aaah!” Then, a strong gale of wind emerged from the circle and Derpy had to close her eyes. Shortly afterwards she began to hear strange noises from the book. She opened the eyes and she saw that those noises were the letters flying away due to the wind. Somehow, the letters managed to go across the walls and the ceiling of the room and escaped out of the house until there was no letter left inside the book or the library more than the one Derpy was holding. She dropped the book to the floor, which landed with its cover showing up, and she dropped herself down on her rear hooves too. But that was not all, no sir. The book began to glow again, but this time it was different. “Waahh!” A pony slowly emerged from the front. It was a unicorn foal that appeared to be female. Her mane was short and yellow, her coat was purple… and so her wings. “Good morning!” she shouted while smiling, raising her hoof up to salute at the same time. Derpy was so confused that no word could describe her face. “Thanks for waking me up, you have been very kind!” “Yo…You’re welcome…” “Oh, how wonderful is to be out of that book! I thought I would be inside forev-aaaaah!” She couldn’t finish as she was suddenly grabbed by Derpy. “What are you? A chicken? A monster? A dictionary? Why do you have wings if you’re a unicorn? Or why do you have horn if you’re a pegasus?” “I AM NOT ANY OF THAT STUFF” she yelled while escaping the blonde mare. “I belong to the race of the alicorns, or winged unicorns, and I’m the Guardian of the Seal” she continued while landing on the back of the book. Derpy realized that there wasn’t that unicorn face with wings in the cover anymore. “Seal? A dinky little thing like you?” questioned Derpy “Exactly” She jumped out of the book and levitated using her magic. “My task is to prevent the letters inside the book to cause any trouble, do you see them?” Said while pointing her hoof to the hole where the letters were, but when she glanced towards it… “THE LETTERS!! WHERE ARE THE LETTERS?” Derpy looked at the letter she was holding and she gave it to the foal. “Are they like this one?” The foal turned and grabbed it “Yes! Precisely! They are like this one! Well, where are the others?” “Well, I said Windy…” “Yes,” “…And a strong gale of wind appeared…” “Aha.” “…and they all flied out!” “Oh! I see!” and then both of them laughed. “Hahahaha… WHAT?!” the foal screamed. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy ate her dinner at full speed and as soon as she finished she grabbed a muffin from the pantry and headed out of the living room. “Where are you going with that?” asked her sister. “It’s for having something to eat in case I get hungry” she answered while trotting up the stairs. She entered the room and the foal was levitating over the book while glowing with a bright light. “So?” asked Derpy. The foal just stopped floating and sat on the book “Nothing. I have no idea where the letters may have gone.” “Here, you must be hungry.” And with a smile she handled the muffin to the foal. “Thanks, this looks delicious!” She smiled shortly just before putting a worried face again. “You know? Those weren’t any ordinary letters. They were the Faust Letters. They’re magical and dangerous. They were created a long time ago by a mighty alicorn named Lauren Faust. Each has its own life, power and personality and they are powerful enough to conquer the world and do what they please with it, so there’s almost nothing that can stop them. Luckily, Faust put them under control before they could do any damage and she created a book to store them. Then she put a Seal on the book and she made me the Guardian of said Seal.” Derpy looked a little puzzled, but she managed to grasp the important parts of the explanation. “Now I have the responsibility of retrieving them… and YOU are going to help me!” “Huh? Why me?” “In the first place, because it was you who called The Windy and sent all of them flying!” “Well… yeah… but I don’t know what went wrong! Besides, it is you who was supposed to guard the Seal! How much have you been sleeping, anyways?” “Uuhh… around thirty years” the foal answered while beginning to sweat. “Thirty years?” “IT’S A TOUGH JOB, OK? I HAD TO TAKE A NAP!” the foal busted out covered in sweat. “So those noises were your snores…” “It may be, but the fact that you were able to break the seal demonstrates that you have magical powers! What’s your name, by the way?” “Derpy. Derpy Hooves.” “… That is a kinda rare name…” “Hey, don’t insult me just because of my name! As if you had a better name yourself!” “Why, of course I have a better name! My name is Cel…” “Dinky! I will call you Dinky! How’s that, huh?” “B-But I… my name is…” “Dinky Hooves! That’s settled! Hehehehe!” The foal sighed and then, resigned, she told Derpy to stand in front of her. She glowed her horn and then her entire body. Afterwards the circle that was drawn at the back of the letters appeared again around the hooves of Derpy. “Key of the Seal…” When she said this, a sphere of light containing a red small key with the shape of a phoenix’s head which was decorated with white wings appeared from the book and floated between Derpy and Dinky. “This filly will keep the Sacred Promise. Her name is Derpy. Key, grant her your power…” then Dinky pointed her right fore hoof to Derpy and shouted: “RELEASE!” When she shouted that last word the sphere illuminated all the room, almost as if it had expanded itself and the key turned into a staff. Derpy was covering her face with one fore hoof and closed her left eye but she kept her right eye opened. “Derpy! Grab the staff!” With her eyes closed, she did her best to get closer to the staff and then she grabbed it with both of her hooves. “That’s it! I hereby name you Derpy Cardcaptor!” “Cardcaptor… wait… WHAT?” She looked shocked at Dinky, who began to eat the muffin. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “No way! No, no and no! I can’t do it” Derpy looked way more worried than usual while using a dryer to heat up her mane. “This is very comfy!” Dinky was bouncing on the bed just before Derpy grabbed her with her hooves. “I can’t be Cardcaptor! I mean, you’re telling me that the world is in danger and you want to send me, who still goes to school?” “And why not? Don’t forget that is your fault that the letters were set free in the fist place!” “And shouldn’t we remember the guardian that was supposed to be awake?” They exchanged some angry looks until a lot of wind went inside the room from outside. Surprised by such a strong wind, Derpy decided to look out of the window and search for the source. She saw nothing but the starry sky of the night. “Derpy! Look!” said Dinky while floating on Derpy’s shoulder and pointing her hoof upwards. Derpy gazed on that direction and she saw a bizarre creature that could be described as a giant hawk flying just above the house. “What’s that huge animal?” “That’s a Faust Letter!” “What?” “The Sight, to be exact” “Ohh…” “Don’t stay here doing nothing! You gotta do something!” “But what should I do?” “Here begins your job as Cardcaptor!” “WHAT?” “Just go!” “O...Okay… I guess is time to save the world!” With a more determined look she flied out of the window since she couldn’t exit from the front door. The hawk-like monster could be seen into the distance landing on a point outside the town, so Derpy started to glide at ground level towards the site where the beast had landed with Dinky at her side. “Wouldn’t you go faster by flying across the sky instead of ground level?” “The thing is… I am a little bad at seeing things from above… one of the effects of my eyes, you know?” Dinky sighed. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong pony? But the time to chit-chat was over. The beast was in front of them. With a battling of its wings, the creature sent both of them flying away but they landed safely on the ground. “And how should I face it?” “Do you remember what I taught you before? Use your magic!” “Hold on a minute! What’s a Cardcaptor?” “The job of a Cardcaptor to capture all of the Faust Letters *munch*” “And how do I do that?” “With the Key of the Seal, of course! When it has the form of a staff it will let you summon the power of the Faust Letters as well as turn wild spirits into Faust Letters again *munch*” “But I can’t go with this strange staff on me all the time!” “Do not worry; you can turn it into a key again and vice versa with the following spell, *munch* so pay attention!” “O key that holds the powers of the dusks… ehh… Reveal me the nature of your true might… uuuhh… I command you by the grade I have been given…” While Derpy was pronouncing this words the Magic Circle appeared around her hooves once again and a blue light sphere wrapped the key that she was holding. “Re…RELEASE!!” Suddenly, the key with the phoenix head shape transformed itself into a red staff with a phoenix head with wings and a yellow beak in one end and a small yellow ornament in the other end. It was the staff of her dream and also the staff that she received along with the title of Cardcaptor. “Yeah! That’s it, Derpy! Now, The Sight needs wind to fly, so you should use The Windy to tie it up!” “Underst- WAHH!” The beast flied just above them and the wind he lifted made them lose the concentration. “Derpy! Use The Windy, quick!” “I’m trying!” and Derpy got the letter out of nowhere, holding it with one hoof because she was holding the staff with the other, but the beast dashed once again above them, this time very close to smash them. The next attack would hit them for sure, so they started to fly away. “I can’t! I just can’t!” “Don’t say that! You’re the Cardcaptor, you can do it!” “But how should I do it?” As they were flying a slim tree on one side of the hill called her attention. “Hold on… I have an idea!” and she boosted toward the tree. Dinky got distracted by Derpy and since she slowed down she got carried by Sight’s wind and the wind made her fly high through the air. “Where’re you going now!? Derpy!!” Derpy aimed to the top of the tree and she pressed it with her hind hooves. The tree reacted as if it was made of rubber: it acted as a catapult and launched Derpy to the air. Using her wings, Derpy glided until she could fly right over the back of the beast. Immediately, she threw the letter of The Windy in front of her and started to swing the staff. “Make a chain to tie this birdie up…” and the Magic Circle appeared again beneath her. “WINDY!” and she touched the Letter with the beak part of the staff. The letter turned blue and the mare that was drawn on the front of the letter appeared, creating a golden chain of wind at her wake and wrapping the massive hawk with it. The beast couldn’t fly as well as before and it crashed to the grass of the meadow. Derpy landed behind the beast. What now? What now? Wait… I think I remember… “We have spent almost all the afternoon, but I see you finally memorized it…” “I’m sorry” said Derpy while putting her tongue out and closing her eyes. “Oh no… I almost forgot it! There’s another spell you must remember in order to capture the Faust Letters! One to turn them into Letters again! Listen up, Derpy!” “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!! When she was finishing that sentence, Derpy began to swing the staff. When she pronounced the last two words she swung down the staff at the same time and the staff created a blue light in the shape of a Letter that was sending out waves of blue energy. The light seemed to being swallowing thin parts of the beast as if it were a whirlwind and soon all of the beast was absorbed by the light and the light went off, leaving just a letter on its place. The letter had the drawing of the hawk-like creature and at the bottom of the letter “THE SIGHT” could be read. “Alright! You did it really well!” said Dinky while patting on her head. “WAAHH! That was so scary! I thought I was going to die!” “But I didn’t. And that’s why I chose you.” “Wait a second, I haven’t agreed to this yet.” “Well, I had to see you in action first and I think you’re more than valid for this.” She smiled and she also made Derpy smile. “Anyway, since you have acquired another Faust Letter why don’t you try to touch it with the beak and summon it?” “Why? What’s gonna happen?” “Just do it!” “Okay, okay. Sight!” a light erupted from the letter and made Derpy’s eyes shine. “My… My eyes! I can see straight now!” and she was right. Her eyes had just stopped pointing at opposite directions. “Indeed. The Sight improves the view field of the user” “Great! Because there’s one thing I have wanted to do all of my life!” Derpy took off to the sky and flew way up high with the staff still on her hooves. “Feels great, huh?” asked Dinky, who flew at her side “I agree! I can see so good right now…” “I know I can trust you, Derpy Cardcaptor!” “Eeyup! Wait a minute… when did I accept the job, huh?” *End of Chapter 1* ______________________________________________________________________________________________ (Author’s Note: This is majorly an adaptation of the Spanish dub of the anime, so I’m sorry for any differences between this fic and the original Japanese dub or the English dub if you’re more costumed to those ones. Also, this is my first fic so I need as many critics and opinions as possible. Thanks for reading!) On the next chapter: “Good morning Derpy!” “You have come really soon!” “It seems I am not the only one.” “Did you have to pick up the class too?” “No. I want to show you something before the class starts!” After saying this, she put a camera on Derpy’s desk. “A video?” “Yes! I filmed something incredible tonight!” The video started. The Moon could be seen and something blurry in front of it too. “D-Don’t tell me…” and her classmate smirked slightly. “Let’s zoom in that blurry figure…” In the next second, Derpy with the staff and Dinky clearly appeared on the camera screen, flying across the starry sky. “WWAAHH!”
The Shadow of a Carrot“Derpy? Derpy!” *ZZZ* “~That’s enough, I can’t eat all of those muffins~” *ZZZ* “Why did you set up the alarm at seven o’clock? Didn’t you want to get up soon today?” Derpy finally began to open her eyes. Huhh… What a strange voice. Nopony in my family has such a high-pitched tone… Then she sat up to search for the source. When she looked up she saw a winged unicorn foal with purple coat and yellow mane looking directly at her. “AAHH!” The scream startled the foal too. “A FLYING UNICORN!” The foal sighed. “You’re still asleep, huh?” Then she got close to Derpy’s head and started hitting it weakly while saying: “C’mon, wake up, wake up.” The knocks made Derpy’s eyes spin in circles until she came to realization. “You’re the Guardian of the Seal, the one that protects the Faust Letters!” The foal stopped her pounding and smiled. “That’s right! I’m Cel-” “Good morning, Dinky!” interrupted Derpy. “Aww, I was hoping you had forgotten about that… Anyway, good morning to you too, Derpy Cardcaptor.” she grinned. “As I told you yesterday, I never said I accepted the job.” “Don’t be modest! After all, you captured The Sight all by yourself” and Dinky levitated the book with her magic and she opened it to show Derpy that specific letter. “See?” “But that was a way too close call…” “Breakfast is ready!” “I’m coming!” When Derpy brushed her mane and her tail she went downstairs and she found that it was her sister who was cooking the breakfast today. “Good morning, Octavia!” Octavia turned with mild surprise on her face. “I only had to call you once? Now, that’s a paranormal phenomenon…” “It’s because I have been awakened on time, you brainy egghead!” Octavia showed a more surprised look. Awakened? By whom? She thought. Oh no! I can’t let my sister or my mom find about Dinky and my powers or they could heavily punish me! “I was referring to Mr. Alarm, of course!” and she blurted one of her awkward laughs. Octavia was very used to her sister’s crazy antics, so she just brushed it off and hanged up the apron she was wearing. The situation was safe for now… Berry Punch entered the living room. “Good morning, girls!” “Hi Mom, Good morning!” they both responded at the same time, although with different tones. Derpy’s tone was enthusiastic, while Octavia’s was duller. “Hmmm… This breakfast looks delicious, Octavia!” Then they all sat down at the table. “Not like the ones Buffalo Hooves does here…” After saying this, she received a buck under the table from her sister, strong enough to make her drop her head. Berry was perplexed at Octavia’s reaction, at which Derpy just smiled and said: “Let’s eat or it will get cold!” Few minutes later, Derpy was the first to finish eating her breakfast. “It was delicious, thanks!” “You have been really brisk this morning, sweetie.” “It’s because I have to clean the class.” Answered Derpy near the sink, where she had left the empty dishes. She saw a tiny basket with cookies near and after making sure her relatives weren’t watching her she grabbed a pair and she went up to her room. Dinky Hooves was floating over the desk, where the book laid closed. “Welcome back.” “Here, these are for you Dinky.” and she gave her the cookies. Dinky’s eyes sparkled. “Great! Thank you!” Derpy started to prepare her school saddlebags. “I have to go now. In a few minutes my sister and my mom will go out too, so you can stay here and play with my dolls or watch the TV.” Dinky looked down at the saddlebags and then back to Derpy, who was searching for something in her closet. “But you can’t exit my room under any reason or excuse. Is that clear?” “Sure, okay!” Derpy took the Key of the Seal from a drawer. After returning home the previous day she had added a lace to it so she could carry it around her neck in case of emergency. After placing it into one of the saddlebags, she glanced at the alarm clock of her room (the already famous Mr. Alarm) to check what time it was. “Oh no! I must hurry!” and she caught her saddlebags immediately and dashed out of the room. If only she had looked to her desk once more before leaving… _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy opened the door to her classroom. “Good! I’m first!” And this is not the first good thing this morning. I can’t believe that I found Fancy Pants at his home and he gave me a flower for my classroom from his garden! All is going perfect today… She thought dreamily while trotting to her desk. Just after she sat down on her chair and she putted her saddlebags on her desk somepony else entered the classroom. Somepony she recognized. “Good morning, Carrot Top!” “Good morning Derpy!” “You have come really soon!” “It seems I am not the only one.” “Did you have to pick up the class too?” “No. I want to show you something before the class starts!” After saying this, she put a camera on Derpy’s desk. “A video?” “Yes! I filmed something incredible tonight!” The video started. The Moon could be seen and something blurry in front of it too. “D-Don’t tell me…” and her classmate smirked slightly. “Let’s zoom in that blurry figure…” In the next second, Derpy with the staff and Dinky clearly appeared on the camera screen, flying across the starry sky. “WWAAHH!” And then something erupted in a flash from one of the saddlebags as if it was a bolt of lightning. “What happened? Are you fine, Derpy? Is there a Faust Letter? Where is…” In her outburst, Dinky failed to notice an earth pony standing right in front of her. “…it?” Derpy was starting to panic. She didn’t know neither what just happened nor what should she do next. It was exactly the same she felt when she encountered Dinky for the first time. Carrot Top was astonished. She slowly looked into the screen of the camera and back to the flying unicorn in front of her. There was no doubt. “It’s her! The flying unicorn of the video! So, does that really mean that the pegasus flying in the video it’s you, Derpy?” Derpy furiously glanced at the foal. “I TOLD YOU TO NOT EXIT MY ROOM!!” “I’m sorry…” and she returned back to the saddlebag she just came from. “Carrot… It’s a big secret… I can’t tell anypony!” “I promise to shut my mouth up, sugarcube.” “But it’s a long story too…” Derpy started to look down, a little embarrassed by the situation. “Well… Since the others are about to come, why don’t you tell me later on lunch?” and Carrot gave her a smile to reassure her. Derpy sighed. “…Okey dokey lokey…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Ponyville’s school, situated in the middle of a meadow near the pathway, was a big and red wooden building that incorporated a bell tower on top and a playground outside. The playground had nice equipment: from various types of swings to all sorts of chalk-drawn sports fields. It even had some spotlights and streetlights for nocturne activities and a pony-shaped bush at one side of the entry, which was supposed to represent Innocence and Youth. In lunch time there were a lot of ponies playing in the playground, some of them were practicing sports while others could be seen on the swings. Derpy and Carrot sat down against the opposite side of the building, making sure nopony could see or hear them. Carrot was only carrying her lunch, while Derpy had to carry all of her saddlebags since one contained Dinky and her lunch and the other contained the Key and the books. She had to take the Key with her in case a Faust Letter suddenly appeared and attacked them or the students. When they were settled, Dinky came out of the saddlebag. “Phew… that saddlebag is too narrow.” “Why did you get into the saddlebag in the first place, Dinky?” Derpy was less mad than before; but nevertheless she was angry. “I-I just wanted to see an average day in the life of a Cardcaptor…” Carrot was beaming. She was fixed in Dinky, so that probably meant she liked her for no apparent reason. “So… her name is Dinky?” “For heaven’s sake, I don’t deserve this! My name is…” she looked at Derpy, who was giving her a puppy face powerful enough to make a minotaur stop in his tracks. She sighed. “… Dinky Hooves. At your service, uuhh…” “My name is Golden Harvest. Still, my friends call me Carrot Top; so that name is okay too!” She smiled and she looked to Derpy. “And what is that Cardcaptor thing she mentioned before?” “Well, uuhh… I think Dinky here can tell you better. If that’s okay, I mean.” “But of course! Let me tell you everything about Derpy Cardcaptor, Carrot Top!” ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The time flew while Dinky described everything that took place the earlier day from her point of view, which caused Derpy to correct her once or twice. Meanwhile, the other two fillies ate their lunches and the other students of the school kept playing on the playground. The movement of their shadows was weird, though… “…And that’s how Derpy captured The Sight in an incredible and somewhat lucky act of bravery!” Carrot couldn’t contain herself from clapping her hooves in admiration towards her friend. “That’s simply amazing! Derpy Cardcaptor, protecting our town from the evil Faust Letters! It just sounds fantastic!” Derpy began to blush a little. “I-It’s not exactly like that, really” she said waving a hoof dismissively. “Nonsense! I think you’re 100% able!” “And that makes two, Derpy!” Dinky beamed. “Oh! Could you please show me some of that magic?” “W-What?” Dinky clapped her fore hooves. “Yeah! Just a little display, Derpy!” “B-But… what if…” “…somepony discovers us, you were going to say? Don’t worry; nopony has even come close to us in all this time! If you’re quick then everything should be fine!” Dinky said calmly. Derpy sighed and reached for her saddlebags. She took the Key of the Seal from one of them and stepped away from the other two ponies. She extended her hoof with the key on it, and began to recite the magic formula: “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given!” Once again the Magic Circle appeared on the ground around Derpy’s hooves and the key got surrounded in a sphere of blue light. Carrot stared with her mouth open at her friend while Dinky didn’t show any special reaction. “RELEASE!!” At the shout, the light expanded and the key became a staff. Carrot was truly amazed. “So, you can do magic with this staff?” “Only if I own the letters…” replied Derpy. “Like this one, from example!” Dinky appeared from the saddlebag lifting The Sight with her magic. “Dinky! Don’t show them off like that!” Derpy was still afraid of being caught by somepony. “Please tell me you have a special pose!” “Huh? What?” Carrot’s eyes began to shine with deep inspiration “You know! Poses! Like the magicians of the circus or the movies!” “I… I think you need to relax a little, Carrot. You are starting to make me feel dizzy…” Carrot giggled. Lunchtime was about to end, so they finished eating and they headed back to class. At the end of the morning, the shadows of the students began to drift away from their owners… ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The next day began with another glorious morning. Pegasus ponies cleaned out the sky early and the sun wasn’t too bright. Derpy glided towards the school but when she approached the playground she noticed that there was a huge mass of students gathered there. She approached a trio of fillies in particular: her best friends aside Carrot Top. The first one was a pegasus with light gold coat, light cyan mane and moderate cyan mane. Her cutie mark was three drops of water, one bigger than the others, and her mane and tail shared the same style as Derpy’s ones. The second one was an earth pony with green eyes and a yellow green coat. Her mane was pale orange with an almost white stray and it was curvy; although it went straight up instead of falling in front of her eyes like Carrot’s one did. Her cutie mark was a bee posed on top of a big blue flower. And the last one was a unicorn with a light brilliant yellow coat and moderate raspberry eyes. Her light cornflower blue mane was a little curvy too, but it was shorter and less curvy than her other friends’ manes. Her cutie mark was three hearts: one green and the other two blue. “Raindrops! Junebug! Lemon Hearts! What’s going on?” The three turned around. The other pegasus, Raindrops, answered. “Uhh… It’s better if you take a look by yourself, Derpy.” Then the earth pony, Junebug, moved to one side so Derpy could approach and see better. Derpy’s eyes widened. “W-What’s the meaning of this?” A lot of classroom desks and gym material was stacked up in the middle of an athletic field without any order or pattern. “I don’t know! It was already like that when I arrived!” Raindrops commented. Lemon Hearts put her hoof to the chin and tried to concentrate “Hey, If there are desks here…” Then, she gasped on realisation and looked to the others. “Oh my… The classrooms!” The other three gasped too and Junebug was the first to run off saying “Let’s go!” Shortly after, they opened the door to their classroom revealing yet another surprising sight. All the desks and chairs were clustered on the centre too. “Who could be the responsible of such vandalism?” exclaimed Lemon Hearts. Raindrops’ ears flopped. “Who cares? We will have to pick it up anyway…” The others let out a resigned whine and started to clean the mess. Carrot Top entered the class and gasped too. “Hi Carrot…” commented Derpy just before moving out a chair from the top. “Boy, this sure is a big mess. I wonder who could have done it...” Then she gasped once again and when Derpy landed on the floor with the chair on her hooves she approached her and whispered something. “Do you think it has been one of those Faust Letters?” “Huh? Don’t be ridiculous! This couldn’t…” She stopped a few seconds and looked at the ceiling, searching for thought. “… Actually, is pretty likeable! We will ask Dinky about it later. For now, we should clean this up and focus on the classes.” Carrot Top nodded in agreement. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy invited Carrot to her house for some fresh lemonade and a talk about the strange incident with the little alicorn. Up on her room, they told Dinky everything about it and after asking if the culprit could have been a Faust Letter the foal crossed her fore hooves in order to ponder the possibilities. “Hmmm… Yeah, that’s quite their modus operandi”. Carrot grinned. Derpy stared with confusion, one of her eyes pointing at the ceiling. As if she could read the mind of the blonde filly, the next thing Dinky said was: “Their way of acting, Derpy. In other words, the Faust Letters always love causing strange phenomena so as to call attention and bring chaos to the world!” “I-I already knew you were referring to that, silly.” Derpy creased her lips and shifted her eyes from one side to the other, as if she didn’t want anypony to notice something. “So that means I’m right! Oh boy, this is just getting more and more exciting!” Carrot clapped her hooves and giggled. “And what Letter caused this, Dinky?” Dinky crossed her fore hooves once again. “I cannot think of a concrete Letter, Derpy. It could have been several of them.” She answered brief seconds later. “Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t capture it at the light of day; there would be a lot of ponies watching.” Dinky shrugged “Then that’s simple. We go there at night” Derpy’s eyes shrunk and she shook her head. “NO! No way! There is absolutely NO WAY I am going to the school at night! Everypony knows that there’re plenty of frightening ghosts and other paranormal things on schools at night!” Carrot grabbed Derpy’s fore hooves with her owns “Do not fear, Derpy! I will be at your side the whole time!!” A smile formed on Derpy’s face. “Really, Carrot?” Then a sparkle appeared on Carrot’s eyes. “Yes! I have to film the mighty exploits of my friend Derpy; the only one who can bring the Faust Letters’ evil deeds to an end! Derpy looked at her best friend with the best puzzled face she could have ever imagined. “… Aren’t you overreacting about this, Carrot? You make it sound like I am the protagonist of some kind of fiction novel!” Carrot released her friend’s hooves. “That’s the point, Derpy! You have been blessed with magical powers! What could I do less than making a film about you?” Derpy hanged her head low “Ugh… I give up. Do as you please.” “Okay then! Let’s go to the school; it’s time to teach someone a lesson!” “You say it, Dinky!” They both bumped their right hooves and smiled. “It’s ninja time!” _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Several hours after the twilight, the school was empty and silent. Moreover, the whole zone was empty and silent except for a grey pegasus and a winged unicorn flying at her side. Few minutes later, a yellow earth pony with a saddlebag galloped across the road until she reached them. “Howdy, Derpy!” “Hi Carrot!” “Well, where should we start to search?” Derpy rubbed the back of her neck with one of her hooves. “I… I haven’t thought of anything specific.” Carrot snatched her video camera from the saddlebag with one hoof while moving the other dismissively. “Then I have an idea. There was a pile of desks on the athletics field too, right?” Carrot smirked. “You know what they say: the criminal always returns to the crime scene. I think we should start there.” “I guess that’s better than nothing. Let’s get going!” When they arrived there the whole pile of desks was gone and there was absolutely no trace of weird activities. “I don’t see anything strange here, Carrot. Maybe we should-” Suddenly, a peculiar noise sounded behind them. It came from the other side of the building. “D-Did you hear that too, Carrot?” “B-But it doesn’t make sense… I’m sure there is no nopony around here at this hour!” The noise was growing in intensity and clearance: Whatever was causing it, it was getting closer to them. In a brief instant, the pony-shaped bush of the entry appeared flying from behind the corner and propelled towards the fillies at incredible speed with no visible strings or unicorn magic surrounding it. The girls avoided it by a hair and the bush got stuck inside the ground. “WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! A GHOST, A GHOST, A GHOST A GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!!! I TOLD YOU IT WASN’T A GOOD IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” screamed Derpy at the top of her lungs while hugging Carrot in pure fear of the flying bush that just attacked them. Nevertheless, Carrot maintained her repair and examined the ground around the bush. She noticed something. “Hold on Derpy! Look at its shadow!” Derpy was really afraid, but she supposed that a quick look couldn’t hurt. The bush was flying few feets over the field and there was nothing around it. However, in the ground under the bush, the shadow of a colt lifting the shadow of the bush was visible even though there was nopony there more than Derpy, Dinky and Carrot. The bodiless shadow threw the bush’s shadow forward and the bush itself did the same, following the motion its shadow was doing. The girls narrowly avoided it and the bush discomposed when hitting the ground. “What kind of Letter is this, Dinky?” Many shadows of fillies and colts, all students of the school, appeared from the ceiling, the walls and the swings towards the one that was attacking the girls. “I have no doubt, this must be The Shadow!” “… Very well. Please Dinky, stay with Carrot Top and protect her!” “Understood!” They nodded at the same time and the pegasus filly trotted some metres away from them and after approaching the other shadows she grabbed the key that was hanging from her neck. “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given! - - RELEASE!!” One again, the Magic Circle appeared beneath and the key turned into a staff. Meanwhile, Dinky and Carrot had hidden behind a near bush to keep an eye on Derpy. Carrot began to film with her camera. All the shadows of the students gathered to form a big mass made of shadow that surrounded the Cardcaptor. Derpy got out The Windy and threw it to the ground. The shadow mass emerged from the ground and formed several waves made of shadow that lunged towards her. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” Derpy touched the Letter with the beak and several yellow tendrils of wind emerged from the letter and tied up the waves strong enough to tear them apart. However, the broken pieces came to life and assaulted Derpy one by one. Derpy did her best to avoid them, even having to swipe some of them with the staff. “Derpy! Flee to the air, quick!” encouraged Dinky from the bush. Few seconds later, Derpy touched The Sight with the beak while pronouncing its name and flew towards the starry sky, hovering various feets over the field. “This is bad. The Letter must have gathered the shadows of all the students of the school to make itself huger and stronger.” “Is there something we can do to help?” asked Carrot without moving the camera. “The Shadow is more powerful when it’s surrounded of other shadows. We are on a full moon night, thus the shadow of the Moon is giving the Letter a great advantage. If only we could light up the zone…” Carrot stopped recording and stored the camera inside her saddlebag. “Then I have an idea.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ *CRASH!* Desks were thrown from the classrooms towards Derpy, breaking the windows on their course. Derpy dodged them with no easiness, and focused into one of the classes just to see that the desks were being manipulated by the shadows of the students. I knew I couldn’t do it… This time I’m done for! The large shadow mass that Derpy left behind on the athletic field took advantage of Derpy’s distraction to form a huge tendril that went higher and higher until it captured Derpy’s left back hoof. Derpy tried to fight it off by flying farer, but the sticky shadow form wouldn’t let her move an inch. “Hey! Let me go!” She began to panic. “Somepony please help me!!” The more she fought, the stronger the tendril was pulling her towards the ground. It was a desperate situation and Derpy was beginning to give up. Suddenly, a miracle took place. All the highlights and streetlights near turned on one by one, illuminating the whole field. The shadow mass completely vanished, making Derpy tumble back towards the air due to the force she was making to escape. Derpy glanced over all the school ground from the air and spotted Carrot and Dinky waving their hooves and smiling from a window. She approached them. “All the shadows disappeared! What happened?” Carrot was by a panel to control the electric power. “We can’t make the Sun rise, but that doesn’t mean we cannot make light appear on the field, right?” Derpy beamed. “Thank you very much, Carrot! I’m lucky to have such a good friend!” This made Carrot grin. “Aww, it was nothing sugarcube!” Dinky gasped “Derpy! Over there! That’s the true form of The Shadow!” Dinky pointed towards the centre of the athletic field, where a pony with a big dark purple cloak was walking away on her back hooves. “This time it is I who won’t let you escape, buddy!” and Derpy chased the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony turned to reveal that in fact the cloak was empty and it had no hooves whatsoever. The monster made two big shadow tendrils where the holes for her fore hooves were and attacked Derpy with them. This time Derpy dodged each with grace and easiness thanks to her improved sight. Far away, Carrot Top was filming the scene. “Nice moves Derpy! That’s what I call bravery!” Dinky cheered Derpy at top of her lungs. “Finish him off, Derpy!” Derpy landed next to the figure and got out The Windy once again. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” The mare that represented The Windy appeared from the Letter and laced the empty cloak with a yellow and green chain of wind. “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!! Derpy swung down the staff and a blue letter-shaped light appeared in front of the beak, emanating several waves of energy of the same colour. The cloak turned into a dark purple tornado and got absorbed by the light. A Letter with the inscription “THE SHADOW” and a drawing of a huge empty cloak in the front appeared from the light and fell on the ground. “Victory! That’s my Derpy Cardcaptor!” Carrot Top filmed Derpy retrieving the letter and putted down the camera. “Simply awesome.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “Good morning Raindrops! Do you know where Carrot is?” “Good morning, Derpy. I think she is at the Projection Room.” “Okay! Thanks! ” Balancing a bag of candy on her back, the young pegasus opened the room to the Projection Room. “Hello Carrot! I want to give you these candies for helping me ton…” In the projection room, Carrot was viewing all the scenes she recorded that night. “Y-You were recording me the whole time?” “But of course! Your performance was simply amazing! Something worth of a cinema award, I tell you!” “Don’t you remember? You can’t tell anypony about this!” She smirked. “Only if you take me with you when you go capturing letters!” “Huh? Why?” “Because I have to immortalize your heroism! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” “Uhh… I don’t think you want to hear my answer for that question…” “Then is settled! I will be like your sidekick!” She squealed. “I can’t wait for the next chance for using my camera and record your incredible feats of justice!” Derpy sighed. “If only you were in my place, Carrot…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (Author’s Note: This is majorly an adaptation of the Spanish dub of the anime, so I’m sorry for any differences between this fic and the original Japanese dub or the English dub if you’re more costumed to those ones. Also, this is my first fic so I need as many critics and opinions as possible. Thanks for reading!) On the next chapter: “How about I invite you to eat tomorrow? I want to thank you for the pancakes!” Derpy’s eyes narrowed “Are… Are you serious?” “Of course! Let’s meet tomorrow at 13 PM at the park, okay?” “Th-That’s fine by me…” “Very well then. Until tomorrow!” Then he trotted elegantly on the direction Derpy came from. Derpy flew off while waving a hoof. “B-Bye!” When she was far enough, Derpy squealed in sheer happiness and even flew in circles. “WOOOW!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!! MY FIRST DATE WITH FANCY PANTS!!!!”
The First DateSpring. A beautiful season where the temperature rises, the sun shines up in the sky… “WOAH!” …and the animals are more vivacious after the long hibernation. “Look at that!” the excited grey Pegasus pointed at the colourful fish that just jumped out of the water. “That’s just amazing!” Derpy’s eyes shined with illusion and amazement; and her other friends were not less impressed. “I must admit it, Lemon Hearts. Suggesting a trip to Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort was a wonderful idea!” encouraged Junebug. “They are so beautiful! I wish we had fishes back in Cloudscale.” Raindrops said with an enthusiasm that matched Derpy’s. After all, her home was in Cloudscale, so she wasn’t costumed to the many creatures of the land and the water as her classmates were. “Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet darlings. Just wait to the weekly dolphin exhibition and you will need new mouths to replace the dropped ones!” Lemon Hearts was visibly proud. She knew this place since she was very little and now she could share with her friends so they could enjoy it as much as she did. “That sounds interesting, sugarcube.” commented Carrot Top. Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort is a special establishment built around the Lake of Wonders, which is situated at the outskirts of Ponyville. It was created to enjoy the beautiful species that lured in the lake, but it also has other exotic aquatic animals that were found in other places of Equestria and then they were put in water tanks under the special conditions they needed. That’s why the place has a lot of cabins with many facilities such as souvenir shops, cafeterias or those specific water tanks. A loud buzz from a near pony with a megaphone and dressed in some kind of uniform called their attention. ‘Attention to all our visitors! The dolphin exhibition will start in 10 minutes! If you desire to attend it you must head to our special water tank at the other side of the hill! Those of you who doesn’t know where it is placed please follow me! That’s all!’ Then she turned off the megaphone and she headed to the mentioned hill. Some ponies began to trot behind her and the whole class did the same after being told so by their teacher. Some minutes later the show started. The tank was not high but it was wide and made of transparent crystal so the visitors could see the spectacle without any risks. There was a platform installed around the borders and it had a door too. A young sky-blue mare with the same uniform was swimming inside the tank. When she hanged one hoop from her hoof the dolphins jumped through the ring. A while later she also feed them some fishes and told them to salute the spectators. The dolphins happily obeyed her and the mare seemed very happy with them too. But suddenly, about the end of the show, something bizarre occurred. A whirlwind formed around the mare’s right back hoof and it pulled her down in the water. The public was very frightened and even though the mare tried to swan away to the surface the whirlwind kept getting bigger and stronger. A dolphin tried to break the whirlwind with its snout but the whirlwind expanded and trapped the dolphin’s body. Derpy panicked and even began pounding the crystal, which was harder than it looked. “No! Get out of there little dolphin! You will get hurt!” Carrot Top got close. “Calm down Derpy! You can’t do anything from here!” Derpy stopped pounding but her worry wasn’t calmed down. “But we gotta help the dolphin somehow!” A familiar grey mare with black mane and cleaning uniform appeared on the platform and gasped at the situation. Derpy gasped too. Octavia? “What’s going on here?” Octavia asked to the trapped mare. “A whirlwind has caught me and a dolphin! Help us, please!” “A whirlwind? In a water tank?” Octavia jumped inside the water and examined the troubling whirlwind. She put her hooves around the whirlwind and then she tried to tear it apart by moving each hoof in opposite directions. She succeeded and the whirlwind disappeared, thus freeing the dolphin and the mare. The mare let out a sigh of relief as well as the public. But apart of relieved, Derpy was confused too. What is my sister doing here? ______________________________________________________________________________ “WHAT? YOU ALMOST DROWNED?” “Dinky! I didn’t say that! And you’re not listening to me, right?” “Uhh.. I’m sorry, but since it’s the first time I get out of your room because nopony is home... Also the smell of those pancakes you’re baking doesn’t help at all…” She drooled. “Anyway, the other ponies say that the whirlwind was caused by the plug of the tank going off. The problem is… I don’t think that’s the cause.” “What do you mean?” “When I looked at the whirlwind I had a strange feeling. Almost as if I had seen it before...” Derpy finished cooking the pancakes and placed them on the table. Dinky followed. “Perhaps it’s a Faust Letter.” “Now that you mention it, the whirlwind was formed by some currents that looked like Windy’s chains of wind…” Derpy nodded. “That has to be it.” “I’m back.” Derpy recognised the voice of her sister while she entered the house and panicked. “Oh no! Dinky, you have to hurry and hide somewhere!” She quickly grabbed her with her hooves and ran into the stairs. She threw her upstairs and then stood at the first step just in time to greet her passing sister with an awkward “Hi”. But then, she remembered she needed to ask her something. “Wait Tavi, why were you at the Lakeside Resort today?” and she followed her towards the living room. Octavia touched the familiar board with one hoof and said “Do we have to teach you to read again?” ‘Octavia: Working at the Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort’. Derpy stared for some second. “Oohh… I didn’t know it, really… And since when do you work there? What’s your job?” Octavia glanced searched something inside the freezer. Finding nothing, she got up “Feeding the dolphins.” “Oooohhhh! That’s so incredible!” “No it isn’t.” Then she glanced the pancakes over the table, quickly grabbed a fork and ate a piece. “Hey! That’s mine!” She started to helplessly wail her hooves towards her sister. “I’ve been saving bits for months to afford them, you little-” “Are you going to stay at the door forever?” she shouted towards the hall. A voice replied from the entrance. “Excuse me, Octavia. I thought it would be rude of me to enter without your permission.” Derpy stopped. She recognised that sweet voice. A tall figure entered the living room. “F-Fancy Pants!” “Good evening Derpy.” He noticed the pancakes. “Those look delicious! Did you bake them on your own?” Derpy’s face turned a deep tone of red. “I-It’s nothing, really…” “She’s right. They’re horrible.” Derpy kicked her sister’s hoof once again. “W-W-W-W-W-Would you li-like to t-taste one of t-the pancakes?” Fancy kneeled enough to make direct eye contact “Ah, but didn’t you just say that you saved money for months to buy them?” “I-I don’t really mind. Here you can have them!” Her blush grew with even more intensity. Fancy Pants levitated the plate with his unicorn magic and with a simple smile he closed his eyes and said. “That’s really generous of you, thank you very much.” Derpy froze. Something that just happened set her on some kind of stand by. Octavia frowned slightly and headed upstairs, motioning her classmate to follow her. “Remember we have tasks to do. Let’s get going.” “Very well, Octavia. Well, see you later Derpy!” and he followed the grey earth pony with the pancakes close behind. Derpy unfroze and sighed. “Y…You’re muffin. I mean, welcome.” ______________________________________________________________________________ “Lakeside… At the lake… water…” Dinky was sitting on the bed, meditating about what Derpy told her. It was crucial discovering what Faust Letter could have caused the incident so they could know how to face it. But Derpy suddenly entered the room, completely breaking Dinky’s concentration, and closed the door. Sighing and with a deep blush, she let herself slowly slide on the floor. Dinky flew over her. “Hey! Equestria calling to Derpy! We have a Letter to ca-” Derpy hugged Dinky tightly. “Ohhhhh, Fancy Pants!” This was the first time Dinky saw Derpy so happy. Still… “Agg! You’re squeezing me! Let me go!” Derpy closed her eyes. “I’m the happiest filly in the world.” “So you don’t care about the dolphins? You want more ponies to get hurt?” Derpy quickly opened her eyes. She set Dinky free and sat properly. “No. That would be horrible!” Dinky caught her breath and continued. “Good, let’s focus then. You say the trainer and the dolphin were in the water, right? Did you notice something else?” Derpy waved her hoof dismissively. “Besides the whirlwind I didn’t see anything more.” After some seconds of thought, Dinky finally nodded. “It must be The Watery.” Derpy clapped her hooves. “Great! Now we just need to defeat it and-” “That won’t be easy.” Dinky interrupted. “As long as it is in the water, we won’t be able to see it. And even we make it get out, it could scatter so much that we wouldn’t be able to capture it. We’re talking about one of the Four Elementals, after all.” “Four Elementals? What are you talking about?” “Ah, excuse me. You see, there are four letters more powerful than the others. These letters are made of the four basic elements: Wind, Water, Earth and Fire. Currently, you only possess The Windy, The Sight and The Shadow; among them only the Windy can match up The Watery in power. And even if you use that letter it wouldn’t be enough to defeat The Watery since it is more wild and dangerous than The Windy.” Derpy contemplated her three letters. “Then… what can I do?” “You’ll have to come up with another solution.” Dinky plainly commented. “But… perhaps if I use all of them at the same time-” “It won’t work.” Interrupted Dinky. “That requires a lot of magic power and even if you had such magic power it wouldn’t work. The letters can only be used together if their elements can be combined, and I don’t see how those letters could be combined.” “Mmm…” meditated Derpy. Inspiration struck by surprise. “Maybe you can use your unicorn magic to help!” “No I can’t, Derpy. I don’t want to explain it but… My powers are very limited without the letters. Right now, I’m at the same level of an 8-year old filly.” Dinky shamefully gazed the floor of the room. “It’s okay, nopony is perfect. I should have guessed it early; you couldn’t help me with the other letters after all.” Derpy did her best to give a reassuring smile and it seemed to work as she saw the little foal smiling slighly. Right after that Derpy frowned and put the letters on the floor, beginning to think of anything else. The more she thought about making a plan, the more frustrated she got. I can’t come up with any more ideas! What am I going to do now? ______________________________________________________________________________ Derpy was mentally absent during school the next day. She spent the whole morning thinking about The Watery, very worried about what could happen if she failed. But at the same time… How can you catch water? It’s just impossible… Carrot noted Derpy’s sullen expression and asked her what was wrong when the school ended. Derpy told her all about it. “… That sure is a big trouble.” “Tell me about it.” Commented Derpy while trotting aside Carrot. In the middle of a bifurcation, she suddenly got in front of her and smiled. “Thanks for listening to my problems, though. You are a real friend.” Carrot beamed at Derpy’s smile. “It’s nothing sugarcube. I personally think that happiness fits you better than sorrow.” She let out a tiny gasp. “Almost forgot it!” Then she immediately began to search for something in her saddlebags. She got out two mysterious rectangular devices. “A friend of my father has created a new product and I asked him to give me some samples to test it. It’s called a mobile phone! It works just as a telephone but it can be used anywhere. Here, these two are for you and Dinky; I already have one myself. We will use it to keep in contact, got it?” Derpy was very shocked. She grabbed them, quite unsure about it. “Are you sure? Could I really have them?” “Of course! They want to test it and my father gets along very well with them, so they didn’t refuse to give me these three.” She smiled. Derpy got happier. “In that case, thank him in my place!” “I will. Bye Derpy!” “See you!” and they went different directions, Derpy now starting to glide as she was costumed to. It didn’t take long before her mind started wandering about the issue. She felt a little better thanks to Carrot, but The Watery was still free and that’s something only she could change. Too bad she was too concentrated when she turned around a corner and saw a random walker just in front of her. She managed to not bump into the random pony by miracle. However, the sudden move made her lose stability and she almost fell into the ground. Almost. When she dared to open her eyes, she was being surrounded by a blue magic aura. She was being levitated. “Are you hurt, Derpy?” Derpy looked up to see the random pony and she gasped. “F-Fancy Pants!” The stallion used his magic to flip over the young filly and set her properly on the ground. He smiled. “I say, it’s dangerous to fly around without looking.” “Y-Yeah… I’m r-r-really s-sorry.” Derpy tried to apologise, but all she could do was stutter in front of the pony she had a crush on. “I-I hope you’re o-okay too.” “Of course I am, my dear! Luckily, you managed to dodge me.” Thank goodness. Said Derpy for herself. “Oh! Thank you very much for those pancakes yesterday. They were certainly delightful.” Derpy blush increased a lot. “T-There’s no n-need to! P-P-Pancakes are simple, after all!” and she gave a kinda awkward laugh that made Fancy laugh too. “How about I invite you to eat tomorrow? I want to thank you for the pancakes!” Derpy’s eyes narrowed “Are… Are you serious?” “Of course! Let’s meet tomorrow at 13 PM at the park, okay?” “Th-That’s fine by me…” “Very well then. Until tomorrow!” Then he trotted elegantly on the direction Derpy came from. Derpy flew off while waving a hoof. “B-Bye!” When she was far enough, Derpy squealed in sheer happiness and even flew in circles. “WOOOW!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!! MY FIRST DATE WITH FANCY PANTS!!!!” ______________________________________________________________________________ Derpy trotted happily to the park. She had become a completely different mare since the day before, which she mostly expended day-dreaming about the date and talking with Carrot about it via phone. The whole town seemed prettier for her and her heart kept beating faster for each inch closer to the park. When she arrived at the park Fancy Pants was there, reading a book near a tree’s shadow. When he saw the little filly approaching he stored the book in a saddlebag and he started to walk at her side. Derpy panicked. “Oh… I’m late, right? Please excuse me! Sometimes I lose track of time a-and I” Derpy stopped her hasty speech when she noticed that Fancy was laughing. “Don’t worry, my dear. You came 15 minutes early!” “T-Then why…?” Knowing what Derpy was about to ask, he smiled. “I arrived 30 minutes early so as to not make you wait.” Derpy blushed. Not even 5 minutes passed before they reached their destination. ‘Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort’ could be read in giant letters above the entrance to a giant cabin. “Huh? But this is…” Fancy predicted what she was about to say once again. “Ah, that’s right. You were here the other day, didn’t you?” “Uh-huh. But the trip was cancelled because of an incident…” Fancy smiled. “There’s a cafeteria they’ve settled at the lake’s edge so ponies can eat while enjoying the scenery and I’m very interested in paying it a visit. Do you mind eating there?” “Absolutely not!” cheered Derpy while she headed for the entrance and Fancy followed behind. A bush behind them rustled when they entered. “So that’s the place, huh? Perfect! Now we can detect where the Faust Letter is…” A foal’s voice whispered. “…And we can film Derpy’s first date at the same time!” A feminine but older voice whispered too Carrot Top and Dinky emerged from the bush. Carrot was wearing transparent sunglasses, a fedora and a brown jacket that resembled the ones that films’ detectives wore. Dinky was wearing darker sunglasses and a bowler to hide her tiny horn. They smirked and they bumped their hooves. “Mission start!” they said in unison and galloped towards the entrance. ______________________________________________________________________________ They sat down at a table. Derpy’s heart never slowed down even a beat. It was beating a fast melody of love that Derpy didn’t seem to notice because she was too lost in Fancy’s perfect eyes, mane and behaviour. The waitress didn’t take too long to appear. “Well, well. What we got here?” Derpy’s focus broked. D-Don’t tell me… Fancy smiled at the waitress. “Why, hello there Octavia!” Derpy’s sister was standing there with a bartender uniform and a smug grin. “S-Sister!? Weren’t you working at the water tank with the dolphins?” Octavia placed two menus on the table and she looked at Derpy. “After the incident the water tank was emptied in order to investigate it.” Derpy kept silent, worry starting to sink down in her interior. If that’s the case… Where’s the Letter now? Without closing his smile, Fancy continued the conversation. “Well, at least now you don’t have to get inside the freezer where they stored the food for the dolphins.” Octavia sighed. “Actually that’s incorrect, because now I have to make a lot of ice creams.” Fancy turned to Derpy once again. “The ice-creams they make here are wonderful. You should try one!” Derpy’s eyes shined “C-Could I order a chocolate one?” Fancy laughed. “Of course my dear! Well then, one chocolate ice cream for her and one vanilla ice-cream with three hay sandwiches for me.” “W-Wait a second. THREE hay sandwiches?” After taking notes, Octavia glared her sister. “Oh, didn’t you know? Fancy eats at least twice as much as you and me together.” Fancy shrugged and laughed. “I guess I have a lot of appetite.” Meanwhile, in a higher floor… “Ugg… This is more boring than I thought! When are they gonna kiss?” “Patience, Dinky. This is not some kind of romantic novel where ponies kiss each other at first glance. There are many steps before, you know?” “Right, right…” She slumped. Then she got up very suddenly. “I sense something!” Carrot gasped. She zoomed in with her camera. “I think I saw something at the lake too!” A big pillar of water came from the lake and completely flooded the cafeteria floor. It dragged all the ponies in the place towards the stairs and the walls, and they tried to go up the stairs the fastest they could. However… Carrot got highly frightened when she couldn’t see her friend. “Get out of there Derpy, quick!” Inside the large mass of water, Derpy had closed her eyes by instinct. When she dared to open them, she saw a big problem around her back right hoof: A dark whirlwind of water. The Watery! From the surface, Octavia was trying to find the two newer customers. “Derpy! Fancy!” she desperately called, hoping to hear a response. Suddenly, a ditch that went downhill appeared in the ground. It swallowed all the water and Derpy could finally swim to the surface. Octavia grabbed her and put her on top of the stairs. Carrot Top and Dinky rushed to her side. “Derpy! Are you alright?” almost shouted Carrot, touching Derpy on her shoulder. Derpy recovered her breath and opened her eyes slowly. “Carrot?” She gasped “Where is Fancy Pants?” Fancy Pants was at the side of the ditch, horn glowing and quite soggy. However, he was smiling and waving a hoof on her direction. “No need to worry about him.” Commented Octavia before parting in another direction. “Now I’m positive. There certainly is a Faust Letter!” Dinky whispered to Derpy. Derpy nodded and murmured. “I saw it. It was The Watery!” “You saw it?” exclaimed Dinky the lowest she could. “Wait a minute… What are you two doing here?” asked Derpy with slight indignation. They looked at each other and shared an awkward laugh. Luckily, before they could explain anything, Fancy walked up the stairs. “Are you okay Derpy?” “Ye-Yes.” “It’s a pity that we couldn’t taste those ice-creams, though.” “That isn’t important, at lease no big disaster happened.” The filly, however, could not betray her mind. Oh, I would have given my left hoof to eat those ice-creams with Fancy Pants… Ice-creams… Ice. …ICE!! Eyes widened in realization and a spark in her eyes that matched the bright idea she just had, Derpy embraced Fancy Pants in a tight hug. “That’s it!! That’s a WONDERFUL idea!! THANK YOU!!” Fancy glared unknowingly at the filly. “Uh… You’re welcome?” Derpy opened her eyes. Pupils as tiny as particles of dust, her grey tone became a very intense red when she realized what she had just done. “Umm… s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry…” She finished the hug and looked at the ground so at least could hide the embarrassment in one of her eyes. The stallion laughed “It’s okay.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Hours later, the only trio that knew about the Faust Letters was gathered in Derpy’s house listening to Derpy’s idea. “Wow… That is brilliant Derpy!” exclaimed Carrot. “Yeah! Now you sound like a real Cardcaptor!” encouraged Dinky. Derpy got all serious. “I also wanted to talk about that, Dinky.” “Huh? What do you mean?” “Being a Cardcaptor… I accept.” Both of them were puzzled. Carrot was the first to talk. “Beg a pardon, sugarcube?” “Remember that I’ve been claiming to never have accepted the job? That’s what I’m referring to. Now I want to officially become Cardcaptor.” Dinky still was very confused at the filly’s sudden change of decision. “… You’ve already caught two Letters and you possess the magic to release both the Key and the Book! You have always been a Cardcaptor in my eyes! Why are you…?” She couldn’t finish the line before Derpy continued. “I have considered the Cardcaptor stuff as some kind of hobby that I could decline whenever I wanted… But now I realise that it isn’t a thing I want to do or don’t… It is a thing I must do!” “Derpy…” worriedly commented Carrot. “The Faust Letters are dangerous and evil. This letter here tried to hurt the dolphins and it even tried to kill first the trainer and now me! They aren’t a joke… they aren’t a game…” At this point she was visibly shaken and traumatized. She even seemed to be trying to cry while she recalled those events. “… They’re a treat for our world and for the ponies I care so much about! That’s why I have to stop them! That’s why I cannot be a coward! That’s why… I accept the job. To protect all the things that these Letters threaten. TO PROTECT MY FRIENDS AND MY FAMILY!” She almost shouted while putting a heroic posture… but not glance. Those eyes where really annoying when trying to get serious. But after some seconds of silence Dinky nodded. “… Very well, Derpy Hooves. As I have stated many times you possess some unique magic powers that led you to the Book and the Letters. And now, only you can gather them once again using those powers, the Key and your bravery. Are you sure you fully comprehend the risks and situations this mission will present? Derpy thought about it for some seconds and then nodded. “Yes I do.” Dinky smiled. “Then I hereby declare you Derpy Cardcaptor. You must submit all the wild Faust Letters by finding them, turning them into letters again and write your name on the Letters, got it?” Derpy was confused. “Huh? I’ve never done that last thing.” Dinky blushed. “Oh… yes, that’s right. It serves to signal that you’re the new owner. It also serves to make the most violent ones obey you forever. Since all the letters until now were pacific and you never said you accepted the job, I didn’t tell you all about it… But now, consider it a crucial step to your mission. Is that clear?” Derpy saluted. “Yes sir - I mean, Ms. Guardian!” Carrot, moved by the entire speech and scene, put her hoof on her heart. “You can always count with me Derpy. I will aid you the best I can as your best friend!” Derpy hugged Carrot. “Thanks buddy. Because, actually, I need your help with my plan.” Carrot grinned. “No problem!” ______________________________________________________________________________ Night had fallen over Ponyville. The security guard at the counter of Ponyville’s Lakeside Resort was distracted watching a hoofball match on the TV and failed to notice two crawled fillies and one foal furtively entering the building. “Are you sure about this, Derpy? We shouldn’t be here at this hour…” “So? We cannot enter here at daytime with all the visitors! And there’s no way I’m letting this happen one more day! Just trust me, this will work!” she whispered at her friend. “Let’s see… Over there!” Dinky was pointing uphill. They separated, Derpy following Dinky’s indications and Carrot wandering around the various cabins the resort had. The first ones reached a water tank at the top of the hill. “Here’s where the presence is stronger. The Letter must be inside the tank.” Derpy got out the new device her friend gave her… out of her mane? and dialed a number. “Hey Carrot.” “Howdy!” “Did you find it?” “Indeed. Not really hard to see it: it’s a clear blue-painted hut near the dolphin hill.” “Okey-dokey! Stay there and take cover, soldier!” “Roger!” and the phone did some beeping sounds. Dinky decided to not ask what that was all about. She had a question, though. “How are you going to make it get out of here, Derpy?” The mare smirked. “I’ve noticed something. Whenever I get near a Letter, they tend to manifest themselves and attack me. It happened with The Sight, it happened with The Shadow and I don’t need to tell that I almost drowned this morning. So… here we go.” Wow… she’s getting good. Thought Dinky. Derpy stood over the edge of the tank and hanged the already transformed staff over the water. “Watery! Show yourself!” The water seemed to shake a little until a grand pillar of water emerged from it and seemed to point at Derpy, although it didn’t have any specific part to do so. She could feel its anger. “Go away, Dinky!” When the foal flied away, Derpy got The Sight out of nowhere and casted it. Then she flew away too and the pillar started to chase her. Derpy flew downhill to where she had come from. At the beginning, the pillar tried to catch her and was starting to get left behind. But after some seconds, the mass of water changed to medium-range combat by splitting into various tendrils that lunged towards the fleeing pegasus one by one. These tendrils splashed when touching the ground and they left some puddles where they had impacted. Derpy barely dodged them and started looking around the Resort for the dolphin hill. The water tendrils formed once again from the puddles and continued the assault. Suddenly, Derpy caught a glimpse of her orange friend. Holding her camera with her left hoof, she motioned to her right with her right hoof. Then she waved the same hoof and got out of the way. Derpy followed the indicated direction with the water pillar following behind once again and found what she was looking for: A big cerulean hut with a door at the front. She landed there and turned to face the live water pillar, which was forming a dragon mouth looking at Derpy’s direction. The magic circle formed beneath Derpy “Windy!” she shouted touching said Letter with the beak of the staff. The mare that represented The Windy appeared and with five golden chains she opened the door of the hut, letting a freezing puff come from it. Derpy got shivers but she held herself in place to keep using her magic. After the door was opened, The Windy surrounded the mass of water with some more chains and led it inside the hut. When Derpy glanced inside the room, the pillar of water was forming a big whirlwind on the floor and there, at the end of the pillar, a young dark blue zebra with long hair and sapphire eyes growled at the Cardcaptor. Then Derpy closed the door tightly so as to let The Windy finish the job… Derpy put her back against the door and let out a sigh of relief. She had to fly really fast to avoid the mass of water and now she was very tired. Some minutes later she saw Dinky and Carrot galloping towards her. “Great job, Derpy! Once The Watery is frozen, it will be unable to move!” Derpy nodded. “It was Fancy Pants who told me about the freezer where the food for the dolphins was being kept. It seems that now they use it for making the ice-creams, so I thought that perhaps it would be cold enough to freeze water!” Then she turned her head to Carrot Top. “Thanks for finding it for me, Carrot!” “Glad to help, sugarcube. Well then, shall we see if our little sculpture is done by now?” Derpy nodded. She got on four hooves and opened the door. The interior of the chamber was completely surrounded by frozen water. An ice sculpture of a zebra with no more legs than the water pillar stood out in the centre, trying to reach the freezer’s door. “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!!” Once again a blue letter-shaped light that formed at the peak of the staff. It made the ice shatter and then it swallowed the small pieces, which presented no resistance at all. When the Letter formed, all the ice of the room was gone. The Letter showed the drawing of a young, female and long-haired zebra with closed eyes and a fish’s tail instead of back hooves. ‘THE WATERY’ could be read at the bottom of the drawing. “You were very clever this time, Derpy!” cheered the little winged unicorn. “It wasn’t my idea. The idea was from…” she sighed and her eyes ‘derped’ once again, a blush appearing on her muzzle. “…Fancy Paaaants…” Dinky hovered in front of her and waved a hoof from side to side, getting no reaction at all. “I think she got frozen too…” Carrot giggled and kept filming her. Dinky sighed and put a braver pose. “Well, frozen or not, she’s the one and only Derpy Cardcaptor!” ______________________________________________________________________________ [Author’s Note: Consider the ‘introduction period’ over. From now, I’ll try to create my own adventures (and perhaps my own Letters!) or change as many features of the original adventure as possible to make them more interesting and original (These three chapters have been way too similar, but it’s all I could do)! However, I still need as many constructive criticism as possible, be it good or bad, so don’t be shy to speak your mind below in the comments. Also, this is the last time I will put a note in a long time because I don’t feel like bothering you chapter after chapter. So… keep enjoying the fic and goodbye!] On the next chapter: The orange foal turned her head towards the pegasus and beamed. Derpy didn’t notice before, but she had a lot of white freckles on her muzzles. “Howdy Miss Derpy! I hope ya like Sweet Apple Acres!”
