“Hello, Derpy.” Hugh Hooves smiled at his filly daughter who just came home from school.
Some days Hugh would make muffins, Derpys favorite food, for her. And today was one of those days. He liked these days because it made her really happy.
“Hi, daddy!” The blond pony said. “School was fun but I-” She slipped off her back pack and it bumped up against a table. A cup on the table fell over and shattered on the floor. “Oops. I’m so sorry.” She frowned and scrunched down to the ground.
“Derpy, it’s okay. Mistakes happen.” He smiled at his guilty daughter. She looked up at his warm face and smiled back.
“It’s just a few pieces of glass. It’s not important right now, sweetie.” He smiled and backed up by the kitchen doorway.
“Look what I made for my special little girl...” Mr. Hooves grabbed a plate of muffins with his mouth and placed it on the table by his daughter.
Her bright eyes grew and she jumped up and down. “Muffins!” She yelled. “Thank you, Daddy, thank you!!!” She was so happy her little wings were flapping making her fly although, only by just a few inches above the ground.
There was no sight he loved more than this- his young daughter happy.
It was the only sight he cares about and the only sight that keeps him sane after he had lost his wife in a tragic accident. She was a traveling salespony and the bread maker of the family. He loved and missed her.
Since she’s been gone money has been tight. But that never stopped him from trying to give Derpy the best life he could.
Luckily for him Derpy was a simple pony who asked for nothing more than love and a warm batch of muffins.
“And don’t think I forgot the jelly!” He snatched a red jar with a picture of a strawberry on it.
The filly was even more jubilant than before.
“Jelly and muffins?! Oh, you’re the best daddy in the whole daddy world!” She jumped and hugged her dad’s leg.
Some days were hard and sad, but not today.
Today everything was good. Today everything was right.
***
The memory seeped though his mind. “Derpy…” He frowned speaking to nopony in particular. “Will those days ever come back?” He thought out loud.
He remembered it so well. The taste of the jelly, the sound of her laughter; it could have been happening right now for as vividly as he remembered it.
She was the happiest pony he knew. Always smiling, laughing, and only caring about making others happy.
He raised a gem.
But now she’s changed. The usually bubbly pony is now cold and distant. Her usual smile has been swapped for a seemingly endless frown.
I should have stopped her… I knew it was a bad idea…
The slam of a door shattered his thoughts.
He turned around to see his daughter slowly entering the house.
“Derpy? How are you feeling today?” He asked but got no response; which was no surprise. She wasn’t as chatty as she used to be.
“Look what I made for my special little girl…” He said but this time showing little to no merriment.
He placed a plate of muffins in front of her. He forced a smile hoping she would return it, but of course she didn’t.
She pushed the plate away. “I’m not hungry.”
Though she’s been like this for weeks her saying this made his heart drop.
Derpy turning down muffins was a moment that hit him hard no matter how many times it happened. He knew it meant things were truly, truly awful for her.
“Derpy, you’ve barely been eating. Are sure not just one mu-”
“They hate me, dad.” She deadpanned while looking away from her dad and down to the floor.
“Derpy, no. No, they don’t, sweetie.” He rushed over to comfort her.
“They think I’m offensive and retarded. I just… I just wanted to…” She started to sniffle.
“Derpy, dear, don’t cry. We’ve been over this. A few people misunderstood you, that’s all. So many people love you, so many of them were happy.”
“But it made people fight, dad! Even the people who were happy about it grew angry towards someone because of what I did. I made people turn into enemies, dad.” She couldn’t hold back the tears any more. “It’s all my fault.”
“Derpy, that’s their-”
“No, dad, don’t waste your breath.” She slowly walked away and bumped into a table making a vase on it wobble and shatter to the ground.
She looked at the messed and sighed. “I can’t do anything right.” She mumbled. She walked on into her old room.
She may have moved out years ago but, as they say, there’s no place like home. And in the state was in she needed to be home.
Hugh didn’t mind her living in the house again. He liked being able to watch over her and make sure she was safe, especially in a time like this.
In the familiarity of her room she thought about the whole ordeal. From the very beginning when she announced her decision, to the current crisis she’s in. Why did I do that for? Why didn’t I at least think about it? I should have figured this would have made some people upset.
Her dad was right.
“Derpy, people can be harsh. Do you really think it’s best to finally talk? What if it makes people angry and start to fight? I think it’s best to stay in the background.”She remembered him saying.
“I should have listened.” She said. She let a tear fall.
“Dad, people really want this! They like me and I make them happy by just appearing! If I talk then they’ll be super happy. That’s better than happy!”
“Boy oh boy, did that back fire…” She sighed. “I’m sorry everypony… I’m so sorry…”
Meanwhile Hugh flew to the jelly market.
“3 jars of your mega sized jelly jars, please. The usual.” He said to the cashier.
“Mr. Hooves, not to be nosy, but this is the third time in the past month you’ve made this order. I know it’s been tough on you guys with the whole controversy and all but I don’t think this is the best way to handle-”
“Do you want my bits or not?!” Hugh snapped. The cashier pony thought for a minute. This order would cost the costumer 60 bits. That’s a lot of money and she had mouths to feed.
“Okay, okay.” She walked over and pushed the first jar with all her might. “There’s the strawberry one,” She got another one. “the grape one,” She pushed the last one with the rest of her energy “and the blueberry one.” She started to pant. “That’ll be 60 bits.”
“Thank you, Miss. Smucks. I’m sorry I snapped earlier.” He handed over a sack of bits.
“No problem, Mr. Hooves.” She smiled at the money.
Hugh flew up, opened the blue jar, and dove in. Memories hit him. Hearing Derpy laugh, seeing her smile, the smell of the jelly, the taste of it- everything.
Right now a strange white filly was singing about him and Miss. Smucks was rolling his eyes at him, but mentally he was in the simpler days. When his daughter was happy.
Mentally he was in the days where everything was good. Where everything was right…
***
A knock on the door woke the mare up.
She realized that since they were knocking it wasn’t her father, who was the only pony she wanted to see.
She sighed, rolled off the bed and went to the door.
She opened it and saw her rainbow colored mane friend.
“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Derpy asked a little taken back by the surprise visit.
“Well for one to check on you. And I’m glad I did because you look awful!” Rainbow looked at her once happy friend who was now hunched over and appears to have lost weight and her normal happy, healthy glow. “This isn’t about the whole “Derpy’s ableist” thing, is it? Because seriously it’s not that big of a deal! Who cares if, like, two people got all saddle sore about your name?! I don’t even think anyone cares anymore!” She said.
“You don’t understand…” Derpy stared at the ground.
“No, you don’t understand. We need you, Derpy, and I-”
“What’s the other reason you’re here?” Derpy cut her off and tried, poorly, to the change the subject.
“Actually this helps out my argument. The second reason is because your dad’s gone crazy with worry about you! He’s down at the Jelly market swimming in jelly!”
That made the blond mare jerk her head up in shock.
“And this is the third time he’s done this this month!”
“Wha-what?” She said silently. It was all she could spit out. She never thought about how her depression was hurting others.
“Derpy, you’re hurting people who care about you just because of some stranger’s opinion about you.”
Derpy hunched over again and looked at the ground.
“It’s not just that… it’s… I just want to make people happy and instead I made them yell at each other. No matter what their opinion is about me, I hurt them one way or another.” She raised her head and straightened her posture. “But that’s not my fault. The way they reacted towards each other was not my fault. But what is my fault is the way I let my guilt hurt the ponies I care about.” She said and looked at Rainbow.
“You’re right, this isn’t a big deal.” She laughed at how silly it she’d been “And thanks for telling me about my dad. I was too sad to think about anything else so I didn’t realize he’d…”
“It’s okay, happens to the best of us. Now, if you don’t mind, I got stuff to do. See ya!” Rainbow scurried off.
"Bye, Rainbow!" She waved at the pony. “Now to find my daddy!” Derpy said.
***
“Hugh, it’s time to stop! You’re scaring off customers!” Miss. Smucks said but got no response. “This is ridiculous!”
“Dad! Dad!”
The voice snapped him back into reality. “Derpy?” He asked.
“Dad, what are you doing?” She asked. She was shocked by the image of her dad inside a giant jar of jelly.
“Derpy, I…I…” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I miss you.” He finally said. “Being in this jelly, it’s the only way I can remember the good times. When things we’re simple and you were happy.”
Derpy’s eyes watered and she smiled. “Dad, I’m so sorry! I was so focused on myself I forgot about how my sadness affected you.” She smiled even harder and looked up at her jelly plastered dad. “You’re the best dad in the whole world.” She flew up and went in the jelly with him. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” She hugged her dad and he hugged her back.
Tears fell from his eyes. His daughter was back. She was happy. And that’s all he cared about.
“Oh, that’s just great! Now you’re both in there!” Miss. Smucks complained but they paid no attention.
“Dad, I’ll never leave again I promise.” She said.
“And I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.” He smiled.
Since the controversy some days have been rough. Some days a pony or two will mock her for it. “Only Derpy could cause such a mess just by talking!” They’ll say. But she’ll just laugh along and say her famous line: “I just don’t know what went wrong!”
She didn’t care if people made fun of her. She only cared about making everyone around her, especially her dad, happy.
“Look what I made for my special little girl...” She heard her dad say after she walked into her childhood home. A plate of muffins appeared in front of her.
“Muffins!” She jumped up and down. Even though she could see the surprise coming from a mile away that didn’t lessen her bliss. Muffins were always a great sight to see.
But what was even more special was seeing her dad happy.
The best times of her life was spent like this- eating muffins and jelly with her father. Everything was perfect.
Yes, some days were hard and sad but not today.
Today everything was good. Today everything was right.
