Love doesn't hurt

by Cookielover

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Gore, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, DJ P0N-3, Doctor Whooves, Sad, Lyra, Romance, Bon-Bon, Derpy Hooves
Length: 10026

Derpy's friends fear her love life might have turned abusive

Derpy is happy to announce to her friends that she has a boyfriend named Strong Steed. Her friends are happy for her,but when bruises show up on the gray Pegasus,her friends suspect that not all is well in Derpy's love life

Extra tag:Octavia

Published 2014-06-13 05:30:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-07-26 04:56:23 UTC

Sweet!

*Ding Dong*

Derpy rang the doorbell of a Ponyville resident's home as she was going through her mail bag. When the pony answered the door, she handed pony's mail to them and went on her way. It was a beautiful afternoon in Ponyville as Derpy was making her usual mail deliveries. The gray Pegasus couldn't help but look around the outdoors, the birds were singing, the air was warm and ponies were out enjoying their day.

Then all of the sudden, a nice smell of something delicious caught her nose. It smelled like chocolate, bananas, cinnamon and something else that she couldn't put her hooves on it. Her wings then started to lead her to the base of it, forgetting all about work. Her trail stopped at the entrance of one of her dear friends, Bon Bon's candy store, Sweet C's.

Sweet C's was Bon Bon's business and pretty much her life as she had built the place up from scratch (And help from her friends of course) It may not be as popular as the sugercube corner, but their friends like to go there more to spend time together.

"I take it you can smell the inside?" A voice asked, startling Derpy from her thoughts, Bon Bon stood there at the entrance of her store.

"Oh hi, Bon Bon, yes, can smell the inside of your store, it always smells so nice"

"Well, I appreciate that, I do have something for you to try after work-"

"Oh my Gosh!! I forgot I was still delivering mail, I'll be right back after work" Derpy said as she hurried off

Bon Bon just chuckled at this and went back into her shop

Derpy entered the candy shop after delivering the last of her mail for the last hour and a half. She sat down in a candy cane striped chair that nested next to a doughnut painted table with licorice looking legs for support.

"Hey, Bon Bon, sorry that I took off like that earlier, You said though you had something for me to taste test. Hello?" she called out as she looked at her reflection from the display cases that showed off Bon Bon's candies.

She soon heard the soft clip-clops of Bon Bon's hoofs walking on the black and white tiled floor. "Hey, Derpy, it's alright, I had to get back work myself and yes I have something for you to taste test" she disappeared behind the counter for a moment and came back with a tray of what a appeared to be red velvet brownies.

She placed the tray on the table "Ive been experimenting with a few things and decided to try this" She pointed to the brownies "These are red velvet cheesecake brownies, I mixed them with cream cheese and red food coloring, I got the idea from those red velvet muffins from your birthday party and cheesecake part from Time Turner's treat on inviting us to the Cheesecake shack

Derpy took a nice bite out of the dessert. The sweet flavor of cheese and sugar and chocolate started to dance on her taste buds. She looked at the earth pony and smiled "It's delicious! You once again made something sweet"

"Well thanks, May I ask how you and Strong Steed are doing?"
Strong Steed was Derpy's boyfriend of 4 months and she had announced it to her dear friends. Her friends were happy and very supportive of her choice. Funny thing was though, they still haven't met the guy.

Derpy jumped from that question and quickly swallowed the dessert before speaking..

"Oh, things are going fine right now, I actually have a date with him tomorrow at my house for dinner"

"Sounds nice and romantic"

"Yea, just plain and original"

"Speaking of dinner, are you coming to Lyra and mine's offer to dinner at our place with the rest of us"

"Oh of course I'm coming, I always enjoy spending time with you all"

"Well we enjoy your company as always"

"Thanks, I should get going" Derpy said as she stood up "I don't want to wear my uniform for dinner"

Her friend chuckled "You do that"

Derpy turned around and headed for the door. Bon Bon then noticed something he didn't expect, a large bruise on the back of Derpy's left hind leg. "Derpy! What happened to your hind leg?" she asked in surprise.

Derpy quickly looked down at the bruise and quickly hide it with her wing "Oh! um.....I..tripped on a few stones while working, Yeah that's what happened" She quickly explained and dashed out of the store.

The earth pony raised a eyebrow at Derpy's weird behavior. And for some reason, She didn't believe her friend's excuse. She kept thinking about it as she turned around and went back to work.

Author's Note

Hi,
First Fimfic, Let me know how I'm doing and sorry for the chapter being short

Dinner talk

At Bon Bon & Lyra's home
Lyra hummed to herself as she was heating the stove up and placed a sauce pan on top of the burner. She used her magic to levitate a jar of spaghetti sauce from the refrigerator, unscrewed the lid and poured it into the pan. She then added another pot and filled it up with water and started heating that up too, and soon added some spaghetti. Her mouth began to water as she thought of the spaghetti & meatballs & garlic bread that she and her mare-friend, Bon Bon, were making for their friends tonight. She knew it was the earth pony's turn to cook, but she thought she owned it to her as she had been out doing her job (Playing the lyra at the Ponyville orchestra of course) almost 24/7 and not been able to spend much time with her special some-pony.

She heard the sound of the front door closing and was soon gifted a kiss on the cheek by Bon Bon. "How was your day babe?"

"The usual, not many costumers though" Bon Bon said sadly as she sat down "But there was one thing that jumped out at me today"

She told Lyra about the huge bruise on Derpy's hind leg and how she started acting strangely. Lyra was stunned at this "That's a little odd"

"And for some reason, I don't believe her excuse on how she got it"

"I don't believe it either. But I also want to talk about us"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how long are we going to keep this a secret? Its been 3 months since we started dating and I feel ready to tell the rest of the gang"

"I know you are, but I just don't feel ready yet to tell them, and also, I'm more concerned about Derpy right now. That bruise was huge, almost as if was a punch"

"I guess your right, and don't be silly, I'm sure if somepony hit our friend, we would know about it and we'll kick his/her flack for Derpy"

"Yea, I guess, hey, do you want me to start the meatballs for you?" Bon Bon asked, as she stood up

"Yes, that'll be helpful" Lyra replied as she started chopping bread for the garlic bread

Lyra sat the silverware, plates, drinks and bowl of garlic bread on the table for six. Bon Bon came in the dining room, trying to balance two plates of pasta. She just smiled and blushed when Lyra used her magic to levitate it to the table, along with the rest of the dishes. Lyra just gave her a sexy smirk "You look cute when doing a balancing act" This statement caused her mare-friend to blush even more.

Ding Dong

"I'll get it" Bon Bon said. She went to the door and opened it and saw Vinyl, Octavia, Time Turner & Derpy standing there

"....And then they asked 'how does a clock have a face?'" Time Turner said., telling of a incident that happened at the clock/watch shop he worked at. The other chuckled "Yea that reminds me of this one gut one of the clubs I work at" Vinyl said "I think he might have them drunk, but he asked me 'If your a dj, then your name must be DJ'" Her friends laughed at that.

The four of them sat in the living room while Lyra and Bon Bon was finishing up the last touches of dinner. "Oh that reminds me, Derpy, Dear" Octavia said "How are things between you and Strong Steed going?" She noticed Derpy jump at this question and squirmed a little in her seat "Oh,,,well, It's,,,," Before she can give a answer, Lyra stuck here head in living room "Guys, dinners ready" As Octavia stood up, she heard a sigh of relief come from Derpy strange she thought

Just as Bon Bon placed a last minute idea of a bowl of salad, everyone else entered. She noticed the bruise on Derpy's leg again, just as big as the meatballs in the spaghetti. She continued looking at it until she took a seat. "Well, Everypony, I'm glad we can all make it tonight, how about a toast to another nice little get together?" She announced, everyone raised their glasses and they clinked together. After saying grace, they started eating, a few minutes of the sound of chewing went by before Octavia broke the ice "So Bon Bon, how's your shop coming along?"

"I wish I could say its doing well, but right now, not many customers are coming"

"I'm sorry to hear that, 'I'm sure it'll get better, especially with the young fillies and colts about to be out for school"

"Yea, your right! Young foals love candy!"

"Indeed they do"
Lyra turned to Time Turner "So, Turner, how are things going at the shop?"

"Well, to be honest, there is this one stallion who is a complete snob on the clocks there, I mean, no matter what type of wood their made out of, oak, maple cherry, walnut, pine, you name it, he'll not like it. If he denies one more clock, I'm probably going to break one"

"That does sound like a snob"

"Do you want your good friend Vinyl to give him a bit of sense in his head?" Vinyl asked, joining the conversation

"Oh, that wont be necessary" Turner answered "But I'll let you know" he said with a smile and wink

"Un, Derpy, What are you doing?" Octavia asked as she noticed the Pegasus was trying to balance a meatball on her nose.

"Trying to practice a balancing act" Derpy answered in a joking matter as she gently jumped in her seat, causing the meatball to fly in the air and she caught in her mouth, her friends gave her a small round of applause as she chewed it up and started eating a slice of garlic bread. "Speaking of you, Derpy" Lyra said "How are things between you and Strong Steed?"

Derpy nearly chocked on her bread when asked that "Huh? Oh yea.....everything's fine" She quickly answered

"Have you and him ever.....you know...?" Vinyl asked her, also giving a playful nudge. It took Derpy a moment to realize what she meant, which caused her to blush "No! no......we never.....uh...Time Turner! Any new crazy customers?" She quickly asked, easy to tell she was trying to change the subject. Time Turner looked at his friend "Well, other then the snobby clock dude, nobody is really being a pain in the neck"

The room went again except for the sound of food being chewed. This time, Lyra broke the ice "Derpy, how long have you been dating Strong Steed?"

"Um....well..."

"Now that I think about it" Time Turner said "I don't remember you telling us how you two first met"

Everypony stared at Derpy, who set her silverware down, whipped her muzzle with her napkin and then spoke "Ok, I might as well tell you all, we have been dating for 4 months now (heh heh, for 4, that's funny) Anyway, the way we met was when I was on my lunch break from work, eating on a park bench when he walked up to me and said how he can't stop looking at me, claiming I was so beautiful, we then got into a friendly conversation and he asked me out for dinner and before we knew it, we became a couple" "Do you think he's the one?" Vinyl asked in a teasing matter and giving her another playful nudge. The gray pony just blushed "I...I...don't know"

"Well, I could use some salad, Derpy, can you please pass me the salad bowl?" Bon Bon asked. Derpy picked up the bowl and stretched out and handed it to the beige pony when Octavia quickly stood up from her seat and grabbed her right arm "Derpy, what in equestria happened to your arm?" What she was looking at was a huge bruise that was about as round as a hockey puck and as big as a walnut. Derpy quickly pulled her arm free from her friend "Oh....I...I slipped and fell of my....uh..bed! Yea; I fell off my bed and hit it on the dresser" She quickly explained.

Octavia stared for a few moments before she spoke "You sure? that's a pretty big bruise"

"Yes I'm positive!" she shot out. Everyone was startled at their friend's new attitude. Derpy signed and took a deep breah "I'm sorry guys, work has been very stressing and Strong Steed has been angry lately about something, i'v just had a day of stress. And now I have a small headache" she now had her hooves up at her head, rubbing the temples. "There's some aspirin in our cupboard" Lyra offered "Its in the bathroom down the hall on the left" Derpy got up from her seat and disappeared into the bathroom. "Funny" Octavia heard Vinyl say under her breath.

"What's so funny?"

"Well about a week ago, I saw a similar bruise like that on the back of her ear, after asking her what happened, she turned pale and quickly said she fell down her stairs"

Bon Bon and Lyra stared at each other in shock
"Guys" Bon Bon said "There's another bruise"

She told them about the one she saw earlier on her hind leg. When finished, everyone was quiet for two minutes until Time Turner stood up and spoke

"Girls, from what I'm hearing, Derpy's wired, different behavior, bruises to the body, I'm beginning to fear that someponys hurting her"

"I'm beginning to fear its Strong Steed, that's the only one that she doesn't like talking about" Vinyl added

"I agree" Octavia said

"Me too" Lyra said

"Count me in" Bon Bon said

"How do we know for sure though? I want to be sure its not her coltfriend" Turner said.

"We could spy while she's on one of her dates" Octavia said, stunning everyone.

"Tavi, I never saw this side of you, I like it" Vinyl said with a smirk.

"Oh! She's having a date at her place tomorrow night. she told me all about it" Bon Bon added.

"What What!" Lyra cutted in "We are just going to spy on one of our friends while she's dating, that's not nice"

"But this is Derpy's safety were talking about" Vinyl said "You want to know if she's being treated badly so we could do something about it"

(sign) "Your right your right, count me in"

"Excellent!" Time Turner said "Sounds like a plan"

A few seconds later, Derpy returned from the bathroom and returned to her seat. "How ya kid?" Turner asked her

"oh! a lot better"

"Good" Bon Bon said "Now, would anyone like some dessert?"

Author's Note

I'm very sorry for the grammar mistakes. this is my first story so I'm trying to get the hang of it.

The stakeout

At Time Turner's home/the TARDIS
"May I ask how you got a camera into Derpy's home?" Octavia asked Time Turner as he pressed a few buttons on the control board that lay in front of them.

"Well its hard to explain, I had to mess with some of Ponyvile's wiring pretty much" Time Turner answered

"I keep forgetting how big this place is compared to the outside" Bon Bon said, looking around "How did we even manage to push it behind your shop, Turner?"

"We used a lot of muscle and unicorn magic" Lyra answered instead "My horn was sore for a few days"

Crunch

Everypony in the room turned and saw Vinyl taking a bite out of an apple.

"What? I'm hungry, I haven't eaten that much today" She said as she swallowed part of the red fruit.

Time Turner pressed two more buttons and then pulled a lever that lay on the far right corner of the control board. A big TV that stood in front of everyone that was mounted on the wall soon showed Derpy's Kitchen and Living Room.

"Wow, Derpy has gotten some nice furniture since we were there" Lyra said, standing next to Octavia. They were soon joined by Bon Bon and Vinyl.

Derpy soon appeared on the screen in the kitchen, she was wearing a simple red dress with artificial silver earrings and artificial gold bracelets around her arms.

"She looks very nice in the dress, I'll tell you that" Octavia said.

"She's very pretty, look at those earrings, I wonder where she got them" Bon Bon said

"Ok Everypony" Time Turner said "Her date starts any minute now, so we now might as well watch and see what happens"

Everybody watched the screen as their friend's date started

Derpy's Home
Derpy finished placing the silverware on the table and placed two glasses and plates and a wine bottle and soy sauce bottle. She filled the plates up with eggrolls and rice and the glasses with wine. She then placed a few rose petals around the table and started some music from the radio in the living room. She then hurried in the hallway to the bathroom mirror to finish up her make up. Adding some lipstick, mascara, powder and perfume (Nice rosy scented). She quickly brushed her mane and hurried for the door.

Ding Dong

She opened the door and there stood a red earth stallion with a spiky black mane and tail and had a pair of boxing gloves as a cutie mark. He wore a white t-shirt with a grey blazer covering it.

He smiled "Hey honey"

Derpy returned the complement by a peck on the cheek "Dinner is ready"

She led Strong Steed to the kitchen table and they both sat down. They began eating the rice and drank the wine for a few minutes. That was until Derpy reached for the soy sauce.

"What's that?" her boyfriend asked her

"It's soy sauce" Derpy answered

"Oh yea, Soy sauce my flank! I didn't ask for soy sauce! Are you trying to poison me?"

"No No! It's just that Time Turner said it would be good"

"Yea, sure he did. I bet he's the one your cheating on me with"

"No. I'm not cheating on you!"

"He and those other mares, you always talk about them" Strong Steed said in a mocking tone

"Their my friends, I love them and you always talk about your friends from the club"

"Well, my friends are all colts, all you mares are good for is cooking, cleaning and taking care of their man AND look at me when I'm talking to you!" He roared as he reached over and grabbed Derpy's left arm, Who just quickly pulled her arm free from him.

Strong Steed gave Derpy and mean stare before going back to eating. It went quite again as they started eating again.Strong Steed took a bite from one of the eggrolls, but he all of the sudden quickly coughed it back up.

"What's wrong?" Derpy asked as she rushed to his side

"This food tastes awful" Strong Steed answered "Awful like your dress, you ARE trying to poison me"

"No Babe! I'm not trying to poi-" she got cut after her face met Strong Steed's hoof, which caused her to fall.

Strong Steed picked up his plate of food, throw it on the ground and grabbed Derpy by the back of her hair "EAT IT! YOU TRYING TO POSION ME!! YOU EAT IT!!" he hollered in her ear as he forced her head down in the food. When he pulled her face back up, it was cover it rice, smashed eggroll, soy sauce. He then picked up his glass of wine and splashed it on her, staining her dress and mane. Tears rolled down her face as he started kicking her.

"You better stop the fake tears! All mares are good for are cooking and your not even good at that! I have no reason to stay with you"

Derpy looked up at her coltfriend "I'm sorry, I tried my best to cook, I'm not the best at it, but my friends say I have a talent for it, almost like Bon Bon"

Strong Steed's only response was picking up the plate and throwing it on the ground, causing it break in a few pieces. He then gave the mare on the floor before him give her a few more kicks to the back and stomach. When done, Derpy lay there, here arms protecting her face while she kept crying.

Strong Steed raised his voice "Will you do better next time?!"

Derpy nodded her head

He continued "You respect me, you know that?"

She nodded again

He cleared his throat "Good. But now you have once again ruined another date by your bad cooking. I work hard for us and give you so much and you can't even me a good meal. I'm outta here, I'll call you later"

And with that, he slammed the front door behind him, leaving Derpy crying on the floor

At Time Turner's home/The TARDIS

Time Turner and the other stared at the TV screen in horror. Lyra and Vinyl's eyes were wide in shock. Bon Bon had looked away, tears rolling down her cheeks. Octavia and Turner looked at each other, they were horrified, upset and angry. Their eyes said it all.

Vinyl broke the silence by slamming her hoof down on the control board in anger and made her way to the door.

"Vinyl, where are you going?" Octavia said

The white unicorn turned at her with a furious look "That dude thinks he has the right to beat up one of our friends. Now that we know he's the scumbag, I say we go and give HIM a beating"

"What good is that going to do?" Bon Bon asked, wiping her tears away "Also, why did Derpy lie to us?"

"She's scared" Time Turner answered "She's so scared, we saw how she was. She's terrified of him"

"I agree" Octavia said "That's not how you treat a lady and we mares have more talent then just cooking a cleaning, how dare he say that!"

"Guys" Lyra said "I've done thinking, now that we know, I think we should get together and let her know we know about the abuse and that we are worried about her. She's always been there for us and made us laugh and now it's our turn to help her"

"I agree with Heartstrings" Vinyl said, cooling off from her anger "Derpy's our friend, we need to give her 'the talk'

Everyone was quite for a moment until Turner spoke "I say we do it, Derpy needs us"

Everypony nodded in agreement and made their way out of the TARDIS and to their Friend's home.

Author's Note

Wow, this chapter was hard to do. I think I got better on the writing and grammar (Let me know how I'm doing on it)
Who knew story writing can be so hard?

Tears, lies and confession

At Derpy's home
Derpy lay on the kitchen floor, crying about tonight. As it was supposed to be a romantic date at her place. But of course, what she did was never good enough to make Strong Steed happy. She stood up and walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her make-up was running down her cheeks from her crying, her mane that she had brushed before the date was frizzled, rice tangled in and little knots too, along with red stains from the wine, along with soy sauce. Her dress was stained with red wine and soy sauce as well and new bruises was now shining on her cheek and forehead, her nose had dried blood from her right nostril.

Just looking at herself was enough to make her cry again Why can't I do anything right? she thought to herself Strong Steed does a lot for me and I can't even give him a good meal

She started some water in the sink and began to wash the make up and blood off, after that she brushed the rice and knots out. Then she took her dress off and put it in the washer. She went back to the kitchen and swept up the bits of the broken plate and threw them away. Just as she was about to make herself some coffee,

Knock Knock

She made her way to the front door "Strong Steed I'm sorr-" she began to say, but then was surprised to see her five friends standing there "Oh....hi guys....what's up?" she asked.

Octavia stepped up "Derpy, honey, can we talk?"

Derpy returned to the living room with a try with cups of coffee for her friends. Lyra and Bon Bon were sitting on the love seat, Vinyl was on a single lounge chair and Time Turner and Octavia were on the couch.

Derpy placed the tray on the coffee table and sat on the sofa between Turner and Octavia "So, what shall we talk about, gang?" she asked in a joking tone as Lyra used her magic to levitate a cup of coffee to herself.

"Well, Derpy, how was your date tonight?" Vinyl asked in a small suspicious tone.

She noticed Derpy flinch at that question "Oh...it went well, yea, it great, we had a lovely dinner and joked a lot"

"Why don't I believe that?" the white unicorn returned

"Excuse me?" Derpy answered in a confused tone.

Time Turner took his friend's hoof and spook "Derpy, we know about the abuse"

The winged mare pulled her hoof free after hearing this "I don't know what your talking about"

Vinyl got up from her seat and sat on the arm of the sofa "Kid, we know Strog Steed is hurting you"

Derpy started at her friend for a moment "What makes you say that?"

"We spyed on you tonight" Lyra said before Bon Bon could stop her

"YOU WHAT?!?!" Derpy asked in rage "YOU SPYED ON ME?!?!?! YOU SLIMY PIECE OF-"

"Derpy, Derpy" Bon Bon said, now standing up and standing next to Vinyl "We understand your angry, and you have a right to be, but hear us out on our motive"

Derpy gave a mean frown at her "Oh, this outta be good" she said sarcastically

Bon Bon explained how they spied and why they did. She told her about the weird behavior and bruises appearing on her body. Once she was done, Derpy had her head down and a hoof covering her face.

"D-Derpy? Are you that upset about us spying on you?Cause if you are, we can ju-" Time Turner began to say, but was cut off after Derpy raised her head back up, her face had tears rolling down her cheeks.

She knew she had to confess "Yes it's true! It's all true! He's been hurting me verbally and physically!"

Her friends were stunned by the confession their friend gave them. But they also had to see that coming.

"For how long?" Octavia asked

Derpy looked at the grey mare "For about maybe 2 months?"

"TWO MONTHS?!" Octavia asked in shock "What has he be doing to you?"

Derpy began to cry again "He kicked me, slapped me, punched me, dragged me by my mane, forced me to eat food off the floor. He calls me stupid, ugly, worthless, fat. He chocked me, pinned me to the wall, try to force himself on me, he-"

"Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa" Lyra said in surprise, now also standing up "He tried to force himself on you?!? Derpy, that's rape! He's tried to rape you! How many times did he try to do it?"

"Once" Derpy answered

Lyra just started at her

The Pegasus just winched "OK OK, three times"

"Three times?!? Are you kidding me? Derpy, he needs to be reported to the police about this" Time Turner said now "What he's doing is criminal! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I love him" Derpy answered

"Sweetheart, the way he's treating you is not love, it's hate" Bon Bon said

"I agree" Octavia said, gently taking her friend's hoof "Honey, he's not treating you right. We saw him drag you by the mane and forced you to eat food off the floor like a dog. That's not love"

"Well, what is for me?! How many stallions chase after me? None! Octavia, you have stallions always asking you out! Maybe I wish I had that! No stallion wants a disabled marefriend! Do any of you remember the last time I had a date? Anyone? (Her friends remained quite) No one? I thought so!" Derpy said in full rage.

Her friends knew she had a point. All the stallions in Ponyville don't seem interested in dating a disabled Pegasus. About all of the folks of Ponyville do is belittle, underestimate and bully her.

Derpy couldn't keep the mad face anymore and she couldn't hold back more tears "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I lied to you all! I just want someone to love me!"

Lyra went over to her and started patting her on the back "Why lie to us in the first place?"

Derpy tried to speak but couldn't cause of the tears and mouth starting to quiver. Vinyl left the living room and came back a second later with a tissue and handed it to crying mare, who just soaked it up with her tears.

She then spoke "Cause I didn't want you worrying about me"

"Honey, your one of our friends" Lyra said "We are always going to worry about each other cause of the choices we make"

"Derpy" Octavia said "Look at me"

Derpy turned and saw Octavia in.....Tears? The blond mare never saw the gray, earth, cello playing pony like this.

Octavia wiped a tear away "We are so worried about you. We saw him beat you up. You might not be as lucky next time he hits you, what if he injures you? Or worse, getting paralyzed? We love you honey. I see you almost like a sister to me. We all do so many things together, shopping, dinner and we even went camping together! I don't really enjoy the outdoors, but I did that time because you made me laugh and helped me enjoy it. If anything happens to you, honey, those fun things won be the same without you"

"She's right" Time Turner said, taking his friend's hoof again "Those things won't be the same type of fun without you. And also, what's more important? Your love life or just your life period?"

Derpy knew he had a point. She did enjoy the life she had. A good job, good home, and most importantly, good group of friends. But she also wanted a special some-pony in her life, get married to them and maybe have children with them. She looked at the five pairs of eyes that were staring at her, all full of fear for her because of her safety. They didn't want her to be six feet under all because of someone she loved.

She just sighed and started to tear up again "I think I love him so much, I cant let him go"

"If you truly love him, let him go" Bon Bon said

Her friend's only response back was by just shaking her head

"Yes you can" The beige pony replied

Derpy looked down at her bruises that cover her arm. She then knew she had to make a choice, her love life or her life life.

She looked up back at her friends and gave them a weak smile "Your right, this isn't love. I'll break it off"

All of her friends smiled, Time Turner and Octavia gave her a hug on both sides of her, every-pony else soon joined in. She was then gifted with a individual hug from each of her friends.

After Lyra gave her a hug she spoke "Thank you Derpy, that makes us feel a lot better, we love you and don't want to lose you anytime soon"

Derpy smiled "Thanks"

Octavia looked at the clock and saw it read 11:23 PM "Wow, its getting late. I'm sorry every pony, but I got to get some rest, me and Lyra have to get up early for band practice"

"Oh yea, that's right" Lyra said "Don't want to be tired during it"

"I might hit the sack as well" Vinyl said, standing up from her seat .

After saying goodnight to her friends, Derpy watched as her friends began to leave her home for the night. Time Turner was about to leave when he turned around and smiled at his friend "I'm glad you breaking it off, Derpy"

The Pegasus smiled back "I'm glad to"

She shut the door after all of her friends left for their own homes. She leaned on the door for a moment and realized she felt.....better like a weight was taken off her shoulders. She didn't have to hide the abuse anymore and it made her feel good that her friends cared about her so much that they actually spied on her to make sure she was safe. She just smiled and made her way to the bathroom to start a nice, hot shower.

Rush Hour

At Sweet C's
Bon Bon was use to seeing herself restocking and reorganize the sweets in the display cases of her store. Always making sure the selves were full and ready to be emptied by hungry customers. Octavia was right, now that summer break was going on, foals have been piling in, buying one candy after the other, immediately empting the selves. It got to the point where she actually had to close the store for a day just to make new candies. But today she found herself sitting behind the counter, looking through her sweets catalog, waiting for customers to come piling in as 12:00 PM was the rush hour about every day of the week. What she didn't expect was two mint green forearms wrap around her waist.

Lyra planted a small kiss on her left cheek "Didn't expect me?"

Bon Bon looked up at her mare-friend "Not at all, I thought you were at practice"

The unicorn chuckled "Ever heard of lunch break?"

The earth pony smirked "Oh, I'll give you lunch" she spoke as she and Lyra shared a kiss.

Ding The little bell above the entrance rang, which caused the two mares to pull away from each other from anypony seeing

Derpy entered the chocolate and vanilla scented shop "Hey guys, I'm only on lunch break right now and I need some sugar to get me through the rest of the day"

Bon Bon smiled as she pulled out one of Derpy's favorite sweets, raspberries with chocolate filling inside them, out of the display case and placed them on the table Derpy was sitting at "You seem happy today"

Derpy just gave her and Lyra a smile "Well, I'm happy to say that I have officially broke up with Strong Steed"

Lyra just gave her friend a very relieved smile "Derpy that's great! You have no idea how much that makes us feel better"

"Yea, I thought about what you all said to me the other night and you were all right, this isn't love, he wasn't treating me right. He treated me like a rag doll or dirt for that matter. He wasn't giving me the respect and dignity all mares deserve. So early this morning, I wrote a letter to him, explaining that its over and why, and sent it out today while I was working."

Bon Bon sat down next to her friend and took her hoof "You go girl"

The three mares laughed at the last statement.

Derpy ate a few of the raspberries before standing up "Well, girls, I have to get back to work. I'll take to you all later"

"Bye Derpy" Bon Bon said

"Later D" Lyra said

The moment Derpy left the shop, Bon Bon leaned over and whispered in Lyra's ear in a seductive voice "You know, you have to get back to work too. But when you return tonight, I'll give you some 'dessert', baby"

Lyra's heart raced with excitement after hearing this "Well then, I guess I should get through work if I want something 'sweet' tonight" She started to say in a rush. Pretty obvious that she wanted some 'dessert'. "Love you baby, bye" She said quickly as she gave her mare-friend a kiss on the cheek and sped out of the shop.

Bon Bon just chuckled and went back to work.

8:32PM
The rest of the day went well for Ponyville, young fillies able to stay up late as it was now summer break, married couples snuggling on the sofa, stores and restaurants closed for the night and other ponies just leaving work and making their way back home.

That's exactly what Octavia was doing, getting off music practice and walking back home, already imagining Vinyl playing her 'wubs' very loudly when she comes home. She looked at the cloudy, dark night sky, making her think of what has been happening for the last few days. Thinking of one of her best friends being abused made her sick to her stomach, but she then felt better when reminding herself that Derpy was breaking the relationship off. Obviously, that Strong Steed stallion did not know how to treat a lady and needs to learn a thing or two on how to treat someone with respect.

"Speaking of Derpy" She thought to herself "I might as well check up on her to see how she's doing while I'm going to go by her home, and I'm sure Vinyl wouldn't mind if I'm a little late back home"

It didn't take long for her to spot Derpy's home as it had a muffin reef on the front door, the two storey house was a pretty, warm welcoming home in Octavia's opinion. A nice place for a pony to live in.

The strange thing though that caught Octavia's eyes when she approached the front porch was that the front door was partly open. "That's strange. Derpy never leaves her door open like that" she though. She took her cello off her back and placed it on the porch steps. She then gently knocked on the door "Derpy?"

She pushed the door opened the door a little farther. She then got a very bad gut feeling that something was really wrong. She took a few steps in the home and had felt another bad feeling.

"Derpy? Are you here? It's just me, Octavia, I'm sorry if I scared you by coming in your home like this, but your front door was open and I wanted to make sure your ok" She called out.

When no one replied, she entered the kitchen, the room smelled like freshly baked muffins. That was no surprise to Octavia as Derpy's favorite food was chocolate chip or blueberry muffins. It didn't surprise her that there was a tray of muffins on the island....but what did surprise her was that a HALF eaten muffin rested on a napkin next to the tray.

"Now that's very strange" she thought again "Derpy never leaves a half eaten muffin like this" She then entered the living room. The tan brown painted room had always gave every-pony that entered a nice, warm, welcoming touch. The very dark brown sofa, loveseat and traditional coffee table remained untouched. A clock that rested on the wall next to the kitchen door now read 8:51 PM.

She walked towards the bookshelf that was next to the loveseat. Nemours of books were on the top highest selves, they were labeled: Muffins, the perfect breakfast recipes, Yoga for dummies, Places to go with friends before you die and so many more.

A butch of photos hung on the wall. Octavia smiled at the memories that hung before her. One photo contained of Time Turner, Vinyl and herself, all three were smiling at the camera, Octavia's cello was propped up next to her and she had her arms around Vinyl and Turner, she remembered that day, her friends came to one of her shows. It was a good night.

Another photo showed the group of six in front on Sweet C's, all smiling and giving Bon Bon a group hug. That was the day of Sweet C's grand opening and the group was very proud of their beige friend.

The photo next that was of Derpy and Vinyl, Vinyl's purple sunglasses rested on Derpy's head and Vinyl had a arm around the Pegasus.

Another pic contained Derpy and Vinyl again, only this time Bon Bon was with them, all three covered in batter, but had their arms around each-other and laughing. As the picture pretty much told, Vinyl tried her best to prove to the other two she can bake, but sadly failed badly, all three of them though had a laugh afterwards.

The next pic showed Lyra and Octavia sitting on a log, holding sticks with marshmallows on them. Another memory, Lyra, Octavia and the others went up to the Ponyville mountains for the weekend and the photo showed the two musicians making s'mores at the campfire.

And finally, the biggest photo yet, it hung in the middle of all the photos, it showed all six friends at Derpy's birthday party, they were all huddled together for a group photo, Derpy of course, was in the middle and she had her wings wrapped around all of them, smiling. Under the picture, on the frame, Derpy had the frame engraved, under it read My Best Friends. Octavia just smiled at this. Derpy was good at keeping and making good memories.

She snapped back into reality and looked around the living room one more time. Everything seemed to be in place; sofas nice and comfy looking, floor nicely waxed, a nice giant hole in the wall. Wait, What!?

Octavia quickly turned back to the hole in the wall. She went over to it and excepted it. She saw a small tuff of blonde mane stuck to it. She picked it up with her hoof. She took a look at it and looked back at the hole "Funny" She thought "Its as big as.....Derpy's head!" Her face went as pale as Vinyl's fur. She quickly ran to the staircase, now desperately trying to find her friend. Just as she was about to take the first step, she heard it.

A small moan

She quickly ran back into the living room. "DERPY! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She called out in a panicked voiced.

She then remembered the hallway that led to the basement. She hadn't checked the basement yet. She left the living room and ran down the hallway, just as she made the turn and about to run to the basement, she found Derpy, laying on her side, her legs, arms, flank, back and stomach were all covered in multiple bruises. Her wings were clearly both broken and her mane was covering her face.

"OH CELESTIA! DERPY!" She screamed as she as she got down on her knees and brushed the mane away from Derpy's face. Her face had a bloody nose, busted lip, a swollen cheek and a black eye on her left one. Octavia instantly knew who did this "Strong Steed, that monster! How can he do this?" That didn't matter at the moment, Derpy needed help fast! Adrenaline kicked in as she didn't hesitate. If she can carry a twenty pound cello on her back, then she can carry one of her friends.

"Derpy, if you can hear me, I'm taken you to the hospital now" She said as she placed Derpy on her back and hurried out of the house and ran start towards the hospital.

ER, CPR, what's next?

9:10 PM

Sweat and tears ran down Octavia as she hurried as fast as she can to the Ponyville Hospital. she could feel blood dripping on her flank, from Derpy's bloody nose. Derpy remained not moving, but she moaned every few seconds.

"Hang in there Derpy" Octavia thought "We are almost there" She continued running down the streets, not caring if any-pony saw her. Tears ran down her cheeks, seeing her friend like this was to heartbreaking for her to stand. She ran past the library/ Twilight Sparkle's home. She now knew she was about halfway there. She never ran so fast before In her life, the sweat kept pouring down on her forehead. She felt Derpy moved on her back, probably trying to stand up. Octavia quickly stopped "Derpy, listen, I'm taking you to the hospital now, so you have to remain still until we get there" She could feel her friend now stop, so she started running again.

She saw the hospital in the distance "Almost there, almost there" she kept thinking. She entered the building and was greeted with cold air. Nurse Redheart looked from reading her book from behind the counter. The moment she saw what was in front of her, she quickly rushed to the two mares and helped Octavia lay Derpy on her back.

"What happened to her" the nurse asked.

Octavia wiped her tears away "She was assaulted"

She looked up and saw several doctors and nurses hurrying down the hall towards them. One pushing a stretcher and another carrying a oxygen mask with their magic. Before she knew it, all of them were surrounding her friend and couldn't see her anymore. She did however, hear the medic team say a few things.

"She's badly beaten up"
"She's got a lot of broken bones"
"She needs CPR now!"
"We need to get her to the emergency room now!"

She saw them hoist Derpy on the stretcher. She can now clearly see the mare now. She had the oxygen mask on now. They began to push her down the hallway to the emergency room. She quickly stood up and hurried to Derpy's side, who had one eye barley open "Derpy, Honey, I'm going to alarm the others and we will be right here when your surgery is finished. Ok?"

The grey Pegasus weakly nodded and had a tear roll down her cheek. She was then whisked away with the medic team to the emergency room, leaving Octavia alone in the hallway. She sat down in a chair in the waiting room and placed her face in her hoofs, ready to start crying again. She couldn't believe this happened. Derpy ending the relationship and now she gets assaulted by her ex? No, this wasn't right, Derpy didn't deserve this. She deserved love, honor and respect like any-pony else. She stood up and made her out of the hospital, making her way to her friends' homes.

The first home she saw was the funny blue box labeled T.A.R.D.I.S, aka, Time Turner's home. She knocked on the door and heard movement from inside. Seconds later, she heard the door unlock and Turner opened it "Octavia, what brings you here tonight?" he then noticed tears in his friend's eyes "Octavia, what's wrong? What happened?"

Octavia wiped her tears away again "It's Derpy"

9:33 PM

Lyra and Bon Bon hurried into the hospital and went straight to the waiting room, where they found Time Turner pacing back and forward, Octavia sitting in a chair, shaking and dabbing her eyes with tissues every now and then and Vinyl talking to a police officer.

Bon Bon sat next to Octavia "We came as soon as we heard"

Lyra walked over to Time Turner "What exactly happened?"

Turner stopped pacing "Octavia found her, Strong Steed assaulted her because of her breaking the relationship off" he started pacing again.

"Thank you, Officer" Vinyl said. the officer nodded and left the waiting room. Vinyl sat down on the other side of Octavia "I talked to the officer, I told him everything you told us, Tavi, and about Strong Steed. They're going to start a search for him, when caught, he will be charged with domestic violence"

"Good" Lyra said, taking a seat next to Bon Bon "He needs to be behind bars"

"Timey, you've been pacing for about twenty minutes now, want to sit down?" Vinyl asked

Turner stopped pacing and looked at the blue manned unicorn "I'm sorry, I'm really nervous, I hope Derpy is ok"

"We all do" Octavia said, she then turned her focus on two little foals playing with a bead maze in the center of the room.

The five continued to wait. The waiting room contained mid blue walls decorated with motivational posters and a painting of the amazon jungle, purple, dark blue and light brown checkered carpet rested under Espresso finish wood guest chairs that the five were all seated in now. Time went by, Vinyl began to doze off with her head leaning on a magazine rack, Lyra was using a hoof to twirl her mane in curls, Bon Bon and Octavia were both looking at some overly expired magazines that were advertising perfume and hoof paint, but they were too nervous to really be paying attention . Time Turner began his pacing again, but every now and then, he would go to the water fountain and take big gulps of water.

After about an hour, a paper white stallion with a light brown mane entered the waiting room, he was wearing a white lab coat, had a stethoscope around his neck and had a first aid kit as a cutie mark. He made his way to the group, who all quickly stood up from their seats and surrounded him . He cleared his throat "Good evening ponies, I'm Dr. Health, I'm the main surgeon that did Derpy's surgery, you must be her friends"

"Yes, we are, Doctor" Time Turner said "How is she?"

"Her injuries are pretty bad, her whole body is bruised up, both wings and her front right arm are broken in two different pieces each, three bones from her rib cage are also broken. She will need some therpy to gain the strength back in her body, but I'm positive she'll make a full recovery"

The group all sighed of relief.

"Well, I'm sure we'll all be more then happy to help her recover" Lyra said as the others nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry to say to you all but you will not be able to see her tonight, she's currently asleep and will be for the rest of the night I'm sure. You all go home and get some rest, you can visit her tomorrow probably" Dr. Health said. After wising them a good night, he turned and disappeared down the hall, to his office.

Bon Bon took a few deep breaths "I don't feel comfortable leaving her here tonight"

"I don't either, but you heard the doctor, she'll have to stay here until she's better" Lyra said "Also, she's safe her, and when she gets out, we need to protect her from Strong Steed, what if he comes back for her?"

"She's right" Time Turner said "We need to make sure he doesn't find out her location, were her friends, we need to protect her, like you said, Lyra"

Everyone else nodded in agreement. They knew they couldn't stay for the night. They left the waiting area and exited the hospital, making their way back to their own homes.

Lyra and Bon Bon were a little behind every-pony else. Lyra whispered in Bon's ear "After what happened tonight, I really don't feel like having 'dessert' anymore" Bon Bon just nodded in agreement.

That night, none of them got that much sleep.

Next Morning

Ponyville hospital

Room #17

Derpy slowly started to wake up from her slumber. She started stretching her arms and wings out...until she found she really couldn't move them. Her left arm was fine, but her right was nice and sung in a cast. Her wings were casted up as well. She tried to sit up, only to find that hard because of the cast. Her stomach ached and soon found more bandages wrapped around it.

"What's going on?" she thought. That was until she realized she wasn't in her bedroom, or even her home! She was in a hospital.

The room contained plain vanilla white walls and rectangle shaped lighting above her. Looking around the room, she saw a sofa that rested on the right wall, under some windows. Speaking of windows, she had a view of a street of Ponyville. A table rested on the left side of her bed.

The door opened and Nurse Redheart entered "Derpy, glad to see your awake"

Derpy just stared at her "What's going on?"

Nurse Redheart knew what she meant, she didn't remember anything from last night. She sighed and told Derpy what happened and how her friends are really worried about her. She then told her about her injuries, the medicine she will be given, the physical therapy.

When done, Derpy had to ask "Will I be able to fly again?"

"Oh course, honey, you'll be able to" the nurse said "Do you want some breakfast?"

Derpy didn't realize how hungry she was until she heard her stomach "Yes ma'am" she answered as she tried to sit up again.

Redheart quickly went to Derpy's side and gently made her lie down again "You shouldn't try to sit up, your body needs rest, how bout if I prop up the bed?"

Derpy just nodded

Redheart propped up the bed and then left to go get the mare some breakfast. Derpy sighed and looked around the room again "I'm a moron, I should've broke it off with Strong Steed the moment he hit me. My friends were right, this was never love, he never loved me."
She came out of her thoughts when Redheart came back with a try of hash browns, French toast and a biscuit.

She took her fork and took a bite out of the hash browns "Nurse Redheart, do my friends know I'm ok?'

"I'm sure that do, honey, you'll be able to see them later. Excuse me, I need to check on another patient" and with that, the nurse left the room.

Derpy continued eating her breakfast in peace. When done, she set her tray aside and looked out the window, hoping she will she her friends making their way to see her. But then she saw her reflection and saw it, the black eye! She didn't expect that to rest on her. She lifted her hoof up to it and gently poked it. By golly it hurt! She winched at the pain and she could feel a few tears coming on "Did he really hit me that hard? Oh my gosh, I can't believe it" She started to cry a little bit and soon fell asleep.

A few hours later

Derpy awoke again. The clock read 1:22 PM and the sunlight beamed through the windows.

It hadn't even been a full 24 hours and her cast was already bugging her! She couldn't move her arm at all and it itched like heck! (Oh Celestia why?) Looking at her wings made her sad too. As the doctor had informed her, that she cant fly for at least three weeks.(bummer) 'On the bright side, at least I wont have to go to work anytime soon' she thought with a smile 'But now I wonder if I can maybe see if Vinyl has some extr-"

"Hey guys! She's awake!" Vinyl said as she rushed in the room, along with every-pony else.

"Derpy, How are you?"
"Oh, Derpy, your arm"
"Derpy, we missed you"
"Oh, Derpy your eye"

Derpy couldn't hear well as her friends all talked at the same time. "Guys! One at a time please" She said. That seemed to make her friends stop.

Octavia spoke first "Sorry, Derpy, we are just glad your going to be ok" and she reached over to hug her. Everyone else soon followed the same thing.

Every hug she got, Derpy felt....better. She knew her friends were right there and she knew if she was with them, she was safe, especially from Strong Steed. Oh pony-feathers! She forgot all about him. He is the one who did......put her.....in the ..hospital. She looked at her friends in the eyes and asked "They haven't caught him, have they"

Her friends knew who she meant. Vinyl just signed "Nah, kid, no sign of him"

That didn't really surprise the wounded mare. The stallion knew how to hide well, every time he hit her, he would run off and hide. When he found out she didn't report it, he would come back and do the cycle all over again. He pretty much made Derpy use make up to cover the bruising. Where would he hide? She had no idea, all she really knew was that he lived in a small house on the edge of Ponyville, which she was informed that the police have searched the property and the inside of the house, nothing that lead to his location. But she knew he would be back.

"How long have guys been waiting?" she asked them.

"For hours" Lyra said "Bon Bon couldn't open the shop today and same with Time Turner. Octavia, Vinyl and I all couldn't concentrate on our practicing, so we all decided to come see you. Believe me, we were so worried about you that we cried. We didn't get that much rest. Anyway, so when we got here today, the nurse said that you were asleep so we thought we would wait."

Derpy smiled "Thanks guys, for waiting like that, you didn't have to"

"Of course we wanted to" Bon Bon said "Your our friend and we know you would do the same for us"

"And Octavia" Derpy said "Nurse Redheart told me about last night. And I want to thank you for helping me"

Octavia walked over and took her hoof "Absolutely"

Derpy smiled at her friends, but then started to cry. She put her face in her good hoof "I'm so sorry, guys. So sorry. I am so stupid"

"No your not" Time Turner said

"Yes I am, I should have dumped him the moment he hit me, but instead, I let him have me as a rag doll pretty much" Derpy cried for a few more seconds before calming down again.

"Derpy" Lyra said "I understand why your upset, but that doesn't mean your stupid, you just wanted to find love and we want that for you, but he was showing it on the back of his hoof, not from the heart"

Derpy knew the mint green mare was right. She did want love, but for right now, she knew she had a road to recovery to start traveling on.

Author's Note

Hi,
So sorry for not uploading this for a while. I just needed some time off as I had a bad case of writers block. But now I'm back! : )