Flightless

“I just don’t know what to do.” I told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “She’s just such a… clutz.”

My two friends had come over to hang out whilst I worked on Snips and Snails scooters for the second time. It's always nice when they do that; some ponies prefer to be isolated when they’re working, but I'm pretty good at my job, and I quite enjoy the company.

"Ah’m sure she doesn’t mean to cause trouble.” Apple Bloom replied, in her thick country accent, “All the same, it does sound a lil’ frustratin’”.

My earth pony friend was right; Derpy only ever had good intentions, and she was clearly trying extremely hard to bond with me. The pegasus pony hadn’t even turned up at my house that morning; she must have came to realise that I needed a little space away from her after yesterday’s antics. All things considered, Derpy was a pretty considerate pony.

I adjusted the handle bar on Nipper - Snips scooter - and then proceeded to tighten the wheels, when suddenly Sweetie Belle chimed up;

“Maybe there’s something we can do!” She exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle is another kind hearted filly; she’s always eager to help anypony, especially if that pony is her friend. However, I wasn't at all willing to drag either of my friends into the whole 'Derpy' situation.

“Nah, you guys don’t need to get wrapped up in this.” I said sternly, and then continued with my work.

Of course, that wasn't enough to put her off.

“Aw come on Scootaloo! Maybe we could hang out with Derpy with you!” Sweetie Belle was grinning eagerly at the thought; I had no idea why.

“No guys, I really don't want to make this your problem.” I replied.

To my surprise, Apple Bloom was the one to retaliate this time; “Aw come on!! How bad could it be?”

The two approached me either side and gave hopeful grins; I knew from experience that there was no point trying to argue with them when they were being like this. The three of us had grown up together, and been best friends for almost ten years now. We looked out for one another, supported one another. If one of us had a problem, it was all of our problems. Even If I told my friends "No", they would probably just hide somewhere outside until Derpy arrived, and then follow us around all day regardless.

I sighed, "Fine, just for today.”

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle gave a little hop.

I began to wonder what in Equestria she was so excited about. That morning, I had told the two of them all about Derpy crashing into Carrot Top's vegetable stall, getting me hospitalised, and breaking the two scooters not long after I had fixed them. So why did Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom still seem to think that hanging out with Derpy would be in the least bit tolerable? Let alone fun?

“Alright!” Apple Bloom joined in, “Don’t ya'll worry Scootaloo; if the three of us all keep our eyes on Derpy, there ain't no way anything could go wrong!”

“Y..yeah.” I mumbled, unconvinced.

It was noon before Derpy finally showed up at my house, which was conveniently after I had finished fixing up the scooters, and returning them to Snips and Snails with a sincere apology.

Derpy’s knock was a little quieter than usual, and when I opened the door, the mare was standing behind a large basket. It was filled with muffins, and tied with a beautiful red bow. Derpy shuffled her front hooves, and looked sorrowfully up at me.

“Hey Derpy, what’s…” I started to ask,

“I’m really sorry for what happened yesterday Scootaloo.” The mare interrupted, “I wanted to make it up to you, so I got up early and…”

“You made me all of these muffins?” I couldn’t believe it! What a kind gesture, she didn’t have to do tha… suddenly I recalled Carrot Top’s feedback on Derpy's baked goods.

“Wow Derpy, you really shouldn’t have.” I smiled, but felt a little cautious about tasting the treats.

“Are those muffins?!” My high pitched unicorn friend squealed in delight, and darted over to where me and Derpy were standing. She levitated one of them using her magic, and took a huge bite.

Sweetie Belle chewed and swallowed, and I saw her face instantly light up, “These are delicious!” She beamed, “Hey Apple Bloom! You gotta try these muffins!”

As my earth pony friend trotted over to join us, Derpy whispered to me, “I remembered to put in all the right ingredients this time!” and gave a quick wink.

“Mmmmmm!!” Apple Bloom’s eyes sparkled as she enjoyed one of the muffins, “Derpy, these are amazing!”

“I…I’m glad you like them.” The grey pegasus replied bashfully,

“Like em?” Apple Bloom swallowed, “They’re the tastiest darn muffins I have ever eaten!”

This compliment caused Derpy to blush, “Wow Scootaloo.” She said, “Your friends are nice.”

I waited for the two to finish eating, and then decided to give them all a proper introduction. “Derpy, this is Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, my two best friends. Guys, this is Derpy Hooves… well, you know about her.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet ya Miss Hooves!” Apple Bloom greeted the mare; she’s always super friendly.

Sweetie Belle did the same, “Scootaloo has told us great things abo….” She paused, “You’re a really good baker!”

“I hope you don’t mind Derpy, but my friends wanna hang out with us today.” I informed the mare, hoping that she wouldn’t think too much into it.

To my relief, Derpy gave an excited gasp, “Really? Wow that would be fantastic! I don’t mind at all Scootaloo! In fact, I’d love to get to know your friends!”

The three of them grinned at one another, while I finally tried one of the muffins; they were pretty delicious.

I actually felt a little more relaxed having my friends close by; perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“So, what do you guys wanna do today?” Derpy asked,

“Oooo maybe we could show Derpy the Apple far….” Apple Bloom began to suggest,

I quickly moved behind Derpy, so that she couldn’t see me frantically shaking my head to make the earth pony stop talking. The last thing we needed was for Derpy to destroy part of the farm, and cause more work for the Apple family.

“Or perhaps we could go help my sister out with her dress making?” Sweetie Belle butted in.

I face panned. Sweetie Belle’s sister Rarity was an incredible dress maker, an elegant designer, and an absolute perfectionist. She worked none stop these days, and she certainly wouldn’t appreciate an assistant of Derpy’s… nature.

“N…no… I’m sure Rarity’s very busy!” I gave a subtle scowl toward my unicorn friend, who seemed to take the hint and stuffed another muffin into her mouth, in an attempt to keep herself quiet.

It didn’t work for very long; Sweetie Belle’s face once again lit up in delight as she devoured the wonderful treat, and she couldn't help but give feedback.

“Mmmmmmmm! You know Derpy, these are good enough to sell!”

Derpy blushed again, and then Apple Bloom spoke up,

“Hey Derpy, you ain't exactly got a job at the moment, have ya?” She asked,

The grey pegasus shuffled her hoof along the ground, “Well… I’m sorta between… urm…I’m trying to find my… no, not really.” She answered sadly.

“Applebloom, What are you…” I asked,

“Well then,” The earth mare continued. “Have you ever considered making a business out of these muffins?”

Derpy tilted her head; she had clearly never thought about selling her baking for money.

Sweetie Belle was already on board with the idea, “We could help you out!” She bounced up and down, “Together, we could make an amazing muffin stand, and you could sell your muffins and become famous for them throughout Ponyville, maybe even throughout Equestria!”

“Famous… for my muffins?” Derpy sure liked the sound of that.

“What do you say Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom gave me a nudge.

I contemplated the idea, but couldn’t really think of a reason to reject it. Derpy was obviously very good at making muffins, provided she used the right ingredients, and we would be there to help her out, and make sure everything went as planned.

“It sounds like a good idea…” I answered.

Sweetie Belle started talking to Derpy about her baking, while Apple Bloom took me to the side

.

“It’s a perfect idea!” She whispered, “All Derpy has to do is make the muffins, with our help. Then, we put up a little stall in the town square, and sell them for a few bits each. What could possibly go wrong?”

Apple Bloom was definitely the most level headed one of the group; I’d learnt to rely on her a lot over the years, she was a very responsible and trust worthy pony.

“Okay, I’m in!” I said at last, “It sounds pretty safe, so long as we make the muffins correctly, and it would be pretty cool if we helped Derpy to get a job again! Rainbow Dash would be really proud!”

We all gave a cheer, and bumped hooves, then Derpy hovered above the ground,

“We can make the muffins at my place!" She exclaimed, "I’ve got tons of ingredients! Let’s go!”

The pegasus excitedly took off, with the three of us following close behind. Derpy still flew crooked, but she was being a little more careful today, and only crashed into a couple of trees.

                                                                                                      ~*~*~

Unlike most pegasi, Derpy lived on the ground with the earth ponies and unicorns. I had never actually visited her house before, but it was far neater than I had expected. There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff, just basic necessities: a sofa, a lamp, a shelf filled with nothing but picture books, overall it was a cosy little space.

We made our way into the kitchen, and Derpy prepared the ingredients. The clumsy mare managed to spill half of the first carton milk within the first few minutes, but luckily she had plenty in the fridge for back up. She also had bags and bags of flour, hundreds of eggs, and all of her cupboards were rammed with additional ingredients. From the looks of it, this pony must eat muffins for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every feathering day!

Within the next hour the kitchen was a total mess, but we were making pretty good progress. Derpy really did have a talent for baking, she was working on multiple bowls of mixture at the same time, and producing batch after batch of goods. After an afternoon of hard work, we soon had some beautiful looking – and incredible tasting – muffins.

There were chocolate muffins, cherry muffins, raisin muffins, blueberry muffins, banana muffins, and vanilla breakfast muffins. Derpy wanted to make a ton of other flavours, but I felt it was best to start out simple; if all went as planned, we could expand our stock at a later date.

While Sweetie Belle continued to assist Derpy in the kitchen, me and Apple Bloom worked on the stall. It was crafted out of wood, and decorated using paint and a cute banner that my artistic earth pony friend had painted herself. It had colourful images of muffins, and pretty, swirly writing blue which read: "Muffin’s for Everypony!” Apple Bloom has always been the creative type; her cutie mark was a paint pallet in the shape of an Apple, to reflect her incredible gift.

In no time at all we had a nice little table, completely covered in baked goods. The muffins on table itself were arranged according to flavour, but many others were bundled into baskets and stored both under and behind the stall itself. We were having so much fun making the treats, that we had somehow ended up with way more muffins than we actually needed, but at least we had something to snack on while we worked the stall - ya know, to help promote the product!

We had a perfect day for this; the sun was shining brightly, there was a calm, delightful breeze in the air, and many ponies would be finishing work soon and walking past the square.

As we made our final adjustments to the display, I looked across at my friends. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were tying ribbons onto the handles of the baskets, discussing whether or not to try and sell those muffins in bulk. Derpy looked as though she could barely contain herself, she was grinning and bobbing up and down with anticipation.

I smiled toward the sky; Rainbow Dash would be really, really happy, if she could see us right now.