Those were the Days

by Ulysses S. Grant

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Slice of Life
Length: 1852

Join Derpy as she tells the tale of her time at Summer Flight Camp.

Derpy Hooves has had to work hard to become the pony she is. Join Derpy as she tells the tale of her time at Summer Flight Camp, and why this experience changed her life forever.

This is my first fic. I've already shown this to a few pre-readers and got a mostly positive response. Lets see what you all think.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-28 16:14:02 UTC

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Derpy Hooves was sitting on a large wooden chair in her living room reading a book she recently borrowed from Rainbow Dash; Daring Do and the Legend of the Silver Horse. Not as good as the Griffins Goblet, Derpy thought, but still great. Derpy loved reading about the adventures of Daring Do, as much as anypony and these quiet Sunday evenings were about the only time she got to read in her usually busy week.

Being responsible for delivering much of Ponyville’s mail and taking care of her daughter Dinky took up most of her time, but she made the best of her time off. Her daughter Dinky was in the living room playing with a set of wooden blocks, it seemed to Derpy she was trying to build some kind of great tower. Derpy chuckled to herself.

“I’d be careful Dinky. Anymore blocks and that thing is gonna come crashing down.”

“I can do it Mommy, you how good I am at building stuff.” Dinky responded.

Derpy smiled. “I know. But don’t complain if it does fall.”

“Yeah, yeah” mumbled Dinky while carefully levitating another block to the top of her tower, which now stood almost a foot taller than she was.

"Careful."

Derpy smiled. She loved moments like this.  She always tried her best to give Dinky the happiest life possible. Together they would cook, go on picnics to the park, take trips through the Whitetail Woods and during Derpy’s Saturday shifts Dinky would sometimes help her deliver the mail.

Dinky was always smart for her age, and Derpy appreciated it all the more that she used this to help everypony. Dinky’s going to have a great future thought Derpy. She would make sure Dinky had everything Derpy didn’t while she was growing up.

Growing up wasn’t easy for Derpy Hooves. From when she was a young filly Derpy had a rare eye condition that meant she appeared cross-eyed. Having an obvious disability like this meant she was ridiculed and teased during her school years.

Her mother always told her to keep her head high, ignore the bullies and work hard so she could be the best pony she could be. Derpy would not and could not forget this advice as it became the basis of her outlook on life. The drive to never give up without giving her all got her through some tough times, and she knew without it she would never have made it through flight school.

This attitude helped her though school and following her graduation she moved to the small town of Ponyville after joining the Equestria Post Service. Not long after moving to Ponyville she met and began dating an intriguing brown earth pony stallion with an hourglass cutie mark named Doctor Whooves, who made her feel like she was the most special pony under Celestia’s sun. She had been on several grand adventures with him during their short time together, but she would later decide to remain in Ponyville after refusing an offer for her to join him permanently on his travels. She just couldn’t leave her old life behind. All the hardships she faced growing up had made it her life and it wasn’t something she could easily let go. The Doctor knew he couldn’t change her mind, but promised he’d return someday.

Derpy had a hard time getting over the Doctor, but her friends in Ponyville had supported her and very soon she was back to her old self. Only a few months after he departed for parts unknown, Derpy found out she was pregnant. While Derpy greeted this news with joy, she was greatly saddened that the Doctor could not be there with her. It was his child after all. Still she would soon have a foal of her own, somepony who she could love and who would love her back. What could be better?

Suddenly Derpy shot up, her thoughts were brought back to the present by a crashing sound.

“Mommy!!”

“What did I tell you?”

Dinky’s face went bright red as she looked over at her collapsed tower of blocks.

“It may have been just a block too tall. Next time it’ll work”

“Alright then” Derpy said softly while looking over at the large ornate clock above the fireplace, and then looked back at her daughter.

“Hmmm, It’s almost nine. Are you ready for bed my little Muffin?”

“Yep. I can try building my tower again after school tomorrow. But can you read me a bed time story first?” Dinky inquired with an incredibly cute smile on her face.

“Of course I can. Let me just find a new book.” Derpy said as she trotted over to the small bookcase in the living room. “You go and clean your teeth and I’ll meet you in your room.”

“Yes Mommy.” The young unicorn said as she happily skipped up the stairs towards the bathroom.

Derpy smiled to herself. Ever since Dinky was born, Derpy’s life had been complete. She had a good job, good friends and a daughter whom she loved deeply. Life could not be better she thought. Even with her eye condition, and the occasional teasing she received from ponies she didn’t know because of it, there was nothing in her life she would change if she could. Well other than letting the Doctor go...

While scanning the bookcase Derpy noticed a small photograph mounted on the wall above the bookcase. In the photo was Derpy, her parents, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Fleetfoot, all happy and cheerful. It was taken on her last day of Summer Flight Camp back when she was a filly. She had made her first real lasting friendships that summer. She saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all the time, part of the perks of being a mailmare. Fleetfoot had gone on to join the Wonderbolts, but this never stopped her from visiting from time to time.

“Those were the days.” Derpy whispered with a tear running down her cheek. She stared at the faces of her parents, her father Lightning Hooves, and mother Sun Flare. She missed them. It had been ten years since she lost them in a freak storm as they returned to Cloudsdale after visiting Derpy only a few days after Dinky was born.

Derpy’s eyes welled up. “Why....?”

“I’m ready mommy!!” yelled a still overexcited unicorn.

Derpy wiped the tears from her eyes with her hoof, before calling. “I’ll be up in a minute.” She stood there staring at the photo for a few minutes more before finally tearing herself away to tuck her little Muffin into bed.

As she slowly climbed the stairs to Dinky’s room she glanced at some of the more recent photographs hanging on the wall. There was one from last year’s Winter Wrap up. Derpy had accidently flew north to collect the summer birds after misreading her map. The picture had her, Dinky and Rainbow Dash laughing about the whole incident later that day.

Beside the Winter Wrap Up picture was one taken on Nightmare Night with her and Carrot Top in their costumes. The week before Nightmare Night had been incredibly hectic for Derpy. An unusually large quantity of mail had to be delivered that week, and some of it arrived at odd hours of the day. Derpy had found herself working several shifts each day, some of them late into the evening. She had been promised time of during the next week, but Derpy had declined. She loved her job. Why would she want time off for simply doing her job? Most ponies would jump at the chance for some time away from work, but Derpy had never been that kind of pony. Still, because of these late shifts Derpy had not been able to make a costume, so she threw something together last minute. Despite her ragtag costume she had a great time despite the unreasoned fear caused by Princess Luna’s presence. She even had a chance to catch up with some ponies she hadn’t spoken to in a while. Carrot Top, Lyra and Bon Bon were all there and she had some interesting stories about her week to tell them.

Carrot Top was the first pony Derpy befriended after moving to Ponyville. Derpy loved how Carrot Top never asked about her eyes or why she was sometimes seemingly clumsy. Deep down Derpy knew Carrot Top was curious, and so Derpy told her about her time as a young filly; the first pony she told this story to since her friends in Summer Flight Camp For a time they were roommates. After a year or so Derpy gave birth to Dinky and moved out to live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, but she still got together with Carrot Top every week for tea and cakes at Sugarcube Corner. Well Carrot Top had cakes. Derpy always had muffins.

Derpy couldn’t remember when she ate her first muffin. As far as she could remember she had always loved them, more than any other snack. They were her one weakness. When muffins were in sight it sometimes took all of Derpy’s willpower to keep her from gobbling up the delicious treats. Most ponies always thought she was a bit too obsessed with them, well, except Pinkie Pie. She always kept a special batch just for Derpy. While Derpy never really spent much time with Pinkie Pie, other than during her visits to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie as with everypony in Ponyville, knew everything about Derpy. She always wanted to listen to Derpy’s stories about her life before moving to Ponyville. In fact everypony she talked to did.

Derpy once again realised she was thinking too hard, and almost forgot she was supposed to putting Dinky to bed.

“Dinky are you ready?” Derpy called out, while she trotted into Dinky’s bedroom.

“Mommy, what was that picture you were looking at on the bookcase downstairs?” Dinky asked with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Oh that, well it’s just a picture of me, some of my old friends, Grandpa and Grandma on my last day at Summer Flight Camp.”

“How come you’ve never told me about it?”

“I never thought you’d be interested, being a unicorn and all. I know you love stories about magic, adventure and wonder, and not boring old stories about me when I was your age.” Derpy said expectantly. She almost wished Dinky would ask about it. She didn’t know why but all her reminiscing before coming to Dinky’s room put her in the mood to talk about her past.

Dinky jumped out from under her bed sheets. “Mommy I’d love to hear that story. You know the only thing I love more than adventure stories is you Mommy!!”Derpy’s eyes began to water.

“I love you too my little Muffin” Derpy exclaimed as she pulled Dinky towards her with her hooves in a big hug.

Dinky began to giggle. “Well, are you gonna tell me the story or not?”

A huge smile appeared on Derpy’s face. “Of course!!”

“Yay!!!” exclaimed Dinky.

“Now where to begin?...”