She sat in the clearing, crying, when I found her. Her lovely grey coat had splotches or blood on it, possibly from coming through the tree branches so fast; I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that she had a fork held between her hooves, and was pointing it at her right eye, and I had to stop her before she did something stupid.
My wings, while not initially strong, have the ability to move me very quickly, for a short amount of time. That’s just what they did then. I rocketed forward, and I tackled the sad little grey pegasus from the side, causing her to drop her fork. I glared at her, panting for a moment.
“What? Now you wanna beat me up too? Go ahead!” she shouted as even more tears streamed down her face. “I… I don’t even care anymore.”
I slowed my breathing down and walked slowly towards her, causing her to back up several paces before she tripped over a root. She tried to scoot further away from me, but I countered by trotting closer to her.
“Derpy, I’m not going to hurt you,” I whispered, and wrapped my foreleg around her in a gentle hug. “I want to help you.”
She struggled in my grasp, and finally managed to break free, before moving into an defensive stance. “Yeah? You wanna help, then you can grab that fork and finish what I was trying to do!”
I sighed quietly, wishing she weren’t like this. She used to be so nice and sweet when we first met, but the world was always so cruel to those who needed kindness most.
“No. I won’t gouge your eye out, because there is nothing wrong with it.”
“LIAR! It’s ugly, and everypony hates it! I hate it! I know you do too!” she screamed, flaring out her wings, preparing to take off. “Just leave me alone!”
“I’m not going to leave you alone!” I shouted, causing her to widen her eyes in shock. “I’m going to help you! And you are going to let me.”
She blinked slowly a few times in confusion, before she closed her wings, and sat down, hanging her head. “Why?”
“Because, I want to, and that’s the only reason I need.” I explained, moving over to sit next to her, and draped my wing over her.
“Okay.”
~~~~~~~~
She was curled up on my couch, snoring lightly with each rise and fall of her barrel. Her left wing was injured, having been sprained when she entered through the woods’ canopy and hit it against a tree. She would be grounded for quite some time.
I smiled, pausing in the cleaning of my living room, because the sight was frankly quite adorable. No matter what Derpy said, she wasn’t ugly; she was beautiful. Having a wall-eye didn’t automatically make you ugly. I knew, better than most, that our flaws are part of who we are. Mine was my shyness and my severe scopophobia*.
A quiet mumble from the blond mare made me freeze, as she stretched her legs out and curled back up, smacking her lips. I grinned even wider, almost giving way to the infamous ‘squee,’ but I restrained myself, and went back to my cleaning. I was glad that Discord was busy in Canterlot, assisting the Princesses in finding some long lost artifact-I wasn’t really paying attention-since, I’m sure that Derpy would insist he make her eye straight… I would forbid it, of course. He would instead, give her the means to fix the eye, which would likely send her on some epic quest, by the end of which she would realize she didn’t want to change.
He would help her in his own twisted way. In short, he would try to be a good friend to the sad mare.
He… he was learning and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
“Fluttershy?” I turned to the small voice, and my heart sank. Her face had fallen and she looked heart broken. “Why are you crying?”
I raised a hoof to my cheek, and felt the small streak of moisture.
“Is… it because I’m here? I’m a burden, right? I’ll j–”
“No,” I said sharply, causing her to flinch. “I was… thinking of someone special, that’s all.”
“You have a special somepony?” she asked, tilting her head sideways.
I giggled at her expression. “No, not that kind of special. He’s just a good friend, that’s all.”
“Would you ever consider it? W-with him, I mean…” she asked, blushing a little, probably from realizing what her statement implied. I sighed and turned back to my cleaning.
“Well, I might… but there are…” I trailed off, not knowing how she would take it, since she was from Cloudsdale. “… reasons.”
“I’ve heard the rumors… are they true?” she asked and, as I looked to her, I could see in her face that she already knew the answer.
“Yes, Derpy,” I said quietly, and turned my back to her. “I’m gay.”
There was a long pause before she replied, and in that time, I grew more and more anxious; I was certain I‘d been wrong in telling her. “That’s okay, so am I.”
My head snapped around, and I stared at her in shock. “But you’re from…”
“Yeah, Cloudsdale… They, uh... They don’t really like us there, you know?” she practically whispered as a small, twitchy smile forced its way onto her lips that tore at my heart like an angry cat about to get a bath. Which is not pleasant… at all.
I fluttered over to nestle down beside her and draped my wing over her. “Yes, I do know.”
Suddenly, the wall-eyed mare buried her muzzled under her forelegs in an attempt to hide the tears that came. Of course, that did nothing to stop the body-racking sobs that soon overtook her. I let her cry, because I felt like she probably needed it. As I scooted a little closer, and pulled my wing tighter around her, I felt her stiffen for a moment, before she relaxed and leaned back into me. It was only a moment before stopped, and pulled her muzzle out to rest it on top of her legs.
“It’s all a lie, you know,” she stated flatly, causing me to raise my eyebrows to her. “The clumsiness, I mean. It’s all a lie, so I don’t have to face the hate. I tell everypony that I got kicked out of Cloudsdale cuz I wreck everything… but the truth is, my parents kicked me out. I was just a filly, then… I think I was about Scootaloo’s age. I was homeless for a few years, before I came here, and met Rainbow Dash. She recognized me, I think, and took pity on me.”
“She can be nice, when she wants to…”
“That’s the thing though, she wasn’t nice. If she’d been nice, she wouldn’t pity me, she’d see me as just another pony. I can’t even call her my friend… she lets me work for her, but it’s out of charity and I hate that.” Her brow furrowed as she continued, giving me a rather unnecessary reminder that she was getting angry. “All I ever do is push clouds. It’s never any real weather work! She doesn’t trust me to do any more–said so herself! The nerve of that mare!”
“Rainbow’s… like that, sometimes. That’s why we don’t share a house anymore,” I said, grimacing as Derpy pulled away a little, so she could look at me as I gazed out of the window next to the front door. “She thinks I’m helpless. She always tried to help me, even when I didn’t really look like I needed it. But… I do think she means well.”
“Probably… I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on her, huh?”
“Perhaps. Would you like some tea?” I asked, retracting my wing and hopping off the bed.
“Yeah, I’d love some,” she said with a faint smile as I set off towards the kitchen.
Just before I entered, I turned back slightly and said over my shoulder, “Um… just so you know, I don’t pity you.”
The smile she gave me was wide and genuine, and I realized as I walked into the next room, terribly contagious.
~~~~~~~~
“So, I have to stay here for two weeks?”
“Mm-Hmm. I need to make sure your wing didn’t suffer any permanent damage. Besides, you live in a cloud home. You’re in no condition to return.”
"Are you even qualified to make that kind of claim?"
"I'm certified in pegasus first aid, which does include identifying and treating sprained wings. It's actually a rather common problem."
“But then… work!”
“You’re on sick leave; I spoke to Rainbow while you were asleep.”
“But…”
I raised my brow at the mare, whose path to the door I now blocked. “But what?”
“I… uh… got nothing,” she replied sheepishly, giving me a grin of the same nature.
“I didn’t think so. Now head on up and get some rest while I tend to the animals,” I said, hardening my voice only enough to get the message across. She gave me a bemused scowl, and pointed a hoof at the couch. “Oh… right. I suppose it wouldn’t do to get too much rest… it might throw off your normal sleep… patterns… I… guess…” I floundered around for something to say, but only one thing came to mind and I blurted it out in such a rapid stream it probably would have confused Pinkie Pie. “SayhowwouldyouliketohelpmewiththeanimalsIthinkyoumightlikeit…”
Smooth, Fluttershy, real smooth.
“Um… I’ve never really dealt with animals before… is it hard?” she asked, pawing at the floor nervously.
“Not at all! But I have to count the baby bunnies… and they require a little bit of delicacy,” I explained, shuddering as I remembered how badly it had gone during… that harvest season…
“I can handle delicate.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I asked Twilight to help once and she wound up getting frustrated and used her magic to gather them…” I paused for a moment. “Actually, now that I think about it, that was really efficient and the bunnies seemed to like it…”
“Fluttershy. See these eyes?” I winced as she asked her question. “They don’t see too well. I’ve got horrible depth perception. You learn real quick to be extremely delicate with your hooves and patient with the world. I think I can handle a bunch of bunnies.”
“If you’re sure… then okay.”
~~~~~~~
“Come on, little bunnies, it’s just little old me…” I whispered, as I sat nestled down in front of the little bunny hole. I smiled as a mingled group of tan and white rabbits cautiously scampered out of the hole, and came up to sniff my hoof. “Missus Bunny, is this all the babies?”
The tan rabbit nodded happily, hopping forward to stop one if the babies from scampering away. I chuckled quietly at her, then looked over at my temporary housemate.
She was hunkered down with her head close to the ground as a baby bunny cautiously sniffed at her nose. She had her eyes closed and her ears were laid flat, but she smiled softly. Her expression reminded me exactly of the little bunny she was nose-to-nose with. My eyes widened as her hoof slowly reached out and came close to the bunny’s head. I almost shouted for her to wait, but her hoof came to rest gently on her new animal friend’s head and began rubbing in soft, deliberate circles.
“Derpy… how?”
“I told you, gentle hooves. I can’t see the bunny, but I can feel her and I can tell just where to pet and how hard to do so,” she explained quietly and rotated the hoof to rub under the bunny’s chin. “It’s almost like being blind, but I can just open my eyes if I need to.”
“I’m… um… wow…” I muttered, before I turned back to count the bunnies. I could feel my face burning up and I prayed that Derpy wouldn’t notice. Thankfully, she didn’t, and we soon finished and returned inside to have a bit of tea.
“So, what now?” she asked, holding her teacup in her hooves, and took a near silent sip.
“Nothing, actually. You’ve stumbled upon a rare day when I have plenty of free time,” I replied, taking a sip of my own tea before sitting it on the table. “I was thinking of practicing my Tai Chi, but I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in that…”
“Actually, I'm a bit of a martial artist myself,” she said bluntly, sitting her teacup down. “My dad taught me Pegasus Kenpo, Tai Chi, and Kendo up until I got kicked out. That crap was practically drilled into my skull.”
“Kendo?” I asked, recoiling a bit in shock. “But that’s nearly impossible for any non-unicorn…”
“I never said I was that good,” she said quietly, picking her cup back up and burying her face in it. “Actually, I kind of stink at all of it, except Pegasus Kenpo. I can at least hold my own in that field.”
“Well, you just keep getting more and more interesting, don’t you?” I muttered, realizing too late that I’d said it out loud. I felt my eyes go wide as her face flushed red and her good wing twitched awkwardly. “N-no, I didn’t mean–”
“It’s okay, I knew what you meant,” she said sweetly, and smiled at me. “Everypony’s different on the inside, right? What you see is rarely what you get, and what you get in rarely what you expect.”
“Um, yes… that…” I said, trailing off. She was wise, kind, and gentle, more so than even myself in two of those.
I wondered what else I would learn about her as she quietly sipped at her tea, while I did the same. “I’m gonna go get settled into my room. Just, holler if you need me.”
“Oh please, have you heard me holler?” I said playfully, which is not something I typically would do… I found it odd, but I felt really comfortable around my new friend and I couldn’t wait to get to know her even better.
“No, why?” she asked, turning back to look at me.
“Oh, never mind,” I said, waving a dismissive hoof at her.
Yes... this was the start of something wonderful, I could feel it in my heart.
Author's Note
I don't have much to say, except, there aren't many DerpyShy stories I really like, so I wrote one. and don't worry, the title will make sense closer to the end. Also, Dinky does not exist, so don't ask about him/her(not sure).
I hope you enjoy this one!
*Scopophobia: the fear of being seen/stared at, or becoming the center of attention.
I awoke the next morning to bright sunshine blasting in through my window, and I hated it. I may have been the bearer of the Element of Kindness, but I swear by Celestia, I hated nothing more than her mornings. They sucked, and I often times found my self actually cursing them out loud.
“Mm… Go back to sleep sun!” I shouted lazily and threw a pillow at window, only for it to bounce off and hit the floor with a soft thump. “Uuuuugh…” I sluggishly rolled out of bed and spotted Mister Rooster standing on the windowsill, ready to do his job of making sure I was up. “Don’t you dare,” I said a little aggressively, pointing a sidelong hoof at him, and glaring at him from behind my tangled mane. I really should start putting it in a bun at night… “Look, I’m up. I’m going downstairs, and if you start crowing at me, I’m feeding you to Miss Cougar.” I wouldn’t really, and he knew that, so he gave the rooster equivalent of a smirk and hopped down off the sill.
I remembered then that I had a guest, so I exited the room and immediately made my way to where she was staying, only to find the room empty. I headed downstairs, hoping she was just sitting on the couch. When I got there…
Well, she was there.
“Forty-two, hup, fourty-three, hup, fourty-four, hup, fourty-five, hup…” I stared in disbelief as Derpy counted off her rapid pushups, passing fifty and still going with no signs of slowing down. “Fifty-eight, hup, fifty-nine, hup, sixty! Woo!”
She stood back up, her sweat glistened in the morning light. I licked my lips, even as my face started burning bright red from the image before me. I just couldn’t stop myself from staring at her… I’d always liked athletic mares, the way their muscles ripple when they move, their tightly toned barrels. I love when their sweaty mane gets plastered to their necks… how it seems to–
“If you keep staring, I’ll have to charge you for the show.”
My attention snapped back to reality, and I realized she was smirking playfully at me over her shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare… it’s just…I… um… “
“You like sweaty mares?” she asked with a sight chuckle and an exaggerated toss of her soaked mane, which, in her defense, was covering her eyes.
“Yes…” I said at barely a whisper.
Derpy’s eyes shot wide open as her face turned-somehow-redder than mine. “Oh,” she said shortly before regaining her composure. “Well, you’ll be getting plenty of that these next two weeks! I work out every morning. Even if all I do is push clouds, I still have to stay in shape.”
“R-Right… why don’t you go grab a shower… I mean… if you’re finished… while I go get breakfast started?” I asked, desperately wanting the current situation to change as quickly as it could.
“Well normally, I practice my Kenpo, but I can skip a day,” she said. She quickly trotted up the stairs, prompting a sigh of relief from me.
~~~~~~~
Breakfast was a quiet affair, until I decided to make the first move.
“Um… I’m sorry for staring earlier…”
“Don’t worry about it. Honestly, it’s nice to get a little positive attention,” she said with a warm smile and took a bite of her oats. “But do me a favor and don’t make a habit out of it, alright? It’s still a little embarrassing.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I won’t!” I said a little hastily, blushing when she giggled at me. “I mean, I wouldn’t want you to feel awkward about staying here…”
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Um, say, can we go grab some stuff from my place today?” she asked as she scratched the back of her head. “Or are you busy today? I can wait if you are.”
“Actually, I have a few errands to run in town. What all do you need?” I asked quietly, finishing my oats. When I stood to put my dish away, her eyes widened, glancing back and forth between my bowl and her own, which was still half full. I chuckled and flashed her a soft smile. “Sorry, I tend to eat breakfast pretty quickly so I can keep an early schedule. Take your time, I have to go feed the animals anyway.”
“O-okay…”
~~~~~~~
Before long, we were strolling down Ponyville’s main avenue, myself pulling a cart and Derpy nervously casting glances left and right. I started to ask why she was so scared, but a certain pink pony came into our presence.
“Heya, Flutters!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she cart-wheeled into my line of sight, around in front of us, and came to trot next to Derpy. “Hi, Muffins!”
“Muffins?” I asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at Derpy, but still smiling. “Oh, uh, hi Pinkie.”
“What? It’s no secret that it’s my favorite food,” she said sweetly. “Of course I’d get a nickname reflecting that.”
“Yeppers!” Pinkie suddenly seemed to finally take notice of the compression wrap on ‘Muffins’’ wing, causing her to gasp and take a step back. “OMG what the hay happened?!”
“I sprained my wing coming through the forest canopy. Fl–”
“Ooooh, I gotcha! Fluttershy found you,” she said, effectively cutting Derpy off, then suddenly ducked away and reappeared on my left. “and now, she’s letting you stay with her until it heals!”
“Yes,” I said quietly, steeling my nerves for more of Pinkies antics. “That’s the, um, short version…”
She suddenly appear between me and Derpy. “I bet the long version is pretty interesting. Or I mean, it will get interesting. I bet. I guess it all depends on how Gypsy feels.”
“I suppose… wait, who?” I stared at her in confusion. “Who’s Gypsy?”
“Oops! I’ve said too much! Bye-bye!” And then, she was gone. Just like that, she disappeared behind Derpy, prompting my new friend to spin in a circle, looking for her.
“How…” She trailed off, still looking around her. “Where did she…”
“Don’t think about it too hard. It’s confusing,” I explained, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight couldn’t even figure it out.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Seriously? Isn’t she the smartest pony in the world or something?”
I giggled and tapped her shoulder with my hoof. “Something like that!”
“Wow. Talk about a mystery. So where to first?”
“First, we head to the pet supply store across town. I need to pick up some more bird seed and a bunch of other stuff…”
It wasn’t long before Derpy and I were finished running my errands, and found ourselves standing in front of a large, ranch-style cloud house, having taken a fairly expensive balloon trip. Being that most pegasi build their own houses, an obvious exception being me, I was quite impressed.
“So… here we are…” she said quietly, before stepping up to the door and pushing it open. “Welcome to Casa de Derp.”
“It’s big…” I said dumbly as I absentmindedly followed her into the building. “Did you build it?”
“Nope! I had it commissioned,” she said cheerfully, trotting into the main area. “It cost about six hundred-thousand bits. I’m still paying for it, actually.”
“I can imagine… I only just finished paying off my cottage a couple of moths ago, and I’ve been there for eight years.” As I took in my surroundings, it was clear that my companion spent a lot of time working out. Leaned against the wall was a tall punching bag that looked unused, while another that looked very worn out hung from the ceiling nearby. About a dozen hooves away, there was a rack of hoof weights and a weight lifting bench.
“Oh, don’t worry,” I heard Derpy say from around a corner. My attention snapped back to her as she came out of a nearby room, pushing a wheeled suitcase with her mouth. “I only need a couple of those. Nothing too big. They won’t take up much space.”
“Right… how can you lift any of these?” I asked as I stepped up to the rack. “These look like some of Bulk’s equipment…”
“Well, yeah! That’s because they were his!” she said excitedly, trotting up beside me. “I got them from him for super cheap. I had to replace the bench after it broke under me, though.”
“Goodness! Were you hurt?”
“Nah. The height of the weight bar is actually taller than my neck,” she explained, putting a hoof on the bench press weights. Her face suddenly perked up as she pointed at one of the hoof weights. “You should try one!” she said loudly, bounding over behind the rack. “Nothing like what I’d use, but maybe one of these!” she pointed over the rack at one of the smallest weights. It was about as big around as my hoof, and about three inches thick.
“Oh, um… I-I don’t kn-know…” I stammered out, backing away from the weights. “I’m not really that strong…”
“Fluttershy, Scootaloo can lift these,” she said flatly, plucking one of the weights off the stand. “And she can do it easily.”
“How do you know she can?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Her face suddenly fell and she sat the weight back on the rack with a loud clang. “About two months ago, Rainbow Dash and I volunteered to be counselors at a flight camp. Scootaloo wound up as my charge, while Rainbow got a colt named Rumble. I was supposed to help her come to terms with her handicap. She was, understandably, pretty upset that she didn’t get to be with the boss mare. So after a few weeks of watching her scowl at whatever she was doing, I talked to Rainbow and the director about switching students.” She jumped over the weight rack and trotted over to her suitcase.
“And?” I asked calmly.
“The camp counselor thought I meant that I was having too much trouble with Scootaloo, so Rainbow got Scootaloo and kept Rumble,” she explained miserably, a scowl crossing her muzzle. “Says to me, ‘yeah, I thought it was too tough for a handicap like you.’” She suddenly kicked her suitcase at, and through, the wall. “That plothole!” she shouted, her ears folding flat and her back arching. “I shoulda shown him what a ‘handicap like me’ can do!”
I lifted off and glided slowly over next to her. “Hey, it’s okay,” I said softly, resting a hoof against her trembling shoulder. “He doesn’t know you…”
She whirled on me, slapping away my hoof. “You don’t even know me!” she shouted, her face twisted in anger. “Nopony knows me! Doc doesn’t even know me that well!”
“Derpy I–”
“What?!” she demanded, getting in my face and pushing against my forehead. “You think you can relate or something?!”
I stumbled back and fell on my rump, startled by the sudden closeness. “N-no, that’s not…”
“Then WHAT?!” she screamed, stepping forward to stand over me, her face getting close to mine again. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes as she stared down at me with those harsh, crooked, beautiful golden eyes.
“I-I want to…” I whispered, clamping my eyes shut. “I… I want to know you!” I cried. “I don’t know you, but I want to! I want to know everything about you! I want us to be friends! I want you to be a part of my life!”
She said nothing. She didn’t move. Everything was silent, save for the sound of our labored breathing, and it stayed that way for a few minutes.
“Fluttershy… Open your eyes,” she said softly, prodding at my chest with her hoof. I complied, slowly opening my eyes to see her blond locks covering her grey forehead. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t yell at you for something like that.”
“It’s okay. I’m not upset.”
“It’s not okay, but I’m glad you’re not upset…” she muttered, standing and walking over to the wall where her suitcase had gone through. “Hey, question.”
“Y-yes?”
“What did you mean, ‘you want me to be a part of your life?’” she asked, turning back to me with her brow raised, looking at me through her bangs.
I suddenly felt my face get very, very hot. “I, uh… I, that is… um… maybe… if we, I don’t know, get to know each other…” I looked at the ground and shook my forehooves back and forth in front of me. “N-never mind! Forget about it!”
When I looked back at her, she had her eyes closed and was smiling softly at the floor. “Mm… maybe,” she said softly. My heart stopped for a moment as I beheld her. She was so beautiful… A light breeze swept through the house, rustling her mane a bit. “But I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” she said, shattering my spreading smile. “I’m not exactly looking for a special somepony right now”
Well, that complicated things.
Before too long, I had retrieved Derpy’s bag and she had packed it with a few essentials like a toothbrush, a mane brush and a few thing for her Kenpo training. We returned to my cottage and spent the rest of the day in relative quiet.
Author's Note
It's baaaaack! I'm sorry I took so long to get this up. It's just been a nightmare, with all of my other projects. I know I said it wouldn't be that sad, but that scene just presented itself to me and I couldn't help but write it. I tried to get as many of the errors as I could in the final edit, but I may have missed a few. If you see any, please let me know in the comments. I am such a bad writer 
Here, have the soundtrack for this chapter:
In other words, that's what i listened to it while writing this chapter.
