Protecting Derpy Hooves

The incident of Foster walking into the chair quickly subsided as the students found other things to please their short attention spans. Foster was sitting in the seat with the name tag of 'Foster.' He picked it up and examined it. It was made out of paper and the writing was written from, what looked like, a quill and ink. The writing was in cursive. This fancy writing always intrigued Foster. He always wanted to learn how to write like that. Maybe he would learn here. The thought of that made school's connotation less negative.

"Hey, look. It's Foster!" Dezzy said. Foster mentally groaned. The last person he wanted to see.

"Why hello, Dezzy. How are you?" Foster said. Almost immediately he feared he sounded sarcastic. The last thing he wanted to do was start an argument. School wasn't long away, maybe he could last until she had to sit down.

"Doing good, how's the derp?"  she asked obviously mocking Derpy. Foster controlled his emotions.

"Derpy is doing great. She'll even be coming here tomorrow," Foster said. Dezzy smiled.

"But, Foster, show and tell isn't 'til next week!" she said. Foster couldn't take it. It's one thing to insult her to her face, but it's even more sickening behind Derpy's back.

"What gives you the right to insult Derpy? She hasn't done anything to you. You only hate her because she's different. Well, welcome to society, Dezzy. Where not everypony has the same looks and personality. You can try and try and try to bring Derpy down. I won't let you," Foster didn't think anything he said even registered in Dezzy's self-centered mind. Where no opinion mattered except hers. She opened her mouth to respond, but Mrs. Dandy walked in.

"Take your seats, everypony. Class is about to begin!" Dezzy shut her mouth and walked away. Foster wondered if maybe something did get through to her, she did seem to stop and think for a while. The rest of class went on without a dispute.

"I'm just saying, if they want anypony to be in the Wonderbolts, they should lower their standards a bit. I heard that the current Wonderbolts barely made it on the team," Derpy said.

"You make a good point, but there not called the 'best flyers in Equestria' for nothing," Foster said. This conversation was taking place on the way to the school. Derpy had told Foster that when she told her mom she wanted to go back to school, she practically broken the door down on the way out.

"Have you ever thought about doing that?" Foster asked.

"Doing what?" Derpy asked back.

"Being a Wonderbolt, ever put any thought into it?" Foster said. Derpy placed a hoof on her chin.

"Yeah, I did. Once. But I don't think I'd make the team," she said, shrugging.

"What do you mean? It's your life, it's your right and responsibility to live it the way you want to, not somepony else's," Foster said. Derpy giggled.

"You sound like a poet." A poet. Maybe that's Foster's special talent.

"Maybe I am a poet, you don't know me," Foster said, jokingly. Derpy turned to Foster. By now Foster didn't even take time to look at the direction of her eyes.

"You're right! I don't know you. And that is a problem. At some point, me and you gotta share stories," Derpy said, nudging Foster's shoulder. Foster got nervous. He didn't know many stories. Half of his babyhood he forgot. And his mother never told him any stories. He guessed now would be a good time, seeing as how he would have to use them. By now the school was visible. Derpy began to slow her pace. Foster matched it.

"It's gonna be okay, these kids aren't the ones who teased you back at Cloudsdale. And if all goes wrong, I'll stop it before it gets bad," Foster said, trying his absolute hardest to sound reassuring.

"What do you mean 'if all goes wrong'? Are you saying it's gonna go wrong?" Derpy said frantically. Foster put a hoof on her shoulder.

"You're just scaring yourself, Derpy. I won't let anything happen," Foster emphasized his next words. "I promise." Derpy looked up at him and smiled.

"I trust you, Foster." And then they walked into the school. A new seat had been placed behind Foster's (as requested by Derpy). The name tag reading 'Derpy.'

"Good morning, Derpy. How are you this fine morning?" Mrs. Dandy asked.

"Oh, just great! It's great to be here," Derpy said, smiling. Mrs. Dandy turned to Foster.

"And how are you, Foster?" she asked. Foster said it was good and she left to organize the room. "Children! Take your seats!" The group of kids departed and occupied their assigned seats. The first half of the class went well for Derpy. She actively answered questions and proved herself to be rather bright. Then the bell rang for recess. Foster and Derpy went to sit down on a bench.

"So," Foster said, "how about those stories?"

"Oh! Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever went sledding?" Derpy asked. Foster shook his head. He thought about telling her she hasn't told him any stories so there's no need to begin like that, but that seemed like a dumb thing to say. "Well, after days and days and days of pleading my mommy and daddy to take me, they finally agreed. But not before buying enough winter clothes to drown me," Foster laughed at the image of a baby Derpy covered in clothes. "They bought me two hats, three socks, two pairs of mitts, two jackets, and three pants. But since we were in Cloudsdale we had to take a trip to the ground to do this."

"Do you know where the hill was?" Foster asked.

"I know it's somewhere north of here. But this hill was huge. At least it looked huge from the place I was standing," Derpy said, raising her hoof high in the air. "My father had a circular sled, and I remember my mom protesting, but my father said it was fine. I was super excited. My first sled ride. I should have assumed it would be a disaster." Foster raised a hoof.

"Wait, don't circular sleds, like, spin?" he asked. Derpy laughed.

"Heck yeah, they do. But I didn't know that. My daddy pushed me off and I could see my mommy clapping. But I could see her only because I had already turned around. So now I was going backwards." Foster laughed again. "But I keep turning, so now I had done a full rotation and I could hear my mom shouting. I had lost all sense of direction and I was screaming."

"Out of fear?" Foster asked.

"Nope. Out of joy! It was the most fun I'd had in my whole life, so far," she said, emphasizing 'most.'

"So what happened next?" Foster asked, fully intrigued.

"Well, by now I'm spinning kind of fast. And I'm being thrown around. And it's taking a lot of effort to stay hanging on. But I accidentally let go. And I'm thrown off. And now I'm tumbling down the hill, still laughing, and the sled is nowhere I can see. But, then again, everything I can see is a blur."

"What happened with your parents?" Foster asked.

"Well, when I finally stopped spinning I sat up and looked up the hill. My father was running down after me and I distracted him, I guess, and he slipped and fell. My mom walks down and attempts to get my daddy up. When he finally stands up he slips again, this time bringing down my mommy," Derpy begins to laugh. "And it still cracks me up! Anyways, that was the first and last time I went sled riding."

"That was a really good story," Foster said. Derpy fell silent. Foster raised his eyebrow.

"Now it's your turn to tell a story!" she said.

"Ummm..." Foster had nothing. But he was interupted by a voice.

"Is that how your eyes got like that, Derps?" Dezzy said. Foster stood up.

"Come on, Derpy. The swings are open," he and Derpy made his way to the swings, which were vacant.

"Maybe if you do it again it'll straighten em' out," Dezzy said, following them. Foster jumped off the swing.

"You did tell me you wanted to go on the slide," Foster said. Derpy's head was lowered. But he could see that her eyes were shut.

"Come on, Foster. Isn't your mom an optomitrist? Maybe she can make some classes for that cross-eyed dunce," Dezzy said. The salty twang on her voice did not soften the blow of the words on Derpy. She sniffed. Dezzy walked up to her. "You gonna cry... dunce?" Derpy turned around and took off in the sky, away from the school. Dezzy turned to Foster. She smiled.

"You... You... You evil... evil little-" Foster was cut off by Mrs. Dandy.

"Recess is over, come back inside!" Dezzy pointed her nose to the sky, like royalty, and walked towards the door.

"You can try and try and try to bring Derpy down. I won't let you," Dezzy said mimicking Foster's voice. Foster watched her in hatred. He noticed a blue glow on her horn and he felt a tug on his front legs. He looked down to see the same glow around them. The next thing he saw was the ground. She had used her magic to trip him.